Set 'Em Up (1939)

A film short from 1939, "Set 'Em Up" features one of bowling's biggest early stars, Ned Day, along with bowling legend and trick shot artist Andy Varipapa. Note that this was back in the day when bowlers only inserted two fingers into the ball, and no one had yet invented "rangefinders" (the dots and arrows on the lane for alignment). Oh yeah, and the world was still seven years away from the first automatic pinspotter.

[@ShakespeareCafe]

I love the sounds and smell of a bowling alley

[@LogoMan7777]

Butch and Sally's love story is still better than Twilight.

[@EnenzoGD]

Greg Palmer lmao

[@johnseal56]

It's an oddly dramatic subplot for such a short subject!

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

😏😂

[@randrrr2193]

I remember them saying Ned Day had over 100 perfect games, and Andy had 46. That pin boy's feet hanging over the lane would distract me.

[@Charadoe2031]

I can't imagine how weird it'd be to get out of a time machine in a bowling alley where there's pin boys. It would be so uncanny to see anything but a machine pick them up live in the flesh.

[@dominicperri1313]

“Sallys Pop is a great bowler” (Fouls by three inches)

[@pauldzim]

Little did those pinspotter lads know that in 7 years robots would take their jobs away

[@mariorocks9924]

This is very interesting!!! :-) thank you for sharing this! I'm a bowler for Special Olympics!!!! ;)

[@darrenangle4493]

Really enjoyed this. Very fun video to watch.

[@NLind]

Man that cool ball return at the beginning! Those must have been really rare.

[@jctorontojctoronto]

My dad used to be a pinsetter..could be a dangerous job

[@2pugman]

I worked at a new 48 lane center in January of 1961. Andy Varipapa had me drop the curtain on a machine so he could make a surprise entrance for the crowd.

[@tirmyta]

Wow! That was some cool old bowling. I kept expecting to see Fred Flintstone. :-)

[@jamieseiple]

"Twinkle Toes Freddie"

[@dariowiter3078]

Yabba Dabba Doo! 🎳🎳🎳🎳🎳 😁😁😁😁😁

[@billp4]

I believe they used a monkey back then to set up the pins.

[@willstyron1738]

This video is one of the most amazing bowling video ever!!!! I never knew that people bowled back then!!

[@chriskelly509]

They had bowling lanes in the 1860's

[@johnseal56]

And up to this standard since 1895.

[@VinylToVideo]

I'm surprised you never deleted this embarrassing comment.

[@Charadoe2031]

@@VinylToVideo There's nothing embarrassing about not knowing something. Only losers and children attempt to make people feel bad about things that they don't know. Worse yet, you act like the correct course of action if you don't know something is to erase the evidence once it's found out. That's called cowardice.

[@marybranicki3354]

I just LOVE Pete Smith Specialties

[@BowlingOldies]

Yes. There had to be oil on the lane, or the ball -- even those hard rubber balls -- would start hooking as soon as they hit the lane. But you ask as if to imply that I was around in 1939 to know the answer first-hand. Uh, I was not. :-)

[@perfectmuzzle]

This is hilarious! So ol' timey.

[@cmoore185]

It was almost 80 years ago. It had only been about two years that Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz came out. They were the first color films and only about ten years since sound was available. It has a right to look old timey, it was.

[@jgarleo]

BowlingOldies: That was great! I really enjoyed it. :-)

[@lukehauser1182]

Great post - that one-finger grip must have put a lot of stress on the hand

[@johnseal56]

Luke Hauser Oh yes. I understand that three fingers grips were once like the five finger grips you'll sometimes see in senior leagues.

[@riversarcadereview385]

In response to "toscodav" about the measurement of a single pin spare. (2:03) . You are partially correct with your statement about measuring the distance at the centerline of the ball because that is where ball touches the lane surface. I have been curious about this "discrepency" of what is the right answer and the correct way to measure. using 3 pins and 2 bowling balls, i put a pin between 2 bowling balls and placed a pin on the outside each of the 2 balls. i then marked the centerline of the bowling balls and measured and came up with aprox. 14.5 inches. but then i measured from the widest part and came up with a distance of approx. 22 inches. therefore there are 2 correct answers. if the ball falls within the 22 inch range, it also falls within the 14.5 inch range. thefore there are 2 correct answers. and the discrepency is due to something similar to "Wheel's Paradox", which affects most circular objects

[@kingdomrhye1180]

Dude perfect of the 1930s

[@Masterr59]

Well someone interested enough to have the name BowlingOldies and post these videos onto KZbin would probably have background knowledge of these days/conditions. Haven't you heard of a history teacher? =P Great video! I was surprised to learn they had professions like that throwing over 40 separate 300s even in the 1930's!

