METROPOLITAN THEATRE Paddington

What about film of the unmasked Doctor Death?

What about a full 1962 PLM bill on video:

complete with Zollie taking his idiosyncratic thows on his feet.

The show is the one featured on The Wrestling Game.

The one fly in the ointment is that it is not The Met but the ABC Harrow. Nevertheless, with the usual Lincoln names and an enthusiastic packed house, we can imagine the same atmosphere at The Met.

10/6.

Agree , a very special piece of history and maybe this thread is another example of one that could sit in the archives here for future reference.

Tons of content and contributions.

I noticed that on the July 29, 1961 bill, Doctor Death claims to be undefeated in 1,000 contests. MM you'll have to count another 1,006 from there on.

And Bob is Robert. Bob only for wrestling. Funny old world.

What a magnificent dressing gown the Doctor had.

Yes MM, Bob had a decent career. A smaller roster works well for some.

Here is a bit of fun...........Doctor Death met Bartelli.

Yes , I think because he was in the world of entertainment , he came to the conclusion that there was a place in it for wrestling. There was money to be made.

WE have pushed on and learned more about Doctor Death than ever before. Probably no earlier than summer 1959 ( end of summer even) and pretty much finished into 1966.

I often wondered what all the fuss was about but he clearly enchanted many , some so much so that his shows were wrestling at it's best and not Dale Martins.

I have about 20,000 bills collected now , some great collections and it's been a very good year for new stuff. The Metropolitan stands out as almost definitive with only an odd bill missing.

What worked really well for Lincoln is that the timing was "Peak Golden Age"

RON HISTORYO....Time Cop,

You have probably cracked it

Yep, as that was the only the sixth show Ron tells us it looks like Lincoln was in at the start. From what I've heard there was good co-operation between Lincoln , Kidd et al, and DeMarto, so he may have had help but looks like this was Lincoln from the start.

Picking up on James comment. I'd always believed Lincoln left Joint and started up in opposition just because he was fed up with the way he and others were treated. That could have been the case but looking at newspapers for 1957/8 mentions of Paul Lincoln are mostly regarding his musical connections. One says he is an "ex wrestler." Maybe his motivation for leaving Joint was that music was more important at the time and once he'd set up that business he returned to wrestling as an independent. Just a thought that the transition to the opposition may not have been quite as simple as previously thought.

You have probably cracked it Ost. The bill above is the sixth show since the opening so it looks open and shut. He could of course have had partners , but I concede he must have been there to start it all at the Metropolitan. He gained real momentum that year.

Also, here's the August 13, 1960 handbill I mentioned previously. Having looked through Ron's 1960 gallery there are quite a few earlier cards. But you can see Lincoln's name is used:

Two handbills from 1959. They look very similar, but only one mentions Paul Lincoln:

Got a few other things on Lincoln. Although we don't normally take much notice of info on bills , I have one that seems to be bang on. 1963 and four years as Doctor Death.

His company it seems was started early in 1961.

I think we are forgetting Lincoln's other life as a jazz promoter arranging cross-channel ferries and riverboat trips and running the Two IIs. As for seeking finance from his friends he, Hunter and Hayes and, I think, Bob Anthony owned the Cromwellian gambling club at which Wayne Bridges worked. Which came first chicken or egg?

And if we look again at the earliest Dr Death Bill. Here we go again the initial Metropolitan regulars are here.

George Kidd and Eddie Capelli are here up north in Liverpool.

It is as though whoever promoted this show went on to open up the Metropolitan

And it leads me again to think that maybe Shirley did not work for Lincoln and so went missing from the Metropolitan after Lincoln took over.

Speculation of course.

The Carl Von Braun tip came from Jim Craig. I thought it must have been important enough to have been noted on an otherwise run-of-the-mill independent card.

I have a handbill from the Curzon from this timeframe with Doctor Death on it. I think when I first posted, it was suggested DD might have been Buddy Ward. But now it looks like it might have been Lincoln. I'll dig it out again when I get a chance.

Hi Ron, I think that your idea on Cyril Peters was right.

At Newcastle he was normally billed as Knowles Peters.

July 9th was for sure when the Metropolitan started. I have found a feature.

It did not say who the promoter was and the article pushed two wrestlers in particular with statements.

George Kidd had a big part in the feature and the other was Cyril Peters

Kidd then was on the 9th and 16th July shows

Capelli was on the next two shows,

Cyril Peters was on once in July and again in August ( I take it he is Cyril Knowles)

Dr Death was on the third show.

