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Regimental Haircut
Pointed out to him, such errors offend not only Fielding's sense of professionalism but a sort of noblesse oblige which he works hard to maintain. A product of prep schools, Princeton and genial genealogy, Fielding is descended on his father's side from Novelist Henry Fielding, related on his mother's to Naturalist William Temple Hornaday. After a brief postgraduate career as a mutual funds salesman, Temp turned to the typewriter and sold his first article to the Reader's Digest in 1940. He was then called into the Army and sent to Fort Bragg, N.C., where his commanding officer assigned him to write a guidebook to the base. That book was the prototype of Fielding's Guide to Europe—chatty, chuckly, problem-solving, a little patronizing: ("Each regiment has its own barbershop, staffed by civilians. It's good and it's cheap. Don't think that you look like a monkey after your first 'G.I.' trim. Short hair is an Army custom.") Continuing to do magazine articles from Fort Bragg, Fielding met a Manhattan literary agent named Nancy Parker. He became her client—and two months later her husband.
In early 1944, Artillery Captain Fielding was transferred to the OSS and shipped to Italy, Algeria and Yugoslavia to do propaganda work behind enemy lines. After a narrow escape from an ambush on the Dalmatian coast, he was discharged as a major with a citation that credited him with arranging "more than 30,000 voluntary enemy surrenders." He returned to civilian life as a roving journalist, and as he roved, he discovered that no travel guide catered to his all-American life style.
The first edition of Fielding's Guide came off the presses in 1948. It was an instant success. The Danish government ran a survey and was amazed to discover that between one-third and one-half of all Americans who visited between 1948 and 1950 had come at Fielding's recommendation. Nancy and Temple moved from New York to Denmark in 1951, and four months later settled in Formentor, where they built up their remarkable establishment.
Pheasant in Burgundy Jelly
Entering the villa, reports TIME Correspondent Gavin Scott, a guest senses that "he has just checked into one of the grand hotels of Europe." A staff of six stands ready to perform any service. The bar is stocked with 116 varieties of liquor, including pisco from Peru, ouzo from Greece, Indonesian arrack, Georgia moonshine from the U.S. and a 140-proof Italian pine liquor, which Fielding says is "really too strong to drink." The basement larder is packed with imported delicacies: pheasant in Burgundy jelly, smoked swordfish, Scotch grouse pâté, quail eggs, Norwegian kippers, whole lychees, albacore tuna from Oregon.
Dinner is an extravaganza.