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Figure I'd post this in here, as I've done so on the main board in times past to deadening silence.
Tor Johnson (real name: Tor Johansson), aka the Super Swedish Angel - Is there ANYTHING out there on his wrestling career? Photos? Results? Clippings with his name? Images from his movies are all over the place, but I have yet to find one single image of him either in a match or even just in his wrestling gear.
Where did he wrestle and for how long? I'm guessing he was a special attraction type, the "freak" they'd bring in on occassion; is that close to how it was?
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Here was the deal: Maurice Tillet, the French Angel, came over from France and became a major star. Our old friend Jack Pfefer, who never met a gimmick he wouldn't steal, started running a whole string of similarly grotesque *Fill In Nationality* Angels. Here are WAWLI pages with results for the Super Swedish Angel ranging '46-'50:
"Vel," Jack said, "I vas bornded in Varsaw, vich is der place in Poland, only ven I vas dere, it was part of Russia. Not heckzackly like nowadays. I vent vit a grand opera, music and ballet company to Siberia, China, Japan and Korea.
"I come to der United Stats 'bout toity-eight yeahs ago. Den I svitch from der concert promotion to der rasslin' promotion. I hendle da big names. You know dem. Joe Stecher, Jeem Londos, Strangler Lewis, Jim Browning, Stanislaus Zbyszko, Deek Shikat, Gus Sonnenberg, Joe Savoldi, Leroy McGoirk, Charlie (Midget) Fisher, Everett Marshall. Dey vas de good old boys.
"I am also da orginator of da freaks. Whatcha call careactors. I bring over Ivan the Terrible Poddubny from Russiam, Sergei Kalmikoff from Siberia, Fritz Kley from Germany, Ferenc Holuban from Hungary.
"Also I am bringing in the original Blimp (Martin Levy) who weighs 650 pounds. And da original Swedish Angel, the ugliest man in da vorl -- unless you count me in da ugly contest. Also the Lady Angel, dis bald-headed broad.
"Now I am having for da nice pipple of Denver on Friday night some of my new vuns. Like Big Splash Humphrey (762 pounds), Ali Singh, Haystack Muldoon, Big Daddy Siki.
"Da odder promoters call Pfefer crazy because I go widout da tee wee. It is nutting. I go against beeg promoters before and--yind up wit a box dis big fulla money.
"I open Madison Square Garden in 1929 wit Jimmy Londos aginst Jim McMillen. We do $76,000 at the gate. No tickets anywhere five days before da show.
"In nineteen-toity, I book Yankee Stadium. We got Londos and Ray Steele. We do $86,000. Last year -- look at a New York newspaper clipping here -- I do $64,680 with Argentina Rocca and Zuma, bot of 'em from Argentina.
"Like I say, dis is my spashlty. Some promoter in trouble, I come vit the know-how. I don't predict what we do in Denver dis time. Maybe we go beeg. Maybe it ain't.
"I get da calls from all over country. 'How ya doin' in Denver, Jack, they say," I say, 'how da hell do I know.' Call me nine o'clock Friday night. I tell ya how I do."
This isn't Pfefer's first experience as medical consultant to an ailing Denver promotional patient. About ten years ago, Dr. Pfefer did clinical work for George Zaharias who was running wrestling shows at Mammoth Garden.
"Vee toin 'em avay," Pfefer gloated. "I put on der top het, put on der full dress soot and vee make like a ball. Dat is my trademark. You heard about me, ain'tcha?"
Who ain't? Pfefer has been the Tex Rickard of wrestling promotions for almost 40 years. He's jammed people into every major arena in the nation, using "careactors and original freaks" with the lavish hand of a Cecil B. DeMille.
Modern wrestling's switch to the bizarre can be traced directly to Dr. Pfefer.
As The Little Doctor put it himself, "dis kinda rasslin is my spashlty."
Again, though, Pfefer didn't start it. Maurice Tillet and his manager did.
