Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-06-09
Runyon Finds
HisOld Poem
Seeks Second
Una duIterafed Edition
Turns Up in I|linoiN1I
BY DAMON RUNYON
spool Shootin' Roy

Who run to Dodge and back.
He was killed in a wreck at La
Junta,
And he left the wife and boy
A kid kpee-high to hop toad
And tagged by the name Of
Roy.
This boy was sort o. ornery.
And he never would 90 I'd
school,
But spent the most Of his boy-l
hood days
In learnin' the game Of pool. I
Pool Shootin' Roy we called him.
And many a night I've set
Watchin' him clean the table
And putin his cigarette.
Sleeves rolled up to his elbows,
And playin' so calm and COOL
II ever a lad was born to q
thing,
He was born to playin' that
pool.
His shoulders grew, somewhat
rounded
And his chest grew rather
thin,
But gosh, he became q marvel
At knockin' them pool balls In !.
Fifteen balls was a cinch. h.
him.
Fifteen balls from the break.
One ball loose from the bunch q
bit
And the whole darned rack
he'd take.
He was great on a combination,
Great on a cut shot, too;
He'd make those pool balls talk
to him
When he started handlin' 4
cue.
Days, he'd stand on the corners
Battin' his eyes at tho sun:
Night, he was busy at Dan Nc.
CURES
Maxim some wonderful run.
His shoulders grew round and
rounder,
His chest grew thinner than
thin,
But better and better this Roy
At knockin' them pool balIs'i in.
1 Most of us thought he'd be
champion,
But every one didn't agree
And Doctor Wilcox wanted to
bet
He'd die of the old TB.
But the war 1t settled the ques-
ton
| For the first of our lads to 60
Was Pool Shootin" Roy Nc
Auliffe,
And our pool room suffered a
| blow!
What is that thing the Freneh-
men give
To good game fghtin' boys
Say 10 again-the Cruz dee CAREY
| Well. that's tohdt they give to
Roy.
II seems fifteen Germans 49,
on him -
And handlin' him rather msas,
When he got machine gun
porkin'.
And pocketed the whole ffteerl
THE above verse was COM
Il mitted by your columnist
during the first World War, and
while I rarely offer my readers
material of this nature nova
days, I am reprinting IL by way
of correcting Mr.. Swiftly Nor
gan's rendition Of same.
Mr.. M org n, well-known
Broadway bon vivant, has been
reciting this verse for years,
claiming he memorized II while
guest of the city Of Omaha
when IL first appeared long ago.
His recitation. which Is accom-
panied by gesticulations, is con-
sidered the high spot of Mr..
Morgan's dramatic efforts.
I never could remember
more than line or two of my
own verse a week after publica.
ton and never preserved a file
of il. but whenever I heard Mr..
Morgan's version of "P DOL
Shootin' Roy" felt there was
something radically wrong. I
sensed certain revisions that
struck me as Morganesque
rather than pure Runyon.
r SOUGHT the original YER
Il sion in the archives Of the
New York American in which
the verse first appeared but
found that the particular back
copy / was after had been de-
stroyed by fire. / had about
made up my mind that posterity
would have to be content with
the Morgan version when Mr..
]. L. Mitchell of True Story
Magazine took up the pursuit
1t seems Mr.. Mitchell ha
friend, Mr.. Ben B. Bryan "
Lake Forest, ILL.,, who has long
included Pool Shootin' Roy in
his repertoire of REGULATIONS and
Mr.. Bryan had the unadulter-