International Tennis Stars - Hollywood Stars

Pro Football Players - Newspaper Journalist

FACE OFF TO BENEFIT

Youth Tennis Foundation of Northern California

he idea of a “tennis club” doesn’t exactly fit the inner city image some have of Berkeley. But after you get past University Avenue…and Telegraph Avenue’s grit strip between about Blondie’s Pizza and Rasputin Records…you will find a lot of charming, shady, and not to mention, expensive neighborhoods…East and west of College Avenue between about Dwight Way and Ashby would typify…And speaking of Ashby Avenue…Don’t be fooled getting off Highway 80 at Ashby heading east away from the bay…into thinking Berkeley is all light industry…Keep driving across town until Ashby turns into Tunnel Road…You start getting the picture about Alta Bates Medical ER….And by the time you get to the Claremont Hotel you’ll see a whole different world than the Sather Gate/Rasputin Records district…And in front of the Claremont you will see a small gray building….That’s the Berkeley Tennis club at 1 Tunnel Road …The courts were once part of the Claremont…The Claremont could be called the Claremint…as it’s one of the crown jewels of the Bay Area…and one of the most picturesque hotel in all of California…like something out of Austria or Switzerland…It’s famous and expansive silhouette is perched high on a hill overlooking Berkeley…with a sweeping view of San Francisco and the bay…And so that...is the neighborhood where the event advertised on this poster took place…Now let’s take a look at this interesting poster.

THE CELEBRITIES

Now let's review the celebrity line up of players...Don Budge of course the headliner...Then in order of placement on the poster...tennis greats Alice Marbles, and Ted Schroeder. Football greats Y.A. Tittle, Frankie Albert, Matt Hazeltine, and Harvie Ward. More tennis greats Anna Harper, Howard Kinsey, Clarisa Mitchell. Business leader B.T. Rocca. Then competing newspaper columnist Bill Hall of the San Francisco Examiner, playing Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle. Hollywood actor Robert Stack, may have been the most recognizable because of his weekly television crime drama then. 

Though not listed on the poster, I came across a newspaper clipping which indicates seven more celebrity participants who were there. Hollywood actors Rosemarie Stack (wife of actor Robert Stack) Joan Caufield, and Jose Ferrer. Tennis star Frank Kovacs. Football stars Clyde Conner, Bruce Bosely, and Ted Connelly.

ALICE MARBLE A REMARKABLE LIFE

Each of these celebrities were profound in their fields. However I found Alice Marbles, who I had not heard of until this poster, to be the most fascinating. Along with her accomplishments on the tennis court she led as glamorous a life as anyone ever has...That photo of her with Carol Lombard and Clark Gable at the bottom of the page...That wasn't a happen chance photo...she was intimate friends with them!...Moreover...after retiring from tennis she was recruited by the government to be a spy during WWII...Was shot in the back and survived...Obviously well enough to play in this celebrity tournament.

WIN-WIN FOR EVERYONE

These kinds of "benefit" for charity celebrity tournaments are fun fests; everyone has a good time...The public get the thrill of seeing celebrities...and the  celebrities play for fun without the title and monetary demands...They see old friends and mingle with adoring fans with the satisfaction of knowing they are helping others...A win-win for everyone! In the case of this event the money raised went to the Youth Tennis Foundation of Northern California to promote tennis and good sportsmanship to disadvantaged youth.

THE CELEBRITY TENNIS TOURNAMENT - A FIRST?

The subject of the celebrity tennis tournament is interesting. Where and when was the first celebrity tennis tournament in the United States?...Did it originate in Southern California... on the eastern seaboard? Westchester NY?...Newport R.I.? Considering the year ours took place 1963, it wouldn't surprise me if this were the first celebrity tennis tournament, and a pioneering model of it's kind. In thirty years collecting I don't recall ever seeing reference to another. The closest would be a golf one I have...a 1932 broadside poster I have for a Bobby Jones Champion's Day golf benefit for "The Mayor's Official Committee for the Relief of the Unemployed and Needy"...Held on Long Island. (NYC mayor)...and that one was just golfers, no movie stars..

