Arts
“I FIND LONDON LOVELIER TO PAINT EACH DAY”
– CLAUDE MONET
Artist in Residence Program
Beaufort Bar, the location at which Rhapsody Blue was performed. Source: Savoy
The Savoy hotel has long been associated with the arts. Monet served as the hotel's first artist-in-residence in 1901,[73] and that program continues.[77][78][79] George Gershwin gave the British premiere of Rhapsody in Blue at the hotel in 1925, simultaneously broadcast by the BBC.[80] The hotel's dance bands of the inter-war years, the Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, were described as "probably the best-known bands in Europe" and broadcast regularly from the hotel.[81] In 2013, the hotel reintroduced its dinner dances, with resident dance band Alex Mendham & His Orchestra playing music from the 1920s and '30s.[82] Erlewine, Stephen Thomas.[83] Rupert D'Oyly Carte engaged Richard Collet to run the cabaret at the Savoy, which opened in April 1929.[84] Lena Horne and others made their British debuts there.[31] Frank Sinatra played the piano and sang there.[55]
In 2012, Stuart McAlpine Miller, as artist-in-residence, painted eight works inspired by celebrity guests of the hotel.[78] The same year, another British artist, David Downes, created a large-scale drawing, delighting guests by working in the lobby of the Savoy.[77] Downes based his work on a drawing of the Thames in the Savoy's collection. The piece, displayed in the hotel's front hall, depicts the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.[79]
In 2013 South African artist Jonty Hurwitz created a chrome and resin anamorphic sculpture of Kaspar, the hotel's cat mascot, titled "The 14th Guest", found at the entrance to the hotel's restaurant, Kaspar's Seafood Bar & Grill.[79][85] Kaspar's story begins with the legend of an 1898 dinner at the Savoy given for 14 guests by Woolf Joel, a South African diamond tycoon. One of the diners was unable to attend, leaving the number of guests an unlucky 13, and another diner predicted that whoever first left the table would soon die. The first to leave was Joel, who was shot dead a few weeks later in Johannesburg. After this, the hotel offered to seat a member of its staff at tables of 13 to ward off bad luck. Finally, in 1926, the designer Basil Ionides sculpted a 3-foot high art-deco black cat called Kaspar, which is used as the 14th guest.[85] Kaspar is given a full place setting, a napkin is tied around his neck, and he is served each course.[86] Winston Churchill liked Ionides's Kaspar so much that he insisted that the sculpture join his parties of any size when dining at the Savoy.[79]
In Films and Movies
Notting Hill at the Savoy. Source: Sceen it
The hotel has often been used as a film location. For example, the romantic finale to the Notting Hill (1999) is set in the hotel's Lancaster Room, where Anna (Julia Roberts) and William (Hugh Grant) declare their mutual love. In 1921, the hotel was used in the film Kipps, based on the novel by H. G. Wells. It also featured in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Entrapment (1999) and Gambit (2012), among others. In 2011, the hotel was used as the setting for Duran Duran's music video for their song "Girl Panic!" from their album All You Need Is Now.[87] Arnold Bennett wrote the novel Imperial Palace in 1930, based on his research at the hotel. The novel fictionalises the hotel's operations.[31] Michael Morpurgo wrote a children's book fictionalising the hotel's mascot, Kaspar, as an adventurer: Kaspar: Prince of Cats (2008), which was released in the US as Kaspar: The Titanic Cat (2012).
Artist in Residence Program
Beaufort Bar, the location at which Rhapsody Blue was performed. Source: Savoy
The Savoy hotel has long been associated with the arts. Monet served as the hotel's first artist-in-residence in 1901,[73] and that program continues.[77][78][79] George Gershwin gave the British premiere of Rhapsody in Blue at the hotel in 1925, simultaneously broadcast by the BBC.[80] The hotel's dance bands of the inter-war years, the Savoy Orpheans and the Savoy Havana Band, were described as "probably the best-known bands in Europe" and broadcast regularly from the hotel.[81] In 2013, the hotel reintroduced its dinner dances, with resident dance band Alex Mendham & His Orchestra playing music from the 1920s and '30s.[82] Erlewine, Stephen Thomas.[83] Rupert D'Oyly Carte engaged Richard Collet to run the cabaret at the Savoy, which opened in April 1929.[84] Lena Horne and others made their British debuts there.[31] Frank Sinatra played the piano and sang there.[55]
In 2012, Stuart McAlpine Miller, as artist-in-residence, painted eight works inspired by celebrity guests of the hotel.[78] The same year, another British artist, David Downes, created a large-scale drawing, delighting guests by working in the lobby of the Savoy.[77] Downes based his work on a drawing of the Thames in the Savoy's collection. The piece, displayed in the hotel's front hall, depicts the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.[79]
In 2013 South African artist Jonty Hurwitz created a chrome and resin anamorphic sculpture of Kaspar, the hotel's cat mascot, titled "The 14th Guest", found at the entrance to the hotel's restaurant, Kaspar's Seafood Bar & Grill.[79][85] Kaspar's story begins with the legend of an 1898 dinner at the Savoy given for 14 guests by Woolf Joel, a South African diamond tycoon. One of the diners was unable to attend, leaving the number of guests an unlucky 13, and another diner predicted that whoever first left the table would soon die. The first to leave was Joel, who was shot dead a few weeks later in Johannesburg. After this, the hotel offered to seat a member of its staff at tables of 13 to ward off bad luck. Finally, in 1926, the designer Basil Ionides sculpted a 3-foot high art-deco black cat called Kaspar, which is used as the 14th guest.[85] Kaspar is given a full place setting, a napkin is tied around his neck, and he is served each course.[86] Winston Churchill liked Ionides's Kaspar so much that he insisted that the sculpture join his parties of any size when dining at the Savoy.[79]
In Films and Movies
Notting Hill at the Savoy. Source: Sceen it
The hotel has often been used as a film location. For example, the romantic finale to the Notting Hill (1999) is set in the hotel's Lancaster Room, where Anna (Julia Roberts) and William (Hugh Grant) declare their mutual love. In 1921, the hotel was used in the film Kipps, based on the novel by H. G. Wells. It also featured in The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Entrapment (1999) and Gambit (2012), among others. In 2011, the hotel was used as the setting for Duran Duran's music video for their song "Girl Panic!" from their album All You Need Is Now.[87] Arnold Bennett wrote the novel Imperial Palace in 1930, based on his research at the hotel. The novel fictionalises the hotel's operations.[31] Michael Morpurgo wrote a children's book fictionalising the hotel's mascot, Kaspar, as an adventurer: Kaspar: Prince of Cats (2008), which was released in the US as Kaspar: The Titanic Cat (2012).