Professional Wrestling February 1939

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Hills IA: February 2, 1939: (Friday) Henry (The Terrible) Kolln vs Jimmy Baer ... (plus boxing)

San Francisco CA: February 7, 1939: (Dreamland) … Lou Plummer beat Otto Kuss … Ivan Rasputin beat George Godfrey … Al Billings drew Jimmy El Pulpo … Jack Manuel beat Art Shires (dq) … Fred Meyers drew Leonardo Garcia

San Francisco CA: February 14, 1939: (Dreamland) … Lou Plummer beat Ivan Rasputin (1-0, curfew) … Hans Kampfer beat Pat O'Shocker … George Godfrey beat Benny Ginsberg … Jimmy El Pulpo beat Fred Meyers (dq) … Al Billings drew Pierre Dusette … Leonardo Garcia beat Bronco Valdez

Los Angeles CA: February 16, 1939: (Losfor the jaysee Angeles A.C.) ... Esther Williams wins the 100-yard free-style in the junior national championships, in the time of 1:04.7 ... Vic Holbrook of the L.A.A.C. finished second to Bert Smith of USC in the 100-yard backstroke

San Francisco CA: February 21, 1939: (Dreamland) … Dean Detton beat Ivan Rasputin … Hans Kampfer beat George Godfrey … Ivan Managoff beat Art Shires … Pierre Dusette drew Benny Ginsberg … Otto Kuss drew Pat O'Shocker … Al Billings beat Leonardo Garcia

Eugene OR: February 22, 1939: (Armory) ... George Wagner & Harry Elliott beat Tony Garibaldi & Bulldog Jackson (2-1) ... Jack Kiser beat Jim Londes wh, 2-1 ... Promoter: Herb Owen

WEDDING BELLS RING AT ARMORY MAT MATCH
(By Catherine Taylor, Eugene Register-Guard, February 23, 1939)

The marriage of Miss Elizabeth Hanson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Hanson of Creswell, to George Wagner, was solemnized at a public ceremony held in the wrestling ring of the Eugene armory Thursday night.

The service was performed in a ring decked with tulips, acacia, and heather, by Justice of the Peace Kennedy of Westfir.

The bride was dressed in a long full dress of white net with a white shoulder veil of the same material, and carried a bouquet of pink roses and sweet peas. She was accompanied by De Esta Anderson, of Eugene, who was dressed in a long simple dress of turquoise chiffon. She wore a corsage of gardenias and roses.

The best man was Claude Stewart, and Don and Elton Owen were ushers.

Attending the ceremony were about 2,400 fans, who jammed the armory almost to capacity.

Following the wedding, the bridgegroom, teamed with Harry Elliott, and known as the cleanies, wrestled with the meanie team, Tony Garibaldi and Bulldog Jackson.

For a time it appeared as if the new bridge might become a widow in short order. The rightly named meanies put on an exhibition of the cruelest and most obnoxious tussling that can be imagined. The teams paired off, and "went at it." They didn't stay in pairs long. After about a minute, the four were in a heap on the floor, an indistinguishable mass of legs and arms and groans.

With no sense of fair play, the meanies -- like two primitive animals --pulled hair and bit and struggled with the cleanies, grumbling and shouting all the while. The crowd screamed and howled as first one and then the other player throttled the opponents with their knees, smashed each other to the floor and rolled over and over in the ring.

A meanie and a cleanie fell out of the ring into the lap of a woman who wore a lovely high-crowned black hat with a red feather. Her companion slapped the meanie, and the two got back in the ring. Finally the cleanies, one in six minutes and the other in seven, gained a decision by means of a breath-taking rounds of airplane spins.

In the next round, the referee, Vern Clark, who retained remarkable poise throughout the match, became involved several times in attempting to stop some of the brutalities of the meanies, whose main tactics appeared to be a senseless series of bites and kicks. One of them, picking up a cleanie and throwing him to the floor with a crash, shouted, "Here's your wedding cup!" at which the gaily decked audience screamed their derision.

Then followed one of the most horrible demonstrations yet seen, when one of the meanies, taking advantage of a down cleanie, jumped up and down with all the force he had, on his opponent's arm. The cleanie took the punishment with as much grace as could be expected of anyone in the same circumstances, and after a time the erstwhile impassive referee became rather angry and pulled the brute off.

The four were in and out of the ring innumerable times, and finally the meanies got the decision, leaving the score, 1-1.

In the intermission that followed, the meanies made themselves the more obnoxious to the hotting crowd by strutting and stomping about the ring. To call them stupid would be flattery, and they displayed unbelievable lack of taste and good sportsmanship by shouting boastfully during the entire time.

But in the third round they were adequately repaid by the two cleanies, who turned a bit meanie themselves, much to the delight of the crowd which was by this time surging about the ring in great excitement. Displaying a good deal more intelligence than the meanies, still they returned to them a few of their own tricks. Even so, the demonstration appeared to be a slaughter, and the rapidity with which fists flew and wrestlers landed out of the ring into peoples' laps gave the general appearance of a street free-for-all. The four seemed partial to a tortuous trick of tying each others arms and legs in the opposition direction from which they should go, and bearing pressure upon them. Several times, Mr. Clark had to untie them forcibly, and had a bit of trouble with Mr. Jackson and Mr. Garibaldi, whose dispositions were not of the best.

At last one of the meanies, Mr. Garibaldi, was neatly disposed of by a cleanie, and was out of the match. Not appearing to understand, he tried to get back into the ring, but each time was kicked out.

It didn't take long then for the cleanies to take care of the other meanie, and the decision went to them, 2-1.

The wedding and the team wrestling match was preceded by a game between Jack Kiser, 165 pounds, and Jim Londes, 175 pounds, both said to be cleanies. The usual wrestling tactics of throttling, back bending and the doubling up of limbs was used. One interesting diversion from the usual plays was that in which Mr. Londes folded up like a tortoise in a shell, with Mr. Kiser attempting to grip him by spinning around on his back. The two wrestlers used predominantly a trick of kciking each other and both crashing to the floor at the same time. The decisions went to Mr. Kaiser, 2-1.

Following the wedding and the matches, a receptionn for Mr. and Mrs. Wagner was held in the west room of the armory.

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