Background

Josephine Murphy Culbertson was born in 1899 in Bayside, New York, United States. She was the daughter of a mechanical engineer.

Education

She graduated from Morris High School in the Bronx.

Career

She took business courses at a convent.

Her first job was as secretary to Pat Powers, a promoter of six-day bicycle races, then much in vogue.

In 1920 Culbertson became secretary to Wilbur Whitehead, a well-known auction bridge player, writer, and teacher, although she knew nothing about cards. Young and attractive, she quickly became a center of masculine attention on the highest levels of the New York bridge scene; and the excellent instruction she received enabled her to become a very strong player within a short time. She soon became a regular participant in the high-stakes games played on the third floor of the Knickerbocker Whist Club, where most of the better players in the New York area congregated.

It was there in 1922 that she met Ely Culbertson, the son of an American petroleum engineer and a Cossack princess. Ely Culbertson earned his living as a professional card player while striving to perfect a system of bridge bidding that would be vastly superior to those then in common use. Their card-table acquaintance blossomed into romance.

In the summer of 1927 the Culbertsons, while on a tour of California, were introduced to contract bridge, a recently invented variation. Ely at once appreciated its virtues and began to concentrate his efforts on adapting his auction bidding system to the new scoring table. Josephine, who had become an excellent theoretician in her own right, contributed amply to this work. The couple soon established themselves as leading authorities on contract.

In 1929 they founded Bridge World magazine, the first enterprise in a growing bridge empire. Josephine's principal contribution was a question-and-answer column called "Proet Contra" that proved to be one of the most popular features in the magazine. She conducted it for more than twenty-five years.

In 1930 the Culbertsons and their teammates, Theodore Lightner and Waldemar von Zedwitz, embarked on a tour of England. Their decisive defeat of all opposition caught the popular imagination on both sides of the Atlantic.

From 1931 she conducted a syndicated newspaper column.

She appeared on numerous radio shows and in films, and published several books--"largely prepared by the Bridge World technical staff, " according to friend and business associate Albert Morehead. Apart from playing on her husband's team (on which her favorite partner was not Ely but von Zedwitz), she appeared infrequently in serious competition. But she did score some notable successes, including the National Open Pairs in 1928, the Life Master Pairs in 1930, and the National Women's Pairs in 1935.

During her last years Culbertson's activities, especially competitive bridge, were restricted by poor health.

She died in New York City.

It is difficult to assess Culbertson's role in the development of contract bridge because many of her best ideas appeared over her husband's signature. Ely often claimed to the press, for purposes of publicity, that his wife was the better player. Contemporaries are unanimous that this was not so. Whatever her true status among the players of her era, it is plain that her most lasting contribution to the game was to show countless women that they too had a place in an activity that until then had been largely a man's province.

Achievements

• Ely's Contract Bridge Blue Book (1930), edited by Josephine (as were all of his writings during their marriage), became a best-seller, and the Culbertson name was known to millions Culbertson was inducted into the ACBL Hall of Fame in 1996.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Contract Bridge for Beginners

    (Beginners method of contact bridge.)

  • Bidding and Play in Duplicate Contract Bridge
  • Contract Bridge Made Easy - The New Point Count Way

Connections

In 1919 she married Charles Dillon, who committed suicide a few months later.

She married Ely Culbertson on June 11, 1923. They had two children. The Culbertsons were divorced in 1938, but they remained business partners.

Spouse:

Charles Dillon

Spouse:

Ely Culbertson