French catch

[Phil Lions]

Here's something interesting about L'Homme Masque, which I just found out. You see, back when he made his debut in December 1958 on the very next day the French press reported that Great Zorro (Hans Mortier) was under the hood. They were still saying so as of the beginning of February 1959. And then we get to this newspaper write-up below previewing the Masque/Delaporte TV broadcast from March 6, 1959. According to the article fans and even some wrestlers had been claiming Zorro is under the mask. He had disappeared from French rings several months prior after being involved in a terrible car accident. Story had it L'Homme Masque had marks on his face, possibly burns, and that's why Zorro was the assumed wrestler under the hood. However, according to the promoter, L'Homme Masque was not Zorro. So, unlike L'Ange Blanc who was exposed in the press as Francisco Pino three weeks into his run and unlike Le Bourreau de Bethune who was exposed as Jacquez Ducrez the day of his debut, there was still doubt as to who L'Homme Masque was, four months into his run.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Al Hayes/Ray Hunter vs. Karl von Kramer/Dr. Adolf Kaiser (aired 3/6/59)

Now that we know this 50s matches were broadcast live, it makes sense that we only got part of this. Presumably, after the cameras stop rolling the rest of the match is dark. If I'm not mistaken, they usually gave the result of the match on the following week's broadcast. In any event, it's the live broadcast footage that's archived. It doesn't appear as though there are any master tapes from this time. Which is a shame because this was a fun premiere manche. von Kramer and Kaiser were a two man comedy show bumping and stooging for the Aussies. They were so much fun the camera guy even bust out kaleidoscope cam. It's funny how Hayes doing basic British spots seems so exotic. I guess an Aussie catcheur doing those spots is pretty exotic. I thought Hunter looked better than normal, which is a testament to how good the heels were. All in all, it was a solid opening act, but the fact that we didn't get a finish speaks to the issues French tags have with rhythm and pacing. French tags tend to go long (often for the sake of going long.) There were clear points in this opening fall where they could have finished it on a high, but they reset and started over. I guess if you do that enough times, you create a certain rhythm, but if I'm the director of this show, I want to go out on the Aussies taking a fall. I'm guessing that was the general idea, since we've seen it in other broadcasts, so it's possible that they went too long in the opening fall, or maybe the bout wound up as a DQ and didn't go the distance. Either way, something to think about. 

[ohtani's jacket]

On 8/28/2020 at 3:00 AM, Jetlag said:

It appears we actually do have a match of his unmasked:

GIL VOINEY VS GASPARIGNON (07/11/1965; 18:22)

Gil Voiney vs. Georges Kasbarian (aired 7/11/65)

As suspected, Voiney could work. He was on the French national team, but turned professional after France decided not to take any heavyweights to the '56 Olympics (a common theme among a lot of the guys we're watching now is not making the '56 Olympics.) This was a nifty bout for a couple of heavyweights. The finish was a bit silly, but the work was good. The only problem with Voiney is that he's pretty big for this era and it looks like they needed to match him against other big men, so I'm not sure that he had the best opponents. He seems like a guy who would have been better off overseas.

NB: I'm not sure if Gasparian is the right name, but that's what I'm rolling with for the time being. 

EDIT: I'm pretty sure it's Georges Kasbarian.

[ohtani's jacket]

Henri Lambert vs. Roger Laroche (aired 4/30/59)

This was an excellent contest. It followed the same formula that we've seen other wrestlers use, but what I liked about it was that both guys kept the match interesting while on top. This match could have easily descended into two French guys work a stalemate, throw a bunch of forearms and fail to get a result, but they were different enough in their approach that they were able to create a stronger dynamic than that. I particularly liked the way Lambert pushed the match forward, but both guys were strong on top and showed each other plenty of respect when underneath. The forearm smashes were great. They generally always are, but they're even better when they're on the back of some great work. This kind of match has been the winning formula in catch thus far. Some folks may prefer the showmen and the charismatic heels, but for me, this is the type of bout I hoped we would find in the archives. Excellent catch. Don't overlook this one. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Some stuff from '73:

Robert Duranton vs. Ted Lamar (aired 7/26/73)

Duranton is doing a gladiator gimmick in this. Lamar keeps him honest throughout and tries to mat wrestle, but Duranton's skills haven't improved much from the 50s footage. In fact, they may have regressed. At least the shtick is kept to a minimum. 

