Cesar Ritz: from Waiter to Emperor of the Most Famous Hotel in the World

00:52:39
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMywV6Yk85M

الملخص

TLDRThe video traces the remarkable journey of César Ritz from his humble beginnings in the Swiss Alps to becoming one of the most renowned hoteliers in the world. Born in 1850, Ritz faced numerous challenges in his early life, including an unsuccessful education and apprenticeship. Nevertheless, he found success in Paris amidst a transforming society. Ritz revolutionized hotel management with his innovative ideas on hygiene and guest experiences. His establishment of the Ritz hotels, particularly the iconic Ritz Paris in 1898, set new standards for luxury. However, despite his successes, Ritz struggled with personal issues, including mental health problems, leading to his decline in later years until his death in 1918. The legacy of Ritz continues through the luxurious experiences offered at his hotels today, safeguarding the traditions he established in the hospitality industry.

الوجبات الجاهزة

  • 🏨 The Ritz is synonymous with luxury and perfection.
  • 👤 César Ritz faced early life struggles but transformed the hospitality industry.
  • 🍽️ Ritz emphasized hygiene and organized entertainment for hotel guests.
  • 🇫🇷 The Ritz Paris, opened in 1898, became a landmark of luxury.
  • 👨‍🍳 Auguste Escoffier collaborated with Ritz, revolutionizing haute cuisine.
  • 💔 Despite success, Ritz struggled with mental health issues later in life.
  • 🌍 The legacy of Ritz continues to influence modern hospitality.
  • 💼 Ritz's approach to hotel management set a new standard for luxury.
  • 🏰 The Ritz Paris symbolizes an elegant escape from the everyday.
  • 📜 Ritz's influence is recognized globally, making his name a synonym for luxury.

الجدول الزمني

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The Ritz is synonymous with luxury and perfection, creating a lifestyle and classics in hospitality, influenced by its legendary founder, César Ritz.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    César Ritz was born in a small Swiss village with a modest upbringing, the youngest of 13 siblings, yet he aspired for artistic recognition while facing early career failures in hospitality.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    César Ritz ventured to Paris for opportunities, where he worked various jobs and eventually proved his talent as a persuasive waiter, catching the eye of high society amidst the chaos of the Franco-Prussian War.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    During the turmoil of war in Paris, Ritz innovatively sold elephant cuts, gaining notoriety and eventually becoming a prominent figure in the restaurant and hotel scene.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    As the Riviera emerged as a luxury destination, Ritz managed several hotels, instilling hygiene standards and providing entertainment to attract wealthy clientele, marking the early stages of tourism development.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The pivotal partnership with chef Auguste Escoffier at his hotels eventually led to the establishment of the Ritz brand, revolutionizing not only hospitality but also dining culture.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Ritz's marriage to Marie-Louise Beck marked the beginning of his rise to ownership, expanding his business across Europe and establishing the luxurious Ritz brand synonymous with high society culture.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    His influence spread to London's Savoy Hotel, where Ritz and Escoffier further transformed the hospitality industry before they faced controversies leading to their firing.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    By securing a location at the prestigious Place Vendôme, Ritz dreamt of creating his own hotel in Paris, ultimately succeeding with the opening of the Ritz Paris, becoming a staple of luxury.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:52:39

    Despite initial success, personal struggles, mental health decline, and ultimate isolation led to Ritz's passing with muted acknowledgment, his legacy carried on by subsequent owners and the Ritz Foundation.

اعرض المزيد

الخريطة الذهنية

فيديو أسئلة وأجوبة

  • Who is César Ritz?

    César Ritz was a Swiss hotelier known for founding the luxury Ritz hotel chain.

  • What is the significance of the Ritz hotel?

    The Ritz hotel symbolizes luxury, perfection, and a unique lifestyle experience.

  • What were some of Ritz's contributions to the hospitality industry?

    Ritz pioneered hygiene standards and organized entertainment for guests in hotels.

  • When was the Ritz Paris officially opened?

    The Ritz Paris was officially opened on June 1, 1898.

  • How did Ritz's background influence his career?

    His modest beginnings in a small Swiss village instilled a strong work ethic and ambition to succeed.

  • What was Ritz's relationship with Auguste Escoffier?

    Auguste Escoffier was Ritz's collaborator and famed chef, instrumental in developing modern cuisine.

  • What happened to Ritz in his later years?

    He suffered from mental health issues and was committed to a psychiatric hospital before his death.

  • Who is the current owner of the Ritz Paris?

    The Ritz Paris is currently owned by billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed.

  • What legacy did César Ritz leave behind?

    César Ritz's legacy includes setting standards for luxury hotels and hospitality that continue to influence the industry.

