FROM: It's All in a Nametag Published Thursdays

The Story of Jack Wrather

Benson presents a modern fairy tale involving a man named Jack, a woman named Bonita (who replaced another woman named Mollie), the Marine Corps, Lassie, the Lone Ranger, the Disneyland Hotel, and of course, Walt Disney himself.

- Benson Myers, June 16, 2011

Why is it that in nursery rhymes and fairy tales, more often than not, the boy in the story is named Jack?

Some of you might remember the old nursery rhyme "This Is the House That Jack Built". It's the one that progressively talks about the many things that end up in the house that the titular Jack built. Here's a verse:

"This is the cow with the crumpled horn
That tossed the dog that worried the cat
That killed the rat that ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built."

You might also remember the other Jack who sold the cow for the magic beans and climbed the famous beanstalk.

I thought today I'd try my hand at being Mother Goose and spin a yarn about another Jack. All right, then, children, are you sitting comfortably? I will begin.

Jack and the Magic Oil Well

Once upon a time, not too long ago, there lived a man named Jack. Jack's last name was Wrather, and he lived in a big place called Texas.

From his earliest years, Jack had worked in the countryside looking for hidden deposits of crude petroleum. Oil, that is. Black gold. Texas tea. It was the stuff that made men rich and led them to move to exotic places with swimming pools and movie stars.

After graduating from college, Jack inherited his father's company, the Overton Refining Company. The money from that company would later enable Jack to establish himself in the business world.

So, this is the oil that laid the future foundation for the house that Jack built.

But in 1941, not soon afterward, Jack's Uncle Sam came calling and said, "Jack, I want you to go out into the world and fight for freedom." So Jack heeded his Uncle's call, joined the Marine Corps, and went out over the sea to fight for freedom.

Before he left, Jack married his sweetheart, the daughter of the Governor of Texas. Her name was Mollie, and together they had two children.

Jack saw many battles in strange foreign lands with names like Solomon Islands and Philippines. Jack served valiantly, and won many medals for his courage. Sadly, during the time Jack was serving with the Marines, Mollie filed for divorce and left him. After five years with the Marines, his Uncle Sam said that Jack's service was done and he could go home.

Since Mollie was no longer in his life, Jack thought long and hard about what he would do next. He thought and thought, and after many nights and days Jack decided what he would do. He packed up his belongings and headed west to California, the land of swimming pools and movie stars that I told you about before.

Jack and Bonita

When Jack arrived in California, he used the knowledge he had gained in college and started a company to produce movies. He named the company after himself, