Alan Garfield

The Original Alan Garfield Thread

Anglo Italian's original 2004 thread didn't make it to this forum, but is kept safely on Heritage. Read it (it will take a while but well worth it) and continue the discussion here.

I doubt if any other wrestler has managed to attract so much attention in the Forum than Alan Garfield, a considerable feat as his television appearances were rather restricted then sadly terminated.

When one Dudley Gillingham transformed into Alan Garfield and commenced his lengthy wrestling career back in 1947 he could have not believed he would be the subject of discussion among wrestling enthusiasts nearly 80 years later. In retrospect his decision to evolve into a "sporting gentleman' was a stroke of genius in what was then a class dominated society, and to act as a villian gave added stimulus and brought crowds flocking eager to see him given his comeuppence. Of course he had to possess the wrestling ability and charisma to achieve his status and this he had in abundance. Few wrestlers could manage to enrage a crowd as Alan Garfield with his underhand tactics and insults to a largely working class audience were guaranteed to activate derision.

I was fortunate to see the great man live on several occasions and once at Maidstone(not a venue for the fainthearted) I wondered if he would actually reach the safety of the dressing room- he returned safely. Yet there was one venue where he actually received acclaim the rather quirky Lime Grove Baths in Shepherds Bush.

Lime Grove was opposite the then BBC television studios and attracted a slighty more middle class patronage and although this is only conjecture this may have been the reason a substantial segment of the audience actually cheered the great man. I witnessed this once when he was matched against a "heel" from memory "Rough House" Alf Cadman who was informed by Garfield that he was a cad and to loud cheers was subjected to a vicious looking Boston Crab- a Garfield speciality which terminated the bout.

This may have been a one off occasion but I wonder if there was any other venue where Alan Garfield was accorded "blue eye" status.

A sign we are getting old. These photos have appeared on Heritage several times over. Actually it’s fine, as we can relive those days and those people involved in quite an eccentric entertainment. (Bash for cash)?

Thanks Saxonwolf, took me a while but managed to get through it.

Probably written by Garfield himself; he clearly thought he could get away with murder in the USA. Interesting that he shows respect even there for Assirati; yet specifically names Dennis Mitchell as the man he beat for the British title. I wonder what Mitchell thought about that?

The moustache-tweaking is clearly the whole point of the article, priming the audience to know what to look out for. We know McManus was the only wrestler at his funeral and I'm wondering whether it was out of thanks for giving him the idea about having his ears tweaked - "Not the ears!"

I'll give my eyes a rest and have a squint at The Ost's later.

Alan writes about physical culture, late 1940's:

I'll try again, and post the article I found in a US Wrestling magazine of the early 60's.

Very informative it is, as well, it gives you the date that "Sir" Alan was knighted, talks of him being a major in the Army, and his days the special forces........click the pages to enlarge.

Saxonwolf reminds us that Tinker Todd was Ramon Napolitano - complete with genuine WW2 military career. And also with Californian family.

Garfield had done the same Bentley gimmick on his earlier tour, with Oliver Winrush as tag partner. It seems Winrush was also Napolitano.

And yet Garfield's title bouts and championship reign in tag were alongside Karl Von Schober - don't tell me that was Ramon Napolitano too!

Once again, Garfield pushing believability with his "array" of tag partners.

I know Ron loves to rise to these sorts of challenges: I wonder what history we can see in British rings of Garfield and Napolitano on the same bill? Probably, if at all, in opposite corners.

Since John is with us, and mindful that Garfield was billed from Sydney for ten years, and has to this day a restaurant named after him in the Dandenongs: did Alan Garfield ever wrestle in Australia?