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الترجمات
en
التمرير التلقائي:
  • 00:00:37
    Welcome to the Ritz, sir.
  • 00:00:44
    The Ritz means luxury.
  • 00:00:46
    The Ritz means perfection.
  • 00:00:50
    The Ritz is a legend.
  • 00:00:53
    It can be out of reach.
  • 00:00:55
    That's a good thing sometimes.
  • 00:00:58
    Yes, it's extravagant, but it's the Ritz!
  • 00:01:12
    What makes the Ritz different from other hotels
  • 00:01:15
    is that the Ritz is a lifestyle.
  • 00:01:30
    What they do here is create tomorrow's classics.
  • 00:01:34
    The Ritz is world-famous,
  • 00:01:36
    but few people know who created this fairy-tale world.
  • 00:01:40
    His name was César Ritz.
  • 00:01:43
    The Ritz is the luxury.
  • 00:01:44
    It's the art.
  • 00:01:46
    It's the quality, which he created.
  • 00:01:52
    Everything with the Ritz name means it's the ultimum luxury.
  • 00:01:58
    I'm lucky to be able to own such a great institution,
  • 00:02:04
    which was invented and created by a great man like César Ritz.
  • 00:02:10
    Niederwald in the Swiss Alps.
  • 00:02:12
    Here, 1,200 meters above sea level, César Ritz was born.
  • 00:02:17
    Today, the village only has around 70 people,
  • 00:02:20
    and the name Ritz has died out.
  • 00:02:23
    However, the family home is still there,
  • 00:02:25
    occupied now by a distant relation, Clara Diezich.
  • 00:02:34
    Nothing's changed.
  • 00:02:37
    We just keep our things here.
  • 00:02:41
    It was empty.
  • 00:02:44
    Nothing's changed. It's still the same.
  • 00:02:47
    Is there anything that belonged to Ritz himself?
  • 00:02:51
    Yes, there is. That cupboard.
  • 00:02:54
    Here in the living room.
  • 00:02:57
    -May we see it? -Yes.
  • 00:02:59
    This is the only item left that belonged to the Ritz family.
  • 00:03:06
    The only written record Clara has of her famous ancestor
  • 00:03:10
    is the names and dates of birth of those who shared the house with him.
  • 00:03:14
    She keeps them in the back of a book.
  • 00:03:17
    These are the Ritz siblings.
  • 00:03:21
    50- César Peter Theodul…
  • 00:03:25
    Father: Ritz, Anton. Mother: Crescentia…
  • 00:03:29
    -Quite a large family. -It was.
  • 00:03:33
    God knows how they all managed to sleep in here.
  • 00:03:39
    I can remember we used to sleep on straw sacks.
  • 00:03:43
    They weren't that bad to sleep on.
  • 00:03:47
    There was a cover that we'd fill with fresh straw.
  • 00:03:52
    It used to rustle at night.
  • 00:03:56
    Like all the other villages, the Ritz has lived very modestly,
  • 00:04:00
    with only two tiny bedrooms,
  • 00:04:02
    a small living room, and no electricity or running water.
  • 00:04:07
    They cooked over an open fire
  • 00:04:09
    and heated the house in winter with a potstone stove.
  • 00:04:13
    Was there no heating when Ritz was growing up?
  • 00:04:19
    I don't know when this stone was installed.
  • 00:04:26
    It says "1780" there.
  • 00:04:43
    César Theodore Ritz was born on February 23, 1850,
  • 00:04:48
    the youngest of 13 children.
  • 00:04:51
    Niederwald then had about 100 people.
  • 00:04:54
    The road to the valley was passable only in the summer.
  • 00:04:57
    In the winter, the village was cut off for five months.
  • 00:05:02
    There are very few documents about Ritz,
  • 00:05:05
    so we know very little about him.
  • 00:05:10
    We know he lived here in this village for 15 years
  • 00:05:14
    and that he was the youngest of a large family.
  • 00:05:18
    We know that his family was very well respected,
  • 00:05:24
    one of the better families.
  • 00:05:26
    His father was the mayor of Niederwald for many years.
  • 00:05:31
    We know that his mother always hoped that,
  • 00:05:34
    in her large family,
  • 00:05:36
    there'd be someone with artistic ideas and talent.
  • 00:05:43
    Perhaps that's one reason…
  • 00:05:46
    because none of the others were artistic…
  • 00:05:50
    that the youngest was sent to the Sitter Valley.
  • 00:05:56
    In 1865, César Ritz left for Sion, the main town in the canton of Valais.
  • 00:06:03
    He was to attend a language school and later study ironwork,
  • 00:06:07
    but the school soon expelled him.
  • 00:06:10
    He moved on to Brig,
  • 00:06:11
    where he began an apprenticeship at the Crown and Post Hotel.
  • 00:06:16
    That didn't work either.
  • 00:06:18
    The innkeeper, Escher, wasn't happy. He said, "You'll never be a hotelier."
  • 00:06:25
    It was a bitter disappointment.
  • 00:06:27
    Ritz decided to seek his fortune in Paris,
  • 00:06:30
    but the people of Valais associated Paris with Napoleon,
  • 00:06:34
    who had occupied their country and overthrown their bishop.
  • 00:06:37
    For César's family, it was the final straw.
  • 00:06:40
    His failures were one thing,
  • 00:06:42
    but the French capital, a place of sin and perdition,
  • 00:06:46
    was quite another.
  • 00:06:49
    But for Ritz, Paris was the city of the future,
  • 00:06:52
    the first step in a brilliant career.
  • 00:06:55
    The first universal exhibition had just opened.
  • 00:06:57
    It was 1867.
  • 00:06:59
    Ritz was 17.
  • 00:07:03
    This is where the 1867 Exposition was held.
  • 00:07:07
    You had pavilions where those trees are.
  • 00:07:11
    Ritz worked in the Swiss Pavilion,
  • 00:07:13
    where he served beer,
  • 00:07:17
    sausages, rösti, and raclette.
  • 00:07:23
    Claude Roulet was assistant
  • 00:07:24
    to the president of the Paris Ritz for many years.
  • 00:07:28
    In charge of the hotel archives
  • 00:07:30
    and the author of a book on the history of the hotel,
  • 00:07:33
    he knows the life and work of César Ritz better than anyone.
  • 00:07:39
    This is the Place de l'Opéra.
  • 00:07:41
    This is the exact site of the Hotel Splendide.
  • 00:07:45
    Ritz worked there.
  • 00:07:48
    The hotel's gone. It's a bank now.
  • 00:07:50
    All the big hotels disappeared
  • 00:07:53
    after Ritz started innovating in the field of hospitality.
  • 00:07:59
    When Ritz arrived in Paris, the city was undergoing a major upheaval.
  • 00:08:04
    Baron Haussmann had whole districts demolished and rebuilt,
  • 00:08:08
    with boulevards as wide as rivers.
  • 00:08:10
    The first department stores and luxury hotels appeared.
  • 00:08:14
    The population doubled, rising from one to two million.
  • 00:08:19
    Everything was happening in excess.
  • 00:08:21