2,000 in ten years sound more like it Ron, but not as Dr Death. He arrived in England in 1952. I find him first working for the opposition in March, 1958, not necessarily one of his own shows. As Main Mask has shown he continued using the Paul Lincoln name when he first went across. That Liverpool bill of Ron's seems the earliest evidenced sighting so far. Ray has the Doctor two weeks earlier, Hull (12th), with Kidd,Capelli and D'Orazio on the bill. Remember I said Lincoln credited Kidd with the DD idea and that his earliest masked appearances were on Matsport (Kidd, Capelli, D'Orazio). I don't think we can rule out Matsport as promoters at the Metropolitan.

I think Paul Lincoln might have had 2000 matches in ten years.

I also now think that he did not have his own promotion when Dr Death was invented.

I also think he must have started in 1959 as the papers would be picking him up like I did with Von Braun which I had no idea about so many thanks to Ost and would love to know how he knows this.

Finding the Doc being beaten by Ken Joyce for me is massive.

Remember I proved that Portz beat Kendo in Stampede in order for Nagasaki to give the belt back to come home.

Always these things are kept quiet.

Going back to the Metropolitan , I do feel a bit unsure if Lincoln was the promoter right in the middle of 1960. It could be an illusion as so many of his mates were not there then but soon were to join him. But did he need those mates to actually take over the Metropolitan , did he need their financial back up.

There is time yet for someone to come up with some extra angles to untangle this.

Big Task that ANGLO!-In Early 1962-DOCTOR DEATH 'Stated' that he had Fought

2006 Matches!!

MAIN MASK

Forget the pinch of salt, tech on the pound size packet of SAXA.

We know we can't believe a word of what we read or were told, and this is obviously utter nonsense.

If Dr Death had fought 2006 matches by early 1962 he would have had to wrestle three times a day, every day of the year since the beginning of 1960.

Absolutely first class Ron. Very enjoyable indeed. Thanks.

Oh for a Time Machine to go back and see what was going on!

Doctor Death flitted about the weights in terms of opponents: Joyce, Capelli ... to Ray Hunter and Don Steadman. Seems to have avoided the extremes of Kidd and Bruno, though.

It seems that he wrestled lighter weights until spring 1960, and perceived that he had to stay down the bill, as heavies like Demetral "had to" go top.

He got himself top of the bill by taking on heavyweights. I wonder if this coincided with a (deliberate) rapid weight rise?

Good point, Ron, that Lincoln probably did not envisage the success of Dr Death, billing him at the bottom even as late as March 1960. Your newspaper snippet is from October so maybe he went whoosh that summer? Sloppy writing to claim undefeated meant he won every bout. But I love the trilby photo. So furtive.

I would suggest that The Doctor Death fame spread like mad in mid 1960 and it led to the newspaper exposure in October.

The bill I put on at Greenford in March 1960 contains possibly something that we may never have talked of or seen before.

Could it be at this stage that a big run for the Doctor had not been thought of.

The newspapers reveal that he lost this bout to Ken Joyce who kicked him out of the ring , I assume a K.O.

Was this swept under the carpet

So we have Von Braun , late 1958 and going into 1959.

Just when I was starting to suspect we can't find the Doc before 1960 , I have finally done it.

The Curzon was in Liverpool and note Cappelli and even Carlton Smith ,

Kidd and Danny Flynn were also promoters.

Are we near the start of Doctor Death and not on his own promotion.

The Ost mentions Carl Von Braun was LIncoln.

Here we are 1959 and a clue RING PROMOTIONS LONDON

and 1958

Hack, I agree that not everything might be Lincoln's own promotion. Especially 1959-60. That's why I said the bills i've seen have the "Lincoln look". Also I'm not certain he was running Adelphi West Brom as I haven't found any printed material yet, just results. But I do have something from Adelphi Slough. That's why any stuff MM or anyone else can share helps a lot. I will dig out the 1959 items again when I can, I think I first posted them a couple of years ago.

Hold on, I don't think we should rush in to believing these were Lincoln shows. I don't know, none of us do, but we should just pause. Main Mask has produced the 1962 programmes.

But independents came and went like buses, are you reading the Wisbech series?

Two big things happened that must make us question Lincoln's involvement. In 1960 and 1961 two other big independent promoters were on the scene - Kidd/Capelli/D'Orazio and Crabtree/Berry. Look how often the Crabtrees and Kidd appear on these shows. Paul Lincoln himself said Kidd suggested the DD persona to him and that early DD matches were on Kidd shows. They could have been the promoters. At the beginning of 1962 Kidd, Capelli, D'Orazio and Crabtrees packed in and went back to Joint Promotions, leaving the door open for Paul Lincoln to move in. I don't know if that's what happened but it is a possibility.

Here's a tidbit that perhaps you folks might be able to turn into something. I have Paul Lincoln wrestling at the Adelphi in West Brom in 1959 - but as Carl Von Braun. Would love to find something in print for that.

