Note: We had access to Margaret Phillips-Brown’s extensive collection about the acquisition of the Roosevelt Hotel by Conrad Hilton.
Marriage: His/Marriage: Hers
Interviews conducted: Zsa Zsa Gabor (February 2, 1986); Jason Lederer (October 1, 2011); Timothy Long (October 4, 2011); Stanley Tucker (October 2, 2011; October 11, 2011); Cindy Adams (September 1, 1998); Doris Roberts (January 4, 2012); Patricia Skipworth Hilton (February 28, 2012); Mike Dipp (March 16, 2012); Patricia McClintock Hilton (April 2, 2012; April 8, 2012; April 16, 2012; April 20, 12); Noreen Nash Siegel (April 2, 2012; April 3, 2012; April 10, 2012); Dale Olsen (July 9, 2012); Myron Harpole (August 15, 2012); Steven D’Orio (September 4, 2012).
Volumes referenced: Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton; The Man Who Bought the Waldorf by Thomas Ewing Dabney; Conrad N. Hilton, Hotelier by Mildred Houghton Comfort; Jolie Gabor by Cindy Adams; Zsa Zsa Gabor: My Story by Zsa Zsa Gabor and Gerold Frank; One Lifetime Is Not Enough by Zsa Zsa Gabor; Gaborabilia by Anthony Turtu and Donald F. Reute; Eva Gabor an Amazing Woman: “Unscrupulous” by Camyl Sosa Belanger; A Dreadful Man: A Personal, Intimate Book About George Sanders by Brian Aherne.
Legal documents referenced: “Sworn Declaration of J. B. Herndon Jr.” (August 2, 1946); “Reporter’s Transcript—Sari Gabor Hilton, sometimes known as ZsaZsa Sari Hilton vs. Conrad Hilton,” by John F. Brill, official court reporter (September 17, 1946); “Declaration of ZsaZsa Sari Hilton” (September 20, 1946); “Declaration of Eva Gabor” (September 20, 1946); miscellaneous file notes from Zsa Gabor Plaintiff vs. Fawcett Publications, Inc. (November 1960); “Deposition of Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor O’Hara” (June 14, 1979); “Contestant Constance Francesca Hilton’s Responses to Defendants William Barron Hilton and James E. Bates Interrogatories” (July 20, 1979); “Deposition of Constance Francesca Hilton” (September 12, 1979; September 13, 1979; September 14, 1979); “Declaration of Gregson Bautzer” (undated, from Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor v. Conrad Hilton).
Television programs referenced: Person to Person, interview with Conrad Hilton, 1955; The Merv Griffin Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, October 17, 1962; The Jack Paar Program, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, December 4, 1964; The Joey Bishop Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, May 5, 1967; The Merv Griffin Show, interview with Eva Gabor, February 18, 1970; The David Frost Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, May 12, 1970; The Virginia Graham Show, interview with Eva Gabor, March 22, 1971; One on One with John Tesh, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, September 10, 1991; The People vs. Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1991; Vicki, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, September 10, 1992; The Hiltons, Arts & Entertainment, 2005.
NOTES
The conversations between Conrad Hilton and Zsa Zsa Gabor concerning their household budgets were reconstructed based on the accounts of both in their respective memoirs, Be My Guest and My Story.
The actual text of Barron Hilton’s letter to his father regarding his allowance can be found in Be My Guest.
The conversation between Conrad Hilton and J. B. Herndon Jr. was reconstructed using “Sworn Declaration of J. B. Herndon Jr.” (August 2, 1946).
A Frustrating Business Deal/The Plaza
Interviews conducted: Tyler Worthington (September 12, 2011); Dylan Terrell Thomas (October 22, 2011); Marva DeYoung (March 1, 2012); Patricia McClintock Hilton (April 2, 2012; April 8, 2012; April 16, 2012; April 20, 2012); Carole Wells Doheny (March 8, 2012; March 12, 2012; June 15, 2012)
Volumes referenced: Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton; House of Hilton by Jess Oppenheimer; Gaborabilia by Anthony Turtu and Donald F. Reute; Eva Gabor an Amazing Woman: “Unscrupulous” by Camyl Sosa Belanger; Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture by Annabel Jane Wharton; The Silver Spade: The Conrad Hilton Story by Whitney Bolton.
