Gambling Art

The first time I ever saw a copy of the famous poker playing dogs painting was in my hometown of Sutersville, PA.

Tony Desantis, an Italian emigrant, owned a hotel next to the railroad tracks that ran through town. He found a print of the painting, liked it and hung it over the bar.

There were quite a few poker players in Sutersville, a community made up of hard-working Italians, Germans, Polish people, Irish and Russians. We all admired the painting of the dogs playing poker and made the hotel a popular hangout.

Here it is 50 years later. The hotel no longer exists but the dog painting by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge is more famous than ever. It recently sold at auction for $658,000 after art appraisers had placed the value at somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000.

After picking up the story of the art sale on the Internet, I decided that maybe I have been wasting my time playing poker. Hey, I was a pretty good artist as a kid. I even created my own cartoon series in high school for a drawing class. My main character was a cowboy that I patterned after Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys. My art teacher liked my drawings and I got an A- as my grade.

Now I admit I probably would not have come up with the idea of drawing a portrait of half a dozen dogs of various descriptions playing poker. But let's say this gambling art theme takes off and suddenly there is a demand for it. What then?

I can picture it in my mind's eye: poker players all over the country learning to paint in hopes of becoming another Van Gogh.

If Benny Binion was still alive, I'll bet he would get involved in the art craze. Heck, Benny would probably have been at the auction and would have outbid the unknown person who bought the painting just so he could display it at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. After all, it was Benny who put $1 million in cash on display in $10,000 bills at his casino. He also created the Poker Hall of Fame featuring photos and drawings of America's most famous poker players.

My granddaughter Josie is a budding young artist. While she is only 10 years old, I'll bet I could talk her into doing some drawings of some of my favorite poker personalities. People like Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim, Oklahoma Johnny Hale or Annie Duke.

The painting by Coolidge was one of 16 commissioned by a tobacco company to advertise cigars. He received $10,000 for the painting, which was a good price in the era when it was created.

Tony's old hotel still stands next to the railroad tracks. The next time I visit my home town, I'm going to find out if the dog painting still exists. That would give me more inspiration than I would ever need to try my own hand at doing a gambling painting that just might make a difference in my future. Let's see...who could I draw Phil Hellmuth...Vanessa Selbst...Johnny Chan....or maybe Johnny Moss with his wife Virgie at his side. I need to give this some thinking.....

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).