Post-Mortem

Sir:

Bridge lovers will appreciate your Goren article in the Sept. 29 issue. But you seem to credit the increased slam bonuses to Mr. Vanderbilt and some of his friends in the

year 1925.

In the summer of 1921, six of us--all summer bachelors--played at Copenhagen's Klubben. The six: the Norwegian minister, the Dutch minister, the Siamese minister, two officials of the Danish Foreign Office and I, the U.S. charge d'affaires. The game, with cutting in and out, was auction, but with one new major scoring wrinkle: if you chose to jeopardize what seemed like a sure game by bidding a small slam or a grand slam, the reward, as now, was 500 points for a small slam and 1,000 for grand slam.

The stakes were a little steep, but could become even steeper. If, at the start of a rubber, one of the players sitting out looked you in the eye and held up one, two or three fingers and you nodded yes, that meant you were playing him on the side for one, two or three extra stakes. You had to be right careful with your fingers and the nods of your head.

T. HART ANDERSON JR. New York City

Sir:

In discussing how Mr. Goren was clever enough to break the rules on the particular deal where he defeated the opponents' four-spade contract by leading the nine of spades at trick 3 (from a K-9 trump holding), the article says: "Goren copped the trick with his lurking king, later brought home his king of diamonds to defeat the contract."

Now what in blazes did Mr. Goren lead after cashing his king of spades at trick 4 that enabled him to later bring home his king of diamonds?

ROBERT H. KENMORE New York City

P:Goren led a heart: dummy, now out of not only hearts but trumps, sloughed a diamond; declarer ruffed in the closed hand--and was up against Goren's twice-protected king of diamonds and his own losing deuce. -Ed.

SIR:

GOREN AND SOBEL GOOFED IN BIDDING. THE DUBLIN HAND IS A SURE SEVEN NO TRUMP.

R. O. DAVIS MONROEVILLE, PA.

Sir:

Goren's point count is the most precise complete bidding system yet devised. However, when I once submitted a hand, with the bidding to a certain point and asked what he would bid next, he gave me the best one-sentence bridge lesson I ever had. He asked, "Who are my opponents, and who is my partner?"

WALTER N. FORGER White Plains, N.Y.

Sir:

I wonder if Goren, "perhaps the world's most tolerant partner," would forgive the unforgivable blunder TIME committed in the name of the Gerber Convention when TIME responds "four diamonds for one ace, four hearts for two, etc." Four diamonds, of course, means no aces.

DAVID L. OTTENSTEIN Takoma Park, Md.

P:Goren, who once bid TIME'S flawed variant of the Gerber Convention while partnering Gerber himself, is pleased that so many readers caught TIME'S error.--ED.

Sir: Come off it-- that's not the Mississippi Heart Hand. Any dope could trap somebody with that. Here is the real hand:

NORTH

^J 10

Delta

th 10 9 8 7 6

Q J 10 9 8 7 6

WEST EAST

^ 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ^

Delta A Q 10 8 7 Delta 6 5 4 3

th th 5 4 3 2 Q Q 5 4 3 2

SOUTH

^ A K Q Delta K J 9

th A K Q J

Q A K Q

Where as in your case the big hand gets set by a freak distribution, in this case the big assortment not only does not get to play the hand, but the opposition (East and West) makes a grand slam against him --and it cannot be stopped or beaten.

JOHN R. HOWELL Stamford, Conn.

P:Bridge World Editor Alphonse Moyse Jr. says Reader Howell has submitted a variant of the legendary Duke of Cumberland whist hand. The duke, sitting South (in this version), failed to take a single trick--and lost a bet of -L-20,000 to West.--ED.

Sir:

My late stepfather, Milton Work, hired Charles Goren, taught him a lot of bridge and some manners, paid him $35 a week as a ghostwriter, edited not the "brightness" but the brashness from his writing, introduced him into circles otherwise closed to him_in short, gave him a real leg up toward his present (undoubtedly earned and deserved) income of $150,000 a year.

Mr. Goren is quoted as resenting his salary of $35 a week. In the early '305 that was pretty good pay, especially for a beginner.

HENRY H. PATTON New York City

Sculptor Painted

Sir: Your Art section about J. Lipchitz [Sept.

22] was indeed interesting. Although you mention Rivera, Picasso and Gris, you omit friendship with Fellow Artist Modigliani. GERARD ZIERLER

Brooklyn

End of a Mystery

Sir:

Your photo of Agatha Christie [Sept. 15] was as surprising as the unique endings by this superb suspense-and-mystery author. As usual, she had me completely fooled.

BRUNO DERKSEN Steinbach, Man.

