If you have around $2900 I might could be talked into parting with one. They are good playing cues. Of course I feel the cues I build play better, but for his time he made top notch cues.
Remember, Frank Paradise is pre Balabushka and Szamboti. He was a mentor of sorts to later cue makers. I can remember seeing him drive into the parking lot at Johnston City in his 1950's era Mercedes with the tail fins. He was a nicely dressed, dapper and trim older man, with an air of confidence and elegance about him. When he talked he was a no nonsense kind of guy, with a strong powerful voice. He spoke well, in an educated manner, with good articulation to his words, but you could hear that New York gruffness in his tone. He refused to negotiate prices on his cues. Either you buy them or you don't was his attitude.
He would stroll into the back room at JC with his case in hand, and when asked, open it up on the nearest pool table. He always gathered a crowd and shortly the bickering about prices would began. Invariably within a few days his cues were gone and so was he. I never saw him hit a ball, but I was told he had been a very good Straight Pool player, capable of running many racks. I may have spoken a word or two to him a couple of times, just to say hello. He barely had a moment for a kid like me, but he would say something cordial and be on his way. He had business to attend to, and I wasn't it!
Remember, Frank Paradise is pre Balabushka and Szamboti. He was a mentor of sorts to later cue makers. I can remember seeing him drive into the parking lot at Johnston City in his 1950's era Mercedes with the tail fins. He was a nicely dressed, dapper and trim older man, with an air of confidence and elegance about him. When he talked he was a no nonsense kind of guy, with a strong powerful voice. He spoke well, in an educated manner, with good articulation to his words, but you could hear that New York gruffness in his tone. He refused to negotiate prices on his cues. Either you buy them or you don't was his attitude.
He would stroll into the back room at JC with his case in hand, and when asked, open it up on the nearest pool table. He always gathered a crowd and shortly the bickering about prices would began. Invariably within a few days his cues were gone and so was he. I never saw him hit a ball, but I was told he had been a very good Straight Pool player, capable of running many racks. I may have spoken a word or two to him a couple of times, just to say hello. He barely had a moment for a kid like me, but he would say something cordial and be on his way. He had business to attend to, and I wasn't it!
