Louisville's Greatest Show: The Story of the Allen Club
#PWHS #BookReview #Louisville #Kentucky #AllenClub #JohnCosper #Wrestling #ProWrestling
5/5 Stars
John Cosper is a wrestling fan. He has composed novels, screenplays and sketches for which awards have been won. Now he is on his fifth wrestling book, if I have counted right, and it's arguably his most detailed work yet. His other releases include Bluegrass, Brawlers, a prequel to this book; a biography on Lord Carlton; and co-writer of Kenny Bolin's autobiography. Just one of his other accomplishments is being the creator of the comedy wrestling series, "The Hauss Show."
As mentioned above, this book is a follow-up to Cosper's first release, "Bluegrass Brawlers." A near perfect one at that. First of all there's a recap of how Louisville's wrestling scene evolved over the years which provides a informative, and as someone who read the first book, I can safely say it did not feel repetitive or too long. It felt just right to refresh my mind on the points I needed to know going into the bulk of the book and it's main story. The story of Heywood Allen's promotion based out of Louisville, Kentucky and the folk who took over following Allen's retirement.
Before that, we need to know about Mr. Allen himself. So, naturally that's where the main story starts off. Cosper takes you through the break-up of Allen and his former employer and follows them to the culmination of their promotional war. Seemingly a bit of a theme starts with there. The Allen Club enters into many territorial wars over the years following this first one with the Savoy Club in the 1930s. If he wasn't going back-and-forth with other promoters, Allen had the local Athletic Commission representative, Johnson S. Mattingly on his back for one thing or another. Amazingly, a somewhat similar situation can be seen today, something which John also covers in his book. Quite interesting, really.
The most interesting part to come after the tumultuous beginning years for Allen is probably the time during World War II. Just a handful of years after the period just covered. The reason I found this so interesting is as it covers the problems promoters faced with talent joining the armed forces. Plus it's when tag-team wrestling became a prominent feature on cards for the Louisville fans. If that wasn't enough, also covered is a small boom period for women's wrestling, and a bit about the "Negro World Championship."
By the end of the 1940s it was time for Heywood Allen to give up his duties as the head man of the Athletic Club. Great inside information on how the passing of the keys went from Allen to Francis McDonogh. I feel it's an appropriate to mention how the charity work of the Allen Athletic Club is brought up throughout the book, it's not a bad thing by any means, it's a great example about how having a good image in the community was and still is an essential part of being a promoter.
Did the invention of television impact Louisville like most wrestling cities? That is another example of an extremely interesting topic covered and again just a handful of years since the prior one. The stuff in between is nowhere near dull either. The stuff in between is the real story. The matches. The attendance figures. The quotes from people involved. The personalities who passed through Louisville. Who came into their own there. Who received their moniker there. Names that are legendary in the city and nationwide and internationally. Louisville saw them all. It was a hotbed for many years. All of which are covered.
Like Allen's time, McDonogh saw territorial feuds, drops in popularity, rises in popularity, well, not just rises, he took the promotion to bigger heights than it had reached before. He had a firm education from Allen as well as many connections in the National Wrestling Alliance including the head honcho, Sam Muchnick. An ally which served him well during times of conflict.
In the midst of the McDonogh portion of the book, Cosper breaks off and gives a nice bit of attention to what he calls Louisville's "favorite 'son.'" Ed "Strangler" Lewis. Lewis wasn't actually from Louisville, but, Cosper clears that whole shtick and how he became a "Strangler" in the first place quite well. There is a story in there about Lewis and Pesek, which may very well be the version of Lewis or a friend of his, rather than the whole story, it's a cool little tale though.
Not too long later is a self-admitted repeat from Bluegrass Brawlers. The story of "The Great Zorro." If you're a first time hearer of this, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it, If you read it and enjoyed it already, Cosper is right, it's worth repeating. Even though it's not a repeat, you'll want to read about Lou Thesz Vs. Gorgeous George twice, it's just such an iconic match. After many, many pages have passed since the "Negro World Championship" we finally get to "Breaking the Color Barrier." It's when reading a book like this, how recent in history stuff like this really was. A great chapter in the book too.
After starting in the mid-1930s the book ends in the late 1950s with the sudden death of Francis McDonogh. Cosper then goes over the possibilities concerning why wrestling in Louisville simply died soon after. Not to be revived until Memphis expanded nearly two decades later.
