JNLister Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Stunning news from www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk Throughout 2012, Wrestling Heritage has been sharing its extensive resources with BBC 4 with the sole aim of producing a television documentary that faithfully records the development of professional wrestling in Britain to the point that, through the sixties, it was the most popular indoor spectator sport in the country. Many of you will have seen documentaries and news items in recent years that consider only the later period that already constituted the decline of British wrestling. We are proud to have made this important impact time-wise. Transmission of "Timeshift: Wrestling" is still some weeks away, but the hour-long documentary promises to be the most informative and comprehensive British Wrestling documentary yet made. We are now at liberty to preview some of the show's content with our loyal Members so that you can be sure to be ready with your recorders and book the big screen at home, in case you need to consign other family members to the portable under the stairs. The big news is that the tireless researchers at the BBC managed to track down the entire film of the 1962 epic between Jackie Pallo and Mick McManus. As a result, their long-running feud is covered in some detail and a major parallel feature will appear on Wrestling Heritage. A new controversial double-cross is disclosed. One of the popular mystery topics on the Talk Wrestling forum that has been on the go all year will enjoy some major new input. There are interviews with celebrity fans, authors, promoters and popular sixties and seventies wrestlers including Johnny Kincaid and Adrian Street, as well as an appearance by Kendo Nagasaki. Let us state at the outset our respect and thanks to the programme's indefatiguable director who quickly became hooked, then knowledgable, then intrigued and as curious as many of us to explore wrestling's mysteries. We won't spoil your fun by telling you any more for now, but watch this space for further developments and picture previews, and all the news and reaction to this important event in the world of your Wrestling Heritage. No word yet on if or how the full match video will emerge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 This is really awesome. Definitely one of the "holy grail's" that I had assumed would never emerge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Would absolutely love to see this. I have almost zero exposure to British wrestling but this is pretty timely after reading McManus's bio in the Observer HOF issue. Definitely stoked to see what becomes available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Did you know where film came from, John? Someone's attic or a dusty warehouse? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Not sure at this stage. I have heard claims from people that "somebody" had a copy on film but never put much stock in them. As far as I've been able to tell, the only stuff that is still in the TV archive is from when they recorded it for later broadcast: the availability pretty much fits with the switch from live to recorded showings. It's clearly too early for this to be on home video tape. I have seen the odd vintage piece from people pointing a film camera at their TV set, but that's highly unlikely to have been full length recordings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawk20 Posted November 21, 2012 Report Share Posted November 21, 2012 There is a lot of wrestling hiding in video archives in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 21, 2012 Report Share Posted November 21, 2012 Nice to know it exists; nicer still if a copy actually makes it into circulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2012 It sounds like they got the tape from a private collector who bought the original film from ITV -- apparently a few people have it, but they've always asked silly money when putting it up on eBay and the like. ITV do still have a lot of stuff on original film (rather than the tape library they've licensed to The Wrestling Channel) but you have to pay the equivalent of a few hundred bucks for a film and you won't know what it is until you get it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 I wonder if there's film of Masambula and the other workers that didn't show up on TWC much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 It sounds like they got the tape from a private collector who bought the original film from ITV -- apparently a few people have it, but they've always asked silly money when putting it up on eBay and the like. ITV do still have a lot of stuff on original film (rather than the tape library they've licensed to The Wrestling Channel) but you have to pay the equivalent of a few hundred bucks for a film and you won't know what it is until you get it! Have any of the BBC matches survived, or did they fall foul of the wiping policy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Don't know for sure but I'd be absolutely amazed if they did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 Any clue on who did the announcing for it? Was it someone from the Kenneth Wolstenholme school of BBC sports commentary or was it someone from a wrestling background? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 The original 1930s/40s run was Emil Voit who was a former British Olympian in amateur wrestling. When they showed a couple of broadcasts in 1965 (from independent shows) they had Eddie Wareing doing it. Apparently some of the guys in the business were pretty unhappy with him because he used the same "oh he'll be ok, that won't hurt at all" schtick from his rugby commentary, which doesn't really help when you're trying to sell. Also turns out Reg Gutteridge did the commentary when they closed-circuited a Royal Albert Hall show in cinemas in 1966. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted November 22, 2012 Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 If it was Eddie Waring, at least a dog didn't jump in the ring and he spent the entire match going on about the dog. Reg Gutteridge was someone who I thought may well have done it, to be honest. I don't know if that's because I've read it somewhere, or it just made sense in my mind. I wonder if there's any of the 1965 recordings anywhere? Do we know what BBC region produced them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2012 BBC says not unfortunately. http://www.wrestlingheritage.co.uk/WEBPROT...eotherside1.htm The show was put together by Jarvis Astaire who looked to have been trying to set himself up in the wrestling business through the TV exposure. He wound up owning Joint Promotions for a brief while in the 70s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 Latest story is that Yorkshire TV (one of the old ITV network stations) has about 300 film canisters of 50s/60s British wrestling, but none of it is labelled so converting it would be a very expensive pot luck game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohtani's jacket Posted November 23, 2012 Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 If only they let people volunteer. If they're the broadcast tapes they'd probably be clipped right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted November 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2012 50s and 60s looks to have been either live or broadcast as live on same-day (with the final match sometimes being left mid-flow), so in theory the stuff should be in full. As best I can infer, the stuff that was recorded for airing on later days is the stuff that ITV Sport still has available and has licensed for the two DVD compilations, ESPN Classic and the Wrestling Channel (and associated channels.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted December 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 If the non-Brits can find a proxy server or similar workaround, the show is now online at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01p9...s_and_Grannies/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JNLister Posted December 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Latest story is that Yorkshire TV (one of the old ITV network stations) has about 300 film canisters of 50s/60s British wrestling, but none of it is labelled so converting it would be a very expensive pot luck game. It turns out they charge the equivalent of $1,000 to go into their library and cue up the films to see what is on them, then $350 to get a copy of one show's film -- that's just to have a personal copy and you get no rights to reproduce or distribute it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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