The Ritz of Paris by Stephen Watts

May 4, 2012 by Fifi Flowers

Recently I saw this bookcover on Pinterest and repinned it immediately  to my Reading is Fashionable section...   then I looked up the book... I thought it was a NEW book... BUT noooooo... it was first published in 1964... (perfect cover with PINK for Beverly and her pink friends, non?)

The elegant hotel on the Place Vendome receives a rather formal bow in this book about it. We are introduced to Cezar Ritz, the man who started it all, and follow him from his Swiss origins through waiterships in Paris- (at Voisin, he ministered to great names), the managership, at 27, of the largest and most luxurious hotel in Switzerland, on to the Savoy in London and to his own enterprises--of which the Ritz in Paris was to be only one star in a cluster of hotels throughout the civilized world. Unfortunately M. Ritz was forced to retire midway in his career at fifty-two; then the story of the Ritz becomes that of other men, including his son Charles, now President, and Mr. Auzello, ""the anchor man"". There is a sprinkling of anecdote here, a toast to some famous characters such as Olivier, the maitre d'hotel who was the original for Antoine in Le Sexe Faible, and for such institutions as the Ritz Bar. But regrettably the stance is official, with much referring to Mme. Ritz' diary, and the result is a portrait too stiff to project any joie de vivre. (synopsis via HERE)

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Can you still purchase this out-of-print book?

Apparently YOU CAN via a few sites... here is a link to Alibris