    The newly rich and upper middle class were turning society upside down.
  • 00:08:29
    It wasn't unlike Beijing now.
  • 00:08:32
    Paris was ripped apart.
  • 00:08:34
    Some of Zola's novels depict that transformation.
  • 00:08:38
    Buildings were put up, and fortunes were made.
  • 00:08:42
    It could all crash down in a day. Ministries fell.
  • 00:08:45
    Nouveaux-riches appeared.
  • 00:08:47
    Society and French life were turned upside down.
  • 00:08:51
    The bourgeoisie was taking over.
  • 00:08:54
    From the Second Empire on, social classes started to shift.
  • 00:08:58
    The bourgeoisie really got hold of power.
  • 00:09:05
    There was also a dark side: mass poverty.
  • 00:09:09
    The former residents of the demolished city center,
  • 00:09:12
    workers and day laborers were forced into shantytowns on the outskirts.
  • 00:09:17
    Paris, ever-expanding, was surrounded by a poverty belt.
  • 00:09:23
    César Ritz was caught up in the whirlwind of change.
  • 00:09:27
    He worked in many jobs: shoe polisher, errand boy, even doorman in a brothel.
  • 00:09:37
    He was eventually hired as a waiter at the Voisin,
  • 00:09:40
    one of the finest restaurants in Paris.
  • 00:09:44
    This place looks exactly like a brasserie did
  • 00:09:48
    at the time Ritz started.
  • 00:09:50
    How was he as a waiter?
  • 00:09:52
    Contrary to what his former boss predicted back in Brig,
  • 00:09:58
    he got the hang of the job very quickly and soon became good at it.
  • 00:10:02
    -What was his main quality? -Speed.
  • 00:10:06
    They called him Speedy César.
  • 00:10:09
    To the literary brothers, the Goncourts,
  • 00:10:13
    he was the best waiter they'd ever known.
  • 00:10:17
    Is it true he could sway his clients' choice of dishes?
  • 00:10:21
    Indeed.
  • 00:10:22
    He was always a very persuasive man.
  • 00:10:25
    He convinced an American
  • 00:10:27
    that Paris water was so unhealthy
  • 00:10:31
    that he should only drink fine Bordeaux wines.
  • 00:10:37
    Ritz was a fast learner.
  • 00:10:39
    He rose from waiter to manager in no time.
  • 00:10:42
    The rich and powerful were part of his clientele.
  • 00:10:46
    At the age of 20, less than three years after leaving his homeland,
  • 00:10:50
    Ritz had reached the top.
  • 00:10:52
    However, it was now late in 1869,
  • 00:10:55
    and the Franco-Prussian War was about to change everything.
  • 00:11:03
    The people of Paris rebelled and proclaimed a commune.
  • 00:11:07
    Paris ended its most tragic days since the Revolution.
  • 00:11:12
    Cartoonist Jacques Tati is an expert on the period.
  • 00:11:16
    He has drawn it in detail in four volumes.
  • 00:11:19
    For him, the terror began with the German siege of Paris.
  • 00:11:26
    Victor Hugo called it "the terrible year." People were starving, etc…
  • 00:11:32
    They ate their dogs, their cats…
  • 00:11:36
    That's when Ritz came in.
  • 00:11:39
    He took the initiative, so the story goes,
  • 00:11:44
    to sell the offal from the zoo's two elephants,
  • 00:11:48
    called Castor and Pollux.
  • 00:11:50
    I found records of that.
  • 00:11:53
    Castor and Pollux were killed during the siege.
  • 00:11:57
    Their trunks and fillets went for 40 francs a pound.
  • 00:12:01
    The rich had elephant sausages for dinner on New Year's Eve.
  • 00:12:07
    That is how Ritz came to fame.
  • 00:12:09
    He bought and sold elephant cuts.
  • 00:12:15
    In May 1871, four months after the end of the war,
  • 00:12:20
    the people of Paris rose in revolt.
  • 00:12:22
    The Communards seized the city, and the government fled to Versailles.
  • 00:12:26
    Once again, Paris was besieged and shelled,
  • 00:12:29
    this time by the French army, but the worst was still to come.
  • 00:12:36
    The army took the city back, block by block.
  • 00:12:39
    It was a bloodbath.
  • 00:12:42
    Executions were held anywhere you could fit a firing squad,
  • 00:12:47
    in public parks, for example.
  • 00:12:50
    The Luxembourg Gardens became a slaughterhouse,
  • 00:12:54
    with non-stop shootings.
  • 00:12:57
    Ritz hated the Communards.
  • 00:12:59
    He sided with Versailles and the bourgeoisie.
  • 00:13:02
    Shortly before the troops launched their assault, he fled the city.
  • 00:13:06
    Paris was ruined.
  • 00:13:08
    The streets were littered with bodies.
  • 00:13:10
    The songs of the revolutionaries were drowned out by gunfire.
  • 00:13:21
    The town hall was in flames.
  • 00:13:24
    Paris was burning.
  • 00:13:27
    Ritz had to start all over again.
  • 00:13:30
    In 1873, he headed for Vienna, where there was a new world Exposition.
  • 00:13:35
    Once again, he worked as a waiter.
  • 00:13:40
    Next, he was back in Switzerland
  • 00:13:42
    at the Rigi Kulm Hotel in the mountains overlooking Lucerne.
  • 00:13:46
    Then he worked in Locarno, then in San Remo.
  • 00:13:50
    In 1877, he returned to France.
  • 00:13:55
    Ritz was back in France, but not in Paris.
  • 00:13:57
    He opted for a new destination,
  • 00:14:00
    the south of France.
  • 00:14:03
    He held jobs in different hotels.
  • 00:14:06
    He did seasonal work and even piece work.
  • 00:14:10
    He'd spend one week here, two weeks, or a month there.
  • 00:14:15
    He worked at all the restaurants on the Riviera.
  • 00:14:19
    The Riviera, then still known as the Ligurian Coast,
  • 00:14:23
    was just becoming a tourist destination.
  • 00:14:28
    Twenty years earlier, only farmers had lived there,
  • 00:14:31
    and it was seen as a particularly poor and backward area.
  • 00:14:37
    It was English aristocrats, considered eccentrics by the French,
  • 00:14:41
    who discovered the Riviera, first the hinterland and then the coast.
  • 00:14:46
    It was they who made sea bathing fashionable,
  • 00:14:49
    and it was they who began the development of mass tourism in the summer.
  • 00:14:57
    After the English lords came the nobility of Europe.
  • 00:15:00
    In the early 1870s, rich Parisians, scared by the German army in the commune,
  • 00:15:06
    followed suit.
  • 00:15:08
    An era of staggering growth was dawning on the Riviera,
  • 00:15:11
    centered on Monte Carlo and the Principality of Monaco.
  • 00:15:18
    The Hôtel de Paris is still one of Monaco's finest addresses.
  • 00:15:23
    Dario Dell'Antonia was once its manager.
  • 00:15:26
    He has headed some of the top hotels in London and Paris
  • 00:15:30
    and represented the Prince of Monaco in tourism.
