Strong Arm Gives Leg Up to Part-Time Actor in the Tavern Business

“Hey, old man, can you do this anymore?” challenged the young muscle man who wanted to arm wrestle.

So 63-year-old Harry (Turk) Varteresian, 260 pounds, 6-4 and sporting a pure white beard, did what he had to do. “Hang your head in shame,” he told the defeated young man moments later, and then went on to pin the muscular arm of another young challenger. It’s sort of an ongoing custom for the “old man.”

“Well, at least they’re in shape.” said Varteresian, a 1946 Mr. Los Angeles who keeps honing his 18 1/2-inch biceps and other body muscles for thug jobs in the movies. “I always worked with the star,” he said, but he complains now of lulls in his movie roles. “These days I’m either too old or too young for the part.”

In the meantime, he stays active by surfing, boating, fishing and being the central character in his Dana Point tavern called Turk’s, where he flashes a constant smile and flexes his huge biceps for patrons. “It’s still there, isn’t it,” he boasts, pointing to his arms.

Customer Karen S. Makshanova, a Dana Point free-lance photographer, said, “He’s the real attraction here.”

Varteresian never let himself get soft. In fact, if his hurt left shoulder heals, he plans to try for the Senior Mr. America title in January. Meantime, he works out the best he can to ease his shoulder back in shape. “It takes longer to heal when you get older,” he said.

But Varteresian said “I just keep going,” and talked of his heyday, when he would lift 140-pound dumbbells in each hand, then consume a quantity of food and drink a pitcher of beer. He also wrestled professionally in the early 1950s with guys like Gorgeous George, the rage of that era. “My time was wild, but guys building their body today are different,” he said. “Hey, now they’ve got new vitamins they swallow by the bucket, know about nutrition, and all the equipment they use is scientific. Just look at them. They’re all monstrous.”

But there are the others. “The other day I talked with a guy I thought was five years older than me,” said Varteresian, gesturing with his huge hands. “It turned out he was only 57. Guys like him go to work, come home, drink a few martinis and sit on their can. If a guy wants to live, he’s got to do something to keep his heart ticking.”

The years have been good to Varteresian despite some ups and downs such as a bad investment in an alfalfa ranch. “But the friends I’ve made in those years brought me back,” he said, pointing to pictures of famous people and movie actors he’s met and worked with. “One of them helped me get this place.”

For the last couple of months, Linda Smith, 40, of Irvine has been wearing sneakers instead of high heels. It was part of the training to celebrate her 40th birthday with a 40-mile walk to raise money for Southern California Children’s Cancer Services in Los Angeles.

To get financial subscribers on a flat fee or per-mile basis, Smith had 500 flyers distributed around her neighborhood telling of her plan to walk the 40 miles on three successive Saturdays.

“So far I have pledges for $800, but other people are just sending in checks,” said Smith, who noted that she was a runner until she hurt her knees, the reason she decided to walk.

“It’s been like a three-week birthday party,” she said. “I knew I could do it.”

Marines are tough but also innovative. An example is Sgt. Guy M. Miller, who started publishing Miller Times, a newsletter with a readership of 58, all of them named Miller. They live in Florida, California, New York and West Virginia.

The idea is to spread the word of Miller relatives in one publication monthly instead of everyone spending a fortune in telephone calls. Each Miller mails word about his part of the world to the publisher.

“A family newsletter is something a lot of Marines could use,” said Miller, a radar technician at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. “There were times I would spend $15 on a phone call.”

“Communicating with the family is what it’s all about,” he said.

The next move? Possibly sending video recordings, says Miller.

Acknowledgments--Natalie Reed, a Santa Ana High School junior, selected from 550 girls statewide this summer as outstanding citizen of Girls State in Sacramento.