Not only did they put lit cigarettes on the rail , they would have a cig hanging out of their mouth while shooting for 5 minutes and when the ash eventually fell off onto the cloth , you either had to clean it up or play around it.
The Hustler, one more time
- Thread starter Donny Lutz
- Start date
Rick, as a regular 'pool room bum' (and a regular smoker) my recall of the 40's, to the 70's, are very vivid !..Even when Brunswick started putting ashtrays on their Crown's, almost all us smoker's still used the rail out of habit.. Rarely, if ever, did any pool room have carpet, and the concrete or wooden floor, was where you flicked your ashes, or ground out your cigarette..hence, no need real need for ashtray's..:embarrassed2:
Very few (if any) room owners would ever make an issue out of it, unless you were so careless, you burned the felt on the rail !..I know you non-smoker's, and younger guy's cannot imagine this, but thats the way it was, before health scares, and no-smoking laws became the norm.
Almost EVERYBODY smoked...Even the judge would light up in a crowded courtroom, why not, everyone else was smoking ! (watch an old movie) Going into a smoked filled bar, or pool room, was no different than the same air in your house !..Even non-smokers tolerated smoking in their house, because 90% of their friends would be smokers...Not saying it was right, but thats just the way it was !
The poolroom I grew up in was opened in 1941 upstairs in NC. The floors were wood with cigarette burns covering the floor under every table. Although the old Brunswicks are long gone the cigarette burns remain. It's full of kids these days with only two 9 ft tables remaining of the 10 (one was an Amos and Andy)
There's alot of history in that old poolroom
Exaggerate much ???.. As a courteous smoker, I always cleaned up my own 'dumped ashes' !
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Rick, as a regular 'pool room bum' (and a regular smoker) my recall of the 40's, to the 70's, are very vivid !..Even when Brunswick started putting ashtrays on their Crown's, almost all us smoker's still used the rail out of habit.. Rarely, if ever, did any pool room have carpet, and the concrete or wooden floor, was where you flicked your ashes, or ground out your cigarette..hence, no real need for ashtray's..:embarrassed2:
Very few (if any) room owners would ever make an issue out of it, unless you were so careless, you burned the felt on the rail !..I know you non-smoker's, and younger guy's cannot imagine this, but thats the way it was, before health scares, and no-smoking laws became the norm. :sorry:
Almost EVERYBODY smoked...Even the judge would light up in a crowded courtroom, why not, everyone else was smoking ! (watch an old movie) Going into a smoked filled bar, or pool room, was no different than the same air in your house !..Even non-smokers tolerated smoking in their house, because 90% of their friends would be smokers...Not saying it was right, but thats just the way it was !
I remember a line Fat's said one time telling a story. He said something about a certain hall that when you went it it was so filled with smoke that you needed a flit gun to find the table.
Now how many don't know what a flit gun is?
Guys commonly put lit cigs on the rail at least as late as 95 that I can remember. I can recall my dad cussing a guy out when I got burned one time as a kid around 1987. I was about 11 playing a money match with an old guy named Paul Radford. You know how kids are, running around shooting every thing in quick. I bent over and next thing you know my shirt was smoking. Anyway some guys still did it in GA when I moved to OK City area. I usually played at Road Dog's there and the owner Danny Harris would go ballistic if he ever saw anyone even smoking near his tables. And I haven't seen it recently in GA. But it was very common.
Our state rep for this area would come to the old pool hall in town and play snooker. I was a young kid got a lot of five dollar lessons on that old table. Lol great memories,he always smoked kools and would set them on the table and mash them flat so they would not roll off. I have watched this movie so many times it is pure entertainment.
So I think the smoking habits have been answered - yes, lit cigs were placed on the rail especially for big money games, you should have seen the rails at the Rack in Oak Park 
. But I always thought the 3-cushion table in Findley's basement was 5x10 so I looked for additional pictures and found this one. It was definitely not an 8 footer.
Dave <---- loves that movie
. But I always thought the 3-cushion table in Findley's basement was 5x10 so I looked for additional pictures and found this one. It was definitely not an 8 footer.Dave <---- loves that movie
Attachments
Ahhhh, spent many, many, probably too many hours adding to those burn marks. Surprisingly enough, back then a room owner would get upset, maybe even threaten to ban you, for trying a jump or masse shot, but not for placing a lit cigarette on the rail. Funny how that works. lol.
J
cleaning those rails
I turned 18 in 1969 and landed a job in my local family billiards room.
Before I could actually work the counter my job was to brush the tables (used a table brush and small whisk broom) and clean the rails after every customer finished their game. Not sure what version of gold crowns they were but a damp cloth always did the job. Everyone smoked and that was the way it was.
I was a smoker myself back then and I was sure I was the poster boy of cool!! My best friend and I still laugh about how dumb I looked with a lit cigarette hanging out of the side of my mouth (the left side) because my left eye was always a little squinty from the smoke.
One of the players in our room was Charlie Sinatra and he claimed to have been both in the movie and a cousin of Frank. We never could nail those claims down, but he was a good old guy and I could picture him in the background sweating those matches between Gleason and Newman.
Great movie and great times.
Best to you all
Tony C
I turned 18 in 1969 and landed a job in my local family billiards room.
Before I could actually work the counter my job was to brush the tables (used a table brush and small whisk broom) and clean the rails after every customer finished their game. Not sure what version of gold crowns they were but a damp cloth always did the job. Everyone smoked and that was the way it was.
I was a smoker myself back then and I was sure I was the poster boy of cool!! My best friend and I still laugh about how dumb I looked with a lit cigarette hanging out of the side of my mouth (the left side) because my left eye was always a little squinty from the smoke.
