Biographies

Alexander Zass, The Original Modern Samson: The Toughest Man on Earth (c. 1930s)

Conor Heffernan

Much to my own shame, we have yet to discuss Alexander Zass on this website. Known as Samson for much of his stage career, the following footage, taken from Pathé, shows Zass performing some typical strongman feats from the early twentieth-century.

What I love about this is that not only do we get a sense of Zass’s strength but we also get a flavour for what the early strongmen shows consisted of.

Enjoy!

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Published by Conor Heffernan

Conor is a Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Ulster University. When not in the library or the gym, he likes to try his hand at writing, often with mixed results.

4 thoughts on “Alexander Zass, The Original Modern Samson: The Toughest Man on Earth (c. 1930s)”

    1. Hi Sh Imran,

      I have yet to cover it but Eugen Sandow had advice on how to perform these feats of strength. I’ll hopefully get around to it soon. Do read Chapman’s work on Sandow as he discusses how some strongmen would use weak chains or tricks to do this

      Reply

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