Ely Culbertson
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Elie Almon Culbertson (July 22, 1891 – December 27, 1955), known as Ely Culbertson, was an American
contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions o ...
entrepreneur and personality dominant during the 1930s. He played a major role in the popularization of the new game and was widely regarded as "the man who made contract bridge". He was a great showman who became rich, was highly extravagant, and lost and gained fortunes several times over.


Life

Culbertson was born in
Poiana Vărbilău Poiana may refer to: Geography Italy * Pojana Maggiore (Poiana Maggiore), a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy * Villa Pojana, or Poiana, a patrician villa in Pojana Maggiore, a UNESCO World Heritage site Moldova * Poiana, Șoldă ...
in
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to an American mining engineer, Almon Culbertson, and his Russian wife, Xenya Rogoznaya. He attended the École des sciences économiques et politiques at the
Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...
in Paris, and the
University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...
. His facility for languages was extraordinary: he spoke Russian, English, French, German, Czech and Spanish fluently, with a reading knowledge of five others, and a knowledge of Latin and classical Greek. In spite of his education, his erudition was largely self-acquired: he was a born
autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...
. After the
Russian Revolution (1917) The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
, Culbertson lived for four years in Paris and other European cities by exploiting his skill as a card player. In 1921 he moved to the United States, earning his living from winnings at
auction bridge The card game auction bridge was the third step in the evolution of the general game of bridge. It was developed from bridge whist in 1904, possibly by 1900. Auction bridge was the precursor to contract bridge. Its predecessors were whist and brid ...
and
poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
. In 1923 he married Mrs. Josephine Murphy Dillon, a successful teacher of auction bridge and a leading woman player, in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. They were successful as both players and teachers, and later as publishers.
Josephine Culbertson Josephine M. "Jo" Culbertson (''née'' Murphy; 2 February 1898 – March 23, 1956) was an American bridge player, teacher, theorist and writer. Josephine Murphy was born in Bayside, New York (now in Queens), to parents John Edward Murphy and Sara ...
retained the surname after their divorce in 1938; indeed, a revised edition of ''Culbertson's Contract Bridge in Ten Minutes'' was published under her name in 1951. Gradually the new game of contract bridge began to replace auction bridge, and Culbertson saw his opportunity to overtake the leaders of auction bridge. Culbertson planned a far-reaching and successful campaign to promote himself as the leader of the new game. As player, organizer, bidding theorist, magazine editor, and team leader, he was a key figure in the growth of contract bridge in its great boom years of the 1930s. Culbertson was a brilliant publicist; he played several famous challenge matches and won them all. Two were played in the U.S., against s led by
Sidney Lenz Sidney Samuel Lenz (1873 – 1960) was an American contract bridge player and writer. He is a member of the American Contract Bridge League Hall of Fame, being inducted in the second (1965) class. Career Lenz was born July 12, 1873 in a suburb of ...
in 1931–32 (the so-called "
Bridge Battle of the Century The "Bridge Battle of the Century" was the name given to a celebrated 1931–1932 contract bridge challenge match between Ely Culbertson and Sidney Lenz and their partners. The match pitted Culberson's bidding system, which had been laid out in h ...
") and by P. Hal Sims in 1935, the latter between the married couples Culbertson and Sims. Four matches were played in England, against
Walter Buller Sir Walter Lawry Buller (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer and naturalist who was a dominant figure in New Zealand ornithology. His book, ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand'', first published in 1873, was publishe ...
's team in 1930, against "Pops" Beasley's team in 1930 and 1933, and against Col. George Walshe's team in 1934. These matches were typically accompanied by noteworthy publicity in newspapers, on radio and on cinema newsreels, and the hands became the subject of intense discussion on bidding methods. Later, a match did not materialize against the leading American team of the mid-1930s, the " Four Aces". Culbertson was finally beaten in
Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, June 1937, in the final match of the first world championship teams tournament, by the 6-man Austria team led by Dr.
Paul Stern Paul Stern (4 April 1892 – 12 June 1948) was an Austrian international bridge player and lawyer, who fled to London in 1938. He was a bidding theorist and administrator who contributed to the early growth of the game. He founded the Austrian Br ...
. It was his last appearance in a tournament or match. Culbertson founded and edited ''
The Bridge World ''The Bridge World'' (TBW), the oldest continuously published magazine about contract bridge, was founded in 1929 by Ely Culbertson. It has since been regarded as the game's principal journal, publicizing technical advances in bidding and the pla ...
'' magazine, which is still published today, and wrote many newspaper articles and books on bridge. He owned the first firm of playing card manufacturers to develop plastic cards, Kem Cards, and developed and owned a chain of bridge schools with teachers qualified in the Culbertson bidding system. He continued to play high-stakes rubber bridge for many years, but gave up tournament and match competition in 1938 to write and to work for world peace. ''Total Peace'' (1943) and ''Must We Fight Russia?'' (1947) were his most important books.