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quote:Originally posted by Crimson Mask I from FL: Here was the deal: Maurice Tillet, the French Angel, came over from France and became a major star. Our old friend Jack Pfefer, who never met a gimmick he wouldn't steal, started running a whole string of similarly grotesque *Fill In Nationality* Angels. Here are WAWLI pages with results for the Super Swedish Angel ranging '46-'50:
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Cool. Here's what I managed to glean off those pages:
1946 Jan 26 Fresno - Sammy Stein beat Tor Johnson (sub for Karl Davis, injured in Oakland previous night) Apr Boston Gardens – Chief Saunooke def Tor Johnson Sep 23 – Seattle – Primo Carnera W Tor Johnson Oct 2 Colorado Springs – Buddy Rogers def Super Swedish Angel cor; Oct 9 Colorado Springs – Buddy Rogers def Super Swedish Angel dq; Oct 11 Salt Lake City – Blimp Levy def Tor Johnson, Sep 19 Ogden – Blimp Levy def Tor Johnson Sep 23 Seattle – Primo Carnera def Tor Johnson
1947 Oct Harringay Arena – Tor Johnson def Johan Richtoff (of Sweden) “after a series of battles”
1948 Jul 12 Hollywood – Super Swedish Angel def Gene Stanlee
1949 Jan 19 (Wednesday) – Red Koko drew Super Swedish Angel (Tor Johnson) Jan 26 (Wednesday) – Zebra Kid beat Super Swedish Angel
1950
Feb 2 Ridgewood Grove – Tor Johnson (Super Swedish Angel) beat Tony Morelli Feb 3 Columbia Park (North Bergen, NJ) – Dutch Rhode (Buddy Rogers) beat Super Swedish Angel Feb 7 St. Nick's Arena – Super Swedish Angel beat Jack Curry Feb 9 Ridgewood Grove – Antonino Rocca beat Super Swedish Angel Feb 13 Bronx Winter Garden - Super Swedish Angel beat Pat O'Hara Feb 23 Ridgewood Grove - Super Swedish Angel vs. Polo Cordova Feb 24 Jamaica Arena - Super Swedish Angel vs. Kola Kwariani Mar 9 Ridgewood Grove - Gene Stanlee beat Super Swedish Angel Mar 13 Bronx Winter Garden - Super Swedish Angel vs. John Melas Mar 16 Ridgewood Grove - Super Swedish Angel vs. Hans Hermann Mar 20 Renaissance Casino - Golden Superman beat Super Swedish Angel Mar 22 Hempstead Garden - Tony Martinelli beat Super Swedish Angel Mar 24 Jamaica Arena - Super Swedish Angel beat Joe Corbett, Mar 28 St. Nicholas Arena - Buddy Rogers beat Super Swedish Angel Mar 29 Hempstead Garden - Super Swedish Angel def Tiny Mills Apr 1 Renaissance Casino - Gene Stanlee W Super Swedish Angel Apr 3 Renaissance Casino - Gene Stanlee vs. Super Swedish Angel Apr 4 Eastern Parkway Arena - Super Swedish Angel vs. Tiny Mills Apr 5 Bronx Winter Garden -- Billy Darnell vs. Super Swedish Angel, Apr 7 Jamaica Arena - Super Swedish Angel vs. Kola Kwariani
- All credit to Don Luce and WAWLI
If anyone out there has more, I'd love to see them.
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There are several letters in the Pfefer collection at Notre Dame from Johnson to the quirky promoter. Johnson definitely viewed wrestling -- or at least his paychecks -- as more than a sideshow, as a letter dated April 19, 1947 recounted.
In it, he described how he had just closed on a six-room house on a 1-acre lot in Van Nuys, 25 minutes from Hollywood and Vine.
The property had 20 fruit trees and, he noted, room for 3,000 chickens, which I suppose must have been an outside source of income (Gorgeous George=turkeys; Super Swedish Angel=chickens).
"As you said in your letter, wrestling is just a side business to me," he wrote. "Don't be silly, it has always been my bread and butter and still is."
