Memories of the Mighty Atom and other York Fair weirdness
A book tells about the Mighty Atom, a York Fair mainstay in the middle of the 20th century. Joseph L. Greenstein, aka the Mighty Atom, reportedly could bend stuff with his hands or his mind. Also of interest: Good old days at the York Fair were at least old.
Many York countians remember the Mighty Atom’s appearances at the York Fair.
Check that, one reader says: ” Just about everyone from York has a memory of The Mighty Atom.”
That quote appears on Yorkblog.com’s All’s Fair, which tells about a new book on Mighty.
When news about the book was posted on the YDR’s Facebook page, Dave Smith responded, all the way from Myrtle Beach:
“I remember the Mighty Atom very well. He was a strongman, albeit a ‘has been’. His old time pictures of him pulling a streetcar with his hair must have been from 1920 or before. I bought his book recently. I remember that he drove nails with his bare hands, and sold some kind of soap made from palm oil. He claimed that regular commercial soap was unhealthy, and even contained maggots. The best part was his arguments with his ‘wife’ on stage. They bickered, but Atom always won. What a character.”
Which brings us to some links of interest about this annual rite of late summer, the York Fair:
– The fair has discontinued Sunday church services, which were a rite of Sunday at York Fair for decades.
– People like to do this: Find out who played at York Fair the year they were born.
– Looking for more York Fair memories? Well, the YDR’s Remember oral history series has tons of them.
– Check out the YDR’s NewsVroom, a mobile digital classroom. Journalists will be there for pretty much the entire fair to show how we do our work in a digital world.
– And of course, you’ll have a chance to check out Bury’s burgers, the red sauce slathered burgers available rarely during the year but in abundance at the York Fair.
Other York Fair-related posts:
Teddy Roosevelt at the York Fair: ‘I know York county farmers are prosperous. Their barns are bigger than their houses’.
This York Fair mural is fading from sight .
Both Yanks, Rebs camped at old York Fairgrounds.
‘The lower she sank in her chair’.
