Ye Gods! What'd John L. Have Said to Hair Curling and Brow Arching?

(Click the graphic for better view.)

1920

My dears, you should see that pompadour!

And that isn't half of it. He's having his eyebrows daintily arched, too!

And, to cap it all, his cheeks are adorned with the best grade of milady's rouge carefully handpainted over a field of perfumed pink powder. 'Tis even hinted that for a time he considered wearing a lace-covered corset to accentuate the lines of his form-fitting suit of clothes, but this has later been indignantly denied.

No, Genevieve, your guess is wrong. It isn't Launcelot de Slushe, the hero of "Nine Oceans of Tears" in the movie — it's no less a personage, they say, than Jack Dempsey, heavyweight fistic champion of this universe.

Dempsey won't say whether it's the influence of his recent trial at the movies or the success of his next opponent, Georges Carpentier, the bearcat boulevardier of gay Paree, but —

The erstwhile training camp, 'tis whispered, exudes an odor of lilac toilet water and face powder. Electric curling irons are said to adorn the walls where boxing gloves once hung. Cauliflower-eared attendants no longer take to road work and handball — manicuring and eyebrow-arching is the order of the day now, according to latest reports.

So much did Dempsey admire his first marcel wave at the hands of a Los Angeles society barber that he returned to have his brows arched and has since made it a regular practice, if Los Angeles advices may be believed.

But, ye gods! What would the shades of John L. Sullivan and Bob Fitzsimmons say if they could return to earth and see a modern fistic champion?

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

He's Willing Now

1920

But Champion Is a Late Late, Says Georgia Poet.

The following was received by the sporting editor of The Saturday Blade from Atlanta, Ga.:

Our Champion.

He's willing to fight in France, they say,
For half a million or so;
But he passed up a chance at a buck a day
When they called on us all to go.

I think I speak for a million chaps
Who went to France with a vim,
Ready for anything — death perhaps —
So —
Hope Georges whales hell out of him.

—Jack Converse.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

Note: This poem concerns Jack Dempsey, whose reputation was tainted when it was alleged he was a draft dodger during World War I. There's some details at this link. "Georges" was Georges Carpentier, a French war hero. Dempsey had a match against him in 1921, called the "Battle of the Century."


Canadian Boxer Challenges

1920

Brousseau Wants to Meet Carpentier In Montreal.

The Canadian Hockey Club has cabled a challenge to Georges Carpentier's manager in London for the French boxer to meet Eugene Brousseau, Dominion's middleweight champion, in a boxing exhibition in Montreal, July 1, Dominion day, at one of the race tracks.

Brousseau has recovered from a slight attack of paralysis, which followed his bout with Chip, in Portland.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 10.

The Greatest Fighter

1920

Jack Dempsey of pugilistic fame has been acclaimed by many as "the world's greatest fighter."

He is scheduled to meet Georges Carpentier, the Frenchman who vanquished England's premier prize fighter in less than one round, for the honor of wearing the world's championship belt, not to mention a cash consideration of several hundred thousand dollars.

A little more than a year ago 2,000,000 American youths were facing machine guns, artillery, hand grenades, bayonets and airplanes on the battlefields of France, and 2,000,000 more American boys were in the service on this side yearning for the opportunity to share the dangers of their comrades overseas.

To whom, asks the Atlanta Constitution, should go the recognition of being "the world's greatest fighter" — Jack Dempsey or some of those brave American — or French, or British, or other — boys who stood the test of the trenches?

There can be but one answer.

—Saturday Blade, Chicago, Feb. 28, 1920, p. 6.

Happy the Newsboy Drunk, Like A Jungle Lion

Olean, New York, 1922

GETS PLENTY OF LIQUOR AT $.25 A SHOT

However, two nips are two too many for "Happy" North Union street "sing song boy"

If there are any among the many "hootch hounds" of Olean who crave for action, and are of the opinion that the city is lacking in this "virtue," they of the doubt, may lay aside their worries and find plenty of the above mentioned action, and all for the sum of 50 cents. At least that's the opinion of "Happy" Calkins, a vendor of newspapers and a familiar figure on Union and State streets.

Happy told Judge Keating when arraigned in police court this morning on a charge of intoxication that he had obtained sufficient action in the Ross block in North Union street to last him for an indefinite period. "I only had two drinks of whiskey at 25 cents a drink," Happy stated, "and within 15 minutes after drinking it I felt like a jungle lion full of lust for battle, and believe me Judge, Jack Dempsey couldn't have knocked me out."

Pleading forgiveness for the offense, Happy, a very penitent prisoner, was permitted his freedom with a 60-day suspended sentence hanging over his head.

The next time he gets in jail it means a trip to Little Valley, Judge Keating warned the newsboy.

—Olean Evening Herald, Olean, NY, May 11, 1922, p. 4.

