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What a great comment. It is a comment we hear all the time. It is also a statement that has been banging around in the back of my head for the last eight months. I heard someone say it when we wrapped up at the end of last year's Atomic Athletic Great Black Swamp Olde Time Strongman Picnic.
Here is the truth.
It is only history for the people who were there. That is, unless someone makes a record of it for those who were NOT there.
Why is this a big deal?
Have you ever tried to find out what an old Vaudeville strongman did in his act?
I am not talking about a stage poster with a list of the feats of strength that guy may be famous for, but something equivalent to a theater script. Even newspaper reporters would not write down everything a strongman would do in his act, feat by feat, with time indications.
There is a good reason for this. It would be incredibly boring to read. Only someone who studies these things would be interested. We have something better today. It is called film or video. A good deal of video footage is now on the internet as well, but the internet is a double edged sword.
Did you know that you can practically document the cultural revolution of the 1960's ona minute by minute basis, but right now you can't find record of many of the speeches made in the last Presidential race? It's true. They went straight to a web site. Now many of those web sites are down? They are gone and some of the newspapers don't even exist today.
Think about it. The Vaudeville strongmen of the 1890's didn't have film footage. Movies hadn't been invented yet. They have an excuse.
My video library is a reference tool that I refer to again and again, just like my collection of books, photos and posters.
How about you?
Live strong,
Roger LaPointe
