Marty Reisman, the real-life table tennis legend nicknamed “The Needle” for his slender frame, inspired Timothée Chalamet’s Marty Mauser in A24’s Marty Supreme, capturing his hustling spirit in 1940s-50s New York. Born on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to a gambler taxi driver father and Soviet émigré mother, Reisman rose from poverty—parents divorced at 10, living in the Broadway Central Hotel—to junior champion at 13. He died in 2012 from heart and lung issues after a chaotic life of fortunes won and lost.
Hustler’s Rise and Scandals
Reisman dominated underground parlors like Lawrence’s Broadway Table Tennis Club, betting big and earning hundreds nightly amid misfits, gamblers, and celebs like Dustin Hoffman. At 15, a $500 self-bet backfired when handed to the U.S. Table Tennis Association president, getting him booted from a Detroit tournament. He smuggled nylon stockings to 1948 Worlds in London, selling for profit, and later gold bars and Rolexes in a custom vest. A 1949 English Open stunt—racking up a lavish hotel bill and threatening to bail on exhibitions—led to fines and global suspension.
Signature Tricks and Legacy
Famous for snapping cigarettes mid-air with a ping-pong ball on Tonight Show and Letterman, Reisman measured nets with $100 bills and became a three-time millionaire (and ex-millionaire). Post-sponge racket era sidelining him competitively, he founded Table Tennis Nation in 2010 to promote fun. Opened for Harlem Globetrotters, won 22 majors, and recited Shakespeare to strangers into his 80s.
Film vs. Reality
Marty Supreme loosely draws from Reisman’s memoir The Needle, per director Josh Safdie, fictionalizing elements like affairs and rivals while echoing shoe clerk gigs and revenge plots against Japanese champ Hiroji Satoh. Reisman’s bad-boy allure—flirtations, schemes, introspection—fuels the dramedy, reviving his story amid the film’s $26-27M holiday box office.
