PART THREE



PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

PART FOUR

PART FIVE

PART SIX

PART SEVEN

PART EIGHT

PART NINE

PART TEN


 RETURN TO THE GATEWAY LOBBY

 

RETURN TO THE INTERVIEW INDEX

 


Chappell: Richmond must have presented some interesting issues with ‘In Your Area’ promos because of its Friday shows. On Wednesday in Raleigh, you’d be doing the promo for the NEXT week’s card…nine days off! In between, you had the scheduled Friday night card in two days, then that week’s TV show the next day on Saturday! A lot could happen in those nine days!

 

Landrum: Right, because of that you had some iffy things. You had to watch yourself! You had to be very careful with what you did, because if you said too much...you gave it up before it happened!

 

One or two times I’m reading it, and I’m going, ‘Oh crap!’

 

Chappell: (laughing)

 

Landrum: What I had to try and keep in mind in the situation we had in Richmond, was that we were always a week ahead of what was actually happening.

 

Chappell: It’s amazing that there weren’t some big-time slip ups, but there really weren’t. Or maybe I wasn’t smart enough to catch them!

 

Landrum: There were one or two times when I kinda questioned what I was reading on the cue cards, because I’d see the same card on the same day. But they’d be at different times, in two different cities.

 

It didn’t have to take more than twice, and I figured out what was going on. I finally said something the first time to Danny Miller, because he was running it then, then later to Gene Anderson. Gene said, ‘Well, you know how it goes, just do whatcha gotta do.’

 

Chappell: (laughs)

 

Landrum: So, I went, ‘Okay!’

 

Chappell: So many thought so much of Gene Anderson.

 

Landrum: You know, he was a guy that I miss a whole lot. Gene and I were very close friends, and we traveled a LOT together.

 

Chappell: Tell us a little about Gene if you would, Rich. Apparently, he was nothing like we perceived him as fans…on TV he looked like about as mean and as ornery a guy as you’d ever see!

 

Landrum: Ah…yeah, he could be. But, no, he was a nice guy. Gene was just genuinely an open person with people he knew. Not with the fans, though…somebody came up to him for an autograph, he wouldn’t sign it. We’d tell him, ‘Gene, sign the damn autograph.’ He said, ‘Nah, not doin’ it.’

 

I said, ‘Look, they’re paying us, REMEMBER?’

 

Chappell: (laughs)

 

Landrum: I got off on him one night. Ricky Steamboat reminded him, ‘Hey, they’re paying…you’ve got to sign the autograph.’

 

Chappell: That’s something that I always remember about Rip Hawk. Even though he was always the bad guy, he was always pleasant to the fans and signed autographs.

 

I don’t think that made him any less of a heel when he went into the ring…and wrestled someone like a Johnny Weaver!

 

I’m sure Gene acted like that to fans because he felt like he had to…to protect the business. Not because he was a bad guy.

 

Landrum: That was it exactly. Gene was just a real good guy. He’s the one I would want backing me up in a fight somewhere…that’s for sure.

 

Chappell: Gene was a legitimate tough guy?

 

Landrum: Generally a tough guy, but only when he had to be…

 

Chappell: Were you the subject of any of Gene’s infamous pranks?

 

Landrum: Oh God…yeah!

 

Chappell: (laughing)

 

Landrum: But we’d get back at him!

 

Chappell: How so?

 

Landrum: After he started managing, and went with the cane and the sunglasses when he was doing (Jimmy) Snuka and the Iron Sheik…you know he carried that cane everywhere with him?

 

Chappell: Yep, absolutely.

 

Landrum: (laughs) Well, George Scott was a practical joker, too. Every Wednesday at TV, Gene would leave the cane back in the client’s room…the client’s office if you will. Back there where they were monitoring everything we’d do…sofas and all.

 

We’d take the cane, and give it to one of the crew, and they’d go over to the carpentry shop and saw off a quarter of an inch…and put the cap back on! (laughing)

 

Chappell: (laughing)

 

Landrum: (laughing) Well, after about four or five weeks this cane is gettin’ on down there! Gene’s saying, ‘I don’t know what, but something’s goin’ on.’

 

Chappell: (laughing hard)

 

Landrum: (laughing) You know, it got to a point where…if he leaned on it, he would have been almost horizontal!

 

Chappell: (laughing) That’s a classic story, Rich!

 

Landrum: We did a lot of things like that. Gene and George Scott had a bet on quitting smoking---it was a hundred dollar bet.

 

I don’t know if George was cheating or not…but I know Gene was!

 

Chappell: (laughs)

 

Landrum: We’d be doing the commercial interviews, and Gene would go over behind the curtain and motion me over there where he was and say, ‘Hey, get over here and give me a cigarette!’ And he’d stand over behind the curtain and smoke it!

 

But, yeah, Gene was fun…he really was. He’d love to just grab your arm, or grab you in the elbow, and just crush you! And if he liked you, he called you ‘kid.’

 

Chappell: ‘Kid’ was the tip-off that you were okay in Gene’s eyes?

