No, Marty Supreme isn’t a true story. But the history of the real Marty Reisman is just as exciting

It’s New York in the 1950s. The Second World War is over, the Cold War has begun, and the United States is grappling with its newfound position as the world’s premier superpower: this is Eisenhower’s America.

It’s also the America that serves as the setting for Marty Supreme: Timothée Chalamet’s explosive sports drama about a young hustler’s rise to ping-pong superstardom.

But how much of Marty Supreme is based on a true story, and how close does the film get to the real history of Marty Reisman?

Is Marty Supreme based on a true story?

Marty Supreme is loosely inspired by the real Marty Reisman’s 1974 autobiography and memoir, The Money Player. But it is not a true story.

Chalamet takes on a fictionalised version of the real Marty Reisman: an obscure sports star who became one of the most distinctive figures in 20th-century American sport. Though the film fictionalises its subject, the true story of Marty Reisman is one that needs no embellishment to be entertaining.

Who was the real Marty Reisman?

The real Marty Reisman was an American table tennis champion, professional hustler and showman whose career spanned more than six decades.

Born in 1930, Reisman became a two-time US men’s singles table tennis champion and a celebrated practitioner of the traditional hardbat style (which uses rackets with short outward "pips" and no sponge). During his career, Reisman was one of the most recognisable personalities in the sport.

His memoir, The Money Player (1974), chronicled his early life in New York’s postwar street-hustling scene and cemented his legacy as an athlete and entertainer.

How did Marty Reisman begin his career?

Reisman was born on 1 February 1930 in Manhattan and grew up in the city’s Lower East Side. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, table tennis was still developing as a competitive sport in the United States and offered unique opportunities for aspiring young players with a burgeoning and enthusiastic subculture.

It was in this context that Reisman first encountered the sport. As a boy, Reisman spent hours in local clubs watching older street players and observing their techniques. Within a few years, he was practising obsessively and winning small-stakes games for money.

Reisman’s teenage years coincided with a period when table tennis was still primarily amateur and went hand-in-hand with gambling. Many of the city’s best players earned their income from money matches rather than official tournaments.

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By 14, Reisman was already part of this subculture.

What defined Marty Reisman’s playing style and persona?

Reisman’s appeal rested on two virtues: his playing style and his showmanship.

In the 1950s, table tennis was changing: the widespread introduction of sponge rubber paddles. These allowed far greater speed and spin, reshaping competitive play.

Reisman, however, remained a traditionalist. He argued that sponge play distorted the sport, making rallies shorter and emphasising equipment over skill. He refused to adopt the new technology, which marginalised him from the top levels of international competition, where sponge was now required to remain competitive.

But Reisman used the controversy to strengthen his public persona. He emerged as the outspoken defender of hardbat table tennis, and when the hardbat movement revived in later decades, he was among its leading advocates.

But his personality was just as important as his playing style. He dressed in tailored jackets and emphasised the theatrics of the sport. For sponsors and journalists, he was magnetic, being both quotable and unpredictable. His showmanship helped keep table tennis in the public eye during periods when attention to the sport might otherwise have faded.

How did Marty Reisman rise to national prominence?

Reisman came to national attention in the late 1940s. At 17, he reached the quarter-finals of the 1947 US Open and, in the same year, was crowned US National Junior Champion. He had already established himself as one of the country’s leading talents. Soon he was representing the United States internationally, and he won three bronze medals at the 1949 World Championships.

Nationally, Reisman’s reputation continued to grow. He won the US Men’s Singles Championship twice (1958 and 1960), and consistently placed at the top of national tournaments throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

At the same time, he continued to take part in unofficial money matches. His reputation as a gambler was just as prominent as his identity as a professional athlete.

The culture of table-tennis hustling in mid-century America

Reisman’s career was only possible because of the culture of his environment. In mid-century New York, table tennis was a socially inclusive and inexpensive sport. Anyone with a paddle could participate. The city’s clubs became meeting points for immigrants, jazz musicians, and hustlers looking to earn extra cash through informal wagers.

Reisman slotted into this world seamlessly.

He had a knack for hustling, which required strong intuition and the ability to size up an opponent quickly, along with genuine competitiveness and performance.

The skills he honed there under the pressure of that informal environment helped him as he stepped onto larger stages.

Marty Reisman’s later life and death

In the 1970s Reisman published The Money Player –part autobiography, part-memoir, part philosophy on life – detailing his years hustling in New York and offering insight into both the culture of the sport and his experience of it. The book broadened his profile beyond the table-tennis world.

In the 1990s and 2000s, he helped promote a renewed interest in hardbat tournaments, frequently competing in (and winning) senior events. In 1997, at age 67, he won the US National Hardbat Championship, a victory that was widely covered in the mainstream press due to his age and the symbolic passing of eras within the sport.

He also went on to make television appearances, participate in exhibitions, and remained a well-known personality in New York’s sporting circles.

Marty Reisman died on 7 December 2012, aged 82.

As an athlete, he was regarded as one of the United States’ most accomplished hardbat table tennis players. As a public figure, he helped to raise the national profile of table tennis. And, as an author, he captured the fading culture and character of mid-century New York.

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