Here's just a partial list of people covered by more than a mere paragraph in the book. Some have mini-bios of a decent size about them:
"Bull" Curry,
Cecil "Blacksmith" Pedigo,
Lord Lansdowne,
"Wild" Bill Cantrell,
Mildred Burke,
Lou Thesz,
Jack Claybourne,
Seelie Samara,
Maurice Tillet,
Karl Pojello,
Orville Brown,
Roy Welch,
Gorgeous George,
Herb Welch,
Elvira Snodgrass,
Ralph Garibaldi,
Buddy Rogers,
Lou Thesz,
"Classy" Freddie Blassie",
"Wild" Bill Zim,
"Wild" Bill Longson,
Ginger the Bear
Stu Gibson,
The Green Dragon,
Tuffy Truesdale and his alligator,
Lord Littlebrook,
Sky Low Low,
Mr. X,
Babs Wingo,
Enrique Torres,
The Sheik,
Baron Michele Leone,
Jimmy Finnegan, a popular broadcasting personality in Louisville,
Mae Young,
Tor Johnson,
Jim Mitchell,
Ellis Joseph, just the referee. Or was he?
George Lewis, the voice of Louisville boxing and wrestling for forty-five years,
The Zebra Kid (George Bollas),
"Wee Willie" Davis,
and finally the "Masked Superman." Who was he? Well, I'm not into giving away too many spoilers. You'll have to just read it.
With John's storytelling ability, his extensive research in Louisville newspapers and other means, and his passion for the subject he was writing on is very apparent throughout Louisville's Great Show. What felt like a positively huge selection of pictures are printed every few chapters, breaking up the reading nicely. All of them are great finds, but there's something about a Christmas card from Fred Blassie with the words "King of Hell" on the front of it that make it stand out above the rest. Another nice little touch at the beginning of each year in the book a few important moments from Louisville in that year are listed.
Of course the greatest appeal this book has is to wrestling historians and researchers and members of the Louisville and surrounding areas. However, anyone interested in wrestling and are open minded to learning about the past generations will thoroughly enjoy it I feel. It is up there with Larry Matysik's book on the St. Louis Wrestling Club as far as books on specific promoters/areas go. At the beginning John Cosper asks the question: "How did a community like Louisville become home to not one but two wrestling promotions that survived more than twenty years in the WWE era?" By the end of it you'll not only know the answer, but, you'll understand it and feel as though you've been thoroughly entertained during the process.
As mentioned above, this book is a follow-up to Cosper's first release, "Bluegrass Brawlers." A near perfect one at that. First of all there's a recap of how Louisville's wrestling scene evolved over the years which provides a informative, and as someone who read the first book, I can safely say it did not feel repetitive or too long. It felt just right to refresh my mind on the points I needed to know going into the bulk of the book and it's main story. The story of Heywood Allen's promotion based out of Louisville, Kentucky and the folk who took over following Allen's retirement.
Before that, we need to know about Mr. Allen himself. So, naturally that's where the main story starts off. Cosper takes you through the break-up of Allen and his former employer and follows them to the culmination of their promotional war. Seemingly a bit of a theme starts with there. The Allen Club enters into many territorial wars over the years following this first one with the Savoy Club in the 1930s. If he wasn't going back-and-forth with other promoters, Allen had the local Athletic Commission representative, Johnson S. Mattingly on his back for one thing or another. Amazingly, a somewhat similar situation can be seen today, something which John also covers in his book. Quite interesting, really.
The most interesting part to come after the tumultuous beginning years for Allen is probably the time during World War II. Just a handful of years after the period just covered. The reason I found this so interesting is as it covers the problems promoters faced with talent joining the armed forces. Plus it's when tag-team wrestling became a prominent feature on cards for the Louisville fans. If that wasn't enough, also covered is a small boom period for women's wrestling, and a bit about the "Negro World Championship."
By the end of the 1940s it was time for Heywood Allen to give up his duties as the head man of the Athletic Club. Great inside information on how the passing of the keys went from Allen to Francis McDonogh. I feel it's an appropriate to mention how the charity work of the Allen Athletic Club is brought up throughout the book, it's not a bad thing by any means, it's a great example about how having a good image in the community was and still is an essential part of being a promoter.
Did the invention of television impact Louisville like most wrestling cities? That is another example of an extremely interesting topic covered and again just a handful of years since the prior one. The stuff in between is nowhere near dull either. The stuff in between is the real story. The matches. The attendance figures. The quotes from people involved. The personalities who passed through Louisville. Who came into their own there. Who received their moniker there. Names that are legendary in the city and nationwide and internationally. Louisville saw them all. It was a hotbed for many years. All of which are covered.
