A 麻豆传媒映画time travelogue brought to you by聽.
What did the聽,听, and聽/聽share in common in 1930s Vancouver? They were all targets of Vancouver鈥檚 鈥淩ed Shadows,鈥� labour spies hired by police and employers to collect intelligence on the activities of local union organizers and communist agitators. Although we know almost nothing about the spies themselves, many of their secret reports have been preserved in the City of 麻豆传媒映画Archives and form the basis of a chapter I contributed to聽, a new anthology from Anvil Press and edited by John Belshaw. (Check out聽聽to order a copy and to get a taste of what鈥檚 in the other 13 chapters, including one by fellow VIA contributor, ).
You might be wondering what espionage in industrial relations has to do with wrestling. I can鈥檛 give it all away except to say that 鈥渞ed shadow鈥� was a popular cultural trope from the 1930s until the end of the Cold War, so it seemed an appropriate starting point for writing about a time when Vancouver鈥檚 labour relations make the recent teacher鈥檚 strike look like an episode of the聽. Here鈥檚 the intro and more about the wrestling 鈥淩ed Shadow鈥� to whet your appetite:
The Red Shadow was a professional wrestler on the Pacific Northwest circuit in the 1930s. He was known for his famous 鈥渂ackbreaker鈥� move and the signature red mask he wore to hide his identity and which his opponents unsuccessfully tried to remove. One theory was that the Red Shadow was actually Leo Nurma Anderson, a popular wrestler who many fans imagined occasionally donned the mask to become the theatrical wrestling-ring villain. But when the Red Shadow trounced Anderson in a 麻豆传媒映画bout in 1936, fans realized Anderson couldn鈥檛 have been fighting himself. The聽麻豆传媒映画News-Herald聽speculated it may have been Pat Fraley in the mask that night based on his wrestling style, which differed from other Red Shadow fights. 鈥淵ou pays your money and takes your choice,鈥� quipped the聽Herald, and the mystery remains unsolved to this day.
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