This time I would like to discuss and pay my respects to another group of women wrestlers , NO not T & A and their acrobatic show some skin skills but to a group that is not mentioned this day and age. To substatiate this go to any web search engine and type in women or girl wrestling. You may be presented with some of us the woman that first started in 1950’s or shortly after . You may find the T & A , or you may even find apartment girl wrestling but you will not find my next topic.

Nobody was exempt from getting drawn into midget mayhem. Referee Keith Megson found himself on the wrong end of a head scissors by Cuddles Anderson, but she holds on tight as Megson tries to dislodge her.

MIDGET WOMEN WRESTLERS and I continue to ask myself WHY. First of all I would like to apologise for using the word midget  which in my opinion indicates a stereotype reinforcing that little people are no more than entertainers. My fellow wrestlers and fans this is far from the truth.

Frenchy Lamont looks a little out of it, after he got on the wrong side of Darling Dagmar. She gives him a verbal blast up close and personal, than smacks him in the chops with that right hand.

I got to know Darling Dagmar ( Katie Glass ) and she shared some stories with me. I would like to mention a few more and if I neglected to mention someone please advise me on my face book site. Baby Chery, Cuddles Anderson, Selene Fontain, and as stated before Daling Dagmar. You see some pictures with a brief description of who and what the pictures depict. At this time I would like to thank and give credit to my friend BOB LEONARD for supplying me with this information and pictures from his own private collection. Let us not forget the talent and attendance these women provided for us.

To my knowledge a new group of girls are no longer competing. This is both good and bad as we all miss there ability and stamina but on the good side maybe modern medicine and our courageous doctors and scientist have eliminated some of these unfounded birth defcts. I salute all of you girls and again please inform me of anyone I missed or if in fact if there are still some of you working.

Cuddles Anderson wrings that arm, as Selene Fontaine looks for an escape route.

Well this will be my last issue of UTST unless you want me back. I would like to salute all my fans and wrestlers that have been reading my column. Once again as we slowly come to the end of 2009 we have lost some good friends and I hope those families were able to somewhat overcome their losses as I have tried to do with Princess Jasmine.

Now on a lighter side I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

And I leave you this about our wonderful business of Professional Wrestling.

BE IT RAIN HAIL OR SNOW THEY WILL BE THERE ON TIME NEVER  FEAR.WHEN THEY ARE SCHEDULED TO WRESTLE THEY WILL BE THERE BE IT FAR OR NEAR. THEIR NERVES ARE STEADY THEIR COURAGE IS GREAT THEIR BONES MAY BE BROKEN TOO. BUT THAT’S THE SPORT OF WRESTLING FOR YEARS IT HAS BEEN NOTHING NEW.SO LETS SALUTE ALL THE WRESTLERS AS THEY GIVE US THE THRILLS WE DEMAND AND WHEN THEY STEP INTO THAT RING LETS GIVE THEM A MARVELOUS HAND.

                     Yours in wrestling Beverly Shade

Well how many of us started the same way? I for one worked my first match for Cowboy Luttrel it was a battle royal and I got the living crap beat out of me. I then was trained by the great Ella Waldeck. Where would some of us be if it was not for those carpenters? A TV squash job led to a main event that night. Who were these people? Some were actually pistols but lacked the showmanship of the business to be on top. Some got old and did not want to quit. Some did it part time as they wanted to keep their jobs or business ( note- these may have been smarter than most of us ). Then there was the poor bastard that the promoter threw in the ring so his friends could see him on TV. Some worked for the opposition and were stretched then told to get out the locker room. Then there  was the one that caught some ones eye who then talked to the promoter and worked his way up the ladder.

Now a word of advise to all you young one’s out there. So you want to be a wrestler? Let me tell you what to do first!  You find a coach then you train a year or two, lead a good clean life and stay out of trouble,  As trouble, you have to get a headlock on it before it gets a scissor lock on you.  While your in your training you’ll find you’ll meet a test.  It may take you ten or fifteen years to mingle with the best.  But when your training days are over and thru and people would like to see a real wrestler they will take a look at you. Hey muscle heads you did not know I was a poet. Well as I stated in my first issue of Under the Shade Tree my writing may be controversial. Well l am going to arbitrarily pick a percentage. I will say 60 % of all carpenters, jabronies, jobbers or whatever name you use could of out wrestled a So Called Super Star with the initials H. H. At my age I would like to see him beat me with a leg drop. On second thought maybe his leg is as big as his head.

Well now its time to say goodbye to my friends at CAC.

C is for the courtesy that all of you have given me at the convention.

A is for the admiration I have for all of you.