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The Swedish Angel was a major star that Pfeffer pushed thru out America. He (Phil Olafsson) started the Pfeffer gimmick not long after Bowser started the French Angel, I think with in a year...maybe a few months. In the mid-west, he had his own following & I think was a major wrestler. Tor Johnson I always thought of as a local LA wrestler, low on talent, that was given the gimmick to make a buck, but wasn't much. I haven't really run across the Super Swedish Angel much & when I have, he doesn't interest me. Maurice Tillet was a super star & Swedish Angel did very well, but Johnson was a local stiff who is remember only because of a look in bad movies. This isn't a fact or truth, just the way I feel without thinking about it too much. I know a lot more about Tillet than the other two & have run into the Swedish Angel a lot in researching the 40's and respect him. Tor was a rip off of a rip off.--Yohe
quote:Originally posted by Steve Yohe: The Swedish Angel was a major star that Pfeffer pushed thru out America. He (Phil Olafsson) started the Pfeffer gimmick not long after Bowser started the French Angel, I think with in a year...maybe a few months. In the mid-west, he had his own following & I think was a major wrestler. Tor Johnson I always thought of as a local LA wrestler, low on talent, that was given the gimmick to make a buck, but wasn't much. I haven't really run across the Super Swedish Angel much & when I have, he doesn't interest me. Maurice Tillet was a super star & Swedish Angel did very well, but Johnson was a local stiff who is remember only because of a look in bad movies. This isn't a fact or truth, just the way I feel without thinking about it too much. I know a lot more about Tillet than the other two & have run into the Swedish Angel a lot in researching the 40's and respect him. Tor was a rip off of a rip off.--Yohe
I can't really argue about his talents - I have yet to see an actual match with him in it; that said, I can imagine he wasn't all that great in the ring. Still, I've always been interested in the guy so that's why I'm looking for stuff on him.
I was surprised looking over the results CM provided that very few of the matches that were listed were in CA; he seemed to have moved to New York by 1950 and had a big run there. Before that, the results of the previous four years have him all over the west coast.
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1/30/48 Reading,PA: Tor Johnson defeated Big Ben Morgan in 8 minutes in a brilliant display of WRESTLING. Tor incidentally had 3 or 4 matches with Buddy Rogers (Dutch Rhode) here around then, winning one on a dq.
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I saw an old and odd-looking fellow with a huge face and facial features who was billed as The ?????(don't recall if it was The Swedish, French, vanilla or Egg Nog) Angel on Capitol's TV out of Washington circa-1960. He wasn't Tor Johnson.
He couldn't wrestle very well; he spoke fine English, but with an accent. His promos were all cut with a huge telephone book (had to be a Manhattan directory, though how he lugged them around is a question, unless it was always the same, gimmicked book). He'd place his enormous hands around it and rip the book in half. Even then, fans assumed it was a trick rather than an act of strength, and he didn't get major pops when he'd rip it.
Anyway, if any of you know, which Angel might that have been?
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Also finding him billed in some territories around then as the Canadian Angel.
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Crimson Mask I from FL
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quote:Originally posted by justahamandegger: I have a few results of A Tor Johnson form 1936 and 1937. I don't know if this is the one you are looking for Madison.
Oct. 1, 1936 Gayety Theater Minneapolis Tor Erik Johnson (365) defeated Bobby Stewart 8:00
Oct. 8, 1936 Gayety Theater Tor Erik Johnson threw Ernie Powers with a body slam 15:28
Oct. 20, 1936 St. Paul auditorium promoter Abe Kashey Tor Erik Johnson over Abe Coleman
Jan. 21, 1937 Gayety theater Tor Erik Johnson defeated Count Casmir Pulaski
Jan. 29, 1937 St. Paul Tor Erik Johnson over Chief Little Beaver by dq 38:00
Feb. 11, 1937 Gayety theater Tor Erik Johnson (365) threw John Evko
Feb. 19, 1937 St. Paul auditorium promoter Abe Kashey Tor Erik Johnson threw Olaf Olson (248)
As I said, I don't know if this is the Sweedish Angel or not. He was not called that in these results.
Super Swedish Angel, not Swedish Angel, and I tend to think it's about a 99.9% probability that it was him. I don't think the odds on having two different 365 pound guys called Tor Johnson in the same general timeframe are real high.
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Well he makes reference in the letter to Pfefer to wrestling 'always' having been his bread and butter, and .05 seconds research reveals that he was born in 1903, so even by '36 he was no spring chicken and would most likely have already been working. Plus again the coincidence of two guys that size with the same name in the same era. Make that 99.99%.
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I thought Canadian Angel was Jack Rush. Were there two or more Canadian Angels?
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Crimson Mask I from FL
unregistered
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Yeah Rush was the original. He died in '55. Baillargeon I don't think started billing himself that way till around '60, and it wasn't everywhere. On the Capitol and Chicago (he was on the Rogers-O'Connor undercard in '61) results he just shows as 'The Angel', but we got him as the 'Canadian Angel' in Georgia in '62.
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quote:Originally posted by Crimson Mask I from FL: Probably Jean Baillargeon billed as just 'The Angel'.
