Wrestling Heritage

By Graeme Cameron

A British History of Australian Wrestling
By Graeme Cameron

Part 17:
THE SIXTIES: THE AMERICAN INVASION

The Sixties can essentially be divided into two periods, 1960 to 1964 and 1964 to 1969. The 1960-64 period was a low period for pro wrestling in Australia. Stadiums Limited presented only two two-month seasons in 1959 and 1960 and no wrestling at all in 1961. After a full season of pro wrestling in 1962, Stadiums Limited ceased presenting any form of entertainment and essentially became a venue hire company. This was likely due to the advancing age of Dick Lean, who had acted as the company’s promoter of wrestling and boxing since the 1920s, and had reached retirement age. George Gardiner also promoted cards in this period, taking advantage of Stadiums Limited’s inactivity, but his offerings, while good, were spasmodic, mainly due to his inability to manage his finances (i.e. he kept running out of money).

In 1963, the “Club Wrestling’ promotion was bought and taken over by former wrestler Hal Morgan, who changed the name to “Top Pro Wrestling” and would expand it into a very successful promotion featuring mainly local wrestlers, some of whom would go on to international success. Late October 1964 saw the debut of American promoters Jim Barnett and Johnny Doyle’s new promotion called “World Championship Wrestling” (WCW) featuring top wrestlers who were either North American or worked in North America. With this, the Americanisation of Australian pro wrestling was complete. Americans had long been part of wrestling in Australia but had to work under something similar to Mountevans rules (rounds, 2 out 3 falls). The American style was adopted with no rounds, one fall to a finish and more emphasis on showmanship than skill, with the old system remaining only in “club wrestling”. While there was still a British presence, it was much diminished. 

The only wrestler to tour during the period 1960-64 who had held any version of a world heavyweight title was Gorgeous George, who worked for George Gardiner. Gardiner also brought out World Junior Heavyweight Champion Leo Garibaldi and ageing legend Antonino “Argentina” Rocca. During this period names familiar to Heritage readers who appeared in Australia were Con Papalazarou, Paul Vachon, Lucky Simunovich, Nicolai Zigulinoff,  Kangaroo Kennedy and Braka Cortez, who all worked for both Stadiums Limited and Gardiner at various times. Lord Jan Blears, The Zebra Kid (George Bollas) and Johnny Apollo, all worked for Stadiums Limited exclusively, while Keita Meritana, Emil Kororoshcenko, “Texas” Jack Bence, George Pencheff, Wadi Ayoub, Andreas Lambrakis and Baron Von Heczy, all worked for George Gardiner only. As well as those mentioned above, also holding the fort locally were Ron Fury and New Zealand’s Ricki Wallace. Making their debuts in this period were El Greco, Joe Abella, Arne Saari and Murphy the Surfie, known in the UK as Maurice LaRue and in North America as Sir Norman Frederic Charles III. For the first time, midget wrestlers toured in 1961, working for George Gardiner. One of them was London’s Lord Littlebrook and it’s with him that we begin this part’s profiles.

LORD LITTLEBROOK (1961,71,72,74)

Lord Littlebrook was born Eric Tovey in the East End of London in 1929. He was without doubt one of the all-time great midget wrestlers, ranking only behind Chief Little Beaver and Sky Low Low. A career in the circus as a clown acrobat took him to North America, where he left the circus and trained in Montreal with Jack Britton (not the Australian one) and Bert Ruby to become a pro wrestler. First working for the troupe of Fabulous Moolah (Lillian Ellison), he eventually became tired of the poor treatment and pay she was noted for and formed his own troupe. Some of those who worked for him claimed that he later became what he hated, treating and paying them poorly as Moolah had. 

He first toured Australia in 1961 for George Gardiner as a blue-eye, working with fellow midgets Bull Brummell, Cowboy Bradley and Tiny Roe. It was a decade before he returned, touring in 1971 with members of his own troupe, Wee Willie Wilson, Cowboy Gibson (A.K.A Cowboy Lang) and The Mighty Atom, now a villain and billing himself as the World Midget Champion. He returned with Wilson in 1972, briefly dropping the title to him, before regaining it. He was back again in 1974, with Gibson, Little Tokyo and African-American Bobo Johnson, against whom he defended the title (famously referring to Johnson as “that little chocolate drop”). Wrestlers from his troupe toured without him twice in 1970 (Wilson, Gibson, Atom and Little Bruiser, then later in the year, Johnson and Cowboy Billy Colt), once in 1971 (Johnson and Bruiser) and once in 1976 (Toyko and Gibson).

