Editing Jack Wrather (section)

==Biography==
Wrather was born in [[Amarillo, Texas]] on {{birth date|1918|05|24}} to Mazie (Cogdell) and John Devereaux Wrather.  They moved to [[Tyler, Texas|Tyler]], where he grew up and graduated from the local high school in 1935. He graduated ''cum laude'' with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree from [[University of Texas at Austin|The University of Texas at Austin]] in 1939.<ref name=hto>Amanda Oren, "[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwr18 WRATHER, JOHN DEVEREAUX, JR.]", Handbook of Texas Online, accessed August 28, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.</ref> He worked in the oilfields of East Texas as a wildcatter and pipeline walker<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|last1=Ennis|first1=Thomas W.|title=Jack Wrather, 66, Dies in California|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/13/obituaries/jack-wrather-66-dies-in-california.html|access-date=August 28, 2015|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=November 13, 1984}}</ref> as his college summer job.<ref name=hto/> When his father became ill in the early 1940s, he took over as president of his father's oil company,<ref name=nyt/> Overton Refining Company.<ref name=hto/>

===First marriage and military service===
On {{dts|1941|7|31}}, he married Molly O'Daniel, the daughter of [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[Governor]] and later [[U.S. Senator]] [[W. Lee O'Daniel|Wilbert Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel]]. They had two children before divorcing in 1945.<ref name=hto/> Wrather served in the [[U.S. Marine Corps Reserve]] during World War II (1942–1945) in three campaigns, had the rank of Captain, and commanded a Marine air group in the Philippines.<ref name=hto/><ref>{{cite web |title=Walt Disney Archives / Disney Legends / Jack Wrather |url=https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/jack-wrather/#:~:text=Jack%20served%20in%20the%20United,year%2Dold%20actress%20Bonita%20Granville. |website=d23.com |publisher=Disney and it's related entities |access-date=23 June 2023}}</ref><ref name=nyt/>

=== Film business ===
After the war, he met his old roommate, actor [[Don Castle]], who was struggling in Hollywood, and bought the film rights to [[Cornell Woolrich]]'s short story "Two Men in a Furnished Room" and set up Jack Wrather Pictures Inc. to film it (as ''[[The Guilty (1947 film)|The Guilty]]'' (1947)), starring Castle and Wrather's new wife [[Bonita Granville]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Jack Wrather, Texas Whirlwind, Earns a Fast Dollar in Bow as Producer|author=JOHN FRANCHEY|date=May 25, 1947|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=X5|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/05/25/archives/jack-wrather-texas-whirlwind-earns-a-fast-dollar-in-bow-as-producer.html|access-date=April 2, 2023}}</ref> He bought a home in Hollywood<ref name=nyt/> and by 1955, he had produced six more movies, including ''[[High Tide (1947 film)|High Tide]]'', ''[[Perilous Waters]]'', ''[[Strike It Rich (1948 film)|Strike It Rich]]'' and ''[[Guilty of Treason]]''.  The films were produced for [[Eagle-Lion Films]], [[Warner Bros.]], [[Monogram Pictures|Monogram]]/Allied Artists and [[United Artists]].<ref name=nyt/>

He and Granville had two children.<ref name=hto/>

Wrather purchased 70% of television station [[KOTV-DT|KOTV]] in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]] from fellow oil millionaire George Cameron. The other 30% was owned by station manager [[Maria Helen Alvarez]] and commercial manager John Hill. Wrather knew nothing about the management of a station and offered to increase Alvarez and Hill to 50% of the stock in exchange for their services.

Hill wanted to move on to real estate, so Wrather agreed to purchase his shares and increase Alvarez to 50% owner in the new Wrather-Alvarez Television and Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting companies.

Wrather-Alvarez went on to purchase the [[San Diego]] television and radio stations [[KFMB-TV]] and [[KGB (AM)|KFMB]] in 1953 and New York City radio station [[WBBR|WNEW]] in 1955. Television station KOTV was sold in 1954 when Alvarez relocated to the San Diego station. Wrather-Alvarez also owned WJDW-TV in [[Boston]], and donated it in 1965 to the [[WGBH Educational Foundation]], which operates it as the [[PBS]] station [[WGBX-TV]].

Wrather-Alvarez also financed and owned the [[Disneyland Hotel (California)|Disneyland Hotel]] in [[Anaheim, California|Anaheim]]. [[Walt Disney]] asked Wrather to build the hotel when Disney exhausted his credit line building the [[Disneyland]] theme park. The hotel was completed in 1955, and immediately shared the success of Disneyland. When Disney later attempted to buy the hotel, Wrather refused to sell.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kimler|first1=Forest|title=Jack Built More Than a House|url=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OYARMoeQUr4/TH_wXKWs_pI/AAAAAAAABnU/XnEcgWwEtwk/s1600/1978+newspaper+2aa.JPG |access-date=August 28, 2015 |work=Orange County Register|date=September 11, 1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Disneyland Hotel will Open Shortly|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/21569119/1955-July-15-Independent-Press-Telegram-Disneyland-Paleo-Future#scribd|access-date=August 28, 2015|work=Independent Press Telegram|issue=Souvenir Edition|date=July 15, 1955|page=14}}</ref>