The Far East

Sir:

I object to your mention of the opinions of some Canadians as reported in the Toronto Globe & Mail [TiME, Sept. 22]. Surely it is too much to say that Mr. Dalgleish is "pro-Peking," or that those who share his feelings are "fellow apologists."

Many people are in favor of admitting Red China to the U.N. This is not because they are "pro-Peking," but because they are willing to realize that the government at Peking is the government of China, and that it is likely to be so for some time. Neither they nor I necessarily approve of this regime.

M. A. MACDONALD London, Ont.

Sir:

I was dismayed at the lack of sympathy on the part of the Globe &Mail for U.S. aims. No one would guess that a paper of an allied country was making such charges. I feel Mr. Dalgleish should shake the dust of Canada off his shoes and go live in China. J. P. VERINGER Kintnersville, Pa.

The Color Issue

Sir:

Bravo for those 61 lawyers in Arkansas who, with principle and courage, have come forward for the opening of the Little Rock high schools on an integrated basis [TIME, Sept. 29].

Louis G. LOEB

Boston

Sir:

Your article on Governor Almond and integration left out a few pertinent facts. How about the thousands of families that have moved from the "District" here in Washington, probably with financial loss, to make new homes in Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia? They did so obviously to escape a decree of the U.S. Supreme Court.

F. A. DUDLEY JR. Washington, B.C.

Sir:

Some kindly psychiatrist ought to hand Faubus a broom and start him sweeping back the ocean as the tide rises.

K. W. THOMPSON

Calgary, Alta.

Sir:

What special God-given powers does the Supreme Court have that make it infallible?

FRANK D. GOODALE Camden, S.C.

Sir:

The Supreme Court of the U.S. is not trying to attack states' rights, only states' wrongs.

ROBERT P. KESLOW Torrington, Conn.

Sir:

Re some of your TIME-worn adjectives, it is difficult for me to understand how we Southerners can be both "rednecked" and "lily-white" at one and the same TIME.

EMMETT F. SHORT Shellman, Ga.

Sir:

As a teacher of history and government in one of the large high schools in Norfolk, I wish to thank you for your very excellent article on "Virginia--The Gravest Crisis" [Sept. 22]. It gives a clear picture of our state political philosophy. If our secondary schools in Norfolk are closed by these laws, approximately 10,000 children will be denied an education. These children are going to be some of the leaders of the U.S., and our country's future depends on them. Closing the schools, destroying public education, and defying federal law is not helping provide sound leadership for the future.

SHIRLEY V. BLOXTON Norfolk

Eighth Wonder

Sir:

The set of choices for the Seven Wonders of American Architecture [TIME, Sept. 29] is indeed provocative. I used to eat dinner at Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House ("the Battleship") every night during the summer of 1948, and often wondered whether I was at the University of Chicago or at sea. That was during the Hutchins-Adler Great Books era, and it subsequently appeared that being at the University of Chicago then, or at sea, was more or less one and the same thing. The architectural magnificence of the Robie House still escapes me. Like Quasimodo, it is imposing but grotesque. I think the master's most beautiful creation, though indirect and not Architectonic, is his granddaughter Anne Baxter, the movie star.

RICHARD HULLVERSON Paris

Civil Disobedience

Sir:

The Rev. Mr. McCrackin [who refused to pay all his federal income taxes--TIME, Sept. 22] has an American precedent in Thoreau, who refused to pay his tax for a similar reason. Thank the Lord there's still one sturdy American left who's individualistic. Whether or not we agree with the Rev. Mr. McCrackin, we can't help but admire his moral stamina and integrity.

L. GREEN Cincinnati

P:Henry David Thoreau (Walden) refused to pay his poll tax from 1843 to 1848 as a protest against slavery. In 1848 he was finally jailed for a night. Next day one of his aunts, her identity obscured by a shawl, bought his release; next year Thoreau, having made his protest and written an essay on it (Civil Disobedience), paid his $1.50 poll tax.--ED.

Sir:

As a twelve-year-old boy, I think the Rev. Mr. McCrackin's actions were immature and childish. If I had acted the way he did, I would have been punished severely.

JAMES GORMAN

Euclid, Ohio

Here to Stray

Sir:

Re your Sept. 22 story on the Eddie and Debbie Fisher-Liz Taylor triangle, I still think Elizabeth Taylor is one of America's most promising child actresses.

C. EUGENE MOORE Lancaster, Pa.

Sir:

The spectacle of those two women battling over a tonsil, a bone and a hank of hair only goes to prove that in Hollywood women will fight over anything.

ROBERT H. JAMISON Miami

Sir:

I think it's about time everyone learned that sex is here to stray.

LAKENAN BARNES

Mexico, Mo.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.