Mario Guaita-Ausonia and The Trio Ausonia

(These two postcards are circa 1908.)

Mario Guaita (stage name Ausonia) was a model (with two other strongmen, billed as the "Trio Ausonia") and silent movie actor in several films between 1912 and 1926 -- most notably the 1913 version of "Spartacus."

Some extra reading (if you're multi-lingual or can stand the gobbledygook that results from most on-line translators --

An article on the film history of Spartacus in the pdf file of "Antike im Kino" -- 'Spartacus – Männermuskeln, Heldenbilder oder: die Befreiung der Moral' starting on page 178 (but check out the other cool stuff as well!) (in German)

Silent Passion blog - Spartacus 1913 (in Spanish)

Sigmund Podolak

Postcard, circa 1935.

George Hackenschmidt - The Russian Lion

I collect pics of the turn of the (20th) century strongmen whenever I find them -- the classical poses they took are direct inspirations for the physique photographers of the 40s and 50s, and they were the men who created the base for the bodybuilding/fitness world we have today.

My favorite strongman was the Russian wrestler Georg(e) Hackenschmidt, the Russian Lion. Google him -- you'll find pages and pages on him. His autobiography, published in 1908 and kept in print for decades afterwards can be found scanned in its entirety here.

Born in 1878, he lived to the ripe old age of 90, passing away in London in 1968.

I think he's simply stunning.