YorksPast

The Mighty Atom artwork by Cliff Satterthwaite

Cliff Satterthwaite painted this scene of The Mighty Atom during one of his free shows at the York Fair. The painting was based upon a sketch Cliff did, on-location, during the 1968 York Fair; as shown in my post: The Mighty Atom entertained at the YORK FAIR for over Five Decades. Cliff nailed the scene perfectly, with all the photos of Joseph Greenstein, “The Mighty Atom,” performing various feats of strength hanging in the background.

The Cliff Satterthwaite artwork was used with his permission.  Cliff lived in York County, PA, from the mid-1950s to the early-1980s, creating a host of artwork, with much done live on location.  He has a book available containing nearly 400 images of his artwork from that time period;  e-mail contact is  monsterart4grani@aol.com

I’ve received five comments on yesterdays post about The Mighty Atom; four were about Finger Ring Mementos crafted by him at the York Fair. This comment by Brenda Ness is typical:

I saw a bent nail in my Mothers jewelry case years ago and asked why’s that in there? She told me The Mighty Atom made her that “ring” years ago at the York Fair. Interesting to know more about him.

Carol Frey and Nancy Becker e-mailed me similar stories. I also was reminded that my cousin Betty Bentzel had several of these rings. The Mighty Atom would take a 60-penny nail and bend it with his bare hands to craft a precisely sized finger ring as a memento for the recipient.

The fifth comment was about the induction of Joseph Greenstein, “The Mighty Atom,” into the Strongman Hall of Fame, located within The Weightlifting Hall of Fame, which sits along I-83 north of York; next to the York Barbell Company. Ted Smith told me that when The Mighty Atom was inducted, one of his sons told a story about when he was in elementary school. The teacher was asking students what their father did for a living, to which his answer was bite chains in half. The teacher asked him to be serious and to stop reading comic books; he replied he was serious. The next day his father came with him to school, took a chain, bit it in half and placed it on the teacher’s desk; telling her “now you’ll believe what my son tells you.”

Related posts include:

• The Mighty Atom entertained at the YORK FAIR for over Five Decades
• Cliff Satterthwaite artwork drawn at YORK FAIR
• Bingo Banned at YORK FAIR; Cliff Satterthwaite explains his Artwork
• Handwriting on the Walls of Stonybrook Mill and more Artwork of Cliff Satterthwaite
• Numbers Game at the YORK FAIR
• 75 Years Ago, Joe Bury sells Four and a Half TONS of Hamburgers at the York Fair
• Bury’s in Springettsbury Township was not just Hamburgers
• Animals Run Wild at YORK FAIR
• Birds Eye View of Original York Fairgrounds Site
• York Fair Grounds Particulars from 1877
• The Great Potato Chip Battle; Martin’s versus Utz
• Freedom Train within the York Fairgrounds
• College Football Games were played on the York Fairgrounds during the York Fair
• Red Lion Fair ran 8 Days in August of 1924