If you picture the Free Trade Hall Manchester The Chelsea Palace Theatre was similar in that the capacity was 2500 or so. Seating included pits , stalls and a upper gallery. Built 1902 and eventually converted to an ITV studio.
A promoter Alf Allen had the pub , The Black Prince on Walworth Road and he started a wrestling venture in March 1935 at this venue. 39 shows later he ended up in court. It seems a wrestler Joe Sheppard fronted a consortium , although he was the main provider of wrestlers , and paid Alf Allen £50 cash to run the shows with Allen's name on the advertising.
For London in 1935 it was all a bridge too far. The shows were on a Sunday. I also found two shows with lady wrestlers , not sure if these are the earliest ever since Wrestling's inception in December 1930. But if not I am going to claim its was certainly the first masked lady wrestler I have come across in Britain.
Though Kayfabe , choking out her opponent brutally was just too much for some people as were accusations of some of the bouts looking fixed and not proper sport.
Of course Sheppard was Johanfesson and he heavily featured his son Jack Quesick. But the wrestlers he brought in were good. Even Riley and Atherton came with their bout probably practiced to perfection.
Without the galleries working it's hard to show 39 bills but I have picked a few out and you get the feel of some names that I have only spotted before on Ray's index. A new one on me was the Flying Bullet.
Did not know Eric Fisher was Frankenstein (the Yorkshire Pudding). White Hawk ? (Not White Owl). Madcap Mad Carter ? Scarface . Leo Quarter Nelson .
Hope you enjoy the bills. Two weeks into 1936 the venture stopped.
I can find Jack Dale billed as Champion of the South in 1934 but specifically "Southern Area Champ" I think this at Chelsea in 1935 might be the first find and I think it is a copy of Boxing.
Before the war Johanfesson and his son Quesick (mother's maiden name) were of Chesterfield but I believe they moved to Brixton. It was 1949 before I could find Quesick as Southern Area Welterweight Champ, the one that went to McManus later. Quesick seems to have held the British lightweight title in a lineage from Harold Angus , Jack Alker , Ginger Burke , all the way to Saint and Breaks.
One snip of interest is that Johanfesson was making about £20 from a show after costs until it all went sour and then he was losing money due to poorer fan numbers. Some elements of his creativity backfired on him.
Here is The Bearded Wrestler. I don't know if he stuck around long and as Bill Benny emerged , he was also billed as The bearded Wrestler. Could O'Connor have had a career elsewhere , there are so few bills and yet could this be him nearly 20 years later.
I like that idea that The Southern Area Welterweight title was some kind of legacy, of greater historical prestige than other titles. I wonder if that really was the case?
What a splendid piece of writing and bit of history for us there Ron. Identifying the Bearded Wrestler was the cherry on the cake.
Often come across this Bearded Wrestler in the records , but not so sure that I knew he was Patrick O'Connor. Different of course to the Bearded Monarch , Ken Davies.
In the first set of bills on June 6th Jack Dale is billed as Southern Area champ at Middleweight.
Jack Pye is also there as Northern heavyweight champ. Could it be that Johanfesson was the originator of these titles and the way Jack Quesick his son was there at the start of Dale Martins , it makes me wonder if Dale Martins origins lay in the work of Johanfesson who apparently in the 1930's was one of the few promoters with a license in London.
Dale Martins for sure adopted these Southern area titles.
Quesick held one for a long time and it went to McManus.
Young Bull was usually Vic Coleman but hard to say always. Neat stuff there Ron.
Enjoy some more. I have seen the Question Mark before but not many times.
Cub Panther Pye , Young Bull I think son of Bull Coleman , Young De Rel and Peter Gotham , Ronald Roman Public Schoolboy and Rugby player.
Quantrill. Barney Goldstone. Tulley Marshall USA.
So much to digest here, thanks Ron.
Mad-Cap Mad Carter was doubly mad - I wonder what his show was like?
Ex PO Smith catches the eye in any case, but then I view the year: 1935: so he was living off this after 17 years?
Ivan Zarynoff in 1935: several other similar names would follow over the decades. Was he the originator?
Mr Jack Pye?