Elowitch, who died at 82, made a name for himself in 2 wildly different worlds, going by Robbie Ellis in the ring.
The memory came to Peggy Golden quickly. The one about how, at Alberta’s Cafe on Portland’s Pleasant Street in the late 1980s, there was a picture of local professional wrestler in the ring. Hanging in the women’s bathroom.
“I thought, ‘What is this doing in a ladies’ room?'” Golden, a longtime Portland art gallery owner, said with a chuckle.
Golden knew the man in the photo as Robert Elowitch, the former owner of Barridoff Galleries, also a central figure in Portland’s art scene. And like the picture’s placement, there was a lot about Elowitch that didn’t seem to make sense. An art dealer leaping off turnbuckles and slamming opponents to the mat. A pro wrestler selling landscapes and portraits for thousands of dollars.
But those twin passions coincided for decades in Elowitch, who died unexpectedly Aug. 7 at 82, after a lifetime of flourishing in the high-culture environment of fine art and the rowdy, showy world of professional wrestling under the name Robbie Ellis, and basking in the spotlight that fixed itself to him as a result. There was a documentary, “Canvasman,” made about him, national news reports on him, and a feature story in Sports Illustrated shortly after his two lives were revealed.
And he loved it.
“He was super proud of the whole thing,” said Jennifer Elowitch, Robert’s daughter. “He wasn’t embarrassed. … He wanted to draw attention to himself, for sure.”
In two fields that seemed polar opposites, Elowitch became well-known in his home city, in Maine, and throughout New England.
“One of his dreams was always to be a successful celebrity,” said Lenny Nelson, an attorney at Bernstein Shur and longtime friend of Elowitch’s. “In his own way, he achieved that. He became a successful celebrity in Portland, Maine.”
Elowitch loved doing both, and he was good at both. As the art dealer and then auctioneer, he was soft-spoken and intellectual, but charismatic in dealing with people. Working with his wife, Annette, he used his skill at building relationships to bring bigger-scale clientele to the city, and boosted Portland’s reputation as an art destination.
“Their auctions became known in the summertime, and people came from all over,” said Golden, who ran Greenhut Galleries from 1977 to 2017. “It did well for all of us. It brought all kinds of people from away to Portland, and put Portland on the map as the place where you would come for fine art.
ART AND PERFORMANCE
“Maine always promoted itself as a place where you come to hike, bike, ski, sail and go to L.L. Bean. … Rob did us a service by making collectors of art, and people who came to the Portland area, pay attention to art as yet another reason to come to Maine.”
As a wrestler, though, Elowitch became Robbie Ellis, a brash 5-foot-9, 185-pound showman who would jaw with his foes, gyrate on the mat and wear everything from glittering jackets to feather boas, and who exchanged blows with other wrestlers for more than 40 years.
“He was, ‘Ho hum, ho hum, ho hum,’ with everybody. Until he walked through the curtain. He turned it on like a light switch,” said Larry Huntley, who runs the North Atlantic Wrestling Association. “Robbie was not a tall man, Robbie was not a big man. But when Robbie saw himself and pushed it out to the people, he was exuding 6-foot-6 and 260 pounds of the sexiest, well-built dude you ever saw in your life.”
Disparate as they were, Elowitch’s twin occupations had a common thread. He grew up as a lover of Broadway and the stage, and majored in theater at Amherst College. In the gallery and inside the ropes, he had his outlets for art and performance.
“I think they each addressed different sides of him,” his daughter said. “I think he was very moved by beautiful, visual art. … He was very excited by the art, but also by the idea of promoting local artists. … He loved helping them have a launching pad with him.”
Wrestling, meanwhile, was showtime, be it for hundreds of people or dozens.
“I think he liked the excitement of it, the noise, the heat of the crowd,” Nelson said. “And the passion of it. He liked the combat of life. And this was a form of combat.”
Like the stage, Huntley said wrestling provided Elowitch a form of fun and make-believe.
“He loved the fact that it was still physical,” Huntley said. “He also got to leave his day job, where he was prim and proper and an art broker and all that, and he got to be Clark Kent and Superman. He got to live the other side of it.”
LIKE CLARK KENT
Like Clark Kent, Elowitch kept his alter ego a secret for 19 years, fearing that the perception of being involved with pro wrestling could hurt his ascending art business. After coaxing from Annette, he finally lifted the hood, appearing in a match at the Portland Expo on June 5, 1985.
The photo and a story ran in the next day’s Evening Express. The secret was out.
“We definitely were shocked and surprised,” Golden said. “But it sort of made sense. He was a character.”
Elowitch had feared his standing in the art community would diminish. Instead, it soared. Business boomed, and national media became interested in the fascinating story.
“He got a lot of publicity,” Golden said. “There were probably some people that were very turned off about it, but I think everybody was more curious. ‘Tell me more. Where did this come from?'”
While the gallery turned into an auction house, Robert Elowitch and Robbie Ellis continued to coincide. He wrestled into his 40s, then his 50s, then his 60s. He performed as a villain in the ring, boasting about his celebrity as the “Sports Illustrated Legend” and “America’s Sexiest Sexagenarian Superstar.” He then became a fan favorite, as he wrestled — and beat — opponents young enough to be his sons.
“I’m watching this guy who could have been my grandfather lace up his boots and go in there against a 20-year-old, jacked dude,” said Randy Carver, a pro wrestling promoter and owner of Limitless Wrestling. “I’m like ‘What am I about to witness here?’ I was blown away, because Robbie at 60, 65 years old, he’s throwing live rounds and doing it better than guys that are half his age.”
The wrestling came to an end in 2011, and the Elowitches sold Barridoff in 2016. But for the rest of his life, Elowitch kept working out, maintained an interest in art, and kept up his love for his family and for Annette, with whom he made sure to spend nights after matches, even if it meant driving home at 3 in the morning.
“Never underestimate the importance of energy,” Nelson said. “It applies to everything. Energy is a huge asset, and Robert had huge energy and huge passion. And if you have both of those things, you’re going to make an impact.”
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