Just put another collection on in the galleries. Covers mid 1930's to 1958
https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/apps/photos/
Home of the Crabtrees , you will find Shirley's dad wrestling at The Shay in 1936.
Some summer wrestling at The Shay in the 1930's but it was rare that there was weekly wrestling. For the most part Winters at the Drill Hall on Prescott Street did bi weekly wrestling for many years. By 1958 the Independents had muscled in at the Drill Hall , but Ted Beresford was promoting at the Victoria Hall. Yet another capture of Jerry Hoggarth having an outing.
Some time in 1957 I believe Shirley Crabtree departed from Joint and similar The Ghoul it seems was getting a bit out of condition and migrated to perhaps and easier life travel wise.
Later I will tell you the story of this meeting between two icons of British Wrestling history.
This one is Twentieth century promotions and not Beresford. I will give you the full story.
The Drill Hall , I believe has been converted into flats, perhaps about 20 years ago or more.
Hope some of you will pick out anything that stands out from these Galleries.
Today's Halifax Courier
I have managed to move into 1961 , but unfortunately the Galleries are not functioning in terms of new images due to "Flash" being turned off.
I personally think the Shirley Crabtree story is fascinating , and I just love to find a good newspaper bill that can at times even rival a poster. Twentieth Century Promotions was years ahead of his time with this advertising , in fact was it ever bettered. I even found a write up of the bout with Great Bula taking the lead only for Shirley to Boston Crab the hell out of him twice. Bula duly unmasked although he was not named. Almost certainly Big Boy Charlie Scott. The £1000 of course would have been fiction.
I wonder who "Lumberjack Joe Larsen" was?, Pancho Gonzales was actually from Peru, I think.
1958 is before I was born, but I can imagine that in those much simpler times, a night out to see Wrestlers from all over the world, on a Monday night, in Halifax, must have been incredible.
Just going back to the opener on this thread I showed this bill.
The A-Z has some marvellous bits of info , one such being that Alan Dennison made his debut at Grantham in September 1958 , but it had been rumoured that he wrestled during 1957 as Young Sandow.
Well here we go , that is probably him , but what I would like to know , is how on earth did Heritage get hold of that small anecdote. Shows the quality of the A-Z
Halifax 1960 is another great addition, and the link has now been added to the index. Thanks Ron.
The journey continues through 1960 now. No other town could chart the rise of the Crabtrees better than Halifax. From 1952 it is shown that Shirley was with Joint and began a new path in 1958 finding work along with his brother tied to Norman Berry and also with Jack Taylor.
https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/apps/photos/album?albumid=16229749
BY 1960 Shirley was European champion of their own Federation , getting massive press coverage , supposedly turning down more than £200 a week to tour India because of commitments to defend his title , also hotly disputed by the media that Billy Joyce was the real champ. Berry was claiming that Shirley had beaten Joyce five times whilst with Joint.
Exciting times and a great mixture of Ted Beresford promotions and other Independents.
Brother Max was also trying for Box Office beating Quasimodo .
Hi Ron. Can also verify Topham worked for joints. I have him billed at Newcastle Sat. Dec. 12th 1959 against Alf Cadman.
This combination of Joint and independents makes Haifax a fascinating place for wrestling fans.
Some gems in 1959. In December we have Lord Bertie Topham working for Joint Promotions, I don't think I've seen that before. The audacity of the independents never fails to disappoint. What about the famous British boxer risking his reputation? Well, not really because he was so famous he had to wear a mask! Brilliant Ron. Thanks.
Just added 1959 to this collection.
https://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/apps/photos/album?albumid=16229209
A superb summary of Halifax wrestling and some insights into Shirley. Ron, you ask about Lord Bertie Topham. I saw quite a bit of him. From a fan's perspective I thought he was great and cannot understand why he did not get on better. He carried off his gimmick to perfection and was great entertainment. I think it was Eddie Rose (sorry Eddie if it wasn't you) that said Bertie had a trial for Joint with Jack Atherton and Jack didn't rate him, as wooden as a chair and questioning his work ethic. From my fan's perspective that was not the case.
Dan Severn most famous as an UFC fighter appeared in Halifax as a Professional Wrestler
It seems to me that 20th Century Promotions was his great push.
Amazing that he finally made it in the mid 1970's.
When he came back as the Guardsman , I did not think he was that bad , The Winsford televised match with Naggers after Stampede was a very good bout. Still not met anyone that went except myself.
If Shirley has any fans they should certainly learn his full history from 1952 . It's not a bad story.
Poor Shirl. Not much standing up in his favour.
One thing has to be said, however much we all despise the Big Daddy character and all that surrounded it and, especially its effects on other wrestlers and the business as a whole: Shirley turned up and did it.
Many a wrestler couldn't manage that.
Ron your correct in assuming it was Max ,Shirley was not a matchmaker and according to some old pros who played RL Shirley was a poor rugby player but his claim to have been a guardsman fails scrutiny basically he wasn't a guardsman.