Challenge matches

These matches received great publicity, being extensively covered in the newspapers, often making the front pages. By winning them, Culbertson suggested to the bridge-playing public that the Culbertson System of bidding was superior to the systems of his rivals, and thereby boosted the sales of his books. But according to his team-mate
Theodore Lightner Theodore Alexander "Teddy" Lightner (14 September 1893 – November 1981) was an American bridge player. He developed the Lightner double, a bridge bidding convention. Lightner was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and moved to Chicago and later ...
: "Ely's real advantage was that his team was much stronger than anything others could possibly muster, We could have played different systems and won just as easily."


Culbertson–Lenz match

This pairs match took place during December 1931 and January 1932 at two New York City hotels, and was called the "
Bridge Battle of the Century The "Bridge Battle of the Century" was the name given to a celebrated 1931–1932 contract bridge challenge match between Ely Culbertson and Sidney Lenz and their partners. The match pitted Culberson's bidding system, which had been laid out in h ...
".
Sidney Lenz Sidney Samuel Lenz (1873 – 1960) was an American contract bridge player and writer. He is a member of the American Contract Bridge League Hall of Fame, being inducted in the second (1965) class. Career Lenz was born July 12, 1873 in a suburb of ...
was the leader of a group of players opposed to Culbertson's domination of the game, and who called their bidding system the Official System. Culbertson challenged Lenz to a match, wagering $5,000 against his opponent's $1,000, with the money to go to charity regardless of the outcome. The match was played as
rubber bridge Rubber bridge is a form of contract bridge played by two competing pairs using a particular method of scoring. A rubber is completed when one pair becomes first to win two ''games'', each ''game'' presenting a score of 100 or more contract points; ...
, with 150 rubbers being played. Culbertson played 88 of these with his wife, Josephine, partnering one of
Theodore Lightner Theodore Alexander "Teddy" Lightner (14 September 1893 – November 1981) was an American bridge player. He developed the Lightner double, a bridge bidding convention. Lightner was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and moved to Chicago and later ...
,
Waldemar von Zedtwitz Waldemar Konrad von Zedtwitz (May 8, 1896 – October 5, 1984) was a German-born American bridge player and administrator. Life Von Zedtwitz was born in Berlin, Germany. His mother was Mary Elizabeth Breckinridge Caldwell, daughter of American b ...
,
Howard Schenken Howard Schenken (September 28, 1903 – February 20, 1979) was an American bridge player, writer, and long-time syndicated bridge columnist. He was from New York City. He won three Bermuda Bowl titles, and set several North American records. Most r ...
and Michael T. Gottlieb in the remainder. Lenz played with
Oswald Jacoby Oswald "Ozzie", "Jake" Jacoby (December 8, 1902 – June 27, 1984) was an American contract bridge player and author, considered one of the greatest bridge players of all time and a key innovator in the game, having helped popularize widely used bi ...
for the first 103 rubbers, but Jacoby then resigned following a heated difference of opinion over a defensive play. According to the match referee, Lt.
Alfred Gruenther General Alfred Maximilian Gruenther (March 3, 1899 – May 30, 1983) was a senior United States Army officer, Red Cross president, and bridge player. After being commissioned towards the end of World War I, he served in the army throughout t ...
(later 4-star General and Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1953-56), Jacoby said following that deal, "I made a play that only twelve players in the country would understand, and unfortunately Mr Lenz did not seem, at that particular moment, to be among that twelve." Cmdr. Winfield Liggett, Jr., was Lenz's partner for the rest of the match, which Culbertson won by 8,980 points.
Terence Reese John Terence Reese (28 August 1913 – 29 January 1996) was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields. He was born in Epsom, Surrey, England to middle-class parents, and was educated at Bradf ...
said "The Official System (Lenz) ... was discredited ... That the Culbertsons did not win more easily (for their constructive bidding was much better than that of their opponents) was due to the fact that Jacoby was a player of quite different class from any of the others." Jacoby's
psychic bid Psychic bid (also psych, pronounced to rhyme with ''like'') is a bid in contract bridge that grossly misstates the power and/or suit lengths of one's hand. It is used deliberately to deceive the opponents. Normally, the psychic bid is made with a we ...
s and his competitive bidding generally kept the Lenz team in the match; but Lenz himself could not tolerate Jacoby's style.


