I hope this finds you and the family all well and happy. I want to congratulate you on the new website. I enjoyed your last edition of "Whatever Happened to ...?" so much. We're fortunate to have you.
The series of the AT Shows is wonderful! The stories of the AT shows were great and brought back a lot of memories. They had beautiful banners and huge ballys to promote the shows. The pros would come up ... big, old cauliflowered ear guys. They'd say, "I've wrestled around here for years and I'll take you on!" The people would cheer. You'd go in and, of course, they would work. On the other hand, the old middleweights were really tough. They'd come around to the AT Shows and try to knock the AT Show boys off for the money.
But we'd love to get a shoot with a local guy that looked tough. I read where John Buff made the comment that shoots killed the show. That might have been true in certain parts of the country, but it certainly wasn't true in the AT Shows that I knew. You'd get some of the marks you'd wrestle who were half smart. We'd ask 'em, "Do you want to shoot, or do you want to show?" On the other hand, we had a LOT of challenges from guys who thought they were tough, and they wanted to prove it. Even with the shoots, though ... we'd sometimes let them go through. We'd put them over a little ... let them think they could win. Then we'd come back the next night in a return match and you'd beat them ... or go through again and come back again. By tear-down night, which was usually on Sunday, you'd have a big tip and would stretch him. You had to get a mark to referee, though, or the people would want to tear your tent down.
It's funny, but I have never worked with Tony Borne. In fact, I told Treach Phillips that I had never met Tony, but he swore that Tony used to work out with us at the Toe Hold Club when we was kids. He says Tony broke in with us. Isn't it strange that I don't remember that? I told Treach that I couldn't understand why I can't remember the guy. I didn't question Treach's memory, but (laughs) ... I guess it's a two-way street. I don't know how Treach could be that wrong, but I also don't know how I could be that forgetful.
I was thinking about the real pros. What I call a professional is ... well, it's a guy who works for money, of course. But we used to go out and wrestling was our whole life. We stayed in one flophouse after another. When we was separated from it, our whole life was turned upside down. There was nowhere to apply the knowledge that we had accumulated. It was like when vaudeville closed down. There was nowhere to ply your trade. And it was hard to talk to outsiders when you quit. You lost contact with your close friends. I'm not talking about guys that stayed in one territory for twenty million years. I'm talking about the real troopers that traveled all over. When I think back about those guys ... what lonely lives they lived. But it was the only life they knew. They'd meet a girl once in awhile and spend some time with her ... then off they'd go.
It's sad to hear that so many of the boys are dying. Every time Antone Leone heard about an old-timer dying, he'd call up and he'd say, "Oh, Frank. I'm next." He called me up at three o'clock in the morning once. This was when I had the club. He said, "I'm next, Frank." I said, "What are you talking about?" "Oh, so-and-so died. I'll be next." (laughs)
We called Antone "The Senator." He was a hell of a speechmaker. He'd take the phone at the hotel desk and start talking. "Yeah. Senator Leone here." He'd start talking about white supremacists and the trouble the blacks were causing. Pretty soon, people in the lobby start gathering around him to hear him talk. He'd go on and on and on and on. He'd ask the desk clerk, "Excuse me. Could I have a glass of water?" Ripper was the greatest swerver in the business.
I also enjoyed the stories on Mario and Sputnik. Sputnik was so funny that I laughed right out loud. We got a hell of a kick out of it. You are really wonderful to work so hard at recording these stories. It's such good reading. You take the stories, blend it all together, and it all flows beautifully. I would love to get back into the business. I was never happy out of it. It was the only thing I really know how to do. May God bless.
