Ely Culbertson

Ely Culbertson (born July 22, 1891 in Poiana Vărbilău , Romania , † December 27, 1955 ) was an American bridge expert .

Life

Culbertson was born to Almon Culbertson, an American oil engineer, and his Russian wife Xenia Rogoznaya in Poiana Vărbilău in Romania . From 1921 he lived in New York and made his living playing card games (poker, bridge, etc.). In 1923 he married Josephine Dillon (née Murphy), the city's most successful and highest paid bridge teacher. The new development appealed to him and he saw himself able to assert himself against the established authorities of the auction bridge. His plan was to invent an understandable bridge bidding system, to found a bridge magazine, to write a book about bridge as a "bible" and to set up an organization of professional bridge teachers and to build himself and his wife as legendary stars . He was able to achieve all of his goals. He advertised his “Approach Forcing System” in the monthly magazine “Bridge World”, which he founded in 1929. The system was straightforward, the principles clear, but nevertheless, his system did not differ in essential points from the other systems available on the market. What was decisive is the fact that Culbertson succeeded in popularizing his system through spectacular success.

The first successes

A first and good opportunity arose in 1930 when he went to England with his team to play a challenge match against the English. During the crossing in the ship's cabin, Culbertson finished the last chapter of his book "Contract Bridge Blue Book", the success or failure of which depended on the outcome of the upcoming fight. The publicity match against Colonel Buller's English team ended with a landslide victory for the Culbertson's team, winning with 4800 points. His “Blue Book” became a bestseller.

The rise: "Bridge Fight of the Century"

The earlier American bridge experts (not least for economic reasons, because the decrease in the number of books on their books) formed up and struck back as part of an action directed against Culbertson. Culbertson took flight forward and challenged the exponents of the countermovement to a match.

After long negotiations about the conditions of the event, the fight took place in New York in December 1931 and was fought over a distance of 150 rubbers . The bridge public's interest was at its peak. In this "bridge fight of the century" Culbertson played over half of the rubber with his wife and the rest with Theodore Lightner, Waldemar von Zedwitz, Howard Schenken and Michael Gottlieb. His opponents were Sidney S. Lenz and his partner Oswald Jacoby , who was later replaced by Winfield Liggett Jr. Culbertson bet $ 5,000 and Lenz $ 1,000, but the money went to a charity rather than the winner.

The media coverage of the match was frenetic in the entire American press. Long reports of the struggle appeared on the front pages of the newspapers. After 27 rubs, the Culbertson team was over 7,000 points behind, but they fought tirelessly. The long fight also had psychological consequences, which affected the opposing team. The facade of the Lenz / Jacoby partnership showed the first cracks and when Lenz sharply criticized his partner at the 103rd Rubber Lenz, he got up and left. In the end after 150 rubs, Culbertson had beaten his opponents with 8980 points.

Bridge became more popular than ever and a recreational activity for the masses. And at the same time the way was free for Culbertson, the counter-bearing collapsed. Whole newspaper chains carried his articles (later written by his staff). He was paid $ 10,000 a week for radio broadcasts.

Publicity: making a legend

Culbertson's growing popularity was partly thanks to his success in bridge, but his great psychological ability to build himself up as a “megastar” through the media, perhaps in this form for the first time in the 20th century, played at least as important a role. His adventure novel-like details from his life, which consisted of a mixture of reality and fiction, did not fail to have an impact on the large audience. Through his press agent, Benjamin Sonnenberg, he had surprising details from his life spread, e.g. B. that he grew up in the Caucasus and financed a group of revolutionaries with a professional card game. His lover was murdered. He was imprisoned for an assassination attempt on the governor. In the United States he was expelled from Yale and Cornell Universities. He fought in a revolution in Mexico , later studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, and finally settled in the United States to play for high stakes in Greenwich Village Bridge, constantly providing financial support to 15 relatives living in the Caucasus. The effect was increased by his individual and lavish lifestyle, the details of which were also learned from the press. The reality was different, he lived in only one room in the huge house with 45 rooms, which was very spartan with a camp bed.

Tactics for Preserving Hegemony

The first major competition appeared in the bridge world in the person of P. Hal Sims. He was an excellent player, had published his own system and won numerous tournaments. As a result, Culbertson spread the press and radio that he and his wife were ready to play a match against anyone. Sims took a bite. They played against each other with their own women, the Culbertson won over 150 rubber with 16,130 points. Culbertson turned down the revenge from Sims.

Also with this trick he pulled out of the affair when a team, "Four Aces", consisting of excellent players (David Bruce, Richard Frey, Oswald Jacoby and Howard Schenken), even wanted to challenge him with 5000 points. He refused the fight, not fair, but business-minded.

The fame

Culbertson was at the height of his fame nonetheless. All of his books were bestsellers. One of his conventions, which is still relevant today, he named after his wife "Josephine". His bridge teacher organization had up to 6,000 members. These were introduced to the Culbertson's system; after completing their training, they received a diploma entitling them to teach his system. The "Bridge World Inc." not only brought out its Bridge magazine, but also made all sorts of bridge items, including the rather expensive "Kem" playing cards made of washable plastic. In 1937, the company had to pay $ 220,000 of its profits to Culbertson.

Avoiding Bridge

By 1938, however, Culbertson slowly began to lose interest in Bridge and became more and more involved in politics. During this time he also divorced his wife. However, they remained in business contact.

In 1952 his book "Point Count Bidding" was published, so he followed the trend of point calculation and gave up his trick evaluation.

The last phase of life

In his final years he suffered from emphysema and eventually died of complications from a common cold. His ex-wife survived him by almost a year and died of a stroke.

Life's work

Culbertson's merit in the history of the bridge is undeniable. He pioneered Vanderbilt's improvement on the not-so-interesting auction bridge. Without him, the bridge would never have become so popular. He was a promoter for Vanderbilt's invention who not only contributed to the further development of the game, but also contributed to the widespread dissemination of this activity through the corresponding (with financial gain) publicity.

Works

• Contract Bridge Blue Book (1930)
• Culbertson's Self-Teacher
• Red Book on Play
• The Gold Book Contract Bridge Complete
• 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)

source

• U. Auhagen: "The big book from the bridge", Manfred Pawlak Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Herrsching, 1990, ISBN 3-88199-679-6

Web links

Commons : Ely Culbertson  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Ely Culbertson in the catalog of the German National Library
• Historical picture and sound document with Ely Culbertson British newsreel (1932)