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*Emerson,the author of "Bruiser Brody:"As close as the truth as your going to get"*
*His website is at www.bruiserbrody.com <http://www.bruiserbrody.com> *
** *1.What made you write this book?*
Bruiser Brody was one of my heroes growing up. He was one of the only wrestlers that legitimately scared me and that I
believed.
I was working in the film industry and looking for my own project to do when I stumbled across a box of my old wrestling
magazines at my mother's.
I saw a photo of Brody and it just hit me; I would produce a documentary on Bruiser Brody. I started pre-production and
tried establishing contact with as many folks as I could. Well, to cut a long story short, after a year or so I had several
hours of footage but I was in debt almost $10,000. I didn't want the project to die and had some pretty good momentum so I
continued conducting interviews on the phone. Around 2001 it just hit me that I should make the project a book. One of my
favorite biographies is Rudolph Grey's book on the filmmaker Ed Wood. The entire book is made up of quotes from Wood's contemporaries.
It is a great example of oral history. I'm trying to do the same.
** *2.What are your memories of Bruiser himself?*
I was a fan. I knew Bruiser Brody through magazines and seeing WCCW on television. I was in awe of him. He was this big,
lumbering, psycho. He wasn't fat like a lot of the other big men of the time, he was pretty ripped. It was also funny to me
that while Brody was this big crazy man he always had these athletic socks pulled up past his boots; he was still just a man.
** *3.During your research did you find out anything that shocked you?*
One thing that was pretty funny was the way Brody's old football teammates thought he wasn't that tough. One said, "Yeah
Frank looked like Tarzan, but he hit like Jane."
** *4.Did people seem cautious of talking about Brody's death for fear of there life?*
A couple. I've been told that I'm going to be murdered by several different people. One person said to my film crew and
me, "You all sure seem like nice boys but I don't know how long you're going to be around." It was a little scary
and a little funny at the same time. Some folks just don't want to talk about it. I have a copy of a tape of Dutch Mantell
telling a very different story of the night of Brody's murder than the one he published on the internet. My book is really
not focusing on his death. It will be one chapter with another chapter on the aftermath.
** *5.Have you tried to contact his wife or son about this project?*
I have tried. They have not answered my queries.
** *6.Do you have plans for a documentry?*
I would love to continue down that road if I had the finances. The most expensive part is the travel.
** *7.Do you think this book will do Brody justice and finally tell people what lead to his murder?*
I don't know about that, it's not my point. My book is about his life. His death, while fascinating, is just one piece
of the Bruiser Brody puzzle. The events leading up to his death are also complicated and the story is so full of hearsay and
conjecture that wading through it to find a truth that, while dramatic, pales in comparison to some of the insane stories,
is really tough.
** *8.In closing,what would you like to tell the fans about your upcoming projects?*
My book will stand as an oral history of Bruiser Brody using primary evidence. It is told by the people that were there
and by those that have studied his life. In order to successfully identify Bruiser Brody's significance in a modern sense
we have to look at his life in the perspective of his time and his contemporaries. Brody was the ultimate outlaw in professional
wrestling and for a modern audience used to one or two major wrestling companies that may be hard to understand. The history
of professional wrestling is also a history of great storytelling and my book will explore the truth as well as the legend
of Bruiser Brody.
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