One of the players in our room was Charlie Sinatra and he claimed to have been both in the movie and a cousin of Frank. We never could nail those claims down, but he was a good old guy and I could picture him in the background sweating those matches between Gleason and Newman.
Great movie and great times.
Best to you all
Tony C
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I'm pretty sure I saw an old video of Buddy Hall where he was smoking and putting the butt on the rail while down on the shot. I used to do it all the time when I used to smoke, back when you could still smoke in bars.
Another sin is for guitarists to stick their cigarette under the strings at the head of the guitar. I used to be a pro guitar repairman, and there were many fine Martins, Gibsons, and Fenders that were scarred by this practice. Takes a bite out of the value, too, unless the axe used to be owned by Stevie Ray.
Another sin is for guitarists to stick their cigarette under the strings at the head of the guitar. I used to be a pro guitar repairman, and there were many fine Martins, Gibsons, and Fenders that were scarred by this practice. Takes a bite out of the value, too, unless the axe used to be owned by Stevie Ray.
"IMHO The Hustler was a movie about alcoholism. Fast Eddie's alcoholism drove everything he did. Ditto for Piper Lawery's character."
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Sorry Charlie - no way Eddie was an alcoholic. He was supposedly "weak in character". That is
what drove his behavior, and had apparently overcome at the end of the film when he beats Fats.
Eddie got stinkin' drunk ONE time - which was categorized as an excuse to loose because
he was a looser
Even more telling - Eddie could have a drink or two and stop at that - ergo NOT an alcoholic.
Dale(who is also not an alcoholic)
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Sorry Charlie - no way Eddie was an alcoholic. He was supposedly "weak in character". That is
what drove his behavior, and had apparently overcome at the end of the film when he beats Fats.
Eddie got stinkin' drunk ONE time - which was categorized as an excuse to loose because
he was a looser
Even more telling - Eddie could have a drink or two and stop at that - ergo NOT an alcoholic.
Dale(who is also not an alcoholic)
The pool in the Hustler was technically ridiculous throughout the entire movie. Fats at one point in the first match banks a ball cross side with the table open.
They are firing in balls so hard the cue ball is jumping and they are playing straight pool. Not to mentioning the shot where he pushes through the ball shooting in the object ball with the cue tip.
There are a lot of mistakes such as when Charlie tells Eddie he has been playing for 24 hours. That would make it the following evening around 8:30 pm. yet there is hardly a sole in the place. The place should be jumping at that time especially with a big money match going on.
It is a movie like most that are best viewed from a distance and not over analyzed. Just enjoy it for what it is, it ain't Shakespeare we already know that.
The Hustler
Sat in watched it the other night with my wife. I took a break from the game for a long time and she came along during that time. Now, I'm back playing and at the pool hall quite a bit. It was nice to enjoy it again with her and she enjoyed it immensely. All movies have their inconsistencies so I don't pay those much attention. It's the characters that make it a classic...
Sat in watched it the other night with my wife. I took a break from the game for a long time and she came along during that time. Now, I'm back playing and at the pool hall quite a bit. It was nice to enjoy it again with her and she enjoyed it immensely. All movies have their inconsistencies so I don't pay those much attention. It's the characters that make it a classic...
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Charlie was also notably in the 1973 blockbuster "The Sting" in which he played one of Doyle Lonnegan's (the oyrish-accented sting victim/mobster played by Robert Shaw) bodyguards:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0226114/?ref_=tt_cl_t14
Arnaldo
Gold Crown with ashtrays built in
I remember playing at a pool hall in Collinsville, IL that had a 9ft Gold Crown with ashtrays built in the corners. I think it was called Breakers and was owned by Harold...although, I cannot remember Harold's last name at the moment. I remember playing in the handicapped 9-ball weekly tournament there. I was a 3...I think the top players were rated like 10 to 13. That was quite some time ago...
I remember playing at a pool hall in Collinsville, IL that had a 9ft Gold Crown with ashtrays built in the corners. I think it was called Breakers and was owned by Harold...although, I cannot remember Harold's last name at the moment. I remember playing in the handicapped 9-ball weekly tournament there. I was a 3...I think the top players were rated like 10 to 13. That was quite some time ago...
Do movies ever really get anything right?
So this thread got me to thinking. I'd be curious if anyone on here has ever seen a movie that "gets it right" related to anything that they have in-depth experience with.
But, we have people on here from all kinds of different backgrounds and professions. So if anybody has a movie that they think pretty accurately represents their job or something they're very familiar with, I'd be interested in knowing what it is so I can watch it.
Movies are made to entertain the non-expert, it usually takes some artistic license to do that.
So this thread got me to thinking. I'd be curious if anyone on here has ever seen a movie that "gets it right" related to anything that they have in-depth experience with.
But, we have people on here from all kinds of different backgrounds and professions. So if anybody has a movie that they think pretty accurately represents their job or something they're very familiar with, I'd be interested in knowing what it is so I can watch it.
Movies are made to entertain the non-expert, it usually takes some artistic license to do that.
While the pool playing is technically weak. The overall story telling, charactors,sets, depiction of the rail birds and thugs, black and white film, and the jazz soundtrack sets the tone for a fantastic movie. Newman and Gleason are awesome together. So they don't play perfect pool. Its just a damn cool movie
Newman chalked the same way in TCOM
They never do, they don't even care. They make movies that are based on a real events we all know the facts about and they will just make up stuff because it makes a better story.
Look at Oliver Stone, he invents his own history.
Watch Scorcese's " 'Round Midnight", starring the late great jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon. When Gordon was nominated for an Oscar, some actors thought it was unfair because they said he was just playing himself. Which I guess he was in a way, but the movie captured the seedy underbelly of the jazz world to the letter IMHO.