A History of Women's Boxing
Page 13
As one newspaper headline put it:
WOMAN BOXES ONE ROUND AND THEN—
Naughty Police Order Helen Hildreth from Ring at Grupp’s A. C.[57]
Hildreth’s fight was claimed to be the “first time a woman . . . attempted to box in a licensed club since the Frawley law was enacted.” She was to box only one clean round against Atkinson before Police Inspector Ryan along with four members of his squad stopped the fight by approaching her in her corner at the end of the first round. Other newspaper accounts, however, claim the fight was stopped well into the second round. Either way, she was said to have given Atkinson a beating.
The Frawley Act, under which auspices the police chose to end the bout, was in effect from 1911 to 1917. It legalized boxing in New York State by, among other things, limiting sanctioned bouts to ten rounds. The most controversial aspect of the new law was it only allowed fight decisions based on one or another fighter being knocked out. The act also established an athletic commission and regulated boxing clubs. In the absence of official boxing results, the general practice was for a select group of boxing reporters to determine winners and losers by decision, although officially fights were noted as draws.[58]
According to reports by the International News Service and Billy Grupp, the owner of the gym (and also Hildreth’s trainer), the commission regulating boxing had previously sanctioned the bout. Regardless, Hildreth’s foray into the ring, while not strictly illegal per se, attracted enough attention to bring the police to the Grupp Athletic Club—whether as a test case or not remains unknown.
The fight had been well attended, and as one newspaper put it, “They sparred like veterans” after the first two preliminary bouts on the night’s fight card. Helen’s appearance in the ring was described as causing “a gasp of astonishment,” after she “threw off her bathrobe and disclosed a graceful figure in white tights and a close-fitting jersey.” Her fighting ability, however, won over everyone in the crowd and the consensus was that she won the round handily on points.
Other aspects of the fight that were of a controversial nature included the use of pneumatic or air-filled gloves, rather than standard boxing gloves, and Hildreth’s appearance in tights. The use of the pneumatic gloves was likely in place to forestall any possible interference by the authorities—and as for her boxing costume, it was fairly standard for the era. As a disappointed Hildreth put it:
I don’t see why they should stop me. Perhaps it was the tights. You see, Mr. Atkinson and I do boxing and dancing on the stage and as Mr. Grupp has given me lessons we thought we would return the compliment and box at his club. The Boxing Commission gave permission and we thought it would be all right.[59]
With the publicity from the fight Hildreth, billing herself as “The Boxing Girl,” went back onto the stage with Atkinson in a show entitled “Fighting It Out,” playing on the vaudeville circuit with an act that drew increasing notice. She also sought out well-known boxing champions to spar with her in an effort to increase her standing as a boxer in the public’s eye—as well as to garner frequent press coverage.
In 1917 at the beginning of America’s involvement in the Great War, Hilda Hildreth was asked about women in the boxing ring. Her response was in relation to America’s war efforts:
There is no reason why women as well as men shouldn’t interest themselves in physical culture. They owe it to themselves and now they owe it to their families. Now with the nation at war and with Uncle Sam mobilizing every resource, domestic as well as military, she owes it to her country.[60]
As with the British in 1915, Americans in 1917 were working through a thicket of questions around issues of nationalism, patriotism, and the place of normative gender roles in time of war. Hildreth’s call to physical culture as part of one’s patriotic duty was no less inspired by nationalist fervor than the Spartans’ belief that strong women made for strong warriors.
Even before the United States entered the war, an article published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle made mention of the changing world:
In these days when women of Russia are taking up arms and are fighting in the trenches, one has no right to laugh at the woman boxer. Certainly, it would not be well to laugh in the presence of Helen Hildreth . . . [who says] boxing is the one sport in the world that requires both courage and nerve.