Jacky Corn vs. Frank Malmoa (aired 11/20/73)

Frank Malmoa was a Sweden-born heel who wrestled in the UK a bit in the early 70s. I'd love to say he was a major discovery, but he wasn't all that good. I was kind of hoping for a sleeper Jacky Corn match, but this wasn't one of them.

Roger Delaporte vs. Marcel Montreal (aired 12/10/73)

This was a swimming pool match, which is just about the pits when it comes to French catch. For the majority of the match, they ignore the pool, but it's only worth watching for the sake of an older Delaporte, not because of anything they do in the ring. Delaporte takes a dip in the pool, woo-hoo. 

Warnia de Zarzecki vs. Fred Magnier (aired 12/10/73)

We get about 5 minutes of this. de Zarzecki is still going strong in the 70s. I've gotta give Magnier props as he has more entertaining bumps into the pool than most wrestlers. 

[Phil Lions]

I've researched the live events in Paris all the way through the end of June 1959 and I thought I'd take a crack at figuring out the TV situation a bit better. The newspaper I'm using has very spotty TV listings for 1958, but in 1959 it started publishing the full TV schedule. Having looked at the TV listings through the end of June 1959 it turns out we may be missing a lot less footage than it appears when you first look at it on paper. What I mean by that is that it seems like during the period in question catch wasn't airing on TV every week. The shows aired on different nights, at different times, had different durations, different announcers, emanated from different venues, etc. It wasn't a fixed schedule by any means. At this point all the shows were live. Usually either Roger Couderc or Claude Darget was doing the commentary, but sometimes they would have guest commentators too.

Here's what the catch TV schedule looked like during the first half of 1959 based on all the TV listings that I went through. I'm posting the full live event line-ups, if I know them, just to give you an idea what else was on the cards. The main events are listed first. The matches advertised for the TV broadcast I've put in bold. Of course, sometimes additional matches from the cards aired too, in addition to what was already advertised as airing. I'm also adding the air days and times.

January 2, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre in Paris (Friday at 10:05 p.m.)
Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Jose Tarres... Juan Botana vs. Pierre Boss... Ami Sola vs. Paul Desbune... Pierre Bernaert vs. Serge Francille... Michel Saulnier vs. Robert Moine

January 9, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver in Paris (Friday at 10:05 p.m.)
L'Ange Blanc vs. Paul Villars... Liano Pellacani vs. Iska Khan... Comte de Daidone vs. Serge Gentilly... Modesto Aledo vs. Gilbert Cesca... Jean Rabut vs. Ischa Israel
= L'Ange Blanc's debut.

February 5, 1959 at Salle Wagram in Paris (Thursday at 9:35 p.m.)
Le Bourreau de Bethune vs. Gilbert Leduc... Robert Gastel vs. Gaby Calderon... Guy Mercier vs. Robert le Boulch... two other matches
= Bourreau de Bethune's debut.

February 27, 1959 at Salle des Fetes in Saint-Denis (Friday at 10:35 p.m.)
Johnny Stein vs. Jean Bout

March 6, 1959 at Palais des Sports in Paris (Friday at 10:05 p.m.)
L'Homme Masque vs. Roger Delaporte... Al Hayes & Ray Hunter vs. Dr. Adolf Kaiser & Karl von Kramer... Pierre Boss vs. Matthias Roesges... Jacques van Dooren vs. Jesus de Heredia... Jean Fryziuk vs. Inca Peruano
= The show was held at Palais des Sports because Cirque d'Hiver wasn't available.

March 20, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver in Paris (Friday at 10:05 p.m.)
L'Ange Blanc vs. Roger Guettier... Andre Drapp vs. Johnny Stein... Cheri Bibi vs. Jacky Corn... Al Araujo vs. Julio Gasparrini... Moise Besch vs. Mouton

April 2, 1959 at Sally Wagram in Paris (Thursday at 9:35 p.m.)
Charles Humez vs. Paul Debusne... Le Bourreau de Bethune vs. Stan Karolyi... Jose Tarres vs. Karl von Chenok... two more matches
= Humez's debut as a wrestler.

April 26, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre in Paris (Sunday between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.)
L'Ange Blanc vs. Robert Charron... Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Jesus de Heredia... Pierre Boss vs. Ami Sola... Jo Rinaldi vs. Ischa Israel... Verrier vs. Mignani
= Aired as part of a "Tele-Dimanche" show that also featured non-wrestling stuff. it's not clear if the whole match aired or just a few minutes from it did.

