| Kellie
Everts was pregnant. She was told she'd lose her figure
after the baby was born, and that wouldn't do. Kellie
planned on becoming a model. Later, even an actress. She
was counting on her body to get her there, as numerous
people were impressed with her body from the age of 13.
Kellie
tells her husband she's going to start lifting weights.
He lifts them daily. The man gives her a querulous look,
like,
"Oh,
yeah...what for?"
She examines
his weight set. He tells her these weights are heavy and
dangerous, and especially now that she's SIX MONTHS pregnant,
what's the point?
That is
exactly the point. She's not going get loose and flabby
and out of shape. She takes him for his word about his
iron set being too heavy and goes to a store in Santa
Monica. It's an IFBB affiliated place, and Dave Draper
is sitting in a sort of elevated place behind a desk,
toward the back. The kind gentleman who waits on Kellie
is rather startled by her. Whatever could this pretty
platinum blonde with a baby belly want? She tells him
she wants barbells because she's going to be in shape
after the baby. The man is amused and keeps calling Dave
to come over - because he wants Dave to see the pretty
lady. Dave would enjoy her. But not only does he stay
put, he won't even turn around. Kellie goes back to that
moment in later years amused by what she has learned about
Dave. He probably saw her when she first came in and was
afraid of THOSE UNDESIRABLE ERECTIONS. (Years later she
reads and sees with her own eyes that the poor boy gets
erections on the posing platform.)
Finally,
the salesman tells Kellie, that in good conscience, he
cannot sell her anything above 2 1/2 pound barbells. She
could hurt herself. Kellie buys them because she doesn't
want to hurt the man's feelings. This is a tender-hearted
woman. She then goes down the street to another store
and buys some heavier weights.
Kellie
comes home and starts to lift. She makes the husband guide
her through the moves. He discourages her all the way,
but she won't listen. At first she gets really sore, but
that's a good thing. And within a week, it's ole' hubby's
weights she's pumping.
Jump from
1964 to 1972. Kellie Everts begins entering contests.
She's in New York City, starring at the Roxy Burlesque,
42nd St. Going downstairs after a show, she looks in the
window of Tom Minichiello's Mid City Gym. It announces
a BEAUTY CONTEST - Kellie's obsession! It's for body building,
but the contests are fitness and beauty rather than muscles.
Kellie goes in and talks to Mr. Tom. He's receptive. She
was afraid he wouldn't want her, but he does. He tells
her whatever she has to know, and she's in.
This is
the show that gets it all started. Then Kellie learns
about Dan Lurie, publisher of "Mule Training Illustrated,"
who also puts on shows. Between these two promoters, she
wins four trophies in two years, one for Ms Body Beautiful.
But SOMETHING
IS WRONG WITH THESE CONTESTS. It doesn't take long for
Kellie to catch on. The men are the BIG BABAZEEBAS. The
women are treated like a side-show act. The men are taken
seriously. The women are not. They are second rate, like
just about all other areas of life women are relegated
to in the seventies.
The art
editor of Esquire magazine is looking for a muscular female.
It is 1974 and the staff thinks it would be a hoot. It's
Jean-Paul Goude's fetish - in underground parlance, the
"amazon" fetish. He wants them big, strong and
dangerous. Muscles, hair, whatever. Jean-Paul Goude starts
calling all the gyms in New York City. Tom Minichiello
tells him there is no such thing as a female body builder.
Dan Lurie tells him the only female body builder is Kellie
Everts. Jean-Paul asks,
"What does she look like?"
Dan says,
"Check out Muscle Training Illustrated... I have
a big article on her this month."
(It was the first muscle article on a female in one of
the men's muscle mags.)
Jean-Paul Goude likes what he sees. Kellie's got it all,
including his fetish for round buns. The contact is made,
Kellie is roped in and the article done. It is the first
time that a woman flexes, in two whole pages in Esquire,
showing rippling muscles (for that time) on a woman. The
entire article covers six pages and it's a sensation.
It's never been done before. Lots of radio show calls,
a Philip Nobile syndicated column, Mike Douglas, To Tell
The Truth, many local shows like Stanley Siegel (who uses
Kellie many times) and AM New York. Esquire has Kellie
do a tour of Washington, D.C. and she hits TV and radio
there.The article even goes overseas with the efforts
of Jean-Paul Goude. It is launched, sort of.

| One
of the pictures in the 6 page article in Esquire
July 1975, which was the beginning of Female Bodybuilding.
"Muscle And Grit, Religion And Tit, That's
What Kellie Everts Is Made Of." |
Click
on thumbnails to see the original VIVA MACHISMA! article
which appeared in
Esquire in July 1975 that started it all. Photographs
by Jean-Paul Goude.

Jean-Paul
Goude, This man was extremely important in the formation
of female bodybuilding. He and Kellie went over
the heads of the industry to establish the idea.
The idea did not come from the industry, which discriminated
against women and treated them as second-class material.
Jean-Paul Goude and Kellie got it into Esquire and
Playboy, and that's what it took. When Playboy said
the words: 'TO THE BARBELLS, GIRLS' - that was the
battle cry for what was to come. It was FINISHED,
or THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH. Kellie did not have
to say or do anything else. She did participate
again to some degree - but she did not have to.
Check all the records of female bodybuilding, and
you'll find it all starts after May, 1977, the words
of Playboy cheering them on. Fear was removed from
women at that point, and nature took it's course.
It had nothing to do with the promoters. The promoters
did their thing, as promoters do, and the industry
did it's thing, but it did not originate with them.
There will be more on John-Paul Goude in a future
article. |
| |
|
A
nationally syndicated column which resulted from
the Esquire article on Kellie and female bodybuilding.
|
Elle
magazine in France dedicated a page to the one and
only female bodybuilder in 1975. |
Click
on thumbnails to read the original full sized articles |
But nothing
more happens, so Kellie contacts Jean-Paul Goude. She
has a mission.
"WE
HAVE TO DO IT FOR PLAYBOY.... the body building idea isn't
moving.
"NO
WAY...they won't use it...it's too far out. I can do it
for OUI."
At that
time, Jean-Paul Goude had left Esquire and was the art
editor of Oui - a Playboy Magazine that closed down in
1978.
But Kellie
INSISTS it has to be PLAYBOY and nothing else. This is
kicking it up a notch.
Reluctantly,
unsure of himself, Jean-Paul Goude does the story. It's
Kellie in a gym with boys, and they watch her lifting
when her bikini pops off.
PLAYBOY
isn't sure. This is weird stuff. They tell them,
"We'll
pay you half, and if we use it, you'll get the rest."
As they
are holding the article, Pumping Iron comes out. It's
Arnold's beginning to fame. They think GREAT. "HUMPING
IRON."
|
|
|
Click
on thumbnails to see the original HUMPING IRON
article which appeared in
Playboy in May 1977. Photographs
by Jean-Paul Goude.
|
Historically,
put this in your notebook. The day PLAYBOY did "Humping
Iron" was the beginning of female body building as
we know it today. The article was not the FIRST - ESQUIRE
had done it already. But Esquire was not the BIBLE of
female beauty. Once PLAYBOY puts the imprimatur, the seal
of approval on this, that's it. In fact, they said as
much. To Kellie's chagrin, they kind of make fun of Arnold
again, saying lifting weights for women does not turn
their muscles into "Arnie's magic mountains."
So it's O.K.
(But
by making fun of Arnold, Playboy, for the second time,
gets Kellie into trouble. This time, it's the wrath of
Arnold on her. Last time it was the Ms Universe promoters
who sued Kellie after she said it was not a "true
show of beauty" and she challenges their contestants
to a contest "in the buff!" The promoters were
furious and sued her in Supreme Court and restrained her
from ever using her title, Ms Nude Universe!)
