Butlers in the Media

by Steven Ferry

 

 

 

 

Other than the “rice and fork versus fingers” fracas (see Message from the Chairman), it has been a quiet month for butlers in the media.

So this might be a good time to report on an interesting interchange amongst butlers concerning a short video I shot in 2007, and which the Director of Training at The American Butler School unearthed and put on LinkedIn recently.

As one individual said, watch it until the end—there is a punchline.

As I explained at the time, just in case you may be wondering why I shot this less-than-conservative short, the backstory is that I was asked by a Hollywood company to shoot a video of myself in action so the producer could decide if I were a good fit for the lead role in a TV series. As Al Prayitno spotted, it was shot at One and Only Reethi Rah in the Maldives where at the time, I was on a training assignment with Mr. Frank Mitchell. I happened to have a rinky-dink video camera with me, so we spent an hour rolling and ad libbing and having fun on our day off (Frank pitching in gamely despite having no experience shooting). In the end, the series never saw the light of day, which was probably just as well, as we were way too busy with training assignments at the time.

 

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.