Back to 1966

pwd72s · 10:55 AM

I enjoy a trip into the past from time to time. Thanks to a post made on a pool board I go to...this was brought to my attention. The 1966 straight pool championship brought to you in living black and white. Two greats of straight pool, Joe Balsis and Irving Crane. A breathless commentator explaining the game of straight pool to ignoramus types like me who were cutting their teeth on small coin op tables playing 8 ball.

Old school pool at it's best, on the slow cloth of the time using the best custom cues of the time. Crane shot with a real Balabushka, not the replica of a Balabushka shown in the "Color of Money" movie. Just solid maple shafts, with single layered water buffalo tips...none of the cue trickery of carbon fiber and layered pigskin tips used today. Pure talent on display. Players and audience alike dressed in go to church clothing. How they shot so well wearing suit jackets I'll never know..

Straight pool is gentleman's pool...true "pocket billiards" if you will. The game played by Jackie Gleason & Paul Newman in the movie "The Hustler".

So, do you like videos of a perfect game in baseball? How about a perfect game being the 7th game of a world series? Here it is in Pocket Billiards...in a one hour video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er7In9iJ5wM

Kraftwerk · 04-01-2020, 06:27 PM

3 minutes in and I am hooked... see if I can go the full hour. Resolution could be better but 50+ years ago technology... thanks for posting this.

pwd72s · 04-01-2020, 06:42 PM

Thanks...makes me feel good that somebody is enjoying it.

sc_rufctr · 10:13 PM

Thanks... Great video. With their skills both of those guys could play at the top level today. Some thing never change.

I was 1 year old in 1965.

EDIT: Note how both players are wearing suits and I'd bet everything in the videos is made in the USA.
(Their clothes, cues, balls, tables, chalk etc. Even the felt and rubber parts for the table would be made in the US)

pwd72s · 04-01-2020, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

Thanks... Great video. With their skills both of those guys could play at the top level today. Some thing never change.

I was 1 year old in 1965.

EDIT: Note how both players are wearing suits and I'd bet everything in the videos is made in the USA.
(Their clothes, cues, balls, tables, chalk etc. Even the felt and rubber parts for the table would be made in the US)

You called it. Table an early Brunswick Gold Crown, balls Brunswick Centennials of an early design, chalk was good old Master still favored today, and cues both made by USA custom cue makers. Crane used a George Balabushka....hard to tell what Balsis used, but it sure looked like a Herman Rambow to me. Both highly sought after collectables today.

Clothing? I don't really know...sorry.

sc_rufctr · 04-02-2020, 12:41 AM

I'd say their suits were tailor made in the USA. The fabric if not local was probably imported from Italy.

Note that even we had several pool table manufacturers locally that were always busy up until the late 90s.
Back in the 80s, if you could French polish wood you never had problems finding work.

pwd72s · 04-02-2020, 10:26 AM

Brunswick tables still have a following, but components now made in China...so it's the USA made early gold crowns that are sought after. There are a few artisans out there making good livings by restoring and refinishing them.

If I had room for a table? I'd probably go for a 9' Diamond professional model. Made in the USA...not made for décor, made for playing. Top level in all components. My absolute dream table would be a Brunswick Centennial, artfully restored and upgraded by one of those artisans. The playability could be made to equal that of a Diamond, but the cost? Hooboy!

sc_rufctr · 04-02-2020, 10:31 AM

^^^ The reminds me of the pool tables in "The Color of Money".

Good movie. Probably one of Tom's best but Paul Newman was a stand out.

pwd72s · 04-02-2020, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

^^^ The reminds me of the pool tables in "The Color of Money".

Good movie. Probably one of Tom's best but Paul Newman was a stand out.

I'd say the majority of tables in that movie were Brunswick of various vintages...this scene obviously a gold crown...1960's if I had to guess. The movie sort of a follow up from "The Hustler" made in the early 60's.

Newman (fast Eddie) pissed at Cruise (Vince) in this scene because he was supposed to lose to "Lamar" in order to score big against a local bookie. Lots of "insider" jokes in that flick. For example, the big guy who "lost" to Newman in the tournament scene who said "I didn't deserve that"? None other than the late great "The Miz", Steve Mizerack, (sp?) A many times world champion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrjSqK7xPLE

sc_rufctr · 04-02-2020, 11:18 AM

1986 seems so long ago now.

pwd72s · 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

1986 seems so long ago now.

Boy howdy on that! With the virus thing, January of 2020 seems long ago. The world has changed in a few short weeks...

More on "the miz". Some of his matches can be found on youtube...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Mizerak