National Affairs: Gambling Delmars

Vina and Eugene Delmar are a happy-go-lucky pair of citizens. They married when they were both looking for jobs on Broadway, graduated to writing for Snappy Stories magazine, now have a very good job collaborating on fiction and cinema scripts for which pert Vina (Bad Girl) invariably gets the credit. Last week the inseparable Delmars were put asunder for the first time in 17 years.

On New Year’s Eve, 1932, the Delmars drove from Hollywood to Agua Caliente, lost so much gambling at the Casino that they had to borrow money for gas to drive home. When they came to file their joint income tax return for 1933, Eugene remembered to deduct the $1,200 he had lost at chemin de fer, Vina the $300 she lost at roulette. Under the Revenue Act of 1934 this posed the problem as to whether the Delmars had undertaken their gambling for recreation or profit. Called before the Board of Tax Appeals, chunky Eugene insisted he had gambled for profit, to prove his experience testified that in two years in the Army his dice had netted him $2,000. Vina did not testify about her previous experience. Solomonwise, the board last week allowed Eugene’s claim, disallowed Vina’s. Said Eugene: “Well, what can you think of it?” Said Vina: “It was a great fight and we won. Or didn’t we?”