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FARM & DEPARTMENT ! j dJj3I SPECIAL PURCHASE SMITH & JONES • • > ' > • > . T\ • ?£• .r SECTION 2 - PAGE 1 • PLAINDEALER HERALD. FRIDAY. DECEMBER 14. MM Nation/World So, you want to be a butler. .. By Betty Luman United Press International HOUSTON -- The job descrip­ tion at first sounds like a Boy Scout -- honest, trustworthy, loyal. But the qualifications for a butler don't stop there. The butler hears everything, but must reveal nothing/even though sorely pressed by his employer's business associates or friends. He must be discreet, never pom­ pous; be able to teH a good wine from a bad one; and know how to deal with a drunken guest. He never eats garlic, onions or curry and washes his hands more than most people. The butler becomes a friend and confidant of the family, but knows a fine line must be drawn between the employee and the employer. His day starts early and ends late. It begins with a wake-up call for his employer and serving tea or coffee and a freshly ironed -- yes, ironed -- newspaper in bed, laying out two sets of clothes, run­ ning a bath and cooking breakfast'. it continues with ordering sup­ plies, planning dinner parties, booking travel arrangements, ser­ ving meals and hiring, supervis­ ing and firing staff for sometimes up to four homes. The butler must know the ins and outs of the upper class and, unless he's recently fallen from wealth, it's information not readi­ ly available--except to graduates of Ivor Spencer's School for British Butlers and Ad­ ministrators. / Spencer Is a professional masten of ceremonies who Jias covered more than 700 royal occa­ sions, many of which he organiz­ ed. When an American client ask­ ed for help in getting a butler, Spencer discovered there were on­ ly about 100 left in England. He blames their near demise on the British economy. "We've resurrected the butler," Spencer says of his school.' "We (the British) haven't got the money today. That's why our butlers want to come to America." After three years of training butlers in the country that made them famous, Spencer plans to open a U.S. school in Houston next year. "Texas is a good market for us," Spencer says. "It's good for employers." Already, 25 of his 32 British- trained butlers have obtained positions in the United States, where the new rich and longtime wealthy are finding a butler br­ ings prestige. Spencer likes to tell the story of an American millionaire who finally felt he "had arrived" when he told a posh store he would send his butler to pick up his order. For Americans who don't know how to treat a butler, Spencer of­ fers a one- or two-day course. He shows the employers how to han­ dle their new status and how to be waited on. "We have to educate him," Spencer says of the new employer. The first rule he gives American employers is to never call the butler by his first name. Spencer also helps place his graduates for a fee paid by the new employer. The graduates usually com­ mand a starting salary of $25,000, two weeks vacation, living quarters, food, a car, medical in­ surance and 1 Vi days off each week. "Because of the recession, we've got people we never thought we would get -- journalists, teachers, a man who runs three candy stores, head waiters, a plumber, headmaster and people who've left school at 17," Spencer says. The three-month program in England costs $2,350, while the more intensive one-month American program wiH cost $3,000. The course syllabus has 84 lessons from cleaning silver to the care of cigars to purchasing clothes. "It's no good talking to them about wines and food and menus unless they actually eat it," says Spencer, who takes his students to the finest restaurants and has wine experts and famous chefs serve as guest lecturers. Not everyone can pass the course. The two cardinal sins of American butlers are a tendency to be too familiar and never being flexible in their hours, he says. "I've given money back at the end of the course when I realized they've wasted their time," said Spencer. "I'm very tough with them, very strict with them. There's no way they will retain their job unless they are good." One of Spencer's graduates, Bryce West, 20, of Albuquerque, N.M., sees the course he recently completed as an investment. He says it's cheaper and quicker than a college education, and his starting salary will be higher than many college graduates. He expects to be a butler 50 years from now and doesn't believe his youthful looks will be a handicap. He says he believes a family will be looking for someone to be around for a long time. Luxury cruise trips are now within reach ByMarkSchwed UPI entertainment writer MIAMI r -- They are called floating cities, super Love Boats, and even palaces at sea. In the past two years, nearly a dozen luxury cruise liners have sailed out of the world's shipyards, marking a building boom like never before. Besides being twice the size of the old ships, the new cruise liners are Titanic-like in gross excess. Take the $160 million Royal Princess j a 45,000-ton, 1,260- passenger vessel christened by Princess Diana in November and currently on its maiden North American cruise. Every one of the 600 staterooms has an outside window and 152 of the suites have their own private balcony. Rooms come with remote control color television, telephone, refrigerator, and every bath has a tub and shower. There are 10 decks, four pools, two freshwater whirlpools, 10 bars, a daily newspaper, 800 plants, 2 acres of open teak deck, a disco with marble dance floor, an all- British crew, a chef de cuisine and a maitre d' from Italy's Piedmont region. Prices average $300 a day. Glamour was never so affordable. "We think it is the most lux­ urious of any cruise ship," said Michael Hannon, the top marketing man for Princess Cruises of Los Angeles. It wasn't so long ago that cruls4 ships were nothing but fantasy. Ships were for crossing the sea. There was no other way. Then Ui 1958 the first trans-Atlantic non­ stop 707 spelled the end for trans- Atlantic passenger ships, but the 707 flight gave birth to a new In­ dustry -- the cruise. "You had to provide a vacation , rather than just transportation,", explained Diana Or ban,' spokeswoman for the Cruise Lines International Association. "Peo­ ple wanted to do things, to gather, eat fabulous meals, t*ey wanted to be pampered. That's how the cruise experience evolved." At f i r s t , p a s sen g e r s were segregated according to the thickness of their wallets -- first- class, tourist-class, second-class and so on. But these days everybody gets first class-services "Cruises are no longer for the rich," she said "Currently, about 25 percent of people who take < cruises are under 35 and the average Income of people who take cruises is dropping." FARM^FLEET ROUTE 47 & BYPASS 14, WOODSTOCK, II Weekdiyj, 8:30-9:00; Saturdays, 8:30-5:30; Sundays, 11:00-5:00 FARM#-FLEET ROUTE 47 * IVPASS14, WOODSTOCK, IL WaaMays, UMjQO; Saturdays, Swdays, llJHlM WHY PAY UPDATE D MISSES COORDINATES AT FANTASTIC SAVINGS! 100% POLY •BLAZERS Solids and patterns •MATCHING PANTS, SKIRTS AND SWEATERS _ _ • • • « t H| jff-- •MATCHING BLOUSES ONLY.. . . . . . . . . . . . t . . . . , . . , . . . , E e a SHOP EARLY FOR BEST SELECTION I PRICES GOOD WOOOSTOCK STORE THRU 12/24