Phil Lions

And while I'm at it, here's a 34-minute Swiss documentary on wrestling from January 1968, called "Le monde du catch": https://www.rts.ch/archives/1968/video/le-monde-du-catch-26954997.html There's a bunch of familiar faces in it.

So here’s an interesting fact that many are not aware of. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the UK and France were not the only European countries that had pro wrestling on TV. Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco did as well. In fact, at times more wrestling was airing on TV in those countries than it was in France. I was aware of catch (pro wrestling) being on TV in those three countries, but had never looked into it, because I was under the assumption the stuff that aired there might’ve just been repeats of the French catch TV. Well, now having searched the TV listings from that period, I can say that my assumption was wrong. Most of the advertised matches that I found, to follow below, in fact did not air in France. So how did these broadcasts work? Where were they filmed? I can’t say for sure. I asked Bob Plantin about it and he seemed pretty sure some matches were filmed in France for distribution in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco. I believe that and can definitely see it being the case. However, looking at the matches I found below, some I do not think came from France as I don’t have a record of certain guys working in France that particular year. I also think it’s possible a few of the matches may have been repeats of French catch TV matches. Typically, the broadcasts were 20 to 30 minutes long. Keep in mind, the matches mentioned below were the advertised matches, but for sure there were some instances where something else aired instead of what was being advertised. Some of the TV listings specifically mentioned the commentator for the broadcast so where that was the case I’ve listed him too. -------------- Now let’s look at Switzerland first. Below are all the broadcasts that I could find in the Swiss TV listings. All the broadcasts were on Télévision Suisse Romande. - August 5, 1959 (at 21:45): advertised but did not air - August 22, 1959 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - September 24, 1959 (at 21:30): Black Salem vs. Pierre Boss - October 8, 1959 (at 21:35): no specific match advertised - October 22, 1959 (at 21:40): Jacky Corn vs. Paul Debusne - November 5, 1959 (at 21:45): Gaby Dumas vs. Andre Poulain - November 25, 1959 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - December 3, 1959 (at 22:00): Billy Catanzaro vs. Guy Robin - December 17, 1959 (at 21:35): a tag team match - January 14, 1960 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - January 28, 1960 (at 21:55): no specific match advertised - February 11, 1960 (at 22:00): Billy Catanzaro vs. Marcel Bordes - March 3, 1960 (at 22:10): Butcher Johnson vs. Roger Delaporte - April 7, 1960 (at 22:10): Masahiko Kimura vs. Karl von Kramer - April 21, 1960 (at 21:55): no specific match advertised - May 4, 1960 (at 22:15): a tag team match - May 19, 1960 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - May 25, 1960 (at 22:05): no specific match advertised - June 2, 1960 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - June 23, 1960 (at 22:00): Frank Orlik vs. Jose Tarres - June 30, 1960 (at 22:00): Roger Guettier vs. Masahiko Kimura - July 7, 1960 (at 22:05): Roger Gaillot vs. Ferdinand Bauer - July 15, 1960 (at 22:15): no specific match advertised - July 22, 1960 (at 22:05): no specific match advertised - July 28, 1960 (at 21:35): Bert Royal vs. Karl von Kramer - August 4, 1960 (at 21:40): Lino di Santo vs. Hercules Cortez - August 12, 1960 (at 21:50): no specific match advertised - November 24, 1960 (at 21:40): Jack Bence vs. Roger Delaporte - December 4, 1960 (at 21:35): L’Ange Blanc vs. Mario Matassa - December 7, 1960 (at 21:35): L’Ange Blanc vs. Mario Matassa - December 12, 1960 (at 21:55): no specific match advertised - December 16, 1960 (at 21:30): no specific