Marilyn Monroe's final flick, The Misfits, illustrated a poignant conflict between those who want to hold their horses and those who want to let them run wild. For on-screen stories, conflict is mandatory; between Bridge partners, it's unavailing. The characters played by Gable and Monroe ultimately learned the value of mutual cooperation, but not without a prelude of pain. Bidding a misfit in the manner shown here reruns these reels.

Playing duplicate, the strong, silent Gable wisely passed his long suit with no top cards, waiting to hear from his unspoken partner. Tragically, while Monroe saw only the majors, Gable focused on his extra length (just like a man), and neither saw the misfit until it was too late.

Guidelines for Misfits

• Cardinal Rule: Do not bid a misfit beyond the two level.
• When partner takes no preference between two suits you've bid, it should be because he can't, not because he loves his own suit more.
• A passed hand has the extra advantage of being able to bid a non-forcing new suit to alert the partnership to a looming misfit.

In the actual game, some Gables asserted their manhood by bidding to the moon on the first round and were quickly doubled. Others bid 3 and listened to their partner's majors at the three and four levels. So our Marilyn was down only one for a much better than average score.

Dontcha love a happy ending?