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Jack Flack of El Monte, California, jam-packed among the onlookers, overheard this. As he drove home, he mulled it over in his mind. Since 1929, he had been teaching dancing. When not at that, he was entertaining on the stage as a member of a trio, "Three Wintons." In fact, when on a vaudeville appearance he met his wife Eleanor, a performer. Now 46, the muscular reflexes of his legs didn't respond as quickly as in the younger days. In time, he would have to curtail some of his dancing activities. For that day and to supplement his present income as an instructor, he had been investigating the possibilities of raising fur-bearing animals. This accounted for his presence at the fur-grading exhibition.

After extensive inquiries about nutrias, Jack bought a pair. His latest inventory reveals approximately 200, the number ever varying due to increase through propagation and the acquisition of new strains. As, an indication of his potential wealth, he retails top-rung, standard nutrias at $800 a pair, mutations coming higher. He advises that beginners in ranching should look for good quality in their foundation stock, staying clear of "low price bargains" as so often it can mean low grade stock.

BEFORE FLACK gives the ABC's as to how you, too, can have silver cartwheels jingling in your jeans from nutria, let him describe the animal and relate its history. So new is the nutria business in the United States that the man-on-the-street hasn't the faintest idea as to the nature of the animal, let alone having seen one.

"The nutria is one of those out-of-this-world things," says Flack. "A lovable and easily tamed creature, it nevertheless possesses denizen-from-mars-features. It sports a beaver-shaped head, equipped with large, orange-colored tusks, small ears and walrus-appearing whiskers. Its front paws shape up like a monkey's hand, but its hind, webbed feet resemble those of a duck's. Its long, round tail is patterned after that of a muskrat's, which it uses in swimming and to balance itself when it sits up to eat. Rough guard hair covers its body, but underneath—the dollar sign angle—is exquisitely fine, soft and beautiful hair.

In South America, its native home, the Spanish-speaking people erroneously conceived it to be some kind of an otter, and because of that branded it with their word for otter—nutria. In turn, its fur came to be known commercially as nutria. Staid scientists shake their heads to this christening. They contend that it should be called coypu, not nutria, this common name based upon their classification of it: Myocastor coypus. But the cognomen nutria is used so extensively that that is the accepted name for it among raisers and furriers.

"Its fur has been well-known throughout the world markets for more than a century," Flack relates, "but here's the rub—due to importing difficulties, it did not take hold until lately in this country. Until 1920, no one tried to domesticate nutrias. In other words, they were all wild. Over-trapping to supply the desire for the fur caused it to be practically extinct by 1900. Just after World War I a group of Germans migrated to Argentina and established the ranch, Cabana Nutria Blanca. Since 1922, this ranch has raised nutrias in captivity. It has mercilessly culled its herds, breeding only the finest animals having fur characteristics that recognized furriers would want."

From this South American ranch, Flack acquired his base stock and periodically obtains choice new animals. Although the standard color of nutria is brown, or, as the trade labels it, "marrone," Cabana Nutria Blanca bred brown animals with albino-whites—"Nutria Blanca" means "White Nutria"—and produced mutations in various shades. Naturally, the preponderance of Flack's animals are standard marrones. These, he recommends, are the kind you should start out with, since these select, registered breeders cost less than those with novel hues and their pelts are in greater demand. But in addition to marrones, his pens house stellar specimens cloaked in: (1) "midnight mist," close to black, deepest brown; (2) "imperial black," coal black; (3) "white sapphire," pure white; (4) "champagne," light, almost white; (5) "golden sultana," blonde, topaz; (6) "exotic palomino," tanish, beige.

IN THE United States, Flack with associates J. B. Omohundro, manufacturers representative, and Robert B. Rice, industrial engineer, are the sole agents of Argentina's Cabana Nutria Blanca. With Flack as president, their hobby business goes under the name of Cabana Nutria, Inc. Flack built his initial pens on the back yard of his home in El Monte, but in time found it too crowded to accommodate the increase of his stock. The main part of his herd now resides in the back yard of his associate Rice, whose home is situated on three-fourths of an acre in nearby Arcadia. While the Arcadia address is the official "headquarters of Cabana Nutria, Inc., Flack still fills to capacity the original pens, his wife, Eleanor, tending this segment of his brood.

