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Wrestling Rings, Blackboards, and Movie Sets
Muhammad Ali, Nicolas Cage, Bruno Sammartino, SuperStar Billy Graham, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, Bruce Willis, Jimmy and Johnny Valiant, The Iron Sheik, Al Green, Adult film legends Seka and Desiree Cousteau, Killer Kowalski, and George “The Animal” Steele all appear in Evan Ginzburg’s Wrestling Rings, Blackboards, and Movie Sets. Ginzburg has worn many hats- Film Producer, educator, radio and TV host, author, and professional wrestling agent are among them. Best known for his work as an Associate Producer on The Academy Award-nominated The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke, he acted with Rourke in his Golden Globe-winning role and here pens never-before tales of the making of The Wrestler. He also colorfully and poignantly chronicles encounters, projects, and even friendships with these legends. Wrestling Rings, Blackboards, and Movie Sets’ one hundred tales will make you laugh and cry and bring back countless memories.
349 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 5, 2025
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 13, 2025
As a native New Yorker, although I have lived out-of-state for years, I have known Evan since we were in our late teens. Since we are both in our mid-60s now, this was quite a while ago! We had some mutual friends so some of us would hang out when we were young.
I met his mom, but only one time, when Evan lived with her in an apartment in Queens, New York.
Evan’s dad, who supported his family as a cab driver, passed away from cancer. I never met him. Being the only child, Evan had been close to his dad and was devastated by his loss. In this book, Evan wrote about his relationship with his dad and mom, until her passing decades later.
Evan worked as an ESL teacher, which he seemed to enjoy. It was the work politics that finally inspired him to retire after 26 years of service. It was his main source of income, although he got involved in other things, mostly wrestling related. I once sat in as a guest in one of his classes and watched how the students were enthralled listening to him, aiming to learn English.
He wrote and published a zine called "Wrestling Now and Then." I read a few copies. He even helped with the making of a documentary of the same title. The zines gave a nice history of the sport of wrestling today and wrestling the way it was.
In this book, Evan writes a great deal about wrestlers that have passed and how much he missed their friendship. He also writes about friends and relatives who died. Evan does seem to have experienced a lot of death in his life. But haven't we all? My father who lived until 96 years old, used to say, "You know you are getting older when your friends start dying," and he was younger than Evan and I are now, when he first said this to me. Evan writes about one mutual friend we had that committed suicide at the age of 19. He said her parents seemed to dismiss her immediately after her death, taking down photos of her in their home. I remember that; I think they were embarrassed that their child was unhappy, and she was unhappy with them. Her mother was always very kind to me, but my mother was always nicer to my friends than me, so I figured this was the way some parents were.
But although Evan reminisces about friendships (with many wrestlers too) and lives lost, I didn't find his memoir sad. It is just life. Since I as the reader do not know any of these people, I found it hard to feel the empathy as much as it deserves. But I appreciate the compassion Evan feels for his losses, particularly of those people he got to know with his involvement in the wrestling world.
I enjoyed reading about Evan's role as an associate producer with the 2008 movie, "The Wrestler." Evan mentions how surreal it was when he was asked by director Darren Aronofsky to do a part in movie playing himself, as a fan at a small wrestler's convention. Always shy and never boastful, he hadn't told me he was going to be in the movie so I remember when I saw it in a San Francisco theater, how surprised I was. Evan was himself in the film, just being Evan.
Overall, the book was satisfactory in getting me up-to-date on Evan's life. He talked a little bit about helping out with other movies, even doing a little bit of acting himself. Evan also has a lot of followers on his Facebook page. He does some podcasts and other things so he has followers who are aware of him and he has a fan base. For those who don't know Evan, they might enjoy the book especially if they're wrestling fans.
There are lots of photos in the book too which are really cool.
Evan does live a very diversified life, keeping himself busy with the wrestling sport, in particular, as a historian, journalist, writer, and friend.
I met his mom, but only one time, when Evan lived with her in an apartment in Queens, New York.
Evan’s dad, who supported his family as a cab driver, passed away from cancer. I never met him. Being the only child, Evan had been close to his dad and was devastated by his loss. In this book, Evan wrote about his relationship with his dad and mom, until her passing decades later.
Evan worked as an ESL teacher, which he seemed to enjoy. It was the work politics that finally inspired him to retire after 26 years of service. It was his main source of income, although he got involved in other things, mostly wrestling related. I once sat in as a guest in one of his classes and watched how the students were enthralled listening to him, aiming to learn English.
He wrote and published a zine called "Wrestling Now and Then." I read a few copies. He even helped with the making of a documentary of the same title. The zines gave a nice history of the sport of wrestling today and wrestling the way it was.
In this book, Evan writes a great deal about wrestlers that have passed and how much he missed their friendship. He also writes about friends and relatives who died. Evan does seem to have experienced a lot of death in his life. But haven't we all? My father who lived until 96 years old, used to say, "You know you are getting older when your friends start dying," and he was younger than Evan and I are now, when he first said this to me. Evan writes about one mutual friend we had that committed suicide at the age of 19. He said her parents seemed to dismiss her immediately after her death, taking down photos of her in their home. I remember that; I think they were embarrassed that their child was unhappy, and she was unhappy with them. Her mother was always very kind to me, but my mother was always nicer to my friends than me, so I figured this was the way some parents were.
But although Evan reminisces about friendships (with many wrestlers too) and lives lost, I didn't find his memoir sad. It is just life. Since I as the reader do not know any of these people, I found it hard to feel the empathy as much as it deserves. But I appreciate the compassion Evan feels for his losses, particularly of those people he got to know with his involvement in the wrestling world.
I enjoyed reading about Evan's role as an associate producer with the 2008 movie, "The Wrestler." Evan mentions how surreal it was when he was asked by director Darren Aronofsky to do a part in movie playing himself, as a fan at a small wrestler's convention. Always shy and never boastful, he hadn't told me he was going to be in the movie so I remember when I saw it in a San Francisco theater, how surprised I was. Evan was himself in the film, just being Evan.
Overall, the book was satisfactory in getting me up-to-date on Evan's life. He talked a little bit about helping out with other movies, even doing a little bit of acting himself. Evan also has a lot of followers on his Facebook page. He does some podcasts and other things so he has followers who are aware of him and he has a fan base. For those who don't know Evan, they might enjoy the book especially if they're wrestling fans.
There are lots of photos in the book too which are really cool.
Evan does live a very diversified life, keeping himself busy with the wrestling sport, in particular, as a historian, journalist, writer, and friend.
Displaying 1 of 1 review