Clancy Ross costars in this short. He was the first truly massive body builder and beat Steve Reeves (who went on the play Hercules in several Italian movies) in the 1948 Mr. USA contest.
I first met Clancy Ross in the summer of 1978 in-between semesters at California State University, Chico.
I had gone to Chico State to box (as well as get a bachelor's degree) and realized after one year there that I did not want to continue boxing but needed something to take up the slack in the physical fitness department. I then ran into an old high school friend who was a body building instructor at Clancy Ross' Mr. America Club in Walnut Creek, CA. Arnold Schwarzenegger had come by for the grand opening a few months before. I've lifted weights to stay in shape ever since, achieving some impressive results at times, though not to the level of Clancy Ross.
I remember Clancy saying that he had acted, mentioning "So You Want To Be A Muscle Man" and a commercial where he was shoveling coal into a furnace. He said he also had an offer to play Tarzan but turned it down and for good reasons that out of respect for Clancy I do not think are appropriate to repeat suffice it to say as an on-line biography of him states "He did not like the prospects of the Hollywood lifestyle and returned to his roots in Oakland."
Last Sunday, 32 years after I first met him I finally got to see Clancy in "So You Want To Be A Muscleman" after recently purchasing The (Complete) Joe McDoakes Collection on DVD. I watched it with one of his former employees, my old high school buddy mentioned above. We were both surprised at not only how good the Joe McDoakes short was but also what a laid back sense of humor Clancy had in this short and his surprisingly good acting. He was the highlight of the short.
Clancy could have gone a lot further in Hollywood had he wanted to but as it was he opened several successful gyms bearing his name leading many to a lifetime of physical fitness, this author included.
I first met Clancy Ross in the summer of 1978 in-between semesters at California State University, Chico.
I had gone to Chico State to box (as well as get a bachelor's degree) and realized after one year there that I did not want to continue boxing but needed something to take up the slack in the physical fitness department. I then ran into an old high school friend who was a body building instructor at Clancy Ross' Mr. America Club in Walnut Creek, CA. Arnold Schwarzenegger had come by for the grand opening a few months before. I've lifted weights to stay in shape ever since, achieving some impressive results at times, though not to the level of Clancy Ross.
I remember Clancy saying that he had acted, mentioning "So You Want To Be A Muscle Man" and a commercial where he was shoveling coal into a furnace. He said he also had an offer to play Tarzan but turned it down and for good reasons that out of respect for Clancy I do not think are appropriate to repeat suffice it to say as an on-line biography of him states "He did not like the prospects of the Hollywood lifestyle and returned to his roots in Oakland."
Last Sunday, 32 years after I first met him I finally got to see Clancy in "So You Want To Be A Muscleman" after recently purchasing The (Complete) Joe McDoakes Collection on DVD. I watched it with one of his former employees, my old high school buddy mentioned above. We were both surprised at not only how good the Joe McDoakes short was but also what a laid back sense of humor Clancy had in this short and his surprisingly good acting. He was the highlight of the short.
Clancy could have gone a lot further in Hollywood had he wanted to but as it was he opened several successful gyms bearing his name leading many to a lifetime of physical fitness, this author included.