KLOSTERS – The Swiss mountain village that became a post-war getaway for many of those who wrote the books, took the photos, made the movies, the deals ... and the headlines
The Swiss mountain village of Klosters owes much of its fame to the British Royal Family. Few people remember that, in the 1950s and 60s, it was the visiting film stars and literati who earned this winter holiday spot the name ‘Hollywood on the Rocks’. But the post-war Klosters was ‘discovered’ by war photographer Robert Capa, together with the screenwriter Peter Viertel and the writer Irwin Shaw. Luminaries including Gene Kelly, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, Yul Brynner, Orson Welles, William Wyler and Truman Capote soon followed. These were joined by more writers, scriptwriters, actors and photographers, fashion models, singers, designers, directors, journalists and bullfighters; there were artists, racing drivers, it girls, inventors, former prime ministers, industrial magnates and Olympic racers, not to mention gangsters’ molls, among other illustrious personages. This photo book is a snapshot retrospective of that microcosm of personalities above the clouds that made Klosters an extraordinary place for over two decades.
The Book
Release: December 2023, second revised and expanded edition, publication by Fabrizio D’Aloisio, published by Somedia Buchverlag and under the patronage of the municipality of Klosters (800 Jahre Klosters 2022)
Language: English, with accompanying booklet with German texts
Format: 21.8 x 27.6 cm, Hardcover, designed in St. Moritz by Dario Cantoni, SPOT Werbung, printed in Italy by Grafiche Milani, 3 kilograms of true craftsmanship
432 Pages, over 400 photos by Robert Capa, Slim Aarons, Peter Knapp, René Burri, Burt Glinn, among others; and texts by Irwin Shaw, Flora Lewis, Adam Shaw, Konstantin Arnold, Fabrizio D’Aloisio
ISBN: 978-3-907095-77-5
“In those days, skiing was as much a voyage as a sport, and that appealed to the old man. Imagine growing up dirt poor in Brooklyn before the Great Depression. Imagine landing in Normandy in 1944, and liberating the Dachau concentration camp. Then imagine standing on top of the Gotschna on skis, and with a newly built chalet visible down in the valley.”
Highlights
The "Hollywood-on-the Rocks era" of Klosters researched and summarized for the first time. With an unpublished series of photographs by Robert Capa, unpublished texts by Irwin Shaw, an interview with Peter Knapp and illustrations by Jacques Charmoz.
“A paradise, even one with sub-zero temperatures, is a dangerous place to be. And even if Klosters didn’t represent a perfect Eden, it was always a Shangri-La, a small world in itself, which lay mostly above the clouds in bright sunshine.”
Starring
Slim Aarons, Julie Andrews, Lauren Bacall, Lex Barker, Marisa Berenson, Yul Brynner, Truman Capote, Bing Crosby, Britt Ekland, Peter Sellers, William Faulkner, Mel Ferrer, Greta Garbo, Bettina Graziani, Juliette Gréco, Rex Harrison, Howard Hawks, Audrey Hepburn, Anjelica Huston, John Huston, Deborah Kerr, Gene Kelly, Peter Knapp, Vivien Leigh, Anatole Litvak, Barbara Mullen, David Niven, Suzy Parker, Hans Ruesch, Françoise Sagan, Irwin Shaw, Roger Vadim, Peter Viertel, Salka Viertel, Orson Welles, William Wyler, the British Royal Family and many others.
“Of course, there are people in Klosters in December, but not nearly so many as now in the high season. They are “the perms” – members of the international set who establish themselves as permanent winter (and sometimes summer) residents of this Alpine resort. They form a kind of writers-artists-actors community that gives Klosters a special flavor.”