C is for the consideration you gave me when I accepted the award for my good friend Princess Jasmine who sadly passed away shortly after the reunion due to complications from cancer.
Well until next time be safe, happy and above all stay healthy.

See you soon as we once again, sit Under the Shade Tree.
                               Beverly Shade

Usually small  physically and did not speak too much unless know by a certain few workers. But in the ring things changed. This man was fast enough to not obstruct the view of fans or television cameras, fast to get down for a three count, sometimes took a big bump, sometimes even got belted, smart enough to hand us a gimmick or another object at a certain time, and agile enough to stay out of our way during rope work or high flies and smart enough to say those breath relieving words GO HOME or for those of us that spoke Carney GEESO HEESOME. I sat and thought of the many matches I had all over the world and could only come up with names of five of these men. YES THE REFEREE.

What would we have done with out him and how many times did we thank him. Maybe by the time we thought of it he was going out for his next match. No rest for the weary. I hope all of you did better than me. I remember Tommy Young, Dick Woherle, Paul Morton, Frankie Reaze and Bill Alfonzo. Maybe it is time we recognize them at the CAC and have a name drop during our many discussions and talk about their job. A job that did not pay much, was not a public celebrity, and would catch holly hell if he did something wrong. So I say this when they introduce the referees for our CAC matches lets send this message to all those that did this work.

WE THANK YOU REFEREES ALL OVER THE LAND! AND FOR ALL THE HARD WORK YOU DONE ! LETS GIVE THEM A MARVELOUS HAND!

Until next time this is a teary eyed Beverly Shade saying goodbye.

I as many girls did not work for dogmatic promoters this personality in their mind encouraged other ideas that if not successful were transferred to their booker who then decided who goes over. Yes you are right some who went over ended up UNDER we will let that alone.Promtion involves much work : venue, insurance, tickets, security, doctors, permits, ring, special effects, talent, advertisement,concessions,programs and much more. You know what maybe we did not have it too bad we had to travel to the match, lace up those darn wrestling shoes, go out and take some bumps and bruises, shower, find a motel and register for one person knowing that in all probability seven more workers would come sneaking in.

And in the morning we would travel and start the whole darn thing again, with hopes that the promoter was doing the same.

See you next time when we will sit under the shade tree together.

Next time will be a mystery topic

                              BEVERLY

I would like to mention that some of my columns may be controversial as I am merely stating my opinion.

Well last time I stated we will discuss marks and women wrestlers. We will start with marks. I was a guest at this years Titan three convention which benefit’s the Wrestling Hall of Fame. During the autograph session a fan came to me and told me that he witnessed a match between myself and Carmen Monge in London Ontario Canada many years ago. He stated it was the talk of the town as Carmen hit me with a wrench and blood was flowing from my head.

I was so glad he did not ask a question about was it the same as today. Do not get me wrong today’s workers are some great athletes but I would have broke this fans heart if I told him anything different than I tell any fan ( the wrestling in our days was NOT a work ) I can not believe that some of our early years talent would even have a TV show exposing and training actors etc. SORRY I am too proud of all that worked their butts off to protect the business ,if I am starving and need food McDonalds and Wal-Mart are always hiring.

Now switching to lady wrestlers very few remain visible let alone being outspoken. I will mention some both living and gone and can you imagine them saying anything negative about wrestling. My mentor Ella Waldek, Vivian Vachon, Rita Cortez, Lilly Thomas, Penny Banner, Joyce Grable, Ann Casey, Jean Antone, Judy Grable, Gladys Killam Gillam, Natasha, Teresa Thies, Betty Jo Hawkins, Ethel Brown, just to mention a few. We were wrestlers and protected the business I will say no more other than there were many others I failed to mention due to space and memory at this time.

Well maybe your thinking well Beverly what’s next, this is a different type column than normal in CAC, my answer is this next month I will discuss promoters. We were treated by our in ring knowledge not what we looked like in a bikini. See you soon at the CAC convention.

The CAC is a rejuvenation where we not only reminisce but discuss current and future plans and activities. It also mends many feuds’ ignited by behavior and jealousy. My its great to see enemies turn to comrades‘. Hey I am not excluding myself. Us woman wrestlers and I emphasize WRESTLERS well we had our problems to. But they were the good old days when kayfabe was a secretive professional phrase now its all over the internet and used by backyard so called wrestlers. To stretch meant to hurt now its we need more time till our next commercial. To shoot did not mean to shoot up.

Well enough of that we were so lucky and gifted in our own way.

A happy 2009 to all of you. Hey are there any marks left ? We will discuss next time, plus more about the ladies of wrestling.

Beverly Shade