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|
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|
The remarks attributed to Kellie, published by
Playboy, could not have helped. They ridiculed
the contests, like Ms Universe, "which did
not take it all off and therefore, did not present
a true show of beauty." Kellie never even
spoke to them - was never interviewed. She shows
up to work one day in Manhattan (dancing) and
a reporter is waiting for her "about the
lawsuit." "What lawsuit?" She is
shaken. He says he needs a photo immediately,
in a bikini. In a state of shock, Kellie lets
him take the photo under the worst of lighting
conditions. He takes the ugliest shot of her she's
ever seen. She can't sleep nights thinking of
it. Not long after, she persuades an editor friend
to go into the files and destroy the photo. The
Ms Nude Universe Contest was so well publicized
by Kellie's presence (Playboy and front page Tattler)
that the following year they offer a prize of
$500. Kellie could use the money and decides to
enter. The promoters say to her, "We can't
let you enter because if you do, the other women
will drop out." The prizes Kellie got for
the great contest? It was a bottle of suntan lotion
- which was stolen - a necklace that cost $1.98
- and a bouquet of wax roses wrapped in tinfoil.
The MARKETING value to promote her dance act was
the value factor.
Click
on thumbnails for full sized articles on Kellie's
legal battle over title of Ms. Nude Universe
|
Kellie did not want to
make Arnold mad - again.
They had
a little run-in at the 1972 show. It turned into a love-hate
relationship which steamed for years. Kellie wanted to
be friends with Arnold, but he was so mad at her he wanted
vengeance. Then, things would come about not due to Kellie's
fault, that pissed him off even more.

1973
Mr. Olympia poster which Arnold, Kellie and Franco
(Arnold's best friend) appeared on together. Click
thumbnail to see full version. Notice the prize
money. |
They were
promoting the Felt Forum Mr. Olympia, Ms Americana show
in New York. Kellie went all out for publicity. There
she was, a picture in the Daily News, walking down the
street in a bikini with another female contestant. Arnold
made it know, something like this:
"Why
are they promoting the women when it is the Mr. Olympia
contest which is the most important!"
Then there
was the AM New York Show. What a disaster for Arnold!
What humiliation!
First,
the male contestants come out. (We are all promoting that
infamous Mr. Olympia Show.) OK, pretty good. What's next?
|
|
That
same day in September 1972 at the Brooklyn Academy
Of Music, Kellie posed with all the champions thereby
desegregating the posing platform. Franco made her
sit on the floor because Kellie, even with bare
feet, is taller than Franco. |
|
Kellie
Everts is on top right, next to the queen, with
her second place and "best body" trophies,
and on the bottom, left, with all the men champs.
Tom Minichiello, who we mentioned several times
in this book, is the baldy in the tan jacket to
the left of Ben Weider who is dead center below,
while Joe Weider is dead center above. (Joe looks
much better now than he did then!) |
They
bring Kellie out - the only female that does all this
stuff in those days.
Wow! This
was the first time television sees a woman like this.
She is voluptuous, large breasts, but EXTREMELY FIT. They
go so crazy over her, Kellie is embarrassed. The guys
now in the back, are glum.
"Wait
till Arnold comes out, our hero. They'll forget all about
Kellie. He'll restore our manly self esteem...it's us,
the guys, especially Arnold, who are the stars. What are
the women? How dare they put us in the shade....come on,
Arnold, restore our pride!"
Arnold
comes out. There is more SHOCK and FEAR than admiration.
Arnold poses. No, they have never seen anything like him,
but they don't know how to react. They are speechless.
Then Sandy York, a comedian, breaks the ice. He takes
off his shirt and flexes his puny body right near Arnold.
Everyone laughs and it is ruined. Instead of admiration
and respect, Arnold gets laughter.
They all
go back to the dressing rooms, and it's Kellie who gets
punished, not Sandy York.
"When
are we going to breakfast?" Kellie asks.
'NEVER!'
Arnold roars.
Kellie
cannot understand why Arnold is always so mad at HER.
She doesn't know yet what Arnold is really like. She finds
it hard to believe that Arnold would hold a grudge over
what to her seems like a small thing. Franco Columbu,
who is friendly, placates KELLIE. She would LOVE to go
out to breakfast with the guys and kibbitz, but it cannot
be.
|
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|
Arnold
was jealous of the Kellie publicity surrounding
the events. He spoke about it. It's noteworthy
that no one promoted Kellie. She did her own work.
Arnold had Joe Weider, an entire industry, backing
him up and promoting him.
Click
on thumbnails to see and read full sized articles
featuring Kellie.
|
Then the
big contest, where after, Arnold does probably the most
heinous thing to Kellie he ever did. Arnold wins Mr. Olympia
against ONE contender - Lou Ferrigno. Kellie wins two
trophies, second place Ms Americana and Best Body. Kellie
is joyous and at the end of the contest, the winners pose
on a large platform. Kellie has never seen the FEMALES
join the men for their "victory posing."
She desegregated
the show, in that respect, in 1972 (see images) and she
was about to do so again. Seeing Arnold on the far right
of the platform, she decides this is perfect. She will
get up next to him and pose. She summons her courage,
because this is not your usual routine.The other women
don't even THINK of doing these things. Up she jumps,
and begins her poses next to Arnold. Arnold seems totally
self absorbed and does not smile or look at her or greet
her. It's a cold, angry vibe. He is, for a few moments,
helpless. But he has a trick. A dirty trick, and this
trick proves Arnold is NOT a gentleman. What these guys
do when they pose in front of judges is they MANEUVER
where, with each pose, they push the other guy further
and further out of the way, until they hog the main view
to the judges. Arnold was a master at that. He hits one
pose, then another, Kellie following. But he inches toward
her every second, until she gets closer and closer to
the edge. Finally she is so close to the edge she will
either fall off or jump off. At that moment, the stage
lights go black. Arnold has knocked Kellie off the stage.
QUESTION:
Who said this, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini or Arnold?
"My
instinct was to win, eliminate anyone who is in
competition and destroy my enemy, and move on without
any kind of hesitation at all"
ANSWER:
Arnold, in Muscle & Fitness July 1997 |
|
| This
is an actual shot from the 1974 Mr. Olympia contest
where Kellie won two trophies and Arnold only one
(and that against the sole challenger, Lou Ferrigno,
who was actually more muscular than Arnold).
The
champions always pose on a platform at the end of
the show. Kellie jumped up on the platform to pose
next to Arnold. He muscled his way closer and closer
to Kellie with each pose until Kellie was forced
to the end of the winner's platform and knocked
off.
Original
photo by Karen K. Clark
HELL
HATH NO FURY AS ARNOLD SCORNED! |
 |
 |
Some
more photos of Kellie posing during the 1974 Mr
Olympia-Mz Americana, taken by Karen K. Clark.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Mz Clark, let
us know. We are looking for photos of Kellie posing
next to Arnold on the victory platform before
he pushed her off. Hundreds of pictures were being
taken - they have to be out there. |
|
|
Kellie
Everts wanted to be at the premier of "Pumping
Iron," but Tom Minichiello told her, (when
she called him the day after), "ARNOLD DIDN'T
WANT YOU THERE." Why was Arnold so mean to
Kellie? Was Kellie Everts haunting Arnold Schwarzenegger? |
As we
look back today upon the seventies, it is hard to imagine
what went on there. for those who are under thirty, it's
impossible. You can't imagine women NOT ALLOWED TO LIFT
WEIGHTS. That was the view in the days of Kellie.
You think the male body building establishment wanted
women lifting weights? They wanted bimbos, or maybe fit
beauty queens, to make them feel good and look good; women
draped around them, women admiring their muscles, women
as background and lounging about to make life more interesting.
