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Masters' Points
Our conversations with Unit's top players
This month - Art Robinson
We have the great honor and pleasure of talking with Unit 141 superstar Art Robinson. During the 1660s, when legends like Edgar Kaplan, Norman Kay, Vic Mitchell, Alvin Roth, Tobias Stone, and other luminaries were making their permanent marks on the game, Robinson and his partner Robert Jordan were widely known as the best North American pair in bridge. Robinson's relatively brief competitive career includes victories in two Vanderbilts, two Reisingers, the Open Pairs, the Team Trials, 2nd in the Bermuda Bowl, and a host of other second place finishes in World and National events. In the late '60s, Robinson opted out of competitive bridge to raise his sons. An avid reader and handball player, Robinson still acts as a panelist for The Bridge World Master Solvers' Club.
 | | Robinson today at his home in Villanova |
U141: Let's begin at the beginning. How did you start playing?
AR: I was about 12, living in North Philly at 4th and the Boulevard. It's funny because we had a corner row house, so I thought we were "mega bucks." Both my parents played, they would go tournaments, and come home talking. I thought it was Hebrew --diamond, club, whatever. But I thought, I have to learn this game so I would know what they were talking about. My brother had no interest, but I was intrigued. I started playing with my mother, who was a tremendous overbidder, but it was said that she could play the cards like nobody's business. She won a national woman's tournament.
I was winning a bunch of stuff with her, beating up on blue-haired ladies so I think I'm ready for a tournament. I go to the Knickerbocker and come in 198th. Now I think I'm hopeless so I give it up for three years.
U141: What changed?
AR: Now I get out of high school and my brother is pre-med, but I don't know what to do. I have a college plan, but I don't want go because where the school is is too cold. My parents were very understanding. In the meantime, a family friend who was connected to a car dealership said they needed someone to drive a car to Florida. I suggested I do it and everyone agreed. A friend and I drove this lavender Cadillac to Florida. I thought this place was heaven -- warm, water, women. I knew where I wanted to be.
So the friend and I are just walking the streets -- Collins Ave. in Miami Beach -- and there's my Aunt Rose walking down the street! She takes us to lunch she says she'll see what she can do. She wants to know if I can teach bridge and I say sure! [laughs] So I end up with a job at the Fountainbleu teaching bridge and my buddy is a beach boy. So at about 19, I start playing again. I guess I had a modicum of talent and start winning when I'm about 20 or 21.
U141: What happened after the stint in Florida?
AR: Then I came back to Philly and started as the houseman at the Cavendish [then located at the Bellevue in Center City] filling in for bridge and pinochle games. But I realized I needed a job to keep my parents happy. So I could have started selling encyclopedias, but instead Charlie Solomon's [another Unit 141 bridge legend; see "Solomon Teams" --Ed] driver got sick so Charlie needed a driver. I started driving for Charlie, who I knew from bridge at the Cavendish. That lasted longer than expected because it turned out that the driver had died.
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Art Robinson during his playing
days with Bob Jordan.
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U141: What was happening with competitions at that time?
AR: In the meantime, I started playing with Bob Jordan, which was very lucky. That was in '58-'60. He was the better player. He had moved up from DC and my mother had sort of talked him into playing with me. He had the perfect temperament. He was really good at handling my petulant personality. In ten years we never had a fight.
One time, we got into a hopeless grand slam, but if I duck the opening lead there's a chance for a squeeze that will get us down one and we might get a decent score compared to everyone else in the small slam also going down. So, that's what I did and I'm down in the grand at trick one. But I got nothing more than a raised eyebrow from Bob. That's how he was. We respected each other and he never said, "why
did you do this or that..." He might say, "I think this might be better" but that was about it. By the way, we got a decent result on the failed grand.
U141: Are there other stories you remember about Bob?
AR: Another time, after I had bid three diamonds on some auction, Bob suggested that two diamonds might have been better. I argued, so Bob said, "let's check with other folks." So we check with Al (Roth) and Al says his first choice is two diamonds. So I say, "what's your second choice?" And Al says, "two diamonds." So we check with Norman Kay and he says, "two diamonds." So I storm off to the bathroom and come back to say I found someone who would have bid three diamonds. It was the bathroom attendant, who doesn't play bridge, but...
Very few partnerships endured as long as we did. Kaplan-Kay, but not many. Of course, no one could get mad at Norman [Kay]. Even Roth-Stone divorced and got back together a few times.
U141: The pay structure for bridge in the '60s isn't like it is today. What else did you do to support yourself?
AR: I also started playing with Ethel Nathanson. [Mrs. Nathanson was the wife and heiress of two Philadelphia departments store fortunes, Gimbels and Snellenbergs --Ed] She loved playing with a young guy. She started paying me $100 in cash, right in my pocket, just to play with her. I used to sign their Diner's Card as "Mr. Nathanson" for her -- and I was a very good tipper.
 | | Art Robinson (dark suit) facing his wife Harriet at Judy and Norman Kay's wedding. Also around the table counter-clockwise from Art are Isabelle and Al Friedman, Helen Smith (not THE Helen Smith but the Matron of Honor), Harlow Lewis, Trudy and Merle Moskowitz, and Lorraine and Gabby Coren. Seated at the next table out of view is Charles Goren. |
U141: So how and why do you think you got so good at bridge?
AR: I wasn't really a natural. My partner [Jordan] was a natural. What would take me a week to master would take him a day. But I worked very hard. I was extremely lucky because I was young and very good players would play with me. I had the desire and tenacity to work at it. I would be thinking bridge while I was walking down the street. I happened to be able to channel my energy into this game.
U141: Do you think temperament is a big part of success?
