The way to a fortune

Illustrated London News - Saturday 06 July 1968

"Onassis" by Willi Frischauer

This exhilarating work might well have for a subtitle, "or how a fortune can be made in the twentieth century"; actually, of course, one is made in the twentieth century in precisely the same way as it was made in the past, that is to say by a man possessing the brains to light on a new idea, and then having the guts to go through with it in practical application. In the case of Aristotle Socrates Onassis the new idea was the big oil tanker, and this book tells us what manner of man it was who conceived it, and who operates a fleet of craft today. At the same time a certain amount of luck inevitably enters into the story, though it is a measure of the business acumen of Onassis that he has known how to take advantage of it. 

It is a dramatic story, and Mr Frischauer tells it very well. It starts with a Greek boy in Asia Minor, who is caught up in a Greco Turkish war, is uprooted in the Turkish sack of Smyrna, lays the foundation of a fortune in Argentina, and returns to Europe to become one of the richest men in the world, as well as one of its most controversial figures. Across the stage pass nearly all the outstanding men and women of the day, and the author depicts them and their movements in such a way as to throw the maximum amount of light not only on Onassis but on themselves, and the result is a fascinating study of a certain section of cosmopolitan society at the present time. Whether the reader will approve of what is put before him is a matter for himself alone - Mr Frischauer does not aspire to be a judge of morals. 

For many, what the author has to say about the relations of the Greek millionaire with Sir Winston Churchill may well prove to be the most interesting part of the book. At the same time there was, it must be admitted, a good deal of criticism of Sir Winston for accepting the hospitality of Onassis to so considerable an extent, and comparisons were drawn with the days of King Edward VII and Sir Thomas Lipton when the German Emperor is alleged to have remarked, "Funny fellow my uncle - goes yachting with his grocer". 

Comments were also made on the alleged predilections of the Churchills for getting something for nothing whatever the circumstances. Yet if Mr Frischauer puts the right construction on the Churchill-Onassis relationship - and there is no reason to suppose that he does not - then it represented nothing more than the desire of a younger man to use his riches to render as agreeable as possible the last days of a much older one whom he greatly admired. 

One person who does not come well out of the story as told here is the late Lord Beaverbrook, who would appear to have become jealous of Churchill's intimacy with Onassis. Anyhow, one Sunday in the spring of 1960 the Sunday Express came out with the headline, "Is Onassis losing his millions?", while beneath was an article containing every kind of damaging insinuation; quoting the Greek shipowner as saying, "My vocation is to be rich"; and commenting, "Don't be surprised if sometimes he wonders just how much longer he will be able to continue his chosen vocation". The Beaver could be the best friend or the worst enemy in the world, but it was rare for him to change from the one to the other so rapidly. All the same the Churchill-Onassis friendship continued unbated, and when the ex-Premier heard of the attack on Onassis he took him to dinner at the "Other Club" to show where he stood on the matter. 

Then there is Madame Callas, whose relations with Onassis have given rise to at least as much speculation and controversy as his friendship with Winston Churchill. Mr Frishchauer tells us that probably all that there is to be told about them, and they must for the present be left at that, though it is clear that his divorce from his wife after 13 years of married life hit him hard, for "his sentimental and nostalgic attachment to his marriage was one of his strongest characteristics, and left no place for the super-sophisticated could-not-care-less reaction to divorce so frequent in his social sphere". As evident throughout this book women have place no inconsiderable part in the life of Aristotle Onassis, and it would be easy to get his relations with Madame Callas out of perspective. 

The story of his career raises the problem of the extent to which it has been affected by his nationality. Much of it would have been the same to whatever race he had belonged, for certain ingredients are common to the making of all tycoons, but some of his characteristics are specifically Greek, and fundamentally he has always been a patriot, though a broadminded one. He has also done what he could to foster Anglo-Greek friendship, so often endangered by the progression of events in Cyprus, and the author quotes several instances of this, not least the occasion at Covent Garden when Madame Callas sang and Princess Marina was one of the principal guests. 

Mr Frischauer has given us one of the most vivid account of one of the most remarkable men of our time, and while not over-burdening his narrative with too much detail he has show us how oil magnates go about their work. The only adverse criticism is likely to be that he might have been more generous with his dates, particularly where the years are concerned. For the rest, while it is true that the study is favourable to Onassis, at the same time grounds for criticism can be discerned without much difficulty by reading between the lines in the appropriate place. In effect, the author has performed a difficult task extremely well.