Articles referenced: “Hilton: The Stuff of a Hotel Man,” Newsweek cover story on Conrad Hilton, September 27, 1954; “Hotels: By Golly!,” Time cover story on Conrad Hilton, July 19, 1963.
Legal documents referenced: “Deposition of Zsa Zsa Gabor O’Hara” (June 14, 1979; July 9, 1979; July 10, 1979).
Television programs referenced: What’s My Line?, Conrad Hilton, June 5, 1955; Larry King Live, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, November 26, 1991; Conrad Hilton: Innkeeper to the World, Arts & Entertainment, 2005; Biography: Conrad Hilton, CNBC, 2010.
NOTES
We had access to Margaret Phillips-Brown’s extensive collection about the acquisition of the Plaza Hotel by Conrad Hilton, which included color and black-and-white photographs of the hotel and the Oak Room taken in 1943.
The source of the conversation between Conrad Hilton and a representative of Atlas Corporation worked for Atlas at the time and asked for anonymity.
An Ominous Sign/A Priest’s Visit/Up in Flames
Interviews conducted: Zsa Zsa Gabor (February 2, 1986); Cindy Adams (September 1, 1999); Patricia McClintock Hilton (April 2, 2012; April 8, 2012; April 16, 2012; April 20, 12); Lena Burrell (September 12, 2012; October 11, 2012; December 2, 2012).
Volumes referenced: Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton; Jolie Gabor by Cindy Adams; Zsa Zsa Gabor: My Story by Zsa Zsa Gabor and Gerold Frank; One Lifetime Is Not Enough by Zsa Zsa Gabor; Gaborabilia by Anthony Turtu and Donald F. Reute; Eva Gabor an Amazing Woman: “Unscrupulous” by Camyl Sosa Belanger; A Dreadful Man: A Personal, Intimate Book About George Sanders by Brian Aherne.
Legal documents referenced: “Reporter’s Transcript—Sari Gabor Hilton, sometimes known as ZsaZsa Sari Hilton vs. Conrad Hilton,” by John F. Brill, official court reporter (September 17, 1946); “Declaration of ZsaZsa Sari Hilton” (September 20, 1946); “Declaration of Eva Gabor” (September 20, 1946); miscellaneous file notes, including partial deposition from Zsa Gabor Plaintiff vs. Fawcett Publications, Inc. (November 1960); “Contestant Constance Francesca Hilton’s Responses to Defendants William Barron Hilton and James E. Bates Interrogatories” (July 20, 1979); “Deposition of Constance Francesca Hilton” (September 12, 1979; September 13, 1979; September 14, 1979).
Television programs referenced: The Merv Griffin Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, October 17, 1962; The Jack Paar Program, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, May 29, 1964; The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, June 17, 1970; The Tonight Show, interview with Eva Gabor, May 15, 1972; The Geraldo Rivera Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, September 13, 1990; The Howard Stern Summer Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, May 2, 1992; One on One with John Tesh, interview with Eva Gabor, 1992; Late Show David Letterman, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, November 27, 1991; Late Show with David Letterman, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, December 22, 1993.
