Joe Magarac

Joe Magarac's first attestation is in a 1931 ''Scribner's'' short story, "The Saga of Joe Magarac: Steelman," written by former Pittsburgh steelworker Owen Francis. The story, which is told in a contrived "Hunkie dialect," is presented as having originated at the turn of the 20th century, when Eastern European immigrants first came to work in Pittsburgh's steel mills. Francis claimed to have learned of Joe Magarac through working for many years alongside the "Hunkies"; retellings by later authors cite similar unprovable origins, casting doubt on Joe Magarac's existence before Francis's short story. The character is variously and non-exclusively theorized as having been a practical joke at Francis's expense, a contrivance drawing from the popularity of Paul Bunyan, or having originated among the steelworkers as a satire of overwork; the Croatian insult (), which immigrant steelworkers jokingly used to refer to an overworked person, lends support to the third hypothesis. and Gilley and Burnett (1998), after surveying the character's history and reception, concluded that Magarac is "misfit for his context." Richman also uncovered the origins of the word as a term of derision, "never used without a sneer." == Story ==

Joe Magarac was a "Hunkie" of indeterminate ethnicity: he is variously described as Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian, Bohemian, or Slovak. He was a giant with "arms the size of smokestacks" who was born in an iron ore mine—"perhaps in the old country" One day, Joe appeared in a local village where a contest of strength was being held. The contestants had to lift three dolly bars of increasing size, and the winner would marry Mary Mestrovich, the beautiful daughter of Steve Mestrovich. Joe handily beat the competition, lifting both the heaviest dolly bar and one of the contestants. After winning, he lifted his shirt, revealing that he was made of steel. He didn't know of the prize when he came to compete, and since he had no use for a wife—he was too busy working at the mill—he let Mary marry her true love, runner-up Pete Pussick. Another from 1980, recalling the steel crisis of the 1970s, claims that the mill which Joe becomes will "never be shut down." Francis's original short story ends with an explanation of the word magarac, claiming that its users take pride in it: "Dat is why when somebody call Hunkie magarac he only laughit and feel proud as anyting, and dat is why we catch the best mill for anyplace, ya damn right !" == Legacy ==

viewed from Pittsburgh's North Side, 1970. The two statues are sometimes identified with Joe Magarac and Jan Volkanik, another fictional industrial worker. One of four human sculptures salvaged from the demolished Manchester Bridge in Pittsburgh is said to be of Magarac, but some sources identify the figure only generically as a mill worker. Mounted to the bridge in 1917, the sculpture predates any documented mention of Magarac. As of 2016, it was in storage. == In popular culture ==

One version of the Magarac story was recorded in song by The New Christy Minstrels on their 1964 Columbia Records release Land of Giants: "We're gonna build a railroad down to Frisco and back, from Maine down to Mexico. Who's gonna make the steel for that track? It's Joe... Magarac." In the 1977 DC Comics story "Captain Marvel Fights the Man of Steel" in Shazam! #30 (written by E. Nelson Bridwell), Dr. Thaddeus Sivana creates a robotic version of Joe Magarac to challenge Captain Marvel. A large statue of Joe Magarac pouring molten steel is a prominent landmark in the city of Steelport in Saints Row: The Third. The statue is also highlighted in Saints Row IV as a weapon in a scene where the player animates it and uses it to fight a giant energy drink mascot. ==See also==