Blue Plaque for Victorian Body-Building Supremo, Eugen Sandow
Body-builder extraordinaire and health and fitness pioneer, Eugen Sandow, is to be commemorated today (16 February 2009) with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at 161 Holland Park Avenue, London, W1, where he lived from 1906 until his death in 1925. By this date Sandow was already famous, thanks to his legendary music hall performances, world tours and constant self-promotion. He had established his Institute of Physical Culture, and extended his commercial empire by marketing a wide variety of associated products. In 1905 Sandow had acquired British citizenship and whilst living at this address he continued his transformation from strongman to respected Edwardian businessman and promoter of the nation's health and fitness. The plaque will be unveiled by Chris Davies, Sandow's great-grandson and proposer of the plaque.
Very little is known of Sandow's early years. He grew up under the name Friedrich Wilhelm Müller in the region of Königsberg in East Prussia, though the latest research suggests that he was adopted, and that his origins may have been in the remote borderlands of Poland, in an area called 'Sudova'. He left Prussia in about 1885 in order to avoid military service and – already accomplished in wrestling and gymnastics – he probably joined a group of travelling performers. In 1887 he came to the attention of the renowned Brussels strongman known as Professor Louis Attila; accompanied by his new mentor, Eugen Sandow, as he now became, set out to tour the low countries. His biggest early success, however, was in London.
In 1889 Sandow made his first appearance on a London stage, when strongman Charles Sampson challenged Sandow to match the feats of strength performed by his pupil, 'Cyclops', at the Royal Aquarium. Sandow successfully completed the weight-lifting, chain-breaking and iron-pipe bending trials set by Sampson; the defeated strongmen left the stage in a huff – whilst Sandow was cheered back to his lodgings in Leicester Square. Now a London sensation, Sandow went on to complete a sell-out season of performances at the Alhambra. Feats such as his finale act, 'Tomb of Hercules', in which he balanced a board upon his shoulders carrying not only weights but also his manager, left audiences awe-struck. Sandow's celebrity was enhanced by Henry Van der Weyde's studio photographs of him striking a variety of poses, the most memorable of which captured him clad only in a fig leaf!
In 1890 Sandow undertook a three-month tour of Britain, appearing in Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle. He continued to dominate his field, and confirmation of his status was achieved in 1891 when he won the world championship belt. In 1893 Sandow made his appearance in America, dazzling the crowds at the World Fair in Chicago during a six-week run which brought in receipts of $30,000. Once again, he benefited from the attentions of a photographer – Napoleon Sarony of New York - whose nude studio portraits were widely circulated. Sandow spent much of the next four years travelling through America, performing in vaudeville and circuses, and even appeared in an ill-matched contest with a lion in San Francisco. It was during this time that he met and married his wife Blanche, with whom he had two daughters, Lorraine and Helen.
In 1896, Sandow, burnt out by the strain of such a hectic schedule, suffered a breakdown and returned to England. Recuperating in London, he planned to open his own gymnasium. Located in the heart of fashionable St James's, the Institute for Physical Culture opened its doors in 1897, offering a luxurious setting more akin to a gentlemen's club than a gymnasium; there were eventually several such schools in London. Sandow's commercial empire grew as he produced books – including the best-seller Strength and How to Obtain It (1897) – a magazine entitled Sandow's Magazine, health drinks and fitness products. The most popular of these was Sandow's Own Combined Developer, which included a chest expander, dumbbells and weightlifting apparatus; over a million sets were sold over the next fifty years.
Sandow devised the first major body-building contest, which was held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1901; the winner was presented with a gold statuette of Sandow himself. At about the same time, Sandow performed a new act at the London Hippodrome to chime in with the jingoistic atmosphere of the day: in 'Tommy Atkins supporting the British Guards' Sandow offered his body as a bridge for British soldiers to march across to the sound of 'Rule Britannia'. Sandow's more practical military contribution helped him escape anti-German feeling aroused by the First World War; as early as 1894 he had been invited to demonstrate his fitness and muscle control to officer cadets, and during the war George V's new Professor of Scientific Physical Culture trained thousands of recruits.
Following a succession of overseas tours to Australia, the United States, South Africa, India and the Far East – which brought him international celebrity, and new markets for his products – Sandow settled in London and capitalised on his mail-order business. His latter years were overshadowed by financial difficulties as the craze for physical culture which he had done so much to promote began to die down; in addition, his marriage was under strain. Increasingly weary, Sandow suffered severe bouts of depression, and was unwell for some months ahead of his death on 14 October 1925, there was nonetheless a great clamour to establish the cause of his death. It was claimed in the press that a blood vessel had burst in his brain, owing to the strain of lifting his car single-handedly out of a ditch some years previously. The official verdict was aortic aneurysm, but there was no post-mortem, and it has been suggested that he may have been suffering from syphilis. His distressed wife Blanche refused all contact with those wishing to know more about the death of her famous husband, and no gravestone was placed on Sandow's plot at Putney Vale Cemetery.
Sandow's great-grandson, Chris Davies, said: "I began my personal search for Eugen Sandow in 2003 by visiting all places in Europe called 'Sandow'. I am delighted that Sandow now has an English Heritage blue plaque in London, so that – I hope – his Olympian efforts in the world of health and physical culture will long be remembered."
Eugen Sandow is acknowledged as the founding father of body-building and his name lives on in the Sandow trophy annually awarded to Mr Olympia, the winner of the foremost world body-building contest. He was also an international celebrity, whose appearance strikingly differed from the heavy, muscle-bound strongmen typical of the nineteenth century. Considered 'the beau-idéal of athletic elegance', Sandow not only transformed notions of male beauty, but also popularised the practice of exercising for health and fitness across society.
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