Lord Littlebrook had thousands of matches, wrestling virtually all the other midgets of the period. He settled in Edmonton, Canada where he opened a training school, also teaching normal size wrestlers. His most well-known graduates were Ed Wiskoski (who also toured Australia), African-American Butch Reed, who had some success in the 80s, and female wrestler Betty Niccoli.

Lord Littlebrook died in Edmonton in 2016, aged 87

“BIG JOHN” MARSHALL (1963-70)

Normally, I try to be impersonal in these profiles, but I have to hold my hand up for this one. I met John Marshall some years ago and we became close personal friends. With all the stories he told me of his life both inside and outside wrestling, I could write his biography. Though born in Australia, he makes this list because his father was adopted and raised in the East End of London, becoming a London Bobby before emigrating to Australia, albeit illegally (which is a whole story in itself). His real first name was Arthur, and he was born in Sydney in 1938, growing up in the inner Sydney suburb of Paddington and the country town of Cootamundra.

After a few years as a police officer in Sydney, John was working as a private detective when wrestler John Orlando spotted him and trained him to be a wrestler. He made his debut in 1963, defeating “Tosser” (Alan)Thurlow. At the start of his career, he worked for Hal Morgan’s “Top Pro Wrestling” promotion in the Sydney clubs, where he was quite successful, as well as making a handful of appearances for George Gardiner.  From late1964, he also worked for the “WCW promotion as a preliminary wrestler on stadium cards and doing his duty to big names on TV. He also opposed John DaSilva twice in main events in New Zealand.

Wrestlers he opposed known to Heritage readers were DaSilva, Curtis Iaukea, Roy Heffernan, Earl Black, Braka Cortez, Ron Fury, Arne Saari, Murphy the Surfie (Maurice LaRue) and Kurt Stein (as Karl Von Stroheim). He also opposed on TV North American legends such as Killer Kowalski, Ray Stevens, Gorilla Monsoon and Fred Blassie and top tag teams such as Skull Murphy & Brute Bernard, Kurt & Karl Von Stroheim and the original Assassins. In WCW, only 33 match records exist though the record is incomplete. He mentioned several more to me and there were many more unrecorded matches in “Club Wrestling”, probably numbering several hundred. His stadium and TV career came to an end in 1969 when he chose to remain with Hal Morgan after a rebel group of wrestlers broke away to form a new promotion and WCW promoter Barnett dropped anyone who remained loyal to Morgan, preferring to use the new group for less money. Morgan’s promotion only existed for one more year at which point John retired. 

In his post-ring career, John owned and ran two greengrocer shops, was the manager of an ice-skating rink and worked as investigator for the state government’s Attorney General’s Department as well as other jobs. He was half-Romany and wrote a book on Romani history and culture in Australia under the name “Romano Solo”. He was working on a second book when he passed away. John founded and for several years ran the “Romany Roundup” in the NSW former gold mining town of Sofala, an annual gathering of Romany Australians. He was musical and played the bagpipes and bass drum in pipe bands. He could also play the harmonica and occasionally performed in a duo with a musician friend.  He could speak Greek and Italian.

I think it’s fair to say that “Big John” Marshall had an interesting life 

John Marshall died in Sydney in 2022 from complications following COVID in 2022, aged 84

Opponents: ‘Tosser” Thurlow, Arne Saari, George Lackey, Larry O’Dea, Killer Kowalski, Dominic DeNucci, Pat O’Hara, Johnny Boyd, Braka Cortez, Ted Sinkowski, Murphie the Surfie, Ray Pennington (England), Ray Stevens, Ron Fury, Roy Heffernan, The Destroyer (Canada’s Guy Mitchell), John DaSilva, Ron Miller, Gorilla Monsoon, Killer Karl Kox, Rex Casey (England), Earl Black, Guy Mitchell (England), Pancho Omega, Curtis Iaukea

RAY PENNINGTON (1958-65)

Exactly where in the UK Ray Pennington comes from is unknown. There are only two references to him in print and the rest of this information comes from a conversation with John Marshall.

