The Devil's Tickets

by Gary M. Pomerantz

  “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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