Monte Saldo

Monte Saldo (1879–23 February 1949) (born as Alfred Montague Woollaston) was an early bodybuilder, who later, with his brothers Frank Saldo and Edwin Woollaston formed the stage act The Montague Brothers, in which they displayed acts of strength including supporting a heavy motor car complete with passengers.

Born in Highgate in London, the son of George Frederick Woollaston (1828–1896), a shoe manufacturer, Methodist preacher and faith healer, and Adelaide Mary (née Green) (1849–1923), Saldo was interested in strength athletics as a youth, and in his teens joined the London Weightlifting Club in Regent Street in London. From May 1895 he worked as a booking clerk for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway at their office in Brighton's Grand Hotel.

An uncle with connections in the theatrical profession arranged for the 18-year-old Saldo to be apprenticed to Eugen Sandow in 1897. His first public appearance was at the Coliseum in Leeds as a demonstrator of the Sandow Exerciser. A fellow-apprentice at Sandow's gym was Italian bodybuilder Ronco, and having gained stage experience while helping Sandow in his act Saldo and Ronco decided to go it alone, creating their own strongman stage act. Billed as "Ronco & Monte", the duo first appeared in 1900 at the Cafe Chantant at The Crystal Palace. This was followed soon after by a tour of Europe; on their return to Britain they appeared for six months at the Royal Aquarium in London.

In common with many strongman acts of the period, part of their routine was to offer money to any member of the public who could copy their feats of strength; no one was ever successful in duplicating them. Saldo and Ronco's appearance at the Royal Aquarium was so successful that their contract was extended, but when this came to an end they separated. Saldo then teamed up with his younger brother Frank Harold Woollaston, and the new strongman act opened at the Hippodrome in London, followed by a European tour during which Saldo posed for the Dutch artist Jozef Israëls, who, impressed by his physique, painted him in a classical pose. During the tour the brothers appeared in Amsterdam, Dresden, Hamburg, Saxony, Prague and Paris, at the latter city regularly working out in the gymnasium of Edmond Desbonnet. On their return they appeared for a season at the London Pavilion.

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