Has it really been ten years?
Yes, it was exactly ten years ago that bridge players arrived at the Summer
NABC in Las Vegas asking one another -- "Isn't it dreadful about
Barry? What really happened? Have you
heard anything?..." For a decade now the bridge world has waited for news
as to who did it and why. On July 5, 1985, Barry Crane's body was discovered by
his housekeeper in the basement garage of his Studio City home in California.
He had been bludgeoned to death. He had played in Bridge Week in Pasadena
during the previous week and had led his knockout team into the final which was
set for Saturday morning, July 6. The bridge world was stunned and saddened by
the astonishing news as word of his brutal murder spread from tournament to
tournament during that holiday weekend. It was absolutely shocking that this
shining luminary of the bridge world, who was also a celebrated producer and director
of television and film, had been slain. A pall of sadness and horror filled the
ballrooms when word of the mystifing tragedy reached the players. Many of them
were Crane's friends and acquaintances who had come to know him over the years.
Others had read of his exploits in the BULLETIN and knew him as the top
masterpoint holder in ACBL and probably as the top matchpoint player in the world.
He couldn't be gone. Murdered. What had
happened?
In Crane's memory, The Top 500 which he had won so many times as the McKenney
became the Barry Crane Top 500. In March he was inducted into the ACBL Bridge
Hall of Fame. He will not be forgotten. The tournaments go on, but they are not
the same -- will never be the same. It seems fitting in this tenth anniversary
remembrance to summon up a few classic Crane hands and recognize some of his
major triumphs -- especially those in which New Orleans played a part.
1952
Crane won his first McKenney in 1952 with the then unbelievable
total of 604 points. This record stood until 1956 when Toby Stone won 791.
Edgar Kaplan broke that record the next year with 808. A hand Crane played in
the Master Mixed Pairs at the
Fall NABC in Miami Beach that December was widely publicized. Alfred Sheinwold
wrote it up in Bridge World Magazine.
More than 30 years later Frank Vine resurrected it as a classic for
another Bridge World article.
Dlr: West S J983
Vul: N-S H J3
D KJ3
C A643
S QT2 S AK7
H 97 H K854
D 9754 D QT2
C KQ75 C JT9
S 654
H AQT62
D A86
C 82
West North
East South
Bickel Crane Herman
Pass Pass
1H Pass
1NT Pass Pass
Dbl
All Pass
As North-South can make 1H or 2H, Crane realized that he needed 300 points for
a good score, so it was important that they beat 1NT doubled by two tricks. The
opening spade lead was won in dummy and declarer (Freddy Bickel of Atlantic City)
went to work on the clubs by leading the CJ. It held the trick. He led the CT. It
held the trick. He led the C9 to his queen. Barry ducked again!
At this point Bickel knew he could cash out for down one with six tricks in the
black suits, but he saw a chance to make his contract. He went for it. He
played a low diamond to the 10 and South's ace. Barry's partner, Sally Herman, returned a spade.
Bickel won in the West hand to lead another diamond toward dummy. Now Barry
came alive. He grabbed the DK and finally produced the CA. Look what that did
to dummy at this position:
S J9
H J3
D J
C A
S T S A
H 97 H K854
D 97 D Q
C K C --
S --
H AQT62
D 8
C --
East was caught in a continuing squeeze. If a heart was discarded, Barry would
lead the HJ and South would take the last five tricks with the entire heart
suit. If the SA was discarded, Barry
could cash the SJ9, followed by the rest of the tricks with the heart suit. If
the DQ was discarded, Barry could cash the DJ, squeezing dummy again. So Barry
collected his 300 points, landed in the money in the final ranking of the
Master Mixed Pairs and clinched the 1952 McKenney Trophy. (The
race ended with the Fall Nationals in those days.) Sheinwold pointed out that
it took a lot to make this hand one that he especially liked. West had to be a good player, one who would
go out for the contract instead of being satisfied with six tricks. South had to
be a good player, one who would never discard a heart or falter in her faith
that her partner would eventually get around to the heart suit.
And Barry had to find the magic play of ducking the third round of clubs in
order to squeeze dummy with the fourth round of clubs. Bickel was so impressed
with the play that he went around the tournament telling the story even though
he was the victim. Crane was barely 25 years old.
1967
In 1967, 15 years after winning his first McKenney, Crane
brought home his second. Here is one of the deals that contributed to that
victory.
Dlr: North S Q85
Vul: Both H A852
D K94
C A96
S T9 S J643
H KT763 H QJ4
D J83 D 7
C Q72 C JT543
S AK72
H 9
D AQT652
C K8
West North
East South
Crane
1C Pass 1D
Pass 1H
Pass 2S
Pass 3D
Pass 4C
Pass 4S
Pass 4NT
Pass 5H
Pass 5NT
Pass 6D
Pass 7D
All Pass
Crane accurately read his partner's responses as showing a spade feature in
addition to the two aces and one king revealed by Blackwood. He also figured
that North's king was in diamonds -- there was the 3D bid as well as partner's
failure to cuebid 4H over 4C. When
Crane bid the grand slam he probably expected it to be a laydown. It would have
been easy if diamonds had split evenly. But when diamonds split 3-1 and he had
to develop another trick, Barry found it by reading West's ST 9 as a doubleton and
by taking a third round spade finesse against East's jack.
If West played two small spades on the ace and queen, declarer, having ruffed a
heart early, would ruff a second heart and cash his other top spade. When the
spades do not split, he would try for a double squeeze by playing his last
trump at this position:
S --
H 8
D --
C A96
S -- S J
H K H --
D -- D --
C Q72 C JT5
S 7
H --
D 6
C K8
West would have to part with the HK or a club guard and East in turn would be
squeezed out of his SJ or a club guard.
