Morocco: First of the Newtime Spenders

With regal aplomb, Morocco’s King Hassan II left for home last week after spending eleven days and $780,000 in the U.S. Explained one of the King’s pressagents: “It was a conscientious effort to return much of the American aid money —in U.S. dollars and through the free enterprise system.”

Beneficent Hurricane. The biggest single benefactor was Manhattan. Hassan’s buying spree began on Sunday, when New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue opened privately to allow the royal party to purchase $18,000 worth of dresses, sports jackets, luggage, lingerie and baby clothes. On successive days Hassan returned again and again, and a dazed Saks official said, “He’s bought in almost every category. You could say he’s done practically the whole store.” Then the King and couriers swept through other midtown stores like a beneficent hurricane, cleaning the shelves of cameras, hi-fis, records and color TV sets.

He dropped in on an upper Broadway auto agency and decided on five Cadillacs in as many minutes. A note-taking aide asked, “Five Cadillacs, Your Majesty?” Replied Hassan, “Um . . . yes, five.” His biggest field day was at the Fieldcrest textile showroom, where he bought so fast and furiously that salesmen had to send out for more order pads. While inspecting samples, King Hassan’s face would light up or turn somber as he pronounced his verdicts of “Très distingué!” or “Passé.” The King was said to “adore prints” and bought a total of 5,000 items, ranging from king-sized bath towels, “in every color combination imaginable,” to beach togas, robes and blankets.

Sagging Trucks. Between orgies of shopping, the King relaxed at El Morocco, Voisin, Sardi’s, and the Barnum & Bailey circus at Madison Square Garden. Fearful of a bad press, Moroccan officials hurriedly advised newsmen that the five Cadillacs were for a governmental car pool back home, and the piles of cloth would be used to outfit a new government-supervised Hilton hotel in Rabat.

But all good things must end. The King’s private party of 25 set out for Idlewild Airport in a modest fleet of black limousines, followed by 45 Moroccan second-stringers in buses, followed in turn by three U.S. Army trucks sagging under personal luggage, crates, boxes and parcels. Hassan then boarded a special U.S. Air Force Boeing 707 for the flight home. Standing by to carry the rest of the party, and most of the purchases, were a chartered Pan Am Clipper and a Royal Moroccan Constellation.