The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-11-06
In New York
By PAUL HARRISON

New York-The mock war be-
 tween the Park Avenue exhibition
 ists and the professional models
 of Flatbush, has been providing no
 end of innocent amusement and lots
 of dandy publicity for everybody
 involved.
 The clothes horses, or Allies, of
 both society and the working classes are pleased to find their
 pictures in most of the newspapers
 and magazines, together with
 neatly-phrased opinions, attributed
 to themselves, concerning the al-
 legged ruthlessness of wealthy post
 debs who are cutting professional
 mannequins out of jobs. It has all reached the silly stage at which representatives of smart shops engaging society models (with or without pay) are tele- phoning the professionals so that
 they may organize picket lines when fashion shows are being held. Result: crowds, police, excitement, and everybody's name includilrs the names of the shops) in the papers.
 Propaganda.
 Fact is, too that the whole con- troversy originated in the agile mind of fellow named Bert Nevins, who is press agent for ;l | mannequin school. Under the sly goading of this propagandist, the
 work-a-day models decided whh fetching indignation that the blue blood gals were stealing the sables O fftheir backs, if not the cavior from their mouths.
 And as we have some one of those incongruous situations in which the enviably idle rich are sternly reminded that they had
 better remember their place-re-
 maining, if not rich, at least idle.
 It strikes me, anyway, that the
 motive of working society girls
 have been misinterpreted long enough. We've been told that they have wearied of purposeless lives and giddy rounds of pleasure; that they wish to justify their existence
 in the busy world, and do big,
 constructive deeds for the benefit of mankind. Wealth does not mean happiness-and so on, and on.
 Achievement-that's what these
 dewey darlings crave.
 Fun In Work.
 All ,that, if I may say so. is just so much pate de fois gras, or goose liver. The harsh truth ;s that the debbies have observed
 that wage-slaves have fun. And they do have fun, these
 models and night1club singers, secretaries. snart-shop clerks and department-Store buyers. Some of them get tickets to all the shows. and unchaperoned business trips to Europe. They meet lots of in- teresting people-people. one does mt meet in drawing roosns-prize- | fighters, movies stars, scandal tinged playboys, snappy Broadway
 comedians and college heroes.
 Poor Little Rich Girls. So it's little wonder that the pampered, hampered Park Avenue lasses believe that it must be just too, too devine to have a nice little job all ones very own. And g. lucky apartment of ones own, with acquaintances of ones own choos- ing.
 You see, there are negative con- alterations. Formal balls can be pretty dull. Dukes and princes can be paunchy or bald, or both. Blue-blooded bachelor millionaires can be stupid. Seldom in a life time do really good catches come along-such as Bill Plankington, who has $5,00,000 left from a mil- west packing fortune. and who dances the rhumba; or Jimmy Burden, who besides being rich anu
 affable, is friend of the Prince Of Wales.
 Even when good catches do ap-
 pear, they become so adroit Ut
 logging match making mamas that
 they usually wind up in bewildered
 bachelorhood. That was an idle
 threat the mannequins made about
 stealing the socialitess boy friends
 if the socialistes keep on talk
 al models don't want any Park Avenue boy-friends thank you.
 Members of New York's Four
 Thousand have been contending
 plaintively that they need the
 money from jobs quite as much as do the regular models, Maybe so. Marjorie Oelrichs almost sup ports herself. Mrs Langdon Post. gives part of her wages to char ity. So does Eve Symington, a blue -blooded night-club singer Mary Taylor has earned enough to pay for drama lessons. And Lucille Brokaw has done sufh- ciently well to continue with her painting and sculpture. Could bad old mannequins call painting and dramatics "luxuries,' when poor little debbies' souls are starving for expression?