 

Landrum: That was the tip-off, yeah. ‘Come on kid, let’s go.’ You knew you were okay with Gene when you heard that.

 

Chappell: You were accepted then!

 

Well, Rich, let me get you to comment on your getting into actually announcing for the Crockett television shows. I first remember seeing you doing the ‘In Your Area’ commercial promos for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling in early 1978. I remember thinking, ‘There’s our ring announcer!!’

 

Then, of course, you started being the announcer on the World Wide Wrestling TV show…but we didn’t start getting that show in Richmond until March of 1979.

 

Landrum: Hey, that’s right David, I’d forgotten all about that! Yeah, I asked (Jimmy) Crockett, ‘Why aren’t you running my show in Richmond?’

 

Chappell: I always wondered if you had something to do with getting World Wide Wrestling to Richmond!

 

Landrum: Crockett said, ‘Ah well, they won’t run two shows.’ I asked him who told him that…I said, ‘I’ll get it on.’

 

I knew the station manager, John Shand, from WTVR (Channel 6). I had worked for Channel 6, the radio part of it for a while. So I went to John and I said, ‘How about a second show?’ He said, ‘When would we run it?’ I said, ‘I don’t care when you run it…just run it!’

 

Chappell: (laughs)

 

Landrum: (laughs) It’s my show…just run it!

 

I told him I’d like to have it in prime time, but I didn’t see that happening. And they ran it like at 11:30 at night, or 1:00 am, or whatever.

 

Chappell: Yep, I remember it starting at 11:30 right after the Channel 6 late news. As time went on, it did come on a little later.

 

Landrum: So, I came back and told them, ‘I need a show to start next week.’ They said, ‘How?’ I said, ‘Trust me…I need the show to go---I just went to them and they told me they could do the B show.’

 

It was either that, or I was going to go to another station. In deference to Channel 6, since they had always aired wrestling, I went to them first. But I told them, ‘If you don’t take it, I’ll take it to Channel 8.’

 

Chappell: You remember when Channel 8 ran the IWA in 1975? It was weird seeing wrestling on a station other than Channel 6!

 

Landrum: That’s right…they did. They did their shows at the Fairgrounds, if you remember.

 

Chappell: They sure did…that was weird, too! Crockett wouldn’t let them in the Arena or the Coliseum.

 

Landrum: I’m sure he wouldn’t. On an off night, I went over there…just to see what they were doing. And it was okay.

 

Chappell: The IWA had a load of talent…

 

Landrum: They did, and they had a TV truck…at that point in time Crockett didn’t even have a TV truck.

 

Chappell: How was the IWA perceived by Crockett?

 

Landrum: At first, they came out as being a threat, and then it kinda went, ‘Nah, they ain’t a threat!’ You know…just leave it alone.

 

Chappell: I guess the IWA was the first significant attempt at national expansion.

 

Landrum: I think so, and of course Vince McMahon later did do it…pulled it off. But Crockett had nobody to blame other than himself and Dusty, for getting into what they got into.

 

Chappell: A sad tale to be sure!

 

How did you make the jump from the ring announcer at the Richmond Coliseum to a TV announcer in the hottest promotion in the land?

 

Landrum: (laughing)

 

Chappell: Of course, you had an extensive broadcasting background that we’ve been talking about!

 

Landrum: Well, either George Scott or Crockett was up here one week and said, ‘Look, we’d like you to audition to do the commercial interviews on Wednesdays.’ So, I ended up going down to Raleigh to the TV studio the next Wednesday.

 

Danny Miller was kind of doing that part of it then in studio, as far as getting everybody in the right place, having the right cue cards up, and so forth.

 

Chappell: Gene Anderson wasn’t doing that?

 

Landrum: Gene wasn’t doing it then, at that time.

 

So, I did the audition…God it seemed like it took forever!

 

Chappell: (laughs)

 

Landrum: I finally thought, ‘When am I gonna get to take a break, and eat some lunch?’ And they eventually told me, ‘You don’t.’

 

Chappell: Doing those commercial interviews, that was pretty much an all day deal, wasn’t it?

 

Landrum: It started like at 11:00 in the morning, and went ‘til we finished! Which was hopefully 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon. Keeping in mind we were doing them almost constantly, one right after the other. It might be a minute or two break while we were loading a tape, but we were just bang, bang, bang turning them out.

 

You know, you try to make each one of them sound exciting, but after a while…

 

Chappell: That had to be tough, Rich. For the fans that were watching, they were in tune to how you and the wrestlers came off on THEIR interview. They didn’t know these things were mass produced, so to speak!

 

Bottom line, you had to make EACH commercial interview seem unique and special.

 

Landrum: You did. And towards the end, you’re running out of steam after a while and you haven’t eaten! One of the guys would usually say, ‘I’ll get you something to eat.’ Usually fried chicken or hamburgers. But, you get run down, and you begin to wonder in your own mind, ‘Am I really making it sound as exciting as it should be.’

