“Well, I’ll give them a hell of a walk”: Michael O’Connell interview. 212
leaving for dinner with film stars Mary Pickford: Ibid.
the bookcase swung backward, revealing: “Seven Keys to Culbertson,” The New Yorker, April 27, 1940, pp. 16-17; also Philadelphia Inquirer, February 5, 1939.
Chesterfield distributed free booklets: Clay, Culbertson, p. 137.
RKO Pictures paid him $270,000: Ibid., p. 141.
Ely appears as an expert witness: Variety, October 24, 1933.
Ely fired scenario writers, directors: New York Sun, October 24, 1933.
“Success in life”: New York Times, July 14, 1933.
“The greatest showman in the bridge”: Bridge Forum, February 1933.
filling it with Flemish tapestries: Clay, Culbertson, p. 147.
In 1932, though, outpaced novelist Pearl Buck: New York Times, January 17, 1933.
Ely and Jo paid $125,000: Clay, Culbertson, pp. 173-74.
spent $5,000 on pajamas, ties: Alfred Sheinwold interview by author John Clay, as research for Clay’s 1985 biography, Culbertson. Courtesy of John Clay.
217 “Then how about a raise to thirty-five dollars”: Ibid.
Hal, Dorothy and Duke, their Great Dane, wore: Clay, Culbertson, p. 181.
“How many times have I told you not”: Ibid., p. 183.
he fed them during storms, forced them to sleep: Ibid., p. 190.
boasted to magazine staffer Sam Fry about sex: Ibid., p. 193.
“The end of a bridge romance”: New York Times, December 1, 1937.
“This is not a case of ‘another woman’”: Ibid.
in the Ridgefield mansion and dictated: New Yorker, April 27, 1940, p. 17.
” Good-by, Illiusha”: Culbertson, The Strange Lives of One Man, p. 223.
consumed oysters and snails, tripe à la mode de Caen: Ibid., p. 344.
“We looked upon women not as mates”: Ibid., p. 345.
“It’s a good book of fiction”: Alfred Sheinwold interview by author John Clay, as research for Clay’s 1985 biography, Culbertson. Courtesy of John Clay.
“It seems, indeed, that [Culbertson] has done”: New York Times, April 9, 1940.
Ely “has managed in 48 crowded years”: New York World-Telegram, April 10, 1940.
“It was your fault”: Culbertson, The Strange Lives of One Man, p. 656.
“Your Highness, ladies and gentlemen”: Ibid. This scene is drawn from Culbertson’s description on pages 656-59.
in 1921 on the SS Brookline: Microfilm roll T715 3019, page 72, line 16, Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY., 1897-1957 (National Archives Microfilm Publication T715, 8892 rolls), Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, National Archives, Washington, D.C.
he merely audited courses and opted out: This information was provided by Dominique Anne Torrione-Vouilloz of Archives de l’Université (at the University of Geneva) in e-mail correspondence in October 2007.
by glorious luck it grew to 20,000: Andrew A. Freeman, “Culbertson: Soldier of Fortune,” Outlook, December 9, 1931, p. 461.
winnings that day grew to 40,960 francs: Culbertson, The Strange Lives of One Man, pp. 359-60.
Expenses at Ridgefield caused him to give up: Clay, Culbertson, p. 173.
Goren had accepted Ely’s open challenge: Jack Olsen, “King of the Aces,” Time, September 29, 1958.
contract bridge was played in 44 percent of American: David Owen, “Turning Tricks,” The New Yorker, September 17, 2007, pp. 91-93.
224 Lucy, Mary G., Adelaide, Mag, and Linda… to share a bridge: Kansas City Star, April 10, 1946.
He subdivided the globe into eleven federations: Ely Culbertson, Total Peace: What Makes Wars and How to Organize Peace (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc., 1943), pp. 239-54.
“I succeeded much too well”: Ibid., p. 9.
He mailed five copies of Total Peace to President: Telegram from Ely Culbertson to White House Secretary Charles Ross, May 25, 1945, Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Mo., Papers of Harry S. Truman, General File (Cuc-Cullen, C), Box no. 539.
“Though Native American”: Ibid.
he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations: Clay, Culbertson, pp. 216-17.
Spending more than $400,000 (his estimate): Ibid., p. 218.
poor health and sadness: Madeleine Kerwin, “Jo Culbertson, My Friend,” Bridge World, April 1956, p. 6.
“Have I caught this?”: Alex Marvin interview.
“He fits all the clinical criteria”: Ibid.
“a man of great intellect”: Letter from James L. Oakes, attorney for Dorothy Culbertson, to attorney Frederick V. D. Rogers, March 17, 1954, personal files of Alex Marvin.
