Gimbel Growth

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Gimbel: "If the President of the United States should come in here tonight, where would he sleep?"

The Clerk: "Why ... er ... he'd get a room."

Gimbel: "I'll have that room. I'll pay for it. Cash is my middle name, but sometimes I just sign up as Richard Gimbel. Hand me the register." In his college days, R. Gimbel was occasionally seen crossing the Yale campus in the company of Professor (of International Law) William Howard Taft. Mr. Taft was usually observed to be listening intently. Mr. Gimbel was indisputably an able student. In his senior year he advertised TUTORING CLASSES DE LUXE, guaranteeing that any classmate who attended his five-hour lectures would pass a specified course. He gave the lectures in his rooms. The listeners sat in armchairs or on rich divans. He provided them with champagne, cigars, soda pop, candies, ice-cream and cigarets, though he himself did not drink or smoke. The fee was $20 a head, but Tutor Gimbel turned over the sums he made to charity, often admitting poor students free. Upon graduation he carried his methods into his father's and his uncles' business