Courage is the control of one’s mentality over the moral or physical system. A man or woman without courage has a yellow streak and is a coward.[61]
As with many other female boxers of her era, Hildreth continued to take her act to the stage. By 1918, however, she was also doing her “bit,” bringing her boxing show to soldiers and boxing in charity events, and in 1919 she appeared at the Chateau Theirry Club in Manhattan’s Beekman Hill to entertain “wounded heroes” with her boxing prowess.[62]
Not much is known about Hildreth after 1921 or so, although at the time of the census in 1920 she was living on Manhattan’s West Side with her widowed father, widowed sister, and Jack Atkinson. She had listed her occupation as “actress.”[63]
1. Seattle Star, July 21, 1914, p. 7. [Library of Congress]
2. “Brooklyn Correspondence.” Daily Argus News, June 11, 1895. [Fultonhistory.com]
3. “Fights to a Finish.” Daily Argus News, June 11, 1895, p. 6. [Google News]
4. “Laugh! I Thought I’d Die, the Night Hattie Boxed Gussie Freeman.” Brooklyn Eagle, p. 12E. [Fultonhistory.com]
5. “Female Fighters.” Sunday Herald, November 22, 1891, p. 1. [Library of Congress]
6. “Never Was Kissed.” St. Paul Daily Glove, June 4, 1895, p. 3. [Library of Congress]
7. “She Is a Longshoreman.” World, March 2, 1899, p. 14. [Fultonhistory.com]
8. “She’s the City’s Terror.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 22, 1891, p. 20. [Fultonhistory.com]
9. Donald K. Burleson. Polly Burns (Polly Fairclough)—World Champion Lady Boxer, 1900. [Travel-golf.org/genealogy/burns_Polly.htm]
10. William Fulton. “Boxing Queen, 77, Dies in Slum.” Chicago Daily Tribune, January 3, 1959. [Chicago Tribune]
11. 1901 England Census. London. Lancashire. Liverpool. Islington. 24. P. 28 of 47. [Ancestry.com]
12. “A Good Looking Colleen.” Milwaukee Sentinel, July 22, 1945, p. 23. [Google News]
13. Montana Butte Standard, February 16, 1935, p. 6. [Newspapers.com]
14. William Fulton. “Boxing Queen, 77, Dies in Slum.” Chicago Daily Tribune, January 3, 1959. [Chicago Tribune]
15. Times, September 9, 1900, p. 5. [Library of Congress]
16. “‘Shorty Kuhn’ Put to Sleep.” Omaha Daily Bee, April 24, 1909, p. 12. [Library of Congress]
17. Morning Telegraph, November 18, 1905, p. 4.
18. Some press accounts note her last name as Donavan, while others note her as Dunaman.
19. National Police Gazette, 1906, p. 11. [Fultonhistory.com]
20. “Women Pugilists Engage in a Fast Bout.” San Francisco Call, August 21, 1906, p. 7. [Library of Congress]
21. “Amazons Fight Six Hot Rounds.” Evening Star, August 20, 1906, p. 2. [Library of Congress]
22. “The Shame of ‘Texas Mamie’ and Another Female Pug.” Spokane Press, August 26, 1906, p. 10. [Library of Congress]
23. “Amazons Battle in Prize Ring.” Minneapolis Journal, August 21, 1906, p. 8. [Library of Congress]
24. The press account in the Brooklyn Standard Union notes that the fight occurred in Jersey City; however, the Corinthian Athletic Association was actually located in Staten Island, New York.
