Barnaby Conrad, Jr. (March 27, 1922 – February 12, 2013) was an American artist, author, nightclub proprietor, bullfighter and boxer. Born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

to an affluent family, Conrad was raised in Hillsborough. He spent a year at the

Cate School Cate School is a highly selective, coeducational university-preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12 located in Carpinteria, California, eleven miles from Santa Barbara. The school has a current enrollment of 270 students ...

Carpinteria, California Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning "Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 U ...

before being sent east and graduating from the

Taft School The Taft School is a private, coeducational school located in Watertown, Connecticut, United States. It teaches students in 9th through 12th grades and post-graduates. About three-quarters of Taft's roughly 600 students live on the school's ...

Watertown, Connecticut Watertown is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 22,105 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The ZIP codes for Watertown are 06795 (for most of the ...

in the class of 1940. He attended the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

, where he was captain of the freshman boxing team. He also studied painting at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

, where he also became interested in

bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms wh ...

. After being injured in the bullring, he returned to college and graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1943. He wanted to join the Navy after Yale, but his bullfighting injury prevented that. Conrad was American Vice Consul to

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

, and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

from 1943-46. While in Spain, he studied

with

Juan Belmonte Juan Belmonte García (14 April 1892 – 8 April 1962) was a Spanish bullfighter. He fought in a record number of bull fights and was responsible for changing the art of bullfighting. He had minor deformities in his legs which forced him to des ...

Manolete Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez (4 July 1917 – 29 August 1947), known as Manolete, was a Spanish bullfighter. Career Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez was the son of a bullfighter (who also went by the name Manolete) and his wife An ...

, and

Carlos Arruza Carlos Arruza (February 17, 1920 – May 20, 1966), born Carlos Ruiz Camino, was one of the most prominent bullfighters of the 20th century. He was known as "El Ciclón" ("the cyclone"). Arruza was born in Mexico to Spanish parents. He bega ...

. In 1945 he appeared on the same program with Belmonte and was awarded the ears of the bull. He is the only American male to have fought in Spain, Mexico and Peru. After his stint in Spain, he moved for a time to

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

. He was known as "El Niño de California" ("The California Kid"). In 1947, he worked as secretary to famed novelist

Sinclair Lewis Harry Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885 – January 10, 1951) was an American writer and playwright. In 1930, he became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, which was ...

. Conrad published his first novel, ''The Innocent Villa'', in 1948. It largely went unnoticed, but his second novel, ''Matador'', sold 3,000,000 copies.Chawkins, Steve (February 16, 2013)
"Barnarby Conrad Jr. dies at 90; bullfighter, artist, saloonkeeper founded Santa Barbara Writers Conference"
nytimes.com; accessed September 13, 2015.

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

selected Conrad's ''Matador'' as his favorite book of the year, and the novel has been translated into 28 languages. Royalties from ''Matador'' provided Conrad with the capital to open El Matador nightclub in San Francisco in 1953.

Herb Caen Herbert Eugene Caen (; April 3, 1916 February 1, 1997) was a San Francisco humorist and journalist whose daily column of local goings-on and insider gossip, social and political happenings, and offbeat puns and anecdotes—"A continuous love let ...

, noting that ''Matador'' was the publisher's suggested alternative to the original title Conrad had given his second novel, commented on Conrad naming his nightclub after his first best seller: "Who'd ever go eat at a restaurant called Day of Fear?" In 1997 Conrad wrote ''Name Dropping: Tales From My San Francisco Nightclub'', "a jaunty account" about the 10 years he ran El Matador. In 1958, Conrad was gored, almost fatally in a bullfight that was part of a charity event. After learning of the incident,

Eva Gabor Eva Gabor ( ; February 11, 1919 – July 4, 1995) was a Hungarian-American actress, businesswoman, singer, and socialite. She voiced Duchess and Miss Bianca in the animated Disney Classics, ''The Aristocats'' (1970), ''The Rescuers'' (1977), ...

is said to have run into

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

Sardi's Sardi's is a Continental food, continental restaurant located at 234 West 44th Street, between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eighth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Manhattan, New Yo ...

in New York and asked him, "Did you hear about poor Barnaby? He was terribly gored in Spain." Coward replied, "Oh, thank heavens. I thought you said he was bored." Conrad served as a Golden Gate Awards juror at the 1959

San Francisco Film Festival The San Francisco International Film Festival (abbreviated as SFIFF), organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in in ...

. In 1965 he joined the Festival board and served for five years. Conrad started the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in 1973 at the

, inviting such well-known authors as

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel ''The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numero ...

