Bücher von Ludwig Bemelmans

"A witty and charming account of the wildly entertaining Elsie de Wolfe in 1950s Hollywood, recounted by her dear friend, the beloved creator of Madeline. Ludwig Bemelmans' charming intergenerational friendship with the late-in-life "First Lady of Interior Decoration" provides an enormously enjoyable nostalgia trip to the sun-soaked glamour of Los Angeles, where de Wolfe surrounded herself with classic movie stars and a luminous parade of life's oddities. With hilarity and mischief that de Wolfe would no doubt approve, To the One I Love the Best lifts the curtain on 1950s Hollywood -- a bygone world of extravagance and eccentricity, where the parties are held in circus tents and populated by ravishing movie stars. Bemelmans, who was working at MGM, had originally come to the California home of de Wolfe just for cocktails but by the end of the night, he was firmly established as a member of the family: given a bedroom in their sumptuous house, invitations to the most outrageous parties in Hollywood, and the friendship of the larger-than-life woman known to her closest friends simply as 'Mother'. To the One I Love the Best (which refers to de Wolfe's dog) is a touching tribute to a fabulously funny woman and an American icon. "Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you." -- Elsie de Wolfe --

'The original bad boy of the New York restaurant/hotel scene... No one has ever surpassed the master' Anthony BourdainAcerbic, colourful and spirited reminiscences from a grand New York hotel in the nineteen twenties - perfect for fans of Evelyn Waugh, Kitchen Confidential or The Grand Budapest HotelWelcome to the grand Hotel Splendide, where hilarity and chaos reign. In the mirror-lined dining halls, the champagne is constantly flowing; in the kitchens downstairs, malcontent waiters incite revolution.In this classic memoir, Ludwig Bemelmans encounters eccentricity on every level of the hotel hierarchy as he works his way up from busboy at the restaurant's most undesirable table, to assistant manager of the magnificent private banquets. There may be Russian ballerinas and Wall Street tycoons to entertain, but there is also Mespoulets, the world's worst waiter, to contend with and a murder plot against Monsieur Victor, the authoritarian matre d'htel, to solve.Accompanied by Bemelmans' own witty illustrations, this account of a bygone era of extravagance is as charming as it is riotously entertaining.