  • 00:15:34
    I think that this hotel is the image of that epoch.
  • 00:15:40
    This is how luxury hotels were expected to look.
  • 00:15:45
    The first ones opened here in 1865,
  • 00:15:49
    or between 1860 and 1865.
  • 00:15:51
    People came here from mid-December until mid-April.
  • 00:15:56
    Hotels opened around 10 December and closed on 10 May at the latest.
  • 00:16:02
    People were closer to nature back then.
  • 00:16:05
    They'd spend summer in the cool mountains of Switzerland
  • 00:16:11
    and winter by the sea where temperatures were milder.
  • 00:16:15
    The south of France was very popular with wealthy visitors
  • 00:16:20
    looking for a sunny climate.
  • 00:16:22
    Some were recovering from tuberculosis and needed sunshine.
  • 00:16:28
    For a time, the Riviera was regarded as a place for the sick.
  • 00:16:33
    People came here for the air quality.
  • 00:16:37
    In 1877, after a series of menial jobs,
  • 00:16:41
    César Ritz finally got the position of his dreams,
  • 00:16:45
    manager of the Grand Hotel in Monte Carlo.
  • 00:16:48
    For the first time, he could put his ideas into practice.
  • 00:16:52
    His success was immediate.
  • 00:16:54
    By the end of his first year, turnover had doubled.
  • 00:16:58
    Ritz was back on top,
  • 00:17:00
    but once again, fate took a hand.
  • 00:17:05
    An outbreak of cholera saw panicky guests desert the Riviera.
  • 00:17:11
    Cholera is extremely contagious.
  • 00:17:14
    It killed one in two patients, often within a few hours.
  • 00:17:24
    After the epidemic, Ritz introduced very strict standards of hygiene,
  • 00:17:29
    which all the best hotels later emulated.
  • 00:17:32
    He was the first hotelier to look into matters of hygiene
  • 00:17:35
    and the first to fit every room with running water,
  • 00:17:39
    toilets, and bathrooms.
  • 00:17:41
    A revolution at a time when most houses didn't even have running water.
  • 00:17:47
    -I'm the senior housekeeper. -Meaning?
  • 00:17:50
    I'm responsible for the hotel's maintenance
  • 00:17:54
    and cleanliness.
  • 00:17:55
    -Do you follow specific guidelines? -Yes.
  • 00:17:59
    Everything has to be perfect.
  • 00:18:02
    Martin Weber is the housekeeper at the Ritz.
  • 00:18:05
    Responsible for the hotel's 106 rooms, she heads a staff of 80,
  • 00:18:10
    a cleaning brigade set up by Ritz himself over a century ago.
  • 00:18:16
    Ritz was passionate about hygiene.
  • 00:18:20
    He wanted his hotels to be hygienically clean.
  • 00:18:24
    Hotels were huge buildings then,
  • 00:18:26
    generally with a very long facade,
  • 00:18:30
    a corridor running the whole length of the building,
  • 00:18:34
    and a line of rooms on either side.
  • 00:18:37
    On each floor,
  • 00:18:39
    you only had one or two wash rooms.
  • 00:18:43
    The rooms had velvet wall hangings and thick curtains
  • 00:18:48
    to keep warm in the winter.
  • 00:18:51
    Ritz got rid of them and had the walls painted
  • 00:18:55
    so they could be washed.
  • 00:18:58
    He introduced brass bed frames
  • 00:19:00
    in the rooms
  • 00:19:02
    because they were washable.
  • 00:19:05
    He was obsessed with hygiene.
  • 00:19:11
    In 1880, Ritz had just turned 30 when he received an unexpected offer.
  • 00:19:18
    Switzerland's most prestigious hotel, the Grand National,
  • 00:19:22
    wanted him as its manager.
  • 00:19:24
    Henceforth, Ritz would head two first-class hotels,
  • 00:19:28
    the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel in winter and the National in Lucerne in summer.
  • 00:19:34
    The National's owner, Baron Maximilian Pfyffer von Altishofen,
  • 00:19:38
    an architect and army officer, gave his new manager free rein,
  • 00:19:42
    and he never regretted it.
  • 00:19:44
    Success came quickly.
  • 00:19:47
    The National was full,
  • 00:19:49
    and its guestbook reads like a who's who of the time.
  • 00:19:53
    People started to wonder how Ritz managed to attract so many guests.
  • 00:19:57
    What was his secret?
  • 00:20:02
    The guests had nothing to do.
  • 00:20:06
    Ritz understood that,
  • 00:20:10
    so he decided to occupy them.
  • 00:20:14
    He organized events for them.
  • 00:20:17
    It was fantastic.
  • 00:20:19
    He organized a magnificent event in Lucerne.
  • 00:20:23
    The first Ritz event was the engagement of Princess Caroline de Bourbon.
  • 00:20:28
    Ritz gave a banquet aboard a flotilla of Neapolitan fishing boats
  • 00:20:33
    with illuminated jets of water along the shore
  • 00:20:36
    and giant bonfires on top of Mount Pilatus and Mount Sunset Horn.
  • 00:20:43
    It was a great source of entertainment for the rich clientele.
  • 00:20:47
    They talked about it for days and days.
  • 00:20:50
    There were no movies, no TV, and no radio at the time.
  • 00:20:55
    No entertainment.
  • 00:20:57
    Baron Pfyffer and his son, Hannes, after him, became Ritz's business partners
  • 00:21:02
    and invested a fortune in the Ritz concept.
  • 00:21:07
    Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice,
  • 00:21:09
    was the hometown of Ritz's next business partner,
  • 00:21:12
    a man who was to play a major part in his career,
  • 00:21:16
    Le chef Auguste Escoffier.
  • 00:21:22
    Their paths crossed in 1880.
  • 00:21:27
    Ritz had Escoffier, who was then unknown, joined him in Lucerne.
  • 00:21:32
    The two men complemented each other.
  • 00:21:34
    One invented the modern hotel industry,
  • 00:21:37
    and the other revolutionized haute cuisine.
  • 00:21:42
    This exceptional osmosis between two men, who became one,
  • 00:21:47
    improved and refined the hotel's atmosphere and its life.
  • 00:21:56
    It came to a point
  • 00:21:57
    when the clients sought out where they were
  • 00:22:01
    before they would come to a hotel.
  • 00:22:08
    Modern French cuisine owes everything to Auguste Escoffier,
  • 00:22:12
    from the length of the apron to the layout of the stoves.
  • 00:22:15
    To this day,
  • 00:22:17
    the kitchens of the best restaurants are set up and organized
  • 00:22:20
    following the rules that Escoffier laid down.
  • 00:22:29
    [French spoken audio]
  • 00:22:36
    Escoffier was the Ritz Paris' first chef.
  • 00:22:39
    He did the opening with Mr. César Ritz.
  • 00:22:43
    They knew each other well, so he agreed.
  • 00:22:47
    I must say that I'm very proud
  • 00:22:50
