Typecast as a Pool Hall
By MICHAEL POLLAK

. Didn't they shoot the pool scenes in "The Hustler" somewhere in New York?

A. Indeed they did. The classic 1961 pool movie, starring Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson and Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats, used the Ames Billiard Academy in Times Square, a second-floor loft at 160 West 44th Street, at Seventh Avenue, for its on-location pool hall.

Just off camera during the weeks of shooting was Willie Mosconi, then the national pocket billiards champion, who shot for Newman in the close-ups (Gleason, a hustler himself, did his own shooting). Mosconi also had to set up shots easy enough for the actors to polish off when the scene called for it.

The pool hall was deliberately dirtied up to help underscore the film's seedy mood, with a cracked-paint job, knee-high spittoons and a faded poster reading "Please do not spit on the floor." In fact, the real Ames played host to the New York State three-cushion championships in the 60's. (For some players, three-cushion is to pocket billiards as Dom Perignon is to Night Train.)

New York added real larceny to the local color during the shooting: two municipal electrical inspectors were arrested and charged with trying to shake down 20th Century Fox to overlook any electrical violations on the set.

Changing pastimes and the decline of Times Square took its toll on Ames. "The place later became a hangout for those just kicked out of the movie houses at 4 in the morning," the owner, Abe Ames, said in July 1966, when the poolroom closed its doors. Furthermore, all the hustlers were playing elsewhere in big-money tournaments, thanks in part to the success of the movie that Ames helped bring to life.

A high-rise tower occupies that block, and the poolroom's corner now houses the studio for the ABC show "Good Morning America."

And here's a piece of trivia for would-be hustlers: The film's working title during the New York shooting was "Sin of Angels."