[@trevorpetersen3891]

that guy is as happy as a duck in a blizzard.

[@JMRSplatt]

Trevor Petersen Also.. "Andy is Terrif!"

[@cmoore185]

I started bowing in the early 60's as a kid. The game has changed so much, not really for the good. It is way too much a power game today as compared to a finesse game. I roll a decent ball but had to learn to make spares early on. In the early 70's they still had lacquer finish on the lanes and they were all wood. Plastic was the hot thing. The yellow dot bleeder was my favorite. In the late 70's early 80's urethane finishes came about and the first urethane balls came out. Scores jumped.200 averages were nothing special. You know the rest. Today if you don't rev it, you look out of place. Years ago only a fool would try and bowl with their thumb out of the ball. How things have changed.

[@dr.torque-o-maticwithoverh6597]

Everything sadly has to be about competition nowadays. I thought about going to the lanes sometimes. But there are too many of those people who will either come up to chastise or goat you into a game.

[@foxriverpwc4723]

Yep, bowling is a clown show today. Technology destroyed the game. I started in leagues in first grade in the mid 70s, then wound up traveling the country as an inter-collegiate bowler on a top 20 ranked team from 87-91. Shortly thereafter, reactive resin hit the scene, and soon that was enough for me. I was in 3 leagues in 95 and just quit mid season in December of 95. Literally gave away the 4 balls I brought with me that final night and never bowled again. Watching today's no-thumb or 2 handed clown show only reaffirms my decision. Also, look at the numbers a decade before and a decade after reactive resin (1994). 1984, 10 million registered bowlers in the US rolled 5,800 perfect games. 2004, 1.8 million registered bowlers in the US rolled 50,000 perfect games. So, less than 1/5 of the participants rolled nearly 10 times the perfect games. Technology changed the sport, into something more like a video game. Heck, I rolled 745 the first night after I drilled my first and only reactive resin ball (turbo x). I legitimately had 8 boards to hit and still strike. Might as well been a remote control ball.

[@parkerbohnn]

Just use more reverse pitch in the thumbhole.

[@agoo7581]

How are any of these things you described a change for the worse?

[@chunkymunkey9182]

@@agoo7581 I guess judging by the comments, technology made the game of bowling too easy. Technology kinda took the challenge and excitement of say, getting a 200 out of the equation. Getting a 200 game is not a big deal as it was back then.

[@toscodav]

The description of the hitting area for a single pin was incorrect. The measurement needs to be from the center point of each ball to be correct since the center of the ball is what touches the lane.

[@nickmad887]

thanks

[@bccarl88]

4:24 OVER THE LINE!!!!!!!!!

[@spydergs07]

+bccarl88 The foul wasn't the same and they didn't have oil so it wasn't a big deal back then.

[@daltondick5223]

Brandon Carl Nice big Lebowski reference. Smokey was entering a world of pain LOL

[@Carl-LaFong1618]

mark it 8 dude.

[@mhmrules]

@4:09 That ball ain't supposed to bounce son! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@jrbr549]

Sally is quite blessed. @ 2:32 Sally's pop fouled. And did that ball only have 2 finger holes?

[@stilltlrforlife]

Wow wee!! What a dandy show this is!! I think I'll head on up to the malt shoppe and see if the fellas want to grab their sweethearts and go to the bowling alley!! Sure sounds like a swell time to me!! I'm even gonna ask my kid brother Georgie if he wants to go. Golly gee it sure sounds like a real hoot!!

[@_1ben]

grandma is a kegler ? wtf ! what does that mean ? thank you for posting !!!!!!!

[@TheVlad1616]

Berry McGregor Kegeler = bowler

[@johnseal56]

I've noticed that the term has dropped off since the 1980s. 😉

[@_1ben]

@@johnseal56 I been bowling since the 60's never heard the term . I like it 😉

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

Keggler is bowler in German, and I think bowling started in German taverns.

