Ely Culbertson
Encyclopedia
Ely Culbertson was an entreprenurial American
contract bridge
personality dominant during the Thirties and Forties. He played a major role in the early popularization of the 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.
to an American mining engineer, Almon Culbertson, and his Russian wife, Xenya Rogoznaya. He attended the L'École des Sciences Économiques et Politiques at the Sorbonne
in Paris
, and the University of Geneva
. 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 auto-didact.
After the Russian Revolution (1917), 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 and poker. In 1923 he married Mrs. Josephine Murphy Dillon, a successful teacher of auction bridge and a leading woman player, in Manhattan
. They were successful both as players and teachers.
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, organiser, 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; his team played a number of famous challenge matches, all of which they won. Two matches were played in the USA: against Sidney Lenz's team in 1931-2 and P. Hal Sims
in 1935 (this latter between the two married couples Culbertson and Sims). Four matches were played in England, against Walter Buller
's team in 1930, two against "Pops" Beasley
's team in 1930 and 1933 and lastly 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 against the other leading team of the mid-1930s, the "Four Aces", did not materialize. Culbertson was the most successful player in the early '30s, but in 1937 his team was finally beaten by the Austrian team led by Dr Paul Stern
, in the final of the first World Teams Championship.
Culbertson founded and edited The Bridge World
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 bridge in 1938 to write and to work for world peace.
hotels, and was called "The Bridge Battle of the Century". Sidney Lenz 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
, with 150 rubbers being played. Culbertson played 88 of these with his wife, Josephine, partnering one of Theodore Lightner, Waldemar von Zedtwitz, Howard Schenken
and Michael Gottlieb
in the remainder. Lenz played with Oswald Jacoby
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
(later 4-star General and Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1953-6), after that hand Jacoby said "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". For the rest of the match Lenz's partner was Cmdr. Winfield Liggett Jr. Culbertson's team won by 8,980 points.
Terence Reese
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
s and his competitive bidding generally kept the Lenz team in the match; but Lenz himself could not tolerate Jacoby's style.
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
in 1930. Culbertson's 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). Culbertson's 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 Culbertson's team against, for the first time, a team with "two very experienced partnerships" (Reese) captained by Col. Walshe. The American team consisted of the Culbertsons, Lightner and Albert Morehead
. The British team was Richard Lederer and Willie Rose; Harry Ingram and Stanley Hughes, with the captain (Col. GGJ 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 said "At least three of the English players had done a day's work before the evening sessions, while the Americans did not get up till lunchtime." All the same, Walshe's team had shown that the great Culbertson team was vulnerable. They were eventually beaten by Dr Paul Stern
's Austrian team, the best European team of the 1930s.
Anglo-American matches after World War II
, of which there were a number, did not involve Culbertson.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
contract bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
personality dominant during the Thirties and Forties. He played a major role in the early popularization of the 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 in RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
to an American mining engineer, Almon Culbertson, and his Russian wife, Xenya Rogoznaya. He attended the L'École des Sciences Économiques et Politiques at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and the University of Geneva
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...
. 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 auto-didact.
After the Russian Revolution (1917), 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 and poker. In 1923 he married Mrs. Josephine Murphy Dillon, a successful teacher of auction bridge and a leading woman player, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. They were successful both as players and teachers.
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, organiser, 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; his team played a number of famous challenge matches, all of which they won. Two matches were played in the USA: against Sidney Lenz's team in 1931-2 and P. Hal Sims
P. Hal Sims
Philip Hal Sims was an American bridge player.In the early game, he was considered one of the best players in the United States. In 1931, he formed the Four Horsemen team composed of himself, Oswald Jacoby, Willard S...
in 1935 (this latter between the two married couples Culbertson and Sims). Four matches were played in England, against Walter Buller
Walter Buller (bridge)
Lt. Col. Walter Buller , auction and contract bridge organiser, writer and player, was the leading British bridge personality at the start of the 1930s.- Life :...
's team in 1930, two against "Pops" Beasley
Henry Beasley
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mountifort Beasley DSO , known as 'Pops', was a British Army officer and a leading contract bridge personality in the early days of the game.-Life:...
's team in 1930 and 1933 and lastly 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 against the other leading team of the mid-1930s, the "Four Aces", did not materialize. Culbertson was the most successful player in the early '30s, but in 1937 his team was finally beaten by the Austrian team led by Dr Paul Stern
Paul Stern
Dr Paul Stern , lawyer and diplomat, was an Austrian international bridge player who fled to London in 1938. He was a bidding theorist and administrator who contributed to the early growth of the game...
, in the final of the first World Teams Championship.
Culbertson founded and edited The Bridge World
The Bridge World
The Bridge World , 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 play of the cards, discussions of ethical issues, bridge politics...
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 bridge in 1938 to write and to work for world peace.
Challenge matches
These matches received a large amount of publicity, being extensively covered in the press, 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 Theodore Lightner: "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 took place between December 1931 and January 1932 at two New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
hotels, and was called "The Bridge Battle of the Century". Sidney Lenz 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.
Rubber bridge
Rubber bridge is a form of contract bridge and is played with four players. It is most often played for fun but is also played seriously for money...
, with 150 rubbers being played. Culbertson played 88 of these with his wife, Josephine, partnering one of Theodore Lightner, Waldemar von Zedtwitz, Howard Schenken
Howard Schenken
Howard Schenken was an American bridge player, writer, and long-time columnist. In his career, Schenken won three Bermuda Bowl titles, and set several North American records: he won the Life Master Pairs five times, and the Spingold and Vanderbilt Trophy twelve and ten times, respectively...
and Michael Gottlieb
Michael Gottlieb
Michael Gottlieb may refer to:*Michael Gottlieb , American bridge player, Michael T.*Michael Gottlieb , flourished 1987–2005*Michael S. Gottlieb Michael Gottlieb may refer to:*Michael Gottlieb (bridge) (1902–1980), American bridge player, Michael T.*Michael Gottlieb (director), flourished...
in the remainder. Lenz played with Oswald Jacoby
Oswald Jacoby
Oswald Jacoby was an American contract bridge player and author, considered one of the greatest bridge players of all time. He also excelled at, and wrote about, other games including backgammon, gin rummy, and poker.Born in Brooklyn, he was taught to play whist at the age of six and played his...
