Stuntmovie:
More interesting stuff. Kind of interesting to learn the roots of lifting, including BB'ing, from you.
Just to let you know where I'm coming from: I was born in 1972 and came to the mainland when I was ten. My two uncles worked on the Paramount lot (near Van Ness & Melrose) for awhile and hung around the original Muscle Beach in the 50's & 60's. And if memory (and spelling) serves me right ,also trained a bit at Goodrich (Hollywood Blvd), Macey( Sunset Blvd), Connors (little Santa Monica Blvd) among some others. Even at the downtown LA YMCA, when Franklin Jones (BB'er or Lifter) was arrested. Seemed like people hopped from gym to gym back than. Through them, and some of their friends, I use to hear endless stories about the good old days.
Another friend of the uncles had a stack of old Iron Man magazines he let me borrow for a while. Iron Man also put out a lifting news letter . Some priceless information in both the mag & news letter. Wish I had them all now. Worth their weight in gold. Anyway, the Odd lift contest were listed and recorded. Not all had the same lifts. Some may have had curls, DB presses, upright rows, etc. Another might have Hack squats, lateral raises, DB cleasl & presses, etc. But the core movements were the squat or DL and bench. They called Hack squats reversed DL's at times.
I do remember reading that the old Mr A (probably 40's or 50's) had. (don't know how old you are, but probably before your time) a lifting requirement. Not only did you have to look strong but be strong.
The uncles, both in their 70's , are still around. One lives above The Whiskey, up the hill. The other , down the block behind the Bodhi Tree on Melrose. Both snagged rich wife's. Another benefit of Lifting for some guy's.
Keep up the excellent post, always interesting.