Mike Fink -- Buff for the 1950s???

Here's a bit of a stretch for you. Jeff York also played Lil Abner under his real name(Grandville Owen? in the 40's and Pat in the Columbia serial TERRY AND THE PIRATES. I don't know when he changed his name or his basic screen character.

"Terry" wasn't too bad as serials go, and I don't remember reading the comic strip, but casting William Tracy with his high-pitched voice was ludicrous. Almost as bad as listening to Ken Maynard sing.

A muscle man from the mid nineteenth century would probably not have had a bodybuilder's build, since muscles were used for work and survival, and prior to Eugene Sandow in the late nineteenth century, not to pump iron. In that respect, this movie is probably more accurate than some of the newer movies.

Moreover, lack of a cut look should not be equated with a lack of actual physical ability. Take heavyweight boxer Larry Holmes, for example, who looked as soft as the Pillsbury Dough Boy, but knocked the socks off everyone who got in the ring with him. I doubt that any of the fighters he beat to a pulp would find much consolation in the fact that he didn't look all that tough.

Going back to your example of Tarzan, there certainly have been better built Tarzans than Johnny Weissmuller (Gordon Scott comes to mind), but Weissmuller was a world-class athlete whose physical achievements dwarf those of his more ripped counterparts.

Having said all of that, though, your point is well taken and I have noticed this phenomenon many times myself. If you look back at some of the muscle epics of Steve Reeves, such as "Hercules," his physique is nice, but not what we would consider herculean by today's standards. One of my favorites in this regard is Ursus in the movie Quo Vadis. Big, but he wouldn't scare my sister.

Didn't like his performance. Found Mike Fink to be an obnoxious jerk.