The obvious source of income from nurturing nutrias, as Flack points out, is to sell individual animals to others. Every year, he exhibits several blue-ribbon ones at the Los Angeles County Fair at Pomona, with Eleanor presiding over them and responding to queries. Such new and singular-appearing creatures invariably attract throngs. Once Eleanor heard a burly, six-footer onlooker with a southern drawl quip, after noting the features of the one he was scrutinizing to be a hodgepodge of an assortment of animals, "That critter's pappy must have been a traveling salesman."

The local El Monte and Arcadia newspapers, as well as the Los Angeles Times, have written up Flack. He also has placed advertisements in hobby and outdoor magazines.

Eleanor with a trio of her charges—Faith, Hope and Charity—appeared on TV. At the beginning, she and Jack christened each animal—Joe, Marilyn, Captain Midnight, Gorgeous George, Black Enough, Mr. Peepers. And an occasional outstanding one still is honored with a proper name. But now that they have so many, most are assigned a number.

Should customers of Jack's Cabana Nutria, Inc., have a buyer of pairs they procured from its ranch or their direct offspring, they can carry out the deal through the ranch. By paying it fifteen per cent of its current retail price of animals of like quality, their client will get a gold bond certificate. This certificate, a contract, life insures breeders secured from, or through, Cabana Nutria, Inc., for one year against death from sickness or birth accident at full value. For the second year, they are warranted against death on a fifty per cent basis.

Moreover, the purchaser may at any time, within two years from the date of the sale exchange his babies for unrelated young of a different blood line, or, instead of swapping, obtain additional ones at a reduced price. Should the animals not litter within eight months, Flack will replace them with a proven or carrying pair of like grade. Among the other assurances, all the animals will be registered and one may have free training on their care.

OTHER THAN through retailing the animals, earnings come from the sale of the pelts. Flack stresses that the nutria business is not one of those pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by deals. Nutria coats, have been sold all over the world for years. It's a standard fur. Flack's scrapbook contains numerous current advertisements of leading furriers which, for example, read: "Nutria Coats, Full Length, $2000-$3000"; "Nutria Jacket, $830"; "Coat, $2500"; "Jacket, $795."

Flack recommends that pelting should begin only after one has built up his herd to, say, a hundred or more animals, about half of which will be females. Then he can cull his prime ones for breeding purposes to augment his stock and use the balance for pelting. On account of the only recent development of rearing nutrias in this country, a regular auction market for the pelts is lacking. To dispose of them, therefore, one must thumb through the classified sections of the telephone directories of our largest cities to find furriers, and make contacts.

When one purchases animals from Jack's Cabana Nutria, Inc., he is entitled to one year's free membership in his Cabana Nutria Breeders Association—"CNBA," as Flack easily rolls it off of his tongue. This association maintains facilities for killing and pelting all animals raised by its members. When a client has animals ready for pelting, he relays the, word to Flack, who arranges posthaste for a man to skiddo over to his place to kill and pelt. Should the customer be a distant-out-of-towner, Flack permits him to ship his animals to the Arcadia ranch where this will be done. He has outlets in Los Angeles which are eager to take what pelts he can offer to them, of the quality produced by his herds.

FLACK KILLS and pelts and markets the pelts of his patrons on a cooperative basis, that is, each shares equally on a per animal basis the expenses and profits. As is axiomatic, the larger the number of animals the less the cost of grooming the furs for the wholesaler. For that reason, Flack cannot quote penny-precise figures for this service. To give an idea, however, he states that the charges for each animal averages between $2 and $3. A single, good-quality, standard pelt brings from $15 to $25, depending upon the grade and the market at the time, the latter ever fluctuating due to supply and demand.

In addition, there are multiple by-products from nutrias which Flack is working on now to exploit. The animals' teeth furnish the "red ivory" for the making of jewelry. Its whiskers go into the finest brushes, and manufacturers of men's hats utilize its guard hair. To top it off, gourmets relish its meat as a delicacy, which tastes like tender, young rabbit.

