Hotel Splendide

By: Ludwig Bemelmans

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Paperback | 29 November 2022

At a Glance

Paperback
144 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
2.1 x 13 x 19.7

Paperback

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"Truly a great book-unique, invaluable and unapproachable as the gold standard of the genre… Bemelmans got there first, more frequently, and better." -Anthony Bourdain

Acerbic, colorful, and spirited stories from a bygone era: behind the scenes in a grand NY hotel, from the author of the Madeline books

Picture David Sedaris writing Kitchen Confidential about the Ritz in New York in the 1920s, which had the style and charm of The Grand Budapest Hotel…

In this charming and uproariously funny hotel memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans uncovers the fabulous world of the Hotel Splendide-the thinly disguised stand-in for the Ritz-a luxury New York hotel where he worked as a waiter in the 1920s. With equal parts affection and barbed wit, he uncovers 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 ma®tre d''h´tel 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.

"[Bemelmans] was the original bad boy of the NY hotel/restaurant subculture, a waiter, busboy, and restaurateur who "told all" in a series of funny and true (or very near true) autobiographical accounts of backstairs folly, excess, borderline criminality, and madness in the grande Hotel Splendide… If you like stories about old New York as I do, this classic will have you laughing out loud." -Anthony Bourdain

Industry Reviews

'The adventures of the original bad boy of the New York restaurant/hotel underbelly continue. Whether writing about the backstairs misadventures of cooks and waiters or travel to faraway lands, Bemelmans is always funny, insightful and dead on target. No one has ever surpassed the master' - Anthony Bourdain

'Freshness and vitality... wit, humor, pathos, and the inimitable Bemelmans' touch... Here's a feast for Bemelmans' fans' - Kirkus Reviews (1946)

'[The] kitchen memoir to end them all' - Slightly Foxed

'One reads Bemelmans not as one reads a serious novelist but for the sheer momentary pleasure given by his evocation of atmosphere and mood' - Punch

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