What does Merry Widow mean in a cue ?

PoolFan101

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I see a lot of people saying on here that they want to get a custom cue or buy a cue and they want a Merry Widow, what does that mean. Does it mean plain with no inlay or points just plain or is that a specific model combination .
 

HawaiianEye

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I see a lot of people saying on here that they want to get a custom cue or buy a cue and they want a Merry Widow, what does that mean. Does it mean plain with no inlay or points just plain or is that a specific model combination .


All three of these cues are Merry Widows.
 

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JoeyInCali

Maker of Joey Bautista Cues
Silver Member
The original term really meant one-piece butt.
Not sectional.
You used to be able to go to a store and buy cheap Viking or Heubler merry widows. The butt was one piece of wood with linen wrap ( usually ).

Now, even a plane jane needs to have some assembly. The handle is a separate wood. The butt sleeve is another piece of wood. Never mind if it's cored.
 

Runner

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Used r
to be one piece butt.. my take now is the cue can have a butt cap, some
type of wrap, various joint types, but no points or veneers or work on
the forearm.

$.02 from the SoCal disaster zone
 

Lawnboy77

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I see a lot of people saying on here that they want to get a custom cue or buy a cue and they want a Merry Widow, what does that mean. Does it mean plain with no inlay or points just plain or is that a specific model combination .


Thanks for asking the question, I had wondered exactly what a “Merry Widow” is to. I had deduced that they had no points, but wasn’t sure. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how they got that name?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Type79

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The original term really meant one-piece butt.
Not sectional.
You used to be able to go to a store and buy cheap Viking or Heubler merry widows. The butt was one piece of wood with linen wrap ( usually ).

This is correct.

Unfortunately, like the term Sneaky Pete, the traditional meaning has been altered. Today people use the term Merry Widow to describe any wrapless three section cue.

A Plain Jane cue originally described a cue without any inlays or decoration.
 

Cuebuddy

Mini cues
Silver Member
Thanks for asking the question, I had wondered exactly what a “Merry Widow” is to. I had deduced that they had no points, but wasn’t sure. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how they got that name?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Im not sure how the moniker started but its been around since at least 1915.

I believe it had something to do with women's lingerie.
 
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Ssonerai

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
wondered exactly what a “Merry Widow” is to. I had deduced that they had no points, but wasn’t sure. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how they got that name?

Dunno if BBC came up with the term, but one of their famous fancy cues, the #28, was marketed that way at least since the early 20's, maybe 19-teens. The cue was in their early catalogs for years.

20110015-37.jpg


I always thought of a Merry Widow as a no-points wrap cue with somewhat fancy wood. Like the BBC original. Nowdays, people seem to think it should be wrapless 3 pc butt, with the center wood section visually substituting for the wrap on the originals. Not sure when that style cue started, but much later than true M-W's

smt
 

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You guys have it all wrong.
Let me straighten this out.

A long time ago there was a pool player that collected a lot of plain Jane looking cues.
He dies and his wife sold the collection for a pretty good sum of money.
She was very happy about the windfall.
See was a merry widow.

And ever since plain Jane cues became known as merry widows.
 

Cron

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'll take a guess...

At some point someone was fascinated by the play "The Merry Widow" and designed it around a working class woman with no man or crown (hence no points) who would mingle with men.

These women obviously existed in real life, but who knows what type of stick they used.
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'll take a guess...

At some point someone was fascinated by the play "The Merry Widow" and designed it around a working class woman with no man or crown (hence no points) who would mingle with men.

These women obviously existed in real life, but who knows what type of stick they used.
Yeah right.
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
I see a lot of people saying on here that they want to get a custom cue or buy a cue and they want a Merry Widow, what does that mean. Does it mean plain with no inlay or points just plain or is that a specific model combination .

My take:

Merry Widow is the style of cue that the butt is primarily made of one piece of wood aside from joint, collars, butt caps and bumper. In the old Brunswick Catalog, it had a wrap, but was a continuous piece of wood under the wrap. Many cue manufactures have offered Wrapless Merry Widows, which you can clearly see the single continuous piece of wood.

Merry Widow-style is the modern take where the butt would be modern, balanced 3-piece construction (forearm, butt plate and handle), with the linen, leather or cork wrap (for examples) around the handle masking the fact that the butt isn't one piece.

Wrapless Handle Merry Widow-style is the same as above butt instead of a linen or similar wrap, the handle area is wood (see Hawaiian Eye's cues). Clearly, this isn't meant to look like a butt made of one piece of wood.
 

Cron

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yeah right.

Yeh it could be. I really don't care more than I was curious.

Again, just a curious guess using the timeline...

"The Merry Widow" becomes popular in the USA in 1907, especially amongst Germans.

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

"The Merry Widow" features a club named "Maxim's", which would probably have a billiard table propped for certain productions.

*if* the above productions existed, they would most certainly have a cheap/plain prop stick that was nothing fancy.

Since this term is so old, I don't think anyone will ever know, but that's my 2 cents guess.
 

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In the 1960's I knew a man who died on his wedding night in his vehicle inside the garage with the engine running. Officially ruled a suicide - carbon monoxide poisoning. Wife got everything.

It was her third husband and none died from natural causes.

Merry widow.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In the 1960's I knew a man who died on his wedding night in his vehicle inside the garage with the engine running. Officially ruled a suicide - carbon monoxide poisoning. Wife got everything.

It was her third husband and none died from natural causes.

Merry widow.

Damn. By #3, who's got time to wait for tomorrow?:eek:
 

CocoboloCowboy

Cowboys are my hero's
Silver Member
Best friend who died in 1998 Widow is now Merry, 10 year wait from VA, finally ended with big check for back DIC. She file claim, stays proactive, and finally got big tax free check & monthly pension, and benefits.

Agent Orange.
 

ideologist

I don't never exaggerate
Silver Member
Yeh it could be. I really don't care more than I was curious.

Again, just a curious guess using the timeline...

"The Merry Widow" becomes popular in the USA in 1907, especially amongst Germans.

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

"The Merry Widow" features a club named "Maxim's", which would probably have a billiard table propped for certain productions.

*if* the above productions existed, they would most certainly have a cheap/plain prop stick that was nothing fancy.

Since this term is so old, I don't think anyone will ever know, but that's my 2 cents guess.

You're absolutely right. The play The Merry Widow was incredibly popular by all accounts. It's hard to describe how popular today.

Game of Thrones popular.
The Superbowl popular.
Friends and Seinfeld popular.

Brunswick wanted to cash in on this popularity and tied a cue to it for their next catalog. Common sense business practice.
 
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