The last thing men wanted was for women to develop their
muscles, flex, and pose side by side as equals.
|
|
|
Dan Lurie
had a great house with swimming pool in Long Island
and he got Kellie and some of his other bodybuilders
to pose there - just for fun. |
Soho
Weekly News was a significant paper from New Jersey,
which sent staff out for stories. Here Kellie is
pictured doing "the vacuum," a sort of
yoga-bodybuilding principle where you suck all the
air out of your stomach. Makes for great photos!
One of the guys taught it to Kellie & she loved
it. She also noticed that our great JAYNE MANSFIELD
used this principle for her superb photos! |
Click
Both Thumbnails To See Full Sized Images
Consider
this: What was the whole point of men lifting weights?
It was this - the lifters lift to look great and get the
women. The promoters make money from the idea that you
become Atlas, kick sand in the bully's face, and you get
the women. The promoters, barbell owners, equipment owners,
supplement sellers, pill pushers and the like, make money.
In those days, no guys got rich from bodybuilding. It
was all self esteem and pride. Some eventually owned gyms,
like Vic Tanney, and made money. There were the other
things mentioned, but on a small scale. Now picture this:
If men are no longer lifting weights TO GET THE WOMEN
then WHAT ARE they lifting for? It's all about that. If
the women are lifting the weights side by side with them,
and the women TURN INTO MEN, then that doesn't work. If
the lady looks as good as you, she isn't going to faint
at the sight of your muscles, so.....this idea, CANNOT
AND WILL NOT come from the brains of the male body building
industry because, in their minds, they would be DESTROYING
THE MOTIVATION FOR MEN TO LIFT WEIGHTS.
The promoters
cautioned women again and again that it was a no-no to
do bicep curls or God forbid, the most muscular "traps"
pose. Laura Combes incurred their wrath when she did double
bicep poses starting in 1979.
|
A
page from Dan Lurie's Muscle Training Illustrated,
depicting Kellie and Dan and one of the queens and
other bodybuilders talking and posing for a CBS
television show. Click on thumbnail to read the
original article. |
The industry
was trying to control and determine women's image and
behavior every step of the way.
In 1979,
Kellie was supposed to be in the IFBB Contest, where the
rules now moved toward more muscle. Maria Shriver told
Kellie,
"Arnold said you'd be there."
Kellie
probably would have won that contest because she was in
immaculate shape. This contest, the forerunner of Ms Olympia,
was the first time a black lady, Patsy Chapman, ever won
one of these things. (Black women NEVER entered body beautiful
contests because they didn't feel welcome....female body
building did many things for women, not the least of which
was that women who were not beautiful had a chance, and
women who were black had a very good chance, of being
champions. The rubric had changed. This is what desegregation
of bodybuilding was all about.) At this contest, the men
said,
"This and no more."
|
Click
on thumbnail to see full sized version of the Dan
Lurie 1975 WBBG Pro. It is notable that the editors
and promoters usually chose the pictures of Kellie
that featured her good-sized breasts. It is not
Kellie's fault that they did this - yet it is the
grounds on which catty girls and nasty boys continually
criticize her in regards to body building.
"Tits
and ass is all she was," they often say. But
there are good grounds for having good breasts.
People like them. Arnold likes them. Arnold even
said he was trying extra hard to have a really good
chest for himself - it was one of his favorite body
parts. So why the fracas? If breasts are a no-no,
why didn't these broads stay as they are instead
of getting implants? Many if not all of the Ms Olympias
got implants. It is said that unless you have a
decent set of breasts, you can't win the contests.
So let's stop the prudishness and hypocrisy, Kellie
says. Let's all now look in the mirror and admit
that we are obsessed with women's breasts. We were
all babies and drank milk from our Mother's breasts,
and we can't forget it.
|
|
|
Two
poses from the 1975 Dan Lurie "Body Beautiful"
contest, where Kellie was "guest poser."
Why so many cleavage shots of Kellie? She did lots
of different poses, BUT THESE WERE THE ONES THE
EDITORS PRINTED. Kellie never received any financial
rewards for anything she did in bodybuilding with
IFBB or WBBG. Nothing for winning, nothing for guest
posing, nothing for photos taken. The queen of '75
asked Kellie, "What are they going to do for
me now that I've won?" Kellie said, "Nothing.
If you want publicity you have to use the title
as a stepping stone, and you yourself have to do
all the work." The queen was never heard from
again. |

Sergio
Oliva holding Kellie Everts in 1975.
Taken the same day as the photos above.
Then,
they had the first Ms Olympia. There was one shapely,
sexy young lady there they spoke about. They said,
"She
is the ideal...we want that kind of woman."
Every
year, the promoters bitched about what they didn't want,
but the women had been LOOSED to do what they pleased.
They weren't AFRAID any more. It was like something rolling
down a slope. It just rolled and rolled, and gathered
moss, only in this case, muscle. Once women's fear was
loosed - by the PLAYBOY imprimatur - there was no stopping
them
Every
year, the men knew they were losing control because the
women got more and more like men. That was EXACTLY what
they didn't want. They wanted to hold onto the assumption
that only men could be that muscular. They said that they
alone had testosterone. THEN WHY WERE THEY ALL TAKING
MUSCLE DRUGS? The truth is, women, with the same drugs,
could do EXACTLY what men could do. This destroyed part
of the male supremacy factor. And get this: they tried
testing on men for a while. But white men, without their
drugs, couldn't compete with the African-Americans. Drop
testing. But the women - sure -keep testing the women!
This fact will knock off their jock straps: If muscle
drugs were not allowed, the bodybuilding champions would
be 99% black.
Kellie
Everts had done a terrible thing. She had put a spear
through the armour of men. The bodybuilding. establishment
would now punish Kellie Everts by PRETENDING SHE NEVER
EXISTED. If they ever did mention her, it was to prove
how unimportant she was, and that she had done nothing
at all worth recording in their precious body building
magazines.
But look
at the larger picture. Kellie Everts, the Avatar of Female
Empowerment, had pulled the sword out of the stone. She
had STRUCK HER BLOW. You cannot stop the infinite God
who decides and gives EXCALIBUR to whom She pleases. Once
the blow was struck, IT WAS OUT OF THEIR HANDS. You can't
stop the REAL HEROS - like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma
Gandhi and suchlike souls. Here these guys were PUPPET
HEROS, CARDBOARD FLIMFLAM, counting on ignorance and fear
to hold their own. Now a woman is given the sword of God
and strikes. It has nothing to do with them any more,
say what they will.
Now the
punishment. Bill Dobbins calls Kellie, in a retrospect,
an UNKNOWN BEGINNER, and praises Lisa Lyon, Rachel McLish
and others. Like he's this innocent Babe in the Woods
who never heard of her....right....and we'll sell you
a Bridge.
All these
rather silly articles are talking about Lisa being first
in Playboy (1980? Kellie was there in 1977) or Laura Combes
being first on Real People (1981) lifting weights (Kellie
was there in 1979) and whatever. These guys did not start
publishing bodybuilding books by women until Kellie Everts,
then Lisa Lyon, had their own books published By Leitner
Enterprises and Bantam Books, respectively. And by the
way, Bantam Books approached Kellie in 1979 but she couldn't
do it as she had other engagements. The chief editor told
Kellie after Lisa's book came out,
"YOU
HAD THE IDEA FIRST."
|
 |
Kellie
Everts holding a copy of her bodybuilding book,
The Ultimate Woman, in 1981. It was the first book
published on a female body builder with her name
on it. |
DID THE
WOMEN WHO....
God and
Kellie liberated, get the picture? No. These catty, self
serving creatures who came after Kellie were about themselves.
They wanted fame and fortune and ego joy. Each one competed
to knock the other woman out. They spoke of, "as
soon as we win the contests, have the industry representatives
waiting in the wings to do product endorsements"....".I
feel that I am the right woman to represent the industry."
Is this
what freedom was all about? Money, greed and ego? How
about sisterhood, self esteem, equality and empowerment...with
money at some point there, but not the preeminent factor.
