Handbook of texas glenn mccarthy Continue Glenn McCarthyBornLand Herbert McCarthy (1907-12-25)December 25, 1907Bomont, Texas, USA Died December 26, 1988 (1988-12-26) (age 81)Houston, Texas, USA, U.S. State University, Rice University, University Of Southeast L.A. The media often called him Diamond Glenn and King Wildcatters. McCarthy was an oil prospector and entrepreneur who owned many businesses in various sectors of the economy. McCarthy founded the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, which gained national fame and inspired the fictional character Jett Rink in Edna Ferber's 1952 novel The Giant, which in 1956 became the film starring James Dean in the role. Early life McCarthy was born in Beaumont, Texas, nearly seven years after the discovery of oil in Spindletop. His father, Will McCarthy, worked in the oil fields and from the age of eight Glenn served roughnecks as waterboy for 50 cents a day. During the oil drilling boom near Houston, the family moved to the city, where his father got a job. When he was 17, Glenn enlisted in the U.S. Navy and then returned to San Jacinto High School. He attended Tulane University on a football scholarship, but injured his leg. He later attended the University of Texas and Rice before dropping out of college and going into business. When he was 23, McCarthy married 16-year-old Faustin Lee, whose father William Lee was a partner at the oil company Yount-Lee. McCarthy later claimed he had less than $1.50 in his name when he married. He persuaded his father and brother to work with him drilling for oil in Hardin County, Texas. The first attempt failed, but two years later he made another attempt further south near Anauac and succeeded. Between 1931 and 1942, it struck 38 times on oil. In 1941, McCarthy bought the land where the future Astrodome would be built along with 4,800 acres (19 km2) of what is now Sharpstown. In the 1940s, he created 11 new fields and expanded several others. The fame and fame of Diamond Glenn attracted a lot of national media attention because of its charismatic personality and his stories of rags to wealth. Both loved and despised in the media, his image shaped by the cultural myths of the Texas oil millionaire: a charming, happy, unabashed businessman. In 1949, McCarthy built the luxury Shamrock Hotel in Houston, spending $21 million to build it. He then held what was quoted as Houston's biggest party for the hotel's grand opening. Dozens of Hollywood celebrities, many of whom were taken to Houston Municipal Airport on a Boeing 307 Stratoliner, which he recently purchased from Howard Hughes. Like most feral cats, was an aggressive investor. His numerous ventures have led to a series of series up and down. In 1952, the life insurance company acquired ownership of the Shamrock Hotel, which was then sold to Hilton Hotels Corporation. Glenn restructured his business relationship and persisted. His business holdings included a KXY radio station in Houston, two banks, a bar, a bourbon brand called Wildcatter, McCarthy's chemical company, a magazine, 14 one-time newspapers and film production, known as Glenn McCarthy Productions. He was chairman of the former Eastern Air Line and president of the U.S. Petroleum Association. McCarthy later avoided advertising during his later career and lived with his wife in the La Porte neighborhood near Galveston. He had four daughters and one son, Glenn Jr. He died on December 26, 1988, the day after his 81st birthday, in Houston. Inquiries: b Honored Alumni HISD Houston Independent School District Archived May 15, 2012, in Wayback Machine - b c Evan Kelly. McCarthy, Glenn Herbert. Texas Online. Received in 2006-11-26. - Staff writer. Great Houstonians - Glenn H. McCarthy. Houston's history. Received in 2006-11-26. B Robert L. Gaston. Glenn McCarthy, King of the Wildcatters Archive 2006-03-20 on Wayback Machines. DrillingInfo community. Received in 2006-11-26. - Staff writer. The tallest Texans are Glenn McCarthy's Archive Copy. The Houston Chronicle. Received in 2006-11-26. - Staff writer. Houston Aviation History Timeline Archive October 8, 2006, on Wayback Machines. Houston Aviation Heritage Society. Received in 2006-11-26. Diana Kleiner. Hilton Hotels Corporation. Texas Online. Received in 2006-11-30. Glenn King Wildcatters McCarthy, FindaGrave.com; Access to December 25, 2016. The External Liaisons of George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum 100 High Texans - Glenn McCarthy Glenn H. McCarthy - Great Citizens - 174 Years of Historic Houston (Subscription Required) Glenn McCarthy Interviewed by Mike Wallace, July 21, 1957, utexas.edu; Access to December 25, 2016. McCarthy, Glenn and David Kurwright. Glenn McCarthy Oral History, Houston Oral History Project, March 31, 1976. Derived from Texas independent oil producer, which