Evening star., 1933-03-19
PinochLe

come with his ten when didn't have trump
in my hand"
The onlookers or kibbitzers on the $40 were
as a rule unsympathetic. Its your own fault"
one of them said. He got on at Westport,
amt it?" You must understand that Westport
is what Is known as an artists and writer's COLI
ony, and the grocer and butcher have to be ex-
tremely careful about extending credit. You
must also understand that aside from contract,
the game of Backgammon, known for centuries
In France and Germany as jacquet and trictrac.
Is the standard form Of amusement in West
port. Therefore when the Bridgeport kibbitzer
said that got on at Westport, this explained
everything to the other players, but little did
they know my apprenticeship at the game The
moral is that nobody ought to play cards for
money q railroad train, with q stranger even
though he gets on at Westport. usually left
the train at the Grand Central station with as
much as IS cents of Bridgeport money in my
clothes, and that friends. is big killing for
one of those $40 pinochle games.
And how did you become such an expert
at auction pinochle?" you ask. Did I say
was an expert? I have merely had my eyes
opened to the usual pitfalls Of pinochle by
playing with such experts as the late Barney
Bernard that gentle soul and marvellous
comedian. as well as with Lee Kohlnar the
well known portrayer of Marks Pasinsky. When
these two gentlemen and I were trying out
a play, they usually passed away the time in
the intervals of changing the dialogue SO as
to get more laughs out of the audience by
getting more coin cut Of me at the game OF
auction pinochle. My collaboration in these
comedies, Jules Eckert Goodman, plays golf,
and not auction pinochle, and as you cannot
play golf in a drawing room en- route for
Atlantic City, where plays were usually tried
out, always figured that Mr.. Goodman's net
royalties were much larger than mine nor did
he argue so acrimoniously with the rest of the
company.
It Is these arguments however, which at
tract the kbbi.zer. and if the players in con-
tract want to secure gallery" they would
better get busy and give their game more speed,
in the musical comedy sense. If, for instance.
deals and bids two hearts. while passes
with hand full of clubs, so that D says four
hearts-and guess you can see by this hypo-
thetical case that play pnochle and not cons
tract would recommend that the rules be
amended SO as to permit to remark to G,
his partner: "Esel! What are you doing
dreaming something? Why don't you speak
your mouth out? Must got to do the bidding
for both Of us?" I would then sug,, st that
under the Vanderbilt convention or any other
conventions you may have handy, be allowed
to say: Whats biting you? Last week at
Mrs. Cornelius Van Rensselaer, Rabinowitz'
house didn't you make precisely the self-sap.
bid, and did I kick? You attend to your c2ros
and I'll attend to mine" Then after that,
throw out the hint that few contract kib~
bitzers be sitting around, and that one Of them
say to A: Keep your shirt on, j. Pomeroy
Wilson. Who do you think you are anyway
a traffic cop?" At this. A, alias J. Pomeroy
Wilson will turn to the kibbitzer and will
below: 'Will you keep out Of this? Is it your
money he is playing ducks and-and-ducks
with, or mine?"
A WAITER will interrupt at this painful
~ juncture by saying: "Who ordered the
Mohnkuchen and cohee?" and at least four
contract kibbitzers will reply: "I did, Thi3
will head off the contract player c. who will
grab the Mohnkuchen-cake stuffed with poppy
seeds-and the coffee, and will tell the kib-
bitzer BUY your own Mohnkuchen and coffee!
What is this, contract game or q free lunch?"-
You will now see that improvements can be
made to the game Of contract, and cause it to
become more attractive to onlookers If less at
tractive to the players. But then again, that
is another reason why auction pinochle Is
passing and giving place to contract. In
auction pinochle, one shares ones enjoyment,
Of the game with the onlookers, while contract
is essentially selfish. It is individualstic, re-
dictionary, and belongs to this age of dictator-
ship. financial and political.
But auction pinochle belongs to a past age,
. pre-war time when the world had not cultir6
waited hatred as a policy. If, for instance. .
kibbitzer in a cafe had preempted the coffee
and Mohnkuchen before its rightful owner
could grab 1t, quite often the pinochle game
would have proceeded with the rishtful owner
saying: Did you ever see? The dirty crook
goes to work and steals my Mohnkuchen on
mel" To this, the hbbitxer would reply
sternly: Can you play pinochle and dunk
Mohnkuchen at one and the same time?, Keep
your mind on the game, Mr.. Dubinsky." And
that. In fine, Is why pinochle is passing. II 4
was too good to last
Copyright. 1933)