[@yuppiehi]

That is way cool! But I think the producers oversold the sport. Back in the 1930s, bowling was played in bowling establishments located in dungy basements of buildings. This place looked the pair Munsen bowled at in "King Pin". Also, I think those plant pots would have been served as portable urinals in real life. The movie was more likely used to boost the appeal of the sport to a higher class of people, and pardon the pun, get the sport out of the gutter.

[@Missouramule]

Now, this is the way bowling is supposed to be!

[@ruhroh7857]

Only 17 years before I was born - the world was a completely different place

[@NateCraven318]

You're 64 years old?

[@BROWNYBOY]

How did they get such good slow-mo for back then geez

[@LaptopLarry330]

There are some short subject films of professional golfer Bobby Jones making some golf swings, some of which were filmed in slow motion in the early-1930s. They probably used the same slow motion camera for this short subject film.

[@BROWNYBOY]

Hello comment from 6 years ago o-0 @@LaptopLarry330

[@DowntownCanon]

The lane doesn't look all that antiquated.

[@bccarl88]

4:06 I couldn't stop LOLing

[@BowlingOldies]

Well, starch my bib!

[@VinylToVideo]

9:08 No one's ever made that spare? Was it that much more difficult in those days? I'm sure Andy Varipapa had made it if I have twice.

[@johnseal56]

I don't know any stats offhand back then without research. I remember reading in a 1957 book by Junie McMahon that "it has been made", and it was written as some centers still had pinboys. I'd imagine that it was a lot more rare with the very deep (10-12") and rectangular pits back then, as opposed to the slanted and shallower pits (with firmer cushions) with automatic pinsetters.

[@VinylToVideo]

@@johnseal56 I have heard it being described as "impossible" on old telecasts. I made it twice; once as a kid and later just 2 or 3 years ago. When I was a kid it was on wood lanes, a few years ago it was on absolutely THRASHED wood lanes.

[@johnseal56]

@@VinylToVideo Right, but that could have been hyperbole. It HAD to have happened sometime, but I'm sure it was, like, a few times in those days. On the Internet Archive, there's a bunch of old books about bowling. There's a few from the turn of the century, and even one from right before the ABC was formed to standardize things. Interestingly, many of the standards we know nowadays were intact back then-60 foot lanes, 15 inch pins, and so forth. There's a few spare making diagrams, and one includes the 7-10 as being makeable by just sliding it on over as if it were the 6-7, with antiquated language to the effect. 😆

[@VinylToVideo]

@@johnseal56 It happened more often than you think. If I did it with an old 1930s Highlander ball if I recall correctly on lanes that hadn't been oiled in years which looked like they could have been installed in the 1930s, then there's no reason it couldn't have happened as often before. In fact it probably happened more often because years ago somebody could probably afford to bowl all day. Now when 3 games can cost $20 outside of cheaper practice times, who the hell could possibly bowl as much as they'd really like to?

[@johnseal56]

I get what you're saying now. Specials are still around at my lanes, but they're a touch more than they were due to things these days.

[@moboutmen]

Sally!

[@mikepeterson764]

He's about as happy as a duck in a blizzard.

[@dharvell]

Well, starch my bib!

[@H0TWHEELS]

Was that a actual ball he Yeeted down the lane 😆

[@Gohot229]

Boss'a nova...!

[@ArsenalBowler]

was there oil on the lanes during these period?

[@johnseal56]

Oh yes. It was applied with a bug sprayer and mopped on, but it was there, and more so to keep the wood from wearing down prematurely than to add levels of difficulty.

[@tomy5868]

Butch is way older than Sally...Butch is a creeper...makes Sally a weeper...

[@johnseal56]

But to keep her it's cheaper.

[@chunkymunkey9182]

2:49 Mom rolls 10 MPH ball, makes thunderous pin noise, leaves 5 pins lol.

[@dharvell]

Legend has it, that shot is still reverberating.

[@leo5208]

The description of Ned's hand action at 3:15 is wrong, and he even demonstrates it in a misleading way. As anyone can see in the step-by-step that follows, he turns his hand counter-clockwise in the push away and back swing, then clockwise in the downswing and releases with the fingers in the 4 o'clock position. That's how he rolled a full-roller. I'm confused about his follow-through to the left, though.