KELLIE EVERTS MADE NO MONEY. It wasn't about money for
her. OK., she made a little money to survive on. But she
didn't get rich. If she had been a greedy, grasping, vain
bitch who thought the Universe centered around her because
she had the biggest muscles, she could have never pulled
the Sword out of the Stone.
The end
result of all this? The center of the body building world
- Joe Weider and his Empire - with all the other Empires
surrounding him - is small potatoes compared to the WORLD
STAGE. The concept that Kellie Everts birthed with the
mainstream media changed the image of women forever. Women
in movies and television, women in modeling, women in
the Olympics and sports, housewives and teenagers, girls
in school - all these women's lives and images were changed
forever. Now they have the right to be strong, aggressive,
and muscular. God has anointed them with power.
Click
on both images to see full sized original publications.
In May 1981 Vogue magazine needed a woman with a
powerful arm and shoulder. The only woman they could
find for this in New York City was Kellie Everts.
This photo was also used in the New York Times ad
for their article on fitness, May 7, 1981 (original
date clearly seen below). Photo by the famed Irving
Penn. |

TO
THOSE WHO CLAIM.....
that any woman other than Kellie Everts was the beginning
of female bodybuilding:
People
jump on a bandwagon you created and say, "I was first."
Prove you were first. Give us the dates and times you
were first. Show us the dates of the articles and the
tv shows you did to be first. If you claim you were a
muscle queen and Kellie only "tits and ass"
show us how you looked between "72 to "79. And
if tits are bad why are you all getting IMPLANTS? Some
catty females said Kellie was no good for bodybuilding
because she posed nude. Take a look at Lisa Lyon's "Body
Magic." What do you call those photos with nothing
on but bronze glow? What do you call those many articles
female bodybuilders did in Playboy and in bodybuilding
books and magazines? So what's the hypocrisy? If YOU were
the origin of female bodybuilding, not Kellie Everts,
then PROVE IT.
This
is also a challenge to the bodybuilding establishment
(Bill Dobbins and others, take note) which is writing
the HISTORY of female bodybuilding. Saying something is
true does not make it so. It has to be true. You print
WORDS but are your words TRUTH? After Kellie Everts' success,
many women came forward and became active in the field.
You guys promoted them, managed them, dated them and befriended
them. That's just ducky. It's great the gals came forward
as that was what Kellie Everts was fighting for: women's
right to lift weights, women's equality in body building.
But you can't just take one of your girlfriends and say
she's it and that makes it so. This is not one of your
contests where you can count the votes any way you want.
THESE
ARE FACTS PROVEN BY THE PUBLIC RECORD.
WHAT HAPPENED
TO THE
WOMEN OF BODYBUILDING?
After
Kellie Everts disappeared from the scene, the new women
took over. Was it a beautiful world, now that the doors
had opened up? Human nature is weak. It was the same-case
scenario as the men had been. Yes, women were smarter,
more reasonable, with lots more common sense. They didn't
eat raw liver and drink blood from the butcher store.
They did not follow the insane diet prevalent in those
days: all meat. Women brought sanity to bodybuilding,
and the men HAD to follow because they had to admit -
women were better.
In spite
of all this, there were problems. Kellie Everts watched
them, listened to them, interviewed them from the time
she was PUSHED out of the picture. What went wrong?
Each woman
now became, just like the guys had been, a Universe unto
herself. It was ego and greed. It was,
"I
am the greatest....no, I am the greatest....no, I am the
greatest"...coming from the lips of each one.
| WILL
THE REAL FOUNDER OF FEMALE BODYBUILDING PLEASE STAND
UP! To Tell The Truth, 1975. Kellie was teamed with
two other beauties to stump the panel. Where were
the Lisa Lyons then? |
It was
competition, not cooperation. Whoever dies with the most
muscles wins. It was GREED for fame and fortune. It was
LINE UP THE MERCHANTS FOR PRODUCT ENDORESEMENT, I AM THE
RIGHT WOMAN FOR THE JOB. Each year there was a queen,
a star. She would disparage, ridicule the ones coming
up that were more muscular. WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO PROVE?
(Don't they realize I am the ideal?) Rachel McLish was
there a short time, quickly eclipsed. Many names took
over, then the blockbuster CORY EVERSON reigns for years.
When she divorces her husband, who works for Joe Weider,
she also disappears from the scene, and even her endorsements
disappear. LENDA MURRAY appears, and reigns for years.
She asks WHY DOESN'T THE BLACK PRESS COME AFTER ME? (Aren't
they impressed? I'm the first black woman winning this!)
Each one is SELF ABSORBED, thinking the whole world revolves
around her. They don't see the big picture. Although these
winners make big money - Kellie made none - basically,
they are chewed up and spit out by the industry.
When Kellie
Everts jumped up on stage with Arnold and he pushed her
off, she did not do this for money. She did it for freedom.
When the women who came after her were told she was waiting
to enter a contest (in 1981, Caesar's Palace where she
picketed because they wouldn't let her enter) one of them
said on the radio, in the greatest contempt,
"Kellie
Everts posed nude, so she is disqualified."
Kellie
Everts went right to that radio station to fight back,
and her speech was so good, the host let her talk for
a half hour.
What is
wrong with this picture?
| Kellie
Everts being interviewed for thirty minutes over
the "A.M. Washington" WMAL A.B.C. Show
Wednesday, July 16th 1975. The Esquire article was
a major hit, which got Americans thinking about
women's bodybuilding. Kellie did a tour of Washington
TV, radio and meetings discussing the subject. |
The Sword
was not pulled out of the Stone for this. The Sword came
out for desegregation, righteousness and equality for
women. What COULD and SHOULD women have done to make the
world a better place? THEY COULD HAVE STOOD UP FOR WOMEN.
THEY SHOULD HAVE ATTEMPTED TO START THEIR OWN INDUSTRIES
instead of kissing the backsides of men who had them.
It was the same 'ole same 'ole. Kiss Massah, Yes Massah.
Fear Joe and the Big Wigs who run magazines, contests
and industries..... Too bad.
This is a limited situation. You MIGHT - just might get
something out of it, usually for a short time. Have you
sold your soul out - your ideals for the world and the
flesh?

| The
MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW IN 1975 was so PRUDISH that they
insisted Kellie bring a leotard, not a bikini. When
she arrived they said, "Didn't you bring your
bikini?" Someone RAN OUT to a store with five
sample bikinis, one of which fit Kellie. The men
couldn't understand muscles on women and reacted
in a bizarre fashion. |
Have
you bowed down for the kingdoms of the world and their
glory? Think about Martin Luther King, Jr. What if the
beleaguered black people, once freed up to some degree,
went only for the money of the white man? Wouldn't they
be just as guilty as the white man who oppressed them?
Prophets DIE for the freedom of their people. Their people
must be righteous when they get their freedom....not sell
out for material things. (There is nothing wrong with
prosperity. But the spirit comes before the flesh!)
What is
wrong with these women who came after her? THEY DON'T
HAVE THE SPIRIT, OR THE PANACHE. They do not believe in
self-sacrifice. They don't believe in working for free
so others can be freed. Oh, yes, they do make sacrifices,
FOR MONEY. But not for others. It's all about them. WHO'S
THE GREATEST? IS THE CATFIGHT THIS IS ALL ABOUT.
| Stanley
Siegel and Bill Boggs Shows featured Kellie many
times in the seventies, out of New York, for both
bodybuilding and Stripping For God. Bill Boggs later
was the producer of the "mighty mouth"
Morton Downey Jr. Show. He said to Kellie after
the show, "You were the toughest one since
I've been here." (See complete transcript of
that monumental show and pictures elsewhere.) Stanley
Siegel was the ONLY talk show host, out of numerous
spots Kellie did, who took her out to dinner! |


The
REAL PEOPLE Show, the start of Reality TV, had Kellie
Everts as their first featured story April 25, 1979.