25. Dawson Daily News, October 6, 1906, p. 6. [Google]
26. “Women Battle in Ring; Texas Mamie a Wonder.” Brooklyn Standard Union, 1906. [Fultonhistory.com]
27. “Texas Mamie Arrives.” Utica Herald-Dispatch, October 24, 1906, p. 8. [Library of Congress]
28. “Texas Mamie to Open School.” Syracuse Daily Journal, November 11, 1906. [Library of Congress]
29. “Texas Mamie Knocks Out Goldie O’Rouke in 13.” Los Angeles Herald
, November 5, 1907, p. 8. [Library of Congress]
30. “Texas Mamie Wins.” Victoria Daily Colonist, November 1, 1917, p. 9. [Britishcolonist.ca]
31. “Texas Mamie Knocks Out Goldie O’Rouke in 13.” Los Angeles Herald, November 5, 1907, p. 8. [Library of Congress]
32. Tippy Fay. “Miss Kid Broad Defeated by Miss Flora Ryan in Ten Rounds, Writes Tippy Fay.” Albany Evening Journal, April 7, 1909, p. 3. [Fultonhistory.com]
33. T. S. Andrews. “Prize Fighting Becoming a Favorite Pastime for Women.” El Paso Herald, July 28, 1914, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
34. “This Woman Boxer Weighs 105 Pounds and She Has Met Two Champions.” Tacoma Times, November 27, 1917, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
35. Evening Telegraph and Post, June 29, 1914, p. 9. [British Newspaper Archive]
36. T. S. Andrews. “Prize Fighting Becoming a Favorite Pastime for Women.” El Paso Herald, July 28, 1914, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
37. Elizabeth Tucker. “Woman Manager Says Boxing Is Best Training.” Tacoma Times, October 16, 1917, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
38. “Trains Her Brother to Be a Fighter.” Binghamton Press, September 26, 1916. [Fultonhistory.com]
39. “Girl Fight Manager Is Success with Brothers.” Tacoma Times, December 11, 1916, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
40. Milwaukee Journal, July 22, 1921, p. 11. [Google News]
41. “France Has New Champion.” Washington Herald, March 6, 1914, p. 4. [Library of Congress]
42. “Women’s Boxing Championship.” Manchester Evening News, March 6, 1914, p. 6. [British Newspaper Archive]
43. University Missourian, March 11, 1914, p. 4. [Library of Congress]
44. “Mlle. Carpentier Is Female Champ.” Ogden Standard, April 18, 1914, p. 5. [Library of Congress]
45. Newcastle Daily Journal, July 4, 1914, p. 4. [British Newspaper Archive]
46. Manchester Courier, September 7, 1014, p. 2. [British Newspaper Archive]
47. “Nostalgia Letter: Tale of Lady Boxer.” This Is Strattfordshire, February 5, 2011. [Thisisstratffordshire.com]
48. Newcastle Daily Journal, June 11, 1915, p. 9. [British Newspaper Archive]
49. Hull Daily Mail, June 22, 1915, p. 3. [British Newspaper Archive]
50. Aberdeen Evening Express, June 2, 1915, p. 2. [British Newspaper Archive]
51. Aberdeen Evening Express, November 26, 1918, p. 1. [British Newspaper Archive]
52. “Uppercut from the Fair Righter’s Fist.” Hartford Herald, May 1, 1912, p. 8. [Library of Congress]
53. “Clean Knockout in Girls’ Bout.” Buffalo Courier, April 27, 1912. [Fultonhistory.com]
54. “Girls in a Prizefight.” Chronicle, July 6, 1912, p. 2. [National Library of Australia]
55. “This Woman Boxer Weighs 105 Pounds and She Has Met Two Champions.” Tacoma Times, November 27, 1917, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
56. Saratogian, January 5, 1918, p. 8. [Fultonhistory.com]
57. “Woman Boxes One Round and Then.” New York Press, March 1, 1916, p. 1. [Fultonhistory.com]
58. Robert George Rodriguez. The Regulation of Boxing.
59. “Woman Boxes One Round and Then.” New York Press, March 1, 1916, p. 1. [Fultonhistory.com]
60. “This Woman Boxer Weighs 105 Pounds and She Has Met Two Champions.” Tacoma Times, November 27, 1917, p. 6. [Library of Congress]
61. “Once Nerve Goes Fighter Is Gone, Says Woman Boxer.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, September 9, 1917, p. 3. [Fultonhistory.com]
62. Sun, May 24, 1919, p. 17. [Fultonhistory.com]
63. 1920 United States Census. New York, New York. Enumeration District. 834. Ward 11 AD. January 16, 1920. Line 86. [Ancestry.com]
Chapter 4
Encountering the Modern: Flappers, Mae West, and the War Years
The girls will be taking a whirl out of the mits soon—you watch. They are great at a fight; they fizz up so easy. All you have to do is land a punch, wink, look sassy, and you’ve got them in their hallelujah.