I'm joining in this lovely 'rehash'! A.G. Was my favourite villain. Looked every bit of a 'toff', every bit of a villain and every bit of a wrestler. When he fought Ricki Starr at Brighton Stadium the first time, all the cheers from the packed venue, were for his opponent, an American! Another time, same place, he beat Johnny Yearsley to face Joe Cornelius in the final of a one night knockout competition. Joe made the final after he had been mauled by Danny Lynch and had rosin smeared in his eyes by Jack Bence and faced Alan with one eye bruised and closed. Joe was the darling of Brighton (as well as many other places) so of course he was going to win, after a hammering, stealing a winning fall. He DIDN'T. He LOST, in the best bit of booking I ever witnessed in the U.K. (Maybe it was just fluke booking). The crowd was devastated.

Alan Garfield master Villain, v Joe Cornelius, Consummate hero. It couldn't be any better than that!

Do we have an approximate idea of when he retired from the ring?

I seem to think his nephew told us this on the old 1-stop site, over a decade ago?

Oh yes, good point Ballymoss. I was only considering Billy Barber's DM days. And Lincoln programmes largely stopped their creativity after 1966. So I will now revise my guess based on studying Garfield's match record and the periods when he faced Hayes on Lincoln bills.

This throws up 4th January 1962 in Leyton. I'll plump for that as the Garfield I remember ten years later had an older physique.

Mate of MM will reveal all, perhaps? Of course the photo could have been used years later so we'll never really know.

A brilliant find and I can recall seeing this picture being in a Paul Lincoln programme. I wonder if it was a little earlier only because Billy Barber was gradually replaced as Lincoln's principal referee by Max Ward, before 1969. Of course this is only a guess, and I now realise I first saw Alan Garfield live nearly sixty years ago !!

Here's another corker from Main Mask. I'm wondering which publication this appeared in? Rare shot of Billy Barber.

I'm taking a stab at the year: 1969.

Another Rare FLYER Featuring the 'TURBULENT ONE' for you ANGLO!- This one 1961 from

BURNT OAK!!

MAIN MASK

Asking whether Garfield has "finally met his match" in these latest Main Mask contributions rather implies some kind of unbeaten run, doesn't it?

Here's a shot of Alan with one of his famous 1930's era Bentleys. Interestingly the article makes no mention of him and focuses on the likes of Rex Gable.

I always found it fascinating when Alan Garfield was billed as hailing from Australia, as when he engaged with opponents and fans, he usually adopted the persona of an "English Gentleman". I suspect this cultivated accent was as dubious as his Sydney Australia tag. Nevertheless, what a showman!

Thanks Ballymoss, I always enjoy reading your memories.

I suppose we have to come back to the age-old but not very often mentioned question of tax-paying.

Ost reminds us of a total 1962 absence. And we know either side of that that Alan Garfield wrestled also to Paul Lincoln. Simultaneously he was buying and selling motor cars. Heaven knows how he managed his affairs.

Various wrestlers had reasons for not wanting to be on tv. Leon Arras was the most celebrated, for the nice clean reason of being a schoolmaster. But others had all sorts of other reasons whether regarding complex love lives, criminal records or money.........Some great wrestlers may, and I am only surmising, may have preferred to stick with the non-televised independemts for this reason.

All of 1962 he spent in North America.

Records show 5 tv outings. The final one was against Gwyn Davies in 1965, Bradford I seem to recall. The sory is that he said something that Kent Walton didn't appreciate and Kent had him banned from any future smallscreen appearances.

In the absence of any other theories, I imagine our story becomes true history.

Still, such a big name appearing only five times in the first ten years of tv wrestling sets you to wondering.

It may well be that he had some valid reason for not wanting to be on tv. Maybe his routine was so dependent on crowd interaction and perhaps his one-line ad libs were so rehearsed that a tv appearance could kill the spontaneity of his live shows. Just maybe.

i wonder why he was not on TV regularly; I recall seeing him on only the once.

From what I was told by my father Alan Garfield was in the 1950's a wrestler in the Albert Wall- Geoff Portz mould, extremely strong and quite agile. I first saw him in the early 1960's and he had certainly slowed down, but he still had that one marvellous quality for a wrestler-charisma. This was not so evident in the late 1960's as he sadly became in my opinion , a pantomime villain.Sadly age did appear to have caught up with him.

