there really WAS an "ames billiards" in nyc

[pdcue]

In the 1961 film, "The Hustler", Ames was supposedly in Pittsburgh, not NYC...if you'll recall in one of the opening scenes, when Eddie and Charlie stop for gas, they go across the street to a little bar...inside, during that conversation, the bartender (played by Vincent Gardenia) says something like...you'll make Pittsburgh, in 2, maybe 3 hours...".
Anyone remember the scene I'm referencing here...????

They were pool hustlers - they were only pretending to be going to Pitts
Newman wasn't realy going to get an award either

Dale

 

[pdcue]

i was just watching a dvd that had traffic clips of midtown manhattan, and i saw an "ames billiards" neon arrow sign pointing down a side street. i always thought ames was a fictitious room. i had heard of the other few rooms in midtown but not ames.

if you watch the special features commentary of the film,
not only will you learn more than anyone could ever want to know about film editing, but also about shooting the pool scenes in Ames,
'cauase they shot the film in New York

In the grown-up version of the story<the orig book>
the Fats matches are in Chicago, in a room that is clearly suposed to be Bessingers, the legendary Brunswick(family) affiliated billiard emporeum

Dale

 

[freddy the beard]

Brooklyn Jimmy Cassas

Sure they played each other quite a bit, because sometimes they couldn't get any other game.

Jersey Red was top dog at One Pocket, but couldn't give more than 9-8 to Shorty or Ervolino. If he could get on the table, Shorty would beat everyone.

Richie Ambrose was probably the best 9-Ball player in the bunch, just a hair over the others. And Ervolino was the best at Straights.

If they all started matching up and gambling though, Ervolino would usually get the cash. He gambled better than anyone else for high stakes. You could kind of tell he was top dog around there, everyone deferred to him if there was any serious action.

Some nights I remember watching them play partners One Pocket for maybe 20 a man. They would laugh and joke and rib each other, and make great shots. Blackie and Red were hilarious. Funnier than any comedians I ever saw on TV.

I think Red was the best player of the bunch, but Ervolino could make him dog it a little. It was probably a toss up between those two when they gambled. I saw many players (including me just once) come in and try to play these guys, but once they got them on that tight pocket 10' table by the counter, it was all over.

I don't think Lassiter, Ronnie, Kelly, Taylor or Cornbread was too anxious to come in there and play these guys on their home court. If you somehow beat one guy, there were three more waiting in the wings just as good, if not better. I was around there for over a year and I never heard of anyone beating Red or Johnny at 7-11.

Jay, I love replying to your posts. Everyone is forgetting Brooklyn Jimmy, who had a near perfect batting average in 7/11. He usually made those guys spot him a little, but whatever they gave him was too much. He was by far the smartest hustler in the joint and his hustler moves were legendary. Also, Weenie Beenie brought Eddie Taylor to New York and he strummed Boston Shorty and Jersey Red on the 5x10 table playing 1pkt. He had previously never played on 5x10's. He beat everybody else playing everything else but straight pool. My story sources include years of friendship with Red and Jimmy. Also, 7/11 alumni, Pancho and Little Frankie had spent many months living with me.
Eddie Taylor was also only 1 of 4 players that ever won the money from the top players in the poolrooms on Chicago's Black South Side (Clem Metz, Corn Bread Red, and later on, me). Fading Bugs, Cannonball Lefty, and original Youngblood, among others, was no mean feat. I personally brought Jersey Red down there to play. He played a few games cheap, made an excuse to leave and never returned. He hadnt even gotten around to any of the big guns yet.

the Beard

 

[jay helfert]

Jay, I love replying to your posts. Everyone is forgetting Brooklyn Jimmy, who had a near perfect batting average in 7/11. He usually made those guys spot him a little, but whatever they gave him was too much. He was by far the smartest hustler in the joint and his hustler moves were legendary. Also, Weenie Beenie brought Eddie Taylor to New York and he strummed Boston Shorty and Jersey Red on the 5x10 table playing 1pkt. He had previously never played on 5x10's. He beat everybody else playing everything else but straight pool. My story sources include years of friendship with Red and Jimmy. Also, 7/11 alumni, Pancho and Little Frankie had spent many months living with me.
Eddie Taylor was also only 1 of 4 players that ever won the money from the top players in the poolrooms on Chicago's Black South Side (Clem Metz, Corn Bread Red, and later on, me). Fading Bugs, Cannonball Lefty, and original Youngblood, among others, was no mean feat. I personally brought Jersey Red down there to play. He played a few games cheap, made an excuse to leave and never returned. He hadnt even gotten around to any of the big guns yet.

the Beard

Thanks Freddie. I asked for corrections. I don't doubt Taylor could have been the only one to win in there with that line up. He was without doubt, one of the greatest players of his generation. He had the firepower to beat anyone anywhere.

