Gary M. Pomerantz
Nonfiction Author, Journalist, Lecturer
The Devil's Tickets
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Summary
THE DEVIL’S TICKETS evokes the Roaring 20’s and the Depression when the card game of bridge was all the rage. The Barnum of the bridge craze was a spotlessly-manicured, tuxedoed Russian named Ely Culbertson, who used mystique, brilliance and a certain madness to position the game as a challenge to women, a dare, really. If a woman sought true equality, Culbertson suggested, she only had to buy a deck of cards – and, of course, Culbertson’s books of bridge instruction. But many husbands weren’t ready to follow their wives’ lead. In a flashpoint of the craze, in September 1929, in Kansas City, a husband and wife bridge spat boiled over, and Myrtle Bennett shot her husband Jack dead. Her murder trial was a sensation set against the backdrop of a raucous decade in which women were achieving new voice. Her attorney was the most famous man in Kansas City, former U.S. Senator James A. Reed, a one-time Democratic presidential candidate who yet had his eyes on the 1932 nomination. Reed smoked cigars with Mencken, and counted Darrow and Hearst among his friends. As a lawyer, he represented Henry Ford and oil companies. For Myrtle, Reed put on a dramatic show of courtroom logic, eloquence and a few tears. Watching from New York, Culbertson offered trial commentary and used the Bennetts’ story to sell bridge, his instructional books and himself. Housewives adored Culbertson, and rushed to hear his lectures. Months after the 1931 trial, when Culbertson and his glamorous wife Josephine won the Bridge Battle of the Century at the Waldorf Astoria in the glitter of New York high society and Hollywood newsreels, they became millionaire icons. Ultimately, THE DEVIL’S TICKETS reveals a tension between husbands and wives that is eternal and that manifests itself at the bridge table – both then and now – if ways surprising and profound.
The Devil's Tickets
Paperback: 320 page
Publisher: Broadway (July 12, 2011)
Category: Nonfiction
ISBN-10: 1400051630
ISBN-13: 978-1400051632
Hardcover: 245 pages
Publisher: Crown (June 9, 2009)
Category: Nonfiction
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1400051622
ISBN-13: 978-1400051625
Reviews
“Bridge and murder, two of mankind's most engrossing pursuits—in The Devil's Tickets Gary Pomerantz intermingles both to create a crackling portrait of a vibrant past age and a singular moment when a bullet trumped all.”
Erik Larson, author of the New York Times bestseller, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY
“A great story, a real drama, a perfect window on American culture -- and best of all, beautifully written with the lightest touch.”
Susan Orlean, author of the New York Times bestseller THE ORCHID THIEF