Dorothy’s long white ferrule

[L.S. Dennis]

I remember Dorothy playing with this unusually long ferrule (it was on her old Hoppe cue with the white ring on the butt) but for whatever reason it never occurred to me to ask her about it. I suspect it was her husband Jimmy’s doing, guess I’ll never know.

 

[AtLarge]

Dorothy Wise, right? What's your view of her level of play? I don't mean relative to other women of the era, but more on an absolute level; how good was she? What was her high run? Did she have many runs close to her high run?

 

[cue fix]

Maybe it was just a quick fix to add length to the cue

 

[L.S. Dennis]

Dorothy Wise, right? What's your view of her level of play? I don't mean relative to other women of the era, but more on an absolute level; how good was she? What was her high run? Did she have many runs close to her high run?

Yes this was Dorothy Wise, a very nice lady who always treated me kindly. Dorothy was a competitor, who didn’t like to lose if she could help it. She was by far the best woman player in her time, that Is until a young Jean Balukis came of age. She could run balls, I remember her having an 85 ball run on 5x10, I remember watching her practice where she would routinely twirl the balls out on the table and runs them off effortlessly.

I wrote a thing (I think it may still be on this forum) called ‘Remembering Dorothy Wise in which I recount some of my fond memories if her.

I think Jay could talk about her as well,

 

[L.S. Dennis]

Maybe it was just a quick fix to add length to the cue

No her cue was a 57 inch Hoppe.

 

[AtLarge]

Yes this was Dorothy Wise, a very nice lady who always treated me kindly. Dorothy was a competitor, who didn’t like to lose if she could help it. She was by far the best woman player in her time, that Is until a young Jean Balukis came of age. She could run balls, I remember her having an 85 ball run on 5x10, I remember watching her practice where she would routinely twirl the balls out on the table and runs them off effortlessly.

I wrote a thing (I think it may still be on this forum) called ‘Remembering Dorothy Wise in which I recount some of my fond memories if her.

I think Jay could talk about her as well,

Well, if she ran 85 on a 5x10, I'd say she was quite a player. Thanks.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

Looks like a slip-on tip to me. Maybe she was using a wallabushka for an impromptu photo...?

pj
chgo

 

[L.S. Dennis]

Looks like a slip-on tip to me. Maybe she was using a wallabushka for an impromptu photo...?

pj
chgo

View attachment 615424

I agree from this foto it does look like a slip on ferrule and tip but I assure you it wasn’t. Her husband Jimmy had one on his cue as well (also a Hoppe) but his wasn’t quite as long. Jimmy did all cue repair work at their pool room so I think he was responsible for these long ferrules.

Speaking of Hoppe cues I bought my first Hoppe cue from them back in 62’ or 63’, I still have that cue stick today sitting in my closet.

 

[mikemosconi]

Aside from aesthetics ( just liking the way that ferrule looked on the cue); which I doubt was the reason for it- I would think that the most logical reason for the long white ferrule was that they felt it provided a better guide for alignment of the stroke. A longer white ferrule might possibly make it easier to see the front part of the cue veering off to one side or the other as the stroke is delivered - so it may have been a feedback mechanism as much as a stroke tool.
I doubt that it had much to do with aiming- because all very good to great players already have chosen their aim point well before the cue is on it's way to the cue ball.
I would bet it was a stroke alignment aid. That cue in the photo has a brass joint - so it was not a house cue, and this could very well have been a "slip- over" white ferrule that was designed to slip over the tip and fit snugly over the front of the cue and existing ferrule - again, as a stroke aid.

 

[straightline]

Might also be a bridging / back swing marker.

 

[L.S. Dennis]

Aside from aesthetics ( just liking the way that ferrule looked on the cue); which I doubt was the reason for it- I would think that the most logical reason for the long white ferrule was that they felt it provided a better guide for alignment of the stroke. A longer white ferrule might possibly make it easier to see the front part of the cue veering off to one side or the other as the stroke is delivered - so it may have been a feedback mechanism as much as a stroke tool.
I doubt that it had much to do with aiming- because all very good to great players already have chosen their aim point well before the cue is on it's way to the cue ball.
I would bet it was a stroke alignment aid. That cue in the photo has a brass joint - so it was not a house cue, and this could very well have been a "slip- over" white ferrule that was designed to slip over the tip and fit snugly over the front of the cue and existing ferrule - again, as a stroke aid.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the cue was a 57” Hoppe and the ferrule and tip was not a slip over it was cut into the wood like normal ferrule are. I saw Dorothy play with this cue many times so I can assure you that this is correct.

As far as an aiming device, I don’t know about that and as I said it never occurred to me to ask her about it. Her husband Jimmy had the same sort of ferrule on his cue as well but not quite as long.

 

[mikemosconi]

Got it, so they substituted a permanent long white ferrule for the original Hoppe ferrule. It must be related to helping maintain stroke dynamics, I.e. "seeing" the cue tip move in a straight line to the cue ball. - way too late for her to start "aiming" her shot line to the OB with that ferrule once down on the shot.

 

[L.S. Dennis]

Dorothy Wise, right? What's your view of her level of play? I don't mean relative to other women of the era, but more on an absolute level; how good was she? What was her high run? Did she have many runs close to her high run?

Here’s one of her, it’s amazing how well she played considering she started so late in life.

Dorothy Wise, right? What's your view of her level of play? I don't mean relative to other women of the era, but more on an absolute level; how good was she? What was her high run? Did she have many runs close to her high run?

Here’s another pic of her at the table. It’s amazing how well she could play considering how late in life she started to play!