NOTES
The conversation between Zsa Zsa Gabor and Father Kelly was reconstructed using her memory in her depositions in the case Zsa Gabor Plaintiff vs. Fawcett Publications, Inc. (November 1960). In this case, Zsa Zsa sued Fawcett for defamation because of a lengthy article that appeared about her in Cavalier magazine in 1960, written by Claudia Martell. One of her biggest contentions, according to the suit, was that she was portrayed as “caring only for money and jewels; sitting around even in the bathtub waiting for men to bring her money and jewels.” That was bad enough, but what really rankled Zsa Zsa was that the writer asserted, “According to generous calculations, her age at present is 47.” According to Zsa Zsa’s lawsuit, “The defamatory statement is construed to mean that plaintiff is 47 years of age and that any other age given by plaintiff as being her true age is not in fact the truth; that in fact, plaintiff was not born in 1923, thus making plaintiff 38 years of age, but that the plaintiff is approximately 9 years, if not more, older than she states.” As it happened, the writer was wrong. But so was Zsa Zsa. We now know that Zsa Zsa was born in 1917, not 1923. In 1960, she was forty-three, not forty-seven as the writer stated, and not thirty-eight as she stated. She was actually shaving five years from her age. Though she gave a deposition in the case, she did eventually settle with Fawcett. The settlement involved Fawcett paying Zsa Zsa a hefty sum of money and in return obtain
ing from her the rights to publish in paperback her autobiography Zsa Zsa Gabor: My Story.
The conversation between Conrad Hilton and Zsa Zsa Gabor reconstructed here concerning his gift to her and the party that followed at the Plaza is based on Gabor’s accounts of the evening to her personal assistant, Lena Burrell. I corroborated Gabor’s account by utilizing Bart Andrews’s extensive files and transcripts from the summer of 1985 relating to his interviews with Zsa Zsa, Eva, and Magda Gabor for a possible autobiography collaboration between himself and Zsa Zsa.
He Never Should Have Done It/What Would It Take?/Zsa Zsa Is Institutionalized/The Divorce
Interviews conducted: Zsa Zsa Gabor (February 2, 1986); Cindy Adams (September 1, 1998); Tyler Worthington (September 12, 2011); Dylan Terrell Thomas (October 22, 2011); Doris Roberts (January 4, 2012); Carole Wells Doheny (March 8, 2012; March 12, 2012; June 15, 2012); Patricia McClintock Hilton (April 8, 2012; April 16, 2012; April 20, 2012); Myron Harpole (August 15, 2012; August 17, 2012; August 20, 2012); Lena Burrell (September 12, 2012; October 11, 2012; December 2, 2012); Stewart Armstrong (November 13, 2011; November 14, 2011; November 15, 2012).
Volumes referenced: Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton; The Man Who Bought the Waldorf by Thomas Ewing Dabney; Conrad N. Hilton, Hotelier by Mildred Houghton Comfort; Jolie Gabor by Cindy Adams; Zsa Zsa Gabor: My Story by Zsa Zsa Gabor and Gerold Frank; One Lifetime Is Not Enough by Zsa Zsa Gabor; Gaborabilia by Anthony Turtu and Donald F. Reute; Eva Gabor an Amazing Woman: “Unscrupulous” by Camyl Sosa Belanger; George Sanders, Zsa Zsa and Me by David R. Slavitt.
Articles referenced: “Hilton Sued for Divorce,” Associated Press, July 24, 1946; “Mr. and Mrs. Hilton No More,” United Press International, July 25, 1946; “Hilton Hotel Man Divorced,” Los Angeles Times, September 18, 1946.
Legal documents referenced: “Property Settlement and Separation Agreement Between Conrad Hilton and Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor” (November 3, 1944); “Statement of Zsa Zsa Gabor Hilton” (November 5, 1944); “Supplemental Property Settlement and Separation Agreement Between Conrad Hilton and Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor” (August 6, 1946); “Reporter’s Transcript—Sari Gabor Hilton, sometimes known as ZsaZsa Sari Hilton vs. Conrad Hilton,” by John F. Brill, official court reporter (September 17, 1946); “Final Decree of Divorce—Conrad Hilton v. Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor” (September 17, 1946); “Declaration of ZsaZsa Sari Hilton” (September 20, 1946); “Declaration of Eva Gabor” (September 20, 1946); “Deposition of Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor O’Hara” (June 14, 1979); “Deposition of Constance Francesca Hilton” (September 12, 1979; September 13, 1979; September 14, 1979); “Declaration of Gregson Bautzer” (undated, from Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor v. Conrad Hilton); “Declaration of Eva Gabor” (undated, from Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor v. Conrad Hilton); “Statement by Conrad N. Hilton” (undated, from Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor v. Conrad Hilton).
