RUMANIA: Plush & Panic

On a structure more like an archiepiscopal throne than an office chair, on the 50th floor of Manhattan's RCA Building, sat dapper, pudging Russell Birdwell, press-agent extraordinary. Mr. Birdwell had been persuaded, without difficulty, to discuss his newest, lushest client: ex-King Carol of Rumania and Mexico City.

"The King," said Mr. Birdwell, "is brilliant, a man with great poise and fine judgment. . . . He was the first ruler in Europe to take a stand against Naziism. . . . Madam Lupescu is a very great lady. . . . It is...

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