Thursday, April 23, 2015

Unusual Prizes

Source: Davar, Sept. 5th, 1937, p. 5.

Moshe Roytman, our frequent correspondent, found the following "coming attraction" notice for a simultaneous exhibition by the 'well known Viennese master Siegmund Beutum' (link to Wikipedia; see also 'Beutum' in this blog) against 30 opponents in Nahariya, at the Paltov Coffee House -- a local "institution" at the time (photo credit: Andreas Meyer, an early resident of Nahariya who recorded much of its history).

The tournament was sponsored by the Haifa branch of the Dubek cigarette factory, and promised prizes 'from the Dubek factory's products' -- presumably, cigarettes -- to the winners. Are there other cases where cigarettes were offered as prizes in tournaments?

It should be added that less than a month later, while reporting on the 1937 Palestinian championship, Marmorosh (Davar, Oct. 1st, 1937, p. 4) notes that 'the Dubek company made sure there was an ample supply of its product' , which implies they provided the contestants with cigarettes gratis as a sponsorship.

P.S.

It could be that the simultaneous display didn't take place, as there is no report on it in the next days in Davar -- including in Marmorosh's chess column of the Sept. 10th issue (p. 3) in the same month.

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