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Take Five with Barbara Clary |
From left to right: Mr. Elijah Akeem, Barbara Clary, Mr. Kareem Muhammed (standing), and Gentleman Jim Holliday.
For over four years beginning in 1980, Barbara Clary sat side by side with Gordon Solie as one of the announcers for Championship Wrestling from Florida. Hosting her own interview segment entitled “Take Five With Barbara Clary,” Barbara exhibited wit and grace all in the face of the mayhem that occurred weekly on CWF TV. In an interview conducted in March of 2003, Barbara tells about the circumstances that brought her to CWF, as well as the situation that led to her departure.
What were the circumstances that got you involved in CWF?
I had graduated from the University of South Florida in 1979 with a B.A. in
music. I was working various part-time jobs trying to make ends meet while
I tried to
establish a career as a singer and actor locally (in Tampa). One of my positions
was as a part-time secretary in a very small advertising agency. I met Gordon
Solie there, and we began to talk of my experiences on stage, and the fact that
I am bilingual (my mother is from Cuba). He told me that CWF was in the process
of auditioning women for a position they were creating for television. They were
looking for someone who could interview wrestlers in both Spanish and English
as they were trying to expand the show into Puerto Rico and some other Spanish
speaking areas of the world. He told me that knowledge of professional wrestling
was not as important as how this person came across on camera. They were hoping
to have a “Jane Pauley” type of interviewer. He asked me if I would
be interested in auditioning. I never thought I would be offered the position,
but I thought it would be a fun experience and make a great story, so I tried
out. I went one afternoon to the Sportatorium where they filmed the show, did
an impromptu interview with Gordon, Eddie Graham, and Dusty Rhodes, and they
gave me the job.
Had you been interested in wrestling before that?
I had watched wrestling occasionally as a child with my younger brother, but
had not really kept up with it. The bass player and drummer in the band that
I sang with on weekends loved pro wrestling and would watch it with the sound
off while they listened to jazz. Sometimes I would go by their place on weekend
afternoons and watch with them, but it wasn’t a regular thing.
Your first Take Five was in October 1980 where you presented Barry Windham
the "Rookie Of The Year" award. Were you nervous? Did the segment
go as planned?
Barry and I were both extremely nervous, since it was the first interview for
both of us on camera. The interview was supposed to last for five minutes, but
we talked so fast it wasn’t more than two or three! We were teased a little,
but everyone was very supportive and encouraging.
Were you smart to the business when you joined CWF? Did anyone try
and smarten you up?
When I was hired, I was told that CWF considered professional wrestling a sport,
and not entertainment. The wrestlers took their jobs very seriously and did
not take kindly to people suggesting that it wasn’t “real”.
Nothing else was ever mentioned, or even alluded to. I remember one day after
one of the Asian wrestlers had done a segment where he broke boards, one of
the cameramen (a former Hell's Angel) made the comment that "“anyone
could do that." He walked up to the pile of boards to try and prove that
they were rigged, not realizing that he was in front of a camera and could be
seen on the monitors in the back. He hit the boards as hard as he could and
almost broke his hand. Immediately, one of the wrestlers (I think it was Dusty
Rhodes) came storming out to the set ready to kick you-know-what until the guy
apologized for being disrespectful to the sport.
Were the Take Five segments done in one take? Were there any instances
that required multiple takes?
Most of the segments were done in one take. Occasionally one had to be done
over, but it was usually a question of tape problems or other technical difficulties.
Were there ever any occasions that you were intimidated by a wrestler/manager?
Did you ever feel anybody stayed in character to the point that they legitimately
looked angry?
I was told from the beginning that I would always be treated like a lady by
everyone in the organization and if I ever had a problem with anyone, I should
let them know. There was one wrestler who decided he wanted to show what a “lady’s
man” he was and gave me a hard time: flirting and saying that his wife
was Latina, and he’d like to add to his collection (meaning me). I told
him that I was not amused and he continued, so I mentioned it to Gordon and
Dusty. Within minutes, that wrestler was apologizing to me: saying he didn’t
know what had come over him to treat me like a common “arena rat”.
He got out of there quickly, and I never had another problem. As for wrestlers
getting angry, occasionally they did seem to really get into it, but their anger
was never directed at me, so I didn’t worry. Nobody wanted to pick on
someone my size and if things got out of hand, I got out of the way!
What were some of your favorite interviews?
Andre The Giant was one of my favorites.
They decided that they would start the interview with a close-up on my face
and then pan back to show that I was sitting on his biceps and he had me in
the air as if I weighed nothing. I put my hand in his and mine looked child-sized.
