The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-03-28
Climbers Lavish Money on
Parties to Win Way
Past Barrier.
Continued From Page II

remember when he engaged a whole
company of bull fighters from Mex
leo in order to stage a bull fight for
his guests amusement.
THE monthly bills of his eStab
i lishment were enormous. l
know this because I had the duty
Of making out the checks at the
end of each month. Everything at
his establishment was free to his
guests.
One young man, a guest, hap
pened To be very much in love with
a girl living in New York. He called
her nightly on the long distance
telephone. The bill ran into nun
dreds of dollars, but the host never
thought of asking the guest to set
tie it.
And so far as I know, the guest
never thought Of Offering to Go So
The bootlegger's bill at this estab-
lishment often ran to $4,000 or S.
900 a month.
In many ways the man climber
has a better chance than his wife.
He has wider initial contacts. Bust
ness affiliations. a few good clubs
frequently bring him into contact
with the sort Of men who can make
or break his social career.
If such man also happens to
have a wife who is charming and
helpful and sufficiently self-effacing.
he may manage to land both of
them in society on the mere
strength of his wealth and business
prestige.
Social prominence has a high
commercial value and is, therefore,
greatly sought after by the success
full business man Of today. 1t sells
stocks and bonds, manipulates big
deals, commands positions on i'm
portant boards, and is the icing on
the cake generally.
Some of the best social climbers
I know are men. They are good
spenders, and magnificent and law
ish entertainers.
I SERVED q. Newport dowager for
/ time. Always rich, always on
the inside socially, the old dowager
was the antithesis of the social
climber.
With a fortune of S90,000,000 Of
her own she had married a COM
paratively poor man, worth only
$50 100000. He must have felt the
discrepancy in their positions, be-
cause he was the quietest. most
humble man I ever met.
The establishment where this
couple lived part of the year con-
tanned thirty bathrooms. All the
plumbing was gold plated. Besides
this place, the dowager had a suite
of rooms at a smart New York no.
tel which cost her $4,000 a year.
This woman made much of Christ
mas. She had a Christmas list of
about $50 people to whom she al
ways sent gifts ranging in value
from $50 to $4,000.
We kept a book in which her gift
records were kept for five years,
containing an accurate list and
prices of just what she had given
and received from each friend dur
ing that time.
She may have been enormously
wealthy, but she wanted to receive
a gift of approximately the same
value as the one she gave.
One year she had a particularly
Door Christmas. friends sending
gifts that were greatly under the
value of her own. That made her
good and angry.
We'll cut down the list" she an
nounced, and we went over the list
and pared it down to about fifty
people.
Then we waited for Christmas
and her revenge.
Perversely enough, however, the
dowager'S regular list of givers did
particularly we'll by her that year,
and several new ones annexed
themselves. When the house began
to look like a gift shop, the dowager
weakened.
.NN the day before Christmas,
~ when the stores were particu-
larly damned, the old dowager re-