Born in 1844 to a family of abolitionist Quaker farmers, Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, nicknamed “Cash” by his friends and family, became an instantly recognized commercial artist with the series of Dogs Playing Poker he gave to the world. He is named after one of the most eloquent of orators against slavery, nicknamed “The Lion Of White Hall” as an anthropomorphic tribute to the township in which he lived. Mr. Coolidge (Cash) had no professional training in the arts whatsoever. Nonetheless, he was a very active artist, publishing drawings in papers before his twentieth birthday.

The paintings along one of his favorite themes, mastiffs and Saint Bernards engaged in the activities normally attributed to humans, began with a commission in 1903. Well-bred and well-behaved dogs drink alcoholic libations, smoke cigars and pipes, and play five-card draw poker in nine out of sixteen of the paintings. Generally they are pictured as furry masculine types in fur coats or warm suits sitting around a table in a cozy room with the only source of light being a lamp above the table.

These proper members of the well-to-do bourgeoisie seem to be well mannered gentlemen, if not altogether tame, definitely a cultured lot. Think of Sergio Leone’s movie Once Upon a Time in America, the pictures are roughly of the same era. But the focus of the paintings that Coolidge gives us is not the one of greed and violence as in the underground clubs depicted in the movie. Instead, his poker games emerge from the murky criminal underworld into a decent society where the club members play poker, if not entirely for fun, for only a few cents, smoke a little tobacco and tipple just a bit behind their wives backs. Poker was no more a way to make money quickly and dangerously. It was becoming wholesome entertainment for the majority of American men.

Well-respected gentlemen around 1875 were attending large evening poker games. A monthly rag called “Poker Chips” was one of the publications devoting itself to the game and most others published poker-related articles. As the century ended, rules became codified for draw-poker for the first time and were in force in all of the poker clubs. Some reporters went so far as to claim that baseball was no longer the national past time.

Interestingly, the ability to play poker and use a gun, in no relation whatsoever to any criminal reference, became gradually the accoutrements of a “real man.” If a fellow played a good game of poker they must also be good soldiers, good law men, and good, honest politicians. During World War I in Europe, in 1914, poker became THE mode of entertainment among the two million troops and of Harry Truman himself. As an artillery officer, Truman fine-tuned both draw and stud poker. And at the end of the war with the signing of the peace treaty, he and his combat comrades played infinite games of poker waiting to be shipped home. They continued to play the game after their arrival on home soil.

It is the ability to bet large and shrewdly, take big risks, and bluff successfully for profit of course, that is also perceived to be the mark of the man that survives in battle, is willing and able to take on dangerous jobs like law enforcement or to be successful at any type of occupation that requires brains and muscle.

Coolidge had ample opportunity to observe the types, the clothes, the cards, and the basement clubs where games were regularly held. Adding a vivid touch of anthropomorphic humor, he created memorable representations of the middle class enjoying a game by then at least 200 years old.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Rakeback at Full Tilt Poker and Rakeback at Cake Poker.