Extracts from
Professor Desbonnet's Memoirs

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The admirable Sandow became a considerable figure in his adopted country, England. In fact, this is the country where private initiative is greatly encouraged because it is the source of all wealth. This contrasts with the French state which constrains all individual initiative in the name of equality. One can verify what this results in. By comparing our Latin lands with Anglo- Saxon countries and America, anyone can judge where the truth lies.

Sandow came to England poor, but he was thereby encouraged, and the genius of this Dane from Schleswig-Holstein (mixed with Prussian strength) allowed him to earn millions of pounds sterling in the country which had welcomed him and made him a citizen. The companies created by Sandow caused the coffers of the United Kingdom to bulge with piles of gold, all the while propagating an excellent system and inventions which all had originated in France and for which the French state had been uninterested to the greater profit of the Bank of England.

First, physical culture; second, spring-grip dumbbells; third, globe barbells which were loadable at will; and fourth, rubber exercisers. These latter were invented by Carue, but were copied from the counterweight exercisers invented by Triat more than a hundred years ago; they were then improved by Pichery with the invention of tightly coiled springs so that one could work out in one's bedroom. All the English companies established to capitalize on these French inventions procured several millions for Sandow. And so when he looked back at his past life, he decided one day to revisit the scenes of his beginnings of those places where following the bankruptcy of a circus manager in Brussels, he was cast out onto the pavements.

Sandow was in a mood to make a sort of pilgrimage to the country that had taken him in, helped him, and put him on the right track. His engagement at the London Pavilion had ended because the theater closed his doors for the summer. Sandow extracted from his strongbox a thick roll of banknotes, left his sumptuous apartment at 32 St. James Street in Piccadilly, and set out on the road to Dover where he took the packet to Ostende, Belgium.

The weather was superb, the sea calm, and the handsome strongman had a magnificent trip on the Manx Queen. If memory serves, this was the very steamer which I took to England many times. Sandow was alone, but his tumultuous memories took the place of companions for him. As he smoked his excellent Havana cigar (he was an avid smoker) on the ship's bridge, he saw himself wandering, miserable, penniless and worried about supporting himself by the strength of his arms (but what arms they were!).

He rendered thanks to the Providence which allowed him to meet the men that he needed to at the right time: Professor of athletics, Attila, the sculptors Jef Lambeaux and Van der Stappen (thanks to Mr. Léopold, my father's Belgian friend, who had presented Sandow as a model to these two artists). This meant that from that time on, Sandow had a steady income, and he could construct the plans which would bring him worldwide fame.

Disembarking at Ostende, the athlete had a delicious meal of the famous prawns of the region, then he proceeded on to Brussels, the city of his difficult early days when he was twenty years old. With a well-packed wallet, he could contrast the easy life of today with the poverty- stricken days of his youth when he worked in the cafÈ-concerts in the rue des Bouchers.

How radiant Brussels seemed to him. The good and generous inhabitants of Brussels were happy and ready to assist him! It put Sandow in a euphoric mood to take his meals in the renowned establishments where in other days he could only gaze enviously at the satisfied people who consumed the lavish meals: the Trois Suisses restaurant, the MÈtropole on the Place de BrouckËre, the HÙtel de l'Esperance at the Southern Railway Station, etc. . . . He filled himself on faro and gueuse-lambic, regional beers which are good only in Brussels since they do not travel well. Theaters, concerts, luxurious restaurants punctuated his visit in compensation for that which was forbidden when he was twenty and destitute.

One morning he began his pilgrimage by going to the places where he had been unhappy. He hired a fine carriage with two horses on the Grand'Place and headed out to resurrect the past. First, he revisited the square where the circus was located prior to the financial ruin of its manager; then on to the Boulevard de la Senne where he lodged with Professor Louis Attila where he encountered weight-training equipment. Attila was then performing at the Eden Theatre with his Carue exercisers from Paris (which he had rechristened "Attila's Ideal Developer"); and to the athletic arena in which he was permitted to train in order to perfect his physique which already showed thepotential to win money and glory.

Attila's club had disappeared, and a storefront building replaced it. Sandow entered and asked permission to look around. This was granted to him. He explained to the shopkeeper the emotion which he felt in seeing this place once more where he had been alone, abandoned, and most of all, far from his family and his own country. The good Belgian was touched by these feelings. After hearing the story of his ill luck, tears welled up in eyes of the proprietor's wife, and the husband refused to accept the banknote that Sandow offered him. After leaving these fine people, the athlete ordered a superb bouquet from a florist and had it sent along with his card to the compassionate shopkeeper.

