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PRO WRESTLING

Program 05-06-05-A

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Kayfabe is an old carny term for fakery. Now it's the code of honor for professional wrestling. Kayfabe means you never, EVER admit to ANYONE under ANY circumstances that pro wrestling's fake. In this hour of the Peabody Award winning program To The Best Of Our Knowledge - the spectacle of professional wrestling. We'll talk real versus fake with former world champion Mick Foley, better known as Mankind. And the greatest female wrestler of all time - the Fabulous Moolah.

SEGMENT 1:

Ed Ferrara used to be a senior storyline writer for World Wrestling Federation (WWF) now known as Word Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. Ferrara now teaches at Columbia College in Chicago. He tells Jim Fleming that matches involved convoluted revenge plots between good guys and bad guys, or in wrestling parlance "baby faces" and "heels." Also, Mick Foley, as Mankind, played many Ferrara scripts. Foley tells Steve Paulson how scripted matches couls still result in real injuries.

SEGMENT 2:

Ruth Leibman directed a documentary film called "Lipstick and Dynamite: The First Ladies of Wrestling," about the first female professional wrestlers. She tells Steve Paulson that the women lived hard and fought harder and in some cases kept their ring careers going until they were senior citizens. Also, we hear some actuality of wrestler Gorgeous George, then Sean Penn reads a section of Bob Dylan's autobiography where Dylan credits George as one of his greatest influences.

SEGMENT 3:

Mucha Lucha is a Warner Brothers cartoon based on the Mexican tradition of masked wrestlers. The cartoon is the brainchild of an Australian and a Chinese. Lili Chin and Eddie Mort tell Anne Strainchamps that they revere Lucha Libre, the Mexican original

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 05-06-05-A.

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Books:

• Mick Foley, Tales from Wrescal Lane. World Wrestling (Entertainment Books)

Links:

• Mucha Lucha:
  http://www2.warnerbros.com/lucha/home.html
• Lipstick and Dynamite:
  http://www.lipstickanddynamite.com
• World Wrestling Entertainment:
  http://www.wwe.com
• All music in the show comes from the band Los Straight Jackets:
  http://www.straitjackets.com

Music:

• Los Straightjackets, G-Men from The Utterly Fantastic and Totally Unbelievable Sounds Of (Upstart Records)
• Bob Dylan, Don't Think Twice It's All Right from The Essential Bob Dylan (Columbia Records)
• Mucha Lucha theme music used with permission from Warner Bros
• Lipstick and Dynamite theme music used with permission from Ruthless Films

Distribution dates:

week of 08/20/2006 - hour 2 week of 06/05/2005 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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