A BIT ABOUT DANNY

Singer-songwriter Danny Kleinman claims to have written the only song with the word IMPS in the lyrics, but for the first 52 years of his bridge career he played rubber bridge almost exclusively, and in the years that have passed since the demise of the last rubber bridge club in Los Angeles, he has played matchpoints primarily.

Even during his rubber-bridge days, Danny honed his matchpoint skills at duplicate clubs four or five times a year, and by venturing out to the regional tournaments that were then held at the Pasadena Convention Center twice each year. Unable to attract women, Danny usually found himself alone on the Tuesday and Wednesday evenings when more socially adept men were playing with wives or girlfriends in the two-session Mixed Pair Championships of the era. So he would play in the two-session Individual Championships that ran concurrently, of which he won more than his fair share (an estimated 40% to 50% of the events he entered). Eventually, the bigwigs of the ACBL’s District 23 eliminated “Individuals” from the district’s regionals, reasoning (as one former board member reported) “Why should we hold an event just to let Danny Kleinman win masterpoints?”

Actually, Danny cares little for masterpoints. The late Lilyan Eisenstein reported on an incident many years ago at the now-defunct Culver City Bridge Center:

“Danny was at my table one evening when the director came by with those lovely little pink masterpoint slips they used to issue to winners. As soon as Danny received his, earned a couple of months prior, he rose from the table and started walking towards the front desk, pink slip in hand.

“‘What are you doing, Danny?’ I exclaimed.

“‘I’m just going to the waste basket to deposit this trash,’ he replied. “I’ll be right back.”

“‘You must be crazy, Danny,’ I said. ‘That pink slip is valuable, just like money. You wouldn’t dump a check in the trash, would you? Come back here!’

“‘You’re right, Lilyan,’ said Danny, apparently seeing the error of his ways. Then he took out the ballpoint pen he always carried in a shirt pocket, scrawled on the back of the little pink slip, ‘Pay to the order of Lilyan Eisenstein,’ signed his name just below that inscription, and handed it to me.

“I thanked Danny and mailed the slip to ACBL headquarters in Memphis the next day. A few months later, I saw Danny again at the Culver City club.

“‘You won’t believe what happened,’ I told him. ‘The ACBL wouldn’t honor your endorsement.’

“‘No-o-o-o,’ groaned Danny. ‘A shame and a disgrace!’”

While some may take Lilyan’s story as evidence of Danny’s naivete, we prefer to take it as evidence of his generosity, a generosity he has demonstrated further by answering countless questions from bridge players who want to improve and writing countless articles for The Bridge World magazine … including one in Lilyan’s honor after she died. We hope never to see Danny marching towards a waste basket to deposit the $25 and $50 checks the magazine sends him regularly.