Dan Lurie: Heart of Steel

This is part 3 on my series on Dan Lurie. We left off after the controversial 1946 AAU America's Most Muscular Man competition in Philadelphia.

Me: So what were your feelings about that show in Philly?

Dan Lurie: Disgust. Anger. Resentment. Revenge. Hoffman used me in the worst possible way and also used the bodybuilding audience. he promoted this event as though it would be a contest between Grimek and myself for the most muscular man award. That is why the audience came to see this show.

At Weiders Your Physique magazine, we got tons of complaints from fans who saw this event. They disagreed with what Hoffman pulled off. Of course in Hoffmans magazine Strength & Health, he made it appear as though it was the greatest contest in history.

First we wrote about this in Your Physique. We told the truth about the Hoffman event and this was supported by hundreds of letters from fans.

So I contacted Joe Weider and said we need to create a new bodybuilding organization and start promoting events that would be a alternative to the AAU and Bob Hoffman. I wanted to promote a rival Mr. America and America's Most Muscular Man that year (1946) in New York City.

Joe liked the idea at first. Then we found out that bodybuilder/promoter Walt Baptiste was going to promote a Professional Mr. America contest in California in September of that year. So Joe and I tabled the idea for 1946.

Me: Did you compete in the Pro Mr. America?

Dan Lurie: No. I was burned out especially after the Philadelphia scenario. Also the Pro Mr. America would be promoted by the AAU and controlled by Hoffman. I figured I would get ripped off again.

As it was Clancy Ross won the Pro Mr. America and Most Muscular. He also won the 1945 AAU Amateur Mr. America and most muscular. Finally York Barbell had lost his strong hold on winning this title. Clancy was great and the now created a new generation of great bodybuilding champions.

With fair judging, I probably could have beaten Ross for the Most Muscular man but not the overall. So I got an idea.

Through Weider, I got Clancy Ross's contact information, wrote to him and made the same challenge I made to Grimek. I told him how much I respected him and congratulated him on becoming the first man to win both the amateur and professional Mr. America titles and most muscular man.

Ross wrote back to me and was very polite. He respected me and knew about the Grimek challenge. Hell, everybody did. He knew that I had earned my titles and agreed it would be a good contest. His only concern was if it was being promoted by Weider and since I worked with Weider, could we guarantee fairness? I assured him it would and said a list of judges would be given to him. To assure no partiality, we would use bodybuilding judges and from around the country. He could also suggest judges.

Me: So what happened?

Dan Lurie: We needed a promoter. I couldn't promote it myself and Weider backed out so the contest never took place.

Me: That's a shame. Would have been a great contest. So what happened next?

Dan Lurie: Joe Weider drug his feet with running bodybuilding shows. His brother Ben was organizing events in Canada and they were doing very well. I told Joe that we could do the same thing in America. Owing my background of competing in AAU events, I knew American bodybuilders wanted a change.

Me: Where those contests Ben promoted the first IFBB contests?

Dan Lurie: No. The name IFBB had not been created yet. Bob Hoffman reported them in his magazine as "unsanctioned contests" which was true. They were not sanctioned by the AAU. Nevertheless, Ben destroyed the AAU in Canada. All the bodybuilders were switching over. They liked the idea of no weightlifting all day long. Pure bodybuilding contests and to be judged by bodybuilders. Not olympic weightlifers which is how it was with the AAU.

Me: And you wanted to do the same thing in America?

Dan Lurie: Yes and it would have worked as present time bodybuilding proves.

Me: So what did you do next?

Dan Lurie: I kept working with Weider. I was in charge of selling weights. Occasionally I would contribute to his magazine Your Physique. Then in 1947 I decided to promote a bodybuilding show and I applied for a AAU sanction.

Dan Lurie promoting Weider Barbells.

Me: Wow. I bet that was interesting!

Dan Lurie: It was. I wanted to promote the AAU Mr. America. They said someone else bid on it. I applied again for subsequent years. That got shot down. Then I applied for a sanction to hold the Most Muscular Man in America in 1947. The AAU said they could never sanction that again to anyone. So I applied for a sanction to hold the AAU Jr. Mr. America. Again got shot down. They said there were no openings until 1951 which was bs.

