Tag Archives: billiards TV

Sanford and Son – “A House is not a Poolroom”

There are no amazing billiards shots. There are no dark, musty barrooms.  There are no cameos from billiards professionals.  There is no mention of Brunswick or Olhausen or Viking, just a nameless fold-up pool table and four cues protruding from a milk crate.  But, “A House is not a Poolroom,” the November 1973 episode of Season 3 of the sitcom Sanford and Son is great billiards TV all the same.

Sanford and Son - Billiards TVThe premise of the episode is that after Lamont (Demond Wilson) gets his father Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) a pool table for his birthday, he neither can get his father away from the table to attend to his family responsibilities, nor can he get any peace and privacy in house, since his father’s gaggle of friends have now ‘moved in’ to use the table.

Of course, what makes this individual episode hilarious (available below in its entirety) is the same ingredient that worked so well for Sanford and Son during most of its 6-year run: the brilliant comedian Redd Foxx, who helped turn racial prejudices on their head through Fred Sanford’s in-your-face antics, quick-witted tongue, conniving personality, and over-the-top selfishness.

Billiards, a sport requiring incredible mental stamina, has always provided a great stage for taunts, boasts, jests, and, in general, any kind of oral one-upmanship. (For a refresher, check out how Jonathan Winters rattles Jack Klugman in the seminal billiards TV Twilight Zone episode “A Game of Pool.”)

In “A House is not a Poolroom,” Redd Foxx unleashes his acerbic wit on his friend Grady with one-liners such as, “I’ll whip you like I was your daddy”; “I can roll you big fat guys up into one big round ball, and use you for a cue stick and beat both of you”; and “Grady, I could beat you blind-folded, one arm tied behind me, and the other one in a cast wearing armored shoes in the hospital having an emergency appendectomy.”

The other wonderfully humorous thing about the episode is how it captures the lure of pool.  Once the table is in the house, Fred ignores all his other responsibilities, as well as his romantic interest Donna, to keep playing.  The table becomes Mecca for his friends.  In fact, the cruel irony is that Fred must ultimately get rid of the table, lest he have to keep putting out money to feed his friends.

Finally, it’s worth noting that “A House is not a Poolroom” was likely the first in a history of black sitcom episodes to prominently feature billiards.  Three years later, there was another Sanford and Son TV episode indirectly about billiards called “Carol.”  And then in the ‘90s, billiards was prominently featured both on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (“Bank Shots” (1991)) and twice on The Steve Harvey Show (“Pool Sharks Git Bit” (1996) and “What You Won’t Cue For Love” (1998)).  Were there others?  Let me know.

Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool (Billiards TV)

In almost 60 years of billiards TV, one episode is consistently – and perhaps, rightfully – lauded as the best:  “A Game of Pool” from Season 3 of The Twilight Zone.   Aired in October 1961, just 3 weeks after The Hustler was released on the big screen, this 25-minute show is about “the story of the best pool player living and the best pool player dead,” according to Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling.

Jack Klugman stars as Jesse Cardiff (the best pool player living) and Jonathan Winters stars as James Howard “Fats” Brown (the best pool player dead).  That’s it.  Two great actors in a single room pool hall on Randolph Street in Chicago. How these two come to play pool is because Jesse yells aloud, “I’d give anything, anything to play him one game!”  And, since this is the Twilight Zone, the deceased Fats suddenly appears, saying to the dumbstruck Jesse, “[Am I] dead?…Not really…as long as people talk about you, you’re not really dead.”

Faced with an once-in-a-lifetime (literally) opportunity to play Fats, Jesse accepts the terms of Fats’ deal: “Life or death.  You beat me, you live; you lose, you die.” And so begins a game of 14.1 continuous pool (i.e., straight pool, same game in The Hustler) to 300 points.  For those that don’t know, straight pool is played by pocketing any called ball into a designated pocket.  Each pocketed ball is a point.  For a given rack, when one ball is remaining on the table, the opponent re-racks the remaining 14 balls before game play continues.

While the filmed pool playing is at best average (except for a couple nice three-cushion shots), there are two aspects of the billiards that are noteworthy.  First, there’s nothing brief about straight pool.  As one reviewer noted, given the final score approaches 299-266, that translates into about 40 racks, or easily 5-6 hours of play. It’s no wonder both men are sweating considerably.

The second aspect is the trash-talking. Pool, like so many sports, is a true mental game.  And pool players will often do what they can to rattle their opponents.  In this match, the taunting starts before play even begins, as Fats says to Jesse, “You like to play with fire, but you don’t like to cook…deep down you know you’re second rate.” As the game progresses, Fats condescendingly lectures Jesse that “pool is geometry…a science of precise angles and forces.”  And, in the final points (for reasons we only understand at the very end), he resorts to cheap tactics to distract Jesse.   Since this is the Twilight Zone, we know there will be a final twist.  I won’t give it away.  Watch the episode.

The full episode of “A Game of Pool” is available to watch above.  “A Game of Pool” was also remade in 1989, starring Esai Morales and Maury Chaykin.

And as a final postscript, let us say R.I.P. to Jonathan Winters, who passed away just 3 months ago.