Untold Stories: The Legacy of The Hustler

Even when he had use of all 10 digits, Fast Eddie (center) was far from the family-friendly spokesman the industry wanted.

But before I continue, let's place the film in context. In that period just prior to "The Hustler," there were approximately 8,000 poolrooms in operation nationwide. That marked an 80 percent decline from the number in operation prior to 1930. In New York, the nation's pool-playing capital, approximately 250 rooms were in operation just prior to the movie's release. Four decades earlier there had been 4,000. "The old neighborhoods and the corner halls are gone," said Cy Kalmet, co-owner of New York's Paddy's poolroom, speaking during the late 1950s. "During the Depression a billiard room was a poor man's club - he met his friends here and passed away the day. - Now the family plans its entertainment in advance, and they all go out together, and the only thing you can be sure of is that they're not coming in (to the poolrooms) any more."

Conventional wisdom held that pool's association with gambling and gamblers was ruining the sport. Brunswick Billiards, Willie Mosconi, the powers that be: they all agreed on this point. Brunswick tried to clean up the sport's image by pushing an alternative name, insisting on the term "pocket billiards" rather than the less dignified "pool." Brunswick also ran advertising in which it portrayed pool played by wholesome-looking families. But nothing worked and by the late 1950s, with the public's interest at a low point, the BCA even stopped sanctioning tournaments.

"Iron" Joe Procita (holder of the record for the highest straight-pool run in a world championship) complained that "television and bowling" had taken over. Nobody cared about pool anymore, he said. "I used to get $700 a month to travel around the country and give exhibitions. Now I just manage to eat on what I make from a few lessons and a tournament here and there." His wife Faye went even further. "It would take a miracle or a patron saint to bring billiards back," she said.

On Sept. 25, 1961, with the release of "The Hustler," pool would get both. The film caused an explosion in the sport's popularity - that was the miracle - and readied America for pool's greatest-ever PR man, Rudolf Wanderone. He was the patron saint. I've written plenty about Wanderone before, so I won't dwell upon him too much here. With regards to the explosion in the game's popularity, however, I will say this: the dramatic change that followed was neither gradual, nor slight. One manufacturer reported a jump in sales of more than 1,000 percent, from $329,000 before "The Hustler" to $4 million shortly afterward. About 2,000 new pool centers popped up across the country within the course of six months. "So rapid has been the resurgence of the billiard boon that deliveries of tables and equipment are slow and skilled workers difficult to find," the New York Herald Tribune reported on July 14, 1963. And this renewed interest in pool continued throughout much of the 1960s.

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