Anglo-American matches

Lt. Col.
Walter Buller Sir Walter Lawry Buller (9 October 1838 – 19 July 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer and naturalist who was a dominant figure in New Zealand ornithology. His book, ''A History of the Birds of New Zealand'', first published in 1873, was publishe ...
promoted a bidding system that he called "British Bridge", which used direct methods and avoided approach forcing bids as had been incorporated in the Culbertson System. His challenge was accepted by Culbertson, and a teams of four match took place in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1930. The Culbertson team won by 4,845 total points over 200 deals. Culbertson partnered his wife, Josephine, and his other pair comprised Lightner and von Zedtwitz. Later in the match Culbertson played with Lightner, and his wife played with von Zedwitz: this was the more successful line-up. The other three members of Buller's team were Alice Evers, Cedric Kehoe and Nelson Wood-Hill. Immediately after the Buller match, the Culbertson team played another match, against Crockford's Club. The Crockford's team was 'Pops' Beasley (Captain), Sir Guy Domville, George Morris and Captain Hogg; the match over 200 boards was won by Culbertson by 4,905 points (total points scoring). The matches in 1933 and 1934 both took place for the Schwab Cup, a trophy presented for Anglo-American matches by Charles Schwab, an American industrialist and patron of bridge, who was president of the Whist Club of New York. In 1933, Michael Gottlieb replaced von Zedtwitz in the Culbertson team. The British team consisted of Lt. Col. 'Pops' Beasley and Sir Guy Domville, Percy Tabbush and George Morris, Graham Mathieson and Lady Doris Rhodes (pairs were sometimes aligned differently). The Culbertson team won by 10,900 total points over 300 hands, a decisive but not overwhelming victory. The following year, again in London, the Schwab trophy pitted the Culbertson team for the first time against a team with "two very experienced partnerships" eesecaptained by Col. George Walshe. The American team consisted of the Culbertsons, Teddy Lightner and
Albert Morehead Albert Hodges Morehead, Jr. (August 7, 1909 – October 5, 1966) was a writer for ''The New York Times'', a bridge player, a lexicographer, and an author and editor of reference works. Early years Morehead was born in Flintstone, Taylor County, ...
. The British team was
Richard Lederer Richard Lederer (born May 26, 1938) is an American linguist, author, speaker, and teacher. He is best known for his books on the English language and on wordplay such as puns, oxymorons, and anagrams. He has been dubbed "the Wizard of Idiom," ...
and Willie Rose; Harry Ingram and Stanley Hughes,Reese, Terence (1974). Obituary of Henry St. John Ingram 1888–1974; reprinted in Hasenson, Peter ''British Bridge Almanack'' (2004) 77, London, p. 196. with captain Walshe and A. Frost as reserves. Culbertson's team won by 3,650 points over 300 deals. At one time the British team had built up a lead of over 5,000 points, and the Americans led by only 970 points with one session, of 30 deals, remaining. The Lederer–Rose pair tired but refused to take a rest; the last set was a disaster. Ingram referred to the element of fatigue when he remarked that at least three of the English players had done a day's work before the evening sessions, while the Americans did not get up until lunchtime. All the same, Walshe's team had shown that the great Culbertson team was vulnerable. They were eventually beaten by Dr.
Paul Stern Paul Stern (4 April 1892 – 12 June 1948) was an Austrian international bridge player and lawyer, who fled to London in 1938. He was a bidding theorist and administrator who contributed to the early growth of the game. He founded the Austrian Br ...
's Austrian team, the best European team of the 1930s. Anglo-American matches after World War II, of which there were a number,Francis et al (1994). did not involve Culbertson.


