In 1961, The Hustler was released in America. The film took the nation by storm, telling the story of “Fast Eddie” Felson, a pool shark who challenged legendary “Minnesota Fats” on his home turf. It was based on a 1959 novel of the same name, which took its inspiration from Bensinger’s, a legendary pool hall located in a windowless basement on Diversey and Broadway in Chicago.
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“All you could smell was all the action and an atmosphere of a torture chamber,” said Artie Bodendorfer, a nearly unbeatable one-pocket pool hustler. “It was the greatest and most exciting pool room to be in, with all the high class, low class, thieves, killers, judges, lawyers, politicians, policemen, gentlemen, pimps, drug addicts, con men. You name it – Bensinger’s had it all.”
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In 1970, Helaine Garren (1944-2016), a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, stepped inside Bensinger’s and got to work on her first assignment. Garren, who long enjoyed playing pool herself, recalled having spent “many of my bad-girl years learning the game”.
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