Looks like the guy I saw, but much younger and with muscle tone. The Capitol Angel though memory fades after so many years, had the face and body of an older man who didn't train in gyms.
Thanks for the information and the photo. Was the phone-book-ripping worked or did he lug a dozen around with him?
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Dunno. The phone book gimmick is almost always worked at least to the point of starting an incision across the belly of the book before doing the stunt, but all 6 Baillargeon brothers were legit acrobats and strongmen.
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Heres a few more Tor Johnson / Super Swedish Angel results from the Sandor Szabo and Buddy Rogers Ring Record Books. Does anyone when he had his last match?
AUGUST 14, 1936 - SEATTLE, WA. HANDICAP MATCH SANDOR SZABO AND GUS SONNENBERG - LOST
AUGUST 19, 1936 - PORTLAND, OREGON SANDOR SZABO - LOST
JULY 21, 1943 - LOS ANGELES (As Super Swedish Angel) SANDOR SZABO - LOST
SEPTEMBER 2, 1943 - LONG BEACH, CA. SANDOR SZABO - LOST
THE SUPER SWEDISH ANGEL VS BUDDY ROGERS
1946 OCTOBER 2 1946 - COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. - LOST OCTOBER 16, 1946 - COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. - LOST
NOVEMBER 20 1946 - - COLORADO SPRINGS, CO. (As Super Swedish Angel) WITH GOLDEN ANGEL VS BUDDY ROGERS AND TOM ZAHARIAS - LOST
NOVEMBER 22 1946 - HOUSTON - LOST
1947 JAN. 8 - WASHINGTON - WON JAN. 14 - BALTIMORE - WON OCT. 3 - HOUSTON - LOST
1948 FEB 2 - BRONX - DRAW FEB 10 - BALTIMORE - WON VIA DQ FEB 25 - PHILADELPHIA - WON VIA DQ FEB 26 - BROOKLYN - LOST MARCH 3 - PHILADELPHIA - DRAW MARCH 5 - JAMAICA, NY - DRAW MARCH 22 - TRENTON, NJ - LOST MARCH 26 - READING, PA - DRAW APRIL 4 - BROOKLYN - DRAW APRIL 5 - BRONX - LOST APRIL 8 - BROOKLYN - DRAW APRIL 10 - TRENTON - LOST APRIL 15 - BROOKLYN - LOST JULY 16 - HUNTINGTON PARK, CA - LOST VIA DQ JULY 20 - SAN DIEGO - - NC JULY 21 - BAKERSFIELD, CA - - NC JULY 28 - BAKERSFIELD - DRAW JULY 29 - SANTA BARBARA - DRAW AUGUST 2 - HOLLYWOOD, CA - DRAW AUG. 9 - HOLLYWOOD - NC AUG. 30 - HOLLYWOOD - LOST SEPT. 9 - SANTA BARBARA - - LOST
1949 JAN 31 - HOLLYWOOD - LOST
1950 JAN 11 - CHICAGO - NC JAN 21 - AKRON JAN 25 - CHICAGO - LOST FEB 6 - NORTH BERGEN - LOST FEB 22 - WASHINGTON - LOST FEB 27 - NYC - LOST MAR 28 - NYC - LOST
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Yeah...when I first started this thread, I was under the impression he was used kind of as a specialty gimmick and probably just did wipe-ups of lesser-known guys here and there. What's coming out there, though, is something completely different.
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For whatever it may be worth, here's the blurb from Feder's book:
Tor Johnson: Perhaps no other matman has operated under the number of "aliases" employed by the tremendous Swede in his twenty years or so in wrestling. The 365-pound native of Stockholm has been billed as the Swedish Angel, the Super-Swedish Andgel and King Kong, among others. He is an artist at menacing grimaces, a knack the movies have made considerable use of in several pictures. Since coming to this country, Tor has lived in California, but has toured the world, and won championships in Europe and the Orient.
So, it sounds as if he came to California to get into movie work in the early thirties? And then used L.A. as his base of operations for wrestling.
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Feder's book is notoriously full of ****, but I guess it would make sense if Olaffsen split from Pfefer, Pfefer started billing Johnson as the Swedish Angel, and Olaffsen got a court order or something.
It is however more likely that it's the full of **** factor.
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The Pfefer financial records have Philip Olafsson as the Swedish Angel in 1943-46, then Johnson as the Super Swedish Angel in 1947-48, then Johnson as the Swedish Angel in 1949. The gimmick then disappears from Pfeferland. In the Promotions/Bookings section of the collection Olafsson dates back to June 1942.
