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| HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 ! |
The new year 2013 has arrived, and it is the time for lists. I’ve never been much for new year’s resolutions, but I do like best and worst lists.
Here then is a potpourri of hotel staff’s favorite and least favorite clients. The list is short, as staff at the great hotels learn first and foremost discretion. If I have managed over the years to elicit a few inside tidbits, I consider it no mean feat:
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| Hepburn (Google photo) |
I asked about Jacqueline Kennedy who was then also a Pierre regular, and he looked uncomfortable with the question. “She was quiet,” he finally volunteered ambiguously.
When I pressed him with an inquisitive look, he added in a whisper, “Not very friendly. Not at all really.”
When I pressed him with an inquisitive look, he added in a whisper, “Not very friendly. Not at all really.”
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| Jackie Kennedy in NYC (photo Ron Galella) |
* * * * *
Madame Chirac, France’s former first lady, has long been a regular at the Hotel Meurice’s coffee shop in Paris. A politician in her own right and spokeswoman for a major French charity, she often conducts business over lunch.
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| Ex-first lady Bernadette Chirac (AFP) |
On
the other hand, she said that contact with her husband, former
President Jacques Chirac, “was delightful, just like talking to you …”
which I took as a compliment to both of us.
* * * * *
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| Franco circa 1988 |
Franco,
long since retired concierge at the Gritti in Venice, was extremely
discreet and never said anything unflattering about anyone. He lived through several decades at the Venetian palace, and he looked back on the fifties with nostalgia. He loved Elsa Maxwell and remembered fondly the great charity balls she organized at the hotel.
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| Garbo 1946 (Cecil Beaton photo) |
* * * * *
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| Allen outside the Ritz 2010 (Google photo) |
Though one of the Ritz’ better known guests, his lack of communicability has rendered him not always the most popular. At
least one of the hotel restaurant’s waiters said they dreaded his
arrivals, because when it was time to take his order, Allen invariably
stared at the floor for long minutes without a word.
Jean-Paul,
veteran maitre d’hotel and former breakfast manager at the hotel’s
Espadon restaurant, always championed the American director. He
enjoyed him both as a filmmaker and a client. The
appreciation was apparently mutual, because Allen insisted on ordering
exclusively from Jean-Paul. When the maitre d' arrived, Woody could
usually be counted on to spring out of his trance.
* * * * *
I
naturally have my own best and worst list, but think I'll save it for
another day. In the meanwhile, I have assembled a little selection of
hotel movies. As any reader who looks a bit between the lines of these
musings will by now have gathered, I grew up in
the 1950s in a world that was signifcantly defined and enhanced --at
least in my eyes-- by Hollywood.
When I later dreamed of moving to Europe, my motivations were based neither on history books nor novels. All of my preconceived and frequently erroneous ideas came directly from Hollywood.
The
same was doubly true concerning the glamorous world of hotels. (In
Aberdeen, there was the Lantana Inn and the Lloyd Hall, but even
Hollywood couldn't have turned them into anything very exotic.)
Needless
to say, the following list is far from exhaustive. Here are simply a
few films --both good and bad-- that have one of the starring roles
played by a hotel. Many of these shaped a part of my childhood world
into what was to become a full blown passion.
A FEW HOTEL MOVIES
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| Grand Hotel world première at the Astor Theater on Times Square 1932 (Bettmann Collection) |
--Grand Hotel, 1932.
The granddaddy of them all, still highly entertaining, however dated,
with Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Lionel AND John Barrymore, Wallace
Berry, etc. Joan Crawford steals the show with a more nuanced
performance than she could muster in later years. [click on above photo for more]
--Weekend at the Waldorf, 1945. A rehashing of the above, but transferred to the New York landmark hotel during World War II. A film of sketches, just barely tied together by the common denominator of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Ginger Rogers, Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Lana Turner, etc. No one nominated for any acting awards, as far as I know.
--Hotel, 1969. Adaptation
of the Arthur Hailey novel with Rod Taylor, Melvyn Douglas, Merle
Oberon, and Karl Malden. More multiple dramas, this time played out
against the backdrop of a grand New Orleans hotel. Very watchable,
however mediocre.
--Last Holiday, 1950. British
comedy drama starring Alec Guiness with a screenplay by J.B.
Priestley. A charming, forgotten gem that is more tragedy than comedy.
An under-appreciated salesman finds himself with only a month to live,
and decides to splurge his savings on an indefinite stay at a luxury
hotel. It all ends rather sadly, though not as one might expect.
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| Hotel Carlton in Cannes |
--To Catch a Thief, 1955.
Hitchcock's supremely sophisticated romantic mystery set on the French
Riviera and memorably at Cannes' Carlton Hotel, with Cary Grant and
Grace Kelly. The seed was planted, and I definitely started to dream of
living in France! [It was shortly after filming in the South of France that the future Princess Grace met her prince.]
--Plaza Suite, 1971. With Walter Matthau in a triple role, three stories situated in the same hotel suite. Filmatic adaptation by Neil Simon of his long running stage hit, many scenes were filmed at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. A little stagey, it was probably more effective on Broadway.
--California Suite, 1978. With Jane Fonda, Alan Alda, Walter Matthau again, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, etc. A kind of L.A. version of Plaza Suite,
shot on location at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Despite screenplay by
Neil Simon and a stellar cast, it was and remains unwatchably bad. With
the exception of Maggie Smith, who won several acting awards for her
performance, including best supporting actress Oscar. To be fair, some
critics liked it; but trust me, you won't!
--Love in the Afternoon, 1957. Gary Cooper and Audrey Hepburn under the master direction of Billy Wilder. Entirely made in Paris, though for most scenes the Ritz was recreated in a studio. Annie Tresgot, a
friend and neighbor in my building for the last 30 years, found her
first job as an apprentice on this film, and she introduced me to it
recently. A respected documentary filmmaker for 45 years, this was
quite an impressive start to her CV, and the beginning of a lifelong
friendship with Billy Wilder. [click on photo for more about Annie]
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| Vintage postcard, Hotel Del Coronado |
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| Ginger and Fred (RKO photo) |
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| Fantasy hotel boudoir from Top Hat 1935 (RKO photo) |
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| "in glorious black & white" |
Your input is welcomed: hotel-musings@hotmail.fr
Next Friday: "A decaffeinated coffee ... in Hungarian?"
