Bridge, a competitive four-person card game, began in the late nineteenth century as a version of partnership whist which incorporated bidding and suit hierarchy. First called bridge-whist, by the turn of the twentieth century its name had been shortened to simply bridge, and was a popular American high-class club game.

Contract bridge, the most commonly played version, was invented by millionaire Harold S. Vanderbilt in 1925—he made technical improvements over a French variety of the game. Soon after this and into the 1930s, bridge became a faddish leisure activity of the upper class in Newport and Southampton.

By the 1950s card games of all kinds were popular forms of leisure that required thinking skills, incorporated competition, encouraged sociability, and demanded little financial outlay. Bridge was no exception and the game became a popular pastime for the upper and upper middle classes. Although daily bridge columns appeared as syndicated...