I think with Shirley it was that he would do a London trip and work for whomever in the "BWA", I can find him working at Round House Dagenham (Not sure this was Lincoln yet) and Caledonian Rd Baths (DeMarto) as well as Ilford Town Hall (Frank Price). This is in the 1960-61 timeframe.

I think the earliest bill I have is March 22nd 1960 at Greenford.

I shall have a look how early I can find Dr Death or a Lincoln show.

He was exposed in the papers as early as October 1960.

Now don't go believing what wrestlers say, Main Mask ☺ 2006 bouts. About ten years of regular wrestling. Could be about right, though, and he had to create the illusion that he had wrestled in America and elsewhere.

That's interesting, Ost, that Dr Death was absent from 1959 Lincoln bills. Unless he had shows elsewhere on the same night?

Is it really an endless list, Ron? A lot of these venues seemed to be weekly. In my mind I see Lincoln with two or three shows a night.

The Ost has proved that we will have difficulty identifying the first Lincoln show because Dr Death probably wasn't on it and Lincoln didn't state his name as the promoter, perhaps thinking he was too well known as a wrestler. It does look like he was getting the Doctor Death idea through 1959. Actually, when he was starting out, it made sense that he wasn't wrestling. He probably dashed across London to be present at two of his shows. Probably nervous and juggling all roles, making sure all went well. At Tooting, he used to sit brazenly in the foyer selling the programmes, then nipping round the back to put his mask on.

Probably 1959 went well, he got into a confident routine, Hayes and Hunter became trusted colleagues and he felt confident enough making the huge saving of a top-of-the-bill name every time DD appeared.

We've been watching Hayes this year in Paris, 1957, 58. He quite possibly came back with stories of L'Ange Blanc and L'Homme Masqué, and the pair just imitated it all in UK, similarly masked.

He did Ryde Town Hall on the Isle if Wight on Tuesdays.

Also the Essoldo at London's Burnt Oak on Mondays.

And Essoldo at Sheerness in Kent on Thursdays.

The Savoy at Heyes (Thursdays) and Majestic at Mitcham (Saturdays.

The list is endless.

Thanks for this Ron, I look forward to going through this and filling in any gaps in my listings. The earliest I had at this venue was August 13, 1960. In late 1959 Paul Lincoln was promoting at the Adelphi in West Brom. London seemed to have opened up in 1960. Other venues he had in 1960 included the Adelphi in Slough, and the Granadas in Greenford and Woolwich. He was also on some bills for DeMarto who were putting on shows at the Caledonian Rd Baths.

I have always noticed the multitude of venues and a bill here and there , but to get this collection is the icing on the cake.

Interested though in what happened to Shirley.

On your point about when Lincoln started Ron, two comments:

His was the initiative for stage wrestling in these cinemas and music halls.

A clear marker for his promotional debut is also the first appearance of Doctor Death.

I think your questions rather necessitate the compilation of a list of regular Lincoln venues. We have seen hundreds of great Lincoln posters on here and over the years, all a bit sprawling.

Did Ray Plunkett ever compile a list of Dr Death matches? The Doctor surely appeared at every Paul Lincoln venue.

Then the bigger capacity at Tooting may have been the reason for the match there.

I also find that as soon as the Metrolpolitan shut, Lincoln started Saturdays at The Free Trade Hall in a sort of partnership with Bill Benny initially. These were not weekly but did pick up to 2-3 times a month and went on until 1966 when Cape promotions had a go.

Quite an innovative change of territory.

Here is 1963

https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/apps/photos/album?albumid=16216315

I just ask Lincoln Fans , are we sure he was in charge back in 1960 or did he take something over.

Did Shirley really work for him and the burning question , WHY DID HE LEAVE.

Could he not even make it on a small Roster similar to Stampede Wrestling.

And a bit of trivia. Wikipedia quotes 12th April 1963 as the last entertainment show featuring Tommy Trinder.

Like wrestling , did they really keep records of careers such as Brucie , Bob Monkhouse etc.

Well wrestling for me went missing after June 22nd and the final viewing of Doctor Death also beat Trinder with May 18th.

So Lincoln should be in the record books.

Think you will agree this is a stormer of a collection that should tell us so much about who worked for Paul Lincoln.

Does anyone know if he opened up somewhere else in mid 63.

And keep the comments coming , this needs a lot more than my analysis.

Thanks for a wonderful response. To get such a great collection from start to finish over three years is so useful to us. Jame's memories , so great and Anglo's analysis backed up by Main Mask , fantastic.