match advertised - January 4, 1961 (at 21:30): no specific match advertised - February 1, 1961 (at 21:45): a tag team match - February 16, 1961 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - February 23, 1961 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - March 23, 1961 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - March 29, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - April 13, 1961 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - April 26, 1961 (at 21:45): Jose Arroyo vs. Dr. Adolf Kaiser with commentary by Georges de Caunes - May 4, 1961 (at 21:25): no specific match advertised - May 25, 1961 (at 21:25): no specific match advertised - June 1, 1961 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - June 8, 1961 (at 21:35): no specific match advertised - June 21, 1961 (at 21:30): no specific match advertised - July 6, 1961 (at 21:30): Eric Wasberg vs. Mic Charre - July 27, 1961 (at 21:50): a tag team match with commentary by Jean Renaux - August 17, 1961 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - September 28, 1961 (at 22:05): no specific match advertised - October 12, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - October 26, 1961 (at 21:55): no specific match advertised - November 9, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - November 16, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - December 14, 1961 (at 21:50): no specific match advertised - January 4, 1962 (at 21:30): Iska Khan & Serge Gentilly vs. Yves Amor & Georges Gueret - February 8, 1962 (at 21:45): Jacques Bernieres vs. Jean Martin - March 22, 1962 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - April 12, 1962 (at 22:00): L’Ange Blanc vs. Jim Oliver with commentary by Jean Renaux - May 10, 1962 (at 21:50): Eric Husberg vs. Bob Elandon with commentary by Jean Renaux - June 7, 1962 (at 21:55): Inca Peruano vs. Antonio Montoro with commentary by Jean Renaux - September 27, 1962 (at 21:45): Jean Martin vs. Sadi el Mansour with commentary by Jean Renaux - October 18, 1962 (at 21:45): Bobby Duranton vs. Andre Drapp with commentary by Jean Renaux - November 15, 1962 (at 21:40): Bobby Duranton vs. Andre Drapp - January 11, 1963 (at 21:20): Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Antonio Montoro with commentary by Jean Renaux - January 31, 1963 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - February 14, 1963 (at 22:05): Jimmy Dula & Jean Martin vs. Iska Khan & Serge Gentilly - February 20, 1963 (at 21:45): Comte de Daidone vs. Warnia de Zarzecki with commentary by Georges de Caunes - March 21, 1963 (at 22:10): L’Homme Masque & Ski Hi Lee vs. Gil Voiney & Bernard Vignal with commentary by Jean Renaux - April 19, 1963 (at 21:50): Gil Voiney vs. Jimmy Dula - May 9, 1963 (at 22:00): Bob Elandon & Antonio Montoro vs. Bobby Duranton & Jean Debuf - June 26, 1963 (at 21:35): Warnia de Zarzecki vs. Jimmy Dula with commentary by Jean Renaux - August 10, 1963 (at 21:50): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Paul Debusne & Pierre Bernaert with commentary by Jean Renaux - September 4, 1963 (at 21:50): Antonio Montoro vs. Jose Arroyo with commentary by Jean Renaux - January 23, 1964 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - March 12, 1964 (at 22:00): Pepe Marques & Jose Arroyo vs. Jimmy Dula & Jean Martin with commentary by Jean Renaux - March 19, 1964 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - June 25, 1964 (at 21:40): Pierre Lagache vs. Mic Charre with commentary by Jean Renaux - July 9, 1964 (at 22:20): Gil Voiney vs. Josef Kovacs with commentary by Jean Renaux - July 16, 1964 (at 21:05): Mic Charre vs. Paul Debusne - July 22, 1964 (at 22:00): Taied Said vs. Andre Bombardier + Iska Khan vs. Pierre Rouanet with commentary by Jean Renaux - July 27, 1964 (at 20:55): Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Bob Elandon - August 13, 1964 (at 22:10): no specific match advertised - August 24, 1964 (at 21:45): Pierre Grange vs. Jose Gonzales + Cesar Colavecchi vs. Jean Gasparini - November 12, 1964 (at 22:00): Pierre Lagache vs. Bob Plantin with commentary by Jean Renaux - November 19, 1964 (at 22:00): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Antonio Morlans & Inca Wiracocha - January 14, 1965 (at 22:05): no specific match advertised - January 21, 1965 (at 21:45): no specific match advertised - February 11, 1965 (at 22:10): L’Ours de l’Oural (Tony Olivas) vs. Bernard Vignal - February 25, 1965 (at 22:10): Paul Debusne vs. Emile Rolland - March 18, 1965 (at 22:00): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Antonio Morlans & Inca Wiracocha - March 25, 1965 (at 22:00): Andre Bollet vs. Spartacus - April 8, 1965 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - May 13, 1965 (at 21:55): Mr. Montreal vs. Bob Elandon - June 10, 1965 (at 22:10): Tumo Kyawaishi vs. Antonio Morlans - June 24, 1965 (at 22:00): Iska Khan & Cesar Colavecchi vs. Antonio Morlans & Inca Wiracocha - July 15, 1965 (at 22:05): Iska Khan vs. L’Ours de l’Oural (Tony Olivas) + Antonio Morlans vs. Akio Yoshiara - August 5, 1965 (at 22:10): Teizo Okada vs. Pierre Lagache - August 12, 1965 (at 22:00): L’Homme Masque vs. Spartacus - September 3, 1965 (at 21:25): Rene Ben Chemoul & Remy Bayle vs. Karl von Kramer & Eric Muller - September 16, 1965 (at 22:05): no specific match advertised - November 10, 1965 (at 22:20): Georges Heber vs. Edouard Pawlak with commentary by Jean Renaux + Jorani Abraham vs. Spartacus with commentary by Henri Cochan - November 25, 1965 (at 22:15): Hercules Cortez vs. Iska Khan - December 20, 1965 (at 22:05): Teizo Okada vs. Antonio Morlans - January 13, 1966 (at 22:05): Andre Bollet vs. Hercules Cortez + L’Ours de l’Oural (Tony Olivas) vs. Roger Delaporte - January 19, 1966 (at 22:05): Paul Debusne vs. Dan Aubriot - February 14, 1966 (at 22:15): Dan Aubriot vs. Inca Peruano - February 24, 1966 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - March 17, 1966 (at 22:15): Alan Dennison vs. Vassilios Mantopoulos - March 21, 1966 (at 22:15): Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Jean Martin - April 6, 1966 (at 22:10): Moise Besh vs. Etienne Goby - April 21, 1966 (at 22:10): Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Jean Martin - May 10, 1966 (at 22:15): Iska Khan vs. Jean Gasparrini - June 23, 1966 (at 22:10): Mic Charre vs. Gino Morandi - July 12, 1966 (at 22:05): Serge Gentilly vs. Jean Gasparrini - August 4, 1966 (at 22:05): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Antonio Morlans & Inca Wiracocha - September 22, 1966 (at 22:20): Remy Bayle vs. Inca Wiracocha - September 28, 1966 (at 22:05): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Karl von Kramer & Eric Muller - October 13, 1966 (at 22:05): Andre Drapp vs. L’Ours de l’Oural (Tony Olivas) with commentary by Jean Renaux - October 19, 1966 (at 22:10): Tibor Szakacs vs. Roger Delaporte - October 27, 1966 (at 22:00): Iska Khan vs. Antonio Morlans - November 3, 1966 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - November 16, 1966 (at 22:20): M’Boaba vs. Daniel Boucard - December 8, 1966 (at 22:10): Georges Cohen vs. Pierra Lagache + Rocco Frere vs. Iska Ketoni with commentary by Jean Renaux - January 4, 1967 (at 22:15): Bruno Asquini vs. Jean Gasparrini - January 19, 1967 (at 22:00): Janos Vadkerti vs. Serge Garnotel + El Greco vs. Pierre Lagache - January 26, 1967 (at 22:05): Tibor Szakacs vs. Leon Minissini - February 2, 1967 (at 22:00): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Les Black Diamonds (Abe Ginsberg & John Foley) with commentary by Jean Renaux - February 16, 1967 (at 22:00): no specific match advertised - March 9, 1967 (at 22:15): Walter Bordes vs. Pierre Lagache - April 6, 1967 (at 22:05): Jorani Abraham vs. Antonio Morlans - April 18, 1967 (at 22:00): Giulio Pietranoni vs. Claude Dreyfus + Ken Armstrong vs. Jean Gasparrini - July 24, 1967 (at 22:10): M’Boaba vs. Remy Bayle - August 7, 1967 (at 22:10): Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. The Flying Scots (Jim McKenzie & Bill Ross) - August 31, 1967 (at 22:05): Remy Bayle vs. Jean Gasparrini - October 26, 1967 (at 22:10): no specific match advertised - November 23, 1967 (at 22:25): Georges Cohen vs. Teddy Boy - January 30, 1968 (at 22:10): no specific match advertised - February 9, 1968 (at 22:00): Jorani Abraham vs. Benito Rocco - February 22, 1968 (at 22:15): no specific match advertised - May 31, 1968 (at 22:00): Gerard Bouvet vs. Serge Garnotel + Jorani Abraham vs. Bruno Rocco - June 4, 1968 (at 22:00): Pasquale Giusto vs. Georges Cohen + Janos Vadkerti vs. Pierre Lagache with commentary by Jean Renaux - June 11, 1968 (at 22:00): Angelo Giusto vs. Pancho Zapata with commentary by Jean Renaux - June 18, 1968 (at 22:20): no specific match advertised - June 24, 1968 (at 22:05): no specific match advertised - October 8, 1968 (at 21:45): Teddy Boy vs. Alan Mitchell - November 19, 1968 (at 22:10): Moise Besch vs. Fergen Said - December 10, 1968 (at 22:10): Tibor Szakacs vs. Jimmy Dula - February 18, 1969 (at 22:00): Jimmy Dula vs. Apollo Estevez - March 20, 1969 (at 22:05): Tibor Szakacs & Iska Khan vs. Antonio Morlans & Inca Wiracocha - November 3, 1969 (at 22:15): Josef Kovacs vs. Al Gamain - April 7, 1970 (at 22:05): Lucky Simonovich vs. Rabbi Rafael Halperin + Rene Ben Chemoul & Gilbert Cesca vs. Paul Debusne & Pierre Bernaert - July 11, 1970 (at 22:20): Jimmy Dula vs. Albert Lafeuille - July 18, 1970 (at 22:25): Ski Hi Lee vs. Gil Voiney - July 25, 1970 (at 23:05): Rene Ben Chemoul vs. Gilbert Cesca [at 22:50 that same night a Chemoul tag was airing in France so there was a brief moment where Chemoul would have been on French TV and Swiss TV at the same time] - August 8, 1970 (at 22:55): Karl von Kramer vs. Angel Ramiro - September 16, 1970 (at 22:20): Vassilios Mantopoulos vs. Moise Besch -------------- Next we have Luxembourg. For there and Monaco I don’t have access to detailed TV listings. At the moment I only have the TV listings for about a dozen or so weeks, from several different years. Therefore, my information is very limited. Still, it’s enough to notice that at times catch was airing on TV in Luxembourg twice a week. All the broadcasts were on Télé Luxembourg. - September 6, 1957 (at 20:36): no specific match advertised - March 21, 1958 (at 21:40): match with commentary by Andre Bourillon - February 17, 1959 (at 21:15): no specific match advertised - February 20, 1959 (at 21:30): no specific match advertised - June 30, 1959 (at 21:15): no specific match advertised - July 3, 1959 (at 21:30): no specific match advertised - March 1, 1960 (at 21:20): no specific match advertised - March 4, 1960 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - July 1, 1960 (at 21:40): Bert Royal vs. Georges Gueret - June 28, 1960 (at 21:15): Bill Verna vs. Bernard Vignal - April 25, 1961 (at 21:30): no specific match advertised - April 28, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - May 5, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - July 4, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - July 7, 1961 (at 21:40): no specific match advertised - July 20, 1962 (at 21:35): no specific match advertised -------------- And finally, there’s Monaco. Same as Luxembourg, information is very limited, but enough to see that catch was sometimes on TV twice a week. All the broadcasts were on Télé Monte-Carlo. - March 20, 1958 (at 20:15): match with commentary by Jean Claude Laplaud - February 19, 1959 (at 20:40): match with commentary by Andre Bourrillon - March 1, 1960 (at 20:35): no specific match advertised - June 28, 1960 (at 20:40): no specific match advertised - July 1, 1960 (at 20:40): no specific match advertised - April 28, 1961 (at 20:35): no specific match advertised - May 2, 1961 (at 20:35): no specific match advertised - May 5, 1961 (at 20:35): no specific match advertised - July 4, 1961 (at 20:40): no specific match advertised - July 7, 1961 (at 20:40): no specific match advertised - July 17, 1962 (at 20:30): no specific match advertised - July 20, 1962 (at 20:30): no specific match advertised

