Oh, this is a very,
very sad day. Very sad.
Captain Lou Albano, the legendary pro wrestling manager who later found fame in Cyndi Lauper's music videos, and as "Mario" in
The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! has died at the age of 76.
Say what you will about pro. wrestling. I know a lot of people do a double take when they find out just how big a fan I used to be of it, and I'm in no way qualified to comment on or defend the product that's out there today because I haven't watched it in many years. Even so, Captain Lou was a true legend of his craft. He was amazing at what he did. If we want to define pro. wrestling as a sort of "Part Carnival, Part Soap Opera, Part Athletic Exhibition" it doesn't mean that wrestlers or other performers couldn't have been great at what they did. Whether the "sport" was fake or not. It was a show, and Lou Albano was an exemplary showman.
He began his career in the 1950's as a wrestler himself, but never amounted to too much in that role. It was only when he became a "manager" that his career skyrocketed into Legendary status. In terms of the "show" of wrestling, we were made to believe that a manager was much like a boxing manager, in that they supposedly trained their wrestlers, promoted them, etc. They were the men behind the men. In literal terms, a manager was somebody who was often paired with an athletic wrestler who didn't necessarily have great "talking" skills. Somebody who wasn't as skilled at making an interesting persona for the audience to react to. It was known as "Generating Heat" and managers were almost always "Heels" (villains/bad guys.)
Captain Lou was truly one of the all-time great managers. He had a motor mouth that once started would never stop. He generated heat like nobody's business. His career mostly occured during the "Kayfabe" era of wrestling, where the promoters fiercely protected the fact that wrestling was not real, and though it seems hard to believe now much of the audience fell for it. Captain Lou was a fantastic villain, and the people hated him, but they also loved to hate him. Physically, he was a sight to behold. Fat, with a long, scraggly beard. He often wore Hawaiian shirts, or shirts that bore his caricature, along with his trademark rubber bands. They would be found in his beard, in his hair, worn as earrings, and even pinned to his face.Together with "Classy" Freddie Blassie and The Grand Wizard of Wrestling, the Captain formed the "Evil (or Unholy) Trinity" of managers in the old WWF of the 1970's/early 80's. In the old days, the audience bought his act so much, that he was often in physical danger as angry crowds would try and do him in.
It should also be noted that Captain Lou played a huge role in the sudden boom in popularity that the WWF experienced in the 1980's. It all started when the Captain sat next to a strange looking young lady on a flight one day who told him she was a huge fan. She turned out to be an up-and-coming singer named Cyndi Lauper. She invited the Captain to appear in the video for her song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." He did, as her disapproving father. The friendship continued, and Lauper was soon a huge star. After her success, Albano suggested to Vince McMahon (owner of the WWF) that Lauper appear on their program. She eagerly agreed, and a storyline was concocted in which Captain Lou and Lauper had a falling out, with the former claiming responsibility for the latter's success. The argument grew so that their differences could only be settled in the ring...via the use of female wrestlers as proxies. The storyline was a huge success, and it grew and grew. Lauper's status as a pop star got MTV involved, and soon WWF programming (which had previously only been seen in the Northeast part of the country) was being seen on a national, and later international level. The "Rock N' Wrestling Connection" led to the huge expansion of the WWF, and eventually Vince McMahon's domination of the entire pro wrestling industry. It made huge worldwide stars out of wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. It also had an interesting affect on the career of Captain Lou Albano, in that for the first time in his career he found himself being cheered on by fans. His constant media appearances had turned him from from one of wrestling's most hated figures into its most beloved. After 30 some odd years of being a villainous heel, Captain Lou Albano became a "babyface" or "good guy" and began managing heroes like Hogan and Andre the Giant.
The experience immortalized Albano in the Pop Culture lexicon, and led to his retirement from wrestling to pursue other opportunities. The best known of these was his portrayal of Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, providing the voice for the animated character as well as appearing in the live action segments as the heroic plumber. He appeared in films and other TV shows, my favorite role of his occurs in the ridiculous movie Bodyslam! A highly fictionalized account of the "Rock N' Wrestling" phenomena, the Captain had his largest film role ever as "Captain Lou Murano," the most villainous manager in wrestling. =)
Aside from all of that, and largely outside the public eye, Lou Albano fought tirelessly for years on behalf of various Multiple Sclerosis organizations.
Captain Lou Albano was, quite simply put, a legend. Though I am sure many people would have a negative thing or two to say about pro wrestling, but without Captain Lou it is entirely possible to imagine that the industry would never have experienced the great boom of the 80's. I was a young kid for all of that, and I loved the Captain's zany persona. Over the years, he has been a great "character" in my various LiveJournals, often having epic battles with Heather that could only be settled in the (Ps2) ring. I got to meet the good Captain last year at Big Apple Con in New York. A bit nervous, I merely shook his hand and said "Captain Lou, I'm a big fan." He smiled and said "Good to meet you!" It was.
One of his best known catchphrases, in describing himself, was "Often imitated, never duplicated!" and it's true. He was one of a kind, and he will be missed.
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impressed
wtf?!!!
embarrassed
amused
sexay
head-slapped
