Name Dropping

Tales from My San Francisco Nightclub

By: Barnaby Conrad

Narrated by: Barnaby Conrad

When El Matador opened in 1958, Bennett Cerf called it "the most attractive room in America". Part saloon, part salon, Barnaby Conrad's nightclub was nestled in the heart of San Francisco's cabaret and nightlife district. On any given night, one might find Noel Coward, Marilyn Monroe, Truman Capote, Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, or Tyrone Power in the club, or might hear Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Eva Gabor, George Shearing, or André Previn take over the piano.

In Name Dropping, Barnaby Conrad vibrantly evokes this bygone era. Charming, personable, and witty, the author is both celebrity and fan as he shares vivid, hilarious, and surprising anecdotes, delightfully dropping famous names all the while.

©1997 Barnaby Conrad (P)2004 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Most of [the anecdotes are] funny or poignant or unprintable - OLÉ!" (Los Angeles Times)

Esoterically Fun and Funny

There's something intriguing about name-dropping tomes and the telling of relatively secret stories when it involves the famous, past and present. And, while the narration by Mr. Conrad is not up to the standards of readers such as Scott Brick, it's certainly good enough. A lot of flavor would have been missed had the author of such an autobiographical novel not read it to us. Thanks for a really fun read, Mr. Conrad.