As you know I never write about pool, but I just had to show you this inspiring installation.
The table is a fully restored art deco [Note: See Mathew H.'s comment below] style Brunswick-Balke-Collender Centennial, first produced in 1945 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of Brunswick. (To give you an idea just how big billiards used to be, in 1909 Brunswick was the largest single consumer of raw hardwood in the world). Materially the Centennial also celebrates the end of WWII, because the fluting is aluminum and the table was produced just as wartime restrictions on civilian use of aluminum for commercial purposes ended. The Centennial was manufactured until 1964.
EMD F9. Photo by Laura Scudder.
Stylistically, the Centennial reminds me somewhat of the long-lived, art-deco-inspired EMD F- and E-series locomotives, some of which (not this one) had similar fluted metal panels on their sides. Might even have been the design inspiration for the table, I don't know.
The owner couldn't find a light fixture to match, so he made his own, from an unfinished blank provided by Diamond Billiard Products. Complete with custom metal castings.
Believe it or not, the pictures come from a "for sale" ad (wish I could find the link but I've lost track). [UPDATE: Here it is. Thanks to Gary Filkins.] The owner was downsizing and moving to Florida and wasn't going to have room for a table in his new place. Along with the equally astonishing cue stand, that lucky buyer sure made a unique score!
Mike
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
John Camp: "Thank god you never write about billiards because that's the kind of post that makes my eyes roll back in their sockets, and sometimes they're hard to get unstuck. I hate that thing where you have to pry them loose with a sharp pencil point."
Mike replies: But you like dogs, right? So then you're sure to love this. (Big thanks to Catherine Barber.)
Mathew Hargreaves: "Technically, the styling is Streamline, which tends to be a stylish variation of the Bauhaus minimalist movement. Both were about form following function. When you think of Art Deco, consider the Chrysler building of New York. Art Deco tends to visual decorations like the Frozen Fountain design. In the camera field, the 1936 Kodak Bullet 127 film camera is a good match to the pool table. I have just acquired some color and black-and-white films to shoot with my example of the Bullet. From what I have seen of other pictures taken with this model some Photoshop work will be needed.
"The astronomical print arrived and looks lovely. Am looking forward to the DDB Lincoln Monument print."
The Lazy Aussie: "The table is stunningly beautiful."
BTW, the styling, as Matthew say, is Streamline, but may also be "Moderne", a moniker that's applied to a lot of 30's era streamline products and architecture...
Posted by: Crabby Umbo | Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 06:04 AM
The locomotive that you're probably looking for is an EMD E5 built exclusively for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. There's one preserved example at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL as part of their Nebraska Zephyr. It's fully operational and tours occasionally.
Posted by: Chris | Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 10:11 AM
What's next...? Dogs playing poker?
[Dogs can't play poker. You always know how they're feeling! [g] --Mike]
Posted by: Michael Bulbenko | Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 03:23 PM
And by the way, EMD is the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors, not General Electric.
[Fixed. Thanks Edd. --Mike]
Posted by: Edd Fuller | Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 07:28 PM
It would almost be worth learning to play, to be able to use a table like that. Incidentally, does anyone else see the similarity in the locomotive windshields and projecting front to the eyes and snout of a dog? It helps if you crop so that just a square in the upper right hand corner of the photo is left.
Posted by: Bill Tyler | Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 08:02 PM
Here's an Art Deco locomotive:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/cd/30/9d/cd309dbb0bf1293cff5a3d97ef525e0e.jpg
Posted by: misha | Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 09:58 PM
Damned I only played pool and biljart as a student but this pooltable looks as stunning as a Wurlitzer of the same era.....indeed streamline.
Greets, Ed.
Posted by: Ed | Sunday, 20 July 2014 at 03:43 AM
For me, this is the height of style. It's sleek, glossy and mechanical, but the radiused curves add a humane element. And the Bauhaus love of simple geometric forms makes it all logical and comprehensible. There's a discipline and rigor that far exceeds today's post-modern "little of this, little of that" aesthetic.
Long live Streamline Moderne!
Posted by: John McMillin | Sunday, 20 July 2014 at 09:13 AM