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Joe Praml's boxing column/letter:
'50s Golden Age of Boxing on Television, Stephen Fife's Savage World Produced at The Met Theatre, Los Angeles by Paul Koslo Directed by L. Flint Esquerra Dear Flint, I just found out about Savage World by Stephen Fife. It’s good to know you are interested in boxing. I grew up in boxing. Back in the ’50s, the last great golden age of the sport, we had Friday night fights on television, we had Wednesday night fights on television, even Saturday night fights on television, from all the great fight arenas across the country such as Madison Square Garden, St. Nicholas Arena in Chicago and others. In those days heavyweight title fights were televised. The first heavyweight fights on pay TV that I can remember were the two Patterson-Liston fights. They were on closed circuit and you went to a cinema to see them. So I had privy to watching some of the greatest fighters in history, including Willie Pep, Tony Zale, Sandy Saddler, Kid Gavilan, Rocky Graziano, Carmen Basilio, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Joe Louis in his last fights, Rocky Marciano, Joe Brown, Hogan “Kid” Bassey, so many really good fighters, some of them great ones. I saw the heavyweight fight when Floyd Patterson knocked out Archie Moore in the 5th round to claim the title after Rocky Marciano retired. I remember watching Sugar Ray Robinson beat Jake Lamotta in Chicago, the famous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, also known as the Robinson-Jake LaMotta middleweight title fight. I have a film of that fight and still watch it. I saw Ray Robinson knock out Rocky Graziano, Bobo Olson and get beat by Joey Maxim when he went for the light heavyweight title. I also saw Robinson come back and regain the title beating Bobo, then Gene Fullmer and then Carmen Basilio. Saw so many great fights. And tragic ones too. I can still see that fight between Emile Griffith and Benny “Kid” Paret, when the welterweight title was at stake. Griffith killed Paret in the ring. It was a hate grudge. I remember thinking that Kid is dead. The referee let him die in the ring. Benny Kid Paret was one of those who never went down (like Jake Lamotta). He was a dead man when they stopped the fight. He was laying there against the ropes, but you knew he was dead. That was the most astonishing thing I ever saw in the ring. Sure enough he died two weeks later. |
I also remember the fighter in Savage World, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. If anyone ever looked like a prizefighter Carter was the one--shaved head, big mustache, and bristling all over with muscle. He knew only one way to fight and that was to come relentlessly after you and try to land a clubbing right hand that could take people out with one blow. That’s why they called him “Hurricane.” What he lacked in skill he made up with voracity. Rubin seemed to come out of nowhere and went through most of the contenders and he got a middleweight title fight with Joey Giardello. Now Giardello, out of Philadelphia, was quite a story in his own right. He always has been underrated, mostly because he picked the wrong times to beat himself by getting himself arrested or doing something bizarre that gave the top guys or the champ an excuse not to fight him. But Emile Griffith, when he became champ, did give Joey a title shot, and Joey beat him. Joey could hit, he could box, move, just about anything a good boxer can do including the ability to take a punch. The fight with Hurricane wasn't close. There was absolutely no question that Joey Giardello won that fight and won it going away. About the only reason Rubin took some of the early rounds was that Giardello boxed and held, getting Rubin to punch himself tired, tactics a good boxer employs when fighting a straight in puncher. Joey learned his craft in Philadelphia, a place known for producing straight ahead clubbing fighters like Carter. After this fight, Rubin sort of faded away. Not long afterwards Joey Giardello lost his title to Dick Tiger, another good middleweight, and he too faded away, having culminated his inchoate career with a brief reign as middleweight champ. It was a huge shock when I read about Rubin and those alleged murders. Apparently it was an easy task for the prosecution and the press to demonize Carter. His image, mostly created as his ring persona, was much like that of Sonny Liston, another man of violence with a prison record. Yet even then, at his trial, I recall there were many things that didn’t add up. Lucky for Rubin, the judge gave him life, even though the jury recommended the death penalty. Maybe the judge knew something. I was living in London when all of the news about Carter’s appeal came out to get Hurricane a new trial, including the song “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan, which got a lot of airtime over there. I’m glad to see that Rubin Carter is now living a life worthy of him and that justice finally came his way. So I really would have liked to have seen your production, and that’s why I’m writing this to you. I would have been able to see your work as a director but I had no idea that this production was running. I was in London in November on one of my biyearly visits when it was at the Met Theatre but I still could have gone to see it afterwards. I heard it was a damn good show, but that you didn’t get a review and no one knew that it was on. This can be a gut wrenching experience when you know that the piece is worthy of notice. I’ve been there myself so I know how you feel. By all means, Flint, when you are going to be doing something, let me know. I think highly of you because you think highly of my work. Take care, Joe Praml |