November 2014

November 26, 2014

Wrestling and Gorgeous George

When I saw this sign in the treasure trove of General Sign photos Terry Hopkins‘ dad loaned me, I immediately thought of going to wrestling matches at Arena Park with Dad.

The funny thing about it was that I thought I had memories of seeing Gorgeous George wrestling there. The only problem with that is that he died in 1963 at the age of 48. His last fight in Cape was in 1955, I can’t see Dad taking me to a wresting match when I was eight.

Cape matches

A Gorgeous George fan tried to list every fight George Raymond Wagner (his real name until he changed it the day after Christmas in 1950). Here is a list of his Cape bouts:

May 4, 1953 – Cape Girardeau, MO Red Roberts(sub for Gorgeous George) vs. Lester Welch
November 26, 1954 – Cape Girardeau, MO Joe Tangero beat Gorgeous George in a 2 of 3 falls match
November 18, 1955 – Cape Girardeau, MO Dick Hutton beat Gorgeous George in a 2 of 3 falls match

Joined WWE Hall of Fame in 2010

The WWE website has some bio information:

Born in 1915, George Wagner grew up poor in Nebraska during the Great Depression and turned to professional wrestling as a way to earn a living. Early in his career, Wagner was a normal, clean-cut grappler like most of the competitors of the era. Due to his small stature and limited abilities in the ring, he experienced little success. Then he got an idea.

Seeing an opportunity to bring more entertainment to the world of professional wrestling, George Wagner became Gorgeous George, a snooty, platinum blonde villain who draped himself in lace and fur and entered the ring to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.” Accompanied by a manservant who sprayed the ring down with Chanel perfume, George would enrage the audience just by walking into an arena. When the official would attempt to check George for foreign objects, he would recoil and shout, “Get your filthy hands off of me!”

While this behavior may seem tame by today’s standards, it was unheard of in the 1940s. Needless to say, audiences ate it up and bought tickets just to hate him. At the same time, televisions were becoming a fixture of American households during the post-World War II economic boom and professional wrestling was what everyone was watching. With his over-the-top antics and self-proclaimed nicknames like “The Beautiful Bicep” and “The Sensation of the Nation,” Gorgeous George quickly became the biggest attraction on this new medium. By the end of the decade, the man who grew up poor was now the highest paid athlete in the world.

High school wrestling

I covered a Central High School wrestling match where mild-mannered Miss Helen Ketterer, let her wild out. It was a side I had never seen before.

You’re going to be shopping, right?

Everybody is all agog at the idea of getting up from the turkey table on Thanksgiving to fight the crowds for bargains. If you are more inclined to relax on the holiday and do your shopping on line, keep me in mind.
I encourage you to shop locally, but if you order from Amazon, click on the Big Red Button at the top left of the page (or this one) to get to Amazon. I’ll make about 6% on anything you purchase, and it won’t add a penny to your cost. There’s also a tiny yellow button that will allow you to make a donation to the site. You don’t even have to put a bow on it.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving if we don’t get together before then.

November 25, 2014

SEMO Port Authority from Air

When I shot Missouri Fibre playing with their giant pick-up sticks at the SEMO Port Authority in 2011, I knew the facility was big, but I didn’t realize how big it was until Ernie Chiles and I flew over it August.

You can read more about the port at its website.

Photo gallery of port authority

In addition to river and rail terminals, there are two huge quarries on the property. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.

November 23, 2014

Tired Fire Trucks

On the way out of Cairo headed to Mound City National Cemetery on Hwy 37, we passed HS Auto Salvage, which had a bunch of fire trucks parked in front of it. They weren’t fighting a fire: they evidently had been scrapped.

There were engines and ladder trucks from Cairo, a truck from Thebes and another from Tamms Volunteer Fire Department. There was nobody around to ask what the story was in August, nor in November when I passed that way again.

I bet there are some fire buffs or Pike fraternities who would love to have these old red workhorses.

Fire truck photo gallery

Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around. Let me know if you have any idea what’s going on with this equipment.

November 23, 2014

Ridge Road Microwave Tower

Towers like this one on Ridge Road in Jackson used to dot the skyline. There was even one in downtown Cape next to the telephone company building on Broadway across from the Broadway Theater.

They were AT&T’s backbone for long distance communications. In the days before fiber optic cable, your phone calls would go from point to point by cable or by microwave.

Made to withstand nuclear blasts

A fascinating website that touches on AT&T’s Long Lines said that the microwave installations were used for both civil and government communications. Most were built in the 1950s and 1960s during the height of the Cold War.

The buildings housing the electronics supporting the towers was hardened against a nuclear blast and in some cases were placed underground. The towers themselves were engineered to withstand all but a close (within five miles) blast.

Protected against fallout

The microwave horns mounted on the towers were covered with a protective shield to keep out not only the elements, but radioactive fallout. The buildings were shielded with copper to protect the equipment inside against the electronic pulse generated by a nuclear explosion. Foot-thick concrete walls protected the vital electronics and people inside the base installations. Thick copper ground wires went deep into the bedrock.

There was a concrete tower facility about halfway down U.S. 1 going to Key West. I always figured that was my hurricane shelter of last resort if I could ever get to it. Jackson must not have rated so high on the nuclear threat list that it justified the extraordinary construction.

Bandwidth was the killer

The thing that killed the Long Lines towers was the demand for bandwidth. A microwave link can carry only a small percentage of the capacity of a single strand of fiber optic cable. When the Internet exploded, the demand for bigger “pipes” exploded with it. After the microwave equipment was taken down, towers, like this one, were purchased by outfits like American Tower, which rents space for cellular and other antennas.

Cellular stations take up a lot less room than the old analog switch gear used by AT&T, so the big buildings aren’t needed.

Communications: foundation of democracy

The author of the website said he saw an AT&T motto in one of the towers: “Communications is the foundation of democracy.” In those days, hard to believe today, the writer said the Long Lines crews went to work knowing that if nuclear war came, they would probably come out of their hardened facilities to find their families long gone.

The construction in the background is a new school being built. You can click on the photos to make them larger.