Robert Smith on Bruce Lee

 

Robert Smith in his autobiography “Martial Musings” based on his lifetime in Judo and the Chinese Internal arts wrote his observations  about Bruce Lee :

 

“Lee’s only formal instruction began at age 13 and lasted at most for 5 years. Wing Chun, a short-stanced system featuring excessive arms is almost unknown on the Chinese mainland, though it may still linger in Guangdong and a few other southern provinces. Bill Paul practiced it for a time until he learned that movement, body weight, and kicks would go right through it. So how much of this thing did Lee get?  Because the average thirteen-year-old can’t mow lawns, trim hedges, or do homework, I’d say  his first three years were a wash. Which means that with two years training in an obscure system under a relatively unknown teacher (Yip Man) this actor and purported chacha dance champion of Hong Kong becamethe greatest fighter in the world. Get real please.”

 

To chinch this in 1961 Lee returned to Hong Kong to visit his parents and to show his Wing Chun teacher Yip Man how far he had progressed “His progress was zip,” said Lee’s student James DeMille in a published interview…..

 

Lee never studied orthodox Chinese boxing either the “hard”  Sholin type or the more scientific  “soft” taji, xingi or bagua. He knew no wrestling or judo, nor was he privy to the more esoteric dianxue (striking vital points) taught to more senior boxers.

 

Although in his earlier years he made a mania of training, he entered no tournaments – either contact or non-contact – and fought no verifiable fights. Former karate full-contact champion Joe Lewis said in 1975 that Lee was a great theorist but “there is the fact that he never fought in competition so you can’t really tell how he would have done.”…The obligatory stories told by his students about his street fights are anecdotal at best.

 

….The fact that Lee couldn’t act was no bar – it has never been in Hollywood. … ”

 

The book goes into greater detail but this contains the crux of Robert Smith’s opinions. Of course he walked the walk, over all the world, knew most of the outstanding martial artists of his day all in addition to his very credible books on the Martial Arts, Judo and each of his Chinese studies having books on Taiji, Xing and Bagua.