“an alcoholic and sometime resident of mental”: Ibid.
“Is it another man?”: Letter from Ely Culbertson to his wife, Dorothy Culbertson, April 2, 1954, personal files of Alex Marvin.
I, your Galatea, have thought, despaired: Letter from Dorothy Culbertson to her husband, Ely Culbertson, March 29, 1954, personal files of Alex Marvin.
“Your demand was a thunder clap”: Ibid.
You are married to a man who holds the key: Ibid.
“Normal people don’t speak about wives”: Alex Marvin interview.
” big-game hunting of unusual”: Ely Culbertson, Elys, in Corpore: An Autobiography (Years 1938-1954), American Contract Bridge League Library, Memphis, Tenn., permission to cite granted by Alex Marvin, Ely Culbertson’s son, p. 71-1.
became pregnant by him: she had set him up: Ibid., pp. 119-1-133-1.
“Maybe the above description is too good”: Ibid., p. 45-1.
“I have a lot of anger”: Steve Culbertson interview.
“elegant, noble, cool, reserved, aloof”: Ibid.
SEVENTEEN: SAN FRANCISCO
Gallup poll in 1947 named bridge: New York Times, December 28, 1947.
A 2005 ACBL survey suggested that 25 million: Brent Manley interview; also McPherson, The Backwash Squeeze and Other Improbable Feats, p. 12.
Buffett and Bill Gates, who jointly fund: New York Times, November 27, 2005.
“My feminist sensibilities”: Roselyn Teukolsky, How to Play Bridge with Your Spouse… And Survive! (Toronto: Master Point Press, 2002), p. 55.
“I actually feel like I am loaded”: Frank Bessing interview.
“When there is a conflict at the bridge table”: Ibid.
EIGHTEEN: LITTLE ROCK
“I really loved Auntie Mame”: Carolyn Scruggs interview.
“The taxi driver may not drive”: Ibid.
“Jack Bennett really did Myrtle wrong”: Al Ebert interview.
“Mother, there’s something about Auntie Mame”: Carolyn Scruggs interview.
“Well, babe, it looks like”: Ibid.
“Well, Auntie Mame’s my kissin’ cousin”: Ibid.
“July 11—Under the Dryer”: Letter from Myrtle A. Bennett to Ada Mae and Eddie Simpson, undated, from the personal files of their son, LeRoy Simpson.
“Eddie, you can take this car”: Walter Simpson interview.
made them miserable in their own home: LeRoy Simpson and LaVerne Simpson Mitchell interviews.
“Don’t sign a thing”: William Armshaw interview. 239 “She’s here”: Ibid.
She took Mary and Walter to a duplicate: Walter Jacobs interview
She removed Eddie and Ada Mae Simpson: Myrtle A. Bennett, signed December 3, 1991, filed January 22, 1992, case number 1992-338-CP-02, 11th Judicial Circuit Court, Dade County, Fla.; also Carolyn Scruggs provided copies of two earlier wills signed by Myrtle Bennett, one dated September 5, 1986, the other August 16, 1990.
“Just leave it here”: Henrietta Biscoe and Carolyn Scruggs interviews. Biscoe was Myrtle Bennett’
s attorney at the time.
“Get me a new lawyer”: William Armshaw interview.
she added her caretaker: Myrtle A. Bennett, signed December 3, 1991, filed January 22, 1992, case number 1992-338-CP-02, 11th Judicial Circuit Court, Dade County, Fla.
NINETEEN: SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA
emergency contact posted on Myrtle’s refrigerator: Carolyn Scruggs interview.
Jacobs’s phone call was more mercenary than familial: William Armshaw interview.
“didn’t talk about Myrtle, she talked about the money”: Ibid.
Myrtle’s estate was valued at $1,062,144: Courtesy of a lawyer for the Bennett estate who asked not to be identified.
reimbursed for burial costs—$276.13: Letter to Eddie Simpson from the estate of Myrtle A. Bennett, February 21, 1992, personal files of LeRoy Simpson.
“I’m so happy and thankful to you”: Letter from Marion Randall to Ada Mae Simpson, February 20, 1992, from the personal files of their son, LeRoy Simpson.
“Moderately close”: Walter Jacobs interview.
“Why are you giving all this money”: William Armshaw interview.
“And Myrtle felt Mrs. Jacobs”: Ibid.
He said he knew nothing about Myrtle’s trial: Walter Jacobs interview
“I can’t think of any other reason”: William Armshaw interview.
“She still loved him”: Carolyn Scruggs interview.
“Maybe you should sue them”: Ibid.
“Well, my dear, it was a great tragedy”: Ibid.
“I haven’t seen Myrtle since 1924!”: Ibid.
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