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Gary M. Pomerantz Non-fiction Author

The Regency Whist Club

June 18, 2009, 5:36 pm

Last night I spoke at The Regency Whist Club, an elegant and historic place.  A four-story brownstone at 15 East 67th Street, immaculately kept, and more than a century old, the Regency dates as a club to 1936, the Age of Culbertson.  As members ate dinner, I spoke for about 30 minutes, telling the stories of the Bennetts and Culbertsons and about the days when bridge was all the rage. Earlier I walked through the card rooms on the club's second, third and fourth floors. The Regency has the look and feel of the bygone Knickerbocker Whist Club where during the Roaring 20's the legends of the game -- Lenz, Whitehead, Sims, von Zedtwitz and Ozzie Jacoby, among them -- played auction and then contract bridge.  Walking through the Regency, I felt the spirit of Ely and Jo. It was an evening I'll not soon forget.