People were going to the movies to see The African Queen, Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), The Day The Earth Stood Still, Kon Tiki, A Streetcar Named Desire and Show Boat.
The there was a conspiracy theory going around that J.D. Salinger did not write Catcher in the Rye, a coming of age novel narrated by the disillusioned 16-year-old boy who, after being expelled from prep school, explores New York City and grappling with the "phoniness" of the adult world and his own feelings of alienation and loss. It was controversial because of its profanity and sexual content.
If Salinger wasn’t the author, who was? According to the theory it was a CIA brainwashing program using neurolinguistic passages. The fact that Salinger, who was rafted into the Army in 1942, served as a counterintelligence agent probably feuled the theory/
Neurolinguistics is a field of study that explores the connection between the brain and language, examining how the brain processes and represents language. Neuro-linguistic programming is a pseudo-science claiming to improve communication and achieve desired outcomes. There are also theories that assassination codes are buried deep in Salinger’s book.
Alexander (Al) Bisno was bon in Chicago on January15, 1897 and died at the age of 90 in Los Angeles on July 13,1987. A real estate investor, in the chess world he was a patron and benefactor who also played a significant role in other areas of the game such as serving as President of the Manhattan Chess Club (1951) and the non-playing captain of the US team for the USA-USSR team match (1954). He was a negotiator in the 1952 match between Reshevsky and Kashdan. He also served as an official of both the USCF and the American Chess Foundation. Curious fact: Bisno's son was named Paul Morphy Bisno.
Almost none of his games are available, but I ran across the below miniature in which he defeated a National Master. The game was superficially annotated by Al Horowitz in the January 1952 issue of Chess Review so it was probably played in 1951, perhaps at the Manhattan Chess Club. Horowitz had the annoying habit of not giving the date or the event in which games were played.
[Event "New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1951.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Harold M. Phillips"]
[Black "Al Bisno"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C41"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17"]
[PlyCount "34"]
{[%evp 11,34,48,52,48,63,51,62,12,20,9,-11,-1,16,14,21,-152,-135,-140,-211,
-237,-210,-316,-379,-476,-12800] C41: Philidor Defense} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 {
Considered a second rate defense today, this defense is still playable except
at the GM level.} 3. d4 {This is about the only move you will ever see played
here because black is compelled to exchage ...exd4 which gives white a
dominating center position.} Nd7 {The beginning of the defensive setup known
as the Hanham Variation, the idea of which is that black wantsto make the P on
e4 a strongpoint. One disadvantahe is that the N interferes with the B's
development, but that's not really important because there is no way for white
to take advantage of ot. Dpending on how the game goes, black will find a good
fquare for the N later.} 4. Bc4 {Aiming at the weak f7 and hoping at some
point to take advantage of it.} c6 {Only 4 moves in and the position requires
precise play on black's part! Aside from avoiding the disaster given in the
note, 4...c3 opens a diagonal for the Q.} (4... Ngf6 {What could be more
natural looking than this?} 5. dxe5 Nxe5 (5... dxe5 6. Ng5 {and black is lost.}
) 6. Nxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. f3 {with the advantage.}) 5. c3 {
This move, the idea of which is to maintain a strong P center in the event of .
..exd4, is not witout merit, but white usually plays 5.O-O and if ...exd4
white can retake with his Q leaving him with a dominating center.} Be7 {
This gets slapped with a couple of question marks. The idea of the move is to
avoid any danger from Ng5, but it allows something even worse.} 6. O-O {
White miises his opportunity and he doesn't get a second chance!} (6. Qb3 {
Adding pressure to f7. Black doesn't have a really good way to defend it.} d5
7. exd5 b5 8. Bd3 cxd5 9. Bxb5 Ngf6 {This looks reasonable, but after} 10. dxe5
Ng4 11. h3 {Black's best try is} Nxf2 12. Kxf2 Rb8 13. Qxd5 {and whiye should
win.}) 6... Ngf6 7. Re1 Qc7 {Black usually castles here, but he did not, as
Horowitz claimed, fail to capitalize on white's last move with 7...Nxe4} (7...
Nxe4 8. Rxe4 d5 9. Nxe5 {A surprise move that Horowitz missed.} Nxe5 (9... dxe4
10. Nxf7 {is obviously good for white.}) 10. Bxd5 cxd5 11. Rxe5 {White is a P
to the good plus black has an isolated d-Pawn. Blackls two Bs are not enough
compensation. In Shootouts white scored +4 -0 =1}) 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. Nf1 {The
idea is to reposition the N to the K-side, but the problem is that now ...Nxe4
is a good move. Guarding the e-Pawn with 9.Be3 was better.} Nxe4 10. dxe5 (10.
Rxe4 {is also layable, but it does not have the same force as in the similar
situation nebtioned in the note to move 7.} d5 11. Nxe5 dxe4 12. Nxf7 {Black
could offer the draw with 12..Nb6 13.Nh6+ Kh8 14.Nf7+ or 12...Nf6 13.Ng5+ etc.}
Rxf7 {would be losing after} 13. Qh5 {Taking the strongly favors black.} Nf6
14. Qxf7+ Kh8 15. Bf4 Qxf4 16. Qxe7 Bf5 17. Ne3 {White has good expectations
of eventually winning which he did in 5 Shootouts.}) 10... d5 11. Bd3 f5 {
A good move solidifying control over e4. Horowitz comments that white's K is
insufficiently guarded, but that comment was apparently based on the game's
outcome. Engines )Stockfish, Dragone by Komodo, Berserk and Lc0 all assess the
position as sompletely equal.} 12. exf6 {Necessary. Otherwise white's e-Pawn
falls.} Ndxf6 {Black has somewhat better development, more active poeces and
the f-file on which to operate, but white's position has no exploitable
weaknesses, so the position is equal.} 13. Ng5 {But, not after this! This
aggressive looking move is a losing mistake.} (13. Bxe4 Nxe4 14. Ng3 {White
wants to eliminate the aggressive, and dangerous Ns.} Bf5 (14... Nxf2 {is
completely wrong now. AFter} 15. Kxf2 Bg4 16. Qd4 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Bf6 18. Qg4 {
Black has lost material and there has no attack to show for it.}) 15. Nxe4 Bxe4
16. Ng5 {Now this is OK.} Bf5 17. Ne6 Bxe6 18. Rxe6 {with a completely equal
position.}) 13... Nxf2 {[%mdl 512] Alertly playec. Black now has a decisive
advantage.} 14. Kxf2 {There is nothimg any better.} (14. Qc2 Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Bd6
16. h3 h6 17. Nf3 Qf7 {Threatening ...Bxh3; white is lost.}) 14... Ng4+ {Best/}
(14... Bc5+ {isn't quite so good.} 15. Ke2 Qe5+ {wins a piece.}) 15. Kg1 Bc5+
16. Be3 Bxe3+ 17. Rxe3 {Has white survived? No. It's black to play and win.}
Rxf1+ $1 {[%mdl 512] White resigned} (17... Rxf1+ 18. Kxf1 (18. Bxf1 Qxh2#)
18... Nxe3+ {wins the Q}) 0-1
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