Word: conrade
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Susceptible to Flattery. As the force that created this empire, Conrad Hilton might be expected to be as calculating, as antiseptic and as glossily sophisticated as his hotels. The surprise about Hilton is that he is so much like the guests he caters to. Boyish, candid, trusting, he never fails to be amazed and pleased-even astonished-by the world around him. He cannot get over the speed of jet planes or his possession of a $100 Texas-style Stetson, whose price he mentions to anyone who will listen. He is susceptible to even the most transparent flattery. "You know...
...tuna-fish casserole and tea served in plastic cups ("It's more sanitary."). Though his hotels pride themselves on the original works of art they hang in lobbies and guest rooms (the New York Hilton has 8,500 specially commissioned works), one of the least appreciative viewers is Conrad Hilton. "He wouldn't know a Rubens from a Ribicoff," says an aide. The decor of Casa Encantada gives the total effect of the main lounge of the Queen Mary...
Audacious Horse Trading. Still, there is a hard streak of practicality in Conrad Hilton. The son of a successful merchant in San Antonio, N. Mex., he put down his entire savings of $5,000 in 1919 to buy his first hotel, the bustling Mobley in oil-rich Cisco, Texas. He managed to put together a small chain in Texas before the Depression wiped him out, bounced back with shrewd and often audacious horse trading to collect a lineup of prestigious hotels. His first major move was to acquire the high-priced Town House in Los Angeles, but he really broke...
...presides over board meetings with a princely aloofness. "I, Conrad Hilton, can do anything I want to do," he declares with the assurance of a man who owns or controls 30% of the company's stock and a clear majority of its esprit. Actually, Hilton has had to wear down objections from his board to some of the biggest steps the company has taken, including the purchase of the Waldorf and the takeover of the Statlers. Hilton listens to the board's advice and usually gives in gracefully to strong opposition to his schemes. But when he thinks...
...Conrad Hilton so revels in lavish openings that he sometimes spends as much as $150,000 on one. He tries valiantly to give a little speech in the native language, no matter how disastrously it turns out, loves to mingle with the celebrities and movie stars he has invited. There are other types about, too. The honored guests at the Portland, Ore., opening threw furniture into the swimming pool and made off with the portrait of Hilton that hangs in every Hilton lobby. At the New York opening, some wayward members of the press took their whisky by the bottle...