    to be part of the lineage of chefs who've worked here
  • 00:22:54
    and to be a disciple of Escoffier, who was the first chef.
  • 00:22:58
    What matters for a chef is discipline and dignity.
  • 00:23:02
    You can't disappoint by failing his standard.
  • 00:23:06
    Escoffier created hundreds of dishes and desserts,
  • 00:23:09
    a legacy that is a source of motivation and inspiration for chef Michel Roth.
  • 00:23:16
    His loyalty to Escoffier has won him many prizes and honors.
  • 00:23:24
    At Christmas 2006, this disciple of Escoffier
  • 00:23:28
    was awarded the highest honor that France could bestow.
  • 00:23:33
    Michel Roth, in the name of the president,
  • 00:23:37
    and by virtue of the powers conferred upon me,
  • 00:23:39
    I hereby make you a Knight of the Legion of Honor.
  • 00:23:57
    For eight years,
  • 00:23:58
    César Ritz divided his time between Lucerne and Monaco.
  • 00:24:03
    After Lucerne, he attracted the attention of a very important client,
  • 00:24:08
    Edward, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of England.
  • 00:24:14
    Ritz, the inventor of the tourist event,
  • 00:24:17
    became an event himself once he was discovered by Edward.
  • 00:24:22
    The Prince of Wales played a major role.
  • 00:24:24
    The future Edward VII was Queen Victoria's son.
  • 00:24:28
    He liked to stay away from gray, puritanical Victorian England.
  • 00:24:33
    He enjoyed life.
  • 00:24:36
    He always had a big entourage.
  • 00:24:38
    He always traveled with a crowd of people.
  • 00:24:43
    The future King Edward VII and his entourage
  • 00:24:46
    like to party at Ritz's Hotel in Monte Carlo.
  • 00:24:49
    The Prince became Ritz's most loyal customer,
  • 00:24:52
    and he brought him many prestigious clients.
  • 00:24:55
    However, Ritz now nursed other ambitions.
  • 00:24:59
    He dreamed of owning his own hotel.
  • 00:25:03
    Baron Pfyffer, Prince Edward, and the chef Escoffier
  • 00:25:07
    all helped him achieve his dream.
  • 00:25:17
    On January 17, 1888, Ritz got married in Cannes.
  • 00:25:22
    The wedding was not a Ritz event.
  • 00:25:25
    There was no fairy-tale ball or sumptuous buffet.
  • 00:25:28
    It was a very simple church ceremony.
  • 00:25:31
    Ritz was 37, nearly twice the age of his bride, Marie-Louise Beck,
  • 00:25:37
    the 20-year-old daughter of a butcher from Alsace.
  • 00:25:40
    Marie-Louise had grown up in Monte Carlo,
  • 00:25:43
    staying with her aunt, the owner of the Grand Hotel.
  • 00:25:49
    At the time,
  • 00:25:51
    a wage-earner couldn't marry the daughter of a business owner
  • 00:25:54
    as it would upset the social order.
  • 00:25:57
    So Ritz had to change social status and become an owner.
  • 00:26:02
    Shortly before the wedding,
  • 00:26:03
    Ritz bought the Hôtel de Provence in Cannes.
  • 00:26:06
    Only the name remains today.
  • 00:26:08
    From then on, he rose very quickly.
  • 00:26:12
    Ritz became an entrepreneur with his own name as his brand.
  • 00:26:16
    Hotels all over Europe wanted to work with him.
  • 00:26:23
    Soon after Cannes, he acquired two properties in Germany:
  • 00:26:27
    the Restaurant de la Conversation in Baden-Baden
  • 00:26:30
    and the Deluxe Hotel, de Minerva.
  • 00:26:34
    Less than a year later, in 1889, he struck out in another direction,
  • 00:26:41
    London,
  • 00:26:43
    capital of the greatest colonial empire of all time back then
  • 00:26:47
    and the hub of international finance.
  • 00:26:51
    Ritz took London by storm.
  • 00:26:53
    According to British food critic, Paul Levy,
  • 00:26:56
    Ritz transformed the dining habits of London's high society
  • 00:27:00
    and remains influential to this day.
  • 00:27:06
    I think people do dimly know
  • 00:27:11
    that there was a person called César Ritz.
  • 00:27:14
    The thing is, his name has entered the English language
  • 00:27:19
    in many different ways, so that it's even a common noun.
  • 00:27:26
    If we have the adjective "ritzy,"
  • 00:27:28
    which means elegant or showy sometimes,
  • 00:27:33
    and we have as a common noun, putting on the Ritz.
  • 00:27:38
    Is that a brand name, or is that a brand name?
  • 00:27:41
    To put on the Ritz is to dress up,
  • 00:27:44
    to go out to dine and dance, or something like that.
  • 00:27:50
    Ritz joined the Savoy Hotel.
  • 00:27:52
    The owner of the Savoy, Richard D'Oyly Carte,
  • 00:27:55
    made him the best-paid hotel manager in the world.
  • 00:28:01
    Ritz laid down very strict conditions.
  • 00:28:04
    He asked to be allowed to work at other hotels
  • 00:28:07
    for six months of the year.
  • 00:28:11
    Sir Richard agreed.
  • 00:28:13
    He asked to open new hotels. Sir Richard agreed.
  • 00:28:17
    All he wanted in return was the option to be a financial partner.
  • 00:28:22
    That's all.
  • 00:28:23
    Ritz took up his post at the Savoy with Escoffier.
  • 00:28:28
    The two had been working together since Monte Carlo.
  • 00:28:33
    They both joined the Savoy, and it became the best hotel in the world.
  • 00:28:41
    Ritz was now traveling back and forth between London, Baden-Baden, and Cannes,
  • 00:28:46
    with regular visits to the National Hotel in Lucerne and the Grand in Monte Carlo.
  • 00:28:53
    While traveling, he dictated instructions for his coworkers.
  • 00:28:57
    There lay the key to his success:
  • 00:28:59
    a tight-knit team that he had trained and that he could trust unconditionally.
  • 00:29:17
    On each table and at each service,
  • 00:29:20
    everything has to be perfect
  • 00:29:23
    so as to set off the silverware and the china.
  • 00:29:28
    We have to wear white gloves.
  • 00:29:31
    Just as in the days of its founder,
  • 00:29:33
    the special luxury of the Ritz Paris is its team of skilled professionals.
  • 00:29:39
    The current managing director, Omer Akar,
  • 00:29:42
    heads an army of ten managers and 600 employees.
  • 00:29:49
    -Good morning, Michel. -Good morning, Mr. Akar.
  • 00:29:51
    How are you? Good, how are you?
  • 00:29:53
    How is everything?
  • 00:29:55
    -Good morning, sir. -Good morning.
  • 00:29:57
    I've been at the Ritz for 30 years.
  • 00:30:00
    I learned the job gradually when I was young and worked my way up.
  • 00:30:06
    Excuse me. Michel the concierge speaking.
  • 00:30:09
    What's the secret that all works?
  • 00:30:11
    The secret is passion.
  • 00:30:14
    Everybody does it because they love it.
