Book #22: “Arnold” by Wendy Leigh

Arnold

Wendy Leigh

 Released: January 1st, 1990

Book #22 complete for the year, “Arnold” by Wendy Leigh.  Pretty good book, I learn a lot about Schwarzenegger and his life with bodybuilding and successes later on.

This is an unauthorized biography, so I’ll share what I learn, but understand it might not be true.  I won’t share everything, but things I found noteworthy.

Here are the things I learned:

Arnold Schwarzenegger grew up in Thal, a tiny village on the outskirts of Graz in the Austrian province of Asturias.

Arnold’s father Gustav was every gifted musically.  He could play 6 different instruments, and excelled at the flugelhorn.

Gustav was one of 11% of Austrians who applied for Nazi membership when Germany took over in 1938.

Schwarzenegger translates to “Black Ploughman”

Arnold inherited the physique of his grandfather Karl.

Arnold was born at 4:10am on July 30, 1947

Arnold’s dad was not very supportive of him, and favored his older brother.

He always sought the approval of his father.  Something which never came.

His father would pit him against in brother.

Arnold would be sent away to his uncle’s house as a child.

At the age of 10, his biggest skill was drawing

They were impoverished, and could only afford meat as a treat on Sundays.

One of the highlights of his youth was when his family bought their first refrigerator.

Arnold’s brother used to pull pranks around town.  Arnold used to join in.

He looked up to Reg Park.

Arnold was initially shunned by the other bodybuilders at the Graz Athletic Union

He gave himself a goal of 5 years to the Mr. Universe, and everyone thought he was crazy.

Arnold took steroids at the advice of Kurt Marnul, a gym trainer.  He had been taking them since the age of 13.

He would get 3 injections a week of Primobolin and would take excessive amounts of Dianabol tablets.

The Athletic Union was closed on Saturdays and Sundays.  One day, Marnul arrived to find a window smashed.  Arnold confessed because he wanted to work out 7 days a week, and needed access to the gym.

Arnold was noted for his commitment to fitness, and soon gained acceptance in the Athletic Union, being noted for his humor and occasional jabs at others in jest.

He was never fully accepted by his father, who always attempted to dash his dreams of being a body builder.

Arnold took part in his first bodybuilding contest, at the Steirer Hof, Graz’s most elegant hotel.

On October 1st, 1965, Arnold began his compulsory one-year service in the Austrian Army.

He drove tanks in the Austrian Army.

Arnold won Junior Mr. Europe 1965

Arnold was locked up for 7 days in army jail because his competition entrance meant going AWOL.

Arnold pulled the “salt joke” on a friend he met.  He was asked how to achieve his body.  He instructed the friend to grind up some nuts, and mix it with one teaspoon of salt.  And to increase this every day for 30 days, so that by the 30th day, the friend would be eating 30 spoonfuls of salt.  He quit after day 17, and stopped trusting Arnold.

“Human beings essentially are divided between those who remain with the tried and true, resisting change or adventure, and those who have unlimited horizons, unafraid to risk the terror of the new. The first stay close to home for their entire lives, sticking to what they know and, better still, those who know them. Then there are those who sever ties, leave home, take chances, and pitch their tents far away from family, friends, and the familiar.”

“Ever since I was a child, I would say to myself, 'There must be more to life than this,' and I found that I didn't want to be like everybody else. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be part of the small percentage of people who were leaders, not the large mass of followers. I think it was because I saw that leaders use 100 percent of their potential. . . . I was always fascinated by people in control of other people."

“Strength does not come from winning.  Your struggles develop your strengths.  When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength….you must want to be the greatest.”

"As a kid I always idolized the winning athletes. It is one thing to idolize heroes. It is quite another to visualize yourself in their place. When I saw great people, I said to myself: 'I can be there.' "

"We all have great inner power. The power is self-faith. There's really an attitude to winning. You have to see yourself winning before you win. And you have to be hungry. You have to want to conquer.

"Good things don't happen by coincidence. . . . Every dream carries with it certain risks, especially the risk of failure. But I am not stopped by risks. Suppose a person takes the risk and fails. Then the person must try again.

You cannot fail forever. If you try ten times, you have a better chance of making it on the eleventh try than if you didn't try at all."

“What I am most happy about is that I can zero in on a vision of where I want to be in the future. I can see it so clearly in front of me when I daydream that it's almost a reality. Then I get this easy feeling, and I don't have to be uptight to get there because I already feel like I'm there, that it's just a matter of time."

“Arnia” is a nickname given to admirers of Arnold.  They worship the ground on which he walks, 

He spent some time training in Munich.  His pranks were legendary as well as his sexual appetite.  

He used to give joke information to other lifters when pressed for the secrets of his success.

When he first met Rick Wayne, he explained how he was going to make a million bucks one day.  Something that was seen in disbelief until he actually did so.

