A Couple of Machlin Tales
The late national director , Jerry Machlin told lot of stories. Like many he started out as a player but became a director. He used to explain why he never wanted to be an expert. Once he was playing with the creator of the cue bids named after him, Mike Michaels. An attractive, buxom young lady in a lowcut dress came to their table. She wound up playing the hand. Evidently she was not very experienced at duplicate as each time she had to play from dummy she leaned over attempting to play a card. Every she did so Jerry’s eyes grew wider.
After the pair had left their table Jerry asked his partner, “Did you see what I saw?”
“Yes”, said Mike. “She could have made an overtrick.”
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Another favorite was about Sy and Betty Haddad. They had played together in the first evening session of a Washington sectional. With more planned.. As they were getting ready to go to bed Sy kept talking about the hands. Betty was very tired and knew they had more sessions planned in the coming events. She dreaded spending hours going over the hands.
She said, “We can talk about the hands or have sex but not do both. Which do you want to do?”
Sy hesitated for a while and said, said, “Alright, board one.”
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Bridge-related
Okay, Mark. Here’s another Machlin story that is even more raunchy than the Haddad tete-a-tete!
There was a sensational woman player by the name of Ruth Sherman who played in the early days and often partnerered the British star, Adam Meredith. She was very talented with the cards but wouldn’t win any beauty contest. During one tournament (when Jerry’s wife Trudy had to tend shop at home with the children and could not partner Jerry in the Mixed Pairs), Jerry at the last moment filled in with Ruth Sherman. As luck would have it, they won. There was an amusing old wives’ tale that suggested the celebration of such a victory with sex.
Jerry (who had an adorable personality and terrific sense of humor) went to his room and called Trudy, reluctantly reporting his triumph — and adding facetiously — “you know the routine.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone — and then Trudy replied, “O. K. — but only once!”