Ray Pennington was a strongman and sometime wrestler who claimed to have represented Great Britain in weightlifting at the Olympics. There is no evidence to support this. He appears to have settled in Sydney around 1957. 

As stated, there are only two print references for him. The first in 1958 is an article for a celebration for the reopening of the Rivoli Theatre in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. Pennington, Braka Cortez, Max Steyne and Ray Holden were part of the variety show, most likely in an exhibition tag team match. The only other reference is in Libnan Ayoub’s book “100 Years of Australian Professional Wrestling” where Pennington is listed as one of the wrestlers working for Hal Morgan’s Top Pro Wrestling in 1965. This was confirmed by John Marshall who remembered wrestling him and said that he was very strong and had an English accent.

Ray Pennington was by and large a strongman act who did some wrestling on the side. John Marshall recalled that one of his “feats of strength” was to tie a grand piano to his back and run up the very steep steps of Sydney Town Hall (a challenge even without a piano).

There is no further record of Ray Pennington. What became of him is unknown

MURPHY THE SURFIE/MAGNIFICENT (A.K.A. MAURICE LARUE) (1963-70)

The career of Norman Lowdnes, known as Murphy the Surfie in Australia, Maurice LaRue and Wild Red Berry in the UK and Sir Norman Frederic Charles III in North America and Japan is covered in some detail the “People” section of this web site by myself and others. He was usually billed as being Australian, but was born in Droylsden, 4 km east of Manchester. The Lowndes family emigrated to Australia when Norman was a boy.

You might be surprised to learn that Norman Lowndes almost never had career in wrestling. John Marshall recalled that while he was training with Hal Morgan, Norman (as he was known by everyone in the business) turned up to the training school several times begging to be trained to be a wrestler but was turned down each time by Morgan who was unimpressed by Norman. Eventually Morgan relented and it turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made. 

Norman took the name Murphy the Surfie from a pop song that peaked at 14 on the charts in October 1963, but his gimmick had nothing to do with surfing. He was one of the many Gorgeous George imitators, copying George’s mannerisms and character, right down to having a valet and spraying the ring with perfume. The exact date is unknown, but he made his debut sometime in 1964, becoming one of the star performers in Morgan’s promotion. John Marshall recalled numerous matches with Murphy the Surfie in the clubs, many of them main events. When the promotion got its own (short-lived) TV show, Murphy the Surfie was on the first card in October 1966, teaming with Keith Thompson against another frequent opponent, Steve Craig, and Noel “Grumpy” Davis. The next week, he unsuccessfully challenged Australian Junior Heavyweight champion Len Holt for his title in the main event. 

Murphy the Surfie made his stadium debut at Sydney Stadium in November 1968, defeating Steve Craig. He didn’t make his TV debut until April 1969, losing to Larry O’Dea on Sydney TV. 1969 was his breakout year, appearing in over 30 stadium and TV matches and being given a string of wins over local opponents before being moved up the card where he faced bigger name opponents. He also got a name change to Murphy the Magnificent. Opponents known to Heritage readers were Roy Heffernan, Earl Black, Braka Cortez, Spike Robson, Bill Rawlings (Bobby Burns), Dory Dixon, Spiros Arion, and Billy Robinson. His final appearance in Australia was in April 1970, losing to American Jerry Brisco on TV. Shortly after, he was appearing in the UK as Maurice LaRue, using the same gimmick minus the valet and perfume, then going on to great success in North America and Japan as Sir Norman Frederic Charles III, one half of The Royal Kangaroos with Lord Jonathon Boyd. He retired in 1983. For the rest of his story, go to the “People” section on this web site.

Norman Lowndes died in Florida in 2019, aged 78

Opponents: Steve Craig, Len Holt, Billy Dundee, Roy Heffernan, Braka Cortez, Larry O’Dea, Earl Black, Spike Robson, Spiros Arion, Guy Mitchell, Jan Jansen, Cowboy Frankie Laine, Klondike Bill, “Big John” Marshall, Dory Dixon, Billy Robinson, Jan Meske, Dominic DeNucci, Norm Ryan, Jerry Brisco

NEXT TIME: THE WORLD CHAMPONHIP WRESTLING ERA BEGINS

Page added 01/03/2026

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