It Started in Beverly Hills
Philip Picuri
With Illustrations by the Author
I started to play tennis around the age of 12. My Dad loved to play tennis and he started to teach me to play. We lived at the time in Los Angeles, near the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. As a kid I used to wonder why Dad liked to play tennis so much. Mom was a great swimmer, but did not play tennis.
Father had been taught tennis by Lee Born at TC Campo Marzio in Lugano, Switzerland. (Click Here to read of my later adventures at the same club...) Father was a talented player and he played interclub matches for Lugano in the 1940's.
I remember he told me of the tricks the Swiss Italians used when playing against Swiss German teams. The rivalry between Swiss Italians and Swiss Germans was immense. In those days, some of the matches were played at the Villa Castagnola tennis courts nearby. Just next to the courts was the luxurious Villa Castagnola Hotel.
The Swiss Italians arranged for a young lady to appear in front of a hotel window, whenever a Swiss German player was facing in her direction, and begin to undress! Needless to say, the distraction proved disastrous for the Swiss German team! But back to Los Angeles.
One day, my mother and I walked over the Beverly Hills Tennis Club to watch Dad play. As chance would have it, Gorgeous Gussie Moran was a member, and on that day, my Dad, who was a good player, was playing a mixed doubles with Gussie on court 2. Mom and I went and sat on a bench to watch Dad play.
I remember that I suddenly realized why Dad liked to play tennis so much. My mother was fuming because Dad pretended not to see us and went on playing. It was a bright, sunny California day and Dad was having a lot of laughs with Gussie, not exactly making Mom's day.
This was the early 1950's and the Latin Lover was in big demand in Hollywood. Dad was a very polished, chic Swiss Italian, speaking English with a charming Italian accent. The ladies loved it. Mom was not so happy about it.
When he came off the court, Mom asked him why he didn't wave to us. "Tennis is all about concentration, amore" he patiently explained (but I saw the twinkle in his eye).
So I asked Dad to teach me and he readily agreed, giving me one of his old Wilson Jack Kramer rackets. It was his oldest and the top of the frame was scraped thin, because Dad used to pick up balls scrapping his racket on the courts to pull them up. Still, I was really proud to own it! It had to be kept in a press to keep from warping when not playing. Man was it heavy!
My Dad also started taking me to watch good players playing, among them rangy Pancho Gonzales, who would often play with little bow-legged Pancho Segura. However, I would quickly get impatient and want to go and play myself! How I wish today I would have watched more!
Thing is, in those days, tennis was not so popular and had very little coverage. The pros were touring in the Jack Kramer circus, and the only amateur tournaments getting mentioned were the Grand Slam tournaments. So the two Panchos would train at the Beverly Hill Tennis Club and just a few people watched.
Sam Match had a small tennis shop next to the Beverly Hills Tennis Club in those days. Dad and I went there to have rackets strung or to buy tennis balls. Sam was a very friendly guy and he and Dad got along very well.
The tiny shop, not much larger than a small shack, displayed yellow cans of Wilson pressurized tennis balls, and hung up on the wall Wilson Jack Kramer rackets and 2-3 other brands. He also had canvas tennis shoes.
I coveted the tennis shoes with the green soles. They were really thin, not anything like the footwear used for tennis today. Sam rounded out his offerings with cream colored tennis shorts and white tennis polo shirts.
Assorted European Friends
Father had an assortment of European friends that he regularly played with. One was Manzife, he claimed to be a count in Italy.
Manzife always showed up with a chic foulard around his neck. Manzife was in his late 40's and a smooth talker. Deeply tanned, wearing sunglasses and with Brylcreemed silvery hair, he was not much of a tennis player, but was more interested in picking up wealthy American widows.
Dad had a Czech friend, Jan. Jan's big idol was the Czech champion Jarslov Drobny. He would show up to play tennis with Dad wearing a blue blazer over his white tennis gear, emulating his idol. He wore glasses, and even looked like Drobny.
Dad and Jan would play matches, betting 5 dollars. Whenever Jan would make a point, he would cry out "Drobny", triumphantly. Dad usually won and Jan would howl and curse in French. To add insult to injury, I soon started to play against him and beat him as well. I ended up learning a lot of French.
Sometimes Dad and I would play at the Cheviot Hills tennis courts (it was called Rancho Park then). There were plenty of tennis courts and best of all, as opposed to the Beverly Hills Tennis Club, they were public and free.
Jerry Teeguarden, who coached Australian all time great Margaret Court, was the tennis pro there. Jerry had a son when I played there late 1950's, but the son though he was very talented, was rather lazy and not very motivated.
He beat all the regular players with arrogant ease. I was ignored, being way below his standard. He was regarded as a tennis god by all, except his father. Jerry was also the father of Pam Teeguarden, an American player who was ranked in the top 20 in the world numerous times in the early 1970's.
My Dad, who was very gregarious, knew Samuel Goldwyn of MGM. Sam Goldwyn had a huge villa with a wonderful private tennis court and told Dad we could play there whenever we wanted to. It was a great place and it was always stocked with brand new Wilson tennis balls, which we could help ourselves to! On this court many movie players had played, like Doug Fairbanks Jr and Charlie Chaplain.
There was still a look of prejudice against Afro Americans late 50's-early 60's, and I remember once a young Afro American boy showing up timidly looking for someone to play with. He was ignored. My father saw him, though, and nudged me, saying "Go ahead, go and ask him if he wants to play", which I did, ignoring the glances of the other players. Made me feel good.
I studied at Saint John Vianney High School. They had a tennis team and the Lutz brothers played on the school team, winning the Camino Real League championships. I was not on the team, at that time I was more interested in surfing. Bob went on to become Stan Smith's doubles partner. Too bad, another opportunity missed.
The Lutz brothers playing doubles for the St. John VIanney High School team
Soon afterwards, we returned to my native Lugano, where I then played tennis in Lee Born's TC Campo Mario, but that's another story...
