ISO Jerry Lawler

A few years ago I wrote Me, Boo and the Goob: A Southern Adventure. It was a fun little novel about small boys growing up in and around Jonesboro and Memphis in the 1960s. Many of my friends recognize many of the exaggerated events of my life as portrayed in the novel. The story itself includes a variety of situations that the boys some how manage to make worse. Their good intentions often lead to disaster as they collide time and again with the adult world they just don’t understand. There are a lot of laugh out loud moments in the story.

After struggling for some years, I have finally finished the sequel, JD and Me: Bad Ideas and Poor Judgment. This story places the boys in high school in the 1970s. What story about growing up in the Mid-South can be complete without a reference to Jerry Lawler?

The answer to that question is ‘none’. You can no more write about growing up in the 1970s around Memphis, Tennessee without mentioning Jerry Lawler than you can write about Halloween without mentioning candy. Writing about 1970s Memphis without Jerry Lawler is like Thanksgiving without turkey. It’s just not right. It can’t be done. It’s not Thanksgiving without turkey and it’s not Memphis without Jerry Lawler. You just can’t write about 1970’s Memphis and not mention Jerry Lawler.

So, I mentioned him. I had to. As you might expect, because he is after all Jerry Lawler and despite my best efforts to keep the character to a small role, he grew into a significant role in the the novel. I didn’t intend for him to be quite such an important character, but he sort of took on a mind of his own. You know how Jerry is. So, now he’s a significant character in the story.

I can’t say much about his relevance to the story line without giving the story away, but suffice it to say his character does not disparage Mr. Lawler or his persona or reputation in any way. My character conducts himself as you would expect Jerry Lawler to, and leaves you smiling. I will say this, in my stories, the good guy always wins.

So, here is my problem: It’s not right to use a man’s name in your novel without his permission. No matter how positive the light is that you portray him in, it is still the man’s name and you shouldn’t use it without his permission. It just ain’t right.

This being the case, I have set out to find Jerry Lawler to ask for his blessing to use his name in my novel.

My first stop was his website. There is a contact form there. I dutifully filled out the contact form, and the form blew up. I got an error. I took a long shot and googled ‘Jerry Lawler phone number’. There are an astounding number of people named ‘Jerry Lawler’ scattered across the United States, but my ‘Jerry Lawler’ proved elusive. I gave thought to reaching out via his fan page on Facebook, but decided against doing a simple post there. I didn’t think I could do justice to my ‘pitch’ in a Facebook post. My uncle has a lot of contacts in Memphis so I pinged him. He came back with a contact who is supposed to contact me with a way to contact Mr. Lawler. That one hasn’t panned out yet. Turns out my ex-wife is friends with a Memphis wrestling announcer who knows Mr. Lawler. She’s working on getting me contact info through her friend. She’s usually pretty good about this stuff. We’ll see how that plays out.

So, I’m searching for Jerry Lawler. I wish I could tell him that I had written the Great American Novel and it was all about him, and that it would sell millions and there will be a movie and we’d both make a ton of money. But, I can’t. I’m an unknown writer who writes fun little novels that are full of nostalgia and make people smile and maybe laugh for a little while. It may sell a few thousand around Jonesboro and Memphis, but I’m not aware of any one wanting to make a movie. If someone does contact me about making a movie, you will hear about it loud and clear.

So, if anyone reading this knows Jerry, or someone who is with Jerry’s organization, please share this with them. I need to run his role in my novel by him. I can be reached at wlgarner@williamlgarner.com If he doesn’t sign off on the character, I’ll have to change the character’s name. Keep in mind, my novel is a fun story about growing up in the Mid-South in the 1970s. There is a major Memphis component to it.

You can’t write a novel about 1970’s Memphis and not have Jerry Lawler in it.

It just ain’t right.