Famous Woman Gambler

Southland Times, Issue 23732, 2 February 1939, Page 14

Famous Woman Gambler

Garbo Sad When She Won

HPHERE is nothing more interesting "*■ than the confessions of a croupier of a Monte Carlo Casino. Luis Corosi this intriguing article about the world-famous casino. We see here an exposition of the philosophical ideas of a croupier, Greta Garbo’s superstitions, Venizelos’ nerve and Trotsky’s greed. The reader will imagine himself at Monte Carlo, without the risk of losing his fortune.

In the most celebrated pastryshops of Vienna, which enjoy a world-wide reputation when a new employee is engaged, the manageress makes a little speech to her, somewhat in these terms:

"My child,.the cakes you see here are for customers and not for the staff. Nevertheless, for the first week you may eat as many as your please. At the end of that week you will he limited to two cakes per day, otherwise you will be fined.”

The apprentice then sets herself, naturally, to making the most of the banquet, and tastes all the pleasures of the table ... as a result of which she has violent indigestion all next day. At the end of about three days, she will have acquired such a dislike for pastry of all kinds that as a rule she will not touch another cake all the rest of her life.

I cannot say whether the great casinos in France and abroad adopt the same procedure with their new croupiers, in order to deprive them, once and for all, of all desire to try their luck at a gaming table. It must be admitted that it would be a very logical procedure, as it would inevitably lead' out of temptation those who are exposed to it from morning to night.

What is however certain is that all te employees, changers, heads of tables, croupiers whom I have asked whether they have a flutter (which is, moreover, strictly forbidden by the management;

Monaco subjects are even prohibited from entering the casino) replied disdainfully, “Jamais de la vie, monsieur!” To see others, gambling for eight to ten hours every day inspires us with no desire to follow suit. Besides, we know the secret of living from gambling —it is not to gamble!” Women give rendezvous more readily than tips.

Although they do not gamble and do not like it, they are fond of speaking about gambling, even during the ten to fifteen minutes’ rest allowed to the croupiers, the latter sit on sofas in one of the rest rooms and recall the episodes of the day, the great “coups” of the week and even the “good old days of yore.” “I have only been at the casino since the war,” said one of them to me, an alert-looking man. “I cannot therefore talk about the heroic period of 1900, when everything was perfect and when, since roulette had not spread to other parts of the world, Monte Carlo was really the Mecca of all gamesters. “But even after the war, I remember the time when tips at one table alone amounted to four or five thousand francs, which meant several hundred franc notes per head. I have seen so much in my life that I could write not only a book (as a croupier has recently done), but a whole philosophic dissertation! “That surprised you? There are few places where one can get to know people better than at the gaming table. Take for instance the matter of tips. One often wonders whether men or women are the more* generous, but I can say without the slightest hesitation that men are.!

“Even in the case of women who are obviously on the lookout for what is called an adventure, they like to sit next to a croupier they find pleasant, and ask him about systems to win, and even relate their private lives, but when it

comes to rewarding the staff, they prefer giving rendezvous than tips. “We are always having trouble with women. Either they want to place their stakes too late after the fatal “Rien ne va plus” has been uttered, or else they quarrel among themselves or v. ith men as to whether they backed such and such a number. And when they lose they make such a scene and carry on in an alarming manner. I prefer any day men who can lose with calm and are generous when they win.” “Tell me about distinguished visitors,” I asked.

__“That would mean giving you a list of nearly all the famous names of the world, because everybody, at least once in their lives, have been to Monte Carlo. Very often they come incognito, and we have instructions to treat them as ordinary individuals even if they are princes of the blood. “A man who was often here was Mr. Venizelos, the late Greek revolutionary and premier.' It is a pity that all gamesters are not as he was, as he played without passion, simply to pass the time and left magnificent tips, even when he had lost several thousand francs. “To my table also came the famous Trotsky. He was accompanied by three men and a woman. He played rather nervously, and finally won about two or three thousand francs in the afternoon.

"I have only once in my life seen a woman who, even if she played nervously, did not show the usual passion of her sex at the gaming fable. 1 refer to the famous Greta Garbo, whose appearance at the Casino made a greater impression than royalty. “She played bac and trente et quarante especially, but also paused at the roulette tables. I think she must be extremely superstitious and convinced of the truth of the old saying, ‘Lucky at cards, unlucky in love,’ for every time she won, and she won a lot, she looked so worried that the head croupier, thinking that she had not understood the workings of the game, and was under the impression that she had lost, told her each time she won. “Yes, I see,” she replied sadly, ‘yes, I have won, alas!’ ”