2008 Woodie Awards
Wrestling women makes a dynamite show
Katie Fanuko
Issue date: 5/1/06 Section: Film
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"Lipstick and Dynamite" tells the story of the women of professional wrestling in the '40s and '50s. During this time, professional wrestling was a small, unorganized system of "promoters, con men and over the top characters" who hoped to make it big while bringing their brand of entertainment to people throughout the country. The professional women wrestlers helped to propel the sport's success in these formative years.
Some of these women found their way into the wrestling circuit to escape their dismal and, in some cases, abusive households. Gladys Wall, a prominent wrestler in the 1950s, "left home knowing that there had to be more to life than taking care of my mother." Others were 'discovered' just going about their daily lives. Ella Waldek, a performer in her local roller derby, "was offered the opportunity to watch a wrestling match" and began training to become a wrestler soon after.
The drama in these women's lives didn't just last in the ring where they endured drop kicks and full nelsons on a regular basis. The best antics were saved for after the match. Their lives were full of greed, money, and corruption. Their managers would purposely try to pit them against each other for the sake of marketing. The promoters who brought on these women's rise to fame could also cause their demise by training younger girls to fight and beat them in the ring.
Considering their lifestyle, it may seem that these women would have been fiercely independent but their promoters were in complete control of their lives in and out of the ring. For example, promoter Billie Wolfe collected half of the earnings his wrestlers made and then treated them as though they belonged "to his own personal bordello." Wolfe was eventually ousted by the "Fabulous Moolah," one of Wolfe's wrestlers who eventually became a promoter.
"She learned so much from the business who exploited her. And she figured out a way to rise above it," said Leitman.
The documentary also looks at the paradoxes that made up these women's lives. These women defied the conventions of femininity during the 1940s and 1950s, yet they still carried themselves and thought of themselves as ladies. They opened up opportunities for women that were previously unheard of, but they dismissed women's liberation. These women chose to cut their own path in life, yet they were still at the mercy of their promoters.
In "Lipstick and Dynamite" Leitman chose to combine old wrestling footage with commentary from the women who are now in their 80s. It was very difficult for her to find footage from the 1940s and 1950s.
"These images did not exist-or they did, but only in marginal communities," said Leitman.
Leitman wanted to explore more than just the sport of professional women wrestling; she also wanted to share these women's lives and experiences that would have otherwise been forgotten.
"The film is not about wrestling. It is about women who have persevered against adverse situations. It's a film about strength."
In making "Lipstick and Dynamite", Leitman was able to preserve the legacy of the "first ladies of wrestling" and capture an underground phenomenon that otherwise would have faded into oblivion.