When asked about their life ambition, most body builders go “I want to be Mr. Britain, Mr. Universe, etc.”  Arnold would always respond “I want to be the greatest bodybuilder in the world.  I want to live in the United States and own an apartment block and be a film star.  Ultimately I want to be a producer.”

He had an affair with Dianne Bennett.

He met his hero Reg Park at a guest pose after a Mr. Universe competition.  Park was surprised to see someone as big as him, and told Arnold “One day you are going to be the best bodybuilder in the world.”, which was beyond exciting for young Arnold.

Young Arnold was described by Reg as “a very sharp and ambitious kid.  He had blinkers on.  He knew just what he wanted, and he went after it.”

As his name grew, there were rumors of bodybuilders themselves being homosexual.  Arnold worked to dispel this rumor while not mocking his fans.  

“I personally don't know of any competitive bodybuilders who are homosexuals. But, there is a lot of homosexual following around bodybuilding. Like when you go to a competition you will see them. And in gyms, like here, you will find homosexuals signing up to become members of the group so they can just watch you working out. Because we are to them what maybe some female sex symbol is to me. I mean I would love to watch Brigitte Bardot going to a gym and doing some bend-over lateral raises. A lot of people think we are homosexuals because we attract them. Because to them, you know, we are heaven.”

The author stresses that it overlooks a critical element.  British bodybuilding of the mid-60’s featured very broke people trying to make it big.  Arnold did well because he recognized the value of self-promotion and marketing.  Other bodybuilders would make compromises for money (ex. Since bodybuilding is essentially posing anyway, having someone pay you to take photographs of you for $1,000 in 1966-money was a great deal for someone who is broke and starving.)

Arnold came to America in September 1968, but had been planning it for a couple years.

At age 20, Arnold became the youngest Mr. Universe in the world.

While visiting South Africa, the author claims that young Arnold supported Apartheid.

Arnold as Mr. Universe was grossly misunderstood.  Some believed him to be all muscle, but he was quite intelligent in his own right.

Joe Weider helped set Arnold up for success, and helped him launch his American bodybuilding career.

Arnold wanted to leave England for America, but he did not have a visa.  Weider personally voucher for him, and called in a favor at the local embassy.

Arnold lost his first bodybuilding competition in American when Frank Zane defeated him at the 1968 IFBB Mr. Universe contest in Miami.

Arnold was known as “the only bodybuilder ever to come out on top when dealing with Weider.”

Arnold had an educational interest in the Nazi era of Germany.

He was always inspired by people of history, both good and bad.  He hated Hitler and disliked Nazi Germany, but conceded that Hitler, like others, made a mark on the world and history will remember him forever.

He moved to Los Angeles and trained with Vince Gironda before moving to Gold’s Gym in Santa Monica.

Arnold would sometimes faint or throw up from the intensity of his workouts in California.

He had an intense love of America, especially California.  The sunshine was a nice change from the cold of Graz.

“Arnold uses the principles of bodybuilding and applies them to the rest of his life.”

He settled in California at 22.

1970 was a huge year for Arnold.  He studied other bodybuilders, worked their routines, started a mail-order fitness catalog, and started a Brick Laying business called “Pumping Bricks”.

In the 1970 NABBA Mr. Universe contest in London, he completely outdid his mentor and role model, en route to a huge victory.

When Reg’s son moved to California, Arnold would drive an hour and a half every Friday to take him out to eat, catch up with him, and make sure he was eating properly and give him money.

He left London immediately after to fly to New York, and then on to Columbus, OH, where he met Jim Lorimer.  He entered the Pro Mr. World competition and won.  He had a knack for future planning, and told Lorimer that one day he would retire from bodybuilding competitions, and would manage one.  This planted the seeds for the Arnold Cup, held each year, and paying out $150,000.

The Pro Mr. World competition gave him an interview with ABC, and greater exposure.

He won Mr. Universe, Pro Mr. World, and Mr. Olympia in the same year.  He would never lose a bodybuilding competition again.

The author suggests that Arnold would make racist claims about being stronger than blacks people, and that he would talk about Nazi things with Jewish people.  It was seen more as part of his elaborate jokes and boasting than actual hatred of others.

Arnold’s brother passed away instantly after getting drunk and slamming into another car.  His family waited, but he never showed up for the funeral.

Arnold had a dark side to people who mistreated him.  He was unforgiving at times, but he has never fully revealed what pains him over his family.

He found out he was the godfather to his brother child after he passed away.  He made sure the child was taken care of as he grew up.

Meinhard started off life as the golden child and Arnold was the black sheep.  But due to hard work and perseverance, Arnold made something of his life, while Meinhard fell deeper and deeper into alcohol abuse.  The author notes that later it was known that he had a criminal record and had done some bad things.

Gustav Schwarzenegger died, and Arnold did not attend his funeral.

