Monday, June 27, 2011

Brother Jonathan & Brother Frank

Brother Frank & Brother Jonathan were interesting individuals who toured the USA as a Mormon tag team. How the church felt about his would be anyone's guess I suppose, but "gentiles" hated them with a passion.

Both as a tag team and as singles, they made it to Arizona and as usual, provoked the crowd to a riot pitch. The Phoenix Madison Square Garden was one area where they chose to spread their particular brand of mayhem. Brother Frank, more than Brother Jonathan, took bookings at this stadium and helped pack it to its 2,000 plus capacity.

Both of these individuals have since passed away, quite a while ago.

Brother Jonathan was the father of wrestling's Mormon Giant, the legendary Don Leo Jonathan, who was a mian eventer around the world in the 1960s and 1970s, most memorably known perhaps for his bloody feud with then WWWF (later this promotion became WWF and of course WWE) World champion, Pedro Morales. Though Don Leo Jonathan failed to win the belt from the titleholder, the matches these two had were considered epic confrontations still remembered by those who saw them or read about them in the magazines.

Brother Frank also wrestled as Frank Jares and for a time under a mask as The Thing. His son would later write a controversial book on wrestling titled Whatever Happened To Gorgeous George.

Jares may also be seen in thsi one Dead End Kids movie dealing with wrestling, though for the life of me I cannot recall the title.

In any case, Brother Frank & Brother Jonathan left a mark on the world of wrestling in general and in Arizona as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment