Europe's Rickard

How to become a champion is, for an ambitious fisticuffer, by no means the only problem of his profession. In the case of Negro Joe Louis of Detroit, generally considered sure to win the heavyweight title when and if he fights James J. Braddock, the problem of what to do with it afterward is already even more puzzling. To canny Promoter Mike Jacobs, who has exclusive rights to Fisticuffer Louis' services, an inviting solution of this question was presented last week: a grand tour of Europe. For Fisticuffer Louis such an expedition might have notable advantages. If he beats Max Schmeling in June and Braddock later this summer, he will have trouble finding opponents worth fighting. In exhibition bouts he might be a more profitable attraction abroad than at home.

Well aware of these inducements, Promoter Jacobs had another good reason for cocking an ear to last week's proposal. It came from none other than Jefferson Davis Dickson Jr. of Jackson, Miss, and Paris, France, whose career as a sports promoter long since caused him to be called the "Tex Rickard of Europe." Last week Promoter Dickson arrived in Manhattan on his annual visit to his homeland, promptly proved that his nickname scarcely did his talents justice. As well as talking Promoter Jacobs, long Rickard's right-hand man, into an admiring daze. Promoter Dickson explained to reporters a few more of his immediate projects: a European tour for one-time Champion Max Baer; a European heavyweight elimination tournament conducted under the auspices of the Paris Soir; a series of indoor bullfights at his Palais des Sports, with matadors from Madrid. From New York Promoter Dickson whizzed off to Canada in search of recruits for the hockey teams he has popularized in Paris.

Jeff Dickson is a suave, dark-haired gentleman of 40 who went to France in 1917 with the 17th U. S. Engineers. Because he had been a newsreel cameraman, he was put to work filming cinemas for the military archives. During the St. Mihiel offensive, he perched his camera on a hill near enough to the scene of action to get himself wounded. After the War, Photographer Dickson got himself demobilized in France so he could go to Abyssinia and take pictures of lions. He also photographed war scenes among the Riffs. Then he drifted back to Paris. Armed with the ribbon of the Legion of Honor and an expansive manner, he set himself up in the automobile bumper business which he still runs as a sideline. His next venture was putting prizes--cheap necklaces and silk stockings--in boxes of candy sold in Paris theatres. When the Government stopped this, on the ground that it was a lottery, he used the profits to buy the Salle Wagram, where, as an enthusiastic boxing fan, he hoped to improve the bouts.

His efforts to do so started in disgraceful failure. In the first big match he staged, Paulino Uzcudun knocked out an overrated Canadian named Soldier Jones in two minutes. To rehabilitate himself Promoter Dickson put Paulino into the ring against an English fighter named Harry Drake. Boxer Drake was so terrified at the sight of his bronzed opponent from the Pyrenees that it took several handlers to push him into the ring. There was a quick and ugly knockout and variorum reports of what happened to Promoter Dickson, who was supposed to have been hit on the head with a wine bottle. He discharged his matchmaker, packed the house for his next fight by giving free tickets wholesale to Citroen mechanics. Thus began the Golden Age of French boxing.

In 1929 Promoter Dickson made Primo Camera an international attraction principally by two fights with the late William Lawrence ("Young") Stribling, one in London and one in Paris, both of which ended in fouls. In 1931 he built his,Palais des Sports, patterned on Tex Richard's Madison Square Garden, on the site of the old Velodrome d'Hiver. Tex Rickard was proud of his "600 Millionaires." Jeff Dickson organized a "Club de Mille" whose members have their own clubroom and bar in the Palais des Sports. By this time he had achieved the unprecedented distinction of being made a member of the boxing boards of both England and France. He later acquired boxing rights at London's Royal Albert Hall and White City Stadium, two bullfight arenas in Madrid and Barcelona which he uses for boxing and wrestling, and became sports Tsar of the Continent.

In Paris Promoter Dickson has staged tennis, hockey, concerts, wrestling, the circus, an indoor "lion hunt" with 100 lions, and a show called "The Jungle at Midnight," with denizens of the Pare de Vincennes Zoo under flood lights. When 300,000 people visited Dickson's Jungle in the first eight nights, the authorities decided it made the animals nervous, stopped the show. Promoter Dickson finds London crowds the most tractable in Europe, Paris crowds the most excitable. In the Palais des Sports, to prevent a recurrence of the wine bottle incident, a net can be lowered around the arena to protect occupants from injury by spectators.

Promoter Dickson's Boswell is ancient little Sparrow Robertson, sports columnist of the Paris Herald, in whose writings it is a 5-to-1 bet that Promoter Dickson's name will appear on any given day. Dickson's secretary is Count Nicolas Ignatieff, son of Prince Nicolas Ignatieff, who once commanded the Tsar's Imperial Guard. When they discovered each other, the Count was a taxi driver and Promoter Dickson was his first fare. Apologizing for his incompetence as a chauffeur, the Count admitted he could speak twelve languages and take shorthand dictation. Dickson ordered him to drive home, telephone the company to call for its cab. As a sideline to being Dickson's secretary, Count Nicolas heads an organization which classifies Russian noblemen in Paris according to the genuineness of their pretensions.

On his way home to Jackson, Miss., Promoter Dickson last week seemed more excited about his forthcoming Paris bullfights. Count Nicolas had just cabled him that final arrangements had been successfully completed to hold the first fight this week. Said Promoter Dickson "Imagine! Bullfighting indoors. It's never been done. We'll kill four bulls every night. It'll be in my Palais des Sports with sun lamps beating down on the bulls. They're better when they're hot. . . ."

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