Also,given the fact that it's wrestling, I do wonder how scrupulously these guys were billed on the posters and in the papers.
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40) JUNE 21, 1933—OLMPIC AUDITOUIUM 1) GUS SONNENBERG OVER ED “STRANGLER” LEWIS 2/3 2) SAMMY STEIN OVER TINY ROEBUCK 2/3 3) GEORGE WILSON DREW HAL RUMBERG 4) VIC CHRISTY DREW RUBE WRIGHT 5) RUDY SKARDA OVER TOR JOHNSON
41) JUNE 26, 1933—PASADINA ARENA 1) TINY ROEBUCK OVER TOR JOHNSON 2) OKI SHIKINA DREW RUBE WRIGHT 3) STEVE STRELICH OVER GEORGE MALONEY 4) PAT MC GILL OVER “RED” PEPPER 5) DALE RAINES DREW MIKE STRELICH
42) JUNE 28, 1933—OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM 1) GUS SONNENBERG OVER SAMMY STEIN 2/3 2) GEORGE HAGAN OVER TINY ROEBUCK 2/3 3) VIC CHRISTY DREW GEORGE WILSON VIA DCOR 4) CHARLEY SANTEN OVER TOR JOHNSON 5) MYRON COX OVER CHIEF THREE PERSONS
43) JULY 12, 1933—OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM (N. Y. WORLD TITLE) 1) JIM BROWNING OVER GUS SONNENBERG 2/3 2) SAMMY STEIN OVER ED “STRANGLER” LEWIS 2/3 3) GEORGE HAGEN DREW CHARLEY SANTEN 4) VIC CHRISTY OVER TOR JOHNSON 5) GEORGE WILSON DREW LOUIE BACIGALUPI
*) JULY 18, 1933—SAN DEIGO 1) ED “STRANGLER” LEWIS OVER GEORGE HAGEN 2/3 (LEWIS LOST 1 ST FALL IN 46 SECONDS & THEN WON NEXT TWO.) 2) SAMMY STEIN OVER LOUIS BACIAGAIUPI 2/3 3) PETE SHOE DREW THOR JOHNSON (280 LBS) 4) HARRY EKEZIAN DREW STEVE STRELICH
53) SEPT. 5, 1933—PASADINA ARENA 1) AD HERMAN OVER MYRON COX 2/3 2) BUDDY O’ BRIEN OVER JIMMY THOMPSON 3) CECIL MC GILL DREW CASEY COLUMBO 4) TOR JOHNSON OVER PAT MC CLAREY 5) MARSHALL AGRAZA DREW FRANK VON MOHR
59) SEPT. 20, 1933—OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM 1) NICK LUTZE DREW SAMMY STEIN 2/3 2) DR. FRED MEYERS OVER GEORGE HAGEN 3) HANDICAP: ED LEWIS OVER DALE RAINES ED LEWIS OVER TOR JOHNSON ED LEWIS FTP LOUIS BACIGALUPI 4) VIC CHRISTY VS PETER RILEY 5) CECIL MC GILL DREW PETE SHOE
70) NOV. 7, 1933—COMPTON 1) CLIFF THEIDE VS AD HERMAN 2/3 2) TOR JOHNSON VS FRANK VON MOHR
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*) APRIL 27, 1935---OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM (ATT: 7,500--PAID ATT: 4,745--$3,500 ) 1) JIM BROWNING DREW MAN MOUNTAIN DEAN VIA NO CONTEST WITH TWO REVERSALS OF DECISION--(T) 2) HOWARD CANTONWINE OVER JOE MALCEWICZ (T) 3) JUGAT SINGH OVER MYRON COX (T) 4) MARTIN PLESTINA OVER JOE KOMOROFF (T) 5) SUN JENNINGS OVER RAY PETTIGROVE (T) 6) LEFTY MOFFAT OVER ERNIE HAYNES (T) 7) DR FRED MYERS OVER MATROS KARILENKO VIA DECISION (T) 8) KIMAN KUDO OVER TOM O'ROURKE (T) 9) HEINIE OLSEN OVER GENE O'BRIAN 10) SANDOR SZABO OVER THOR JOHNSON (T) 11) VIC CHRISTY OVER JACK JOHNSON (T) 12) FRED CORRANO OVER HANS SCHROEDER (T) (THIS WAS SECOND PRELIMINARY ROUND TO ELIMINATE UNWORTHY WRESTLERS.)
