Special Edition-Lipstick and Dynamite

Today we had the opportunity to view a short film about women's professional wrestling. Before viewing the film I had never heard of this event in history. The film was very entertaining and very informative. the women who were interviewed were very funny as they shared their experiences with us. After listening to the filmmaker learned that Mullah was the hardst to get to participate but one of the most important. Only after the filmmaker "threatened" her by saying it was her one chance to justify her actions since all of the others would be talking about her anyway did she agree to do it.

Women's professional wrestling arroused viewers in the early 50's. The women were used at first as special attractions to draw in a crowd however they soon became the main event. At first they would only do this about 3-4 times a year because there weren't that many of them. Yet somehow the men still ended up profitting from them. One important person to the sport was Billy Wolfe. He promoted it and took 50% of the girls income. When one of the girl's father died she said she wanted to go home and he replied, what you going for? to hold his hand.

Mullah then began training her own girls. One girl who came to her was a midget named Katie. Mullah in a way took Katie in. Katie quit smoking just so that she could call Mullah, Ma. Wolfe did a similar thing taking in a girl who he adopted, her name was Janet. Janet however died in the ring.

The interesting thing about this film is the way that the wrestler's interacted with each other. All of them came to the premiere and they still hated each other. Unfortunately since the film both Mullah and Penny Banner have passed away. This film is a great way to give these women a chance ot be recognized. For them wrestling was practical. It was a way they could get out of the house and make an income on their own. Many of the women commented on how today wrestling is fake and degrading what they did only 50 years ago.

The film took almost 4 years to make. There was a lot of research and hardwork that needed to go into the making of this film. The other struggle that came across during the making of this film was getting WWE to allow some of the footage to be released and showed in the film. After much compromising the message was able to be delivered.

These women went through a lot. They were unproclaimed feminist of their time. Together they brought the sprot to a new level as they faced the challenges of being the first to do many of the things. Although very controversial they continued on. What was most amazing was seeing them re-enter the ring when they were in their 80's. These truly are remarkable women.