Aug 29, 2012

The Mighty Atom


Years ago, at the Allentown Fair, as one would push through a sea of carney delusion, tucked back by the 4H animals, was an island of reality. There, in an old battered truck, an ancient Jewish strongman performed incredible feats of strength, to sell only homemade kosher soap. Standing on a platform on the rear of his truck, flanked by photographs from his performing youth, he would bent horse shoes and bite through nails. Many years earlier, my mother as a little girl in Bethlehem, saw him pull a truck uphill with his hair. Even as an old man, like a reincarnation of Samson, his grey hair was still long.
In the summers of 1964 and 1965, myself and a friend,(Fred Schoenk, retired Allentown art teacher) made and sold printed tee-shirts at the fair. We had the honor to know Joseph Greenstein(The Mighty Atom) and his wife. For those interested, there are various articles on the Mighty Atom and even at least one book. Enjoy the fair!

reprinted annually during the fairweek

4 comments:

  1. your no Jewish strongman Molovinsky, your a pussy putz.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bill, i never purported to be a strongman, now please go back to your hate blog. occasionally i print one of these hate messages, which i receive with almost every post, to allow readers a glimpse of this a-holes hostility. he's responsible for most blogs being moderated in the valley, and many ceasing to publish altogether. among his victims are local law enforcement, the local judicial system, the newspaper staff, clergy, college professors and deans, and numerous others. on his blog he will now say that i'm a racist and a hater. unfortunately, it seems that our laws on cyberstalking have not keep up with criminals like him.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MM, He taught my grandfather how to roll his "six-pack" which he did into his 90's. I also had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife, in the 60's. Your story brought back memories. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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