The Zebra Kid was here throughout 1960. As the sixties went on I know he unmasked for quite a few of our wrestlers. Exactly when that started , I have never looked into.
I can't find any other examples. Can anyone explain to me why on this night he should wrestle under his own name and I assume unmasked.
With the Hawaiian title belt (so we know where this photo was taken);
It would seem to Me That GEORGE BOLLAS being The Man Under The ZEBRA KID's
BLACK and WHITE Striped Mask was The World's Worst Kept Secret!!
Here's GEORGE Below On a Show at RED DEER in ALBERTA CANADA!!......
AND Look WHO The Photo is in The Top Right-Hand Corner of The Poster????
Oh Yes!!!- It's The MASKED ZEBRA KID!!
MAIN MASK
I saw the Zebra Kid just once; at Preston’s Queens Hall, against Jim Hussey, who attempting to body slam the 23 stone American, lost his balance and was squashed flat in a KO.
Please bear with me, Ron. I'm stuck in a hotel room abroad with poor internet. But I can't see any sign of Zebra Kid being unmasked at a venue and returning there masked as Zebra Kid. He possibly returned unmasked, logically, as George Bollas. It would make sense.
If you can say there is evidence of him returning masked to a venue where he had been unmasked previously, I will agree it was poorly done. But I don't think Dale Martin's was sloppy in 1960. I think they were at the peak of their powers and alert.
Up to us to unravel the mystery.
As for Britsol being "posh", I would love to discuss the whys and wherefores of that with you, and especially the NOT ..... but that is probably for another place.
For a man of his size he was remarkably agile and if he desired was able to wrestle with skill. I saw him live a couple of times and he attracted a near full house on each occasion. I guess this was the reason promoters were happy to use him and his "heel" status guaranteed an exciting contest with the audience satisfied at witnessing this unusual character.
Maybe this is the reason. If he had been unmasked at a certain venue, or nearby, he had to return there under his own name.
I read on an American site that George finally stopped wrestling in 1966 because of an eye injury it didn't state if it happened in Europe or the
My Buddy IAN PRINGLE Saw The ZEBRA KID Wrestle Live at NEW ST. JAMES
HALL in NEWCASTLE!- He's The Only Person I Know That Did!!
Despite The Number of Times He Did it-He Always Appeared Very Reluctant to Do
so In The Ring After a Loss!-I Wonder If This Was Part of The 'Theatre' or Whether
He Genuinely Didn't Like To Have to Do it??- COUNT BARTELLI Had to Pinion
His Arms While STAN RYLANDS Peeled Off His Famous BLACK and WHITE
ZEBRA Mask!!
MM
This Zebra Kid really is a bit of a conundrum. I never saw him but was obviously aware of him at the time. I did have the chance of seeing Zebra Kid v Great Togo but chose and independent show instead, the folly of youth?
The whole point of a masked man was the mystery. Who was he? Was he really disfigured as a result of a horrific accident? Was he really a member of the Royal family? Or a well known rich business man? These days could have been a former British PM.
But even in the 1960s it was common knowledge that the Zebra Kid was George Bollas. Most surprising was he was a genuine American and not some Brit pulling on a mask for a nights work.
Makes me think that the Zebra Kid must have been really good. Fans in the know didn't care that they knew, they just knew they were going to have a good night out.
There's nothing like a masked man.
Unless it's a masked man without a mask that is.
Another conundum you have set us. George Bollas at Bristol in September 1960.
"Too posh for Bristol." Let's rule that out because here he is in 1959.
And this unmasked George Bollas was no accident. As George was back three months later than Ron's finding in 1960.
So, why were Dale Martin using a masked Zebra Kid in their halls and an unmasked Bollas in Bristol?
A favour (a la Monster Jim Green the Monster in Blackpool), a telephone cock-up (a la Peter Kendo for Nagasaki, the usual incompetence) would account for one Bollas appearance, but two is a mystery.
Strange because I have several bills for that month in 1960 and he was masked on all of them I was thinking along the lines of , was Bristol too posh for a Zebra Mask.
Here he is either side.
Yes RON!- To The Best of My Knowledge- The First Significant Defeat of The ZEBRA
KID-and Unmasking-was by MIKE MARINO in 1960!!
It May be-with Regard to your Above Bill-That After This Defeat-He Wrestled-as
BARTELLI Called it-'Barefaced' and under his Own Name for awhile!!
The Next Significant Loss and Subsequent Unmasking of The KID was in MARCH
1961 in a MASK versus MASK Contest with COUNT BARTELLI-at VICTORIA HALL
HANLEY!-I Have The Original Programme for This Match + Original Newspaper
Press Articles!! +
We All Know about His Defeats by The OUTLAW- but as you say-Other Losses
were Scattered here and there Including One to 'JUDO' AL HAYES-I Have The
Original Programme for This too!- But These Latter Defeats All Came in The Later
Twilight of his Career after Illness had Overtaken him!!- And- in My View-he ought
not to have been Wrestling!!
MM