April 30, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre in Paris (Thursday at 21:35 p.m.)
Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Roger Guettier... Robert Charron vs. Marcel Chauveau... Henri Lambert vs. Roger Laroche... Claude Dreyfus vs. Janos Vadkerti... Jo Rinaldi vs. Gaston Maujean

May 9, 1959 at Salle des Fetes in Puteaux (Saturday at 10:15 p.m.)
Jacques van Dooren vs. Jean Bout

May 23, 1959 at Salle Auguste-Delaune in Drancy (Saturday at 10:05 p.m.)
Robert Gastel & Karl von Chenok vs. Gilbert Leduc & Claude Montourcy

May 30, 1959 at Central Sporting Club in Paris (Saturday at 10:50 p.m.)
Roger Delaporte vs. Roger Guettier.. King Kong Taverne vs. Bernardo... Pierre Lacoq vs. Mic Charre... Julio Gasparrini vs. Andre Marie... Claude Dreyfus vs. Louis Dareine
= Originally, Georges Gueret was the advertised opponent for Delaporte, but then it changed to Guettier. The TV broadcast was built around the idea that Delaporte has now had a change of heart and would no longer be a bad guy. This was to be his first appearance as a good guy. He was going to be interviewed prior to the bout and would denounce his former evil ways.

June 4, 1959 at Elysee Montmartre in Paris (Thursday at 10:05 p.m.)
World Lightweight Title: Ischa Israel (c) vs. Jean Rabut... Serge Reggiori vs. Remy Bayle... Mignani vs. Challais... Jacques Jourdan vs. Martin... Jean Wanes vs. Serge Francille

June 19, 1959 at Cirque d'Hiver in Paris (Friday at 9:15 p.m.)
L'Ange Blanc vs. Johnny Stein... Roger Guettier vs. James McTiffin... Pierre Lagache vs. Jacques Bernieres... Serge Reggiori vs. Ted Lamare... Bob Plantin vs. Marcel Parmentier

June 27, 1959 at Cinema Palace in Garenne-Bezons (Saturday at 22:15 p.m.)
Gaby Calderon vs. Karl von Chenok


P.S. Also, since there was talk about this earlier in the thread, here's how the good guys and the bad guys were referred to in this newspaper write-up from May 1959 (stylistes and mechants):

[Matt D]

Very interesting stuff. It seemed like we had more from 57 and 59 than 58. 

1957: 32
1958: 18
1959: 27

And then when we hit the early 60s, we seem to get a depressing drought, like only 1 in 64. 

[El-P]

2 hours ago, Phil Lions said:

P.S. Also, since there was talk about this earlier in the thread, here's how the good guys and the bad guys were referred to in this newspaper write-up from May 1959 (stylistes and mechants):

Fun stuff. "Styliste" is interesting because you can basically translate it into "technico". "Styliste" infers they are technical wrestlers who do cool looking stuff.

Gotta love the fact the guy outside the ring during a tag team match is supposed to stand still and not move at all.  

[ohtani's jacket]

Phil, if there are newspaper listings of what we're missing from the 60s, that would be great. I realize it's not the priority right now with the research you're doing. I'm curious whether catch had a straight run on TV through the 60s or if the decline in popularity affected how often it aired. 

[Phil Lions]

I did a quick sweep through the first six months of 1964. First of all, I should point out that in 1964 wrestling coverage is almost non-existent in the newspaper I'm using. Back in 1959 the paper used to post all the live event line-ups, but in 1964 there's only a handful of mentions of wrestling. It does still publish the full TV schedules though (for both French TV networks, as a second one began in April 1964). Here's what I was able to find in terms of catch TV broadcasts:

January 23, 1964 at Salle Wagram (Thursday at 9:40 p.m.)
Ricki Starr vs. Robert Gastel

January 30, 1964 at Elysee Montmartre (Thursday at 9:25 p.m.)
Hercules Cortez vs. Le Grand Vladimir... Andre Drapp & Monsieur Montreal vs. Roger Delaporte & Pierre Bernaert

February 21, 1964 (Friday at 9:15 p.m.)
First in Thursday's paper a catch TV broadcast was advertised for the Friday, then on Friday a boxing one was advertised instead, but ultimately it was catch that aired. It's not too clear, but I think the match that aired featured Rene Ben Chemoul.