[@user-gl5jt1cw9s]

2020?

[@drummachine434]

By now if that 5 year old kid is still alive he would be 85 years old. Is he still alive?

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

"Finishing thus.."😏

[@Zoomer30]

Another reason Sally missed is because she's a girl. Ah the 30s.

[@bliss_gore5194]

Grandma got a strike, ah the 30s, lol

[@psyrinx]

Yeah but Sally's pop crossed the foul line.

[@Happytylermovieproducction]

manual bowling pinsetter!!

[@steveboone1498]

At least back then they didn't have mechanical issues, I actually prefer lanes like that.

[@johnseal56]

But then they'd heckle you if you were taking too long, I read. They were paid by the line, and so dallying around like we do today when bowling with friends didn't fly back then.

[@Happytylermovieproducction]

@@steveboone1498 There are one Bowling Alley I went that's had one unreliable AMF-8270B that keep shutting off on me and other one with Brunswick GSX which is not any better than the A2 since I had to wait for the full 10 pins to come down and had my turn. Brunswick A2 are probably the best pinsetter because they are last so long.. continued well in the 80s because my third bowling alley place were built in 1980 and had the Brunswick A2. Any other place that's still using a manual pinsetter are in Rwanda but it's homemade and not Brunswick B10

[@steveboone1498]

@@Happytylermovieproducction that's the reason I prefer manually setting the pins

[@LogoMan7777]

1:10 - world's Match Game champion?

[@LaptopLarry330]

The American Bowling Congress was founded in 1895 as the sanctioning body for the sport. Ned Day was evidently the best professional bowler of that era, prior to the founding of the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) in 1958. Ned Day was still bowling professionally in the 1950s and early-1960s.

[@michlo3393]

2:30 OVER THE LINE!!!!! Mark it ZERO.

[@sk8ersbus1]

(4:30) Did they really use such small bowling balls for little kids??

[@ProdigyBowlersTour]

Yes. Back in those days, kids could throw smaller balls. It wasn't until the advent of automatic pinsetters (and automatic ball returns) that all bowling balls had to be the same size.

[@jiafeiskinnyproducts]

+BrownswickBowling Do you know if the balls were like candlepin/duckpin balls? Or did they have small holes?

[@BowlingOldies]

+Mestair Meu - Actually, some of the manufacturers back then (and there weren't as many as we have today) actually made bowling balls in a variety of different sizes. Sounds crazy today, as the machines we bowl on today wouldn't know what to do with some of those different size balls. But when the pins were set by pin boys and the balls were returned manually on a ramp that could hold most any size ball (up to a certain size), as long as they weren't bigger than the maximum allowable size, they could be used on any alley...and presumably were allowable within the rules of the game at the time.

[@jiafeiskinnyproducts]

BowlingOldies Cool! That answers my first question. My second was if there was holes in the balls?

[@rondye9760]

Yes. Before automatic pinsetters. I used them when I was a kid back in the early 1950's. If you left say a 5, 6 baby split, you could actually throw the ball between the pins and not hit either one of them.

[@TheRockstartobi]

It wasent oil like we have today. That I know

[@knine1652]

Damn, Sally is hot.

[@Zoomer30_]

Butch is out of his mind.

[@EnenzoGD]

2:08 totally easy 😐

[@daw162]

Right before Pearl Harbor

[@RLB52]

Massage the maples.

[@treeman2660]

Sallies pop fouled 😂

[@TheVlad1616]

Only 1 finger hole... so the 2 fingered bowlers are cheating today.

[@johnseal56]

Then you have a bunch of the two-handers who are nowadays limited to two holes, as they were starting to use the thumb hole as an extra balance hole for that much more action. It came to a head when a layout involving three finger-sized holes was devised, drilled equilaterally around the ball's center of gravity spot, allowing the ball to be used *six* different ways. Then the USBC stepped in and said, "Nuh-uh!". ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[@paulrodgers9621]

Fake

[@miguel4307]

+Paul Rodgers Any Prove Moron.

[@johnseal56]

There's an affidavit at the beginning of the film. Those are attested under penalty of perjury.

[@nicholasschroeder3678]

No I think Sally is 100% real