VERY RARE EXAMPLE

I happened to spot this poster in the inventory of a New York City vintage poster dealer...It's not the kind of poster that vintage poster dealers usually deal in...These kinds of posters, often called a "broadside", have always been one of my favorite areas of collecting...They had a short life span that only lasted till the event started; afterwards intended to be discarded...You couldn't buy them, they weren't sold as souvenirs, so they were never intended to be collectible. They were utilitarian...not necessarily meant to be pretty...something real. I think that's why I like them...they were a tool of commerce and you weren't suppose to have it. Of the few that were taken down and saved, the ones printed on cardstock as opposed to paper are the most rare. Even if saved, the cardstock ones lived a very precarious life since they were subject to getting creased or broken...thereby considered worthless and tossed...So finding one that survived is rare; especially a large 22"x 14" size like this...Given all that...We're fortunate to get a look this one...They're like a frozen piece of time you can hang on the wall...bringing that time back into your environment...

4TH TENNIS POSTER

In 30 years collecting antique sports display pieces this is my fourth important tennis broadside, as they are not easy to find. I have a Jack Kramer vs. Bobby Riggs...Another Bill Tilden vs. Bruce Barnes...and a Davis Cup one featuring USA vs. Spain. This one though has the largest action image. The large superimposed photo of Budge going for the ball seemingly in mid air takes up almost 1/2 of the poster...such a great image...Possibly the greatest Budge poster extant!

PERSONAL CONNECTION

I have a little personal connection to this poster in that I've had brushes with two of the featured celebrities. As a bellman at the top golf resort hotel in Napa Valley the last 28 1/2 years I've assisted more celebrities than I can recall...columnist Herb Caen 1916-1997, listed on this poster, was a regular. He would drive thru the circle in his Jag...and all the bellman knew the drill...we'd all vie for him since he was a good tipper...I helped him to his room many a time. If you happened to be in front of the mansion when he drove up you knew what to do...gave him the thumbs up and went and met him in the parking lot before another bellman got their! Along with luggage he would usually have a couple cardboard boxes of groceries that always seemed to be from a Nob Hill market...One thing he always had was his tennis racquet case...seems like it was blue and red made of vinyl...kind of dated as I recall, looked twenty or so years old but in real good condition.

The other celebrity on the poster I had a brush with once was Robert Stack 1919-2003...Hollywood producer David Wolper, now passed away, used to put on The Tournament of the Stars at our hotel...and the Celebes would come by the bus load...literally...You'd see so many it was boggling...And we'd escort them all to their rooms by the cart load...One night I gave Robert Stack a ride to  his room and he was most pleasant...At the time I couldn't remember who he was, I just knew he was a celebrity...Afterwards I remembered him from the TV. show Unsolved Mysteries that was running then.

 

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DON BUDGE 

1915 -2000 

 

DON BUDGE ALBUM

 

The event's headliner Don Budge 1915 - 2000, grew up right next door in Oakland. In the 1930's he was American tennis royalty. 

"An excellent all-surface player, Don Budge sky-rocketed to fame in the late 1930s by winning the US Open doubles in 1936. He took the world by storm in the next two years by winning an unprecedented 13 Grand Slams (6 singles, 3 doubles, and 4 mixed doubles). He won the singles, doubles and mixed doubles of Wimbledon and the singles and mixed doubles of the US Open in 1937. In 1938, he defended all these titles and added the US Open doubles crown to his list of conquests. But his real claim to fame that year was the Grand Slam- winning all the four major tournaments in the same year. In 1939, Budge turned professional and celebrated in style by winning two majors- the Wembley Championship and the French Pro Championship. In the years to come, war curtailed tennis in the world but Budge added two more titles to his bag- the 1940 and 1942 US Pro Championships." 
Courtesy madcrazyhatter.wordpress.com

Alice Marble Was a World No. 1 American tennis player who won 18 Grand Slam championships (1936–40): 5 in Singles, 6 in Women's Doubles, and 7 in Mixed Doubles.

