Frank Paradise was from
the cradle of east coast cuemaking in the 60's. That being the NY/NJ
area. Never had any single area had the two most talked about cuemakers
in a 25 mile radius. Paradise and Balabushka, if you didn't have
one of these cues, you might as well have been shooting with a broom
handle. Frank used mother of pearl and did for cues, what Martin
did for guitars. His use of acrylic/catalin/bakelite plastics revolutionized
the art of cuemaking. You can say he was way before his time. Metal,
sure, aluminum, brass, stainless, there wasn't a metal he didn't
like. Some of Franks innovations, clear window name plate with foil,
screw off ferrules, pinning the joint metal.
He employed some of the
area's best talent. You might have heard of them, Eugene and Peter
Balner, Karl Mayer, Mike Ferdunka, Jack Colavita.
His cues are the most often
under appreciated cues. But they are coming on fast, from his plain
window cues to his Diamond Kings. They are just starting to get
to the prices and into the collections they have long been missing
from. If you collect these period cues, you must have a Paradise.
Frank made some of the most
unusual, gaudy, and some of the classiest sticks of his time. But
not much is known about Frank, but we were able to dig up an article
that appeared in the National Bowlers Journal and Billiard Revue,
dated October 1964. Enjoy.....
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