1. Joe Greenstein traveled with Volanko and the Issakoff Brothers Circus for eighteen months, learning the strongman's training regimen.
13 Facts About Joe Greenstein
1. 2.
Joe Greenstein first went to Galveston, Texas, working as a dockworker and oil field worker.
3.
Joe Greenstein wrestled professionally at this time as Kid Greenstein.
4.
In 1914, The Houston Daily Post reported that a friend of Joe Greenstein accidentally shot him in the middle of the forehead.
5.
Joe Greenstein was featured five times in Ripley's Believe It Or Not and in the 1976 Guinness Book of World Records.
6.
Two of Joe Greenstein's feats included biting through an iron nail and bending iron horseshoes by hand.
7.
Later in life, Joe Greenstein sold coconut oil soaps and health elixirs at fairs and farmers' markets.
8.
Joe Greenstein traveled in an old Model A truck with panels that opened to show his extensive collection of newsclippings and citations from civic leaders and organizations.
9.
Joe Greenstein had volunteered to teach jujutsu techniques to members of the New York City auxiliary police during World War II, years before the technique became widespread in the United States.
10.
Joe Greenstein continued performing his strongman feats well into his eighties, giving his last performance at his great-grandchild's first birthday on May 11,1977, at Madison Square Garden at the age of 84.
11.
Joe Greenstein dazzled the audience by bending horseshoes and driving spikes through metal with the palm of his hand.
12.
Joe Greenstein succumbed to cancer on October 8,1977, at age 84.
13.
Joe's 93-year-old son Mike Greenstein appeared on America's Got Talent in 2014 and successfully pulled a 3,500-pound car with his teeth.