As a further point in favor of nutria, Flack emphasizes that it is adaptable to almost any climate. Raised out of doors, it necessitates neither temperature control, air conditioning nor close supervision. Where there is shivering winter cold, simply dump straw in the animal's nest. It will summarily burrow in for warmth and duly emerge at suitable times for sustenance. It will quench its thirst by munching snow.

Then, it is the only fur-bearer which seemingly is immune to any and all diseases. Endowed with a placid disposition, it dwells with its fellows in harmony, never damaging the other's pelt nor destroying young. It is friendly and curious. A 100 per cent vegetarian, it is immaculate in its living and feeding habits. It has no obnoxious odors from its body, nest box or pen. And it's as quiet as a church mouse, thus being unnoticed by the neighbors.

Above all, Flack says, nutria is a prolific breeder, raising from four to eight kits per litter and averaging a whopping five litters in two years. It breeds at six to eight months of age. A year-old adult tips the scale at from twenty to thirty pounds. Males and females are born in about equal numbers. If one begins with a single pair, a mere twenty-seven months later he could have around ninety animals.

TO LAUNCH out in a satisfactory way, all one needs is a place in the country or city zoned to permit the raising of small animals, such as chickens or rabbits, with space available for ten pens. Flack suggests that each pen be about four feet wide, twelve feet long and three feet high. Make the sides of cement blocks, the floor, brick or concrete. Toward the front, form an approximately foot deep, foot-and-a-half wide, trough for water, since nutrias are semi-aquatic. This has a drain. By means of cement blocks, partition off a few feet in the rear of the pen for the nest, leaving an open doorway. Cover this with a hinged wooden lid which can be raised and shut by one standing on the outside. The cost of material for constructing a single unit totals as low as $18.

Because the water in the trough serves for drinking as well as swimming, Flack draws it off each day and refills with fresh. The water, rich in fertilization, can be channeled into a ditch which leads to fruit or shade trees, which it irrigates spectacularly. A customer of Jack's raises premium avocado trees this way. Where water freezes over in winter, the nutria does not go to the trouble of breaking the ice for a bath.

Flack feeds his animals each day in the evening, which is convenient for those who have a day job. To each he gives a couple of handfuls of mixed grain, as corn and alfalfa, plus carrots, lettuce—the sort of thing you can easily grow in your own garden. But even if you have to buy its food at retail prices, as well as pay for the water it uses, it would cost you only about $7.50 a year to support a full-grown nutria. And speaking of feeding, Flack divulges that visitors thrill to the chance to offer food to his pets and observe them nibbling it out of their hands. For this purpose, he invariably keeps on hand a surplus of carrots—"guest carrots," he dubs them.

A MALE can be bred to a single female, or even up to three or four, Flack explains. They can be confined in one pen. They are exceptionally harmonious and the male will not molest the young. Straw comprises the nest. The babies, born fully furred with eyes open, flex their muscles within two days or less after birth, scampering about and nibbling solid food. The mother demonstrates to them how to swim, eat.

Wean them at the age of six to eight weeks. To do this, simply remove them from the parents' pen and put them in another enclosure fifteen to twenty young per pen. Here they remain until four months old. Then segregate the males and females. Keep them separated until mating.

The male is an odd codger, Flack points out. In a colony of half a hundred or so males in a corral, only one is the boss, a veritable dictator. To attain this role, he has successfully battled all contenders. Competitors wrestle by hooking teeth, and the stronger and most agile tips the other. The vanquished submissively retreats into the midst of his fellows and never comes forward as a challenger again. The victor remains aloof, his way of emblazoning to the world that he is king.

Then, too, a male can be as temperamental as a pampered Hollywood leading man. During the bearing of the young, he persistently hovers outside the door to the nest box, on guard and as jittery as an about-to-be human father within a hop, skip and jump of the maternity ward. After the blessed event, he scoots inside to get acquainted with his offspring. Once a pompous male that belonged to Flack obdurately remained at his post outside and no amount of whimperings from his mate would coax him to view his babies. After two or three days, he yielded to his curiosity and had a look in.