  • 00:30:16
    Being proud of it.
  • 00:30:17
    It's a little bit like a Swiss watch.
  • 00:30:19
    It's very complicated, but the passion and the patience.
  • 00:30:24
    Sometimes you put so much effort into very little things,
  • 00:30:27
    but that's why our guests are here.
  • 00:30:29
    Over the years,
  • 00:30:31
    you have become quite close to some of the regulars.
  • 00:30:35
    But we keep our distance to make sure not to intrude.
  • 00:30:39
    If they come to us, we help them.
  • 00:30:44
    That's as far as it goes. We don't invade their privacy.
  • 00:30:48
    Hello. How are you?
  • 00:30:51
    -How are you? -Very well.
  • 00:30:53
    How was the breakfast?
  • 00:30:55
    -Very busy morning. -Very busy morning.
  • 00:30:57
    Very busy, but fortunately, everything is done now.
  • 00:31:00
    -Yes, it went well. -Yes.
  • 00:31:02
    -It went very well. -You made everybody happy, as usual.
  • 00:31:04
    -Of course, you know me. -Excellent, excellent.
  • 00:31:08
    The guest is king.
  • 00:31:10
    Ritz staff follow the teachings of their founder to the latter.
  • 00:31:15
    Discretion, perfection, and elegance.
  • 00:31:24
    Again, the basics are the most important.
  • 00:31:26
    We always come and check the soup of the day,
  • 00:31:29
    because this is still basic.
  • 00:31:31
    You can make redu, caviar, and truffles.
  • 00:31:34
    We have Moroccan dishes.
  • 00:31:35
    We have everything, but the basics: the coffee, the croissant,
  • 00:31:39
    and the soup are still…
  • 00:31:41
    If you have good basics, people will remember you.
  • 00:31:45
    Carrot and ginger.
  • 00:31:46
    Good ginger.
  • 00:31:47
    Carrot whipped…
  • 00:31:49
    -Cream? -Cream.
  • 00:31:52
    Very tasty. Perfect soup for today.
  • 00:31:54
    Thank you.
  • 00:31:56
    Why?
  • 00:31:58
    Switzerland is still important as a place for schools.
  • 00:32:01
    -Why not France or… -Why not? Pardon.
  • 00:32:04
    Madame, bonjour.
  • 00:32:06
    -Excuse me. -Bonjour.
  • 00:32:09
    What is important is that in Switzerland you learn the philosophy of hotelier,
  • 00:32:15
    the basics.
  • 00:32:17
    Then it's up to us as an hotelier, we adopt that.
  • 00:32:19
    We adopt that to the Ritz.
  • 00:32:20
    We adopt that to the other hotel chains,
  • 00:32:23
    but these strong basics are what you learn in Switzerland,
  • 00:32:27
    and traditionally, Switzerland hasn't lost that touch.
  • 00:32:34
    Now unstoppable, Ritz was heading for his next success.
  • 00:32:40
    In 1891, the head of the Italian government
  • 00:32:44
    requested that Ritz provide a luxury hotel for the Eternal City.
  • 00:32:49
    Ritz, now 41, built the Grand Hotel.
  • 00:32:54
    Today, it's the St. Regis Grand Hotel.
  • 00:32:59
    Recently restored, it has recovered all its former glory.
  • 00:33:06
    We've kept the structure exactly as it was
  • 00:33:10
    when César Ritz designed it in 1894.
  • 00:33:14
    César Ritz was an amazing visionary.
  • 00:33:19
    He was a man who, 110 years ago, had foreseen the need for two kitchens
  • 00:33:25
    to accommodate room service and the space for the lifts.
  • 00:33:31
    Yet they didn't have lifts in 1894.
  • 00:33:35
    It's as if he had someone,
  • 00:33:38
    an adviser
  • 00:33:40
    from the year 2000.
  • 00:33:48
    The Grand Hotel in Rome was the first to be built entirely
  • 00:33:52
    according to Ritz's plans and ideas.
  • 00:33:57
    The guests of those days, like those of today,
  • 00:34:00
    were totally taken by the Ritz concept.
  • 00:34:04
    Oh, I love it here.
  • 00:34:06
    I think it's just grand.
  • 00:34:07
    Even if it's for nine days, I'm being pampered,
  • 00:34:10
    and I'm in luxurious, beautiful surroundings.
  • 00:34:14
    I hate to leave. I hate to go home.
  • 00:34:18
    -Do you know the Ritz Hotel? -Yes, I do, very well.
  • 00:34:20
    Is it something special Ritz, or it's just a hotel?
  • 00:34:23
    No, it's a whole different experience.
  • 00:34:26
    Staying at the Ritz, you're treated like royalty, almost.
  • 00:34:31
    I feel very special, and I really appreciate that.
  • 00:34:34
    Explain this ritzy feeling.
  • 00:34:37
    The ritzy feeling is like an escape. It's almost like you're in a fairy tale.
  • 00:34:42
    Don't you miss modern times?
  • 00:34:45
    I'm here to get away from modern times.
  • 00:34:48
    Modern times are stressful and almost too real.
  • 00:34:52
    I like stepping back in time.
  • 00:34:54
    I like feeling the grandeur of the day when this type of thing was common.
  • 00:34:59
    Well, not common, but gorgeous then and gorgeous now.
  • 00:35:03
    In the Grand Hotel,
  • 00:35:05
    Ritz had built a true monument to the Ritz style.
  • 00:35:11
    He always wanted more.
  • 00:35:14
    He embarked on his next project.
  • 00:35:16
    In London, 1896, Ritz started to interest investors.
  • 00:35:22
    Ritz told them, "I have ideas but no money."
  • 00:35:26
    They decided to start a company and created, around Ritz,
  • 00:35:32
    a company called the Ritz Syndicate Limited.
  • 00:35:35
    All the English establishments and the world's high society
  • 00:35:40
    had a stake in the company.
  • 00:35:43
    The Ritz Syndicate soon became an empire, the first multinational in tourism.
  • 00:35:51
    However, the company was no sooner founded than a scandal threatened to destroy it.
  • 00:35:56
    To everyone's surprise, both Ritz and Escoffier left the Savoy.
  • 00:36:02
    In fact, they were fired.
  • 00:36:05
    It was allowed to be… Thank you very much.
  • 00:36:09
    It was allowed to be said that it was a resignation,
  • 00:36:15
    but in fact, there was a lot of legal background to it.
  • 00:36:18
    When Ritz started to open his own hotels,
  • 00:36:23
    Sir Richard wasn't happy at all.
  • 00:36:27
    He had the offices of Ritz and Escoffier searched.
  • 00:36:31
    What they found led them to the conclusion
  • 00:36:35
    that Escoffier was taking illegal commissions
  • 00:36:39
    and Ritz was tampering with invoices…
  • 00:36:43
    Thirty charges were made against Ritz and Escoffier.
  • 00:36:48
    He signed a confession, as did Escoffier.
  • 00:36:56
    The scandal was covered up out of respect for the royal family.
  • 00:37:00
    It was Paul Levy who made this public after almost a hundred years.
  • 00:37:06
    The big question is, why did the Savoy keep it secret?
  • 00:37:10
    Well, I think it's very simple.
  • 00:37:12
