Strong Sister

In smoky Turner's Arena in Washington one night last week applause greeted Wrestler Leo Mortensen of Glendale, Calif. -- also known as "Milo the Strong Man" -- as he skillfully pinned the shoul ders of one Gene Bowman to the mat. A few minutes later a much stronger burst of applause greeted Wrestler Mortensen's sturdy sister Clara as, clad in a uniform which resembled a two-piece bathing suit, she climbed into the ring for a feature match with chunky Maria Gardini. After one fall apiece, Wrestler Mortensen, only moderately flushed by her exertions, suddenly lifted Wrestler Gardini over her head, spun her around a few times, slammed her dizzy to the mat, pounced on her so that only her vainly wriggling legs were visible.

Clara Mortensen was defending the "championship" which she claims to hold among the 60 women professionals now adays engaged in trying to revive what was once a standard U. S. sport. In the days of the great Cora Livingstone (now the wife of Boston's Promoter Paul Bowser), "lady wrestlers" wore black tights and spangled leotards, appeared regularly in urban variety houses and the Police Gazette. Squarejawed, blonde Wrestler Mortensen does neither. Now 21, she has been a professional wrestler off & on since she was seven, when her father, who used to wrestle in his native Denmark, matched her with her brother at an Elks picnic in Portland, Ore. for a purse of $81.

Billed as "champion" since she threw Topeka's Barbara Ware in 1932, Sister Mortensen wrestles three or four times a week, has netted $37,000 since her present tour began four months ago. Showmanship of her manager, Bill Lewis, is such that he grew a set of silky black whiskers in order to name himself "Bluebeard."

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