Like Allen's time, McDonogh saw territorial feuds, drops in popularity, rises in popularity, well, not just rises, he took the promotion to bigger heights than it had reached before. He had a firm education from Allen as well as many connections in the National Wrestling Alliance including the head honcho, Sam Muchnick. An ally which served him well during times of conflict.
In the midst of the McDonogh portion of the book, Cosper breaks off and gives a nice bit of attention to what he calls Louisville's "favorite 'son.'" Ed "Strangler" Lewis. Lewis wasn't actually from Louisville, but, Cosper clears that whole shtick and how he became a "Strangler" in the first place quite well. There is a story in there about Lewis and Pesek, which may very well be the version of Lewis or a friend of his, rather than the whole story, it's a cool little tale though.
Not too long later is a self-admitted repeat from Bluegrass Brawlers. The story of "The Great Zorro." If you're a first time hearer of this, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it, If you read it and enjoyed it already, Cosper is right, it's worth repeating. Even though it's not a repeat, you'll want to read about Lou Thesz Vs. Gorgeous George twice, it's just such an iconic match. After many, many pages have passed since the "Negro World Championship" we finally get to "Breaking the Color Barrier." It's when reading a book like this, how recent in history stuff like this really was. A great chapter in the book too.
After starting in the mid-1930s the book ends in the late 1950s with the sudden death of Francis McDonogh. Cosper then goes over the possibilities concerning why wrestling in Louisville simply died soon after. Not to be revived until Memphis expanded nearly two decades later.
Here's just a partial list of people covered by more than a mere paragraph in the book. Some have mini-bios of a decent size about them:
"Bull" Curry,
Cecil "Blacksmith" Pedigo,
Lord Lansdowne,
"Wild" Bill Cantrell,
Mildred Burke,
Lou Thesz,
Jack Claybourne,
Seelie Samara,
Maurice Tillet,
Karl Pojello,
Orville Brown,
Roy Welch,
Gorgeous George,
Herb Welch,
Elvira Snodgrass,
Ralph Garibaldi,
Buddy Rogers,
Lou Thesz,
"Classy" Freddie Blassie",
"Wild" Bill Zim,
"Wild" Bill Longson,
Ginger the Bear
Stu Gibson,
The Green Dragon,
Tuffy Truesdale and his alligator,
Lord Littlebrook,
Sky Low Low,
Mr. X,
Babs Wingo,
Enrique Torres,
The Sheik,
Baron Michele Leone,
Jimmy Finnegan, a popular broadcasting personality in Louisville,
Mae Young,
Tor Johnson,
Jim Mitchell,
Ellis Joseph, just the referee. Or was he?
George Lewis, the voice of Louisville boxing and wrestling for forty-five years,
The Zebra Kid (George Bollas),
"Wee Willie" Davis,
and finally the "Masked Superman." Who was he? Well, I'm not into giving away too many spoilers. You'll have to just read it.
With John's storytelling ability, his extensive research in Louisville newspapers and other means, and his passion for the subject he was writing on is very apparent throughout Louisville's Great Show. What felt like a positively huge selection of pictures are printed every few chapters, breaking up the reading nicely. All of them are great finds, but there's something about a Christmas card from Fred Blassie with the words "King of Hell" on the front of it that make it stand out above the rest. Another nice little touch at the beginning of each year in the book a few important moments from Louisville in that year are listed.
Of course the greatest appeal this book has is to wrestling historians and researchers and members of the Louisville and surrounding areas. However, anyone interested in wrestling and are open minded to learning about the past generations will thoroughly enjoy it I feel. It is up there with Larry Matysik's book on the St. Louis Wrestling Club as far as books on specific promoters/areas go. At the beginning John Cosper asks the question: "How did a community like Louisville become home to not one but two wrestling promotions that survived more than twenty years in the WWE era?" By the end of it you'll not only know the answer, but, you'll understand it and feel as though you've been thoroughly entertained during the process.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Review of Louisville's Greatest Show.
Reviewer: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: March 2017.
Book Review: #33.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Review of Louisville's Greatest Show.
Reviewer: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: March 2017.
Book Review: #33.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Louisville's Greatest Show: The Storry of the Allen Club.
Author: John Cosper.
Pages: 336.
Published as Paperback: March 10, 2017.
Publisher: CreateSpace.