Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-08-26
That Game s
Back Again,
NewIyNamed
But This Correspondent
Admits He s No Good
BY DAMON RUNYON

4 CCORDING 10 Bob Gold
y stein, klab player was up
before a judge.
How do You plead. guilty or
not guilty." inquired the court.
II smeice,' said the prisoner
meaning in the terms of his
favorite game that he passed
"Tve got a fifty," promptly
replied His Honor, by way of
sentence.
Klab players fall over laugh
ing at this anecdotc, though we
admit that it is more amusing
10 us in our ignorance Of klab
than IT Will be TO the non-klab-
hing reader. our excuse for
printing il is the fact that Wc
seem 10 have inadvertently
developed a large klab clientele
and feel that we must cater 30
it to some teptANe AaAe-eAnH-
more klab customers than GIN
rummlcS.
Klab. or klabyaSch. or Elah-
lash. IN give II tt1r vdTIuuS yUCft-
lngS we have acquired strictly
by car and which we have he
scribed 10 you as an Hungarian
two-handed card game which
originated in this country ia The
coffee houses Of the lower east
side of New York, is 10y mo-
means confined 10 the uncul-
tured. as some OF or rCalers
seem 10 think
on the contrary. We have
testimony that il is played hy
the most erudIte and refined.
DOR instance. We haze a icitcr
L from leonard LcIhiung cc.-
tor Of the. Musical Courier De
used 10 be music critic of The
New York American and BIS
without doubt a man OF superior
tone. and IN this letter be re-
vcals himself as an old time
kfa1tcr.
lie takes pains 20 set us
right in the matter Of the SPELL
ing of the namc- LIE saAz-Ii-I2-
"klabriaS, with an accent mark
over tho second "a and acid,
that the pronunciation is pho
rX7It-tiiy rs TJT-ttfr-rt-
We think We must accent M
Licbling as a final authority on
tins point. The New York klah
players pronounce tho word az
If the "a were an 20" and the
abbreViatIon is their not our
oWp--Ae have never heard p
player give tho name IFS lulI
title. 1t Is always just k,ab
with them.
But Mr. Liebling says "klah-
rias' is Official IN Hungary and
central Europe. He says That
during his muSic-Studcnt days 10
Berlin he spent many hour, az
the card table that should haze,
been put in at the piano.
WE FIND Mr. Licblinc unique
w among kIab experts n enc
respect however lie say he
played the game badly He's Tie
first man We have encountered
of any knowledge Of klah who
did not claim 10 bc wizard at
Tho game. We suspect Mr. Licb-
ling Of Stimulating modc,ty.
Probably among his In'iWatc~ he
declares himself the best klah
player in the land else he Is
not a true klab player. m all
He says one of the most popu-
lar one-act farccS ever ciycn IN
central Europe for many years,
at about the period when
"Charley's Aunt was killing the
customers all over the globe
was called Fine parte Klab-
riaS or A Game ot Klabrias.
in which there were two charac-
tiers on the Potash and Pcrlmut-
ter order, who were constantly
quarreling.
About dozen "kicb'zcrs"
mot "kibitzcrs, as il is usually
misSpelled in This country, Mr..
Liebling says were continually
criticizing and wiSe-crackIng.
Mr.. Liebi;ng recalls one of the
most widely quoted gags in The
little play, which wa, when one
of the sour-puS>ed "kichilIorS'
comes In. seats himself an the
table and says 10 The waiter.
Bring me glass of lemon
ade. No lemon in II and I've
brought my own sugar"
4 MOTHER correspondent who
"A does not sign his name sup
ports Mr. LiebllnC's spelling OF
"klahriaS' and SAYS the game
was also known as "kalobcrla>S'
and "klaberiaSS. q combination
of Hebrew and Polish words He
traces the game 10 an ancient
German game for three which
he thinks tho cmigratc Jews
took 10 Poland. He ALSO re-
that play Mr.. Licbling
speaks of. though his recollection