Television programs referenced: Person to Person, interview with Conrad Hilton, 1955; The Merv Griffin Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, October 17, 1962; The David Frost Show, interview with Zsa Zsa Gabor, May 12, 1970; This Is Your Life, Zsa Zsa Gabor, November 29, 1989; One on One with John Tesh, interview with Eva Gabor, 1992; Intimate Portrait: Eva Gabor, February 1, 1998.
NOTES
The scenes between Zsa Zsa Gabor and Conrad Hilton that took place when he was sick with the flu in New York are culled from their respective books, Be My Guest and Zsa Zsa: My Story.
The scene between Gabor and Hilton before the party for Thomas E. Dewey was reconstructed as per her memory in Zsa Zsa Gabor: My Story.
The scene between Gabor and Hilton at the party for Dewey at the Waldorf-Astoria was reconstructed based on Eva Gabor’s interviews with Bart Andrews in the summer of 1985 for a proposed autobiography by Andrews and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
The scenes between Gabor and Hilton after the party at the Waldorf-Astoria was reconstructed based on Zsa Zsa’s account of events in “Statement of Zsa Zsa Gabor Hilton,” November 5, 1944 (in the matter of her divorce from Hilton).
The lawyer who hired the private detective for Conrad Hilton asked not to be identified.
The argument between Hilton and Gabor that ensued after Conrad asked if she was having an affair, as portrayed in these pages, was reconstructed from the memory of eyewitness Lena Burrell, as was the scene after the argument between Burrell and Gabor.
There are at least fifteen different versions of Zsa Zsa’s time in an institution, five of them from Zsa Zsa herself, and one from my own interview with her in February 1986. For this book, I used what she told me, as well as declarations given not only by Miss Gabor but by her sister Eva, Conrad Hilton, and Gregson Bautzer.
The letter from J. B. Herndon to Conrad Hilton dated August 1, 1945, is found in the Superior Court of the State of California file “Sari Zsa Zsa Gabor v. Conrad Hilton, September 17, 1946.”
All quotes from Zsa Zsa Gabor and Eva Gabor on the witness stand during divorce hearings are from “Reporter’s Transcript—Sari Gabor Hilton, sometimes known as ZsaZsa Sari Hilton vs. Conrad Hilton,” by John F. Brill, official court reporter (September 17, 1946).
Buying the Stevens and the Palmer House
Interviews conducted: Jason Lederer (October 1, 2011); Timothy Long (October 4, 2011); Doris Roberts (January 4, 2012); Mike Dipp (March 16, 2012); Noreen Nash Siegel (April 2, 2012; April 3, 2012; April 10, 2012); Dale Olsen (July 9, 2012); Debbie Reynolds (August 2, 2012); Steven D’Orio (September 4, 2012).
Volumes referenced: Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton; Conrad N. Hilton, Hotelier by Mildred Houghton Comfort; House of Hilton, by Jerry Oppenheimer; The Man Who Bought the Waldorf by Thomas Ewing Dabney.
Legal documents referenced: “Deposition of William Barron Hilton” (September 24, 1979); “Deposition of Frances Kelly Hilton” (October 19, 1979).
Television programs referenced: What’s My Line?, Conrad Hilton, June 5, 1955; Person to Person, interview with Conrad Hilton, 1955; The Ed Sullivan Show, Conrad Hilton, April 6, 1958; Conrad Hilton: Innkeeper to the World, Arts & Entertainment, 2005; Larry King Live: The Hiltons, Arts & Entertainment, 2005; Biography: Conrad Hilton, CNBC, 2010.
Note: The complex and maddening negotiations between Conrad Hilton and Steve Healy for the Stevens Hotel are outlined here as per Hilton’s memory in Be My Guest. I also referenced Hedda Hopper’s interview notes with Conrad Hilton, dated April 1, 1950, found in the Hedda Hopper Papers in the Margaret Herrick Collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Zsa Zsa’s Daughter
Interviews conducted: Ed Lozzi (March 2, 2012); Noreen Nash Siegel (April 10, 2012); Myron Harpole (August 15, 2012; August 17, 2012; August 20, 2012).