I never saw him but I believe he with Ponsonby was a brilliant crowd worker. When Lady Chatterly came out for a time Ponsonby became the gamekeeper Mellors.
Just had a further look through the local Halifax papers and I have seen the evidence that Norman Morrell and Beresford promoted the shows for the army cadets since the war. Maybe in 1958 Morrell just let Ted get on with it as his own territory.
When Beresford leaves the Drill Hall in late 1958 for the Victoria Hall according to the papers , the Drill Hall promotion then was Norman F Berry with Shirley as Matchmaker. I wonder if this was a mistake and was Max Crabtree.
Ted Beresford wrestled on his own promotion until late 1952 , then refereed some of the shows before staying behind the scenes.
Shirley was not very good at Rugby league,in fact he was near useless
The Bill Benny bout with Shirley was changed to Garibaldi who was squashed and the Togo match Shirley threw him out and he could not get back in time. probably Shirley's biggest push before Big Daddy.
All those bills through the ages and yet for one bill in particular a guy who never did much with Joint was advertised as an absolute sensation. Not clear if it was 20th Century promotions or who. Any one out there think Lord Bertie was any good.
And for Ost concerning Rugby league , the newspapers stated that Shirley had played Rugby for Siddal Jr RL.
I don't know why this was pushed as I thought he played some pro , or I wonder if he only made the reserves.
Anyone know who Mr Superman of Nottingham was.
I am eager to go through these galleries when I have time. Ron, I think you will have found quite a bit of new information. Shirley left wrestling to play rugby league in 1953 (not for long) so this was already his second go-around.
Hi Ron
Yes, I sure noticed Ted alone, hence my comment. He even italicized himself.
I mean, he was doing all right on home turf. Nice little Halifax weeklies. Probably had a few other venues. I wonder what made him want to throw his lot in with niggardly Norman, and place his name unalphabetically second.
Yes, Ted had a great mixture of his regular local talent and a few exotic Southerners; it must have worked very well. Garfield seemed intent on working at every single venue at least once. The greatest traveller?
One observation on the Beresford Morrell partnership is that it seems here in Halifax Ted played a lone hand. Did you notice Garfield working here , I am sure you did.
Maybe he travelled with Al Hayes.
Great astute analysis Anglo and thanks , I am still wading through my own angles.
But let me share this with you.
My story of the Ghoul v Shirley is quite detailed.This was to be the pinnacle of Shirley's career , thus far it had been wrestling in Paris. Just passing mid twenties he was between 19 and 20 stones and clearly getting the huge push from his new promoter. Shirley , according to the Newspaper had made his debut at Newcastle in June 1952.I was with William R all the way that his debut was at Fleetwood against Gerry Hoggarth on 27th June that year. Alas we were wrong and he did fight Orford at Newcastle on the 14th June.He also beat Bob McMasters on 23rd June at Leeds before that Fleetwood meeting. After six years as a wrestler Shirley's mother was going to be there for the very first time.
Well both the Ghoul and Shirley forced submissions out of each other before the bout ended in pure Chaos. Shirley was out of the ring when he struck the Ghoul and the Ghoul was out cold. The ref was Mitchell Gill who declared a no contest.The crowd were booing and the local press managed to get an explanation. Gill claimed that these promotions did Association rules which were similar to Mountevans , but as Shirley has not fouled previously , he could not be disqualified for a first foul. He had to be on a warning. There was no count out of the Ghoul who could not continue as it had been a foul so that was it.
Locals were interviewed and complaints ranged from the Ghoul not being the original , although it looks like he had piled on even more pounds than normal and his fitness was poor , despite the hype of Training for eight weeks for this fight. Mitchell Gill swore it was him as he knew him well. The charade was not appreciated as the best wrestling bill ever had been expected and it should have been advertised as a comedy. The consensus was that they would not get away with a promotion like this again as it had been fraudulent. It was a disgrace. Press verdict ...not mine.
In the next few weeks Shirley was to do more blockbusters against Bill Benny and The Great Togo.
Shirley and Ghoul below
The more I see of these various JP bills, the more I remain in awe of them in their fourth year. There was clearly plenty of work for loads of wrestlers; those that behaved got tv exposure and became names; with the rewards that entailed.
It all just centred around discipline, as we have been saying for a very long time now.
Great for the fans too, with these five-bout bills.
The switching between JPs and the Indies at this venue does my nut in at the start of this set.
Seeing Shirley has having recently astounded on tv comes as a surprise. Did we know this?
Apart from Shirley, so many other locals appearing regularly for the mere cost of the bus-fare: Bernard Murray, Colbeck, Masambula, Baldwin. I mean, to see the exotic African Witchdoctor appearing fornightly in 'alifax is going to make you start to wonder, innit?
Tarzan Taborda, please? Anyone?
What emerges from this set, for me, is the minor mystery of the Morrell and Beresford relationship. How did that little one emerge and develop and remain? Since Norman seems to have been impossible as a business partner, how did Ted manage with him?