The figures that Lester Gaba made for Miss Lewis came about pretty well, and he got the idea that maybe, as there had been a Gibson Girl, she could now be succeeded by the Gaba Girl. They gave a party at the Biltmore for the first six he designed, given them all names and dressing them in clothes and lovely jewels.

One was named Erika, because Mr. Gaba once knew a man who came to this country from Europe and was so delighted with it that he dropped the "Am" and named his daughted Erika, out of appreciation.

Well, it helped change the whole idea of figures for window dressing. Whereas the old wax-figure idea in mannequins had been realism, it was realism of a rather frightening sort.

Mr. Gaba thought if there was a little more naturalness and a little less Nice nellyism, it would make the windows look -- well more inviting.

The purpose of putting things in department store windows is to get people to come in and buy, not chill them into running in the other direction at high speed.

He knew, too, that there are people walking around in the world today who have freckles, and some who even have pigeon toes.

All right; let the mannequins be natural. Put one with freckles and a tomboy look alongside another uppity looking young lady with a Devonshire cream complexion, and you have a scene which is far more natural to the eye of the buying public than the waxy dumbbunnies of yesterday's store windows.

In the beginning Mr. Gaba intended to make all his mannequins, but it got to be too much of a job, so he only designs them and a company builds them.

Figures of men? Well, he's done one, but it's sort of in the class with the Cardiff giant as far as he is concerned; some day he may design some more, but at the moment he can get up surprisingly little steam about it.

Meanwhile, department stores are muddling along for male mannequins with refinements on the old wax model tradition or with wood cutouts, dolled up with paint and tans it is hoped everyone wil believe they got at Palm Beach.