Mighty Atom Superhero

Mighty Atom Museum Has Moved

2009-04-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Enter the new home and enjoy the latest updates to the Mighty Atom Museum

Keep Care of Your Hair

2008-11-11T11:51:00.001-08:00

Here are some unusual pieces from my collection: two of the Mighty Atom's hairpins and an unused label from his special hair tonic.

Atom's DC-3 Attempt

2008-11-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

This picture, from my collection, was taken in 1939 when the Atom attempted to pull a DC-3. Ed Spielman wrote "Having failed to get it moving, he enlisted the aid of five aircraft personnel who pulled on his arms to get the silver bird to break its station. Instead, they nearly broke his neck."

If you haven't read Ed's book, you will surely want to pick it up. It is wonderfully written and inspiring.

Shimshon Agibar

2008-11-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

When I was going through my papers on the Atom I found this copy of a poster that I made off of an original from his personal scrapbooks. The original must be from the late 1920's, as it refers to him as "The Modern Samson."

Contemplating His Next Gig?

2008-10-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

Another “Thinker Pose”- In leopard skin trunks and wrists bands the Atom perhaps sits contemplating his next gig.

Little Man with Tremendous Power

2008-09-24T09:23:00.001-07:00

This is the flip side of the 2 sided large Mighty Atom poster (front below).

It features pictures of his tremendous hair feats as well as him having two men bend an iron bar over the bridge of his nose and a prize fighter punching him in the stomach.

Both sides of the poster are in english and hebrew.

Smallest Strong Man in the Universe

2008-09-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

That's what the small print said about the Atom in this large two-sided poster.

National Health University President declared the Mighty Atom as the "Greatest Sensational Attraction of This Century!"

The poster also states "Featured over R.K.O. Vaudeville Circuit at $3000 Weekly Before Depression."

Atom the Human Hammer

2008-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is the follow up shot to the picture below. Atom's son Harry looks on as Joe displays his success.

Crowd Poses With Atom

2008-09-01T21:11:00.000-07:00

The crowd turns to look at the camera as Atom poses before driving a 20 penny nail through a plank topped with tin. His son Harry is holding the end of the board.

Medicine Man

2008-07-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting article from the Brooklyn Daily Times.

Atom talks about when he worked in Houston, Texas on the Wesley Blakely Ranch where he met an Apache Medicine Man who taught him “methods whereby he could build up his muscles and yet conserve his energy.” It states, “One of his maxims was “Keep your blood stream clear, see that you get plenty of oxygen and you will have a strong and healthy body.””

Hearty Handshake

2008-07-30T18:05:00.001-07:00

Not sure who this fellow is. He was apparently a strength athlete.

Notice that he is shorter than the Mighty Atom! Also note- his muscles have been highlighted artistically in an effort to make him look more muscular.

The Thinker

2008-07-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

The Mighty Atom posing as The Thinker, the Auguste Rodin marble and bronze sculture located in Paris.

Atom Performs At Stroud

2008-07-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

These are a couple of newspaper clippings from the Mighty Atom’s personal scrapbook, given to me by his son Mike Greenstein.

One article announces the Atom’s appearance at the Stroud Theatre on February 23, 1931. The other article reviews his amazing performance- highlighting his “toting four Chevrolet cars tandem 100 feet” then stating “it was a marvelous day.”

Atom Performs At New Delancey

2008-07-16T10:22:00.000-07:00

Another original playbill from my collection: This one is for The Mighty Atom’s appearance at the New Delancey Theatre on April 13-14, 1929.

While Atom changed his name from the Great Atom to the Mighty Atom as shown at the top, he never changed it in the text describing his feats.

#6 says, “Like Samson, the Great Atom possesses twice as much strength in his hair as in his arms, body and teeth. He bends a piece of steel 2 feet long and three-eighths of an inch thick, by an inch and a quarter wide, on the strength of his hair.”

Atom Flexes Bicep

2008-07-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

The Mighty Atom flexes his bicep for a vaudeville promotional picture.

