DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Ramfis’ Conquests

“A wonderful gentleman.” said Kim Novak, her hazel eyes wide and dreamy. “A real good-will ambassador for his country. He likes hamburgers and so do I.” Zsa Zsa Gabor swooningly agreed: “One of the finest men I’ve ever met.”

Such character references are not easy to earn, but Hollywood thought it knew how Lieut. General Rafael (“Ramfis”) Trujillo Jr., 28, eldest son of the Dominican dictator, got them. At a Los Angeles foreign-car agency, where he bought a $12,000 Mercedes-Benz to replace his old Cadillac, Ramfis shipped off another $5,500 Mercedes to Zsa Zsa and an $8,500 model to Kim. Later he picked up the tab for a $17,000 chinchilla coat that Zsa Zsa had ordered. Calling himself “one of the wealthiest young men in the world,” Ramfis termed the gifts “surprises.”

Commander in chief of the two-bit Dominican air force, Ramfis came to the U.S. last summer to attend a year’s course at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, Kans. Because of frequent leaves, arranged through his embassy in Washington, he has apparently remained innocent of the higher principles of military strategy, but his cafeé-society tactics have improved by the week.

On one leave, in March, he went to the West Coast to sun his ailing sinuses. A lithe, five-goal polo player, Ramfis was presently presiding over ringside tables at Mocambo and L’Escoffier. One evening he grandly wrote out a check for $25,000 to Walter Winchell for the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund.

Then he met Kim, and they were together for big dates and small. Could it be love? “One never knows,” said Kim. But all the publicity brought out an embarrassing fact: back home, Ramfis has a wife named Octavia (“Tan Tan”) and six children. Frankly surprised, Kim said she had planned to send the car back anyway. “There’s not even room in my carport,” said she. Zsa Zsa was gladly hanging on to both her presents. At Leavenworth, the Army announced that Ramfis, who last week had his adenoids removed, had been completing his assignments by mail, and he would graduate in June along with his less-traveled classmates.