CONTRACT BRIDGE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 222, 19 August 1937, Page 10

CONTRACT BRIDGE.

LECTURER IN PALMERSTON NORTH. To be able to play contract bridge was absolutely essential in the United States; to be unable to play was to- be left out in the cold, socially. This interesting statement was made today by Mr J. Gordon Allard, an authority on contract bridge, in the course of an interview with a “Standard” reporter. Mr Allard is at present in Palmerston North as Mr Ely Culbertson’s personal representative, and to-day and to-morrow is delivering lectures in Messrs Collinson and Cunninghame’s tearooms. He has been lecturing throughout the Dominion since June 10 and sails for Australia on Saturday. “I find that players in this country are very interested in contract bridge.” he said, “but much more auction is played and my mission is to show that contract is not so difficult as it seems.” Mr Allard added that he was trained under Mr Culbertson in New York and he seemed to show such adaptability, according to Mr Culbertson, that he was chosen as an associate and conducted successful lecturing tours on the Pacific Coast. In the United States every large store made it a business to provide a free bridge service to customers, and in addition there were radio talks and articles and competitions in the Press, all with a view to making the people “contract minded” and improving their play, he stated. Mr Allard’s home is in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles, where many of the screen celebrities are among liis friends. He went to Pomona College-with Robert Taylor, who was one of the most popular stars in Hollywood. Interest in bridge is very keen all through New Zealand, said Mr Allard, who hopes to come back next yea.r and repeat his tour. In the United States men are keen contract players, particularly in the professions, and also the motion picture players. Mr Allard lias other business interests in his homo town, which take up his time for six months of the year and tlie other six months are spent in travelling. Next year he will visit Cairo and Singapore before coming to New Zealand, and he hopes to be able to make tlie whole trip by air. “In this country,” he stated, “I used the air: services on every possible occasion and these are remarkably good for a. young cduntry.”