—Jess Willard, April 4, 1915[1]
In the post–World War I era of the late 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s women steadily became fixtures at ringside. Movie stars like Mae West, who was taught to fight as a young girl by her pugilist father, “Battling” Jack West, were closely associated with boxing, and West’s image was used in a 1936 Popeye cartoon entitled “Never Kick a Woman.” Hollywood films depicted women in boxing gloves, such as in the 1927 silent film Rough House Rosie starring the irrepressible Clara Bow. Coincidently, that same year the German film The Fighting Lady, about a woman who learns to become her own defender by taking up the gloves, was released.
The popularity of boxing extended even to charity events—many in support of veterans—that featured well-known doyens of society, such as judges, cozying up to such boxing giants as Jack Dempsey. Certain highly publicized fights were also social events for the well-heeled who came out in tails and evening gowns as if it were a night out at the opera. Images of women were also featured at ringside, sitting alongside their dates, in rapt attention.
The fitness crazes in Europe and America incorporated boxing techniques and images of athletic female boxers became normal in Weimer Germany. Female boxing also rose again in popularity at carnival sideshows in Great Britain as well as in vaudeville and burlesque acts across America. Popular images of fit women were a mainstay of American World War II propaganda, including the incorporation of boxing motifs on the covers of such popular comic books as Dixie Dugan and Wonder Woman. These images, however, continued to play on the Amazon theme, and, in the case of Wonder Woman, drew a direct parallel to the Roman goddess Diana and the Amazons.
Observing Women: Violence, Boxing, and the Body
The writer Djuna Barnes, who was to become part of the literary circle of the “lost generation” in 1920s Paris, got her start as reporter in the mold of Nellie Bly. Writing in the 1910s, she penned first-person articles and exposés on issues of the day for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World.
Her first boxing article was entitled “My Sisters and I at a New York Prizefight.” In writing about her “sisters,” she stated, “They do not appear self-conscious, nor is there anything in their behavior to indicate that anything is unusual.” To her mind:
They look indifferently upon the raised square with its shivering taut ropes, its limp towels and scarred brown pails, the stools in the corner, the sponge in its pool of water that widens ever and drips to the floor below. And they finger their chatelaines [belts] and speak of the boxers’ build.[2]
What is striking about Barnes’s writing is her elegant prose as she presses her viewpoint about the essential blasé nature of women bearing witness to the rituals of the ring: “Some lean forward with hands, palms outwards, thrust between their knees and . . . women who dared the ringside . . . balanced between wonder and apprehension.”[3]
Her lasting impression is of a woman “who had cried out just before the finish—‘Go to it, and show us that you’re men!’”[4]
The following year Barnes interviewed Jess Willard—who had famously defeated Jack Johnson for the heavyweight title in Cuba the previous April. Willard’s comment to Barnes that women “fizz up so easy” watching boxing was a clear indication of the prevalent idea that men in boxing rings were attractive to women. Barnes’s next boxing article, written in 1921, explored this issue further. She interviewed heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey ahead of his highly touted bout against the French fighter Georges Carpentier (no relation to Marthe Carpentier)—but it quickly came to the subject of women. Dempsey had been on record with his views that women were good for the sport of boxing.
Women are beginning—as they should—to take up boxing seriously as they take up swimming, riding and other athletics. It is all the working out of the theory that a sound body and a sound mind travel together.[5]