Moolah

Mary Lillian Ellison has passed away. She was 84.

Some of you may not know who she was, but she comes from another interest of mine, professional wrestling. I know, I know, wrestling's not real. Neither is acting. Lillian wrestled as The Fabulous Moolah, and she was the world champion before I was born, and kept the belt except for one or two very short interludes [days, each].

Born in South Carolina, she was the epitome` of a sweet, Southern belle. In persona, however, she was as mean a gal as I have ever witnessed, easy to believe that she was the most vicious, violent femme ever.... In wrestling terminology, she had 'heat', the ability to rile up audiences who would pay good money to see her get whupped [and she never did]. Again, in persona, she was a classic 'heel', an evil wrestler who made the fans want to come on down to the arena and see their favorite give her a sound beating, and she was very good at it.

I never knew of her sustaining a major injury, and wrestling is physical, even if the outcome is generally pre-determined. Think of it as performance art, with the emphasis on performance. Miss Ellison ran a school for aspiring young lady wrestlers, and they all vouched for the fact that it was pretty much boot camp. Small, attractive, double-tough. Modern-era female wrestlers would do well to emulate this gal. Happily, a few seem to have done so.

Lil', darlin', we'll miss ya.
Say hello to Sherri and Woman for us.
Lillian passed away on my birthday, November 2nd.