The Spell of Ai -
Joseph Greenstein, The Mighty Atom, pictured here at 5’/4”, 140 pounds and the celebrated World’s Strongest Man.
Entered into The Guiness Book of World Records and at last check still retains an exhibit at The York Barbell Museum in York, PA.
It seems unfair to mine information from the web and then regurgitate it as something original, so if you’re curious to know more about The Mighty Atom there seems to be plenty online.
This story is about firsthand encounters with the man you see here, only much older. Known only as The Mighty Atom to me and my brother, we encountered him many times at Root’s Farm Market and auction in Manheim, PA. Last seen in the early 1970’s.
Joseph (respectfully) was still every bit The Mighty Atom anytime he was encountered; still corralling we young whelps and delivering withering tutorials on the pitfalls of living, followed by a sagastic regiment of reform by “right living”.
Every performance started with “BOY’S!, come here…” in a booming voice that defied ignoring. Placing two glasses on his table and pouring one full of a clear liquid he would say “drink this”. Of course we would refuse, after which he confessed that it was acid in the glass, and we were right to refuse it or anything from persons unknown to us. Then he would drink it, fill the other empty glass and offer us again, only this time it was water and said we should drink lots of it.
There was something about that man back then and there is something about him now, since he has re-entered my sphere recently and seems to be carrying a message.
Requiem for the Marvelous
By the time we encountered Joseph he had passed the apex of his career as The World’s Strongest Man; although he continued performing in public, his income had likely dropped to the degree where The Mighty Atom was forced into the underground economy (if indeed he was ever anyplace other than the underground economy). That is why Joseph could be found at the market, peddling elixirs and taunting young men.
But now instead of the wide eyed, wonder struck boys of his youth, we were merely curiosity seekers only mildly interested and ignorant of his illustrious fame - it was time that The Mighty Atom could not overcome. But all else is ephemera to The Mighty Atom.
Mind over matter:
Joseph Greenstein was living proof of collapsing a wave form, thought preceding action, the willful manifestation of matter. His place within Strange and Unusual Places and The Spell of Ai is assured. All things being possible is the playground of such spirits and The Mighty Atom set out to prove just that. His feats of strength were not just extraordinary - they defied physics.
Among the photographs of his many exploits on exhibit with his travelling show was a scene depicting Joseph harnessed to a streamline locomotive, poised before an enthralled crowd of onlookers and cameramen. Whether or not the pull was successful is unknown to me; but many other feats were performed repeatedly, routinely, with validation and equally impossible - Joseph was an expert in the impossible.
If in the late stage of his career he suffered heartbreaking regret at the loss of his notoriety and influence he did not show it. Joseph Greenstein The Mighty Atom and World’s Strongest Man had a heart every bit as big as his reputation for the impossible.
He is kindred spirit. His message is one of marvelous wonderment, a selfless display of unconditional love in the strangest, awe-inspiring way. Peace through strength incarnate.
There is always, however, a heavy price to be paid to enter the portals of the unknown. Odin himself hung from the tree Ygdrasil, pierced by a lance just for the gift of poetry. The vision of Death is what led Joseph to pierce the vail of reality and gain the gift of spell. The world became his magic, it was the observer who cast the spell. That is the greatest feat of all, and the only trick needed by The Mighty Atom.
Brother From Another Mother
Last Word: as of this writing, Joseph Greenstein, The Mighty Atom, still resides in the Strongmanism Exhibit of The York Barbell Museum in York, PA., among his friends.