Paid $1,500 to Clear Jack Dempsey, Wife Confesses

1920

Paid $1,500 to Clear Jack Dempsey, Wife Confesses to a Federal Jury

LOS ANGELES, Cal. — A statement to the Federal Grand Jury in this city, making an investigation into the charges that she had been "induced" to leave the country in order to avoid testifying in the slacker cases against Jack Dempsey, her ex-husband, Mrs. Jack Dempsey, or Maxine Wayne, as she is better known, made a clean breast of the transaction, in which it was said she was paid a sum of money to repudiate her first statement involving Dempsey in the slacker charges.

Mrs. Dempsey said she was given $1,500 in cash in Los Angeles. It is claimed by the Department of Justice investigators that she later received other substantial sums.

Arrangements were being made, she said, to send her out of the country when the Department of Justice operatives blocked the scheme. Offers to pay her money to leave, said to have been in telegrams sent to her over fictitious signatures, will be substantiated, it was claimed by the messages themselves. They were seized by the Government. Letters written by Dempsey with reference to his draft status also are in possession of the Government.

Mrs. Dempsey frankly stated her earnings had helped to support Dempsey before he became the world's champion heavyweight.

Julius E. Gardner, who was arrested at San Diego, is involved in the plans to get Mrs. Dempsey out of the country, according to the Federal authorities.

Gentleman Jack O'Brien, Great Fighter, Interviewed

1920--

GENTLEMAN JACK O'BRIEN, WHO IS APPEARING AT THE PALACE THEATRE, GIVES A LENGTHY INTERVIEW ON RING BATTLES OF NOTE

Former Champion, and One of the Greatest Fighters That Ever Crawled Through Ropes, Is of Opinion That Present Champion Will Fall Before the French Fighter—O'Brien Is an Actor of No Little Ability, Having Appeared Before All Crowned Heads of Europe—Was Great Worker for Charitable Institutions During War.

Gentleman Jack O'Brien, one of the most unique exponents of the squared ring that has ever visited Olean, was a guest in the Herald office this morning. Mr. O'Brien, who is a gifted and polished conversationalist, discussed a wide range of subjects from keeping in perfect physical trim to the League of Nations and easily demonstrated that he has not traveled the world over in vain.

In a word Mr. O'Brien is an "uplifter" but not of the usual variety. In a thoroughly sane and unbiased manner he discussed the things that have brought ring battles into disrepute and showed the way for a reformation to the ultimate end that these contests in physical strength and endurance might be so staged that they would appeal to the most refined and intelligent, as they did when staged for charity, during the late war, particularly in France and England.

Mr. O'Brien was somewhat guarded in discussing the Willard-Dempsey fight in Toledo but unhesitatingly expressed the opinion that when Dempsey meets Carpentier there is going to be a quick knockout and the Frenchman will win. This opinion is of more than ordinary value due to the fact that during the war Mr. O'Brien boxed Carpentier, in France, for the benefit of the Red Cross.

Among the famous fighters that Mr. O'Brien has met in the ring are Sam Langford, Stanley Ketchel, Kid McCoy, Bob Fitzsimmons and Tommy Ryan and in speaking of some of these events he said that in the days gone by there was no fiddling over a big bonus, or vast sums to be paid to the loser, but just a case of taking on the best fighter at hand for the best terms offered, with the whole idea of pleasing and satisfying the public.

He discussed boxing as an aid to long life and incidentally suggested that he had made no great sums out of fighting and that the best of his work had been done in the interest of some public benefit or charity, just as he boxed, during the late war, for the benefit of the Red Cross, War Chests and Liberty Loan drives. Mr. O'Brien was in the aviation corps, during the war, and he was requested to aid the various loans and drives, particularly in the United States. At one benefit performance, for the Red Cross $125,000 was raised, largely through his efforts.

At the present time Mr. O'Brien is signed to meet Joe Beckett, heavyweight champion of England, in London on July 4th, but anticipates that so far as England is concerned the fight will be stopped because of his announced intention of giving his share of the proceeds to the Irish organizations, to use in their fight for the freedom of Ireland. He says, however, that the fight will be held somewhere if called off in England.

Mr. O'Brien, who is appearing in a remarkably interesting monologue at the Palace Theatre, has appeared before President Wilson, William Jennings Bryan, Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, Sir Henry Irving, the late Theodore Roosevelt, former president, William Taft, in this country, as well as the King and Queen of England, Madame Barnhardt, Queen Alexandria and other titled personages, in the old world, from all of whom he holds personal letters of appreciation.

In every sense of the word Mr. O'Brien satisfactorily fills his title of "Gentleman" and in his conversation, stage work and writings easily demonstrates that he is as much at home in a drawing room as in the ring, and a person not only of rare attainments but of wonderful personality.

--Olean Evening Herald, Olean, New York, December 13, 1920, page 11.