Monte Saldo (1879 – 23 February 1949) (born as Alfred Montague Woollaston) was an early
bodybuilder
Bodybuilding is the use of progressive resistance exercise to control and develop one's muscles (muscle building) by muscle hypertrophy for aesthetic purposes. It is distinct from similar activities such as powerlifting because it focuses ...
who later, with his brothers
Frank Saldo
Frank Saldo (10 July 1882 – 1 June 1939) (born as Frank Harold Woollaston) was an early bodybuilder, and with his brothers Monte Saldo and Edwin Woollaston was a member of the strongman act '' The Montague Brothers'' in the early twentieth cen ...
and Edwin Woollaston, formed the stage act ''
The Montague Brothers
The Montague Brothers was a strongman act of the early twentieth century made up of the three Woollaston brothers, Edwin John Woollaston (1876-1918), Alfred Montague Woollaston ( Monte Saldo), and Frank Harold Woollaston (Frank Saldo). In the act, ...
'', in which they displayed acts of strength including supporting a heavy motor car complete with passengers. With
Maxick, he developed the
Maxalding Maxalding is an exercise system of ''muscle control'' using a form of isometrics. Books and pamphlets teaching the system were first published in 1909 and continued until Maxalding ceased to trade in the late 1970s.
System
The Maxalding system, li ...
system of muscle control.
Early years
Born in
Highgate
Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross.
Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisat ...
in London, the son of George Frederick Woollaston (1828–1896), a shoe manufacturer who was medically documented for having 19 inch forearms,
Methodist preacher and
faith healer, and Adelaide Mary (née Green) (1849–1923), a woman who stood well over 6 feet tall. Saldo was interested in
strength athletics
Strength athletics, also known as Strongman competitions, is a sport which tests competitors' strength in a variety of non-traditional ways. Some of the disciplines are similar to those in powerlifting and some powerlifters have also successfully ...
as a youth, and in his teens joined the London Weightlifting Club in
Regent Street in London.
From May 1895 he worked as a booking clerk for the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway
The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
at their office in
Brighton's
Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America.
Grand Hotel may refer to:
Hotels Africa
* Grande Hotel Beir ...
.
An uncle with connections in the theatrical profession arranged for the 18-year-old Saldo to be apprenticed to
Eugen Sandow
Eugen Sandow (born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller, ; 2 April 1867 – 14 October 1925) was a German bodybuilder and showman from Prussia. Born in Königsberg, Sandow became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. After a ...
in 1897. His first public appearance was at the Coliseum in Leeds as a demonstrator of the Sandow Exerciser. A fellow-apprentice at Sandow's gym was Italian bodybuilder Ronco, and having gained stage experience while helping Sandow in his act Saldo and Ronco decided to go it alone, creating their own strongman stage act. Billed as "Ronco & Monte", the duo first appeared in 1900 at the Cafe Chantant at
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...
. This was followed soon after by a tour of Europe; on their return to Britain they appeared for six months at the
Royal Aquarium
The Royal Aquarium and Winter Garden was a place of amusement in Westminster, London. It opened in 1876, and the building was demolished in 1903. The attraction was located northwest of Westminster Abbey on Tothill Street. The building was design ...
in London.
[
]
Strongman Act
In common with many strongman acts of the period, part of their routine was to offer money to any member of the public who could copy their feats of strength; no one was ever successful in duplicating them. Saldo and Ronco's appearance at the Royal Aquarium was so successful that their contract was extended, but when this came to an end they separated. Saldo then teamed up with his younger brother Frank Harold Woollaston, and the new strongman act opened at the Hippodrome
The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...
in London, followed by a European tour during which Saldo posed for the Dutch artist Jozef Israëls
Jozef Israëls (27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of the second half o ...
, who, impressed by his physique, painted him in a classical pose. During the tour the brothers appeared in Amsterdam, Dresden, Hamburg, Saxony, Prague and Paris, at the latter city regularly working out in the gymnasium of Edmond Desbonnet. On their return they appeared for a season at the London Pavilion
The London Pavilion is a building on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Coventry Street on the north-east side of Piccadilly Circus in London. It is currently a shopping arcade and part of the Trocadero Centre.
Early history
The first build ...
.[
In 1903 Saldo added a new routine to the act which was designed to draw in large audiences, during which he supported a heavy motor car in the "Tomb of Hercules" position. Having prepared and rehearsed carefully, on stage a ]Darracq
A Darracq and Company Limited owned a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he sold his Gladi ...
full of passengers was driven up a ramp and onto a bridge, where the ramp and supports were removed leaving Saldo supporting the entire weight of the vehicle and its contents on a section of the bridge. Later, the act was refined, with Saldo supporting the car on top of a ten-foot high revolving platform. This act was taken on another international tour, for which Saldo received the largest salary ever paid to a one-man strongman act.[
Monte Saldo weighed 144 pounds, stood 5′5″, had a 17″ neck, 45.5″ chest, 16″ arms, 13″ forearms, 30″ waist, 23″ thighs and 15,5″ calves. He could ]bent press
A bent press is a type of weight training exercise wherein a weight is brought from shoulder-level to overhead one-handed using the muscles of the back, legs, and arm. A very large amount of weight can be lifted this way, compared to other types of ...
230 pounds and was the first man in England to do a one arm swing with more than body weight, doing 150 pounds. He is credited with showing for the first time that the swing was best done with a dumbbell loaded unevenly, with more weight on the back end of the bell.[
]
The Sculptor's Dream
In 1906 Saldo refined the act even further, teaming up with his brothers Frank (now known as Frank Saldo
Frank Saldo (10 July 1882 – 1 June 1939) (born as Frank Harold Woollaston) was an early bodybuilder, and with his brothers Monte Saldo and Edwin Woollaston was a member of the strongman act '' The Montague Brothers'' in the early twentieth cen ...