I'm sorry to not mention Jimmy. I was also one of his many victims. The first time I ever set foot in 7-11, I played an old man (Johnny Irish) and Jimmy the same night. Don't ask me how, but Jimmy got me to spot him the eight, after I lost at One Hole to Irish. What did I know? One guy whose name escapes me at the moment is the tall thin guy who is a craps dealer in Vegas now, at the Mirage. Brooklyn Butch's buddy. He was a good hustler too. ???

If you won money on Chicago's South side, you get my vote. I saw Cannonball and Bugs play (by the way, I would rate Bugs as Taylor's equal) and they were awesome. And I heard Youngblood may have been better overall. Before our time, oldtimers told me that Cannonball used to go to the big Straight Pool tourneys and challenge the champions (in the 50's) to play any game. Denny Searcy style.

 

[gulfportdoc]

Doc...Just a note, but Annagoni didn't write the book...McCumber did. Tony was just the player, that McCumber staked on the trip, and wrote about.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Absolutely right, Scott. David McCumber was the writer and ofttimes backer. Excellent book to read from 1996. Just a note: it's Annigoni with an "i", not an "a".

Doc

 

[gulfportdoc]

Richie Ambrose was probably the best 9-Ball player in the bunch, just a hair over the others. And Ervolino was the best at Straights.

Jay-- stop saying "Straights"! We hate it when you say that. It's like someone saying the "Jeff" Airplane, rather than the Jefferson Airplane; or saying "toodles" rather than "bye-bye". It's like screeching fingernails on a blackboard. Say straight pool, 14.1, call shot, whatever!!

If you don't stop, when they write your obituary they're going to say, "He was a great player, teacher, and life-long devotee of pool; a raconteur of pocket billiards-- loved by many, feared by some. Unfortunaely, he used the word 'straights'..."


Doc

 

[freddy the beard]

John Cannonball Lefty Chapman

One guy whose name escapes me at the moment is the tall thin guy who is a craps dealer in Vegas now, at the Mirage. Brooklyn Butch's buddy. He was a good hustler too. ??? KENO REX?

If you won money on Chicago's South side, you get my vote. I saw Cannonball and Bugs play (by the way, I would rate Bugs as Taylor's equal) and they were awesome. And I heard Youngblood may have been better overall. Before our time, oldtimers told me that Cannonball used to go to the big Straight Pool tourneys and challenge the champions (in the 50's) to play any game. Denny Searcy style.

Excerpt from my next book the GosPool:

John "Cannonball Lefty" Chapman from Chicago's West Side. He played all games, including a smattering of Three-Cushion Billiards. This is how he would warm up before a match: He had such a supple body he would roll up into a ball on the floor; knees up against his chest, head between his legs, arms around his ankles. You could have rolled him down a hill. "Mexican Johnny" Vasquez used to go to the West Side and play Lefty bank pool. I once asked how Lefty played him, and what kind of handicap was involved. Johnny replied that Lefty spotted him 14 to 8 playing banks on a 4' x 8' pool table. I gasped. I couldn't believe anybody on earth could give a journeyman player like Johnny that much spot. I asked him, "How the hell could you possibly lose getting that much weight?" Johnny replied in his inimitable style, "Sheet, man, dat ain't sucha good game. Lefty git a shot, he bank 'leven, bank twelve, bank ten."

the Beard

 

[KweaSr]

i was just watching a dvd that had traffic clips of midtown manhattan, and i saw an "ames billiards" neon arrow sign pointing down a side street. i always thought ames was a fictitious room. i had heard of the other few rooms in midtown but not ames.

yeah, The Hustler was partially filmed there, man

 

[maha]

ames was upstairs and was an old outdated dump.
julians was big and upstairs and decent but no action.
migirrs was downstairs and a dump and scary at least in my time.

7,11 was upstairs and ruthless if you weren't a regular. and it had all the best players which of course were all gamblers.
and a few never mentioned like bob the destroyer, 14th street joey, rex berman, brooklyn jimmy ( hustled everyone even for a dollar and could run a 100 balls any day), tommy halliday(staten island, in the top 3 or 4 of the bestplayers), crazy bruce, and a total assortment of con men,(eddie fuockes) thieves, hustlers, and on lookers.

 

[middleofnowhere]

ames was upstairs and was an old outdated dump.
julians was big and upstairs and decent but no action.
migirrs was downstairs and a dump and scary at least in my time.

7,11 was upstairs and ruthless if you weren't a regular. and it had all the best players which of course were all gamblers.
and a few never mentioned like bob the destroyer, 14th street joey, rex berman, brooklyn jimmy ( hustled everyone even for a dollar and could run a 100 balls any day), tommy halliday(staten island, in the top 3 or 4 of the bestplayers), crazy bruce, and a total assortment of con men,(eddie fuockes) thieves, hustlers, and on lookers.

Tommy (Doc) used to come in my poolroom when he was in Florida with Danny Gartner. I knew crazy bruce and he was really a nut. Oddly enough he played some gimmick games he rarely lost. I saw him once punch himself in the face and almost knock himself out. I heard he missed a ball once and threw himself down a flight of stairs.