bollox wrote:Charles Bukowski (writer of poetry, prose, short stories, novels drunk, street fighter) referred a lot to fights and fighters in his writing. On his gravestone there's a depiction of a fighter's torso in classic fighting stance But the inscription reads "don't try"
bollox,
That inscription is great.
Reminds me of some signs I saw:
TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT.
SURVIVORS WILL BE SHOT AGAIN
ANYONE FOUND HERE AT NIGHT
WILL BE FOUND HERE IN THE MORNING
they're good ones
Bukowski's "don't try" thing came from being asked how to get into Who's Who. But it still looks funny next to the fighter
The re-occuring boxing theme in Farrell's stories is really fascinating, because the detailed fight accounts give alot of insight into what a different world it was 80-90 years ago. In the very entertaining short story "The Merry Clouters", Phil Rolfe (Louis Lederer) the Jew kid who becomes a Catholic and marries one of Studs Lonigan's sisters, has a run in with the Kenwoods, a tough gang from the East Side of Washington Park. Returning to 57th-St on the West Side of the park, he rounds up everyone available for a showdown in the park later that evening. Incidently, if you're not familiar with Chicago, Kenwood is a very wealthy area with numerous mansions, and as hard to believe as it is that the area would have a tough street gang, the fact that Farrell is the source means their probably was such a gang.
As night falls the bunch from 57th-St ventures into the park, but to their horror, they hear that the Kenwoods have shown up with superior numbers. Little by little the guys from 57th-St begin slinking away, until nearly everyone including Phil Rolfe, flee for there lives. One of the gang, Swede Larson, is caught by several Kenwoods, including a member with a crippled foot, who claimed Larson had made fun of him recently, and he's beaten unconscious. Finally, with the proposed gang fight a complete route, Andy LeGare (Andy Dugar) a tough little guy who's good with his fists, and Man Bleu, save themselves with a totally audacious move. They step forward and Andy yells "Our guys are all yellow bastards, give us a fair fight and you can pick our men" Andy fights a guy he once went to school with, called Clown Whalen, who though a simpleton, is solidly built. LeGare trades punch for punch with his larger opponent, and a couple times, Whalen has to stop and yell at his gang not to interfere. Both fights end in draws, and the Kenwoods tell LeGare and Bleu that they're all right and allow them to leave in peace.
Some interesting sidenotes. Louis Lederer (Phil Rolfe in Farrell's stories) later rose high in the ranks of the Chicago Outfit under Tony Accardo. In Studs Lonigan, Andy LeGare claims his older brother once fought a draw with Charley White. I've never been able to confirm that though.
Just re-read Farrell's "No Star Is Lost" which contains some of the same characters as Studs Lonigan, and I was surprised their were references to only 3 fighters in well over 600 pages. First their's a mention of the German's taking the French in WW1 like Johnson took Jeffries, and then later, 14 yr old Bill O'Neill (Farrell's oldest brother Earl) playfully spars with his baby brother Arty while telling him "You're going to growup and lick Freddie Welsh someday". 7 months later though, Arty (Frankie Farrell) dies in a diptheria epidemic that infects 6 out of the 7 O'Neill children. Much of the tragedy takes place in a cottage 1 block from Fuller Park gymnasium, where Expug and Roberto Duran once trained.
No Star Is Lost is a great book, but it's pretty moving and not for the feint of heart.
After an incredible 50 year wait, James T Farrell's "Dreaming Baseball" was posthumously released this year, and I'm about half way through it.
"Dreaming Baseball" is the fictional tale of Mickey Donovan, a South Side boy who makes it to the major leagues and plays his first season for the Chicago White Sox in 1919 the year of the Black Sox Scandal, and allthough it's a book about baseball it still has the almost obligatory boxing references. Early in the book their's an amusing incident after Donovan somehow manages to mention Sox pitcher Big Ed Walsh in a catechism class in grammar school
The Kids called me "the Spitball" after that, because Walsh was an artist with the spitter. I didn't like the name, and I beat the hell out of Jackie Mulligan for calling me Spitball in front of Mary Collins and another girl. Mary is now Mrs. Donovan. She remembers how I fought and said she thought I was a roughneck, but she thinks that that was why she fell in love in with me. I was brave and good looking, she told me. But that's her story, not mine.
Sister Marguerita got wind of the news about the fight, and she bawled me out, told me that she was not allowing anybody like Terrible Terry McGovern in Crucifixion school and made me stay after school and write a hundred times as penance "I must not think I am Terrible Terry McGovern." That made Terrible Terry McGovern my hero, too.
Later when Donovan and the White Sox play the Cincinnati Reds in the 1st game of the fixed 1919 World Series on Oct 1 at Redland Field, Donovan mentions that later that night he considered returning to the ballpark to see the Ritchie Mitchell v Joe Welling fight. Also so far, their are mentions of both Dempsey's, Abe Attell, Jack Johnson and Jess Willard.
But the inscription reads "don't try"
they're good ones