Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
John Hitchcock, the wrestling historian with the most-storian, talks about the symmetry between the wrestlers, the announcers, and the audiences back in the day. Recalling the first ‘Clash of Champions’ after Crockett sold out to TBS to start WCW. "Cornett Rules!"
See John Hitchcock in the new PBS documentary exploring 1980’s wrestling & Jim Crockett Promotions - ‘When Giants Walked Here.’
Read ‘Front Row Section D,’ Hitchcock’s memoir of the glory days of Professional Wrestling:
amazon.com/Front-Row-Section-John-Hitchcock/dp/1500956198
John Hitchcock, the wrestling historian with the most-storian, talks about the symmetry between the wrestlers, the announcers, and the audiences back in the day. Recalling the first ‘Clash of Champions’ after Crockett sold out to TBS to start WCW. "Cornett Rules!"
See John Hitchcock in the new PBS documentary exploring 1980’s wrestling & Jim Crockett Promotions - ‘When Giants Walked Here.’
Read ‘Front Row Section D,’ Hitchcock’s memoir of the glory days of Professional Wrestling:
amazon.com/Front-Row-Section-John-Hitchcock/dp/1500956198






![Shocking Interview: Demond Wilson of Sanford & Son!
#sanfordandson #demondwilson #reddfoxx
Like Share & Subscribe! No Dressing Room for Redd Foxx! Being Discovered on All in the Family! The Exile of Slappy White! NBC Refuses to Please Redd Foxx! Harsh Words for Co-stars like Jayne Kennedy! Those Dean Martin Roast and Hollywood Squares Appearances! Quitting Sanford & Son For More Money! No comment on The Cotton Club Murder victim Roy Radin he was connected to!
I conducted this summer of 2009 interview in conjunction with Demond Wilsons book Second Banana. He, along with Redd Foxx, were the stars of of the number one rated sitcom on NBC in the 1970s, I asked about the early days of the sitcom when the network didnt even provide the stars with a dressing room!
I published parts of that interview here:
http://www.tvparty.com/vegas-wilson.html
The Roy Radin Revue - Death of Crazy Guggenheim!
https://youtu.be/9IhwfjXPkWI
We also talked about being a popular guest star on shows like Hollywood Squares and the Dean Martin Roasts. Filmed in both Burbank and the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Demond Wilson characterized those primetime roasts hosted by Dean Martin as, A bunch of old, drunk comedians walking through what was left of their careers. When they roasted you that meant you had reached a certain level of success and notoriety and that in a nutshell is all it meant to Redd [Foxx]. You didnt get roasted unless youd made it.
When the sitcom was riding high in the ratings, I walked out on Sanford and Son for more money, Wilson told me. And they said You cant do television, you cant do radio, you cant do movies. If your house in Truesdale Estates catches on fire and a camera crew shows up and we see you interviewed on television you are in contravention of your contract. So I said, Okay, Im going to Vegas. The money was grand, it was great, it was huge, but the lifestyle, my God. It was like sleep all day, up all night.
Vegas in those days was a crepuscular lifestyle, still is. I dont understand how they could do that night after night, Wilson said. Contractually unable to do a stand-up act, he performed an hour long set of dance routines instead. It was murder. I never worked so hard in my life. You cant do two shows a night for four weeks and have any weight on you, I was down to Skeletor frame and still it almost killed me. Its not a life, its like a vampire. I dont know how Sammy Davis Jr. did it - ”yes I do, he drank, smoked and used cocaine. Shocking Interview: Demond Wilson of Sanford & Son!](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/d-AJj8-RXPE/mqdefault.jpg)

![Tragic End to the Biff Burger Chain in 2021
Video created on April 3, 2023. TVparty! http://www.tvparty.com
LIKE & SUBSCRIBE!
Right after Beef Burger closed in 2021 this was posted online: [A long time employee] reports that Ralph signed everything over to his brother earlier this week and the brother closed Beef Burger. Evidently the two are not close as Ralph told the brother not to close Beef Burger until next week, after the 60th anniversary. Thats why it was supposed to close Monday, the brother was going to allow it to remain open longer but then changed his mind.
“Ralph is reportedly very upset. He is out of the hospital and is either in a nursing home facility or hospice... Ralphs brother wants nothing to do with the restaurant as he owns a large farm and doesnt have time for Beef Burger. So unless someone steps up and buys Beef Burger from the brother, its over.
This person doesnt believe the brother could be convinced to reopen the restaurant, He put Ralph into the hospital against his will and has put him in hospice when Ralph wanted to go home. Very sad ending to a Greensboro institution for over half a century!
For the story of how Biff Burger became Beef Burger in Greensboro, NC:
http://tvparty.com/70-biff-burger.html
For a more detailed telling of Beef Burger closing in Greensboro:
http://www.tvparty.com/1-beef-burger.html
TVparty! is Classic TV!
http://www.tvparty.com Tragic End to the Biff Burger Chain in 2021](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dI6bCpUGwW8/mqdefault.jpg)

