You’d be forgiven for not knowing the name Jack Curley. Born Jacques Schuel, Curley was a prolific sports promoter who died in 1937 at the age of 61. But if you’ve enjoyed professional wrestling at any level, from the ring at the Chase to WrestleMania, you owe him a thank-you.
Curley’s story is at the heart of Ballyhoo!, out January 19 from the University of Missouri Press. In this new history, pop-culture writer Jon Langmead uses Curley’s Barnum-like journey as a wrestling promoter as a lens through which to track the rise of the sport and some of its earliest stars, such as the “Masked Marvel” and “Gorgeous George” Wagner. This history is both cinematic and engaging while still providing an accurate historical account of a sport that has little use for facts and truth.
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Scott Beekman, the author of Ringside: A History of Professional Wrestling in America, lauds Langmead’s work as groundbreaking in its field, writing that, “What Langmead has done in Ballyhoo! is to expertly piece together a lively narrative of American wrestling’s early 20th-century history to a degree no one else has ever even legitimately attempted.”
Ballyhoo! is essential reading for history buffs, wrestling fans, and anyone who enjoys a little skullduggery and misbehavior. We’d be thrilled if Hollywood took note.
