Lady Wrestler By James Harvey - Chapter 15

1962 Genre: Vintage Sleaze / Lady Wrestlers

When is a lady not a lady?

When she is a lady wrestler.

What compulsions drive these voluptuous creatures into the Lady Wrestling racket; and how are they different from other women? Why do they allow themselves to be clawed, slugged, kneed and butted? What do these super-gals do for sexual pleasure? Here is the only story that answers all of these questions and many more about this grotesque sport where girls pin girls for pay and pleasure.

You can download the whole story for FREE from the Fox Library. This is a limited-time offer!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

For the next few days long lines of girls poured in and out of the offices of the Hardy Enterprises. Brick had sent out the call that he was looking for likely female wrestling talent. With two of his stable gone he wanted to replace them as quickly as possible. Brick wanted to enlarge the stable besides and hoped to get four or five new ones from the many willing women. 

Bella helped him in the selections and reserved a basic feminine right not to allow any girl better looking than herself more than five minutes in the office. She didn't want to compete for the still single Brick with girls that she might have the irony of selecting herself. 

It seemed that every woman in New York wanted to become a lady wrestler. One type that both Brick and Bella agreed on turning down the second they turned up were the lesbians. Neither wanted another Cleo around. And the lesbians filed through the offices in droves. It was to be expected. If they sent out a call for male ballet dancers they would be sure to be flooded with the limp-wrist set. 

Even without the vast number of dykes they had plenty to select from. One that interested them right away was a frail-looking, gray-haired woman of about sixty who immediately proved she wasn't as frail as she seemed to be by lifting Brick out of his chair and carrying him around the office. “I ain't no sissy old lady," she maintained. "I'm pretty damn tough." 

The old woman was put down as a good possibility and Bella took her name and address. 

Once, several midgets came into the office and insisted on showing their "stuff.” Obviously they had thrown an act together overnight and used the office as a ring. It was a four-midget girl tag team match and Brick pondered them as a possibility. After all, male wrestling has been using midget tag teams for years. He had Bella take down their names and addresses. 

“You better make up your mind fast, girlie," one of them piped up. "You're not the only one in this game, you know." 

“What do you mean?" Bella asked. 

“There's a dame downtown who just opened an office for lady wrestlers too. Come to think of it her name is Hardy too. Any relation?” 

"Only by sex,” Brick cut in with a bitter smile. 

Cleo had taken the cue from her brother and was intending to beat him at his own game. Brick sent a spy down to see how far she was getting along. The girl came back to report that Cleo had rented out a three-story building near the waterfront and had turned it into a training camp and office. The girl also stated that she seemed to be signing up all the lesbians that he was turning away. “That place looks like a goddamn bull dyke's cat house," she added. “I wasn't there more than ten minutes when one of these butches starts to chase me around the place. I'd hate to face one of them in the ring." 

Bella didn't have to be told what Brick was thinking. If Cleo managed to build up a stable of lady wrestlers to compete against his she sure as hell wasn't planning on any peaceful co-existence. It was going to be a fight to the death of one group or the other. 

Cleo's invasion of Brick's territory was soon felt. She started cutting the prices for her girls and sold them to promoters on a "twofer” basis, that is, two for the price of one of Brick's. Some of the arenas wanted Brick's girls at the price they had been getting but most of them grabbed Cleo's offer. Brick hesitated to engage in a price war because he knew that, if he cut his price below Cleo's, she would cut hers still further. He was aware of his sister's instability more than anyone else. He knew, too, that she wouldn't hesitate to destroy him. 

Brick thought that his safety lay in getting the very best of the lady wrestling talent before Cleo could snap them up. He began to sign up girls and to send them out to his training camp. His intention was not to use them but to keep them out of Cleo's hands. Soon his New Jersey camp became overcrowded with girls of all ages, shapes and colors. Zsa Zsa was given the job of overseeing the place and she accepted it because it would give her a chance to settle in one spot for awhile instead of running all over the country as she had been doing. 

Some good talent did come out of the training camp. The old lady worked out very well and she was booked into St. Nick's as Grandma Eva. Her claim to fame was that she was the oldest lady wrestler alive. The promoter at St. Nick's thought it would be a good idea to have her matched against the youngest lady wrestler alive. Brick agreed. Then he found out who she was ... Opal. 

Everyone knew that an exhibition between girls from both camps was inevitable and this, at last, was going to be it. The match posed many new problems. The first one was, would Cleo agree to have Opal and Grandma Eva work out an act together? If she didn't it would be a mess if both went into the ring and "ad-libbed." 

To everyone's surprise Cleo allowed Opal to rehearse with the old lady and in Brick's New Jersey camp. The match went on and worked beautifully. Grandma Eva became a new star. 

At St. Nick's, Cleo made a point of avoiding Brick and any of the old girls. Brick suspected some kind of trouble yet it didn't come. 

"See," Bella said after the match, "you were worrying for nothing." 

Brick's handsome face did not carry one dimple. “Ever hear of a thing known as a false sense of security? One good match doesn't mean that Cleo won't try to push us out of business." 