She danced, preached, spoke to interviewer Fred
Willard,and LIFTED WEIGHTS. |
Fred
Willard was one of the dearest persons Kellie ever
met. He came to her apartment for the Real People
Show. Sarah Purcell was the Host, and George Schlatter
the producer. They loved Kellie Everts and ran her
story many times till 1984. |

 |
|
Lisa
Lyon and Kellie Everts were featured on Tom Snyder
in 1981. It was ironic that Lisa Lyon, who tried
to take Kellie's thunder away, was out muscled by
Kellie. In 1981 Mz Lyon was giving up. She was perturbed
that other women were more muscular than her and
she knew her days were numbered as the mouthpiece
of the sport. Kellie Everts had beaten Mz Lyon by
coming out with the first book on a female by a
female, but Lisa followed within three months. As
both were promoting their books they were invited
together for the show, to pose and speak. Kellie
wore a white bikini and white cotton dress, while
Lisa wore a red bikini and red satin party dress.
Lisa outtalked Kellie, but Kellie out muscled Lisa,
since she was in the best shape of her life. By
1981, both women had contributed all they could
for the sport. Others would now take over. But there
was only one first - Kellie. This is proven by the
facts. Whatever the self-serving bodybuilding industry
says, read this site and the facts speak for themselves.
The photo of Mz Lyon was printed in 1981 in a magazine,
and the photo of Kellie taken for her book, "The
Ultimate Woman," in 1980. |
THE STORY OF LISA LYON
The Tom Snyder Show, in
1981, New York, has summoned Lisa Lyon and Kellie Everts
to promote their books - "Body Magic," and "The
Ultimate Woman." Backstage there is chit chat. Kellie
tells Lisa that she got bodybuilding into Esquire and
Playboy. Lisa says,
"THAT WAS YOU?"
Kellie asks Lisa when
she started lifting weights. Lisa says,
"1977"
Kellie realizes that the
Playboy of May, 1977, "To the barbells, girls!"
is what got everything started.
Kellie then tells Lisa
that she had recently picketed the Caesar's Palace Show
where she was not allowed to participate. Lisa thinks
a moment and obviously has not computed this thing out.
She is now talking about the same show, and says,
"We had a woman picketing
at our show....she had won some tits and ass contests."
Kellie feels a pang of
pain. Lisa is talking about her. No other woman picketed
any contest but Kellie, and later, Kellie realizes Lisa
WAS as the Caesar's Palace Show as a commentator.
Since Lisa has now accused
Kellie of being no more than a "tits and ass"
contestant, Kellie thinks about the path of Lisa.
Mz Lyon won a contest
in 1979, promoted by the gym where she trained, Gold's
Gym, managed by her friend, Pete Grymkowsky. Bill Dobbins,
who was at this show, said that Claudia Wilbourn was more
muscular, but Lisa had a better PRESENTATION. She did
something like ballet poses, while Claudia did only muscular
poses. It was her presentation, not her muscles, that
caused the judges to pick Lisa over Claudia. MZ LYON DID
NOT WIN, NOR DID SHE ENTER, ANY OTHER CONTEST.
Lisa Lyon did promote
one contest, which is how Rachel McLish got started, and
apparently helped put together the Caesar's Palace Show
and it's coverage for television. She did a lot of publicity,
and Joe Weider and Arnold Schwarzenegger got her articles
and recognition. Arnold posed WITH Lisa Lyon, but he PUSHED
KELLIE OFF THE STAGE when she tried to pose with him.
By 1981 - two years later
- Lisa Lyon could no longer compete with the other women.
There were too many of them jostling for stardom, and
they were getting more and more muscular.
What did she expect - that she would be the most favored
forever? Life moves on. She complained bitterly regarding
this new muscularity, and said that women had spoiled
"her work" - the idea that she and a bunch of
lady friends of hers got together and thought of. In another
article, she said that she had "launched" female
bodybuilding.
The Joe Weider press,
as well as the puppet press of other bodybuilding magazines,
most frequently give credit to Lisa Lyon as the first
female bodybuilder. What nonsense! They are revising history
because Lisa was a team player, a friend of the Joe-Arnold
partnership. Kellie Everts won many of their contests,
but after getting into Arnold's "black book,"
she could not hope for support from Arnold or Joe Weider,
and she sure didn't get any. It's convenient to say one
of your friends, one of your team players, did it all
by herself. Sounds good, feels good, but is it TRUE?
Let's be logical. There
are two bases by which Mz Lyon could claim to be the first.
One, that she was the first woman to promote female bodybuilding.
A perusal of this site would show you in a few minutes
that Kellie Everts promoted bodybuilding for women in
the NATIONAL MEDIA all alone from 1975 to 1977. You are
not talking gym contests or backyard talk, you are talking
Esquire, Playboy, and many national venues. Anyone who
ignores this is sweeping aside the facts which are public
record.
The second basis why Mz
Lyon could call herself the first female bodybuilder would
be that in 1979, when serious muscle contests started,
that she was the most muscular. We just noted that Claudia
Wilbourn, as observed by Bill Dobbins, was more muscular
than Lisa, but Lisa won by presentation. Beside this,
there were other contests going on in 1979, like the one
mentioned in Sports Illustrated in Canton, Ohio. (See
article on this page) In that contest were three women
more muscular than Lisa Lyon: Cammie Lusko, Laura Combes
and Kay Baxter - who won the contest. In 1980-81 Kellie
herself kicked it up a notch and got as muscular as the
above - check the photo in this article and Gallery. Around
1980, Bev Francis entered the fray and she was the most
muscular of all. So how does this make Lisa Lyon first?
What was she first in doing? She wasn't the first to promote
it and she wasn't the first to be muscular, so how is
she first?
If anyone believes Lisa
Lyon was first, we'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.
Coming attractions: Kellie
Everts will soon put on this site her bodybuilding photos
of 1992 and she is planning a book for 2005: "Bodybuilding
for Lusty Seniors."
Watch Lisa Lyon coming out with her rendition of "Strength
Training For Horny Oldsters" within two years, and
saying she thought of it all by herself.
THE STORY OF 'BODY MAGIC'
It was all about Arnold.
Douglas-Kent Hall, the author of "Body Magic,"
describes how Arnold entices him to meet Lisa,
"She's fantastic!
"You've got to meet her."
Douglas-Kent Hall adds,
"An incredible appetite
for anything new, anything sensational, is a part of this
great bodybuilder's exceptional charm. Arnold's enthusiasm
can rise for a girl, a building he's considering buying,
a new muscle car--someone's Ferrari, the latest Porsche.
That day it was for Lisa Lyon.
" None of the odd
assortment of women I had met with him--starlets, flight
attendants, dancers, designers, or journalists--had ever
shown any genuine interest in bodybuilding....."
Arnold phones and asks
the writer /photographer if he can bring him to "see
her tape." She is able to fit in a little time for
them out of her busy schedule.
"Throughout the tape
Arnold kept up a continuous commentary. He was impressed
and full of praise...."
Mr. Hall talks about the
weirdness of female bodybuilding - like the Elephant Man
and the Siamese Twins....a freak show. But Arnold and
Lisa Lyon have him convinced.
Arnold started the praise,
Douglas-Kent Hall finishes it. What was a sub cultural
freak sport for countless years is now taken by Lisa Lyon
into a place of new dignity and integrity and art.
Throughout he has harped
about Lyon's femininity. She's only 5'3" and 100
pounds (probably can't beat you up, Mr. Hall) and has
soft hair and he would NEVER KNOW she's the woman up there
flexing her muscles on this tape.
Kellie Everts now has
a fantasy. Arnold has fallen in love with a new woman,
his latest sensation.