    I think without any harsh words being exchanged,
  • 00:37:17
    Ritz was, in effect, blackmailing the Prince of Wales.
  • 00:37:21
    The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, and his favorite mistress,
  • 00:37:29
    Lily Langtry, Jersey Lily,
  • 00:37:34
    were carrying on their affair in a suite at the Savoy.
  • 00:37:41
    The rise of Ritz continued, and his old dream finally came true.
  • 00:37:47
    He bought his own hotel in Paris.
  • 00:37:51
    A building was for sale in the most beautiful square in Paris,
  • 00:37:55
    the Place Vendôme.
  • 00:37:57
    Ever since Louis XIV, the Sun King,
  • 00:37:59
    the Place Vendôme has been synonymous with luxury and elegance.
  • 00:38:03
    It was an ideal location for the Ritz.
  • 00:38:12
    It was his dream hotel.
  • 00:38:14
    He went back to London, convinced he'd found what he wanted,
  • 00:38:18
    and drew up his plans accordingly.
  • 00:38:22
    But in London, the company said,
  • 00:38:25
    "Sorry, it's too expensive."
  • 00:38:27
    "It's too small. We're not buying."
  • 00:38:31
    Ritz didn't give up.
  • 00:38:33
    He bought the building himself with money borrowed from his old friend,
  • 00:38:37
    the liqueur maker, Lapostolle Marnier.
  • 00:38:41
    Thanks to Mr. Apostole's money, he could secure a deal
  • 00:38:46
    and impose it on the board of directors.
  • 00:38:50
    The Ritz syndicate feared a financial disaster.
  • 00:38:54
    To avoid risking the whole group,
  • 00:38:55
    the syndicate created a new company, Ritz Paris,
  • 00:38:59
    and let Ritz run it as he wished.
  • 00:39:05
    Ritz entrusted the fitout to the most famous interior designer
  • 00:39:09
    of the age,
  • 00:39:11
    Charles-Frédéric Mewès.
  • 00:39:17
    Mewès didn't just draw up the plans.
  • 00:39:20
    He designed the furniture and even the plates and glassware.
  • 00:39:24
    It was all custom-made for the Ritz.
  • 00:39:28
    Ritz wanted the hotel to be in the fashionable Art Nouveau style,
  • 00:39:32
    but Mewès talked him out of it,
  • 00:39:34
    arguing it would clash with the style of the Place Vendôme.
  • 00:39:39
    After months of discussions,
  • 00:39:41
    the two men finally settled on a mix of different classic styles:
  • 00:39:49
    Some suites were Louis XVI.
  • 00:39:54
    The sitting rooms were Regency,
  • 00:39:58
    and a few rooms were in the Empire Style.
  • 00:40:03
    This original mixture became the essence of the Ritz style,
  • 00:40:08
    a decor that luxury hotels would try to emulate throughout the world.
  • 00:40:14
    On June 1, 1898, celebrities from all over the world
  • 00:40:19
    were expected for the official opening of the Paris Ritz,
  • 00:40:23
    but would they come?
  • 00:40:25
    No one dared believe it.
  • 00:40:27
    Only Ritz was optimistic, and he was right.
  • 00:40:32
    At the moment of truth, they were all there.
  • 00:40:34
    Sarah Bernhardt, the who's who of Paris,
  • 00:40:37
    the millionaire's John Wanamaker and Cornelius Vanderbilt,
  • 00:40:41
    who'd crossed the Atlantic from America.
  • 00:40:46
    Lady de Grey, the leader of London society,
  • 00:40:49
    the Tsar of Russia, and the writer Marcel Proust,
  • 00:40:52
    who found the Ritz a new source of inspiration.
  • 00:40:57
    The success was immediate.
  • 00:40:59
    Guests flooded in.
  • 00:41:02
    It was always booked up.
  • 00:41:04
    It never ceased to exist from the day it opened in 1898
  • 00:41:10
    right up to the Depression in the 1930s.
  • 00:41:15
    The success of the hotel surpassed Ritz's fondest hopes.
  • 00:41:19
    In its first year, it made a profit of over 278,000 francs,
  • 00:41:25
    or $2.5 million,
  • 00:41:27
    an amazing achievement for a small hotel with only 86 rooms.
  • 00:41:37
    The genius of César Ritz was to offer his guests a stage,
  • 00:41:41
    a place for aristocrats to prove that they still existed
  • 00:41:45
    and for the nouveau riche to show off their wealth.
  • 00:41:48
    The Ritz was like a theater,
  • 00:41:50
    like the Palais Garnier or the Paris Opera.
  • 00:41:56
    You're in the audience, but you're on stage too.
  • 00:42:00
    You see, and you're seen.
  • 00:42:01
    You're transported to a different world.
  • 00:42:05
    When you come in from the street, you leave behind the daily drudgery,
  • 00:42:10
    the grayness, the concrete, the taxes, the traffic, the parking, etc…
  • 00:42:16
    It was like a board game of fashion,
  • 00:42:19
    with squares where you had to be, like the Opera, the Ritz…
  • 00:42:23
    It was like a decoration you'd pin on your coat.
  • 00:42:27
    The Ritz meant you had won a social position.
  • 00:42:32
    César Ritz was at the peak of his glory.
  • 00:42:35
    He was going from one success to another.
  • 00:42:38
    Yet behind the mask, he suffered deeply.
  • 00:42:41
    He missed his family.
  • 00:42:43
    He hardly ever saw his two sons.
  • 00:42:46
    He thought himself ugly,
  • 00:42:47
    and he was ashamed of his origins and his lack of education.
  • 00:42:52
    He was said to speak English and German as well as French.
  • 00:42:58
    But he had a strong accent.
  • 00:43:00
    Ritz was a very elegant, sophisticated man, and a hygiene fanatic.
  • 00:43:05
    He'd change suits up to four times a day.
  • 00:43:09
    Marie-Louise Ritz wrote in her memoirs
  • 00:43:14
    that he had 300 suits.
  • 00:43:16
    He was elegance personified.
  • 00:43:20
    He wanted to be like his guests.
  • 00:43:24
    Is it true that he couldn't spell?
  • 00:43:28
    Apparently.
  • 00:43:29
    I haven't found anything written by him. Only signed by him.
  • 00:43:34
    I haven't found any letters of his.
  • 00:43:38
    Even after his great success in Paris,
  • 00:43:41
    Ritz went on to manage 12 hotels in five different countries.
  • 00:43:46
    After Lucerne, Monte Carlo, and Rome,
  • 00:43:49
    he looked after establishments in Frankfurt and Naples.
  • 00:43:52
    It was an exhausting way of life.
  • 00:43:55
    A rail journey from Monte Carlo to Paris took 14 hours.
  • 00:44:02
    In January 1901, Queen Victoria died.
  • 00:44:09
    The heir to the throne was Prince Edward,
  • 00:44:12
    Ritz's old friend and patron.
  • 00:44:15
    The coronation was scheduled for June 26, 1902.
  • 00:44:20
    Ritz was in charge of the non-official side
  • 00:44:22
    of the festivities.
  • 00:44:23
    He wanted his friend's coronation to be the grandest of all time.
  • 00:44:30