International Health Association

2008-07-14T18:13:00.000-07:00

This is an unused copy of the Mighty Atom’s International Health Association’s letterhead, from when he was located at 1480 Park Place in Brooklyn.

Atom Stars At The Apollo

2008-07-12T15:40:00.001-07:00

On April 9-11, 1929, The Mighty Atom performed at the 1,788 seat Apollo Theatre in New York’s lower east side.

The playbill states that “He takes a piece of steel, a half inch thick by one inch wide and makes a corkscrew of it.”

As a means of drawing people into his show, he kicked off the event by giving an exhibition of his strength on the corner of Delancey and Norfolk Streets.

Supreme

2008-07-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

This piece from my collection is a playbill from The Magnificent Supreme theatre in Brooklyn. The Mighty Atom performed there on March 7- 8, 1929, for two days during the showing of a double feature, Naughty Baby and Beyond the Sierras. The Supreme referred to his act as both “Thrilling” and “Sensational.”

Where Oh Where Is His Hair

2008-07-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

This vintage photo of the Atom reveals something that I haven’t seen in any other photograph I own relating to him. Notice his forehead. Is that hair that has been torn from his head?

I’m not sure what happened or how it happened, but it is clear to me that hair is missing. Could it have happened from the planes? It is around the same time period. Maybe that is why he is posing like he is- to reveal how dangerous the feat was. I’m not sure, so for now I can only speculate.

Keys to the City

2008-07-02T21:52:00.001-07:00

Buffalo’s Mayor Schwab awards the Mighty Atom the keys to the city for his outstanding performance on September 28, 1928.

September 30, 1928

2008-07-02T21:43:00.001-07:00

This article was published two days after Atom held the Fairchild plane. It states “The Mighty Atom has a unique method. He uses a wire comb attached to his hair. To the comb attaches a heavy cable, connected with the object which tests his strength. Only recently, before amazed thousands, he appeared at Curtis Field, in Garden City, and there held back an airplane which had the motor going at full power.”

Mighty Atom Wins

2008-07-02T21:37:00.001-07:00

You can read the headline of the Buffalo Evening Times the following day after Atom held back the Fairchild.

Ed Spielman writes about this experience in his book, The Mighty Atom: “He had been disfigured. There could be little telling if the face had eyes or not. Skin that should have been on the cheeks was lifted almost to the forehead.”

Stopping the Plane

2008-07-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

The Mighty Atom performed one of the most dangerous stunts he had ever done on September 28, 1928, when he held this Fairchild FC-2 from taking off. It was a larger plane than the Winnie Mae, which he had held earlier that same year. The Winnie May was equipped with a Curtiss C-6 engine while the Fairchild was powered by the much bigger nine-cylinder Wright Whirlwind J-5. The J-5 produced 220 horsepower at 2,000 RPMs.

4 Ladies Give It a Pull

2008-06-30T17:30:00.001-07:00

The Mighty Atom frequently posed with people pulling on his hair. Here is yet another shot from the same photo-shoot as below.

Ahead of His Time

2008-06-30T17:22:00.001-07:00

Here are two more classic images from the same photo-shoot as below. The Mighty Atom learned quickly about the importance of a good promotional campaign and what would later be known as branding.

Summons

2008-06-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

This is the first advertise-ment that I could find where the Great Atom became the Mighty Atom. It is from his performance at the Halsey Theatre which took place April 26-29, 1928. His poster below from his appearance at the Ambassador, just one month earlier, clearly shows him being called the Great Atom.

This is a neat original from my collection. It was made to fold in half to appear as a Summons- which was printed across the back right side.

Jezebel

2008-06-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is another fantastic advertising shot from my collection in which the Mighty Atom is empathizing the fact the he had the world’s strongest hair.

According to his son, Mike, after this shot was taken Joe complained to his manager that the lady wasn’t wearing any panties, which he felt was to get his attention. Being a man of integrity, he demanded that she be removed from the studio. She was promptly released.

The Mighty Atom Has Arrived

2008-06-26T07:07:00.000-07:00

The Mighty Atom is here! From this point on Joseph was only referred to as the Mighty Atom.

