I've been hitting the shows/contests since the early 50's when Reeves and Park and Grimick and Hillogen and Eifferman and all those old time greats were guest posing or supporting their friends up there on that stage. I was there to support my brother who was always invited to participate as a bodybuilding or olympic lifting contestant.
Powerlfiting was called "Oddlifting" back then and those "odd guys" would tape tennis balls behind their knees and wear tight Livi's in order to get down and deep with a heavy squat. I heard they did that often back then but I was too young to observe that personally. I only watched them do amazing lfiting when they were invited to do a demonstration while the judges made a decision.
Back then the contests were mainly held in the Y's in the major cities with LA kind of breaking ground as the leader of the pack where the weather was nice enough during the summer months to hold contests on the beach and there were more than four guys willing to enter a contest.
I can't remember names any longer but those old day contests were kind of like family/gym member affairs where everyone would group together in support of their family/fellow gym members and harrass the others in a friendly sort of way.
One real old dude was usually the MC and his beautiful daughter (Miller??) always took center stage in a one piece bathing suit showing off her curvy figure. No such thing as two piece bikinis back then, but they were soon to become mightly popular.
Then an even older guy woulod come out and do a tremendous muscle control act, the likes of which I have never seen again.
There was no such thing as Women's Bodybuilding way back then and a show was "deep" if eight guys were in that lineup.
The IFBB was unknown on the west coast and still a glimmer in Joe Weider's eye as far as I can recall. To the best of my knowledge it wasn't till many years later that Dave Draper opened the first Weider shoppe in Santa Monica thereby leading the way for the establishment of the IFBB in California.
Later on the contests in LA were held at the Embassy Auditorium in the dumpy downtown area. The old MC departed and Gene Mozee took over and the curvy lady must have retired or gotten fat; and a lot of friendly animosity arose between the guys from Golds and the guys from Pearl's gym in Pasadena.
And big and bulky, bald headed guys who lifted heavy things would voice there loud opinions from the mid rows of the auditorium and heads would turn whenever some past event winner of any lifting sport walked down that aisle - Scott and Frenn and West and Howorth who wore the widest shoulders in the room always covered by a cashmere pull over.
If thre was an undeserving individual on that stage, the entire audiance would voice their adverse opinion in unison and one time someone at the edge had a wooden hook that that was sometimes used to pull those undeserving individuals to the wings. (I've seen that happen once.)
And if that hook wasn't there, a couple of well thrown tomatos would let the guy know how someone in the audiance felt.
I've been to more than a couple of contests every year since and have seen and met all the greats and about 90% of the current pros and can tell lots of stories but the funniest thing I can remember is the evening the guys were asked to do a most muscular in the lineup and one of them let loose a humongous fart which echoed throughout the auditorium.
And then each contestant came out of that pose and started to blame the other.
You'd have to be there to understand, but the whole darn audiance got histerical for the next few minutes and the officials had to call for a break while they did their best to recompose.
I've supported and promoted shows on backetball courts, prison cafeterias, libraries, beaches, convention halls, high school cafeterias, and gymns of every type imagineable. Drugged and undrugged and I have to admit that I've had lots of respect for everyone of those guys and gals who had the guts to be graded in their underware for the entire world to see.
During the past ten years of so, I find it difficult to get past the entry hall into the auditorium. It's been kind of like a high school reunion where you meet and greet old friend from the game and only manage to get to break away and watch the finaql posedown and see the winner collect his trophy.
I think I've seen it all and look foreward to seeing it again and I often wonder what the future has in store, because the past 55 years have sure as hell made one hell of a difference.