    With a week to go until Edward VII's coronation,
  • 00:44:39
    Ritz had everything ready.
  • 00:44:40
    He had Escoffier in the kitchen.
  • 00:44:42
    The menus were set, and the rooms were booked.
  • 00:44:46
    It was perfect.
  • 00:44:47
    But the king had to have an emergency appendicitis operation.
  • 00:44:53
    The coronation had to be postponed.
  • 00:44:58
    For Ritz, it was a disaster.
  • 00:45:00
    He collapsed on the dining room floor.
  • 00:45:06
    Ritz recovered, but less than three months later,
  • 00:45:08
    he had a relapse in Paris.
  • 00:45:11
    Was it overwork or depression?
  • 00:45:13
    His mind would go blank at times.
  • 00:45:17
    He gradually lost his grip. He wasn't himself.
  • 00:45:21
    Around 1906 or 1907,
  • 00:45:24
    he started to hallucinate.
  • 00:45:27
    He'd see shadows coming toward him.
  • 00:45:31
    He'd go into a fit, grab anything he could get hold of,
  • 00:45:35
    and throw it at the imaginary shadow.
  • 00:45:41
    Mrs. Ritz took her ailing husband to the Riviera.
  • 00:45:44
    He needed rest and relaxation, but there was no cure,
  • 00:45:49
    and Ritz started to deteriorate dramatically.
  • 00:45:55
    In Paris, it was business as usual.
  • 00:45:58
    Ritz's illness was kept secret,
  • 00:46:00
    but preparations were put in place for an era after Ritz.
  • 00:46:10
    He vanished from the Ritz's records in 1911.
  • 00:46:13
    He was no longer considered a director.
  • 00:46:18
    He was pushed out of the door.
  • 00:46:21
    The Ritz concept was there to stay, even without its creator.
  • 00:46:30
    In 1914, Ritz lost all grasp on reality.
  • 00:46:34
    He was committed to Dr. Egli's private psychiatric hospital
  • 00:46:38
    in the Villa Clara Sanatorium in Küssnacht, near Lucerne.
  • 00:46:44
    The doctor's daughter, Marianne Barmettler,
  • 00:46:47
    has only vague memories of her father's patients.
  • 00:46:50
    They were a better class of people. They were highly regarded.
  • 00:46:55
    They could afford to pay.
  • 00:46:57
    Do you have any documents or medical records?
  • 00:47:02
    Nothing, no.
  • 00:47:03
    -Nothing at all? -No.
  • 00:47:06
    I could never have known that they would be valuable.
  • 00:47:10
    That's where Ritz lived.
  • 00:47:13
    Ritz had completely lost his mind.
  • 00:47:16
    He was severely manic-depressive.
  • 00:47:18
    Just why remains a secret to this day.
  • 00:47:21
    All his medical records were destroyed.
  • 00:47:23
    Even in his madness, Ritz had only one obsession: hotels.
  • 00:47:28
    He kept drawing huge imaginary hotels.
  • 00:47:32
    On the 26th of October, 1918, after 16 years of illness,
  • 00:47:38
    he died alone and was forgotten.
  • 00:47:42
    His death went nearly unnoticed.
  • 00:47:45
    The director's meeting in early November
  • 00:47:48
    only mentions it in four lines,
  • 00:47:51
    "We have learned of Mr. Ritz's death in Switzerland."
  • 00:47:55
    "Our condolences to his widow and children."
  • 00:47:58
    Marie-Louise Ritz lost not only her husband in 1918
  • 00:48:02
    but also her two sons.
  • 00:48:05
    The youngest son, René, died after a serious accident.
  • 00:48:09
    The elder, Charles, emigrated to the United States.
  • 00:48:14
    At the hotel, the shareholders wanted her to step down.
  • 00:48:18
    It was only thanks to her loyal friend, Baron Pfyffer,
  • 00:48:21
    that she continued to chair the board of directors.
  • 00:48:28
    Marie-Louise Ritz died at age 93 in 1961.
  • 00:48:33
    Her last wish was to be buried in Niederwald,
  • 00:48:36
    the village where her husband was born.
  • 00:48:40
    She also asked for her husband's remains
  • 00:48:43
    and those of René to be brought to Niederwald from Paris.
  • 00:48:51
    The people of Niederwald have fond memories of Mrs. Ritz.
  • 00:48:55
    Without a family after her husband's death and wholly isolated in Paris,
  • 00:49:00
    she found a new home with the villagers.
  • 00:49:02
    She spent her summer holidays at her husband's family home.
  • 00:49:07
    Do you remember her visits?
  • 00:49:09
    Yes, I used to see her.
  • 00:49:12
    What did she look like?
  • 00:49:14
    I can show you. I have a photo.
  • 00:49:18
    No one remembers him, at least around here.
  • 00:49:22
    That's my grandmother. She was a Ritz.
  • 00:49:25
    The one with the pipe. She smoked a pipe.
  • 00:49:29
    That's the bathroom she used, and she'd clean it herself.
  • 00:49:35
    Madam Ritz used it.
  • 00:49:38
    -What did people say? -She'd invite them to have a bath.
  • 00:49:43
    These were the first bathtubs here.
  • 00:49:46
    In particular, she invited the women over.
  • 00:49:51
    That was lovely for them.
  • 00:49:56
    Mrs. Ritz was often generous to the village.
  • 00:49:59
    Shortly before she died,
  • 00:50:00
    she set up a foundation for its young people.
  • 00:50:04
    The Ritz Foundation has a capital of over a million francs.
  • 00:50:10
    She paid for scholarships
  • 00:50:16
    for students and apprentices.
  • 00:50:18
    That went well. Of course, you can't over-do it.
  • 00:50:22
    It's no good just throwing money at people.
  • 00:50:25
    But the Ritz Foundation helped a lot of young apprentices here.
  • 00:50:33
    Epilogue.
  • 00:50:36
    In 1979, the Ritz got a new owner,
  • 00:50:40
    the billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed,
  • 00:50:42
    who came from a family of Egyptian hoteliers.
  • 00:50:47
    When I was a child, 12 years old, I came here with my grandfather.
  • 00:50:56
    It stuck in my mind straight away.
  • 00:50:58
    The fantasy of Place Vendôme.
  • 00:51:01
    Place Vendôme is a spectacular place, architectal place.
  • 00:51:06
    César Ritz chose a location like that to create a hotel,
  • 00:51:11
    which is the ultimum fantasy and luxury.
  • 00:51:16
    It stuck in my mind.
  • 00:51:18
    I told my granddad that one day I would own this place.
  • 00:51:24
    Whoever owns the Ritz must carry on the Ritz legend and tradition.
  • 00:51:31
    We respect them scrupulously.
  • 00:51:33
    I felt I had to do my best to salvage his legacy and his tradition.
  • 00:51:40
    A great hotelier like that has to stay forever,
  • 00:51:44
    and I feel that this is a place of history.
الوسوم
  • César Ritz
  • Ritz Paris
  • luxury hotels
  • hospitality
  • César Ritz legacy
  • hygiene standards
  • Auguste Escoffier
  • hotel management
  • Swiss Alps
  • historical figures