His enthusiasm has risen for BEV.
He brags about her to Douglas-Kent Hall and persuades
him to come over and see her tape. Mr. Hall does so and
is floored by a big woman that is almost as muscular as
Arnold. He starts harping about what happened to femininity.
Bev grabs Mr. Hall by the shirtfront and throws him against
the wall and barks into his face,
"Look, Douglas; you're
going to take pictures of me covered in nothing but metallic
paint, and you're going to write my book, and you're going
to shut up about this feminine crap, because I am a woman
and I am going to be whatever way I want to be, feminine
or not, and you're not going to say one word about it."

She puts the man down
and he needs to go to the bathroom real bad, but manages
to whimper,
"But you aren't feminine."
Then Arnold grabs him
in a headlock and snarls,
"What do you think
I got you over here for? Not to think about it, just do
the book. You be here tomorrow at 10 AM sharp and start
working."
As Arnold loosens his
hold, Douglas-Kent Hall has stank up the room......Kellie's
fantasy ends.
Preface over, the rest
of the book is about historical, archival type women of
the distant past - the strong women and anachronisms gone
by. Ms Lyon poses for a lot of exercise shots. The ones
that jump out at you are Lisa covered with nothing but
metallic paint.
Kellie Everts thinks.
It seems like all those who write the history of female
bodybuilding - Bill Dobbins, Charles Gaines, and now Douglas-Kent
Hall, are directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Should she
have been nicer to him?.....Naw.
THE STORY OF 'THE ULTIMATE WOMAN'
It was 1980, for the third
time, Kellie Everts decides to write her story of bodybuilding.
She hasn't been able to pull it together, but will try
again. She decides to call it, "Building the Temple,"
a reference to Our Lord's speaking of the body as a Temple
of God. She likes all things relating to God. She understands
religion. She sees how suffering leads to victory. But
she can't get the ideas right. What she CAN get right
are the pictures. She fasts and trains one to two hours
a day and starts taking pictures; some up on the roof
of her Brooklyn apartment, some by the Hudson river with
friend Nat Riesenberg, some taken by the manager of Woolworth's,
whose name she can't remember (they only took ONE nude
photo, and it was Kellie's idea, and at that very moment,
the man's wife walks in. She was very nice about it, and
the man was an angel, no pig at all.) She works very hard.
But alas, three months have gone by and she can't get
it together and has to go back to work - stripping for
God. She goes to Philadelphia and while there receives
a phone call.
A man will pay her $5,000.
on the spot to pick up and fly to Illinois because he
and his wife want to do a book with her - a bodybuilding
book. They saw her in Esquire five years ago, then on
Real People. It is Stan and Jan Leitner, an entrepreneurial
couple. Later they up the price they'll pay Kellie to
$10,000. She is thrilled with the entire thing and has
a new lease on life.
It is a wonderful experience.
Mr. and Mrs. Leitner have Kellie in their home, and set
up a weight
lifting system in their living room. She is also taken
to a gym often to train with a coach. She loves every
minute of it. Kellie rarely has any partners or helpers,
she usually struggles through things alone. This, to her,
is the gravy train. This is luxury. This is not work,
it's fun.
These beautiful people
make Kellie feel she belongs. They center some of their
lives around her for a time, because of the project. Their
little daughter Stacy, eight years old, admires Kellie
and she helps her exercise.
They also have a male friend, Ed, who resents Kellie.
He and Kellie are given to arguments because Ed doesn't
like strong women. They all go to a fancy eatery. Ed has
to leave and shakes hands with them all. When he takes
Kellie's hand he puts the squeeze on it. It's the same
kind of squeeze she has seen in a movie with John Wayne
and this big dork (set in Ireland where John Wayne marries
this man's sister), where the big dork who hates John
Wayne, tries to break his hand. This Ed guy begins to
squeeze Kellie's hand with all his might, but instead
of crying out she squeezes back. It begins to hurt, but
she shows no sign of this to him. Ed gets redder and redder
and is near heart attack range when Jan cries out,
"Oh, Ed, stop. You're
getting so red!"
When the Leitners find
out Kellie has a beautiful daughter, she is also flown
in to take part. It's a great book. The only thing Kellie
doesn't like is the wig. The super short wig is supposed
to make Kellie look more like a suburbanite rather than
a glamour doll. She hates it and thinks it spoils some
of the book, but she's still grateful for the opportunity.
One of the amazing things
about the book is that the Leitners paid to create a commercial
for television, and spent $16,000. in one week playing
this commercial on the Phil Donohue Show.
A psychic told Kellie,
"You will win. You will be called The Ultimate Woman.
You will laugh and drink champagne."
She tells this to the
Leitners and Stan orders a bottle of champagne. They drink
and laugh and now have the title for the book, "The
Ultimate Woman." It feels good to win.
Kellie
Everts reads the claim that Lisa Lyon "launched"
female bodybuilding
GAINES
& BUTLER - PUMPING WOMEN
Two
of the biggest names in the establishment of Arnold have
been Charles Gaines and George Butler, writer and photographer,
movie producers. They put together PUMPING IRON, the book
and movie, which got Arnold his start, and then, STAY
HUNGRY, which moved Arnold up a notch. Butler met Arnold
that fateful day (mentioned elsewhere) of September 16,
1972, at a body building show in New York.
This
phenomenal duo tried their hand at doing same for women.
Out came PUMPING IRON, The Unprecedented Woman, in 1984.
Then there was a movie. Kellie Everts heard about both,
but didn't bother. She knew she had been left out and
didn't feel the need to investigate. Someone told her
there was a photo of her in the book, and when she was
startled, the person said, 'Just a little picture at one
of the contests.'
Kellie imagined one of those thumbnails in the body building
magazines and didn't search.
Kellie
never saw the female version of Pumping Iron until October,
2004. Writing on the subject, she thought she might as
well investigate.
Why
did Kellie drop out of body building after 1981? Because
she had done her work and there was nothing left to do.
What could she do in an industry that now had numerous
women who could get as muscular as men and had full time
to work on it? Kellie was present FOR A LONG TIME. She
was there - in the spotlight - from 1972 to 1981. That's
nine years of effort. Lisa Lyon was there for about three
years. Rachel McLish, ditto.
OK,
so the industry axed out Kellie. That is, her legend,
her story, her accomplishment. She suspected Arnold had
something to do with it, but she couldn't quite figure
out how the pieces came together. Now she knew. If Arnold
told Gaines and Butler to leave the Progenitor out, then
that was the template the rest of the industry followed.
Arnold ruled, Arnold had influence. Nobody in the industry
dared cross Arnold - not even Joe Weider, who was no longer
just his mentor, but an equal partner. Kellie decided
the best way to heal the pain was to forget. Thank God
for letting it happen and move on. Move on she did - with
many stupendous, amazing and meaningful projects at hand.
(Explained elsewhere in the book, "I Strip For God.")
When
Kellie examined Pumping Iron, The Unprecedented Woman,
she jumped. This was the "third man," the "man
with one arm." She called out to God in jubilation
and thanks. God gave Kellie the Gift of Understanding,
and any mystery she had to know, sooner or later, was
shown to her. And what mystery is this?
Kellie
Everts HAD NO IDEA that this book would absolutely, and
without question, explain the influence of Arnold in her
story. It was TERMINATOR, who comes out in time to wipe
out the woman - the woman who gives birth to save the
human race. (She had only seen Terminator, for the first,
time, days ago! She found Arnold's macho roles unbearable,
but liked his soft roles as Mickey Hargitay... and as
the pregnant woman.)
It
was a relief, a joy, to read what the book did to her,
because IT WAS UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY AND THERE WAS CLOSURE.
The book starts out, to her amazement, at the contest
she was at: Ms Olympia 1980, where she saw Arnold for
the last time. She was given the frigid freeze at the
contest, but she endured. She scans through the photos.
