Lipstick and Dynamite is a documentary on the originals ladies of wrestling that was released by Ruthless Films in 2004. With the recent passing of Mae Young I felt it would be good to get acquainted with the ladies who started it all. The film features in depth interviews with The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young. We also get introduced to ladies like Penny Banner, Ida Mae Martinez and Gladys “Kill em” Gillem. In the 1940s during World War II the women we able to really make an impact in the sport while the men were at war.
The film follows how these women got into professional wrestling and their struggles in the business. The time period that is covered is most from the 1940s to the 1960s, which was considered one of the golden eras of wrestling. These women basically worked the old territory system and were seen as a side show in the beginning and began to steal the shows after a while. They all had their share of issues with shady promoters and some even suffered through physical abuse. There is a lot of archival footage of wrestling, clips from TV shows and a movie know as Racket Girls that was made in 1951.
The women give you some real insight into their rivalries. Some of them still seem to have heat with each other at the time of this film. Also one interesting aspect of the ladies is their post wrestling careers. They have an interesting mix of careers such as a nurse, detective and lion-tamer. This is definitely a good to see for fans of wrestling history.
Written By
Keith B. Holt>
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