April 10, 1964 at Salle Wagram (Friday at 9:45 p.m.)
Ricki Starr vs. Ski Hi Lee

April 19, 1964 at Cirque d'Hiver (Sunday at 9:20 p.m.)
No specific matches advertised

May 3, 1964 (Sunday at 9:20 p.m.)
No specific matches advertised

May 24, 1964 (Sunday at 9:20 p.m.)
No specific matches advertised

June 7, 1964 (Sunday at 9:10 p.m)
No specific matches advertised

June 21, 1964 (Sunday at 9:20 p.m)
No specific matches advertised

June 26, 1964 (Friday at 9:25 p.m.)
No specific matches advertised

Interestingly enough, the only show that we have from 1964 is listed in the archive as having aired on May 15. However, I specifically checked, double-checked in fact, the listings for that day and there's no mention of wrestling airing on TV that day. So either the date in the archive is wrong or perhaps the catch broadcast was a last minute addition and wasn't advertised in advance.

[Jetlag]

Damn, Starr vs Gastel sounds awesome. I hope they still have that stuff lying around.

[Phil Lions]

Okay, so I tried to look up 1968 too since I wanted to see how things looked when Andre was beginning to hit his stride in France. The newspaper has both the TV schedule and the Paris live event line-ups. I haven't researched this in detail, but a quick search turned out a bunch of catch TV broadcasts. What's evident straight away is that in 1968 some of the shows were taped, and some were still live. By now the shows were usually airing on Saturday nights, but I saw a couple that aired on Friday night as well. And there were still weeks where there was no catch on TV. It should also be pointed out that by now catch was also airing on TV in Switzerland and Luxembourg as well. There's no mention of exactly what matches were airing there - just TV listings that catch shows were airing on TV in those two countries.

Anyway, here's a few examples of how the TV worked in France in 1968:

Andre the Giant vs. Franz Van Buyten (c) for the World Heavyweight Title and Le Petit Prince vs. Bobby Genele were taped at Palais da la Mutualite in Paris on January 8, but aired on January 20, Saturday, at 11:20 p.m.

Robert Duranton vs. Eddy Williams and Roger Delaporte vs. Vassilios Mantopoulos were taped on March 17 at Elysee Montmartre in Paris, but aired on March 23, Saturday, at 10:55 p.m.

Cheri Bibi, Eric Husberg & Jose Gonzalez vs. Gilbert Leduc (subbing for Bruno Asquini), Guy Mercier & Le Batman aired live from Gymnase Municipal in Gonesse on April 6, Saturday, at 10:35 p.m.

 

 

[ohtani's jacket]

Jean Corne vs. Jacky Richard (aired 8/7/77)

The other night I was combing through the match lists looking for something interesting to watch. The first thing I found was a Marcel Montreal vs. Ted Lamar match. Sounds pretty good, right? Turns out it's a swimming pool match.  Then I found a match labeled Jacky Corn vs. Jacky Richard. I like both guys, so I fired it up, but it was another swimming pool match. Ah well, I thought. I've never seen Jacky Corn in colour, I might as well give it a go. Turns out it was Jean Corne instead. Corne is one of the best to do it, so I decided it watch it anyway. Bad idea. Total house show match and not worth watching. Why are there so many swimming pool matches? Who promoted these? Why did they go out to the suburbs instead of using an inner city venue? If you've seen one of these matches, how can you enjoy more? The only good thing I've ever seen in a swimming pool ring is Fred Magnier's bumps. Crazy. 

Ivan Strogoff & Le Grand Vladmir vs. Franz van Buyten & Daniel van Buyten (aired 8/14/78)

Daniel van Buyten is Franz van Buyten's brother and wrestles exactly like him, which isn't a bad thing. You know exactly what you're getting with Strogoff and Vladmir, but they're good workers and excel at their bruiser roles. There's a really nice dynamic in this match between the van Buyten's razzmatazz and the heels' clubbering. Solid tag that ends with both teams brawling.

Lola Garcia vs. Brigitte Borne (aired 7/15/78)

Man, these girls were so quick and everything they did was tricked out. This was easily one of the best matches of the 70s as far as I'm concerned. Garcia ended up playing the heel and working Borne over a bit when I could have easily lived with more tricked out shit, but it was still an excellent contest.

