I watched him, and he was very, very talented with his feet and so forth. Then I’ve got to say Argentina Rocca was one of the greats of all-time. And to look at Kowalski, who at the time-weighted 290- that was a legend. I’d never wrestled before in front of 17-18,000. When he walked into the ring against Édouard Carpentier, I’ll be honest with you I was in awe. Years ago, in one of my earlier matches, I was up in the Forum in 1953 with Killer Kowalski. I got to work with and enjoyed watching some of the all-time greats. I wrestled singly, and then I teamed up with Tony Altimore, and we wrestled for some 13 years together as a tag team. This is the first time this interview is available in digital form. These excerpts are his thoughts on his wild and wildly successful wrestling career and the acting fame that stemmed from it. In this stream of consciousness interview, originally published in my Wrestling- Then & Now sheet, I managed to squeeze in a few questions while "the guiding light," "the manager of champions," "the Captain" regaled me with his thoughts on everything from politics to religion, to his film and charity work, and of course, pro wrestling. The talent-laden but money-losing promotion ran from 1990 until Abrams’s death in 1996. On February 15, 1991, I was honored to interview one of my wrestling heroes in Captain Lou Albano backstage at Herb Abrams ill-fated Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) TV tapings at the Pental Hotel in New York City. When a Bruno Sammartino or Chief Jay Strongbow clocked him, and he floundered like a fish out of water on the canvas, the 22,000-strong roared, the building shook, and for that moment, good had triumphed over evil, and all was good in the world. The mega-heat Lou generated at Madison Square Garden was almost beyond description. Super Show! (1989) Directed By:īob Forward, Phil Harnage, Andy Heyward, Shigeru Miyamoto, Bruce Shelly, Reed Shelly, et al.If you grew up in the old WWWF territory, the late-great Captain Lou Albano was one of the Three Wise Men of the East, along with Fred Blassie and The Grand Wizard of Wrestling, immortal heel managers who are forever etched in our childhood memories. Have you ever seen Albano dance? Now you’ll understand why.Īctor Danny Wells looks back on playing Luigi in the ‘Super Mario Bros. Plus, as a reward for watching, you’ll be treated every time to an end-credit dance by Albano as he “does the Mario”. It serves a time capsule of the very late 1980s, and it absolutely embodies the trademark Mario and Nintendo sensibilities of goofy, inoffensive fun. You don’t necessarily have to be a die-hard fan of either the video game or the Captain to enjoy the show. That’s about all the plot development you get out of the live action sequence, since the show is built primarily around the animated adventures of Mario and Luigi, still voiced by Albano and Wells. Neither of the wrestlers are asked to stretch their acting abilities too much: the Sarge arrives barking orders and calling the plumbers “pukes”, while Piper shows up only to find that Mario has turned his prized bagpipe into a vacuum cleaner. The Mario Brothers’ plumbing service is a popular one with an eclectic clientele – from Magic Johnson, to Frankenstein’s Monster to, not surprisingly, some guests from the wrestling world: Sgt. Their lives as plumbers, as you can imagine, are far from boring, even when only given about five minutes total to showcase the live-action sequences.Īlbano spends most of his time pining over food while Wells tries to keep things in order – especially as guests start arriving. The role in the TV show calls for Albano and Danny Wells to give viewers a look at the Mario Brothers’ life before they started their adventures in the Mushroom Kingdom, the setting for the video games. It isn’t that Albano is ill-equipped to portray Mario Mario (research has uncovered that Mario is indeed his first and last name, thus explaining how Luigi is, in fact, a Mario brother) – the Captain looks great in the role underneath the suspenders, authentic Brooklyn accent and great, big moustache.Īh, it’s the moustache! Gone are the rubber bands and shaggy beard, and without them, Albano looks much friendlier and it makes one wonder if he wasn’t born for this role. Super Show!, starring Captain Lou Albano as the iconic video game hero, it might take you a while to figure out just what looks so odd about the Captain.
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