Then I applied for a sanction to hold the Mr. Eastern America and Mr. North America. I was told those events required holding olympic weightlifting with them. I only wanted to promote the bodybuilding. They didn't like that. And with the Mr. North America, that was an international competition so I would have to pay accomodations for international officials.

Finally we settled on a contest that I could promote that did not require simultaneously holding a all day weightlifting event with it. I had nothing against weightlifting except that would be a huge extra expence and very time consuming. Turned out, the AAU was having issues getting promoters to run events for that very reason.

But that was the least of my problems. The event was sanctioned by the metropolitan district of the AAU and all all prima donnas were there, Stanko, Terpak, Grimek, Hoffman and all of the local AAU officals. They were like the gestapo. I had no control over my own competition.

Me: Was it successful?

Dan Lurie: From the standpoint of audience and contestants, it was an unqualified success. Lots of great competitors, most the best in the AAU and we had a large audience. By far, the largest ever seen at a AAU contest. But I couldn't take taking orders from these guys. I laid out a lot of money to promote this show. Finally, they were telling me if I wanted to run this again, I would have to run it with a weightlifting event. I said no thanks. Wanted nothing more to do with these clowns.

Hoffman and his entourage were even counting heads. They wanted to know exactly how many spectators were there. And the exact of contestants. The way it was, I already paid the AAU a sanction fee, now they also wanted a percentage of the profits from ticket sales and entry fees. That was it for me.

Me: What did you do next?

Dan Lurie: First of all, the most important event of my life happened February 1, 1947. I married the love of my life, Thelma. Something funny happened that day too.

Me: Oh really. What was that?

Dan Lurie: I was packing weights that morning and dropped a 10 lb plate on my head. After the wedding I told my new wife, Sure I married you, that was because I dropped a 10 lb steel plate on my head and didn't know what I was doing.

Me: Hahahaha. Did she get mad at you?

Dan Lurie: No. She just laughed it off. After that,I met with Joe Weider and his brother Ben and said the time was right to promote a alternate bodybuilding contest. I told them we needed a name for the federation and suggested International Federation of Bodybuilders- IFBB. Ben and Joe both liked it and agreed to use it.

Me: So you created that name, not the Weiders?

Dan Lurie: That's correct. I decided to promote the IFBB Mr. New York State contest. It had a local title, but was more like the Night of the Champions Grand Prix. We had many of the top bodybuilders in America compete including former AAU Mr. America winners. And had the great Clancy Ross guest pose. It was a great show.

We attracted over 1,000 fans jammed into the Brooklyn Academy of Music in January of 1948. The lineup of competitors was great, but a small number. Hoffman blackballed me in his magazine. He warned that anyone who competed in this would be banned forever from the AAU. He even threatened to ban anyone from coming as a spectator.

Some of his local minions went around town and ripped down posters about the event. The night of the event, people ripped seat covers out of the seats and vandalized the beautiful Brooklyn Academy of Music. They put holes in the walls and even drove up on the sidewalks outside the auditorium. They were trying to make it so I could never run a show there ever again. And the BAOM was not happy. They wouldn't allow any bodybuilding shows until the 1960s when Weider promoted his shows there.

I was trying to take bodybuilding up a level, take it away from YMCA and High School Gyms where the AAU typically ran their events and promote it in a beautiful auditorium Hoffman was not just attacking me, he was attacking bodybuilding.

Me: That's terrible. What happened then?

Dan Lurie: Shortly after this, Joe Weider and I had a falling out. We were supposed to split profits from the sales of weights 50-50. Weider was taking 75% and then more and I was doing all the work! I couldn't believe this. I thought we were friends. Some friend!

So I started the Dan Lurie BB company the same way I started with Weider out of my basement. It was rough. Without the support of Weider and his magazine, but I managed to be successful anyway.

Then a few years later came the sealtest strongman in the 1950s. I enjoyed that.