For awhile things were peaceful. Cleo still was engaged in a crash program in turning out lady wrestlers by the truck load. Brick, on the other hand, went in for quality. He came up with a female clown who worked her act in with wrestling and was billed as, Carla the Clown. 

Inside of two months the lines between the camps were drawn clearer. Cleo had almost three dozen girls while Brick had nine, just three more with his regular bunch. Cleo's tactics were pretty obvious too. She was trying to take over the field by sheer force of numbers. It was like the Chinese Reds in Korea sending "human seas” to overcome the American lines. 

Despite the fact that Brick had not cut his prices Cleo did again. Her girls were now on "three-fers." Three girls for the price of just one of Brick's. At first Brick tried to maintain his position and he let the arenas book Cleo's girls at their much cheaper rates. He was hoping that their poor quality would show up too. Most of them were the butch types that he wouldn't dare touch. Their exhibitions lacked imagination and were duller than the old-style lady wrestling matches. Still they were put on to satisfy the new taste the public had acquired through Brick's efforts for lady wrestlers. But, Cleo was killing the same market by her gross exploitation of it. She was bearing down hard with her cheap talent, cashing in while the trend lasted. 

Finally Brick gave up. "At this rate lady wrestling will be dead. We've got to get our girls back in and save it,” he claimed. He got all his girls together and laid it on the line. They had to forget about the high pay they had been receiving and be willing to take half, a third and even a quarter of it if they wanted to survive. All the girls agreed. A team spirit prevailed, a mutual need for salvation. 

As soon as Brick announced to the promoters that he would meet the prices Cleo had been offering they took him up on it right away. They knew that they were going to get steaks at hamburger prices. Cleo's reaction was swift and expected. She further cut her price. The promoters sat back and watched with glee. 

Again Brick tried to hold the line and again Cleo cut her price. Soon her girls were only a hundred or so dollars a session. 

“I've got to draw the line someplace,” Brick sighed, "and this is it. Cleo will go so far as to give her girls away for nothing."

Brick announced to all the promoters and owners of the arenas that he had reached his rock bottom price. If they didn't want to have his girls at those rates that was their choice. He reminded them of the difference in quality between his girls and Cleo's. Outside of herself and Opal she didn't come up with one half-way presentable act. 

All over the country the arenas booked in the dirt cheap lady wrestlers. Brick decided to bide his time and let the box office fall off after the crowd got tired of them. Soon, he was sure, the crowds would demand his regulars. In the meantime Hardy Enterprises tightened its belt. Once again Brick moved into his old office. He dropped the receptionist, closed up his training camp and put all his girls on a modest dole. To further continue the economy program Brick moved out of his new apartment and into a single room with Bella. Bella didn't mind. As long as she had Brick Hardy in her hand she was happy. 

The winter seemed long and cold as the Hardy Enterprises didn't receive a single call for their services. Cleo's bunch now dominated the world of lady wrestling. It was a world that was shrinking fast, back to its former state. 

Then cracks began to appear in Brick's tight little group. Grandma Eva, weary of the inactivity, wanted out of her contract. "I gotta wrestle while I'm still hot,” she claimed. “How many years do you think an old broad like me has?” 

Brick realized that, if he let her go, she would head right for Cleo's stable. He knew that Grandma Eva would bring back some of the patrons and thereby prolong the silent price war. Grandma's leaving would only make it that much harder for the other girls. Brick tried to explain this to her but the old woman picked up and left anyhow, contract or no contract. 

Next Carla the Clown demanded work. "So far I had only two bouts while I was working here," she told Brick. “I know how fast the public can forget. I've got to go back even for fifty bucks a throw." 

This time Brick got tough and demanded just as hard that she live up to her contract. “Don't worry," he told her. "Those people who run the arenas will be begging to have us back in a couple of weeks.” 

A couple of weeks went by and still there was no begging voice over the telephone. The old standbys began to feel the pinch too. Zsa Zsa wanted to get back to work. She wept when she told Brick that she couldn't support her family on the small dole she was getting from him. Again Brick called for patience. To raise the doles he went back into modeling and gave his salary directly to the girls. 

It didn't take long for Grandma Eva to get back into the swing of things. Two weeks after she left Brick she was wrestling on T.V. The producer, though he banned Brick's girls, would accept them if they left his employ. This brought Charlotte out of the woodwork. “Brick, sweetheart, I've got to think of my career!” she insisted. 

Glazed-eyed from tension, Brick now demanded that all the girls were to stick it out whether they liked it or not. He added that, if they were in that desperate straits for money, they could leave but only to another kind of work. He supplied Cleo with one star he would be damned if he was going to hand over to her all of his galaxy. 

It soon turned out that the defection of Grandma Eva was a blessing in disguise. The old girl did give lady wrestling a shot in the arm when it needed it the most and the promoters finally realized that Brick was right. The crowd wanted exhibitions with imagination and quality. At long last the telephones at Hardy Enterprises began to ring. They were willing to accept Brick's girls at his price. Spring had come.