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
Alfred Gruenther
Alfred Maximilian Gruenther was the youngest World War II Major General and after the war, as a four-star General, served as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 1953 to 1956.-Biography:...
(later 4-star General and Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1953-6), after that hand Jacoby said "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". For the rest of the match Lenz's partner was Cmdr. Winfield Liggett Jr. Culbertson's team won by 8,980 points.
Terence Reese
Terence Reese
John Terence Reese was a British bridge player and writer, regarded as one of the finest of all time in both fields...
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
Psychic bid 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 weak hand, overstating its overall strength, the length and strength in a particular suit, or both...
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 BullerWalter Buller (bridge)
Lt. Col. Walter Buller , auction and contract bridge organiser, writer and player, was the leading British bridge personality at the start of the 1930s.- Life :...
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
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1930. Culbertson's 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
Henry Beasley
Lieutenant Colonel Henry Mountifort Beasley DSO , known as 'Pops', was a British Army officer and a leading contract bridge personality in the early days of the game.-Life:...
(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).
Charles M. Schwab
Charles Michael Schwab was an American steel magnate. Under his leadership, Bethlehem Steel became the second largest steel maker in the United States, and one of the most important heavy manufacturers in the world....
, 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
Doris Rhodes
Lady Doris Rhodes was Britain's leading female bridge player until the arrival of Rixi Markus.- Life in bridge :With her husband, Sir John Rhodes, and a Mrs Bosworth, she started a school for contract bridge in 1931; it was called the Lady Rhodes Bridge School, in Tite Street, Chelsea...
(pairs were sometimes aligned differently). Culbertson's 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 Culbertson's team against, for the first time, a team with "two very experienced partnerships" (Reese) captained by Col. Walshe. The American team consisted of the Culbertsons, Lightner and Albert Morehead
Albert Hodges Morehead
Albert Hodges Morehead, Jr. was a writer for The New York Times, a bridge player, a lexicographer, and an author and editor of reference works.-Early years:...
. The British team was Richard Lederer and Willie Rose; Harry Ingram and Stanley Hughes, with the captain (Col. GGJ 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 said "At least three of the English players had done a day's work before the evening sessions, while the Americans did not get up till 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
Dr Paul Stern , lawyer and diplomat, was an Austrian international bridge player who fled to London in 1938. He was a bidding theorist and administrator who contributed to the early growth of the game...
's Austrian team, the best European team of the 1930s.
Anglo-American matches after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, of which there were a number, did not involve Culbertson.
Wins
- North American Bridge ChampionshipsNorth American Bridge ChampionshipsNorth American Bridge Championships are three annual bridge conventions sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League . The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of...
(3)- VanderbiltVanderbilt TrophyThe trophy is awarded for the Vanderbilt Knockout Teams national bridge championship held at the spring American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship ....
(1) 1930 - Asbury Park TrophySpingoldThe Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship ....
(now Spingold) (1) 1930 - ChicagoReisingerThe Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship .The Reisinger is a board-a-match event.-History:...
(now Reisinger) (1) 1930
- Vanderbilt
- Other notable wins:
- Schwab Cup (2) 1933, 1934
Runner-ups
- IBL World Championship (1) 1937
- North American Bridge ChampionshipsNorth American Bridge ChampionshipsNorth American Bridge Championships are three annual bridge conventions sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League . The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November for about eleven days. They comprise both championship and side contests of...
(4)- ChicagoReisingerThe Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship .The Reisinger is a board-a-match event.-History:...
(now Reisinger) (2) 1932, 1935 - Life Master PairsVon Zedtwitz Life Master PairsThe Von Zedtwitz Life Master Pairs national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship ....
(1) 1930 - Fall National Open PairsFall National Open PairsThe National Open Pairs national bridge championship was held at the fall American Contract Bridge League North American Bridge Championship . The National Open Pairs was a four-session matchpoint pairs event.-History:...
(1) 1928
- Chicago
Publications
- Contract Bridge Blue Book (1930)
- 300 contract bridge hands (1933) [match v Beasley for Schwab trophy]
- Contract bridge complete: the Gold Book of bidding and play. (1936)
- The Strange Lives of One Man (1940)
- The World Federation Plan (1942)
- Total Peace (1943)
- Must We Fight Russia? (1946)
- Culbertson on Canasta: a Complete Guide for Beginners and Advanced Players With the Official Laws of Canasta (1949)
External links
- ACBL Hall of Fame
- Brief biography of Culbertson
- Edward WinterEdward Winter (chess historian)Edward Winter is an English journalist, archivist, historian, collector and author about the game of chess. He writes a regular column on that subject, Chess Notes, and is also a regular columnist for ChessBase.-Chess Notes:...
, Ely Culbertson and Chess, 2005 - Alfred SheinwoldAlfred SheinwoldAlfred Sheinwold was an American bridge player, administrator, international team captain and prolific author of books about bridge. He was, with Edgar Kaplan, co-developer of the Kaplan-Sheinwold bidding system...
comments on his time working for Ely Culbertson in an interview with Audrey GrantAudrey GrantAudrey Grant is a Canadian professional educator and contract bridge expert, known for her "simple and humorous" approach to teaching bridge....
.