Moving on. In 1965, I launched my magazine MTI which has been going strong ever since. In 1967, I began promoting shows again. Now I had a magazine. Promoted the Professional OPEN Mr. America with lots of cash prizes. That show rivaled the Mr. Olympia. We even had two of Weiders top boys, Harold Poole and Chuck Sipes who finished first and second. George Paine, who had been runnerup to Reg Park in the NABBA Pro Mr. Universe came in 3rd. Many of the regulars at Weiders annual September show also competed.

Me: Was this when you challenged Joe Weider top a posedown? And what was that all about?

Dan Lurie: It was right about that time. Weider saw me as a threat to his domination of bodybuilding in the New York area especially with my magazine and said some unkind things about me.

I knew Joe. We used to be friends and worked out together. One thing I knew was they had no real physique. The pictures in the magazine were air brushed. He was quite average and was billing himself as the "Trainer of Champions" I knew better so I challenged him to a posedown right at his own show. I said we could even use his own judges. I knew them all and was on friendly terms with them. I expected a fair outcome, but knew Joe would chicken out. He knew my ability to get in shape quickly and knew that I had the physique, he didn't.

Joe wrote some excuse filled article in his magazine. I embarrassed him. He knows I would have exposed him for the liar that he is.

Me: I remember you also had a challenge with Sergio Oliva and Arnold to be at your show.

Dan Lurie: Yes. I felt that Sergio got the royal shaft from Weider and since there was still much speculation at that time about who truly was the best, Sergio or Arnold. I wanted to promote it on a neutral basis. No Joe Weider or IFBB. The fans loved the idea.

Me: Who do you think was the best?

Dan Lurie: Sergio. He had such incredible genetics. Awesome bone structure and so much mass. Then that V-Taper. Amazing.

Sergio Oliva. 1972 Mr. Olympia

Dan Lurie with Sergio Oliva

It was a good idea but never came to fruition. Weider wouldn't allow Arnold to do it. If it was up to Arnold, I think he would have gone for it.

Arnold and Sergio at the Duncan YMCA, Chicago, IL. Early 70s

In 1971, I had a breakthrough year regarding my contests. Weider moved his offices form Union City, NJ to Woodland Hills, CA and he also moved all his contests out of NY. So I had a 4 year successful run with my Pro Mr. America contest. In 1971, I added a Mr. World contest. I billed this as this the only big show to be held in NY and it was.

In the America, Pete Caputo won. He was top ranked to win the IFBB Mr. America. In fact, he just finished 4th behind Ken Waller, Boyer Coe and Ed Corney in the IFBB Mr. America. He won my show beating Bill Grant, Warren Fredrick and Chuck Collras who finish 4th in the AAU Mr. America.

Boyer Coe won the Mr. World with Waller 2nd and Dennis TInerino 3rd. Sergio Oliva guest posed and brought down the house.

Now I had momentum and Weider knew it. He used every dirty trick to destroy me but I prevailed. The real showdown happened in 1973. I announced my annual Mr. America-Mr. World show well ahead of time. What does Weider do? He schedules his Mr. Olympia, Mr. America and Mr. World on the same time in the same city. He wanted to ruin me. I knew I was in trouble so I pulled out my secret weapon.

Me: What was that?

Dan Lurie - Steve Reeves. A friend of mine knew how to contact him. He was living in Switzerland at the time. I contacted him He agreed and we blew Weider away. Reeves is still the biggest name in bodybuilding. Even bigger than Arnold. My show outsold Weiders 3-1 Poor Tom Minchiello was the promoter for that event for Weider. They lost tons of $$$. But hey, I didn't invite this disaster. Just responded to it.

When Reeves walked out on stage with his wife along with my wife Thelma and myself, we had a huge screen showing Reeves from Hercules swinging chains, the applause was deafening!!!

Me: So up to this point, you were more than just holding your own with Weider?

Dan Lurie: Yes. My dad was a businessman and taught me a lot about how to promote and advertise. Weider was ok, but not in my league....then. Now it's a little different.