Word: plebeians
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Much of the 153 million gal. of California table wine consumed annually by Americans is made from plebeian grapes grown in California's hot San Joaquin Valley, blended and sold mostly by the jug. The highly cherished European wines, on the other hand-such aristocrats as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc-are made only from selected clones whose territory and yield are as strictly regulated as a royal household and sell in general for $8 a bottle or more. In fact, vagaries of the European climate make the great vintages as costly as a Patou perfume...
...long tradition, ordered every officer and enlisted man to "voluntarily" ante up (75? for officers, 12? for enlisted men) for a gift for the couple. Following an angry outcry in the press, the contribution was made truly voluntary; the gift dropped from an expected $40,000 to a plebeian $15,000. Some Labor M.P.s protested the Treasury's raise of Anne's allowance from $37,500 to $87,500 because of the marriage. They also objected when the army offered the couple an 11-room house at Sandhurst, the British West Point-where Mark will take up duties...
...mouth of a dancing horn in Make Mine Music (1946). And, more distantly still, some of the Disney fantasies do run parallel to themes of high art, without displaying any awareness of their patrician Doppelgängers. The Isle of Jazz in Music Land (1946) is a brassy plebeian version of an almost archetypal image that in fine art reveals itself in Arnold Böcklin's Isle of the Dead and Watteau's Embarkation for Cythera: an island as kingdom of mood...
...steadfastly denied knowing in advance of the break-in at the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. A county grand jury in Los Angeles last week decided otherwise. It indicted Ehrlichman and three other former White House aides-Egil Krogh, David Young and G. Gordon Liddy-for the plebeian crime of burglary. Ehrlichman was also charged with perjury...
...central conflict of the play is a plebeian foray into patrician territory. Crystal Allen (Marie Wallace), a perfume clerk, seduces and steals the husband of Mary Haines (Kim Hunter). Since Mary is a pretty decent woman compared with her feline friends, audience sympathy gravitates to her. Crystal is a steely predator who wants her share of the spoils, but as an arriviste, she cannot keep her social footing. She is caught out in another liaison, and Mary gets her husband back. In effect, the lower orders have been chastised for their presumption...