If I remember an old MuscleMag International article correctly, Ferrigno claimed that the reason he did that is because fans were also doing that to the other pro bodybuilders at the other booths. His defense was that, while he can afford to take free pics, the other bodybuilders (who weren't Hollywood stars, past or present at the that point) couldn't eat the loss of income.
I think some fans were even taking pics with Ferrigno's $20 per picture sign, just as a gag.
I get the point to a degree. I had no plans of paying for Stan "Topamania" McCrary's 8x10s back in 2005 at the NPC Southeastern USA. But, fearing for dear life, I didn't take any cell phone pics either.
Stan was bad for that, LOL. One wonders if Stan believes in the theory of "From Goo to You by Way of the Zoo!"?
Maybe a better theory would replace You with Lou? Or Zoo with Lou.
Speaking of Lou, and how he framed that...I seem to recall him saying that too. If I'm not mistaken...he also said that he had to provide the photos he signed. Whereas at MuscleTech, where bodybuilders gave out their photos for free, both the booth and the photos were supplied by MuscleTech. Lou's booth was supplied by Joe Weider...but not the photos themselves.
The way I see it, Lou probably made a few grand a weekend from expos + had his travel expenses paid. He probably also got some royalties for Hulk-related stuff, but I don't see Lou making more than $500,000 a year. That's basically $10,000 a week, and how much money do you make selling autographs in a line that no one is in? I have no doubt that Lou was wealthy and successful [especially if he saved his money], but I don't think he had a net worth of $50+ million or anything.
On the high end, I could see him banking $10 million - if he was good with money and all that [which, from what I can tell, no one is].