Born in the small town of Beckwourth, Plumas County, California, Marble moved with her family at the age of five to San Francisco. A tomboy, she excelled in many sports, including baseball; but her brother persuaded her to try the more ladylike tennis. She quickly mastered the game, playing in Golden Gate Park. She suffered a setback at age fifteen when she was raped by a stranger, but she overcame the trauma and won several California junior tournaments.

The first woman to serve and volley, and noted for aggressive play called the "killer instinct" approach. This may account for her decisive and easy victories in challenge and early rounds. Marble being all business on the court, after defeating an opponent love and love, would go back to the locker room and chat-discussing the match as a friend and confidant. The right-handed Marble was again challenged in 1934 after collapsing during a match at the French Championships. Doctors diagnosed her with pleurisy and tuberculosis, and she took an extended rest.

At the U.S. Championships, Marble won the Singles title (1936, 1938–40); the Women's Doubles title with Sarah Palfrey Cooke (1937–40); and the Mixed Doubles title with Gene Mako (1936), Don Budge (1938), Harry Hopman (1939), and Bobby Riggs (1940).

At Wimbledon, Marble won the Singles title (1939); the Women's Doubles title with Cooke (1938–39); and the Mixed Doubles title with Budge (1937–38) and Riggs (1939).

In Wightman Cup competition, Marble lost only one Singles and one Doubles match in the years she competed (1933, 1937–40).

According to Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Marble was ranked in the World Top Ten 1936–39 (no rankings issued 1940–45), reaching a career high in those rankings of World No. 1 in 1939. Marble was included in the year-end Top Ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association in 1932–33 and 1936–40. She was the top-ranked U.S. player in 1936-40.[2]

Marble was the Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 1939 and 1940.

After capping a stellar amateur career in 1940, Marble turned professional and earned a great sum of money, traveling around playing exhibition tournaments.

Through illness and victory, Marble had the support of her coach and mentor, Eleanor "Teach" Tennant, who changed her technique and influenced her life.

For a brief time after retirement, she worked on the Editorial Advisory Board of DC Comics and was credited as an Associate Editor on Wonder Woman. She created the "Wonder Women of History" feature for the comics, which told the stories of prominent women of history in comic form.

During World War II, Marble was married to Joe Crowley, a pilot, who was killed in action over Germany. Only days before his death, she miscarried their child following a car accident. After an attempt to kill herself, she recuperated and, in 1945, agreed to spy for U.S. intelligence. Her mission involved renewing contact with a former lover, a Swiss banker, and obtaining Nazi financial data. The operation ended when a Nazi agent shot her in the back, but she was extracted and recovered. Few details of the operation ever emerged. The story was told only after her death when Courting Danger ISBN 0-312-92813-0, a second autobiography, was published.

Marble greatly contributed to the desegregation of American tennis by writing an editorial in support of Althea Gibson for the July 1, 1950, issue of American Lawn Tennis Magazine. The article read, in part, "Miss Gibson is over a very cunningly wrought barrel, and I can only hope to loosen a few of its staves with one lone opinion. If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentle-people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites.... If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts." Marble said that, if Gibson were not given the opportunity to compete, "then there is an ineradicable mark against a game to which I have devoted most of my life, and I would be bitterly ashamed." Gibson, age 23, was given entry into the 1950 U.S. Championships, becoming the first African-American player, man or woman, to compete in a Grand Slam event.

In 1964, Marble was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She then settled in Palm Desert, California, where she taught tennis until her death.

Weakened by pernicious anaemia, Marble died at a hospital in Palm Springs, California.

Alice Marble Tennis Courts, providing a panoramic view of the Pacific ocean and the Golden Gate bridge from the top of Russian Hill in San Francisco, is named in honor of her.

-Wikipedia

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