"David Babcock" wrote in message
...

Here he is; the man who brought contract bridge to the United States

Ely Culbertson

Well, not exactly. Auction bridge was popular in the US when
Culbertson was still in his early teens, and it was Harold Vanderbilt,
of the US, who introduced the scoring changes in 1925 that gave us the
game we know today. It was Vanderbilt's social standing and
visibility that were largely responsible for contract taking over so
quickly. Culbertson saw what was happening and did a great deal to
publicize the game, and had considerable success as a player and was
the first person named to the Bridge Hall of Fame, so his place in the
history of the game is secure -- but "brought it to the US"? No.

Yes - you are in the right of it David, I should have made greater emphasis
on the /scientific/ aspect of the new 'contract' idea. Whether this
statement "Culbertson suggested to the bridge-playing public that the
Culbertson System of bidding was superior to the systems of his rivals" is
entirely candid, or a somewhat hyperbolous means to sell his books, is
certainly the contestable aspect of things - as you mention above.

And somewhat equivocally tested;- in this anecdote from Wikipedia:-

Culbertson-Lenz match
This took place between December 1931 and January 1932 at two New York
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. For the rest of the match Lenz's partner was Cmdr. Winfield
Liggett Jr. Culbertson's team won by 8,980 points.

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Tell me something about Bridge players - my own teacher was a guy who was on
"Omar's Flying Circus", and needless to say, quite good! And in exchange for
the pain of teaching a novice bridge, I taught him chess.

Is there, in your experience much mutual interest in the games? I know many
ardent chess players have never tried Bridge, while others seem to like all
'deep' games.

I also note your previous comment about chess and bridge being perhaps
equivalent in popularity - and while I have no datum to permit any comment
of my own, I did read with amusement some months ago that Bill Gates and his
Tennessee buddy billionaire tried to give away - how much was it? A $million
to NY City schools if they would teach bridge.

They were unsuccessful! Though, it did occur to me at the time that if the
very evident success of Gates and Buffett suggested that bridge aided modern
management practices, and my premuption being that they tried to encourage
the game by entering it to mainstream curricula, then they were commenting
on something lacking in US education.

The same is true, you see, about chess - where there is a mass of anecdotal
support for its benefit, academically, psychologically, but also in terms of
socialization of students, harnessing agrression in culturally permitted
ways, and so on ... everything in fact except academic acceptance.

Have there been successfully entries of bridge into mainstream education
anywhere in the Western World? If so, can you please cite me a reference?

Cordially, Phil Innes

Vermont USA

[excuse my presumption that you are American]


David