Playing Pool and Watching a 9 Ball Movie

 

Last night we watched the movie THE COLOR OF MONEY (1980) directed by Martin Scorsese; starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.

Tom Cruise is young and hyper, which he plays hyper so well.

It was a movie about the game of pool, mostly 9 Ball, and pool sharking.  I haven’t seen it before.  It brought back memories.  Memories of the Past Time Grill one block from the Courthouse in Marietta and of course the game of pool, of the owners Neal and his wife, and Howard, the sour crippled man who racked the balls.  And a late friend who gambled away his family’s grocery money for the week.

When we went to Past Time Grill we were under 18 and it was an age requirement so we needed a note from our parents.  A classmate named Nancy wrote  our permission notes.  I wonder if Neal ever realized that all our mothers had the same handwriting

In the movie one of the pool halls frequently visited had a set of long narrow stairs to get to.  I remember once in 1960, on Marietta High School’s Senior Day, a bunch of us went to a pool hall on North Avenue in Atlanta, one block from The Varsity Restaurant and It had an identical staircase.  I think I vaguely remember somebody of high school authority saw us leave and we had some explaining to do.

After we were married and had two boys we bought a used regulation pool table which I think was a good investment at the time.  Then in time our boys moved out and the pool table in he basement was used only to fold laundry so we put it up for sale.  There were no takers so we put It up for free.  There was one young man who wanted it but taking it apart and moving it would take some expertise which he did not have, and the young man couldn’t afford to pay for it.  So we paid for it.

I am not completely pooless now.  I have a computer game 3D POOL SHARK which looks like real colored balls with the right color with the right balls, applying the right English works, even the clicking sounds of balls hitting each other sounds realistically.  But no electronic Howard to rack the balls for us.