Post by barnold on Feb 19, 2023 0:49:35 GMT
Pinball used to be illegal in several municipalities, including New York, until a man named Roger Sharpe made an appearance before the Manhattan City Council to demonstrate that pinball was a game of skill, not a game of chance. Sharpe's demonstration of skill in which he successfully called his shots before making them with the flippers was instrumental in the counsel's unanimous decision to lift the ban on pinball machines and overturn their classification as gambling machines.
While Sharpe's pinball demonstration is well-known and reported about from various news organizations, one piece of media related to this demonstration has never been publicly located: the news reel footage of Sharpe's actual demonstration.
It has been confirmed that there was at least one video camera at the Manhattan City Council meeting when Sharpe performed this demonstration, as verified by this photograph sourced from a news report on the hearing:
An alternate image with a better picture of the reporter's microphone reveals that WNEW, a primarily progressive rock based radio station, also may have some recordings taken from this demonstration:
Since WNEW was a radio station, it is unlikely that the video footage was recorded by them, although it is helpful to point out that WNEW was owned by DuMont Broadcasting Corporation at this time, which also owned WABD (Channel 5) in the metropolitan New York area. It is conceivable that this video could have been recorded for use in a WABD report, however no footage related to this demonstration has ever been located and it is unknown if it still exists. Neither Roger Sharpe or his son, Josh, who currently operates the International Flipper Pinball Association which sanctions competitive pinball play across the world, have been successful in locating the source or status of this video tape.
It would be interesting if this tape could be found as it was monumental to the renewed interest in pinball which has carried through to present day.
While Sharpe's pinball demonstration is well-known and reported about from various news organizations, one piece of media related to this demonstration has never been publicly located: the news reel footage of Sharpe's actual demonstration.
It has been confirmed that there was at least one video camera at the Manhattan City Council meeting when Sharpe performed this demonstration, as verified by this photograph sourced from a news report on the hearing:
An alternate image with a better picture of the reporter's microphone reveals that WNEW, a primarily progressive rock based radio station, also may have some recordings taken from this demonstration:
Since WNEW was a radio station, it is unlikely that the video footage was recorded by them, although it is helpful to point out that WNEW was owned by DuMont Broadcasting Corporation at this time, which also owned WABD (Channel 5) in the metropolitan New York area. It is conceivable that this video could have been recorded for use in a WABD report, however no footage related to this demonstration has ever been located and it is unknown if it still exists. Neither Roger Sharpe or his son, Josh, who currently operates the International Flipper Pinball Association which sanctions competitive pinball play across the world, have been successful in locating the source or status of this video tape.
It would be interesting if this tape could be found as it was monumental to the renewed interest in pinball which has carried through to present day.