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

Joan Didion Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...

, and Ross Macdonald. He and his wife Mary directed the literary gathering until Conrad sold the conference in 2004. His son, Barnaby Conrad III, is also a San Francisco-based writer. Conrad's charcoal portraits of

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

, and

Alex Haley Alexander Murray Palmer Haley (August 11, 1921 – February 10, 1992) was an American writer and the author of the 1976 book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family.'' ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and a ...

hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. In 2006, the Spanish writer Salvador Gutiérrez Solís published his biography, ''Barnaby Conrad: A Spanish Passion'' (Fundación José Manuel Lara), which tells the story of Conrad's life in Spain and his connection with the world of bullfighting.

Death

Conrad died on February 12, 2013 at his home in

. He had been in

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

care for three weeks. He was 90 years old.

Works by Barnaby Conrad

Fiction

* ''Matador'' (1952; with illustrations by the author); 2nd edition (1988)

Capra Press Capra Press is an independent publishing house that was founded in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. The press relocated to San Francisco, California in 2011. History Noel Young (1922–2002), a former commercial printer, founded the press in ...

;
''Zorro, a fox in the city'' (1971)
/ * ''Endangered'' (1978) with Niels Mortensen
OCLC 232653594 ''Condor'' (1978) with Niels Mortensen
* ''Keepers of the Secret'' (1983) with Nico Mastorakis; * ''The Last Boat to Cadiz'' (2003); * ''The Second Life of John Wilkes Booth'' (2010);

Nonfiction

''La Fiesta Brava : The Art of the Bull Ring'' (1953)
worldcat.org; * ''The Death of Manolete'' (1958);
''Gates of Fear'' (1958)
Library of Congress Catalog #57-10110 https://www.amazon.com/GATES-OF-FEAR-exploits-bullrings/dp/B000HG830G
''Barnaby Conrad's Encyclopedia of Bullfighting''
(1961);

* ''Fun While it Lasted'' (1969); * ''A Revolting Transaction'' (1983); * ''Time Is All We Have: Four Weeks at the Betty Ford Center'' (1986); * ''Hemingway's Spain'' (1989); * ''Advice from the Masters: A Compendium for Writers'' (1991); * ''Name Dropping: Tales from my Barbary Coast Saloon'' (1994); * ''Learning to Write Fiction from the Masters'' (1996); * ''Name Dropping: Tales from my San Francisco Nightclub'' (1997); * ''Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life'' (2002; with Monte Schulz);

(2006); * ''101 Best Beginnings Ever Written: A Romp Through Literary Openings for Writers and Readers'' (2009);

As editor, translator or contributor

OCLC_84219226_''The_Wounds_of_Hunger''_(1957_translation_of_''Más_Cornada
s_da_el_Hambre''_by_Luis_Spota).html" ;"title="Cornada">OCLC 84219226 ''The Wounds of Hunger'' (1957 translation of ''Más Cornada
s da el Hambre'' by Luis Spota)">Cornada">OCLC 84219226 ''The Wounds of Hunger'' (1957 translation of ''Más Cornada
s da el Hambre'' by Luis Spota)
OCLC 1576413 ''The second life of Captain Contreras'' (1960 translation of ''La Otra vida del Capitan Contreras'')

OCLC 1512811 ''My Life as a Matador'' The autobiography of Carlos Arruza (1960)
* ''The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction'' (1990) with the staff of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference; * "William Spratling" (1990) in ''Spratling Silver'' by Sandraline Cederwall and Hal Riney; * ''The World of

: San Francisco, 1938-1997'' (1997; with Carole Vernier); * ''The World's Shortest Stories: Murder. Love. Horror. Suspense. All this and much more in the most amazing short stories ever written—each one just 55 words long!'' (2006) Steve Moss;

Famous "sports" quote

The famous quote "Only bullfighting, mountain climbing and auto racing are sports, the rest are merely games" can be attributed to Conrad, however Ernest Hemingway is often mistaken as the source.

References

Barnaby Conrad, Una pasión española (Biografía), escrita por Salvador Gutiérrez Solís.

External links

After Sixty Years, A Promise Kept to Sinclair Lewis
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''; accessed January 26, 2011
Penguin First Editions (reference site of early first edition Penguin Books)Profile
IMDb.com * https://elpais.com/cultura/2007/03/22/actualidad/1174518002_850215.html * Barnaby Conrad Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Barnaby 1922 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Yale University alumni American expatriates in Spain American male novelists Artists from San Francisco University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Writers from San Francisco People from Carpinteria, California People from Hillsborough, California 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from California National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni American expatriates in Mexico