The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1935-08-22
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New York, Aug. 22--Mooching
Is one Of the fine and potter arts
among q large number Of young
men who farm the fringes Of the
gayer and generously moneyed cir
cles Of Manhattan.
There IL nothing Of sloth or in.
dolence about these fellows, for
they work very hard at being
ieeches, and accomplish their
mooching by every canny strate-
gem. Before them always, of
course, Is the example Of the i'm
poster Prince Mike Romanoff, who
became an International celebrity
on nothing more than impudent
gall and a paralyzing aversion to
honest toll.
Mike had a lively imagination,
an engaging manner and the poll
ish that any rolling stone might
acquire. Il speak of His Synthetic
Excellence in the past tense be-
cause Mike dropped out Of the
picture recently. But he doubt
less will be back.) Anyway, many
of the aspiring young oochers
have far better social qualifica-
lions than he had, as well az less
indefinite antecedents. Some can
ride, all can dance, and not a few
are handsome. va DYKE t'H
Soaked by spongers ,@h'
There are no textbooks on how
to become successful spong-
er. but there Is one cardinal rule:
Aim high. The easiest mooching
Is from the very best people, or
at least the wealthiest. They're
willing to pay to be amused. and
are less likely to be disagreeabie
about matters OF modest rubber
checks cashed by q sycophant In
embarrassing social emergencies.
Known to the entire fraternity
of moochers Is a long list OF easy
going patrons who have yachts,
country homes, cabanas, town
salons, spare bedrooms, spare
cars and pendants for giving par
ties. There is no explaining why
certain people seem to enjoy be-
ing victimized.
Masqueradcrs
The only moocher I know on q
confessional basis tells me that
u is always best to assume and
staunch1y maintain some sort of
pose. Harry Gerguson, for ex-
ample, went through innumer-.
able exposures, and q few scan
dais and jail sentences, still
blandly Haunting his Romanoff
alias. Only before a stern Judge
did he ever admit his real iden.
tity, but scarcely had he been led
from the courtroom than his jail
ors. with ready Difference, were
calling him prince" You real
ly had to admire his grim loyalty
to a noble family that never had
heard of him and country he
never had seon with language
he couldn't speak.
And so. my informant tells me,
all practiclng moochers choose an
impressive family background and
profession for themselves. OF
course they toll not, but they spin
some fancy yarns. Probably the
majority Of parasites identify
themselves as men of letters, each
one declaring that hos riting a
book and has fat guarantee
from one OF the better publishers.
Not the least advantage OF this
pleasant quackery Ii that It all
lows a fellow to boldly seeks the
inspiring silences Of cruise or
country estate so that he can
better concentrate on a few espe-
clllay difficult chapters. sj
II It isn't a. book It's play.
One always can mention that the
Shuberts and Crosby .Gaige and
Jed Harris have been begging for
the first option. Another thing:
Playwrights are VIGOROUSLY secre-
tive about their ideas, and that
spares a moochers the pain OF
having to think up something for
his play to be about. "If you
don't mind" he'll say, 'I'd rather
not talk about 1t. Spells my own
feeling for the thing. y'know."
Love or Money
Two more rules must be OBJ
served by the successful mooch-
err; The first is that he must
do nothing dishonest for financial
gain. 1t is all right for him to
carry back to town a couple OF
his hosts shirts and q set Of In
expensive dress studs; that can be
laughed off as an. error due to
hurried packing. He can even. as
I mentioned before. bounce q bad
check or two, II they are modest
checks obviously used for ex-
penses incurred. These can be
explained away as being on the
wrong bank, or thoughtiess over
drawais pending the arrival Of an
allowance from a rich father who
Is far. far away.
But a moocher mustn't steal
valuable articles. or graft any
sums Of money that ne can poe
e. NaIkhar lRula ID does the