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The Devil's Tickets: A Night of Bridge, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age (2009)

von Gary M. Pomerantz

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1106246,002 (3)7
Kansas City, 1929: Myrtle and Jack Bennett sit down with another couple for an evening of bridge. As the game intensifies, Myrtle complains that Jack is a "bum bridge player." For such insubordination, he slaps her hard in front of their stunned guests and announces he is leaving. Moments later, sobbing, with a Colt .32 pistol in hand, Myrtle fires four shots, killing her husband. The Roaring 1920s inspired nationwide fads-flagpole sitting, marathon dancing, swimming-pool endurance floating. But of all the mad games that cheered Americans between the wars, the least likely was contract bridge. As the Barnum of the bridge craze, Ely Culbertson, a tuxedoed boulevardier with a Russian accent, used mystique, brilliance, and a certain madness to transform bridge from a social pastime into a cultural movement that made him rich and famous. In writings, in lectures, and on the radio, he used the Bennett killing to dramatize bridge as the battle of the sexes. Indeed, Myrtle Bennett's murder trial became a sensation because it brought a beautiful housewife-and hints of her husband's infidelity-from the bridge table into the national spotlight. James A. Reed, Myrtle's high-powered lawyer and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, delivered soaring, tear-filled courtroom orations. As Reed waxed on about the sanctity of womanhood, he was secretly conducting an extramarital romance with a feminist trailblazer who lived next door. To the public, bridge symbolized tossing aside the ideals of the Puritans-who referred derisively to playing cards as "the Devil's tickets"-and embracing the modern age. Ina time when such fearless women as Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Parker, and Marlene Dietrich were exalted for their boldness, Culbertson positioned his game as a challenge to all housebound women. At the bridge table, he insisted, a woman could be her husband's equal, and more. In the gathering darkness of the Depression, Culbertson leveraged his own ballyhoo and naughty innuendo for all it was worth, maneuvering himself and his brilliant wife, Jo, his favorite bridge partner, into a media spectacle dubbed the Bridge Battle of the Century. Through these larger-than-life characters and the timeless partnership game they played, The Devil's Tickets captures a uniquely colorful age and a tension in marriage that is eternal.… (mehr)
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Interesting but ultimately trivial. Two main strands, both from the 1930s: the story of a woman who shot her husband over a bridge game, and the story of Ely and Jo Culbertson, a married couple who apparently revolutionized contract bridge. The murder strand was actually the less tragic of the two. All in all, reminded me forcefully of why I don't play card games that require partners. (Although as a child I used to watch my parents play a partnership game--not bridge, something else--with my mother's cousin and her husband. People don't seem to do that anymore. When we see our friends we mostly drink wine and gossip about the school and the synagogue.)
( )
  GaylaBassham | May 27, 2018 |
Interesting but ultimately trivial. Two main strands, both from the 1930s: the story of a woman who shot her husband over a bridge game, and the story of Ely and Jo Culbertson, a married couple who apparently revolutionized contract bridge. The murder strand was actually the less tragic of the two. All in all, reminded me forcefully of why I don't play card games that require partners. (Although as a child I used to watch my parents play a partnership game--not bridge, something else--with my mother's cousin and her husband. People don't seem to do that anymore. When we see our friends we mostly drink wine and gossip about the school and the synagogue.)
( )
  gayla.bassham | Nov 7, 2016 |
I'm waffling between 2 and 3 stars. It doesn't help that when I read stories like this I'm reminded of [b:The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America|21996|The Devil in the White City Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America|Erik Larson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312066724s/21996.jpg|3486041]. It simply pales in comparison to Erik Larson's book. Or maybe it's just that I felt like I've read this before and it no longer seems fresh. Two narratives and the connection merely incidental. Oh well, two stars it is then.

Sidenote: I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. ( )
  diovival | Oct 14, 2013 |
My mother who was about the age of the central characters of this book dearly loved to play bridge and now I know why. I had no idea that bridge was such a involved craze during the 20's - 40's, and I never thought about it as a battlefield of the sexes, but it certainly was one place where a woman could exhibit intelligence and be in control. I truly enjoyed learning that kind of history about the game of bridge. And the personalities of Ely and Jo Culbertson are so interesting.

