The Eldorado Stadium at Leith was being run in a very unusual way in 1962. Clearly Joint Promotion Workers , but Joint Promotions PLUS !!!!.
I have hear that Max Crabtree ran some of Scotland for Joint and I guess by 1962 he might have wrapped up his 2oth Century promotions Venture. Max liked colourful workers and very much masked men. I have a
few examples here.
A lot of names to take in there. I will also mention I found a full season of 42 weeks with July and August looking like a break. So why do I mention Max. Well I give you some examples of Max and brother Shirley , who had left Joint probably about 57/58.
A young Veidor and Andy Robin , Veidor even teaming with Max.
But there is another character used on these shows and ok, Joint had copied Dr Death on odd occassions but not as often as this. THis is not paul Lincoln , it is a blatent copy as Lincoln was reaching the peak of his powers.
Dr Death is tagging with Leon Arras and Max is staring on what seems like a free hand as the promoter. This must be Max promoting.
Who was this Dr Death. Well the fans of 1962 in the Eldorado were about to see his face which is more than we can.
Here is the account of the unmasking but it leaves us guessing and wanting more. But I don't think I have seen a Roster quite like this anywhere else south of the Scotish Border back in 1962. Unless anyone knows otherwise , I suspect Max Crabtree was having the freedom of all promotional Freedoms as Joint's Manager. He even had himself as star man.
This topic has now been given a permanent home on Wrestling Heritage.
https://wrestlingheritage.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/eldorado-1962-.pdf
But do keep adding your comments and memories here.
The newspaper report makes this sound so legit
Bit of a long shot, but the newspaper cutting mentions Max beating Dr Death, "The Giant American". So if we take this literally, we are looking at a decent sized heavyweight. Max himself was no slouch, quite a muscular build, so is this someone much bigger than him?
Looking at the bills at the start of thread, one in October throws up French wrestler, Gil Voiney, taking on Abe Ginsberg.
We know that Voiney was one of the masked men who used the "L'Homme Masque", name. Could he have been the Dr Death who was billed?, Could he have gotten away with being unmasked, because not many people knew him or what he looked like?
Max might have been a bit of a pirate but before we get too heated about his copycat Dr Death let's keep in mind who else was doing it around the same time
This Morrell and Max link made me wonder if it could have been Norman Berry but bkendo1 has previously ruled this out as Norman wasn't physically fit enough by this time.
https://heritagedocs.wixsite.com/talkwrestling/forum/memories-of-the-old-days/doctor-death-1963-vintage
The Eldorado was a pit and the only place iv heard off where the infamous wax matches were flicked onto mostly English Wrestlers and believe me Glasgow Fair week at Blackpool tower was bad enough.Max because of his Berry connection was given an almost free hand,but usage of workers was increasingly scrutinized. I know that Max put on a non Nelson outlaw on at the Eldorado which Billy Best picked up on through comments made at the tower.in 1973 a story about the outlaw and the Eldorado was in a programme sold at Hanley,keeping it real had gone by then.jack Land was a max Dr death.how do I remember the programme well a young lad asked me to sign it and get a few others to do same,I got most to sign but the lad never returned ,he told me he wasn't in Hanley next Saturday as he was going to Blackpool I told him I was on that bill and I took it with me to Blackpool,I didn't see him nor any time at Hanley I often wondered what happened.
This late fifties fascination with being German. Lord Bertie, Steve Viedor (the erroneous spelling of his surname - I cannot bring myself to type it - could not be German.)
What was this obsession with Germans?
I just can't get over Max making himself the Star man. I thought just a hint that Dr Death might be a Barnsley Wrestler as he tagged with Leon Arras, There were quite a few bills with variations of Kurt Von Veidor before he finally became Kurt Steve Veidor and finally dropping all pretence of being German at all.
Anglo Italian and myself posted about the same time. The 1962 mergers weren't just in the north and brought independent men into teh Dale Martin sphere. In 1962 Matsport (Kidd, Capelli and D'Orazio) merged with Dale Martin, Devereux (who had proclaimed their independence) started working with Joint and producing hybrid shows, ditto Conrad Davis in Birmingham, and Frankie Price's Premier Promotions continued operating under the Premier banner within the Joint jurisdiction. Paul Lincoln was the exception who remained independent, until 1966.
Ron has opened up another can of worms here. Max seemed to move in and out of the Joint Promotions sphere and I guess with his death we'll never sort it all out. He worked for George DeRelwyskow at times and also used Joint wrestlers under the Combat Promotions banner.
1962 was a landmark year, and we see it playing out here. In 1962 a handful of independents, Max amongst them, went back in with Joint. This brought the likes of George Kidd, Eddie Capelli,Joe D'Orazio and Max back under the Joint umbrella.
I'd say the January shows have a definite independent look, April is in the Joint camp. An oddity is February. The 13th has a Joint look with the 20th more independent. The masked men throw up a bit of an oddity. The Monster was a Crabtree invention and as we've discussed previously he did use this John Wade as a Monster, as opposed to the more usual Jim Green. John wade worked as the Monster for Morrell and Dale Martin in 1962. Dr Death is another oddity. Not surprising to have a fake Dr Death on Northern independent shows but we have seen previously Morrell using a copycat Dr Death in 1962.
So yes it is all interesting but shows that in the 1962 year of transition it wasn't a case of black and white. But this is wrestling. When is it?
Top analysis, Ron!
I was in Dale Martin land and we had 100% Dale Martin, pure and simple.
It's fascinating to see these hybrid bills within the strict Joint Promotions framework.
It meant Edinburgh fans could see match-ups that couldn't and just didn't happen anywhere else.
Studying the scores of wrestlers involved is doing my head in. But I notice Breaks, Royal, Faulkner, Dennison, Eagles, Cooper, Penzy. Morrell and Wryton men within JPs. I see no Dale Martin men.
And George Kidd is largely absent, just one billing.
You have thrown the 1,000 jigsaw pieces on the table and we have 900 in place.
Your research probably tells us more about schisms within Joint Promotions than anything else.
Kidd and Lincoln were buddies. Kidd urged Lincoln to be Dr Death. Just two years later, Kidd has perhaps opted out of Dr Death rip-offs.
Nevertheless, Pallo, McManus, Kellett and especially Logan all wrestled in Scotland with some regularity.
Very few of us on the planet now can get excited about this or understand it at all.
But you and I can, Ron ☺☺☺
The politics must have been changing on a weekly basis in 1962.