Georges Cohen vs. Chico de Oro (aired 2/23/74)

Beautiful match. Cohen is one of the masters of the style and has risen immeasurably in my opinion from the Bob ALPA footage. The name Chico de Oro sounds like some fantastic luchador, but he's more like a golden haired type. I'm not sure if he was a South American or not, but he wrestled the light heavyweight style with flair and panache. This was as good as anything on WoS in '74 and that definitely hasn't been the case with the rest of the early 70s footage. 

 

[Phil Lions]

I just completed my research on catch in Paris in 1959. Here's some additional details that are worth sharing.

I have a record of 232 wrestling shows taking place in the city of Paris in 1959. That said, I have a strong suspicion I'm missing some cards so I'd say there's a good chance the shows were actually 250+. Add in the shows that were taking place in various Paris suburbs and we're probably talking about 300+ wrestling shows in Paris and its suburbs in 1959. That number is kind of crazy when you think about it. It really shows you how popular catch used to be back then. And again, this is just Paris. A lot of other cities and small towns in France were hosting shows too.

232 shows in 1959 is almost double what I have for 1958 (119). I'm not sure whether this means there were a lot more events in 1959 than in 1958 or the newspaper I'm using for the research just wasn't posting all the cards in 1958. My guess? Probably a combination of both.

According to one article from November 1959 catch TV was usually watched by nearly 2 million viewers.

Based on the TV listings that I've seen, there were a total of 30 catch TV broadcasts in 1959. It's possible I may have missed a listing or two, but catch definitely wasn't shown on TV every week.

At least ten different venues that I know of hosted the TV broadcasts in 1959. It was always either a venue in Paris or in a Paris suburb. Elysee Montmartre hosted the most TV shows, followed by Cirque d'Hiver, Salle Wagram and Central Sporting Club.

The following matches were advertised as airing, but we don't have them in the archive:
March 20: L'Ange Blanc vs. Roger Guettier
July 23: Jacky Corn & Roger Laroche vs. Pierre Bernaert & Eric Husberg
December 5: Andre Drapp vs. Roger Delaporte

There's also the June 26/June 27 situation. The TV listings have Gaby Calderon vs. Karl von Chenok airing on June 27. In the archive we have Montourcy vs. Gastel and Mantopoulos vs. Ricetti listed as having aired on June 26, but the TV listings don't show wrestling airing on June 26.

The Tony Oliver vs. Serge Gentilly match that's listed in the archive as having aired on January 1, 1959, definitely wasn't broadcast then. Often in these archives when something is listed as January 1 that means they know the year it was broadcast, but not the actual date so they list the date as January 1. You can hear in the video that the bout took place at Central Sporting Club and that venue always hosted wrestling on Saturdays. January 1, 1959, wasn't a Saturday. Plus, among those 232 cards I have 33 cards from Central and there's not a single Tony Oliver match on them. In fact, the only Tony Oliver matches in Paris in 1959 that I know of are of him as the masked Justicier Blanc. Long story short, I think it's possible the match may not even be from 1959.

Turns out not only do we have the first appearances ever by L'Ange Blanc and Le Bourreau de Bethune, but in the 1959 footage we also have the very first appearance of Victor Castilla as Quasimodo and the first appearance in Paris of The Big Chief (who got a big push as the top villain in the Paoli/Goldstein promotion).

It's also interesting to see what they chose to air versus what they chose not to air. Usually, the main events would make the air, but not always. For example the June 19 show, where they aired McTiffin vs. Guettier and Plantin vs. Parmentier, had L'Ange Blanc vs. Johnny Stein as the main event for the live crowd. For September 3 we got Corne vs. Le Boulch, but instead we could have gotten Leduc vs. Gastel or Ducrez vs. Montourcy. On November 20 instead of Arroyo vs. Chaisne it could have been The Big Chief vs. Duranton. I guess what I'm saying is we missed out on some potentially cool matches.

Speaking of missing out on cool stuff, it's a bit of a shame guys like Leduc, Gastel and Montourcy were working for the Salle Wagram group in the late 1950s. It sure would have been nice to see them mixing it up with Paoli/Goldstein guys like L'Ange Blanc, L'Homme Masque, Drapp, Ben Chemoul, Delaporte, Bollet, Hayes, Chief, etc. during this time frame. And yes, I know we have a 1961 Leduc/Gastel vs. Delaporte/Bollet match so clearly something must've changed by then for them to be wrestling each other. I'll get to it eventually in my research.