*) MAY 1, 1935---OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM (ATT: 8,500--PAID ATT: 4,885--$5,100 ) 1) DANNO O'MAHONEY OVER HOWARD CANTONWINE (T) 2) JIM BROWNING OVER VIC CHRISTY (T) 3) SERGEL KALMIKOFF OVER DR FRED MEYER (T) 4) HEINIE OLSEN OVER HUGO CLAPHAM (T) 5) MAYNELL BLOOMFIELD OVER JAGAT SINGH VIA DECISION (T) 6) DEAN DETTON OVER HERMIE OLSEN (T) 7) HANS STEINKE OVER GENE LEDOUX (T) 8) TOR JOHNSON OVER AL TAFROF (T) 9) KIMAN KUDO OVER DAVID ADDISON (T) (TOURNAMENT STARTS. BROWNING WAS CUT DURING MATCH & REFUSED TO MEET DEAN ON SATURDAY. HE WAS SUSPENDED BY DARO. THIS WAS A DOUBLE ELIMINATION TOURNAMENT. TWO LOSES AND YOUR OUT.)
*) JUNE 5, 1935---OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM (ATT: 10,400 PAID ATT: 9,689--$9.600) 1) MAN MOUNTAIN DEAN OVER ERNIE DUSEK (T) 2) DEAN DETTON OVER JIM BROWNING (T) 3) VINCENT LOPEZ OVER MIKE ROMANO (T) 4) ED "STRANGLER" LEWIS OVER HANS KAMPHER (T) 5) SANDOR SZABO OVER KIMAN KUDO VIA DECISION (T) 6) SERGEI KALMIKOFF OVER TOR JOHNSON (T) 7) RUSTY WESCOATT OVER AD HERMAN (T) (DEAN HAD A CUT OVER HIS EYE & BROWNING BLEED IN AN EARLIER CARD, SO MAYBE BLADING DIDN'T START IN THE LATE 1940'S. ELIMINATED-ROMANO.)
*) JUNE 12, 1935---OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM (ATT: 10,400 WITH 5,000 TURNED AWAY--PAID ATT: 9,644--$11,200) 1) MAN MOUNTAIN DEAN OVER SERGEI KALMIKOFF (T) 2) ERNIE DUSEK OVER PETE MEHRINGER (T) 3) CHIEF LITTLE WOLF OVER SANDOR SZABO VIA DECISION (T) 4) VINCENT LOPEZ OVER KIMAN KUDO (T) 5) PAT FRALEY OVER EVERETT KIBBONS 6) HANS KAMPHER OVER TONY FELICE 7) PAUL JONES OVER TOR JOHNSON (DUSEK SUBED FOR DETTON WHO HAD AN INJURED KNEE. DETTON LATER WITHDREW FROM TOURNAMENT. ELIMINATED-MEHRINGER-KUDO. THE WOLF/SZABO MATCH HAD TWO OVERTIMES.)
*) DEC. 11, 1935---OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM (ATT: 6,000) 1) CHIEF LITTLE WOLF OVER JOE SAVOLDI 2/3 FALLS 2) GINO GARIBALDI OVER MAYS MCLAIN 3) GEORGE CALZA OVER THOR JOHNSON 4) KIMAN KUDO OVER DES ANDERSON 5) WEE WILLY DAVIS OVER AHMET YOUSOFF 6) LEN MACALUSO OVER BABE ZAHARIAS (CHIEF LITTLE WOLF'S REAL NAME SEEMED TO BE BEN TENARIO.)
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Great stuff, I had not seen those clippings, they will go into Pop's scrapbook. Here's some details, courtesy of Don Luce.
3-23-40 Erie, NY Bill Longson beat Tor Johnson 4-13-40 Erie, NY Bill Longson beat Tor Johnson (COR) 4-25-40 Toronto Bill Longson beat Tor Johnson 5-2-40 Toronto Bill Longson beat Tor Johnson
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Wanted to add this note for benefit of those who don't know much about Tor Johnson. He was portrayed in the movie "Ed Wood" by George "The Animal" Steele.
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Here he is on a Madison Square Garden program from 1934 on the undercard of Londos vs. Marshall. Looks like they may have announced his weight at 304lbs.
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