There's ten pages of text and photos, and she is not even
in any of the backgrounds. She knows she had to be in
at least one background shot somewhere, but no. Then she
scans the text with a magnifying lens. No place there,
either. EVERY OTHER FEMALE IN THE CONTEST IS NAMED, but
not her. Then she thinks maybe its because of the muscles,
because she wasn't very muscular for that show. (Four
days of abstinence from food, entirely, had metabolized
the muscles it took her three months to build up. She
looked beautiful, but her definition was not there. It
snapped back, within a week, after she started eating
again. She has the photos to prove it...(see images)...)
|
|
PROOF
EVERYONE KNEW KELLIE WAS THE PROGENITOR OF FEMALE
BODYBUILDING: So Gaines and Butler had no idea
who Kellie was? They - like everyone else - received
this program for the first Ms Olympia, and there
is an excellent write up for Kellie, insomuch
as saying she's the one who brought it on. But
Gaines and Butler have their heads in the sand,
maybe because Arnold owns the Ostrich farm.
Click
thumbnails to see original pages from the Ms.
Olympia program 1980.
|
OK,
guys, whoever you are. Kellie is not mad at you for passing
her over as far as a finalist in this show. But now, Charles
Gaines talks about the shapely, voluptuous bodies,
"April
Nicotra and Lorie Johnston have bust lines and hips; nice
traditional hourglass shapes; Patsy Chapman, Corinne Machado-Ching
and Georgia Miller-Fudge....have these shapes too....
WHERE
WAS KELLIE EVERTS? If you weren't going to mention her
for muscles, you HAD to mention her for shape, because
Kellie was the most shapely and bountiful-breasted woman
there! Something was up.
Now
the history. They actually, for the first time in the
"industry" (for if they are partners with Arnold,
they are now in THE industry of body building) are telling
the story of the MYSTERIOUS APPEARENCE OF FEMALE BODY
BUILDING.
Kellie
imagines Charles Gaines, scratching his intellectual head,
in conference with George Butler and having been told
FROM ON HIGH NEVER, EVER TO INCLUDE KELLIE EVERTS IN THE
HISTORY OF BODY BUILDING.
So
how does Charles Gaines envision the birth of female body
building? If you look at the pictures, there are archival
photos stemming from the Greek legends of Amazon women
up to women of 1950 - nothing after that - and WHAMO!
There's the Ms Olympia contest, circa 1980.
Then
you look at the text and it is even more ambiguous. It's
something in the air. We breathe it, we sense it, we see
it, and then WHAMO! The Ms Olympia Contest! Here's how
he tells it:
...."it
had to wait for the last few years of the seventies when
ripening feminism and a worldwide craze for fitness combined
to produce a fashion that all but forced it to occur.
That fashion, like all fashions, a clear broth drained
from a rich social stew, consisted of the ERA, women jet
pilots and jockeys and executives and football players;
jogging, halter tops, nylon shorts, and New Balance running
shoes,; diet and exercise books; Kenneth Cooper, ARNOLD
SCHWARZENNEGER, James Fixx, Richard Simmons; sprouts,
yogurt, yoga, herb teas, racket ball, triathlons, bio
mechanics, fun-runs, "pumping iron," "staying
hard." The broth was clear and strong and good for
you. It was Cheryl Tiegs wearing shorts and a muscular
smile, Margaux Hemingway with her wet hair, Brooke Shields
naked on an island in a movie and then describing to a
magazine her favorite stomach exercises, Jane Fonda stretching
and standing up for her rights. And within this context
women's bodybuilding fairly had to happen."
WHEW!
It took all that!.... " I didn't get pregnant because
a man put his sperm into me. I got pregnant because I
was lying under an apple tree in the moonlight, and three
months later I realized I was going to have a baby. "
Ah, the MYSTERY OF IT ALL!
But
for all the shenanigans of Arnold, George Butler, did,
after all, get a picture of Kellie into the book. It wasn't
a thumbnail. It was a huge, two page spread on that day
of days. Kellie looks BEAUTIFUL as she fixes her makeup
backstage, in that famous leopard-skin suit, looking into
the mirror. The caption reads:
"Kelly
Everts, contestant, early women's bodybuilding competition.
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1973."
Lovely.
Just one mistake - besides the spelling of her name. It
was 1972, the day she met Arnold and the day they started
"The Affair." That's the day, the same leopard
skin suit which she had only wore once on that day, Arnold
is ogling her cleavage in, and muscles her to the darkness
backstage. In spite of any moratoriums, edicts, demands
or deals, the guys have snuck Kellie into the book, thereby
circumventing censorship. God has Her revenge.........
There
are also messy arguments for Lisa Lyon and a grandmother
from Florida being the startup of women's bodybuilding
- where Gaines is confusing some of the first television
sets with the person who invented television. First they
did it, then they didn't. Yes, no. It's confusing. (Back
to the sprouts, yoga, herb teas, Jane Fonda in shorts?)....When
you tell a lie, it is complicated. BUT THE TRUTH IS SIMPLE.
"Arnold
Schwarzenegger was in Philadelphia that weekend,
both for the contest and to be chauffeured around
town in a limousine for promotion of his new book.
At dinner that night, over a limitless French meal
at a restaurant called The Garden, he said he really
didn't think too much of women's bodybuilding, that
despite what people might think, he didn't particularly
like to see women sweat."
From Pumping
Iron II: The Unprecedented Woman by Charles
Gaines and George Butler
|
THE TWO-FACED WORLD OF
HYPOCRITES
In 1981,
Kellie Everts wants to enter another true BODYBUILDING
(not beauty) contest. It's going to be held at Caesar's
Palace in Atlantic City. Kellie placed last in 1980 Ms
Olympia for reasons political, but also, she admits, her
training went awry. Now she has jumped back and looks
really muscular!
Only now there is a gatekeeper to the contest who never
existed when Kellie launched the sport all alone for nine
years. Because of Kellie's work, women have surged forward
and are now PUT IN CHARGE of a variety of desk jobs, bureaucratic
and decision making. Kellie was victimized by some of
this catty stuff in 1980 as she could hear Frank Zane's
wife say to Mike Mentzer's girlfriend (they were now judges):
"She
has stretch marks. Let's mark her down for that."
If Ms
Mike's lady marked Kellie down, she should have remembered
that Mike Mentzer's body was a roadmap of stretch marks.
They were so huge you could see them in the magazine layouts.
Kellie wants to prove herself in 1981, but the gatekeeper
does not let her in. She gives no reason, just drones
on and on about the other women. Where is all this coming
from?
Kellie decides to picket the Caesar's Palace Show.
She misses
the bus to Atlantic City and pays a cab $250. to get her
there. It was all the cash she has and she and her friend
eat peanut butter and bread all weekend. But she gets
there, and pickets on the boardwalk, poses for tourists
(getting a big ovation) and hands out leaflets. When she
enters the lobby she is thrown out, as proselytizing is
not allowed. The show goes on without Kellie, the Progenitor,
but she has already won.

She
alerted the press and got a big write up with
a
great picture in a top Philadelphia newspaper.
Click
To Read
|
But this
is what Kellie finds out. She and her friend listen to
the radio, and there, lo and behold, the host is interviewing
one of the bodybuilders. He asks her about the woman picketing
outside. The bodybuilder says condescendingly says that
Kellie Everts is disqualified for posing in the nude.
Kellie Everts is so mad she goes to the station and convinces
the host to hear her side of the story - for A FULL HALF
HOUR!
It was
battle after battle. First, it was desegregate Patriarchal
bodybuilding. Now it was two-faced hypocrites who instead
of saying, "Mozol Tov" and patting her on the
back, were putting knives into her. This hard-won freedom
they wanted only for themselves, but not for Kellie! They
sat around inventing reasons why Kellie should be excluded
for if it wasn't one thing, it was another.