It's not. Yes, it was TF1. Today I was digging through TV listings I hadn't seen before and managed to find some new broadcasts that I wasn't aware of and fill in some gaps about existing ones. Nothing major. The Saint match was probably the best find. I will say though, while INA does have a ton, they are missing a lot too. I now have a record of over 120 TF1/A2 broadcasts (pre-1980) that INA doesn't seem to have. At least in their online archive anyway.

@Matt D A correction on a couple of dates. I've just confirmed with the TV listings for that year that INA has the dates of these two switched around. These are the correct air dates: May 6, 1967 (aired on A2 at 20:00): Le Batman vs. Teddy Boy + Le Petit Prince vs. Michel Saulnier September 30, 1967 (aired on A2 at 20:40): Gilbert Leduc & Bruno Asquini vs. Marcel Manneveau & Claude Gessat EDIT - Also, this is kind of neat. Johnny Saint on French TV. June 28, 1975.

Check this out. The most popular television personalities and television shows in France as of mid 1960. This ranking is based on the annual reader poll of one of the "TV Guide" type of French magazines. I don't have the exact number of respondents for that year (yet), but I believe it was in the 20,000s. Catch at number 6, right before the TV News. Darget personality number 5, three positions in front of Couderc. It should also be noted Zitrone (1) and de Caunes (4) also did some catch commentary at times. ------- On an unrelated note, today I made an important discovery/had an important realization about catch TV in Europe. It looks like there was much more of it than we thought, but that's a discussion for a separate topic. Need to finish gathering my research notes first and then I'll share what I'm referring to.

Yeah. The local FR3 channels had a daily slot of a few hours where they could air whatever they wanted instead of broadcasting the national feed.

This didn't air on the main FR3 channel. It was a regional broadcast only. It aired on FR3 Nord Picardie in the Picardy and Nord-Pas-de-Calais regions of France. That channel is actually France's oldest regional channel, having started in 1950. There's another match, a midgets match from 1986, coming up soon that also aired on the same channel.

A local television station in Épinal, France. Currently known as Vosges Télévision. Created in 1990.

INA's own listing aside, Tiny Tom and Cowboy Lang weren't around in France in 1978 so Mercier is 100% wrong about the year.

Man, this one stings a bit. This show below was the return of Bollet and Delaporte to Goldstein's promotion, and in one of his letters Bezy refers to it as "Bollet and Delaporte's Parisian and television return". That wording makes it sound like Delaporte vs. Chemoul may have aired on TV, but we don't have it. Such a bummer. Delaporte vs. Chemoul sounds like a very intriguing mix of styles. Karamazov = Le Grand Vladimir. His original name in France was Vladimir Karamazoff.

1999*

For those interested, I've posted the next part of my French Catch Timeline (1956-1962). It's available here: https://bit.ly/FrenchCatchTimeline Catch becomes a regular fixture on TV. New stars emerge. The Claude Darget controversy. The European Alliance is formed. The promotional alliances in France shift (a few times). L'Ange Blanc and the other masked wrestlers debut. Lawsuits and shoot challenges. Business is booming. Masked wrestlers and Dr. Kaiser are banned from TV. A new promotion enters the fray. Catch is taken off TV (twice). And more.

That'd be difficult to do, on the account of him no longer being alive.

I wouldn't call it an organised fandom. It was just one French superfan, who eventually got into the business as a promoter/announcer, briefly published his own catch magazine and was also a correspondent for a couple of U.S. wrestling magazines. Most importantly though, he was in contact with a few other wrestling historians from other countries and they would regularly send each other stuff (this was back in the 1960s-80s). Some of that correspondence has been preserved and it's a great source of info.

^ Since then I've come across more information that makes me doubt that a bit. La Bete Humaine in 1971-1972 was usually a wrestler by the name of Roger Courtoux, while Nick Sanders (Paul Lapeyre) portrayed another similar character for a while - La Bete Inhumaine. This is mentioned a bunch of times in the archives of French historian/promoter Michel Bezy. That said, Bezy does mention that Sanders was the Bete Humaine in the 1971 Jacky Montalier TV match so it looks like Sanders may have portrayed that character at times too (although now I do have a suspicion Bezy's note on that might be wrong, can't confirm though). Courtoux was the main guy. Both Courtoux and Sanders were from Bordeaux (and Bezy was a promoter there). Courtoux was a former rugby player and Sanders had a background in bodybuilding. In the late 1960s/early 1970s Sanders also worked as L'Homme Masque/Le Masque Noir. I think there's a pretty good chance Sanders is L'Homme Masque in the 1969 TV match with L'Ange Blanc and the 1971 TV match with Mammoth Siki. A couple of live event results from Bezy's results archive (1968 and 1971, respectively): Speaking of Bete Humaine, here's a fun little bonus fact. The original Bete Humaine of French catch was... Nikolai Zigulinoff. I mean just in name only. He didn't do the actual gimmick. This was in 1959-1960 when he was working for Felix Miquet's promotion. In 1969 Zigulinoff also briefly worked in California as The Beast.