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A Party for the Bride. The count inherited his empire from his father, a pushcart peddler who emigrated from Italy in 1881, founded a lard-rendering business and then expanded almost as fast as Sáo Paulo itself. His son has tripled the empire and is still abuilding. Though his announced net profits last year were $17.5 million, the count is notoriously coy about what he actually makes. His personal fortune tops $100 million. He is building a Roman Catholic cathedral. When his daughter Filomena (Fifi) got married a few years ago, he staged a fabulous reception, with special trains to help haul the 2,000 guests, and gold vanity-case souvenirs for all the ladies.
Sáo Paulo's No. 1 political enterpriser is Adhemar de Barros. A big, breezy, bumptious man, Adhemar introduced modern machine politics to Brazil, now refers casually to Getulio Vargas as "the man I elected President." He leaves no doubt that he considers himself Vargas' heir. After eight years as governor, he retired from office temporarily in 1950. Adhemar is one of Brazil's richest men, with large interests in Sao Paulo airlines, textiles and candy manufacture, a fortune well above the $50 million mark.
A Cascade for Baby. Youngest among Sáo Paulo's big operators is handsome Francisco ("Baby") Pignatari, 34. Against the granite-faced opposition of his uncle, Count Matarazzo, Baby took over his family's metals plant a few years ago and made it into the largest nonferrous rolling mill in South America. For his redheaded fiancee, Nelita Alves de Lima, Baby is building a million-dollar house in suburban Santo Amaro with two Turkish baths, a shooting gallery, a bowling alley and an outdoor swimming pool. It will also have a 130-ft. indoor swimming pool with a cascade of water 30 ft. wide and 21 ft. high at one end. By swimming through his waterfall, Baby will find himself in a grotto equipped with bar, bath and bed.
Returning from Paris recently, a Paulista friend brought Baby's bride-to-be a Cartier cigarette lighter adorned with a sapphire as big as a robin's egg. The friend was Sáo Paulo's fabulous press lord, Assis Chateaubriand, 60, who shares Baby's dislike for Matarazzo and likes to print whole pages of pictures of underpaid Matarazzo workers and their crowded hovels. "Chatô's" head office, two of his 28 newspapers and one of his TV stations are in Sáo Paulo. So is his new Museu de Arte. In a city of self-made millionaires, Chatô is a self-appointed propagandist for the arts and cultural tutor to tycoons. His own taste is excellent, and the museum's collection is a good one (including Rembrandt, El Greco, Portinari).