Ok, this is it folks. I think I’ve found the hottest Victorian hottie of all. His name is Eugen Sandow, and he was dubbed by his contemporaries “The Perfect Man.” He was a Prussian-born Victorian-era strongman who spent his life touring the UK and the US picking up heavy things, putting them down again, and flexing his significant muscles. He is considered the first real body-builder, in that he trained specifically to develop his muscles to the classic Greek ideal proportions. Plus, the fashion sense! Love the gold dickey and patent leather belt.
Oh, but it gets better. I don’t even want to rewrite this because the Museum of London puts it so well…
“In his heyday in the late Victorian and Edwardian era, Sandow was a music-hall celebrity and an international sex symbol. On the UK music-hall stage, he stirred up an erotic frenzy akin to the impact of the Beatles on their female audiences three quarters of a century later. According to one 1890 newspaper account, when Sandow started his act, ‘semi delirium seized the delighted dames and damsels. Those at the back of the room leapt on the chairs: parakeet-like ejaculations, irrepressible, resounded right and left; tiny palms beat till…gloves burst at their wearer’s energy. And when Sandow, clad – a little in black and white, made the mountainous muscles of his arms wobble! Oh ladies!’ ”
I’m making parakeet-like ejaculations myself looking at these photos. I think this next one is my fave. How is that leaf adhered?
Some people have “Meatless Mondays.” Here at the Vicky A’s, we prefer “Beefcake Mondays.” For more info on this guy, check out this site by the Museum of London.