Opulence and Waste

There was only one big disappointment: no shoes. Otherwise, the display of opulence in the six-story Manhattan town house of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda was just what one would expect. Gold- plated lavatory fixtures. A kitchen on every floor. Three pianos and a harpsichord. Eighteen lace-covered pillows on the First Lady's richly canopied bed. Heroic ten-foot paintings of Marcos as a medal-bedecked leader and Imelda as a latter-day saint. A strobe-lighted and mirrored disco, outfitted with cushions bearing the mottoes of the Marcos millions. Example: "To be rich is no longer a sin, it's a miracle."

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