Came across this tonight and thought it definitely needed to be shared here. This is an old clip featuring many people you may recognize. I've never seen it before and not sure if it's been shared here, but if it has it's definitely worthy of another share. Apparently this was on "News 5 Chicago." I like the end the guy says something about "lots of hustlers know how to make money only a few know how to keep it!"
Enjoy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekyLXFehvvk
I always enjoy seeing this video of Johnston City, Illinois. :smiling-heart:
That's an excellent video and very representative of American pool during this era. Weenie Beenie speaks about Johnston City days in many of his interviews. The news reel video clip is from Chicago local News 5 with Dick Kay and occurred in 1972, the same year my daughter was born.
They called Ronnie Allen "Fast Eddie" a lot, and I loved the broadcaster's deep voice narrating all the the festivities and the brief snippets of the attendees, showing the cash moving back and forth between hands.
The news anchor speaks about the man in the python shoes, none other than Minnesota Fats:
Then there's the King of the Hustlers, Minnesota Fats, who helped put the Johnston City tournament together. Fats lives about 12 miles from the show bar, but he never plays in the tournament. He waits for someone to win the $20,000 prize money and then shoots them for the cash. That's his hustle, but according to Fats, everybody's got one.
Then comes Minnesota Fats with his gift of gab:
Ain't Nixon hustling? Ain't he out shaking hands, 24 hours a day, trying to be the President? Hey, ain't everybody hustling? Yeah, everybody's scuffling. You see, there's two different -- there's a scuffler and a hustler. A hustler is one that's always in action and gets it once in a while, see, and a good hustler gets it more often. Then there's a scuffler. He never gets it. Understand? All he ever does is waste his time, gets in everybody's way. You understand? He goes through life, and he's a failure.
The ending to this 3-minute video says it all:
Hustling may have been the name of the game, but it was a way of life.
Great video. I wish there were more like this one. It is a real American treasure. I never tire of seeing it.
