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Show I Dy By y L L STEVENSON "TrVENSO TrVENSO STEVENSONIt " : It vvasn wasn t so long ago that Ben Benjamm Benjamin jamm jamin Winter Wmter rather short and andpudgy andpudgy pudgy andeanng and \ wearing \\eanng eanng \ wrinkled wnnkled clothes clothesand clothesj clothesI and scuffed sliooc sho "i i < : " \ was \ as worth $27 27 $27oo0 $27I 27I $ 000 oo0 000000 000 H s rei re'l rel ref ' estate frm fmm hadhold hadhold had hold ngs rigs with an est mated value of $60 60 $ 000 000 Four hundred million millionI milliondollars I | dollars doUars hid h'1.d h1.d h1d ' . passed through his hishands hishands who v.ho vho whotransformed v.hotransformed whotransformed . hands Kno vn as the man transformed F Ftil fth ! avenue hepaid he hepaid hepaid paid W lVanderbilt K l\ l \ . Vanderbllt Vanderbilt $4 4 $ 000 000 for h s grays graystone tone chateau Vincent Vmcent As Astor Astor AsI tor $2 2 $ 700 000 for the famous Astor Astormans Astormans I mans on at S Sty \ty ty "ty xty \ " f Ctth ffth fth street Arthur ArthurCurt ArthurCurt ArthurCurt Curt ss James $4 4 $4000000 4000000 $ 000 000 tor for anapartment an anapartment anapartment apartment house at 888 988 Fifth F lh avcnue ave avenue avenue nue When \ V \ \ n er bought thewreckers the thewreckers thewreckers wreckers came Mans ons on vvh wh chmillions ch chmillIons chmillions millIons had been expended were wererazed wererazed wererazed razed ruthlessly and new structures structurestook structurestook structurestook took the r places It has been saId saIdof saidof saidof of Winter Wmter that he kno knovs vs FIfth FIfthavenue Fifthavenue Fifthavenue avenue as a man knows his back backyard backyard bachyard yard or a gu de knows knov.s knovs . the tra Is ol of ofthe ofthe the woods To deal in m millions was wasnot wasnot not at all aU difficult for h m m-he m he - he mere merely merely merely ly forgot the c phers . . . I W nter read reacl reach ed the peak of his hisfortune hisfortune hisfortune fortune a 1 I ttle We more than a quarter quarterof of a centurv century after he had come cometo cometo cometo to this country as a < : an immigrant IIDmlgrant boyfrom boy boyfrom boyfrom from Poland with Witt ' a cash capital olt of oft oft ' . t vo worn $1 1 $ b Us lis In the old country coun country country try his family famlJy had had money andhe and andhe andhe : he had attended art school When Whenrelatives Whenrelatives Whenrelatives relatives asked sked his occupation he ho horepled herepi . \ repl repled ed Painter Pamter So he wal was walpromptly waspromptly wa wapromptly promptly apprenticed to a house housepamter housepainter housepainter pamter painter Having Havmg learned that trade tradepe tradehe he pe became a contractor and fromcontractor from fromcontractor fromcontractor contractor graduated into mto the realestate real realestate realestate ; estate business busmess At first his operations opera operahons operations hons tions were modest He bought and andI andsold andsold andsold ' sold uptown and gradually worked workedmto workedinto workedinto I mto into the'll thell the ' west est side Then came FIfth FIfthI FIfthavenue Fifthavenue Fiftliavenue L avenue > By y that time he had es establ1shed established estabhshed tabl1shed tablished his credit He didn dldn t need needcapital needcapital ' I capital merely credit and rnortgages mort inert mortgages inertgages gages In 10 add tion tlon he had to knowwhere know knowwhere knowwhere , I knowI mI11Ions millions mI11IonsI where to sell at a p- p pTl profit - " " * Tl Thus ' the theI themI11Ions themillions " "millions millions " ' I ' ' ' I How the former immigrant boy boyacqu boyacqu bo ; acqu red the Astor mansion is an anIllustration anillustration ai illustration of Winter Wmter shrewdnessThe shrewdness shrewdnessThe shrewdnessThe The property proper y was not