Description
Book SynopsisIn this uproariously funny memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide, the luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he records the everyday chaos that reigns behind the smooth facades of the gilded dining room and banquet halls. In hilarious detail, Bemelmans sketches the hierarchy of hotel life and its strange and fascinating inhabitants: from the ruthlessly authoritarian maître d'hôtel Monsieur Victor to the kindly waiter Mespoulets to Frizl the homesick busboy. Illustrated with his own charming line drawings, Bemelmans' tales of a bygone era of extravagance are as charming as they are riotously entertaining.
Trade Review“An uproarious account of his life as a waiter at the thinly disguised Ritz-Carlton in the 1920s . . . He is a canny observer with a wry sense of humor, an innocent bystander who simply looks on. He’s like P.G. Wodehouse, with a touch of the Marx Brothers. . . . a delight from beginning to end.”
--The Wall Street Journal"
Hotel Splendide, Bemelmans’s 1941, out-of-print memoir, which is being reissued by Pushkin Press this month, is
a delightful passport to a long-lost era"
--Air Mail
“The original bad boy of the New York restaurant/hotel underbelly. Bemelmans is always funny, insightful and dead on target.”
--Anthony Bourdain
“Freshness and vitality…wit, humor, pathos, and the inimitable Bemelmans’ touch.”
--Kirkus Reviews
“The kitchen memoir to end them all.”
--Slightly Foxed
“A seemingly light-hearted yet deceptively dark memoir of [Bemelmans'] time working in a luxury hotel in 1920s New York. A gently flowing, delightfully gossipy read, I could easily picture the entirety shot in black-and-white vignettes, Woody Allen style.”
--Irish Times
“A charming memoir.”
--Independent
“Immensely fun and an absolutely charming book... a beautiful classic”
--WAMC North East Public Radio Book Picks.
Table of ContentsCONTENTS
1.
The Animal Waiter 7
2.
Art at the Hotel Splendide 14
3.
The Lost Mandolin 23
4.
Easy Money 35
5.
Kalakobe 43
6.
A Night in Granada 51
7.
The Hispano 56
8.
The Homesick Bus Boy 62
9.
The New Suit 70
10.
The Ballet Visits the Magician 82
11.
The Magician Does a New Trick 89
12.
The Dreams of the Magician 96
13.
My Valet Lustgarten 105
14.
The Banquet 116
15.
The Murderer of the Splendide 129
