“Dames Out of the Ring” by Hamilton Enterkin

Dames Out of the Ring (by Hamilton Enterkin)

Published by The Kaner Publishing Co., “Dames Out of the Ring” is told by fictional boxing trainer Aloysius to author Hamilton Enterkin. British Library shows that they received this undated booklet in 1948. Was the author a real person or the alias of the publisher? There was one Hamilton Enterkin born during The Great War and died 1996 in Plymouth, England.

This was essentially a vanity press, in that he (Hyman Kaner) published his own stories. He eventually released publications with various other authors.

The cover art, while unsigned, would appear to be the work of H. W. Perl.

This 64-page stapled booklet contains 9 short boxing stories:

03 – No Fury
10 – More Deadly Than the Male
17 – Mother’s Boy
24 – Golden Girl
31 – Witchcraft
38 – The Trimmer
45 – Error of Judgment
53 – The Greatest Charity
60 – The Ghost of Conway Hall

I wish that at least one of these stories was decent enough to report upon, but the fact is, and despite the ‘weird’ sounding titles to a couple, which certainly had my hopes up in the ‘weird’ genre direction, they are all truly general fiction tales.

“No Fury” involves a boxer spurning the attentions of a girl whom is dead-set on marrying him. She brings in a man whom bested him in college and he clubs him through all the rounds purposely without knocking him, delivering a severe beating. Finally, she gives the OK to knock him off his heels. They end up marrying.

“More Deadly than the Male” could easily have been the prior story (in title only). In this, a Parisian young lady makes like she is in love with the champion. They hook up; then, a man finally puts in an appearance and demands hush money or a fight to the death. Our champion is given time to learn the art of fencing, and, shockingly, he is quite adept at the art. He takes down his challenger, and they vacate Paris.

“Mother’s Boy” is unique. It appears to be yet another ‘shake-down’ tale like the one above. A fictitious mother is created for the young boxer whom grew up in an orphanage, so that the trainers can keep the girls off him. At the end of each match or interview, he peels himself away, stating he has to get home to mother. Disembarking a ship from some foreign bouts, he walks ashore to the flashbulbs of the press and a woman rushes up claiming to be his mother! And it’s no real shake-down; she literally just wants to be taken in. Feeling the pressure, and realizing she can call the bluff, they let her tend house and she turns out to be just as good as her word! Her world comes crashing down when a villain from her past comes to blackmail the champion and recognizes her. Overnight, she packs all evidences of her living with the champion, and murders the villain! They go to set her free from jail but she claims to never have seen them before. In my opinion, this heartfelt story was the best in the booklet, and is worthy of being collected elsewhere, one day.

“Golden Girl” involves a female moving up in the world to Hollywood and suddenly will have nothing to do with a lowly boxer. After some failed Hollywood romances, she tries to reinstate herself with the boxer, but he’s onto her and gives her the goodbye. Irate, she sets him against a tough, but the boxer knocks him down. Years pass, and the offended “tough” learns how to box and moves up in the world. Our boy has retired, and, Aloysius, our narrator, is confronted by the offended party from years’ past. He has a chronic condition, looks weak, and asks for a bout with the ex-champ, so he can get some money. They finally agree, and the deceit is learned, that the man is faking. He’s in excellent shape, while the ex-champ hasn’t trained in years! However, all the training in the world doesn’t prepare him for the fact that the champ is still a contender….

“Witchcraft” involves a champion whom is, well, unbeatable. However, he meets his match in a contender whom should stand no chance in beating him. He becomes worried, informing Aloysius that the guy is weird and keeps staring at him. It comes about that he is a hypnotist, and while the champ is under, he is cleanly knocked out.

“The Trimmer” involves a rail of a man entering the boxing world. His reps are taking in most of the proceeds, leaving him with barely 10%. He trims them by setting up dozens of fictitious names and playing the gambling odds under these assorted names. In the end, he cleans up to the tune of several tens of thousands of pounds. He ‘clipped the bookies!’

“Error of Judgment” has a preacher placing a young man into Aloysius’ hands. He believes he can be freed from liquor, drugs, and the gangster rackets, by removing him from the city and putting him onto an honest career in boxing. It works for a time; he marries a very decent girl, but, he ends up firing his crew and Aloysius returns to the church and lies about the kid’s condition. Eventually, the wife approaches them with a black eye and the pair go to the rescue, only to learn that the kid is beyond redemption.

“The Greatest is Charity” involves a champ going the rounds and due to lose, but his wife spikes the contenders sponge with chloroform, and our hero knocks him out. A simple, boring tale.

“The Ghost of Conway Hall” is merely two jerks playing a practical joke on a boxer, digging up the ancient family curse of a haunted portion of the building. Unable to avoid the call of being called a ‘chicken,’ he gamely accepts the challenge to stay the night in the haunted room, in which a death reportedly in the past, has occurred….