Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar

Screw G.L.O.W. and Jackie Stallone [youngsters, look it up]. Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling, a new documentary celebrating the forgotten first ladies of wrestling, makes its U.S. debut next month as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.

Today's "dark angels" of pro wrestling, the Sables, Chynas and Trishs, stand on the shoulders of pioneers with names like Gladys “Kill 'em” Gillem, The Great Mae Young, and The Fabulous Moolah - pure entertainers who went from carnival acts to ring divas.

Their world was dirt-poor Americana, and their story is a vivid slice of pop cultural history - one brought to full, fabulous life, along with all the living original lady wrestlers, in the wildly entertaining documentary Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling.

A celebration of the lives of the formidable pioneers of women's wrestling, Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling uses stunning archival footage of classic matches and 1950's B movie clips, combined with firsthand accounts of the "Golden Girls", the spirited referees, the rabid fans, and the enterprising promoter, to shine a spotlight on the spectacular world of the first ladies of the ring.

In the 1940's carnival promoters looking to boost attendance lured teenage girls to join the traveling wrestling show. Athletic girls from the logging camps of the Northwest to the farms of Alabama stepped into the ring with hopes of diamonds, furs, and fame. And then set out on the open road... alone.

Enduring years of physical punishment, little pay and even less control of their careers, these formidable women blazed trails for today's hottest female wrestlers.

Mark your calendars now.

Public Screenings:

Wednesday, May 5th, 7:30pm, UA Battery Park City
Thursday, May 6th, 3:30pm, Tribeca Cinema 2
Sunday, May 9th, 4:00pm, UA Battery Park City

Director Ruth Leitman will be in New York with female wrestlers The Fabulous Moolah, The Great Mae Young, Ida May Martinez and Gladys (Kill 'em) Gillem from the film May 3-9.

Canuck readers can get the jump on us southerners and catch the flick as part of the 2004 Hot Docs International Documentary Festival in Toronto on Thursday, April 29, 9:15 p.m., at the Bloor Cinema.

Comments

[Steve]

I am a Big Female Wrestling fan and its good to see positive material about Female Wrestling.

Sydney, Australia.