Doug Wulf #2 Page 2
The
office was also Lia’s apartment. One
bedroom was used for the young workers coming to Honolulu that needed a place to
stay, while they trained. At the
time, Ritchie Magnett was staying there. Ritchie
had been a “ring boy” in Portland, Oregon, for Don Owens promotion.
He used to practice with Art and Jesse Barr, while being trained by Rocky
Johnson. Don didn’t want a former
“ring boy” working for him, so Rocky sent Ritchie to Lia, in Honolulu.
He was 19 years old, when I first met him.
The living room was also the office.
The master bedroom was Lia’s and pretty much a memorial to Peter.
Lia would show me the items they had collected, in their travels, when
things were slow.
I
remember, vividly, my first assignment. Lia
gave me a bunch of wrestling magazines, from the mainland, and told me to read
them at home, because I would be writing stories for them.
Then they started teaching me the ins and outs of a wrestling office,
explaining what they did, and why. I
was amazed at what really went on, behind the scenes.
I would be doing poster layout, helping out at trade shows, putting up
posters on the military bases, and a myriad of other things.
Before long, the day had ended, so I took the wrestling magazines and
went back to the YMCA.
In
my room, I read the stories, all of them. The
next day, I returned to the office, plopped the magazines down on the desk, and
replied, “I can’t write this trash!”
I was used to writing reviews of plays seen at Portland’s Little
Theater. Lia explained that I would
have no problem, as long as I followed the writing style in the magazines.
I caved in, and agreed to do it. She
especially wanted a story about her late husband, High Chief Peter Maivia.
The rest of the day, and the days that followed, I was shown around town by Lars Anderson. We visited KSHO 26, the television station that aired our shows, the place where Lars and Ritchie did the voice over for the tapes going to the Channel 26, and various other places. I got to know Ritchie, and watched what he was doing. Lars’ knowledge of the business was incredible, but at times he turned into a veritable con artist. He was able to have deals going upon deals, always looking for a way to make a buck and save the company, or him, some money. During this period Lars had gotten the posters ready for the next show at the Palama. More about that next time, and about how I ended up becoming a referee.