Ely Culbertson is considered by many the father of modern
Contract
Bridge. He was born in
Romania in
1891 but was an
American
citizen from birth. Although he attended both
Yale,
Cornell, the
Sorbonne and the University of
Geneva he didn't remain for very
long at either place and was largely
self-educated. He
did travel a lot though, could read and speak
Russian,
English,
French,
German,
Czech,
Spanish and
Italian fluently. As if
that was not enough, he also had working knowledge of
Slavic,
Polish,
Swedish,
Danish,
Norwegian,
Latin and
Greek.
He nurtured some radical ideas in his youth and supported the
syndicalist movement. However, during the Russian Revolution the
family fortune was lost and they were all forced into exile in
Paris. To sustain himself, Ely became a professional card player,
and a pretty good one at that. He eventually moved to New York,
where he met Josephine Murphy Dillon, a professional teacher of
Auction Bridge. They married in 1923 and became one of the most
successful pairs of their time, although Josephine was considered
the better of the two.
During the second halt of the 1920-ies, Contract Bridge grew in
popularity and Ely became determined to establish himself as an
auhtority figure and build himself an empire. In 1929 he founded
The Bridge World, one of the most influential bridge magazines
ever. It is still published despite some monetary troubles early
on. His book Contract Bridge Blue Book (1930) became a bestseller
and lay the groundwork for modern bidding
systems. Among other things he introduced the concept of jump bids and new-suit forcing.
However, as Ely's influence grew it threatened to overturn the balance
of the bridge scene. As a response, other bridge authorities banded
together and devised the Official System of Contract Bridge
Bidding during the 1931 and 1932. Ely challenged his leading
opponent, Sidney Lenz to a widely hyped (it became known as
'The Match of the Century') test match in the winter of 1931. He won
a decisive victory, but in the end it only served to strengthen the
opponents.
Ely didn't play much tournament bridge, preferring rubber bridge (he
was a professional gambler, remember), publishing books and holding
seminars. He was much sought after and was well aware of it; there are
many stories about his extravagant habits and
exploits. For example, he always demanded three hotel rooms
when traveling: one to sleep in, one to work in and one to
greet visitors in. He also made regular trips to Italy to buy neck ties. When he died he owned five different estates, four
with swimming pools.
During the Second World War he gradually gave up bridge in favor of
social studies, another field where he seemed to wield some
influence. He was a strong proponent of the United Nations.
Ely Culbertson died in 1955. He was the first person to be elected
into the Bridge Hall of Fame, when it was founded in 1964.