Kellie
had turned down stuff that she thought would bring a bad
name to the newly formed sport. She was offered a job
publishing a magazine called "Pumping Love."
She refused it because she thought it might somehow make
women's bodybuilding look disreputable. In view of what
she saw later, she should have taken the money she needed
badly and screw the industry.
As Kellie
visited with those who were involved in contests in 1980
and 1981 they tried to make her feel that they were great
athletes, but she was dirty laundry. All because she posed
and danced in the nude. Kellie even felt just a little
embarrassed and ashamed of what she had to do for a living.
(Interesting
note about blowing her cash to get to Atlantic City. Kellie
only has enough money to get her to Church - St. Patrick's
Cathedral, when she gets back to the city. She feels she's
been on a mission and comes back to God as a wounded soldier.
She goes to the tiny garden outside, on the right facing
the church, rather secluded. She faces St. Francis of
Assisi's statue and talks to him. And he talks back. He
knows she needs cash. He says to her,
"Climb
up to my shoulder."
"What?"
she thinks.
"Is anyone looking?" she looks around. No one.
She climbs up to his shoulder. There, on his shoulder,
someone has put change. Enough for a loaf of bread at
the bakery. She takes this bit of money, buys a nice big
loaf of rye bread, and she and her friend eat peanut butter
on fresh bread all weekend....this friend went with her
to Atlantic City and shared her grief and her joy...a
humble little guy named Paul Hendricks.)
As the
years go by, when Kellie occasionally checks the magazines,
she notices a trend. The trend is toward nudity for women.
They are becoming more like she was. The champions are
following in her footsteps and appearing in Playboy. (There
is some controversy when one woman who is competing appears
and is then barred. ) A muscle magazine even starts a
nude muscle center spread. But what took the cake for
Kellie was the book by Bill Dobbins, THE WOMEN.
Kellie
Everts wasn't sure who Bill Dobbins was when a fan sent
her his book. She knew Bill Dobbins was the guy who put
her down in an article in 1997. But who was this guy?
She read here and there and realized he was one of the
top workers of Joe Weider. He writes articles as well
as takes photos. He's all over the place.
Now she
examines the book. There is something startling about
these big industry men doing a book of ALL THEIR CHAMPIONS
IN THE NUDE! It's not like Bill Dobbins ran off to the
red light district and took his nude pictures and had
them published by AMOK PRESS. This is a book dedicated
to Joe and Ben Weider and forwarded by Arnold Dearest.
What makes
these men first BAR WOMEN WHO POSE NUDE AND THEN TURN
THE OTHER WAY AROUND, PHOTOGRAPH THEIR WOMEN CHAMPIONS
NUDE, AND SAY,
'WHAT A GOOD BOY AM I?!'
Whatever
these men do is alright because these men write the history.
MISS
NUDE UNIVERSE 1967 (featured in Playboy February
1968) and Dan Lurie's MS BODY BEAUTIFUL USA, KELLIE
EVERTS. To those who scoff at the glamorous origins
of Kellie Everts, why are the MS OLYMPIA CHAMPIONS
NOW TAKING IT ALL OFF FOR BILL DOBBINS?...WITH
FULL APPROVAL FROM JOE AND BEN WEIDER AND ARNOLD
SCHWARZENNEGER? |
Life does
change. Kellie has also changed her mind about things.
Maybe these men are evolving. Maybe they realize how wrong
they were in the first place. Maybe they'll also photograph
the Mr. Olympia's nude and do a book on The Men, dedicated
to the wives of Joe and Ben and Arnold, and with a forward
by Kellie Everts. And they will admit what a great gal
Kellie is......right.
Sports Illustrated 1979
An article which gives an accurate account of the hypocrisy
of the promoters at the beginning of Female Bodybuilding
This
Sports Illustrated 1979 article clearly enunciates
what was taking place after the IDEA of women's
bodybuilding took hold. This well-researched article
shows some of the good, the bad and the ugly of
what went on behind the scenes in early bodybuilding
history. Notice these points:
1.
Laura Combes was asked not to make her famous clenched-fist
double biceps pose at the $5,000 World's Best Woman
Bodybuilder competition in Warminster, PA in 1979
because the promoters felt it would present a "bad
image". As the meet director of the show told
her, "Please don't make a fist when you do
your chest pose. We've got TV here, and we don't
want a bad image." The audience roared yet
Combes finished sixth.
(Notice
the prejudice here AGAINST female bodybuilding,
the sentiment being toward controlling the image
toward the traditional, standard concept of beauty.
The promoter, organizer in Warminster was George
Snyder.)
2.
One
judge said they did not mark Laura Combes down for
the double-bicep pose she was supposed to do, and
yet, he added, "she wouldn't look bad at all
if she just stood naturally."
(Dan
Levin gives no name for this judge, who is showing
a marked prejudice against women's bodybuilding
in 1979....the industry is kicking and screaming
as they are being led up the garden path of female
power.)
3.
The next day the local paper came out, and although
Laura Combes placed only sixth, her picture was
one of the two women presented, with her famous
pose. Promoter George Snyder reacted:
"We
are trying to pick out the best woman.....it is
not a male bodybuilder impersonation contest....I'm
afraid that scared a lot of women away from weight
training.....they'll be afraid of looking like that....I
got negative feedback from members (of his gym)....I
CAN ASSUME IT HURT MY BUSINESS.")
(Notice
here all that counts is George Snyder's business.
Women's rights and freedom are not the issue, just
HIS business.)
4.
Nasty
bystanders and observers are bad-mouthing Claudia
Wilbourn because she doesn't meet up with their
expectations of femininity at a Tampa show. She
is too muscular! She flexes muscles properly, but
she doesn't dance, prance, stand on her head or
do flips, so she's marked down to sixth.
(The
double standard applies. Men aren't supposed to
do WIERD CONTORTIONS to show their muscles. Women,
since they are easy to push around are expected
to stand on their heads and other tricks - like
your pet dog - in order to win a contest.)
5.
A
judge in one of the contests, Jim Morris, a Mr.
America of 1973, said he FOUND WOMEN'S BODYBUILDING
CONTESTS "REPULSIVE AND THEY SHOULD BE DISCONTINUED."
6.
A
man by the name of McGhee has bizarre mental dimensions
in regard to female development. First he believes
in it and wants to make it happen. Then he tells
Claudia Wilbourne, she "can pose any way she
wants to, but DON'T LOOK LIKE A MAN, YOU'LL LOOK
LIKE A MONKEY IF YOU DO."
(Another
promoter stumbles into the idea of female dominance
loving and hating it at the same time.)
7.
Claudia
Wilbourn has been passed over a number of times
for top spots, in spite of her superior development.
Her abs and pecs are to die for. She has hope. There's
a woman, named Doris Barrilleaux, who promotes contests.
Claudia writes her and receives, "Oh, Claudia,
we're not looking for your kind of muscle."
(You
would think the women involved would understand....but
some are not on the same page.) |
IT TOOK
AN ACTIVIST, NOT AN ATHLETE, TO START UP WOMEN'S BODYBUILDING.
IT WASN'T ABOUT MUSCLES, IT WAS DESEGREGATION, IT WAS
FREEDOM OF SPEECH. IF A WOMAN ENTERTAINED THE THOUGHT
THAT SHE COULD OPEN UP THE DOORS OF BODYBUILDING TO WOMEN
ON ACCOUNT OF HAVING THE MOST MUSCLES, SHE'D HAVE ANOTHER
THING COMING. WOMEN OF THE WORLD, KELLIE SAYS, KEEP FIGHTING
FOR YOUR RIGHTS IN ALL ARENAS. THE WORLD IS CHANGED A
LITTLE AT A TIME, BUT ALWAYS BY THOSE WHO FIGHT.
|