Before the Numa-Sharkey novelty (the first of its kind to
be perpetrated, if that is the right word, at the Park), there's to be a return encounter
between Frank Brunowicz, Paterson's contribution to the merriment of nations, and the
Yellow Mask. Mr. Neck from Paterson and Mr. Mask grappled to a draw last week and all hands were dissatisfied. To such
an extent, they have been rematched to a finish this time and anything can happen. Anything, we said.
As an extra added attraction, Maestro Mondt has lined up a pair of tandem matches for tonight. The customers have
gone in a big way for the tandem tussles and Mondt is going out of his way to give 'em what they want.
The first encounter will send the duo of Mike (Cupcoffeeplease) Dimetre and Henry Piers against the highly vicious
combination of John Vansky and George Macricostas.
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Favorite tag team partners: Sputnik Monroe, Dick Murdock.
Words from Koxie To all the Boys: "WOW! I really miss you and wish you the best ! We really had a HELL of a good
time, didn't we !" -- Karl
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W L
W L
W L
1899.........1 2 1904.......9 0 1909......24 0
1900.........6 0 1905......19 2 1910..... 3 0
1901.........5 0 1906......27 1 1911......27 0
1902.........4 0 1907......5 0 1912.......6 0
1903.........8 1 1908.......9 0 1913.......1 0
Summary---160 matches, won 154, lost 6.
That's an average of about 10 matches a year. Contrast that with what the modern wrestler does. Danno O'Mahoney,
for instance, who has been in this country for only about six months, but already has engaged in some 60 bouts. Or contrast it against the record of Gus
Sonnenberg, who over a period of years has averaged three bouts a week. Or take Ed Don George, the pleasant
New Yorker, who now holds the
title once held by Gotch, and has wrestled so much that I doubt very much whether he or anyone else could tell you how
many bouts he's engaged in
since he was a member of the United States Olympic team in '28.
I do not suggest that wrestling in those days was strictly a contest. I have heard the competitive quality of the mat
sport, so-called, questioned in all eras and epochs. But in those days they didn't have the fast trains they have now, nor did they have the airplanes and
the highly developed technique of showmanship and publicity that they have now.
Just as faster methods of transportation cut distances, so, too, did new and entertaining grips like the flying
tackle, the Irish Whip, the turnover body scissors, and the airplane whirl add variety to the melodramatic plots of the wrestling promoters.
As a result, wrestling as largely taken the place of Uncle Tom's Cabin in providing the yokels, both those who live
in hick towns and those who strut in great metropolitan centers, with good, clean entertainment. No longer does
the spirit of Little Eva
flutter into the upper reaches of the stage on a wire, and no longer does Simon Legree pursue the old darkie across the ice
with his bloodhounds.
Instead, our modern wrestling troupers respond to their modern cues, and while the air is filled with dramatic groans and grunts,
the action proceeds swiftly,
inevitably to its inevitably climax.
The natives who reside around Greater Boston already are eagerly looking forward to the next visit here of Papa
Paul Bowser's touring troupe of pachyderms. This is something of an extra special event, a first-time-on-any-stage,
by-special-request performance, involving a couple of champions -- Dan O'Mahoney, the Irish champ and champion
of 38 states, vs. Ed Don George, the champion of the rest of the world.
There are a number of added attractions already booked, chief of which is the appearance in a referee's role of James
J. Braddock, the champion of the heavyweight boxers. Also there is a thrilling set of preliminaries, including among the cast the celebrated Gus
Sonnenberg, only wrestler in captivity who has been thrown by a moth.
You will have heard of this strange case, of how Gus, while grappling in a nearby town, was assaulted by a moth,
which applied the strangle hold and so forced the former Dartmouth athlete to resign the match. There have been many strange endings to wrestling bouts, but
this is probably an original.
The possibilities opened up by this addition of insects to the wrestling cast are almost unlimited, particularly when
the assigning of roles is in the hands of a great fellow like Paul Bowser, the greatest showman since Barnum. It might, for instance, be possible to stage
a match between a champion wrestler and The Masked Moth, Best-Two-Out-of-Three-Falls-to-a-Positive-Finish. At first the opponents of The Masked Moth
would have to be carefully selected, but once The Masked Moth had been established as a big box office favorite,
he could be matched against
headliners and possibly unmasked at a big outdoor show.
Battle royals have proved popular with the public and by joining a trained flea circus to the pachyderms, many a
lively evening could be worked out. After all, these fleas are remarkably intelligent and it ought not to be hard
to teach them how to apply the various holds of modern wrestling. Kangaroos also lend themselves to this form of
entertainment and monkeys and gorillas also make excellent wrestling material when properly fed and publicized.
Anyway, there's no doubt that modern science and modern wrestling are great things.