RETRO BOUT: CA. 1954

Posted by Simguy on 7/28/2001, 1:58 pm.

Before: Universal girls were the weak sisters of the big studio fighters, commonly snubbed and looked down upon by the haughty stars at MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers and so on. Sam Goldwyn was even rumoured to have gone as far as to say “MGM girls don’t get paid to lose fights to universal girls,” giving fair warning to his pampered stable as to what was expected when studio pride was on the line. The fight between Betty Hutton and Julie Adams was thought to be a lost classic until a wide-screen reel of the bout was recovered in a Universal vault during a 1992 audit, verifying most of the anecdotal accounts of the contest. In no uncertain terms, Hutton had been put in with Adams (“The Creature From The Black Lagoon”) to slap the brunette down, and by extension, keep a lid on the upstart “B movie” studio. It was not a big fight per-se, but an important one for the combatants: both were aware they had been well matched, and there was some speculation that Hutton, though favoured, might be in for a long night against the determined brunette. Betty wore a sleek black one piece, Julie a tan one piece.

During R1: Julie sprinted the canvas and caught a surprised Betty Hutton barely off her stool for an explosive Pearl Harbour start to the bout. Chugging lefts and rights between the hips had betty covering up and Julie got big by crossing her arms and bulling the blonde into the turnbuckles. Working wide to the ears, up the  idle with uppercuts and heavy to the sides, Julie Adams beat the tar out of Betty Hutton bell to bell this round, never letting the blonde’s butt out of her own corner. Shaken, busted up and trembling, Hutton stared in shock as a pumped up Julie Adams bounced back to her corner for the break. BIG shutout Julie Adams.

R2: Hutton knew she was a fight and sharpened up considerably this round, Meeting mid ring, the girls circled clockwise, working off stubby jabs, right hands held tight to cheeks while bodies twisted into compact hooks. Adams was surprising Hutton was her cleverness, often turning o0ver the hook into a clipping left uppercut on the lips, or feinting the jab only to clap ear with authority. With some frustration. Hutton found she couldn’t shoulder Adams back or otherwise bully her: the brunette was strong on her feet, stubborn in her heart, and she was making the blonde scrap for every second of every minute of these early rounds.

R3: Betty started to reign in her filly this round.; Hutton was the heavier handed vixen and as the girls continued to rake each other with hooks midring, blonde began to victimize brunette with bouncing connects off the temple or rightside jaw. Finally, Adams was forced to retreat—still trading, still competitive, but Hutton was imposing her will, leaving Adams shaking her head and breathing hard at the bell.

R4: sweet pay back for betty Hutton as SHER now charged the ring, tackled her girl into Adams’ corner and pile on with vintage shove and slug. Adams’ eyes turned fearful as she covered up, often turning her side to Hutton as she cowered against the ropes under the fearful majesty of Betty’s two fisted assault, This was betty in her element, weight forward onto her prey, fists beating in at random on a helpless opponent. A big  blonde shutout left Adams in tatters and betty had gobbled up the brunette’s head after 4 fierce rounds.

R5,6: Hutton showed Adams what a big studio girl was all about as she rolled to two more shutouts, trapping Julie on the ropes and wailing away with unrestrained, sustained ferocity. Leaning in on Julie, hands on Adams’ shoulders, Betty snatched at patches of tummy or clubbed at cheek with biting lefts and rights, Any time the athletic Adams would attempt to slide along the ropes Hutton would quickly scuttle over, keeping her head on the opponent and fists moving heartlessly back and forth. Julie was beaten into stupor these rounds—minute after minute or hard punching from Betty, and Hutton was far from clean in tight. Elbows and forearms kissed off jaw and ribcage as Betty treated Julie’s body like her won personal playground. Savaged, Adams wandered to her corner after 6 looking as though Hutton had mugged her in a dark alley and taken wallet.

R7: Betty back on top, but careless, leaning in with her upperbody, convinced that Universal’s finest had quit sometime back in the fourth. Julie had taken a beating, but pride still beat in her breast, and she still had her breast, and she still had her faculties together. Against the ropes, maintaining her high guard, Adams rolled with punches and midway through caught Hutton a BEAUTIFUL 6 inch right uppercut that put the blonde immediately wobbly butt. Adams followed up by reaching down Betty’s body and tapping her liver, then doubling up on the hook to catch the blonde’s wide open jaw t put Hutton on her heels. Adams came swinging off the ropes and Betty collapsed, stumbling back across the ring as fists caromed off her head, and down the stretch—Julie Adams squared away and put leather on meat to leave Betty humming at the bell.

R8: Grim determination set itself in the brows on both women as they huddled in close—heads, shoulders and fists all bunched together as they scrubbed punches with leg and torso movement alone. A close round finally turned blonde as Hutton found chin with a sturdy hook, breaking Adams down just enough to work her over with hooks to the body and cheek at the bell.

R9: Julie Adams just would not go away. Gambling that Hutton would be thinking about the 10^th, Adams spent herself up with a headlong charge that drove a shocked Betty Hutton into her corner. Hutton simply couldn’t believe it—she stood with arms crossed, eyes wide, staring as Julie Adams beat her senseless with hate-filled blows to the ribs and face. Betty bent back and forward, sometimes cupped her face, sometimes crossed her arms, but she could do nothing to get the brunette off her. In the final moments, Adams set down to crank hooks—Hutton broke down completely, mesmerized by punishment and she leaned sideways as Julie bashed away to open Betty’s right eyebrow at the bell. Trembling and cut—Betty Hutton had to be cajoled into continuing the fight as Julie Adams plopped onto her stool in oxygen debt.

R10: Julie Adams’ gamble had failed. Exhausted, the plucky brunette moved to her right along the ropes, dukes up, chin tucked, but Betty Hutton had survived her crisis and would have her way this round. Hutton stalked patiently, remembering Adams’ cute counter uppercut and not wanting to get caught again, the blonde pushed her jab in, stepped back, bent down to sweep wide right hands to the body, stepped back—in and out like that as Julie began to fade. After the minute mark, Hutton began to step up the pressure, stepping in to get off 3 and 4 punches before stepping to the side and pitching in hooks. Adams began to crumble—form degrading, she looked to clinch, but no longer had the strength to tie Hutton down, Betty brawled her way though the brunette’s limp arms and worked her magic. Palming Julie’s shoulder, Hutton pitched in vicious sidearm rights, back foot coming off the canvas as she rammed home the leather. With Adams out on her feet, taking a beating, Hutton crippled the brunette to the sternum with a cramming right, palmed her back and bashed away to the chin with the same clubbing right hand. The fight was effectively over for Julie Adams. She slumped to the canvas in a daze as Hutton stumbled away the KO10 victor.

After: Adams had extended the favoured blonde, given her some nightmarish moments, but in the end, the Universal girl had been beaten down as most would have predicted. The fight rejuvenated Betty and convinced higher ups that the old blonde work horse, well into her 30’s at the time of this meeting, still had some good rounds left in her. In the last few years of the fifties, Hutton would become something of a “Universal Killer”, often being sent to do the big studio’s dirty work and earning a hated reputation as an MGM ring enforcer.

Reposted by Archer 12/31/09