R.S.V.P.: Elsa Maxell's Own Story.
Maxwell, Elsa.
Place Published: Boston:
Publisher: Little Brown and Co.,
Date Published: 1955.
Description: STATED FIRST EDITION. The book has 326 pages. There are 16 pages of black and white photographs. The book is in VERY GOOD condition with a slightly cocked lower spine, lightly bent front corners with minor wearing of the gold lettering on spine, mild use wear on edges and mild light foxing on page edges with some additional light brown spots on top and side page edges. The dust jacket is NOT PRICED CLIPPED and in GOOD condition with chipping and small tearing on spine ends and corners, two small closed tears on the front lower edge, light color fading on fold edges with minor use wear. Comes with BRODART archival jacket cover. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor......and other curious people. The dust jacket reads: Fabulous is the word for Elsa Maxwell. On her seventieth birthday she gave a dinner party at Maxim's in Paris for eighteen guests, "because I never receive a check thereึ. When I asked for the bill, Albert went through the customary byplay of murmuring, 'I'm sorry, Mademoiselle, it is lost.'" She was wearing an elegant gown that would have cost anyone else 400,000 francs, the equivalent of $1100. "It was made for me by Jean Desses, who gives me fourteen dresses a year which, considering my figure, flout the old dictum that the artist cannot improve on nature." A friend called her to say there was a credit for $5000 for her at Cartier's. She used the money to engage Fritz Kreisler for a party, taking due care to invite certain multimillionaires who had thought the violinist's fee was a bit steep. George Bernard Shaw was so intrigued by a woman who preferred Kreisler to a jewel, he asked to meet her, called her "the eighth wonder of the world." She has been a pianist in a nickelodeon; an accompanist for a vaudeville star; a song writer; a partner in two Paris night clubs; a consultant to a dressmaker; a press agent for Monte Carlo; an actress in the movies, theater, radio and television; a script writer; a newspaper columnist; a contributor to magazines; and a lecturer. Recognized as an arbiter of international society and one of the world's most famous hostesses, the first party she ever gave for royalty cost seven dollars for a dozen guests. "Princess Helena Victoria, Queen Victoria's daughter, sat on the floor of my tiny two-room apartment in a converted stable in London, ate hard-boiled eggs and sausages and had the time of her life laughing at the antics of three young music-hall troupers named Noel Coward, Bea Lillie and Gertrude Lawrence." She writes: "I have known seven Presidents of the United States, entertained a dozen kings and I have been on a first-name basis with half the titleholders in the Almanach de Gotha, but I would trade places with anyone who knows a man I have never seen. His name is Albert Schweitzer." "What makes Elsa run?" When she was twelve in San Francisco she was told she wouldn't be invited to a certain party because her family was too poor. "I swore to myself I would give great parties all over the world to which everyone would want to come, but the rich would be invited only if they had something more important to offer than money." And what parties, attended by the famous, the talented, the beautiful and the wealthy the world over! R.S.V.P-you are invited to meet them all and enjoy yourself at the magnificent party that is "Elsa Maxwell's Own Story".
Edition: First editionBinding: Hard Cover
Condition: Very Good in Good dj
Book Id: 13979
Price: $95.00
