CAINET CARD – CIRCUS STRONGMAN HARRY BLONDELL – SWORD BROS PHOTO
Cabinet card, 6 ½ x 4 1 /8, view of Harry Blondell, with his weights. Sword Bros, York Pa photographer;s imprint.
Harry Blondell, self-proclaimed "Strongest American Living,",  actual stage name was Harry H. Blondell, and his real name was Henry Krumholz.  He was born on March 16, 1872 in Wayne County, Michigan:  He was Jewish, and probably changed his name to avoid anti-Semitic bias. In 1894, at age 22, he joined  Cole and Lockwood Circus in Potsdam New York as the sideshow strongman. In 1897, he joined the the Irving Brothers Circus, and in 1901, he retired from the sideshow circuit and bought the Weaver House, a hotel and restaurant in Grosse Point, Michigan, where he "delighted patrons with nightly exhibitions of his powers...tearing telephone books, bending iron bars with his neck and folding nickels, dimes and quarters with his fingers. "  He died on July 8, 1936.
vintage typed id affixed to bottom of image, rubbing on mount surface along left side in background,  two Blondell ids on verso, along with ownership name, Overall Vg- Fine. cc cs 028 245.