1975
Crane won his third McKenney in 1971 when he broke the
record Paul Soloway had established in 1969. Crane also had
record-breaking years when he won in 1971 amd 1973. In 1975, on his way to
winning his fifth McKenney, Crane scored a thousand points in the first six
months and finished the year with a bang when he and Shuman won the NABC Mixed
Pairs in New Orleans in November. In the final session of that Mixed Pairs
Crane/Shuman had a huge score -- 525 on a 378 average for 69.44%. There was
always plenty of action at Crane's table even when it wasn't Barry who was
being active. Witness this deal from that final session.
Dlr: North S 973
Vul: E-W H 543
D K652
C K54
S AQ42 S T85
H K2 H Q9876
D T83 D QJ7
C JT86 C AQ
S KJ6
H AJT
D A94
C 9732
West North
East South
Kerri Barry
Pass 1H
Pass
1S Pass 2S Pass
Pass Dbl (!)
Pass 3C
Dbl All Pass
Shuman led the HK and took note of the shocking dummy. This was one opponent
who wasn't going to let Crane and Shuman steal anything! But North paid a price
of 700 points to keep the winners honest.
1978
Crane won his sixth (and last) McKenney trophy in 1978.
Only Charles Goren, who won the race eight times between 1937 and 1951, won
more. In June 1978 at the World Championships in New Orleans, Barry and Kerri won the World Mixed Pairs
title.
It was a monumental victory. They piled up a score of 9150.92 which figures to
61.9% over four sessions. They finished more than 500 points ahead of Jim
Jacoby and Heitie Noland who were second. Since top on a board was 142, Barry
and Kerri actually had more than a 3.5-board edge on the field.
This World Mixed Pairs drew the largest field in history -- a total of 316
pairs. Even without the 122 U.S. pairs, it would still have been the largest
World Mixed Pair field ever. Altogether
33 countries participated. France had 37 pairs, Canada 32 and Mexico and the Netherlands
17 each. Italy had 12 and Australia 10. Some of the top players in the world
were Crane-Shuman victims during the contest.
European observers were amazed at the defensive skill, bidding wizardry
and declarer play of Barry and Kerri.
One British writer who watched Crane-Shuman until he was dizzy, wrote,
"With benign smiles and gentle and courteous demeanor, they tore into the
opposition with a style akin to a combine harvester." He cited hand after hand
where they destroyed one pair after another --some of Bermuda Bowl stature and
some highly regarded European internationalists.
This was the first world title for Crane-Shuman – but it was also their first
try. Barry was slated to compete in Las Palmas in 1974, but he was directing
The Streets of San Francisco at the time and had to cancel. He qualified for the
Open Pairs in 1978, but he was shooting Hawaii Five-O and had to leave New
Orleans right after the Mixed Pairs. In mid-1978 Crane was in the midst of his
best bridge year. He had won 26 regional titles and so many points that it
seemed he would break the McKenney record set the year before by Ron Andersen.
However, Barry said in an interview, "I'm not going to break any records
this year. In fact, I'm not even going to win the McKenney. My heavy television
work has started and I'm booked solid through Dec. 27."
Some of his other commitments in this time frame included How the West Was Won,
Dallas, then in its second year, and four segments of Chips.
1983
Crane led his team to victory in the North American Men's
Swiss Teams in New Orleans in the summer of 1983. Crane, playing in partnership
with Grant Baze, put together an impromptu team that included Mike Albert and
Ira Rubin. Here's a hand from the next-to-last round where Crane took advantage
of a bad trump split to score a doubled partscore with an overtrick.
S J4
Dlr:South H KJT8
Vul:E-W D A4
C J9865
S AK63 S 85
H 754 H AQ962
D J9732 D 65
C 4 C AK73
S QT972
H 3
D KQT8
C QT2
West North
East South
Baze Crane
Pass
Pass 1H
Pass 1S
Pass Pass 2H 2S
3H Dbl
All Pass
The opening spade lead went to dummy's ace and Crane cashed the C AK and ruffed
a club. He then cashed the SK and led the H7 from dummy as North covered with
the 10 and East won the queen. The C7 was ruffed with dummy's last trump.
Declarer
scored a spade ruff with a low trump as North threw a club (it does him no good
to ruff). East had eight tricks turned
his way and was all set to score two of the last five for an overtrick.
Crane got out with a diamond, covered by the 8 and 9 and won by North's ace.
North played his other diamond to South's queen, setting up this situation at
trick 11: North held the H KJ8 and Crane was behind him with the A96. When
South led the DK, North had to ruff and chose the HJ. Barry underruffed with
the H6 and then scored the last two tricks with the A-9 over the K-8. Of course if North had ruffed with the
H8, Crane would have scored the 9 immediately.
+930.
At the other table Rubin and Albert were allowed to play a peaceful 2S down two
for -100, but that was 830 net or 13 IMPs to CRANE who won the match and the
event. In 1980 at the Summer NABCs in Chicago Barry and Kerri won the NABC
Master Mixed Teams with their friends from Mexico, the jai alai champion Jose
Hamui, Laura Mariscal and Elias Konstantinosky.
In 1982 at the Fall NABCs in Minneapolis Barry and Kerri won another Mixed
Pairs title. The victory was a convincing one -- they were 36.5 points ahead of
runners-up Mike and Nancy Passell.
Barry was very busy in the fall of '82. He had finished episodes of Trapper
John, and was doing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Next was to be Simon and
Simon or The Powers of Matthew Star. And he was scheduled to direct The Devlin
Connection with Rock Hudson. It is ironic
that fewer than three years later Crane was murdered in the same week that the
world learned that Hudson was dying of AIDS.