P.S. One final note. In the 1959 press the bad guys are always called "méchants". The good guys get referred to as both "bons" and "stylistes" so those seem to be the common terms at the time.

[SirEdger]

"Bons" and "Méchants" are still referred to as such for the casual audience, even here in Quebec to this day. But this is the first time I'm hearing "stylistes". Must be typically European.

[ohtani's jacket]

Thanks for the research, Phil, it's been a huge help. It no longer feels like we're prodding about in the dark looking for clues. 

Jean Bout vs. Jack van Dooren (aired 5/7/59)

This was right up my alley. I'm always going to appreciate straight catch, and to me, Jean Bout is catch. This is the type of match that ends up disappearing from TV, so you should enjoy it while it lasts. I called it straight catch, but it turns into a heck of a fight. Frustrated real estate agent, Jack van Dooren, takes out his anger on his opponent. Unfortunately for van Dooren, his opponent is a wrestler. These guys worked through to at least the early 60s, but I guess they weren't gimmicky enough for what catch evolved into. I wonder if we can pin point the emergence of the masked wrestlers as the beginning of the gimmick flourish. 

[ohtani's jacket]

Claude Montourcy/Gilbert Leduc vs. Karl von Chenok/Robert Gastel (aired 5/23/59)

Interesting that we got the full match here. If this aired live, you'd expect it to go off the air before the finish. Thanks to Phil, we now know that the venue with the martini sign is in Drancy, a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris. The reason I mention that is because the crowd was hot for the entire bout. They really made this match, in my opinion. It was a good match, but I didn't really get a feel for it as a great match (at least on my first watch.) It was mostly guys working standard holds. The reason it didn't lag was because they were getting more heat than they deserved. Gastel and von Chenok seem like they were a regular tag team given their matching jackets. This was the first time that Gastel resembled the worker we first came across in the van Buyten bout.  Montourcy and Leduc were an elite level stylistes team, so the chemistry was there between the two teams, but you could have cut this to the final 25 minutes and I would have gotten the gist. It was admirable watching them go broadway without a fall, but at the same time there was nothing advantageous about not having any falls. In fact, a one-all draw might have carried more weight than a time limit draw (though they seemed to announce Montourcy and Leduc as the winners regardless.)  I guess it was impressive that neither team could score a fall, but they didn't really try until the end. I don't mean to sound as down on the match as I do. I just lean more toward it being a fun look at a group of wrestlers who we now know were a crew for the Salle Wagram promoters. 

[El-P]

28 minutes ago, ohtani's jacket said:

Thanks to Phil, we now know that the venue with the martini sign is in Drancy, a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris. 

Most famous for being the place of a concentration camp nickamed "the antechamber of death", as it was the gateway for the Auschwitz extermination camp during the 40's. Yep, that's what the name Drancy first evokes to most adult French people. That was the cultural tidbit fo the day...

[Matt D]

There probably should have been a fall after the tombstone and maybe another during the catapults?

[ohtani's jacket]

Maybe. That was my take on it watching the match with a few beers last night. The next time I watch it I may think it's perfect. 

[Phil Lions]

Some catch TV notes for 1960.

We have 21 broadcasts, but I found TV listings for 28 so we seem to be missing 7 episodes.

Thursday and Friday were still the usual days catch aired on, but in 1960 there was one show on a Monday and one on a Tuesday too. Found the first mention of a taped show too.

Here's what we're missing/what was advertised in the TV listings:
February 26: Roger Delaporte vs. Jose Arroyo... Robert Duranton vs. Lino di Santo
June 16: no specific matches advertised
August 5: no specific matches advertised
August 9: no specific matches advertised
August 18: no specific matches advertised
November 4: L'Homme Masque vs. Ray Hunter... and maybe part of Dr. Adolf Kaiser vs. Al Hayes
December 16: no specific matches advertised

For January 22 Axel Dieter vs. Remy Bayle was advertised, but Rabut vs. Castella aired instead.

The listing for April 21 says Robert Gastel vs. Josef Kovacs was probably going to be airing, but that ended up not being the case.

For April 29 Remy Bayle vs. someone called Gamin (EDIT - Al Gamain) was advertised, but did not air.

