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my proposed company. He agree to put up all the money and give me a one-third partnership in the firm. I then released my Happy Legs name - with a logo of three legs - and registered it in Washington just as we shipped our first flare legs to Burdine's in Miami. The flare was 24-inches wide, which we later expanded to as much as 40 inches. The pants were an immediate sellout. In our first season we did $5 1/2 million; today we're doing $50 million - with all sorts of items - pants, jackets, shirts, peacoats and vests. And all because I saw a Broadway musical one night." The show biz angle was not a one-shot thing. Gene constantly gets fashion inspirations from the stage and screen. "Our company got tied up with the movie version of Oliver," he says proudly, "and we did very well on the deal. We adapted pants, vests, and costumes from the fabulous clothes Phyllis Dalton designed for the movie. They had a real English look - stripes, checks, tartan plaids - but we used domestic fabrics." One night, Gene was watching the Ed Sullivan show and noted that one of the Fifth Dimension singers was wearing slacks with a stripe going down the side. "I did a tuxedo look based on that. It was a great success and people thought I had copied the idea from Paris." Just recently, Gene saw Chicago and flipped over the vests that the males wear in the 1920's musical. He has adapted them into single and double breasted vests for women, with round lapels and little pocket treatments. According to Gene, the girl who wears the Happy Legs line is not a dull type who shops with her mother. "She's a very active girl - between 18 and 27 - who likes to be first in everything. She's tall, prefers creative fashion that fits, and doesn't want to pay $60 to $80 for a pair of pants." (Happy Legs pants range from $21 to $35; and coordinated jackets from $30 to $40.) When the Happy Legs girl marries, has a family, and broadens a bit, she can move on to the Jazzie line, the newest company founded by Gene and his partners. "Our pants don't have a European cut," explains Gene, "because American girls are built differently from European girls. Continued on page 55 [[advertisement]] The Americana isn't just good rates for buyers. It's the good life. When you stay at the Americana you just don't get our Special Rates. You also get to enjoy the special way of life only the Americana can offer you. Because you are as near as you need to be to get to your market. And after the market place, there's the theatre, and the hundred and one sights and sounds that make New York unique. And the Americana also offers so many ways to enjoy the good life without going out. Fine restaurants, nightly entertainment, dancing, a great coffee shop and our new Lobby Lounge, where you can enjoy a drink and people-watch. 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