Volumes referenced: Be My Guest by Conrad Hilton; Jolie Gabor by Cindy Adams; Zsa Zsa Gabor: My Story by Zsa Zsa Gabor and Gerold Frank; One Lifetime Is Not Enough by Zsa Zsa Gabor; Gaborabilia by Anthony Turtu and Donald F. Reute; Eva Gabor an Amazing Woman: “Unscrupulous” by Camyl Sosa Belanger.
Articles referenced: Dora Jane Hamblin, “In 19 Lands, Instant America: His Hotels Keep Conrad Hilton Hopping,” Life, August 30, 1963.
Legal documents referenced: “Reporter’s Transcript—Sari Gabor Hilton, sometimes known as ZsaZsa Sari Hilton vs. Conrad Hilton,” by John F. Brill, official court reporter (September 17, 1946); “Certificate of Birth, Constance Francesca Hilton,” Borough of Manhattan, New York, N.Y. (March 10, 1947); “Certificate of Baptism of Constance Francesca Hilton,” by Rev. Charles J. McManus, assistant pastor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral (May 4, 1947); “Codicil to Last Will and Testament of Conrad Hilton” (1947); “Last Will and Testament of Conrad Nicholson Hilton” (October 4, 1951); “Last Will and Testament of Conrad Nicholson Hilton” (December 19, 1953); “Last Will and Testament of Conrad Nicholson Hilton” (June 3, 1955); “Last Will and Testament of Conrad Nicholson Hilton” (October 21, 1960); miscellaneous file notes from Zsa Gabor Plaintiff vs. Fawcett Publications, Inc. (November 1960); “Last Will and Testament of Conrad Nicholson Hilton” (January 27, 1967); “Last Will and Testament of Co
nrad Nicholson Hilton” (August 19, 1970); “Last Will and Testament of Conrad Nicholson Hilton” (October 31, 1973); Constance Francesca Hilton v. Frances Kelly Hilton [original filing] (March 13, 1979); “Contestant Constance Francesca Hilton’s Responses to Defendants William Barron Hilton and James E. Bates Interrogatories” (July 20, 1979); “Deposition of Zsa Zsa Gabor O’Hara” (July 9, 1979; July 10, 1979); “Deposition of Constance Francesca Hilton” (September 12, 1979; September 13, 1979; September 14, 1979); “Deposition of James E. Bates,” pp. 25–36 and 53–77 (September 20, 1979); “Deposition of William Barron Hilton” (September 24, 1979); Francesca Hilton v. Frances Kelly Hilton [First Amended Contest of Purported Will] (March 13, 1980); “Declaration of Myron Harpole” (July 29, 1982).
Television programs referenced: Entertainment Tonight, interview with Francesca Hilton, June 29, 2007; Entertainment Tonight, interview with Francesca Hilton, August 19, 2008.
NOTES
I attempted to interview Constance Francesca Hilton for this book, sending her a copy of my book After Camelot: A Personal History of the Kennedy Family, 1968 to the Present (published in 2012), as well as a lengthy letter explaining why I felt it important to have her input. In a note on August 27, 2012, Francesca thanked me for the letter and the book but declined my invitation to be interviewed. “As a Hilton,” she noted, she didn’t believe it was fair for her to talk about her relatives for this book. She also mentioned that she was writing her own. She signed the note, “Constance Francesca Gabor Hilton.”
I understand and respect a decision not to cooperate, as well as her desire to tell her own story her own way. Therefore, in order for me to write about Francesca Hilton’s life and times with her parents, Conrad and Zsa Zsa, the vast majority of material contained in this book relating to her experience was culled from declarations and depositions she and her family members gave in the case of Constance Francesca Hilton v. Frances Hilton et al.
The Hiltons: The True Story of an American Dynasty Page 55