Oh, that Hollywood, always taking artistic license with real history. Take that smug, pipe-smoking canine, Mr. Peabody, and his redheaded sidekick Sherman. In a 1960 episode of "Rocky & Bullwinkle" Mr. Peabody and Sherman enter the Wayback Machine to witness "the most titanic struggle in boxing history," the championship bout between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain.
Well they got the description right, but the rest of the episode was "Peabody's Improbable History" indeed. In spite of setting the bespectacled dog setting Wayback Machine for July 8, 1888 (one year too early) and Richburg, Massachusetts (off by one critical letter in the postal abbreviation; it took place in Mississippi), Sherman and Mr. Peabody find themselves at Sullivan's camp where his trainer O'Hara (oops, it was William Muldoon) is talking on a phone (anachronism) to put down money on Kilrain because the red-headed (oops) Sullivan can't get train because his mustache was too thick (anyone who knows John L. knows that only booze, not facial hair, put him in a condition where "he couldn't punch a clock"). Someone has to call out that pun-loving pooch before he blurs all lines between fact and fiction. Where's that Mr. Know-It-All, Bullwinkle, when you need him? Someone needs to go back into the Wayback Machine and hand him a copy of Strong Boy to get his history right.
Well, I guess it is pretty good entertainment all the same. And you've got to love someone bringing their own corned beef and cabbage to a bareknuckle boxing match. Check it out!
John Sullivan by MistyIsland1
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