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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