) and Edwin, the three of them billing themselves as "The Montague Brothers", and performing a new routine called "The Sculptor's Dream".
The act was described by Alexander Zass thus:
"... a real strongman, and a clever weightlifter to boot was Monte Saldo, whose stage showmanship was best displayed, perhaps, in a turn which he presented with his brother Frank, entitled "the Sculptor's Dream," certainly of the most artistic and impressive of any ever given.
The curtain rose disclosing a sculptor's studio, with the sculptor at work on a reproduction of a well known classical statue. The figure was Monte himself, painted and garbed in an excellent imitation of marble, and behind him was a mirror, in which the statue could be seen reproduced. After working a while, the sculpture wearied, and concealing his masterpiece behind curtains, stretched himself at length upon a couch, soon to be ostensibly asleep. The curtains thereupon parted on their own account, revealing the statue in another classical pose, again reflected in the mirror. Then once more they closed, only to re-open and repeat their re-opening to revelation of ever fresh poses and reflections, until finally the statue and the mirror reflection confront each other in a famous wrestler's attitude.
A pause, and then the mirror crashing as the 'reflection' – brother Frank, to be more explicit – leapt out to grapple with Monte, and execute on stage a variety of wrestling postures. This unique opening was followed by a series of equally novel strength feats in which both iron and human weights figured, closured by Monte pressing Frank aloft with one hand, and a twirl round of the supported performer. This twirl, by the way, was very smartly done. As Frank leant back to be supported on Monte's palm, the lifter would interpose a revolving disc on which his brother's back rested. Thus when Frank had been pressed aloft, it enabled Monte to spin him.
At this juncture, the sculptor would commence to stir, whereupon both statue and 'reflection' would leap back and, resuming their original poses, thus satisfying the now awakened chiseller of marble that all which had transpired was actually nothing but a dream.
Monte Saldo was one of the few men who have enhanced a reputation made on the stage as a strongman by feats performed away from its atmosphere of glamour and make-believe. The first man in the world to 'swing' over his own bodyweight with one hand, and one of the most successful trainers of strong men ever known..."
''The Entr'acte'' said of this new routine, "An absolutely original athletic act is given by the Montague Brothers. Their performance is entitled 'The Sculptor's Dream' and provides the most original setting we have ever seen, being athletic and at the same time effective when it comes to feats of strength pure and simple. Their work is simply amazing." The sculptor was played by Edwin John Woollaston (1874–1918), the duo's older brother.
Later years
Later, with William Bankier
William Bankier (10 December 1870 – 4 September 1949) billed as 'Apollo, the Scottish Hercules', was a strongman stage performer who in 1915 and 1919 was also 'King Rat' of the showbusiness charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
Early year ...
, who at this time was a wrestling promoter known professionally as Apollo the Scottish Hercules, Saldo opened the Apollo-Saldo Academy in London, which attracted many of the famous lifters and wrestlers of the day, including George Hackenschmidt
Georg Karl Julius Hackenschmidt ( – 19 February 1968) was an early 20th-century Estonian strongman, professional wrestler, author, and sports philosopher who is recognized as professional wrestling's first world heavyweight champion.
Hack ...
, Ferdy Gruhen, Maurice Deriaz, Zbysco, and the winner of over 1,000 contests and Lightweight Wrestling Champion of the World, gold and silver medalist in the 1908 Olympics, London born George de Relwyskow
George Frederick William de Relwyskow (18 June 1887 – 1942) was an English sport wrestler who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for Great Britain.
Biography
Born in Kensington in 1887, the son of immigrants from the Russian Emp ...
. In 1909, as a result of the success of the Academy, Saldo became a founder of the Maxaldo method of exercise system of muscle control along with German strongman Max Sick (Maxick) (a name created from those of the founders, Maxick and Saldo). The name was later changed to Maxalding Maxalding is an exercise system of ''muscle control'' using a form of isometrics. Books and pamphlets teaching the system were first published in 1909 and continued until Maxalding ceased to trade in the late 1970s.
System
The Maxalding system, li ...
, and the postal course was sold into the 1970s.
In 1914 Saldo published a book, ''How to Pose'', which had a great influence on athletic, aesthetic and muscular posing. He was also active in organising the British Amateur Weightlifter's Association, (BAWLA) and was a Committee member for professional weightlifters.[
Largely self-taught, Saldo was an accomplished musician and was fluent in several languages. His wife Florence Annie Woollaston ( née Bryant) (1878–1941) was killed during a bombing raid on London during ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and Saldo and his daughter Florence were seriously injured. His youngest son Charles was killed during the invasion of Europe
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
in 1944.
Monte Saldo lived in Hythe
Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to:
Places Australia
* Hythe, Tasmania
Canada
*Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada
England
* T ...
in Kent during his later years, and died on 23 February 1949 at The County Hospital in Ashford in Kent aged 70. In his will he left £249 13s 4d. He was survived by his daughter Florence Theresa Montague Wilson (née Woollaston) (1907–1990) and a son, Frederick Harold Courtlandt Woollaston (1910–1983), also known as Court Saldo.
References
External links
Saldo on the Maxalding website
Article on Monte Saldo in ''Iron Game History'' – January 1992
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saldo, Monte
1879 births
1949 deaths
English bodybuilders
Professional bodybuilders
British strength athletes
Music hall performers
British entertainers
People associated with physical culture