Oscar Tschirky
Oscar Michel Tschirky (born September 28, 1866 in Le Locle ; † November 6, 1950 in New Paltz , New York ) was Maître d'hôtel at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan .
Life
Oscar Tschirky's father came from Weisstannen (municipality of Mels ) and was an agent in a travel agency in La Chaux-de-Fonds , his mother came from Lucerne . Oscar first attended school in La Chaux-de-Fonds, later he was sent to a farmer in Friborg by his father, along with his brother Brutus, who was ten years older than him .
Old Waldorf Astoria
Shortly afterwards, Brutus emigrated to the USA. In 1883 he wrote in a letter about the opportunities to earn money there and asked the family to follow him. 17-year-old Oscar Tschirky emigrated to New York in 1883 , the day before the Brooklyn Bridge opened . On May 14, an hour after arriving, he applied for US citizenship and went looking for work. Nothing was vacant at the Brunswick Hotel, where his brother worked as chief assistant, but at Hoffman House on Broadway , one of the best hotels in town, Tschirky got a $ 18 plate clearer seven hours after arriving in New York.
Thanks to his ability, he was soon assigned other tasks: he was given the supervision of a floor, organized parties, worked in reception and bookkeeping, and became a steward on the owner's yacht.
In 1887 Oscar Tschirky moved to Delmonico’s on Fifth Avenue and 26th Street. Delmonico's itself is said to have recruited Tschirky, on the recommendation of Oscar Wilde . Tschirky first worked at the bar and in service; later he became head of catering and organized events. At 21 he was already well known in the industry and financially secure.
In 1890, shortly before the opening of the first Waldorf Hotel, Tschirky applied to the future director George Boldt for the post of Maître d'hôtel and was hired in 1891 on the recommendation of numerous celebrities. With a monthly salary of $ 250, Tschirky started his new job at the initially unfinished Hotel Waldorf, which opened with its 450 rooms, 350 bathrooms, halls and restaurants and bars on March 13, 1893 in a large gala with 2000 guests - organized by Oscar Tschirky.
Oscar Tschirky organized extravagant events with exquisite menus and excellent service. Tschirky offered industrialists, show stars, politicians, state guests and musicians a stage for their celebrations in the Waldorf. To be known with “Oscar of the Waldorf”, as Tschirky was now officially called, and to dine in the Waldorf was considered an honor. He was addressed as "Oscar".
The success of the Waldorf was so great that John Jacob Astor IV planned another hotel next to the Waldorf. The Astoria was opened in 1897 and, with its 17 floors and a ballroom for 1,500 guests, was even more luxurious than the Waldorf. Both buildings were combined to form the “Waldorf-Astoria”, the “best hotel in the world” with over 1000 rooms. As Maître d'hôtel, Tschirky spared no effort to do justice to the demanding society of New York. For a visit by the Chinese viceroy, the hotel was decorated with paper kites and glass chains, for US President William Howard Taft he had the ballroom converted into a lecture hall at Yale University and for an industrialist the hall was converted into a circus tent with trapeze artists. For the most expensive banquet, a Roman feast for which each guest paid $ 250, he had the hall converted into a Roman park with flower beds, fountains, palm trees and hundreds of canaries. The menu in the canteen of Sing-Sing prison was a particular success and, slightly modified, he presented it to his guests.
New Waldorf Astoria
The old Waldorf Astoria was demolished only 36 years after it opened in 1929; the Empire State Building was to be built in its place . The new Waldorf-Astoria was built on Park Avenue , which opened in 1931 with 2000 rooms, 100 apartments and 47 floors - again with the now 63-year-old Oscar Tschirky as host. 1000 guests attended the golden wedding anniversary of Oscar and his wife Sophie in 1937. On the occasion of the hotel's 50th anniversary, Tschirky was also honored and the journalist Karl Schriftgiesser dedicated the 250-page biography Oscar of the Waldorf to him .
After his wife's death in 1950, Tschirky retired to New Paltz, a small town about 110 kilometers north of New York. In 1889 he had bought a farm there and later built a summer house where he had picnics for friends, family and other cooks. The property was acquired by the Philanthropic Society and used as a retirement home for cooks. It later became known as the Culinarians Home.
When Oscar Tschirky died on November 6, 1950 at the age of 84, the flags at the Waldorf-Astoria waved at half-mast for days and pages of articles appeared in the newspapers. The Tschirky couple had two sons and a daughter.
The “Veal Oscar” and Waldorf salad go back to Tschirky . In 1896 his cookbook The Cook Book By "Oscar" Of The Waldorf was published . In memory of Oscar Tschirky, the restaurant in the Waldorf-Astoria is named "Oscar's at the Waldorf Astoria".
Oscar Tschirky's estate and collection of more than 10,000 menus is administered by Cornell University .
literature
- Karl Schriftgiesser: Oscar of the Waldorf . Dutton, New York 1943
- Helmut Stalder: Oscar Tschirky. The brilliant host . In: Der Schweizerischer Beobachter 11/2011, pp. 34–38
Web links
- Oscar Tschirky in Old and Sold, English
- Peter Müller: Oscar Tschirky. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ^ Library.cornell
- ↑ Why the famous "Waldorf Salad" is also Swiss: Oscar Tschirky for his 150th birthday. In: koechel-verzeichnis.blogspot.ch. Retrieved September 28, 2016 .
- ↑ Time
- ↑ biography
- ^ Culinarians Home
- ^ The Cook Book by "Oscar" of the Waldorf ; free download, PDF 58.2 MB
- ↑ Waldorf Salad ( Memento of the original from November 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Cookbook
- ↑ Opentable ( Memento of the original dated August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Lexicon of famous cooks: Tschirky; Oscar ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tschirky, Oscar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tschirky, Oscar Michel (full name); Oscar of the Waldorf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Maître d'hotel in Waldorf-Astoria, New York |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 28, 1866 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Le Locle |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 6, 1950 |
| Place of death | New Paltz , New York |