A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life

by Slim Aarons

From the front flap of this 190 page "'A Wonderful Time' captures magnificently the life of America's elite from coast to coast, in Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Acapulco. Drawing from thousands of pictures taken since World War II on assignments for 'Holiday', 'Town & Country', 'Harper's Bazaar', 'Life'. 'Vogue', 'Travel & Leisure', and other publications, Slim Aarons has put together the best of them - many never published before - with a narrative of his experiences and impressions while photographing American aristocrats on their estates and at play at their favorite resorts. Here are the Cushings of Newport, The Fords of Grosse Pointe, and the Rockefellers of New York; here are the kings and queens of Beverly Hills playing croquet, the Cabots sailing off Boston's North Shore, and Barry Goldwarer on the range in Arizona. Here are the Whitneys entertaining on Long Island, the Armours in their pool in Lake Forest, the Klebergs on their Texas ranch. and the scions of Palm Beach, San Francisco, and New York having a wonderful time." And from the rear "'A Wonderful Time' is a book about Snowmass, Tom Watson, Nonie Phipps, Harold Vanderbilt, CeeZee Guest, Commander Whitehead, Lilly Pulitzer, New Orleans, T.S. Eloit, Jamaica, Minnie Cushing, Washington, Damon Gadd, Mrs. Atwater Kent, the Rockefellers, The King Ranch, Merle Oberon, Sugarbush, Cecil Beaton, Scottsdale, Brenda Frazier, Baltimore, Angie Duke, Palm Beach, Eva Gabor, Acapulco, Burl Ives, the Duchess of Windsor, La Jolla, Peter Widener, Babe Paley, Nassau, Roger Lion Gardiner, Mary Hemingway, Stowe, Mike Phipps, Bailey's Beach, Gloria Guinness, The Exumas, Herb Caen, Romanoff's, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, Jock Whitney, The Bath and Tennis Club, Mary Martin, Aspen, Truman Capote, Hobe Sound, Cobina Wright, Howard Hughes, The Waldorf, Fleur Cowles, Peter Pulitzer, The Myopia Hunt Club, Dolly Fritz, and a lot of other people having a wonderful time."

Genres: History, American

190 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Slim, one of the most influential photographers of his generation, started during World War II when he served as a combat photographer for Yank magazine in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. After the war he became a freelance photographer for many magazines including Holiday, Town & Country, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Travel & Leisure, Look, and Life. Many of the pictures in this book were originally commissioned by the legendary Frank Zachary who for many years was editor-in-chief of Holiday and then Town & Country. In 1997, Getty Images signed on to represent the Slim Aarons collection and now serves as the primary curator of his work.

His editor and longtime friend Mr. Zachary wrote in his introduction to the book: “Slim has documented the life of the rich, the privileged, and the leisured for fifty years. Without animus or adulation, he has mirrored the changing countenance of society—face lifts and all. His sustained focus on this historically inaccessible segment of society is without parallel in the annals of photography and possibly even literature . . . Slim’s achievement stands alone. It is the only visual chronicle (and in living color, too) of the privileged class in our time ..."

Reviews

[Chrissy R · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Mother has an original copy if this book. As a young girl I would sit for hours, looking at the beautiful pictures of the beautiful people and beautiful places. I would dream of being one of the gorgeous actresses or models and traveling to all the exquisite destinations. My girl friends and I would dress up in my Mother's tight sweaters, pedal pushers and espadrilles and "go" wherever our imaginations would take us. The book itself is an amazing work of art. A tribute to all that is beautiful.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful! Can I dive in the pages and live their lives for awhile??

[Elizabeth]

Just saw a great image from this book. What was it that Aarons said about photographs? Oh yes, he liked "photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." I'd like to check out the book for a bit of escapism, but I've heard it is in limited edition and is quite expensive.