tor for sale AstoI Astor Astord d dn do t-need.the tneed.the t need.the needthe t lleed need - . the he money That didn dldn dads didnargument dadsdiscourage t tdiscourage ; discourage discourageWinter Winter Wintert WinterHe " 'linter linter ' He put up the theargument theargument , argument that mansions belonged belongedto belongeito to the gay 80s 90s That difficult es In Inobtammg inobtaining 11obtaining . obtammg obtaining and mainta mamta ning nlng a staff staffof staffof stafof of servants \ were \ ere increasing mcreasmg canstantly constantly con can stantly That parties partiesere were \\ere ere \ no longer long longer longer er held in homes but in an hotels Astoipaid Astor Astorpaid Astorpaid ' paid no attention Then Wmte Wmter Winter Wmtershoved Wintershowed : showed shov-ed shov ed - h m that as hp he nccumed occupied thi the mansion only about 30 days a year yearIt yearit yearI it cost him $40000 40000 $40 40 $ 000 a night 111ght to sleep sleepthere sleepthere sleepthere there Astor sold . . . Benjamin Benjamm Winter Wmter fifty six yearsold years yearsold yearsold old his hair hall " thinning thmnmg his shoes andsuits and andSUitS andsuits SUitS more shabby than 10 yearsago years yearsago yearsago andI I ago now lives hves in m a rented Riversidedrive Riverside Riversidedrive Riversidedrive drive apartment His daughter a aHunter aHunter aHunter aI I Hunter college co11ege student works in m a adepartment adepartment adepartment department store Saturdays to earn earn$2 earn2 $2 2 $ a week Recently Winter Wmter v . went wentinto wentinto ent entmto mto into bankruptcy court His debtswere debts debtswere debtswere were $8 8 ? $ 8 500 000 His assets thoseciphers those thoseciphers thoseciphers ciphers he had disregarded m in thepast the thepast thepast past Freed from the insistence mSlstence otcreditors of o1 ofcreditors o1creditors creditors he bel eves he can come comeback comeback comeback back More millions mlll10ns he holds comeI are areto areto areto I to be made in m tl > the e further de development development development velopment of the mid town section sectionof sectiono1 sectionof of o1 New York sectionI I . . . I Speaking Speakmg of millions mlll10ns there werethose were werethose werethose those three youths who tried tned to gainadm gam gain gamadm gainadm adm ssion ssron to the Paramount theater theaterwIthout theaterwithout theaterwithout gamI I wIthout paying paYl11g the price pnce They TheyclImbed Theyclimbed Theyclimbed clImbed a lamppost got onto the themarquee themarquee I marquee and opened a window wmdow One Onec.rawled Onecrawled OneMawled c.rawled crawled : . through and presumably presumablysaw OneI I saw the ihe show The second oneupset one oneupset oneupset upset and broke a yaO $ " ' 00 O vase Thenoise The ThenOise Thenoise nOise brought ushers on the run TheI Heescaped He Heescaped Heescaped I escaped by taking takmg an 18 foot leap to tothe the street The third thltd member of o1 ofthe o1the the marqueeand trio tno was caught on the marquee I and went to Ja ) jail ail . . * . Then IXhen Chen ( there vere were the backers of otthe ofthe the Mercury theater and a wooden woodenplatform platform To put on Julius Juhus Caesar Cae Caesar Caesar sar they needed that platform platformThe The owner wanted $125 125 $ cash for it ItThe The actors aciors offered him a quarter In tere terect interest Intere interect t in the slow sl ow He laughed So platform they Sothey went elsehere else \ vhcre \here here there and got a plat form Julus Jul us Caesar turned ot.t ott oLt . outto ot.tto oLtto to be a hit and a quarter mterest interest interestwould mterestwould would have meant thousands in I instead stead of of$12i $12a 12a $12i 12i $12 12 $ to the platform own er owner ere erO e O Bell S Sy Sind } nd caeWNU sate'VNU calc ca\e ca e sate \ -WNU WNU -'VNU 'VNU VNU - ' V7NU Service ownI I |