is the glowing title of an op-ed piece in the... WSJ. Yes, I groaned. The author was glad at the "positive" image of Hilton while I think that he is the poster boy of the way employers used to be - perhaps still are - telling their employees or, in this case, their consultants, to jump at every turn.
Here are selected paragraphs:
When executives from Hilton Worldwide, the venerable hotel chain, called on "Mad Men" creator Matt Weiner last year, he thought he would be getting a pitch to use the Beverly Hilton on his show. He had no idea that the product they wanted to place was the company's founder, Conrad Hilton himself.. The Hilton character in the show, like the real-life man on whom he is based, was a Christian anticommunist who believed that America and capitalism were positive forces in the world. In one scene, Hilton expresses his outlook to Draper: "This country is a force of good because we have God. Communists don't." Mr. Weiner was given a first edition of Mr. Hilton's 1957 autobiography, "Be My Guest" (copies of which used to be placed in every Hilton guest room, next to the Gideon Bible), along with an archival print advertisement touting a future Hilton hotel on the moon. The ad included a reservation request (subject to confirmation, of course) and a note to "check here if your trip includes transfer to intergalactic express."
Mr. Weiner was soon fascinated that a man who was born in an adobe hut (in 1887) and raised in the Territory of New Mexico during the horse-and-buggy days could seem so modern. He also relished the idea of presenting a television character who would go against the grain of the prime-time businessman archetype — all arrogance, cunning and greed. In the series, Hilton explains to Draper: "It's my purpose in life to bring America to the world." In real life he called it "planting a little bit of America around the world." Later in the show, when Hilton suggests a bold ad campaign highlighting American integrity, he says, "There should be goodness in confidence."
Because "Mad Men" is about American advertising, where fresh ideas can make a difference, Hilton is in many ways a perfect fit. He built his hotel empire through various innovations—taking out 99-year leases on properties ("a sale in installments," he called them) and purchasing troubled first-mortgage bonds for 20 to 60 cents on the dollar "to get my foot in the door." Once the properties were his, Mr. Hilton found pioneering approaches to make them flourish. He was the first hotelier to transform his properties from sleeping accommodations to modern centers of commerce, with conference rooms, dining, dancing and entertainment under one roof. He even put early versions of voicemail in guest rooms.
The "Mad Men" writers, to their credit, have been faithful to Conrad Hilton's Cold War view that one way to achieve victory was to give Russians a taste of American life. In one episode, Hilton humorously tells Don Draper: "After all those things we threw at Khrushchev, you know what made him fall apart? He couldn't get into Disneyland"—a reference to the time the Soviet premier visited Southern California in 1959 but couldn't make an impromptu stop at the amusement park. Soviet security officials refused to permit Khrushchev interaction with unapproved citizens. Hilton, who had battled communist operatives in Rome when the Italians tried to stop a hotel construction license from going through, viewed American business as the torchbearer in the long twilight struggle. "Our Hilton flag is one small flag of freedom which is waved defiantly against communism," he said at the opening of the Dallas Statler Hilton. "With humility we submit this international effort of ours as a contribution to world peace."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703574604574500264136219696.html 
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
