The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-07-02
lALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS
NEW YORK. July 2.

NEW YORK, July 2.
UOU DO not hear much OF bill
ii nards or billiard rooms any
more and maybe that is why you
do not see Jack Doyle's name IN
the sports pages as often as did
a younger generation. But Mr..
DOYLE Is still operating a hall in the
Times Square district, not very Tar
from the place where he, in the
company Of John j. McGraw. the
baseball manager, and Tod Sloan
the great jockey, opened what vas
destined TO be the most famous
billiard layout in the town.
This was some twenty-five years ago
more or less and at a time when u was
very smart 10 take cue and bang away
AZ the three balls in a spirited and ener-
retio Impersonstion Of the dexterous sehae-
fer. In those DAYS fellow could crop
into DoyIe's Of an evening and see the
big shots. II was q sort OF intormai
club for the Broadway piay boys. TOP hisht
actors and members Of the sun-dodEing
uterati.
10 also was AaIA0AN AtA AAI -~'~N--F
writer's and Doyle usually vas kept busy
assuring city editors that the head re-
write man had left for the office more
thsn an hour ago. And when ne left
here he vas in good shape. too
TT appears that in those days
i Doyle conducted a very swell
bar in connection with his bill
lard tables. and it was the quaint
custom of the indoor athletes Of the
period to execute the more intri-
cate shots with one foot poised
lightly on the brass rail, with the
result that some very hilarious ex-
hibitions were committed.
But things have changed a great deal
in recent years and no longer is Doyles
han a gathering place for giamorous
6rurss. II probably is nothing more than
n coincidence that interest in billiards be-
gan 70 fall of with the arrival Of the
maddox and the hip flask. but the fiscal
records of the Institution show this to be
a fact.
Mr. DOYLE isn't inclined to blame the
blue nosed moralists for the slump in bill
Iards. Rather he attributes II 10 the
growing popularity O. = Sos
"THE fellow that used to have
three or four hours to spend
at billiards now hops into his car,
buzzes out to a club and dies
thousand deaths in the bunkerS. 1
can't say I blame him much. It's
not a bad racket. and there is
something to be said for the fresh
air. although 1 can remember the
time when fresh air was something
to be taken in moderation, if at
all"
Mr.. DOYLE probably is better known
around the country these DAYS a betting
commissioner on prize fights and bali
games than a proprietor Of billiard hall.
Doyle doesn't carry many of the risks
himself. He lays most of them of. Which
is TO say he shops around and whenever he
can unIoads the same bet at more at
traetive odds for himself. This represents
his commission. or his charge for service.
But this business has gone into a slump
that the foul outs and the groin grsbbers
in the racket that is known az prize hight
ing is responsible.
"DEOPLE don't bet on fights like
IL they used to-" says Doyle.
There was less betting on the
Sharkey-Schmeling fight than on
any heavyweight fight around here
for ten years. If they hold another
heavyweight fight before the sum-
MGR Is over there won't be a dime
bet on it."