For May 6 it was said Roger Delaporte vs. Jack Bence may air, but it didn't and instead that match was taped and aired on May 26.

For July 22 Robert Duranton vs. Roger Delaporte was mentioned in the TV listing, but did not air.

For October 28 Jack Bence vs. Roger Guettier was advertised, but did not air.

November 18 was advertised as L'Ange Blanc's first television appearance in 18 months. He had been wrestling in France plenty as a headliner during that time, but just not on TV. The newspaper write-up says that Blanc had yet to be defeated in France and that Bollet was going to try to unmask him.

[El-P]

7 minutes ago, Phil Lions said:

For April 29 Remy Bayle vs. someone called Gamin (maybe Michel Gamain?) 

FWIW, it means "kid".

 

[ohtani's jacket]

It's a shame we didn't get that Dieter bout. That would have been a find. 

[Phil Lions]

Some catch TV notes for 1961.

We have 9 broadcasts, and in reality there were only 11 for the whole year so we're only missing two shows (a taped one from February 17 and a live one from October 6). No specific matches were advertised for the first one. I don't know what the second had either, but it was something from either the Cirque d'Hiver card that night (Drapp & Voiney vs. Waldo & Dula... Ben Chemoul vs. Charles... Lagache vs. Araujo... Cohen vs. Garnotel) or the Elysee Montmartre one (Montoro & Marques vs. Bibi & Bernaert... Rouanet vs. Crapez... two more matches).

How come there were so few shows in 1961, you may ask? Well, in April of 1961 Maurice Herzog (the French Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports at the time) put pressure on the network not to air catch anymore, because he considered it a "degrading spectacle" and wanted them to focus on other "more noble" sports such as athletics, boxing, skiing, volleyball, and basketball. Despite catch being one of its most viewed sports broadcasts, the network could no longer air it regularly so they'd only do a handful of broadcasts per year. So that explains why there's so little footage from 1961 and onward.

This is not TV related, but here's another couple of interesting notes about 1961.

L'Ange Blanc (Francisco Pino) unmasked for the first time at the end of his match with L'Homme Masque on March 13 at Palais des Sports. He had announced his intention to do so ten days in advance. Promoter Alex Goldstein, the guy who's credited with coming up with the L'Ange Blanc gimmick, backed this decision. Reportedly, a big reason why Pino and Goldstein wanted the unmasking was because there were too many fake L'Ange Blancs around, supposedly as many as four different ones working on the same night in different French towns. However, the other Paris promoters Goldstein was working with did not want L'Ange Blanc to unmask because they felt taking off the mask would hurt his appeal. And so they tried to get an injunction to prevent Pino from unmasking. The judge ruled he had no jurisdiction over the matter and allowed Pino to do as he wished. Also, just to clarify. Those other promoters in question were Henri Chausson (who was running at Elysee Montmartre), and Robert Lageat & Etienne Siry (who were promoting shows at Palais de la Mutualite). Goldstein himself was running shows at the new Palais des Sports (Dome de Paris), Cirque d'Hiver, Central Sporting Club and Stadium (and at Lancry Arena in the past). Blanc's first television appearance without his mask was on March 16 on a prime-time show called "Rue de La Clé de Sol".

Another interesting thing that happened in 1961 was Roger Delaporte and Andre Bollet leaving Goldstein and going to work for his competition (Maurice Durand at Salle Wagram). At the time Delaporte and Bollet were probably Goldstein's top two heels along with L'Homme Masque (and perhaps one could add Jack de Lasartesse and Robert Duranton in that top heel mix as well). This explains why we have a match of them versus Salle Wagram mainstays Leduc and Gastel in 1961. They would eventually return to Goldstein in 1963.

[El-P]

21 minutes ago, Phil Lions said:

How come there were so few shows in 1961, you may ask? Well, in April of 1961 Maurice Herzog (the French Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports at the time) put pressure on the network not to air catch anymore, because he considered it a "degrading spectacle" and wanted them to focus on other "more noble" sports such as athletics, boxing, skiing, volleyball, and basketball. 

Ah ah ah.  So typical from the ORTF days ! Back then the sole TV channel in the country, the ORTF, was basically controlled by the government. Yeah, that was a shortcoming of De Gaulle, who, as the military officer he was, wanted to control everything in the country.