Douglas Clark and the beginning of British pro-wrestling

Congratulations Steve. Something for us all to look forward to.

Hello gentlemen,

I am pleased to announce the book is now available on pre-order (October 5th official release date).

Thank you so much for your help with my research - the site and some individuals are thanked and acknowledged in the book.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1785316826?pf_rd_r=7JAKA9ER162JFBJXW99G&pf_rd_p=e632fea2-678f-4848-9a97-bcecda59cb4e

Steve.

No Steven , I don't think there is an official one. It was just perception.

Thanks Ron. Is there an official British Hall of Fame?

i have an interesting story from when I visited Doug’s niece. She refuses to accept it was worked! I had planned on writing the story as the work anyway and then reveal all at the end, as a kind of twist. But I am going to have to be careful what I write!

It's a great thing that you are doing Steven. About half way through the life of this Heritage site some of us came round to thinking Doug had been missed. I don't know if it was because he split his sports and was great at Field Wrestling , Rugby and pro Wrestling or because he had to do Pro Wrestling so late.

By wrestling up to 1960 Jack Pye and Bert Assirati went down in the Hall of fame.

The balance regarding Doug has now been restored , He was our first and a long reigning champion and ambassador and will be remembered now as a Main Man.

I still say , it seems no Brit ever beat him , so powerful was he as a draw with the promoters.

Hello again gents. I’m nearing the end of my manuscript so would just like to thank you all for contributing to my research. publication by Pitch Publishing scheduled for September. Wrestling Heritage will be getting a big acknowledgement. Please follow me on Twitter @steven_bell1985 to keep up to date and share in the book publicity! Thanks again!

Ed regarding Lurich promoting , I have just looked at this and at the moment can't find what I wanted. While researching Clark /Lurich I did read somewhere (Probably in Trove Newspapers) that Lurich was promoting their shows.

Your reference to Booker could be more accurate. I am just not sure , but it seems that Lurich had what they today call creative control over the bouts and as the formula progressed things like blood and police involvement got built in. I got the impression that when the fight went to other stadiums , it was Lurich that sort of negotiated what was being served up.

It was similar in England with Clark , who was deemed to promote , but actually seemed to work for Relwyskow , but when that belt was needed for the Gerstmans fight , a local business man was found to sponsor it all.

I never saw a poster with Clark's name as the promoter though.

It remains to be seen if promoter is the wrong word for Lurich.

Another example was Sam Burmister , who again seemed in charge of his own scripts , not sure if you would call him a promoter or not.

The police who were present at the wrestling matches in that era were real on-duty policemen.

Police also attended boxing matches in those days.

The law enforcement officers had the power to stop wrestling and boxing matches in those times.

Ron mentioned that Tom Lurich did some promoting. This may explain why Lurich worked regularly at Leichhardt Stadium but not as frequently at Sydney Stadium.

I assumed that Lurich may have been the Leichhardt Stadium promoters' booker.

* Ron: could you please expand on Lurich's promoting activities. I am fascinated by this side of the wrestling business.

I am leaving today on a 1,500 kilometre wrestling trip (ring announcing and commentating) through the North Coast of NSW. On my return I will endeavour to contact Wrestling Heritage member, Blue Boy, whose grandfather, Pat McHugh, promoted at Leichhardt Stadium and other venues.

Cheers!

Would accept in this era real police

The great thing is now , I don't think Doug Clark will ever be forgotten

It became apparent that he was the man of the 1930's.

Also he was 45 years old on that 1936 tour and I would say in pretty good condition.Had there been this type of wrestling in the 1920's he would really have dominated.

My understanding is that Lurich actually did promoting as had Clark in England and to that end I think they tried a few stunts out. One match was stopped by the police , it got so out of hand. I wonder if they were real police (or WWE style fakes)

I think It was someone claiming to be Douglas Clark but turned out not to be

Ron that video is pretty special. Well done and thank you.

You can read some of the reports in New Zealand Papers here.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers?snippet=true&query=douglas+clark+wrestling&start_date=01-01-1936&end_date=31-12-1936

There’s no photo so i’m skeptical. If it was really him I can’t see the official guide not acknowledging him. I do have Reb Russell photos will post tomorrow when at the computer. Dave C wishes everyone well by the way, he loved the photos shared by Steven Bell.

I hope this link works as it will be a treat for Steven.

It's great sparring with you Ed , but here I have Doug and Lurich and Lurich is in trunks , not tights and also short ankle boots.

https://commerce.veritone.com/search/asset/8859817

Hope the link works , but it was Doug Clark that lost to Cowboy Russell

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WHDT19360804.2.18?end_date=31-12-1936&query=douglas+clark+wrestling&snippet=true&start_date=01-01-1936

Thanks gents. I am merely going to mention that he wrestled in NZ, no more than that. I‘m covering the Lurich angle in more detail. I plan on just captioning the arm-bar pic with something generic - “Douglas Clark in All-In” wrestling action”. But I think I will say that the second picture is Lurich, as it will assist my narrative that those matches got down in the trenches!

I’m sorry to be a naysayer but I don’t think that either photo features Tom Lurich or George Walker.

Lurich almost always wore long black tights in his matches. It was his signature look.

I agree with the Ost that Walker had a very distinct appearance. Walker’s hair was very closely cropped above those distinctive ears and it was quite curly/wavy on top.

I’m not sure that the second photo is from Australia. I have never seen an image (photo or film) of an Aussie match in which a referee wore a long sleeve jumper.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Douglas Clark’s NZ loss to George Walker, as reported in the Brisbane Telegraph (above in Ron's post), was just hype. If Dave Cameron and the Ost can’t find any matches for Clark in NZ then Douglas may not have wrestled there. As Ost mentioned, it may have been Jack Clarke.

The plot thickens, however, as Ron’s research has uncovered these matches:

3 August 1936 in Auckland, NZ Cowboy Rebel Russell (AKA Rebel Rob Russell) defeated Douglas Clark

8 August 1936 in Auckland, NZ Douglas Clark vs Sam Leathers - result not known

Can the Ost please clarify whether the 3 August 1936 and 8 August 1936 matches in Auckland may have perhaps been Jack Clarke matches?

Ost: I don’t think it’s Sam Leathers in either of Steven Bell’s photos. Do you have any images of Rob Russell please mate?

Cheers!

Interesting, that wrestler is listed as Jack Clarke in the official 1937 recap. I will dig some more. In any event, neither referee resembled any of the referees in NZ at that time.

Accuracy is problematic and it is looking at best that Steven Bell perhaps should just use the photo's with a bit of speculation. I have tried "best shot" and can see that I could easily be wrong , but that leaves nothing.

Clarks 1936 tour finished in the second week in September. He did a short stint in New Zealand in August. Walker came over to Australia to work with Lurich and others. I don't think he did very long.

He did make the papers though , and one article claimed he had beaten Clark.

Clark did make the New Zealand papers going down to Cowboy Bob Russel in a poor match , afterwards Clark claimed he had Influenza . (Auckland August 3rd)