BAXTER CONRAD 1902-1973

Goodnight SWEET PRINCE

“They call her Hollywood, Mister – ain’t she a picture!” Like most founding myths it is both absurd and persuasive. But so legend has petrified the moment when Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures, came across the knee-high Baxter Conrad on a sun-dappled LA crossroads in 1912. “She sure is”, said Laemmle, spying the boundless possibilities of the country before him. “Wanna be in pictures, kid?” And so it was – maybe – that Universal Film studios settled into the San Fernando Valley, and Baxter Conrad, who died this week undergoing routine chin replacement surgery in Gstaad, became not only one of Hollywood’s most storied stars