It was a thrill for me because he was someone that I remembered from my childhood.
He was such a gentleman and chatted to me about his family in France and the
fact that his mom was shorter than I was, although his sister was around six
feet tall. She didn’t have the same pituitary problems he did, so she
wasn’t considered a giant. The Fabulous
Moolah was another fun interview. She was really nice and talked about being
the only sister in a family full of brothers. It was natural for her to become
a pro wrestler because she was so used to being picked on.
Who did you enjoy working with? Who doesn't make this list?
Most of the people at CWF were a pleasure to work with. I’d hate leave
anyone out, but the ones who come to mind immediately are Gordon and his sons,
Greg and Eric (who both worked behind the scenes), Buddy Colt, Coach Heath, Dusty,
the Brisco brothers, the Guerrero brothers, Hiro Matsuda, Brian Blair, Ric Flair,
Dick Slater, Mike Graham. There were very, very few who wouldn’t make this
list, but I’d rather not slam anyone. After over 20 years, there’s
no telling why some of the wrestlers acted the way they did.
How did you feel about Kevin Sullivan and his "Satanist" gimmick?
Professional wrestling is a sort of morality play with a majority of the matches
representing some form of good versus evil. Looking at it that way, what better
way to portray evil than to profess to be a Satanist? Kevin Sullivan was not
one of the friendlier people that I worked with so I never saw whether it affected
the way he was off camera, but it made him the perfect villain and got the fans
going. Everyone loved to hate him!
Were there any 'Boy if only the audience could see THIS' kind of moments?
Yes. The masked wrestlers had a deal with a local bank and after the matches,
they would go cash their checks with their masks still on, because sometimes
the fans would follow them to try and see them unmasked. It just tickled me
to think of how it must have seemed to other people in the line at the drive
through to see someone in a mask waiting in line too.
Did anything surprise you about wrestlers or wrestling in general?
I was constantly surprised at the wide variety of people who were both wrestlers
and fans. The stereotype was that everything related to wrestling was southern
and blue collar, but I found out that some of the wrestlers had Ivy League educations
and the fans ran the gamut as well.
Did you have any memorable fan encounters?
I went to Miami Beach for a personal appearance and was asked to say something
in Spanish and English to the fans before the matches started. Without thinking,
I started in Spanish and was booed by the English-speaking fans who couldn’t
understand me. That was a real eye-opener!
Any Eddie Graham or Gordon Solie stories?
I didn’t work closely with Eddie Graham.
He was the “big” big guy and didn’t come out on the set very
often, although he was always very nice when he saw me. Gordon Solie was one
of the smartest, funniest, most family-oriented people I have ever known. He
was a true gentleman, with varied talents and a wealth of stories. Gordon was
a friend of mine and is sorely missed by many.
What was it like interviewing then NWA World champion Ric Flair?
Ric Flair was a huge deal when I interviewed
him, but he was very nice to me. His on-camera persona was very arrogant, but
he told me before the interview that he was going to say some things to me that
I may take exception to, and apologized ahead of time. I really appreciated
that, because it made me much more comfortable when I interviewed him.
Why did you leave CWF in 1984? What have you been doing since?
The tapings were done one day a week, but it wasn’t always the same day
each week. That made it really hard for me to make a living, because they would
tell me on Monday whether the taping that week would be on Tuesday or Wednesday.
At the time I was being paid $100 per taping. Although that was good pay for
one day per week, it wasn’t enough to live on since I didn’t have
any insurance, etc. I started substitute teaching, but couldn’t get regular
work because of the changing wrestling schedule. After four years with CWF I
asked for a small raise and instead, they let me go. I found out the day I went
in to work and they told me that it would be my last day. I was extremely disappointed,
but was given no other choice. Since 1984, I’ve been doing a lot. I taught
Spanish at Chatahoochee High School for two years. Unfortunately, some congenital
problems with my jaw started getting worse, so I had surgery twice to try to
correct the problem. It was not successful, so I had to give up my plans to
have a career in performance. I lived in Kansas City, MO for about five years;
in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico for two and a half years; and came back to Florida
in 1994. I began teaching Spanish at Zephyrhills High School in 1995, and have
been there ever since. I teach Spanish I, III, IV and a remedial reading class.
In 1995 I met Gregg Culbertson, and English teacher and former bass player for
the heavy metal group, Siren. After six and a half years, we decided to get
married, and now live in Tampa. My name is now Barbara Clary Zayas de Culbertson.
I know it’s a mouthful, but I decided to do it the “Spanish way”:
Clary is my dad, and Zayas is my mom’s maiden name.
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© Copyright 2004-2006, Barry Rose,