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With deep emotion, he once more visited the studios of the sculptors where he had posed for Van der Stappen and Jef Lambeaux. He also had the pride to see his statue, as vivid as it had been in his twentieth year, displayed in the court of the Brussels City Hall under the name of Saint Michael vanquishing Satan. Sandow posed as Satan, and its head is a marvelous likeness. As for the body, it is the perfection of human beauty. Everyone can judge for himself when in the presence of the statue. Sandow also posed for l'Ompdrailles by Van der Stappen, for The Robber of the Eagles' Nest by Jef Lambeaux, and in addition for numerous plaster casts of his body which are in the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels.

"Driver!" shouted Sandow after leaving the City Hall, "Take me to the Place Rouppe," and the two horses took off at top speed.

Place Rouppe! This was the final stop on his melancholy pilgrimage. It was there that having lost everything, Sandow was reduced to eking out a living by performing in the open air before the public. There, he exhibited his strength and acrobatics act which he had put on every evening in the circus. It was here that he suffered the indignity of an artist and since he was without means of support, he was forced to perform while relying on the generosity of passersby. Fortunately, the people of Brussels have excellent hearts, and what is more, they are very fond of athletic feats. The young man was able to gather up a bit of money and did not have to rely on anyone else until he was discovered by the sculptors who started him on the road to fame by using this incomparable model to produce the statues which were the glory of Belgian sculpture.

But, what a surprise! The spot that Sandow occupied years ago was taken by a family of open-air acrobats. The strongman got out of the coach and went toward these artists who awaited their pittance from the crowd's generosity.

Heavens, what could this mean? This handsome gentleman attired as an English lord whose coach waited at the corner of the square spoke to the head of the troupe. What did he want from him? Was he perhaps going to prevent these fine people from earning their daily bread honestly? No, not at all! The handsome gentleman shook the leader's hand and conversed with him cordially.

After learning all that he wanted to know, Sandow remained motionless. He understood that these artists needed to be helped just as he once had before Providence took a hand in the matter. Then after he threw a gold sovereign on the acrobat's carpet (something that had never fallen on it before), Sandow told them briefly of his remembrances and indicated to the astounded artist that the spot where he performed was that formerly occupied by Sandow. Then he added, "My dear friend, I will get back in my coach. I have seen everything that I wanted to see from twenty-five years ago. I should like to help you and give you a gift that will ease the existence of your interesting family but without humiliating you. When I return to my coach, I will take some banknotes out of my wallet, fold them, and beckon to you to shake my hand. You will come toward me, and in the palm of my hand you will find that which I should have like to have found thereómany years ago."

"No one will suspect the importance of my gift, but this evening when you are at home think of me. Drink to my health and to that of my family. Give your wife a bit of happiness; surprise her by bringing victuals and fine wines for your evening meal. May you succeed as I have done! This is the wish of a veteran who is today in a prosperous position after having been in poverty. I am in a hurry now, so farewell, for I am returning to England tomorrow before going off to the Orient."

Sandow got back into the coach, took from his pocketbook 100 pounds sterling which was worth at that time 2,500 francs. He gestured to the acrobat, took him by the hand and slid him the princely sum while saying, "Adieu." Then the Belgian coach took Sandow back to his hotel.

I think you can imagine well enough the return of the acrobat to his children, loaded down with food: pate en croute, excellent chops, coldchicken, mayonnaise sauce, pies, fruits, and bottles of excellent wineóall things that had never passed beneath his children's noses except in dreams.

Place Rouppe was the terminus of the strongman's pilgrimage; it was on this very spot twenty years earlier where he had encountered trouble, hunger, and despair. What a deal of soul searching he did while comparing what he had become with what he had been before. But what satisfaction to confirm that it was all thanks to his courage, his perseverance, and to the marvelous gifts acquired from Dame Nature (beauty, health, strength, and morality) that little Eugen Mueller became the great, the admirable, the brilliant, the demigod made human for the good of humanity. If Sandow knew how to profit from the example of his true benefactors, he will certainly become the "Amicus humani Generis." May his memory live eternally in the minds of men!

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THE SANDOW GALLERIES