In 1954, Wrather-Alvarez purchased the complete rights to the [[Lone Ranger]] character and took over production of [[The Lone Ranger (TV series)|the television series]] (1954–1957). The corporation also purchased the ''[[Lassie (1954 TV series)|Lassie]]'' television series in 1956 and the ''[[Sergeant Preston of the Yukon]]'' television series in 1957.<ref name=hto/>

The Wrather-Alvarez relationship did not end well. Wrather discovered that "Miss" Alvarez had married former partner John Hill when he had been "bought out" and his shares given to Alvarez. Wrather unsuccessfully sued Alvarez and Hill for [[fraud]]. In 1958, Wrather bought Alvarez's shares of Wrather-Alvarez and became sole owner of its television and hotel assets. The Wrather-Alvarez holdings were distributed into the separate companies Wrather Hotels, Lone Ranger Inc., Lone Ranger Television, Lone Ranger Pictures, and Lassie Television.

The Independent Television Corporation was formed as a joint venture between Jack Wrather and the British [[ITC Entertainment|Incorporated Television Company]] in 1958. In September 1958, Independent Television Corporation purchased TPA for $11,350,000. The company operated primarily as a distribution service for syndicating television shows produced by Wrather or the British ITC company. Wrather later (about 1959–60) sold his shares of Independent Television Corporation to ITC.  He was also the founder of Los Angeles public television station [[KCET]].

Wrather is known as the man that "sued the mask off the Lone Ranger". When a new theatrical movie version of the Lone Ranger was being produced during the late 1970s, Wrather obtained a court order requiring [[Clayton Moore]] to quit making public appearances as the Lone Ranger. This resulted in a great deal of negative publicity, and ''[[The Legend of the Lone Ranger]],'' released in 1981, was not well received. Before Wrather died, he gave Moore permission to resume making public appearances in costume.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-dec-29-mn-48531-story.html|title= Clayton Moore, TV's 'Lone Ranger,' Dies|access-date=October 19, 2009 |newspaper= [[Los Angeles Times]] |date= December 29, 1999| first=Stephanie | last=Stassel}}</ref>

=== Other investments ===
Wrather further diversified his holdings by building or buying resort hotels and other properties throughout the United States.

In addition to the Disneyland Hotel, he owned the Twin Lakes Lodge in [[Las Vegas]], the L'Horizon Hotel in [[Palm Springs, California]], the [[Balboa Bay Club & Resort]] in [[Newport Beach, California|Newport Beach]], and the Inn at the Park in Anaheim. In the 1970s, there was talk of the Disneyland-Alweg monorail being expanded to stop at the Inn at the Park, but it never came to fruition. The Inn at the Park has changed ownership frequently, and is currently operated as the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort.

In 1957, Wrather purchased the [[Muzak Holdings|Muzak]] corporation, a company providing "[[elevator music]]" for business environments. The company owned an extensive library of [[Easy listening|easy listening music]] and one of the world's largest recording plants. Wrather sold the company in 1972.<ref>{{cite book|title=International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 18.|date=1997|publisher=St. James Press|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/muzak-inc-history/|chapter=Muzak, Inc. History}}</ref>

In the early 1980s, Wrather purchased, restored and made tourist attractions of the ''[[Spruce Goose]]'' and the {{RMS|Queen Mary}} in [[Long Beach, California]].

Over the years, he created or purchased many companies for his businesses and investments, including Evansville Refining Co., Overton Refining Co., Jack Wrather Pictures, Inc., Freedom Productions Corporation, Western States Investment Corporation, Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting, Inc., General Television Corporation, Jack Wrather Productions, Wrather Hotels, Lone Ranger Inc., Lone Ranger Television, Lone Ranger Pictures, Lassie Television, the Muzak Corporation,<ref name=eot/> and the [[A.C. Gilbert Company]]. In 1961, he combined his various holdings into the Wrather Corporation.<ref>[http://www.lmu.edu/Page18647.aspx Wrather Corporation Incorporation Records, 1961] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928110333/http://www.lmu.edu/Page18647.aspx |date=2008-09-28 }}</ref>

===Death and aftermath===
[[File:Jack & Bonita Wrather's graves.jpg|thumb|right|Wrather's grave, next to that of his wife [[Bonita Granville]], at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]], California]]
Wrather died of [[cancer]] at age 66 on November 12, 1984, at St. John's Hospital in [[Santa Monica, California]].<ref name=nyt/> His funeral was held at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills and<ref name=nyt/> he was buried at the [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City|Holy Cross Cemetery]], in [[Culver City, California]].

[[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] finally acquired the Disneyland Hotel in 1987, when it purchased half share ownership in the Wrather Corporation and the other half in 1988. Disney has retained the hotel but sold off most of the other assets. Most of the Wrather franchises are now owned by [[Classic Media|DreamWorks Classics]].

Various documents related to Wrather, Bonita Granville, and the Wrather company are [[archive]]d at [[Loyola Marymount University]] as part of its [[Center for the Study of Los Angeles]] collection,<ref>[http://www.lmu.edu/Page5919.aspx Jack Wrather and Bonita Granville Wrather Papers, 1890–1990] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828213506/http://www.lmu.edu/Page5919.aspx |date=2008-08-28 }}</ref> and at the [[Harry Ransom Center]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20131004063628/https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00155 Jack Wrather and Bonita Granville Wrather Papers, 1846-1987] at the [[Harry Ransom Center]]</ref>