This is an original copy of a vaudeville publicity shot from my collection. The Mighty Atom displays the strength of his hair by bending an iron bar as he is surrounded by vaudeville girls.

Again, note the fantastic attire that added so greatly to his stage performances. Circa 1928

Last of the Great Atom

2008-06-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

This is the last record I have of Joseph Greenstein using the name “The Great Atom.” This is a copy of a very rare original advertising poster from my collection. It is from his performances at the Ambassador on March 15-17, 1928.

As you can see the two biggest feats of Atom’s at the time seemed to be pulling vehicles with his hair and driving nails with his hands. Although he had not yet fully developed his act as a strongman, he apparently did more than enough to keep the crowds coming.

Great Atom Performs at the Stadium

2008-06-26T06:32:00.000-07:00

This is a copy of the playbill advertising the Great Atom's perfor- mances on February 27-29, 1928 at the Stadium Theater.

The Stadium was a Theater located on Chester Street in New York City. It was extremely popular during the age of silent movies. On the right side of the program is an advertisement for South Sea Love, starring Patsy Ruth Miller- a name few people today have ever heard of. The sad thing is that Patsy starred in at least 67 silent movies in the 20’s alone! It is my guess that the Great Atom performed between showings of her film.

Atom Pulls Fire Truck

2008-06-26T06:29:00.001-07:00

This is an excellent photo from the late 20’s of the Atom pulling a fire truck loaded with people, with his hair. Note his attire; studded belt and bracelets, wrestling one piece and the laced “strong- man” shoes- a trademark of many of the men of olde.

Believe It or Not!

2008-06-25T17:15:00.000-07:00

The New York Evening Post printed Josef Green's first appearance in the Believe It or Not! cartoons on December 12, 1927. Why Green instead of Greenstein?- I don't know. Some speculate that he didn't want people to know he was Jewish, which is ridiculous. The Mighty Atom wasn't afraid of anything. At least if he was, he never showed it.

A Stroll Through Town - Atom Style

2008-06-25T17:10:00.000-07:00

This is an old weathered picture of the Atom lending a tow in a casual stroll- backwards of course, for a crowd of onlookers. He would perform this tremendous feat for many, many years to come.

M.&S. Mt. Morris Theatre

2008-06-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

The Great Atom performed at the M.&S. Mt. Morris Theatre on September 9th-10th, 1927. This is a copy of the actual playbill highlighting such feats as driving a nail through boards with the palm of his hand, bending various pieces of steel and pulling three 7-passenger automobiles to name a few.

The introduction says, The GREAT ATOM is the name of the strongest lightweight man that ever lived in centuries past. He is without doubt the Samson and the marvel of the age. His feats of strength thrill and amaze...

The Great Atom

2008-06-25T16:34:00.001-07:00

In the early years Joseph fought in the ring under the name "Kid Greenstein." He did well as a pugilist, however soon traded fisticuffs for his interest in performing feats of strength. When he joined the ranks of the vaudeville professional strongmen, he was called everything from Little Samson to Tiger Man and the Great Atom- the name he kept until partway through 1928 when he settled on the "Mighty Atom."

One of his popular feats involved his thick, coarse hair. With the use of a comb and a rope, he would frequently pull vehicles through the streets as a means to advertise his vaudeville stage performances.

The Legend of a Super-Hero

2008-06-25T15:06:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the official fan site of the Mighty Atom- Oldetime Strongman, Super-Human and Super-Hero.

The Mighty Atom was born Yosselle Leib (Joseph Lewis), on July 15, 1893 in Suvalk, Poland. Due to illness it was believed by his family and doctors that the young boy would not live very many years. As a teenager however, young Yosselle met a man who changed his life forever. He taught him how to exercise, eat right and believe that he could accomplish things that ordinary men would think impossible. Soon Yosselle was fit and strong.

The Mighty Atom is a icon in strength circles. At 5'4" tall and 145 pounds he performed legendary feats of strength, and spoke wisdom that challenged men everywhere to be the best that they could be. This site is dedicated to his memory. Although long gone, his legend will never die.