rocketed in the national imagination in the late 1940s. As the giant discovery of oil fields created Texas millionaires after World War II, people began to call Diamond Glenn McCarthy the reigning king of wildcatters. Some historians say the $21 million McCarthy Hotel opened in 1949 put Houston on the map. Others claim that he inspired the character Of Jett Rink in the 1952 novel The Giant. Glenn McCarthy's oil career began in 1935, 50 miles east of Houston. On July 21, he and partner R.A. Mason brought in the No.1 White Well with the original almost 600,600 oil a day. The well expanded the already productive Anahuak field three miles to the north. After discovering 11 Texas oil fields, Glenn McCarthy appeared on the cover of TIME on February 13, 1950. By 1945, McCarthy had opened 11 new oil fields and extended others. In Brazoria County a year later, he drilled a gas well of the highest pressure drilled by this time. Described as a bombastic, plucky Irishman best known for building the famous Shamrock Hotel, the Texas independent oilman will be featured on the cover of TIME on February 13, 1950. Born in Beaumont, Texas, on December 25, 1907, Glenn H. McCarthy worked as a water boy at age eight in Beaumont Fields, where father Will McCarthy worked on a salary of fifty cents a day, according to HoustonHistory.com. The family moved to Houston in 1917. McCarthy excelled in football at San Jacinto High School. He eventually won a football scholarship at Tulane University and then moved to Texas ASM, the website notes. Although recruited to play fullback at the Houston Rice Institute in his early twenties, McCarthy decided to drop out of college and enter the oil business. McCarthy soon owned two Houston gas stations. While he was pumping gas one day in 1930, the daughter of a successful oilman pulled to her station behind the wheel of a Cadillac convertible. When he later escaped with Faustin Lee, he was determined to find success in the oil fields without the help of his father-in-law, Thomas. It's Lee. After drilling wells for other oil workers, McCarthy drilled the Wildcat well in Hardin County at the age of 24. The attempt was a dry hole. Others followed, but two years later it hit oil in Anahuac, near Trinity Bay on the Gulf Coast, according to Texas Handbook Online. By the end of 1949, McCarthy had more than 400 oil and natural wells in Texas and was president of the U.S. Petroleum Association. As his reputation as a hard-charging, hard-drinking wildcatter grew, his estimated value reached $200 million (about $2 billion in 2015 dollars). Increasingly known as Glenn McCarthy's Diamond, he produced the film, Green Promise, starring fellow Irishman Walter Brennan and new star, Natalie Wood. His friends included Errol Flynn, Pat O'Brien, John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Dorothy Lamour, Howard Hughes Jr. and Eddie Rickenbaker of Eastern Airlines. Diamond Glenn McCarthy organized sixteen Santa Fe Super Chief train cars to bring the stars he met to Hollywood in 1949 opening the shamrock Hotel. In addition to his McCarthy oil and gas company. McCarthy will eventually own the Beaumont Gas Company, Houston Export Company, KXY' Radio, McCarthy Chemical Company, McCarthy International Pipeline Company, Fourteen magazine, film production company, two banks and Shell Building in downtown Houston. Houston. Shamrock Built between 1946 and 1949, the 18-year-old, 1,100-room Shamrock Hotel was the largest in the United States. McCarthy spent $21 million to build it. He reportedly spent another $1 million on a gala on St. Patrick's Day. The discovery of Shamrock made Houston a star of the night, one newspaper reported the next day, March 18, 1949. The opening gala - where McCarthy also introduced his own label Wildcatter Bourbon - was named Houston's largest party. The Shamrock pool was 165 feet by 142 feet, big enough to showcase water skis. Photo courtesy of celticowboy.com The hotel had a shamrock motif, 63 shades of green in the interiors, a reception pen painted in green ink, steinway piano in the lobby was green, front, above the entrance, Irish flags clapping in the wind. Shamrock had something to see, noted one observer. Despite the fact that the hotel was built far from the business district in the center of the city, something unheard of at the time, more than 5000 people visited (invited and not invited) the opening of the hotel. McCarthy organized the Santa Fe Super Chief 16-car train to bring his Hollywood friends to help him celebrate. Headline in Houston Press proclaimed: Brilliant Shamrock Debut Turns Into Champagne-Popping 'Subway' Rush. The events of the evening the day before at the new Shamrock Hotel were really unlike anything Houston residents had witnessed before, explains a 2011 article in the Houston Business Journal.