Page 313 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

REMINISCENCES

THE NEVER-ENDING OCEAN LINER VOYAGE

AROUND 1950

Philippe VISSON

‘Soon enough [my father, who was a correspondent for several American newspapers]
would be writing his articles from Beau-Rivage. He affirmed that, like Kipling, he wrote much
better in hotel rooms, and that this unique perspective gave him a good overview

of the international political scene. He would ask his contacts to come to the Beau-Rivage Palace ‘I developed habits on those ocean liner trips which I was able to indulge during
where they could meet in comfort and privacy. The place itself was a veritable gold mine our long stays at the Beau-Rivage Palace, much more so than at the other luxury hotels where
of different characters. My father had to fend off, and occasionally even flee from,
we were only fleeting visitors. Our busy itineraries took us all over Europe, from the Ritz in
the eccentric fantasists who would propose make-believe manuscripts of pure fiction, the product Madrid to the Savoy in London, the Maria Cristina in San Sebastian to the Brenner’s Park Hotel
of their slightly deranged imaginations […].
in Baden Baden, the Villa d’Este in Como to the Bristol in Paris and on and on. The Beau-Rivage
Palace was definitely the closest you could come to an ocean liner on dry land. This was
‘For me, the Beau-Rivage Palace also became a school of life – a living history lesson – which my not a hotel you merely passed through. You would stay for extended periods: it was a little like
father would relate with relish. In 1914 he had been both educated and entertained by

the sight of a group of people sitting silently on the vast lawns of the hotel grounds, armed with being on a cruise. You lived there all year round, off and on. Some guests, our family included,
would leave their belongings, luggage, clothes, etc. in storage at the hotel so that they could
fishing rods and a quiet, patient determination. They turned out to have nervous disorders: a
find them on their return. We even had our own small room, which we would fill with suitcases
doctor had discovered that this was a good way to calm them down. There was nothing to catch, and various other items, and which would later become my studio. There would always be a drama

but there they sat, still and serene, facing the wide-screen landscape which opened
out before them and soothed away the anxiety of what we would nowadays call “stress” […]. if, for example, some “Very Important Lady” arrived a day early and they didn’t have her room
ready. It was the same with the dining-room tables. We all had our own territory, our “position” in
the wolf pack, and we were ready to bite, or at least to bark, to defend our corner.
‘Our ocean liner voyages [between the United States and Europe] were an excellent prelude It was like being on a never-ending voyage on an ocean liner.’
to my post-war stays in the great European luxury hotels. Ocean liners and luxury hotels

had a great deal in common. The luxury hotels had stayed afloat over the course of bygone
centuries, avoiding wars just as the ocean liners avoided icebergs (I would gaze at them
from the upper deck and daydream about the Titanic) […].

Philippe VISSON, Souvenirs de Beau-Rivage, 2006, unpublished typewritten text.

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