Arnold’s ex Barbara Outland commented after their relationship ended “Arnold is the most goal-oriented person I have ever met.  Whatever he does must be useful to him in some way, in the direction of whatever goal he has set.”

Lucille Ball caught Arnold on the Merv Griffin show, and coach him on acting before setting him up with acting lessons to star in movies.

Acting intimidated Arnold, especially coming from a bodybuilding world, but he sought the challenge of overcoming it.

He was given acting lessons by Eric Morris.

To understand how to be a star, he admired Elvis, and studied Muhammad Ali.  He even read Ali’s biography by Wilfred Sheed.

Apartheid was lifted in South Africa to allow the IFBB to hold the Mr. Olympia contest there in 1975. 

He retired there at the age of 28.

George Butler had initially found Arnold to be touchingly unsophisticated.  “There were just a lot of things he didn’t know.”

Pumping Iron propelled Arnold to stardom.  

He dated a woman named Sue Moray.  They dated under the condition that it would be an open relationship, but when they were in LA, they would be exclusive to each other.

He led a double relationship in the late 1970’s.  Sue Moray on the West Coast, and Maria Kennedy Shriver on the East Coast.  Though as time went on, Maria became more and more involved with him, and it pushed Sue out.

While in New Orleans for the Sprink-Ali fight of 1978, Arnold and Maria were eating Mike High Pie when he shoved her face in it.

Arnold became involved in the Special Olympics in the 1980’s

He graduated from the University of Wisconsin in November 1979 with a degree in general business.  His specialty was the international marketing of physical fitness.

While dating Maria Shriver in the 1980’s, one of the things they worked around were respect for each other’s politics.  Shriver, much like the Kennedy family, was liberal, where Arnold had been a strong conservative since age 18.

Maria once said, “Arnold has specific opinions on issues that he really thinks through and supports by facts.  Listening to him, I learn how the other side thinks.  Before him, I never really knew a Republican.”

Arnold once said “The advantage of being a liberal is that you’re open-minded.  And they [the Kennedys] are.  There’s no animosity.  I never argue politics with Maria because I totally understand that for her to be a Republican, having grown up as she did, would be very unusual.”

By 1980, Arnold split his time between film roles, and being a Mr. Olympia commentator for CBS.

Arnold won the 1980 Mr. Olympia contest, in an event named “The Comeback.”  He only trained for 8 weeks, where the others had trained all year.

The 1980 Mr. Olympia was marred in controversy because the judges were almost all friends of Arnold.

Arnold learned a great deal about acting from Jayne Mansfield.

From Mansfield, Arnold learned, “…you have to establish yourself in an area where there is no one else.  Then you have to create a need for yourself, build yourself up.  While their empire goes on, slowly, without their realizing it, build your own little fortress.  And all of a sudden it’s too late for them to do anything about it.  And they have to come to you, because you have what they want.  Because you’re stable and your films always make money for the producer or the studio.”

Starting in 1932, Robert E. Howard wrote 21 Conan the Barbarian stories.

“Sometimes you have to do what frightens you.”

Conan the Barbarian made Arnold an International Star.  Instead of just being a bodybuilder of yore, and now arrive the international star, businessman, art connoisseur and man of property.  He finally made it.

Arnold became an American Citizen on September 16, 1983, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

“In Europe, people will have a million reasons why you will never make it.  Americans have such a wonderful history of growth.  When I came here to America, it was like heaven.  It was the most pleasant experience I’ve ever had.  All the great things have happened to me since I came here.”

“That's why I came to this country. America is known for being a country of opportunity. When you come over here as a foreigner, this country is heaven because there is no one here that creates obstacles for you to hold you back from making money.”

He had a great admiration of Ronald Reagan, and gave a speech at the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984.  

Actress Brigitte Nielsen was seen as Arnold’s female doppelgänger.  Similar drive, ambition, and lifestyle.

They had a wild affair in Europe after shooting a movie together.  Arnold pushed his luck with her, and it was only a matter of time before the American press found out.  While he was massively attracted to her, he disliked how she just dumped her son off, and was wildly unpredictable.

In 1985, while promoting Commando, Schwarzenegger set Stallone as his competition and began a war with him for who was the bigger action star.

Arnold set up Nielsen with Stallone.  When he suffered a heart bruise during Rocky IV, she was at his bedside 24 hours a day.

He and Maria were married in 1986, and had a transcontinental marriage as he lived in California and she had her career in NYC.

As early as October 1989, he was considered for Governor of California (Something he achieved in November 2003.

Maria announced her pregnancy in May 1989, and Arnold was excited to have his own “Schwarzenshriver”.

Arnold often goes back to Austria, and the author believes this is his reminder of just how far he has come.

Very good book.  Recommended.

On to Book #23: Patricia MacLachlan’s “Sarah, Plain and Tall”.