AR: Yes, you can't let anything distract you. Concentration is very important. I've played hands when I didn't notice people sitting at the table. One time, my wife came in during a session and sat down next to me. I was upset about how the session was going, so afterward I got up and walked around, looking for her. When I came back and told her I had been looking all over for her and was annoyed and said, "I've been sitting here the whole time." I'm sure you've heard the story about Terence Reese where they brought in a topless girl to turn his cards in the dummy and he never even noticed.
U141: You played with, befriended, hung out with, and knew so many legends of bridge. Who were some of your heroes?
AR: In '64, we played with my idol Vic Mitchell. He really was a real Damon Runyon guy. When I was first playing, he could see I really took an interest. Whenever we played against each other, he would give me a chance to beat him so I could learn something. I would always flub it, but he was that kind of guy. He would also do this thing where at trick 3, he would put the cards in and say, how many? He always knew right away how many tricks declarer could take.
I also learned from Stoney [Tobias Stone]. When I first started out, I played with his wife Jan a lot. So I guess as penance he said: I'll play with you. So we got Vic Mitchell and one of his partners. Afterwards, Vic asks Stoney, "how did you do with the kid?" I was always called 'the kid." Stoney says, "we played 28 boards and he only made 26 errors." Or maybe it was 28 errors in 26 boards. You see, Stoney counted both errors of commission and omission, but he meant it as a compliment.
U141: Who else did you play with?
AR: I played with my mom, who was better than me, but she had a horrible hearing impediment and it made it hard to play. [There were no bidding boxes then. --Ed] Then I played with a good player named John Morant, who taught on cruises and all that. Bobby Goldman lived no more than a mile from me growing up. I played with Ivar Stakgold, Jim Jacoby, a session with Eric Murray, Norman Kay, Harlow Lewis, Dick Freeman, Tobias Stone, but once I met Bob that was like a wife. You feel comfortable.
Norman Kay was a very good friend of Bob. And Edgar Kaplan was a god. He took a liking to me. There was also Al Roth and Bill Root. Roth was crazy man -- brilliant -- and Root was an absolute gentleman. No one could play with Roth; he would destroy you. His partner once miscounted a hand and when Roth realized it, he said loudly, "I'm playing with an idiot!"
U141: What about non-bridge experiences with famous people?
AR: One time, I was playing in some event in Europe and this knockout, drop-dead gorgeous woman walks in the room and I'm getting ready to go over to introduce myself when I feel this tap on my shoulder. I turn, and it's Omar Sharif. He comments on how beautiful this woman is and now I know that I have no shot with her because Omar Sharif is interested. So he goes off to talk to her and of course ends up dating her for a while.
U141: Our readers will be curious if your partner Bob Jordan really developed the Jordan 2NT convention or had anything to do with it. What's the real story?
AR: He didn't invent it and it was of no interest to him either way.
U141: What was it like to play in such high-level events during the '60s?
AR: It was competitive and very serious, but everyone was friendly. I remember this one hand where some player had made a sacrifice bid and we get to 7H and his partner bids 7S and I don't even know if we can make 4H. No one was unpleasant about it, it was all still good fun. Even in high-level competition, there was a repoire. The guys we would meet --we would have a real repoire. The sad thing now is that people aren't nice. It can't hurt to say hello. You can be nice and then rip their hearts out.
U141: You've had a great many successes, but also some disappointments. Tell us about the 1968 World Team Olympiad loss in the finals to the Italians.
AR: In 1968, we had the event won after 8 days then the captain [John Gerber] decided to switch out the pairs. I couldn't even play the last day, since I had been cutting my fingernails and shot a nail into my eye. Still, Gerber had a lot of hubris; who knows why he did it?
U141: After so many successes and amazing experiences, how did you stay away from bridge after the late '60s?
AR: Think of Mike Schmidt. Once you walk away and you can't hit the fast ball, you can't go back. I don't even know why I'm still on the Bridge World Master Solvers panel. Sometimes I don't even know what they're talking about -- asking bid, telling bid? And your concentration isn't the same. I think I was lucky that I did it my 20s and had success. People ask me, "don't you just want to play for fun?" I'm like Jack Nicklaus who doesn't play mini golf or go the Masters and shoot 87. It's not vanity, it's just honesty. I just wouldn't play at a different level. I don't really miss it.
U141: What If Eddie Kantar called to ask you to play at Nationals?
AR: No. I've played with girls I really liked, but I wouldn't be tempted otherwise. [laughs]
U141: You seem to appreciate and enjoy everything you earned from bridge.
AR: Bridge always provided for me and my family as a career either playing or teaching. I remember playing in '63, I think it was. I was in 3NT doubled and I start laughing. What is a shit-ass kid from 4th and the Boulevard doing sitting in Europe playing for a World Championship? You have to remember how competitive I was, but I thought, "I am the luckiest guy -- who cares if I make this or not?"
U141: We can't thank you enough for sharing your stories with us. It has been such a pleasure.
AR: You're welcome!
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championships now enjoying great popularity at the expense of the traditional board-a-match game introduce a new strategic dimension into bridge." While Knockout events appear to have supplanted Swiss Teams in terms of popularity (as evidenced, for example, by the Gatlinburg Regional's incredible attendance numbers), it is still true that more than forty years after the introduction of Swiss Teams into Bridge tournaments, the last event of every Sectional, Regional and National is a Swiss Team. And almost all of those Swiss events suffer from two drawbacks.
In this month's Masters' Points, world champion Art Robinson talks about the repoire and good will that he experienced at the highest levels of competition, despite the stakes, high pressure, and competitiveness of the players. He thinks all players can create that same camaradarie at all levels of the game today. How? By simply greeting the opponents. As he says humorously, "you can say 'hello' and then rip their hearts out."