Plague of Strength

Lately, I’ve been accidentally stumbling across a lot of apparent firsts without any intention of doing so, and passing them along seems like the right thing to do (these have already found their way to social media). I happened to find Weider’s cheesecake (the female-centric version of “beefcake,” though without the heavy homosexual overtones) chick first, and it was only because it was the very first photograph of male bodybuilders of that era that actually listed the woman’s name. From there, I got curious, because I saw quite a few other publications with chicks on the cover, butt they were noticeably missing from the covers of both Strength and Health and Your Physique. In any event, here are two early female lifters featured on bodybuilding rags during a time period most people think women were entirely absent from the lifting scene- and the newsflash, they’ve been in the scene since the start.

Of note is the fact that neither of these chicks is in any way jacked, which is not indicative of the state of female physiques at the time. There were a ton of vaudeville and burlesquer performers who were gymnasts by training, so they rocked big biceps, strong backs, and tight-as-fuck bodies. I would guess that in their desire to sell to the mainstream, all of the magazine publishers focused on the cheesecake broads (like the mags did again in the Noughties with the inimitable Trish Stratus and Monica Brant, among others, in lieu of the true hardbodies of the day.

The first female lifter featured in a bodybuilding publication (at least insofar as I could find) was Martha Tempest (b. Georgia Edna Knowlton 1875-1946), wife of the winner of the world’s first international bodybuilding competition, Al Treolar.  Martha and Al spent 1903-1907 touring vaudeville, performing a 12 minute strongman act in three scenes, twice a day, six days a week.  They were married over 50 years, until her death, and they were both avid lifters throughout.

Interestingly, although it took Weider 11 years to get a chick onto the cover of one of his mags, Bernarr MacFadden (the guy who invented the entire industry) had chicks on the covers of his magazines almost exclusively, so it’s possible that Edna Tempest wasn’t the first- just the earliest one with the raddest stage name.  The pic of her curling was featured in a 1900 publication of MacFadden’s Physical Culture Magazine, and the other photos came from her chapter (recommendations for women) in Al Treolar’s book on bodybuilding. And yeah, she’s literally throwing irons around in the preview pic.

Another fun fact: if you watch the video of the first bodybuilding competition (Conor Heffernan wrote a great article on the contest itself and embedded the vid), you will see the most perfectly developed man and woman in the world, of whom Al Treolar is one, and you’ll see they used the poses of Greek and Roman statues to display their physiques, which is an interesting choice.  Frankly, I have no idea how else it would have started but copying statues, but it had never occurred to me previously.

The hottie sandwiched between Mr Americas Steeve Reeves and Al Stephan is Val Njord, then the Miss Muscle Beach 1947, and she is the first woman to have ever been on the cover of a Weider bodybuilding magazine.  Called a “muscle and beauty contest,” the event was contested in from of 2000 thirsty-ass people, and Val parleyed her status as the proto-figure competitor into pretty decent fame as a pinup and burlesque star, which is akin to being seriously big on the Gram and Youtube these days (you don’t always hear about them in the mainstream press, but that doesn’t mean they’re not famous).

Val won other contests, but as no one seems to give a fuck about female bodybuilding, the fucking weirdos curating bodybuilding shit literally pretend chick bodybuilders didn’t exist at the very outset of modern bodybuilding and don’t keep those sorts of records.  I could ascertain from Muscletown USA that she ended up a secretary in Los Angeles, won a ton of beauty contests, and was lauded by Weider as being the perfect combination of beauty and brains. 

Additionally, I found the following snippet from a 1948 Strength and Health, which gives her dimensions for anyone curious about the size of an early female figure competitor.   And judging by the reception, she had the same kind of “did I just shit or cum?” that Trish Stratus had in the Noughties- I’d make a more recent comparison but I hate that weird painted Instagram face so goddamn much I’d rather cut their heads off and fuck their corpses than look at that weird shiny brown shit or remember the name of a broad who’s donned the face of a plastic fuck doll.

“Whistles filled the Shrine Auditorium when the Miss U.S.A. contest was announced. And no wonder because soon attractive damsels in form fitting bathing suits added charm to the large stage. Redheads, brunettes and blondes gave each other close figure competition but it took auburnish-strawberry-blondish (that’s the way her locks looked – though more on the fiery red side) – Val Njord to become the first Miss U.S.A. It was a slick decision for this delicious looking damsel.

I managed to work my way through the crowd that swelled around her swell chassis backstage to discover that Val is 20, weighs 115 for he 5 ft 5, has a 37 inch bust, waist 24, with blue eyes to offset her eye catching charm. She’s a premed student at the University of Arizona and swims, horsebacks and does calisthenics and other exercises for fitness. Running Val a close second was Walt Baptiste’s curvaceous wife Magana. Magana Baptiste is a form fitting brunette who follows her hubby’s body building principles. Ruth McCullah came in third place and has long been a Santa Monica Muscle Beach follower.”

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