The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend
In this colorful, in-depth account, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeff Leen pulls back the curtain on a forgotten era of American history-a time when a petite Midwesterner named Mildred Burke used her beauty and brawn to captivate audiences and become the longest-reigning champion of the nation's most masculine sport.\ A waitress barely scraping by on Depression-era tips, Mildred saw her way out when she attended her first wrestling match. When women were still struggling for equality...
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The Queen of the Ring is the story of Mildred Burke, the longest reigning champion of female wrestling. In this in-depth account, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Jeff Leen pulls back the curtain on a forgotten era when a petite midwesterner used her beauty and brawn to dominate America’s most masculine sport. At only five feet two, Mildred Burke was an unlikely candidate for the ring. A waitress barely scraping by on Depression-era tips, she saw her way out when she attended her first wrestling match. When women were still struggling for equality with men, Burke regularly fought—and beat—male wrestlers. Rippling with muscle and dripping with diamonds, she walked the fine line between pin-up beauty and hardened brawler. An unforgettable slice of Americana, The Queen of the Ring captures the golden age of wrestling, when one gritty, glamorous woman rose through the ranks to take her place in athletic history. The Washington Post - Mark Adams …the literature of the grappling arts can be split into two weight divisions: heavy treatises analyzing the methodology of the half Nelson versus cotton-candy reminiscences of Spandexed superstars. Jeff Leen's fine new biography of the pioneering lady wrestler Mildred Burke, The Queen of the Ring, might be in a class by itself. It's a serious history of one of this country's goofiest pastimes…Queen is less Burke's tale than it is the rich story of the golden age of women's ring rivalries, and Leen unearths truckloads of wonderful details along the way
1 The Match of the Century 12 Millie Bliss 93 Billy Wolfe 224 Wrestling Men 325 Becoming Champion 506 Building the Business 687 "Pulchritude on Parade" 868 Mat Mamas Maul for Millions 979 Billy Wolfe's Harem 11410 "The Public Likes the Puss" 12711 The Golden Age 14012 Tragedy 16213 A Bout with Nell 17414 A Bout with Billy 19115 A Bout with June 21516 Millie without Billy 24117 Billy without Millie 25318 Mildred Burke Productions 265Afterword Millie's Girls 281List of Billy's Girls 289List of Millie's Girls 290Notes 299
\ Mark Adams…the literature of the grappling arts can be split into two weight divisions: heavy treatises analyzing the methodology of the half Nelson versus cotton-candy reminiscences of Spandexed superstars. Jeff Leen's fine new biography of the pioneering lady wrestler Mildred Burke, The Queen of the Ring, might be in a class by itself. It's a serious history of one of this country's goofiest pastimes…Queen is less Burke's tale than it is the rich story of the golden age of women's ring rivalries, and Leen unearths truckloads of wonderful details along the way\ —The Washington Post\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyIn this intriguing biography, Leen (Kings of Cocaine) chronicles the life of “the queen of the mat,” Mildred Burke, women's wrestling champion and pioneer of the sport. Burke (1915–1989), along with her husband and manager, Billy Wolfe, are credited with having invented professional women's wrestling and bringing it to prominence: “Her muscles and his mind had made the industry of women's professional wrestling in America.” Their rise, fall and resurrection is a story as bizarre and titillating as wrestling's own carnival roots. The king and queen of “lady rassling” broke barriers despite a ban on women's wrestling in many states. Leen, managing editor for the Washington Post's investigations unit, deftly guides the reader through well-documented and researched accounts, which are culled from Burke's unpublished autobiography, interviews and numerous newspaper records. Leen writes: “Her speed and skill made her wrestling a thing of beauty in the ring, full of careful shifts of balance and swift and surprising combinations that turned the straining of muscle and limb into a ballet of grace and power.” Flavored with authentic speech and dedicated to accuracy, this biography is the tale of an underdog who triumphed. B&w photos. (Aug.)\ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsThe gripping history of a largely forgotten legend of wrestling. Washington Post managing editor Leen (co-author: Kings of Cocaine: Inside the Medellin Cartel, 1989) illuminates the murky history of women's professional wrestling with this sympathetic biography of Mildred Burke, the sport's greatest champion. Burke (nee Bliss) grew up in poverty and seemed resigned to a life in the margins, waitressing in a dingy cafe during the depths of the Depression-until her husband took her to a wrestling match. Something about the primal nature of the contest touched a chord in the unhappy young woman, and Burke wholly dedicated herself to a professional grappling. Her career began in earnest when she tried out for Billy Wolfe, a former wrestler who had begun to gather and train young women in the sport. Wolfe quickly realized her potential-she was lithe, strong, gifted with an innate sense of balance and fiercely determined-and she began to win matches, defeating some 200 men before establishing herself as the nation's premier woman wrestler, holding the world championship for nearly 20 years. Wolfe is both the book's villain and most compelling character, a cigar-chomping, diamond-flashing huckster whose genius for promotion and utter ruthlessness paid off in spectacular success. He was also an abusive womanizer, blithely cheating on Burke-whom he had married, presumably to better control her fortunes-with the young women in his charge, who understood that sex with him was the only route to success in their field. Burke remains a bit of a cipher, a mulish survivor abused by Wolfe for years before he effectively destroyed her career, abetted by the sexist mentality of the wrestling establishment.Equally tragic, and not a bit tawdry, was Burke's long-term affair with Wolfe's son, who would ultimately take part in her fall. Burke enjoyed a twilight resurgence when touring lady wrestlers proved popular in Japan, but the impression Leen provides is of a broken, badly used woman who ironically stands as a symbol of feminine strength and a groundbreaking figure in the history of women's athletics. Lean, harsh and lowdown, this bruising history leaves a mark. Agent: Gail Ross/Gail Ross Literary Agency\ \
