Who was the real Marty Supreme? – Table tennis England

Of Marty Supreme in theaters and its star, Timothee Chalamet, hotly tipped to get an Oscar nomination later this week, we look at the World Championships medalist who inspired the character Marty Mauser.

World Championships results courtesy of Matt Solt.

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Born in 1930 in New York, Marty Reisman was already a well-known figure in the city in his teenage years.

Raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at age 13 he became a fixture at Lawrence’s Broadway Table Tennis Club, where he would force unsuspecting challengers into money matches.

While this aspect of his life is depicted fairly accurately – at least in spirit – in the film, much of the rest of the storyline is fictional.

However, one thing the Marty Mauser character certainly has in common with Marty Reisman is the world-class table tennis they play(ed).

Chalamet reportedly trained for seven years so that he would look authentic in the scenes where he competes in the ‘British Open’ and when he takes on his Japanese nemesis ‘Koto Endo’ in Japan.

Reisman’s early money-seeking years took him on a journey to compete in five World Championships and had a real rivalry with Japan’s Hiroji Satoh.

His first World Cup was in London when Wembley hosted the 1948 edition and started with a medal – bronze as the USA finished third in the men’s team. Along the way he defeated England’s Johnny Leach, who would become men’s singles champion the following year, 22-20, 25-23, while the US defeated England.

In the individual events, Reisman went out in the last 32 of the men’s singles, losing to England’s Richard Bergmann in what looks to be a thriller – the score 3-2 (22-20, 18-21, 21-14, 19-21, 21-12) for Bergmann, who went on to win the gold. He retired in the last 16 of the two doubles matches.

Three bronze medals followed in 1949 in Stockholm when he reached the semi-finals of the men’s singles, where he lost 23-21, 21-18, 21-15 to Bohumil Vana of Czechoslovakia, who was defeated in the final by Leach.

Reisman & Peggy McLean lost the mixed doubles semifinals to Czechoslovakia’s Vana & Kveta Hrusakova, and the U.S. won another bronze in the men’s team.

Having not competed in 1950, Reisman returned to the World Championships in Vienna in 1951, but there was no medal. Just as in 1948, he came into contact with the English player who would win the men’s singles. This time it was Leach, in the last 16 the Englishman won 21-9, 21-17, 21-17.

Reisman’s last World Championships were in Bombay in 1952, where Satoh became the first world champion to use sponge on his bat – beating Reisman 18-21, 21-12, 21-15, 21-12 in the second round. Reisman, ostensibly a favorite to win the title, went to the consolation event, which he won.

However, he did take his fifth and final World Championship medal, another bronze alongside Douglas Cartland in the men’s doubles.

Reisman was outspoken in his opposition to sponge and rubber on bats and it is likely that he withdrew from international competition because their use became widespread and he was unable or unwilling to adapt.

In addition to his World Cup successes, he won two United States Opens and the English Open in 1948/49.

He is also notable for touring the world from 1949 to 1951, performing a table tennis comedy routine with Douglas Cartland for the opening act of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Reisman continued to play for most of his life, becoming the oldest player to win an open national competition in a racquet sport by winning the 1997 U.S. National Hardbat Championship at the age of 67.

He competed at the World Veterans Championships in Manchester in 1998 and featured in the Table tennis news report of the championships, photographed together with one of his opponents, the English Henry Buist. The pair were described as having played an “epic” hardbat.

Reisman, who became known as The Needle for his slim build – plus his ability to use his ability to get under the skin of opponents – died in 2012.