George Balabushka - American Legend
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
George Balabushka was born on December the 9th 1912. He was a Russian born legendary cue maker , arguably one of the most prominent in that profession. He is sometimes referred to as the “Stradivarius” of cuemakers.
George Balabushka was born in Russia in 1912 and emigrated to the USA in 1924. His family , parents Anton and Natalie and sister Mary settled in New York. His original name was Gregory but as was the case with many immigrants he was given a new name of George by officials when he was processed through Ellis Island. He was known throughout his life as a quiet reflective man who was diligent in all that he did.
His first job was that of a Toy designer and maker in New York. He soon graduated to building children’s furniture for the “Playtime Woodworking Company” located in Greenwich village. Unfortunately Balabushka lost his middle finger in an electrical saw accident on the job and made himself a replacement plastic finger from a wooden mould of such craftmanship that even his friends did not realise of his loss until long after the accident occurred.It was while working in the village that he met his wife Josephine , a neighbourhood resident. They were married in 1941 and bought a home in Brooklyn several years later. They had two sons Gregory and George both named after their father.
Balabushka although busy with both life and work was an avid Billiards player , his particular speciality being “Straight Pool” (this game was immortalised in the 1961 movie The Hustler) He played a lot of competitions and spent a lot of time with some excellent practitioners of the game. In 1959 he purchased a Pool hall with a partner Frank McGowan which was located at 50th Street and 5th Avenue. Whilst running the club he began repairing cues and it was not long before he formed the idea of building his own cues.
By the end of 1959 Balabushka had built a number of cues , most of which were given to friends as Christmas giffts. As time went on he began to receive orders for his cues. His first cues were conversions of the popular Brunswick cues manufactured as “Titliest”. At the time their were very few small cuemakers with the market being dominated by big manufacturers.Between 1959 and 1962 Balalbushka handcrafted between 20-30 cues per year on a part time basis. Because of the dearth of independent cue makers and the outstanding quality of his product , his name became well known with Professional players and by the end of 1962 he was receiving far more orders than he could fulfill. He therefore decided to sell his interest in The Pool Room and convert his garage into a workshop and by 1964 he was working full time honing his skills.
Unlike many of the manufacturers of the day Balabushka was keen to ensure his cues had a mix of fine craftmanship and excellent playing characteristics. This reflected the values he had always held during his days in the carpentry business. In addition he was an innovator in Cue finishes and designs. His cues were not elaborate as they are today , rather most are plain without great flourishes. However many of his trademark construction techniques have become standard in the industry today. The use of Irish linen as wrap and the block style ringwork above the wrap being known as “Bushka’s Rings”
George Balabushka died in 1975 at the age of 63 . He was posthumously honoured as the first inductee into the “American Cuemakers Association” in February 1993 . In 2004 he was inducted into “The Meritorious Service” category of The Billiard Congress of America Hall Of Fame.
It is estimated that Balabushka only produced between 1000-1200 cues during his lifetime . However by the mid 1960’s fake Balabushka cues started to circulate in the market , he was by this time recognised as the finest cuemaker of the era. Although his cues and reputation were well known by collectors interested in valuable cues , his reputation was further enhanced by Martin Scorcese’s 1986 film “The Color Of Money”. In the film Tom Cruise’s character (Vincent Lauria) is presented a cue by (Fast Eddie Felson) played by Paul Newman. Vincent takes his cue and breathlessly ask’s “Is that a Balabushka ?” The cue actually used in the film was in fact a “Joss” cue made to look like a Balabushka.
Today genuine Balabushka cues with documented provenance fetch tens of thousands of dollars at auction. However be careful because there are lots of fake cues in existence , (even the fakes can be quite valuable). To complicate matters further permission was given by Balabushka’s family to produce a line of replicas under licence to the “Adam Custom Cue Company”.
George Balabushka and his cues remain an American legend !
I am delighted to report that one of our previous customers has managed to sell his table via Snooker Mart to a new owner in Lincolnshire.