 

Chappell: You didn’t want the fans thinking, ‘Gee, Rich doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about this card.’

 

Landrum: That’s right! It amazed me that they could keep track of all of them, where we were going to be and what we were going to be doing.

 

Chappell: Now, you continued to do the commercial interviews even after you became the announcer on World Wide Wrestling.

 

Landrum: Yeah, [the commercial interviews] were only supposed to air on the Mid-Atlantic show…but once in awhile they would sneak in and get on my show.

 

I think David (Crockett) was doing the ones that would show up on my show…

 

Chappell: That’s true, but that was still some serious double duty for you!

 

Landrum: It was. You know, you’d finish up the interviews at 4:00, and then two hours later you’re back and do the show. And generally, 98 percent of the time, mine was done last. So, I wouldn’t leave the TV station until 10:00-11:00…and then hit the road back to Richmond or stay over.

 

Chappell: I was going to ask you if you ‘commuted’ to Raleigh, and if you ever moved from Richmond?

 

Landrum: Oh no, I never moved. Because it was close. It might take me two hours and twenty minutes to go down to Raleigh, but I could come back at 10:00-11:00 in an hour and a half!

 

Chappell: (laughs)

 

Landrum: At times, it got to be strenuous. But, I really enjoyed it.

 

Chappell: You just mentioned that the World Wide Wrestling show was taped last. Why was that?

 

Landrum: Well, that kind of came about with me doing it. The guy that was doing it before me, when they called it Wide World Wrestling…

 

Chappell: Before it slips my mind, why was the name changed from Wide World Wrestling to World Wide Wrestling?

 

Landrum: ABC told them they had to change the name. It’s too close to ‘Wide World of Sports.’

 

Chappell: Oh, that was the reason for the change! I always thought it was probably because of the McMahon’s and the Wide World Wrestling Federation.

 

Landrum: No. Well, the story I got was that ABC had told them it was too close to their show. And if it didn’t change, ABC was going to tell their affiliates that were carrying our show, to stop carrying our show…so they changed it to World Wide Wrestling.

 

Chappell: Was the name change before or after you arrived as an announcer?

 

Landrum: Ah…it was just before I started announcing. I was doing the commercial interviews then.

 

They told me about that time they kind of wanted to make a change…

 

Chappell: You mean making you the announcer on the TV show?

 

Landrum: Yeah, it wasn’t that the guy that was there before me wasn’t good, but he was physically so big, that he was making some of the wrestlers look small! Like Greg Valentine…Greg was husky but he wasn’t real tall. We used to kid him, and call him the Paul Williams of wrestling!

 

Chappell: (laughing) You MUST have had a good relationship with Greg to get away with that!

 

Landrum: (laughs) Anyway, that’s how the change was going to come about for me to start the announcing. I said, ‘Well, you’re going to tell him this, right…and give him some notice?’ They said, ‘Oh yeah, oh yeah.’ Well…that didn’t happen!

 

Chappell: Geez…

 

Landrum: And here the guy is, buddying up with me…and I’m getting ready to take over his show! I kept thinking, he’s gonna figure out that I’m not usually here, and all of a sudden I’m here now, you know?

 

It really bothered me, because I didn’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.

 

Chappell: (laughing) Pretty awkward for you, I’d imagine!

 

Landrum: I never said anything…I didn’t know what to do. I stayed over two Wednesday nights to watch them do the show…tape it. They wanted me to see how it was being done.

 

I think they wanted a younger look, too, you know? But anyway, the third Wednesday night, it was my show!

 

Chappell: I remember once in a while before we got the show in Richmond, I could pick up the Wide World show on Channel 29 in Charlottesville…

 

Landrum: WVIR.

 

Chappell: Yes! All I had was rabbit ears on my TV, so I’d grab the antenna with my hand, using my body as an antenna booster!

 

Landrum: (laughs) Or use aluminum foil…

 

Chappell: I never used that! A lot of times I couldn’t get a watchable picture, so I would just listen to the sound. I remember Ed Capral was the announcer on those shows.

 

Landrum: When they made the change with me, they put out the money for the expensive set and the $700 tuxedo I wore…

 

Chappell: Yeah, we had talked about the tuxedo before…

 

Landrum: (laughs)

 

 

Chappell: You had told me that the tux was part of the mindset of Crockett, to give the World Wide show a different look from the Mid-Atlantic show…

 

Landrum: That’s right. You know, David, I had that tuxedo until about two years ago…

 

Chappell: For real? Good thing George South didn’t know about that…he’d have been up here hounding you for it for his museum!

 

Landrum: (laughs) I wish I hadn’t gotten rid of it! At the time, we were cleaning closets and my wife said, ‘You’re never gonna wear this again.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know if I want to get rid of it.’

 

Those lapels were so wide, you could park your car on them!

Chappell: (laughing)

 

Landrum: That stuff in the 70s and 80s…good Lord! So, I think I gave it to Goodwill.

 

In retrospect, now, she says she wishes I hadn’t given it away. I said, ‘Me too!’

 

 


PART FOUR