Nevertheless, in my admittedly biased view, Alan Garfield, who always entertained, was one of the real "titans" of wrestling.

As well as unearthing the above bills, Main Mask shares these photos that some Members may not have seen:

The Garfield I remember and loved based his show - in his twilight years - on arrogant backchat, blatant cowardice, and all manner of devices honed down the years to antagonise his audience. He was a chunky performer who could look after himself but, suffice to say, there was no chance of seeing a drop-kick...

So I am wondering about this persistent billing of Alan Garfield as being sensational. They also call him rugged, and of course turbulent.

I am trying to get a picture of what Garfield's wrestling style was in the fifties, as opposed to in his fifties.

McManus perhaps provides a parallel? The speed-wizard that we see delivering perhaps his own final drop-kick in 1962 (reaching Pallo's chest) eased right off the actual wrestling skills through the sixties in favour of working his villainous style, akin, of course, to relentless self-marketing.

I wonder what sort of ringcraft Garfield had to top so many fifties bills?

Some of those look very familiar

Absolutely wonderful to see these old bills and thank you so much MAIN MASK. Fascinating to see the great man described as the first gentleman of the mat -a fitting tribute!

Also I wonder if Alan "behaved" at Maidstone as that venue could prove rather tricky for wrestlers who did not meet the crowd's approval at the wrestling equivalent of Millwall's The Den.

Splendid additions. After more than a decade Alan Garfield is the star that just keeps on giving.

Keeping the quality aspect of this thread going, Main Mask now kindly shares the following Alan Garfield memorabilia, starting with a stonking quality of handbill for the bout in Brighton where Garfield defeated Ricki Starr at the height of his powers:

Thanks Ron ☺

I am a bit behind these days but will catch up.

Mouth-watering bills above but numerous mistakes on them. Never seen Garfield billed as "Gargantuan" before, not sure whether this is a mistake or intentional?

Morrell in Eltham jumps out at us ...and possibly with one of the final appearances of the Ambling Alp?

Just a general reminder as our membership is ever changing. For many years we have sought to find Anglo some video footage of Alan Garfield.

He would have been filmed in the USA and even though a Youtube search won't show him , he could be out there tagging with another guy.

Big challenge for us all.......Find Anglo some footage.

1961 for Paul Lincoln:

Interesting if he beat Starr, that rarely happened, in fact in 1964, Starr went through an entire Hamburg tournament without losing (24 matches) which almost never happened.

Thanks Bernard.

I'm trying to open a Gallery with some bills Main Mask has sent through but have some browser woes.

For completeness, let it be known that Garfield was perhaps the only one to defeat Starr at the height of his mid-sixties fame. I would love to know what factors allowed that to come about, since both were showmen with no designs on shooting and titles.

3 more photos for Anglo

Some wonderful pictures and programmes featuring in my opinion the best "heel" I have ever seen- the wonderful "Sir" Alan Garfield. He always provided so much entertainment and is fondly remembered.However, I think he would have had a very formidable task against Billy Robinson. A disqualification perhaps for the turbulent one?

Great stuff, The O. Reg Stanley an all-new name to me ...

1963:

Will add more, when time permits........

1959:

In need of Pampers now ....

"When time permits.........." ????? Whatever could be more important than this?

Planning on adding some memorabilia to this topic when time permits

Courtesy of Bernard.

God, it never ends.......

So many thanks to you all for helping!

I knew nothing about him. Anglo Italian can take all the credit for taking us on this incredible journey. Until we started Alan Garfield had been more or less forgotten. By the end of the thread he was a legend.

I think this is what you're looking for Anglo Italian. It goes back years, not to our last (Webs) forum but our original (Nabble) Forum. We moved it to the Memories section (too much red wine for you my boy)

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/8c8314_448af9030e3a4936b2b2ee5869d4da5a.pdf

That was a great thread, on the old site, we found tons of information, bouts, results, cities, countries, etc.