Here is 1962

https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/apps/photos/album?albumid=16216314

and what I want to say is this , I think I only missed one week where the bil lwas chopped in half. If I have looked correctly up to the time of White Angel's unmasking ( was it at Tooting) in April 1962 , I don't think he and Dr Death had met here.

You will remember that special double bout with Capelli , well what I found two weeks after the unmasking of White Angel , the same thing again here at Paddington. So without overkill on Dr death v White Angel , this venue pushes White Angels attempted revenge. Don't think we have ever discussed a double contest.

1963 coming up

Yes, Main Mask, and what I truly noticed in 1961 was that of all those bills, Garfield genuinely had the biggest billing and build-up of all. His heyday.

You're doing a Main Mask on me, Ron, attrributing Eddie as my mate! But he signed me many an autograph so I will take him onto my "roster" as you call it ☺

Shirley's there, less frequently than Max, but billed as European champ.

How does Doctor Death get away with opposing Don Steadman and then someone half his size, dear Eddie? And then appearing in tag with Docker Don - the promoter must have hoped for a very forgetful or forgiving Met crowd. Mind you, this location would have attracted tourists and overseas visitors, more than Tooting or Edmonton ever would have.

And with putting Shirley's European and British titles up for grabs in a titles bout ... against an Australian?

Lots of new names for me: Yvon Robert, Chopper Lavack, Al Havoc, Henri Le Mad/Le Mayo ...

Got to laugh at Leon Fortuna billed in the Continentals team against Zoltin Boscik.

Leon Arras being there in January 1961 is very eyecatching. Did he really travel so far south? I guess he could manage a Saturday away from school.

Six months later and I cannot start to wonder how Lincoln managed 7 bouts in a ko tourney with six wrestlers...?

Photo 36 shows a Saturday bill with a Tuesday just a few days later. Whatever these bills look like on paper now, they must have given great value to keep the punters coming back for more and more.

At a general level, fascinating to see just how many DM names seem to have been starting out with Paul Lincoln: Bobby Barnes, Yuri Borienko, Reg Trood, Bruno, Caulder, Tug Holton, Quasimodo (in UK terms), Leon Fortuna, Al Miquet. Dale Martin courted and conquered many of these well before 1.1.1966.

Bruno billed at a mere 6'3" is very surprising. I never questioned the extra two inches Dale Martin gave us. Certainly not when getting his autograph.

Thanks for uploading, Ron.

Well Mr H. That’s an impressive collection. You ask for memories of the hall. It was for years the home of Max Miller and of course was used in the film The Blue Lamp.

As for wrestling I used to go on an irregular basis with my then girlfriend. Who did I see there? The good Dr of course. I remember BB Johnson losing to Quasimodo which was great fun and the first time I saw La Savatte. I see on that bill was Peter Rann v Linde Caulder. If that was the bout I saw Rann was the blue eye and round after round Caulder had him in a hold to which he would not submit and then in one amazing move Rann was free… I saw Max Crabtree in tag against the Dr and either Mangotich or Stedman and Crabtree wasn’t bad at all. Far, far better than brother Shirl whom I saw against Big Boy Scott and what a stinker that was.

The mention that after the demasking of the White Angel he fought Lincoln again on the Saturday. I believe someone fired an air pellet into Hayes’ backside but that might be just another story.

Anyway thanks Mr H for the memories – all so long ago. As for the girlfriend we eventually split up and she married but we still keep in touch and meet regularly.

1961 , a full season at the Metropolitan is now on.

https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/apps/photos/album?albumid=16216103

Now you can see the increase in Roster variation compared to 1960.

Business must have been doing well , 50 weeks of wrestling.

Don;t know that much about Lincolns roster , and did not think Shirley ever worked for him

Keep this special match in mind and I will reveal more soon. Note your mate Eddie Capelli again Anglo.

In answer to your question, Ron, I think we have known The Metropolitan as Paul Lincoln's Number One venue, so all your guesses come together as fact as far as I'm concerned. George Kidd was the one who told Lincoln to go masked, and he's on the same bill. They clearly had a close relationship.

One thing I can't quite fathom: we see the famous White Angel v Dr Death Tooting bout advertised in the Met programme - but the wrestlers went on to re-perform the bout at The Met, didn't they?

We discussed Leo Demetral about ten years ago. He had a coffee bar, maybe something like The Two IIs. He was in his twilight years but no surprise to see him on an early Lincoln promotion.

And with Joyce, Kidd and Max all on a Lincoln bill it was like a BWF AGM.

Hi RON!-I'd say the Answer to your Question is 95% YES!

As the Article below States-'It was decided to TRY Wrestling'-in the SUMMER

Season of 1960 for just a Few Weeks!-It ended up being Staged until The Venue Closed!

MAIN MASK