And, as a huge fan of Kansas City, I truly enjoyed the story of the KC mayor and presidental candidate James A Reed, Nell Donnelly, the Pendergast influence, Harry Truman, and on and on. For those not familiar, the story of Nell Donnelly (one of the first successful business women in the fashion industry) is totally fascinating -- a blend of politics, fashion, mafia, love, and business. Do check out this DVD: Nelly Don: A Stitch In Time

Now, blended with all those fascinating facts and tales is way too much about the technicalities of the game of bridge and for that matter the legal sparrings of Myrtle Bennett's trial. Sometimes I just had to "skim through" to get to the more interesting parts.

I did appreciate, however, the ending of the book which explores the life after bridge and murder of the main characters. However, it almost felt voyeuristic as family members of the Culbertsons, Reeds, and Bennetts are still living. I wonder what their reaction is to this book.

In short, if you are at all a bridge player, this is one you must read. If you love Kansas City, this is a must. If you just love interesting and rather obscure facts about the culture of the 30's, this is a must. ( )
  maryreinert | Aug 17, 2013 |
I really enjoyed this book, once I accepted the fact that I didn't need to know how to play bridge to understand the social commentary and the events therein. I thought that the interweaving and back and forth between the rise of bridge and its stars and the 'bridge table murder' was very well done. ( )
  vasquirrel | Aug 8, 2010 |
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"Don't forget that man is a vain creature.  Let him suspect that it is he that rules the roost.  Manage him without letting him suspect it."

--Josephine Culbertson 
"We played perfectly--except Jo."

--Ely Culbertson
about his bridge-partner/wife
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In the Roaring Twenties, the famous philanderers William Randolph Hearst and Babe Ruth might have thought it, but only Henry Ford said it out loud: Housewives of America should be patient with outbreaks of marital infidelity.
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Kansas City, 1929: Myrtle and Jack Bennett sit down with another couple for an evening of bridge. As the game intensifies, Myrtle complains that Jack is a "bum bridge player." For such insubordination, he slaps her hard in front of their stunned guests and announces he is leaving. Moments later, sobbing, with a Colt .32 pistol in hand, Myrtle fires four shots, killing her husband. The Roaring 1920s inspired nationwide fads-flagpole sitting, marathon dancing, swimming-pool endurance floating. But of all the mad games that cheered Americans between the wars, the least likely was contract bridge. As the Barnum of the bridge craze, Ely Culbertson, a tuxedoed boulevardier with a Russian accent, used mystique, brilliance, and a certain madness to transform bridge from a social pastime into a cultural movement that made him rich and famous. In writings, in lectures, and on the radio, he used the Bennett killing to dramatize bridge as the battle of the sexes. Indeed, Myrtle Bennett's murder trial became a sensation because it brought a beautiful housewife-and hints of her husband's infidelity-from the bridge table into the national spotlight. James A. Reed, Myrtle's high-powered lawyer and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, delivered soaring, tear-filled courtroom orations. As Reed waxed on about the sanctity of womanhood, he was secretly conducting an extramarital romance with a feminist trailblazer who lived next door. To the public, bridge symbolized tossing aside the ideals of the Puritans-who referred derisively to playing cards as "the Devil's tickets"-and embracing the modern age. Ina time when such fearless women as Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Parker, and Marlene Dietrich were exalted for their boldness, Culbertson positioned his game as a challenge to all housebound women. At the bridge table, he insisted, a woman could be her husband's equal, and more. In the gathering darkness of the Depression, Culbertson leveraged his own ballyhoo and naughty innuendo for all it was worth, maneuvering himself and his brilliant wife, Jo, his favorite bridge partner, into a media spectacle dubbed the Bridge Battle of the Century. Through these larger-than-life characters and the timeless partnership game they played, The Devil's Tickets captures a uniquely colorful age and a tension in marriage that is eternal.

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