Bridge accomplishments


Honors

In 1964 ''The Bridge World'' honored Harold S. Vanderbilt, Culbertson, and
Charles Goren Charles Henry Goren (March 4, 1901 – April 3, 1991) was an American bridge player and writer who significantly developed and popularized the game. He was the leading American bridge personality in the 1950s and 1960s – or 1940s and 1950s, as " ...
as the first three members of a bridge hall of fame. It increased the number to nine during the next two years and all were made founding members of the
ACBL Hall of Fame This list is a compilation of contract bridge players, writers, administrators and personalities who have been recognized for their skills, achievements or contributions to the game as identified by various specific sources. People recognized by ...
in 1995. * ACBL Hall of Fame, 1964"Induction by Year"
''Hall of Fame''. ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-22.
''Hall of Fame''
(top page). ACBL. Retrieved 2014-12-30.
* ACBL Honorary Member of the Year 1938


Wins

*
North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...
(3) ** Vanderbilt (1) 1930 ** Asbury Park Trophy (now Spingold) (1) 1930 **
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
(now Reisinger) (1) 1930 * Other notable wins: ** Schwab Cup (2) 1933, 1934


Runners-up

* IBL World Championship (1) 1937 *
North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven da ...
(4) **
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
(now Reisinger) (2) 1932, 1935 ** Life Master Pairs (1) 1930 **
Fall National Open Pairs The National Open Pairs was the first national bridge championship for open pairs and was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC) as a four-session matchpoint (MP) pairs event. History In ...
(1) 1928


Publications

* ''Contract Bridge Blue Book'' (1930) * ''300 contract bridge hands'' (1933) – from the match vs. Beasley for Schwab Cup * ''Contract Bridge Red Book on Play'' (1934) * ''Contract bridge complete: the Gold Book of bidding and play'' (1936) * ''Jo-Jotte: How to Play and Win'' (1937) * ''The Strange Lives of One Man'' (1940) * ''The World Federation Plan'' (1942) * ''Total Peace'' (1943) * ''Culbertson System of Playing Gin Rummy'' (1944) * ''Must We Fight Russia?'' (1946) * ''Culbertson on Canasta: a Complete Guide for Beginners and Advanced Players With the Official Laws of Canasta'' (1949) * ''Culbertson System of Canasta'' (1951)


References

;Citations * *


External links

* *
Culbertson profile and rules for his invented game Jo-Jotte
at Cards and Dominoes

by chess historian Edward Winter, 2005 * of
Alfred Sheinwold Alfred (Freddy) Sheinwold (January 26, 1912 – March 8, 1997) was an American bridge player, administrator, international team captain, and prolific writer. He and Edgar Kaplan developed the Kaplan–Sheinwold bidding system. Among other administr ...
by Audrey Grant, about his time working for Culbertson
The Big Game Hunter
– Culbertson invented or promoted other games including ''Jo-Jotte'' (a sort of expanded
Klaberjass Klaberjass () or Bela is a trick-taking Ace-Ten card game that is most popular in German communities. In its basic form it is a 9-card trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card piquet pack. As in other point-trick games of the King†...
) around 1937 and ''Eloping! The Game of Romantic Skill'', published in 1947 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Culbertson, Ely 1891 births 1955 deaths American contract bridge players Contract bridge writers Romanian emigrants to the United States People from Prahova County American people of Russian descent Card game book writers