1950’s Cue Builders, List

jay helfert said:
I think it was $35. It took me awhile to raise the money and I hesitated to spend it. I just couldn't resist buying this (to me) beautiful looking cue.
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Our room had a rack of Rich cues. Beautiful looking is right. My first cue (Rich) was around $32. I was bringing home $42.50.
 
Harold "Red" Baker, I've been told he started building and repairing cues out of his Los Angeles Pool Hall in the mid to late 50's.

I think he learned from or just straight copied Harvey Martin
 
GoldCrown said:
Our room had a rack of Rich cues. Beautiful looking is right. My first cue (Rich) was around $32. I was bringing home $42.50.
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My previous playing cue was a house cue that Pappy Winkler (the owner of Wink's Pool Room which was the forerunner to Forest Park Billiards in Dayton) cut in two and put a brass joint in for me. All for $5! I loved that cue until someone stole it from me in a little pool room in Richmond, IN. I was beating up on their .50 cents and a dollar ring game and they didn't like it. :cautious:
 
bdaumueller said:
Went to UW Madison with Richard Helstetterter when he first started making cues. He went to Japan for a while then sold his business. He ended up making golf clubs the most famous being the Big Bertha. I still use one of his cues.
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Dick Helmstetter is a legendary entrepeneur in the pool world. Created the very successful Adams cue line, all made in Japan. Then got very, very rich with Calloway golf. If I had his money I would burn mine! ;)
 
jay helfert said:
My previous playing cue was a house cue that Pappy Winkler (the owner of Wink's Pool Room which was the forerunner to Forest Park Billiards in Dayton) cut in two and put a brass joint in for me. All for $5! I loved that cue until someone stole it from me in a little pool room in Richmond, IN. I was beating up on their .50 cents and a dollar ring game and they didn't like it. :cautious:
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How much would you pay to have it back...more than $5, lol ?
 
have we forgotten brunswick...many great cue makers used thier blanks and brunswick cue were very popular in the 50s and sixties.
 
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1sttbone said:
have we forgotten brunswick...many great cue makers used thier blanks and brunswick cue were very popular in the 50s and sixties.
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Brunswick has been left out because I have not been able to confirm they actually sold blanks and I am not aware of any employees to credit if they did. Unlike Schmelke and Prather they are not family owned so tough to notate.
 
Gus Adams- bulder of pool cues during the 1950s in Los Angeles, CA - Gus ran a billiard supply store in LA that his grandsons operated up until the early 2000s maybe longer. Tad Kohara received his inspiration to build cues from Gus Adams
 
Benelli said:
Harold "Red" Baker, I've been told he started building and repairing cues out of his Los Angeles Pool Hall in the mid to late 50's.

I think he learned from or just straight copied Harvey Martin
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As far as I have been able to find “Red” was a barber and a prolific billiards player. Please see the prior AZ posting started by”scdiveteam”

Harvey Martin's Red Baker Cue

Hi, A collector friend of mine visited our shop last week and had some great stuff all from an historical perspective. Here is a pic of the Red Baker cue that was used many times over the years as a movie and telvison prop in Hollywood. Pretty Cool Indeed. Rick Here is Stupendous and Jay...
forums.azbilliards.com
 
actually back then there were very few cue makers that made anything better playing than a house cue you sanded the shaft down and put a new tip on..
 
maha said:
actually back then there were very few cue makers that made anything better playing than a house cue you sanded the shaft down and put a new tip on..
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I’ve been trying to assemble this list not only because I find pool history interesting, I am also trying to ID who may have modified a Hoppe Cue. This cue was originally sold between 1957 and 1959 at the Blue Cushion in Milwaukee Wi according to the original owners memory. He recalls paying $16 for the cue and $18 to have it customized with red 3 ball joint rings and an ivory hoppe ring made from an ivory cue ball. The two additional shafts were made at a later time. Any input is appreciated. Thx, Shooter08
 

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most who made cues took a house cue which were the hoppe titlest as well. and went from there. so what you had was a house cue with maybe a different shaft and some glamor added.
not to say they were bad. they were what they were.
 
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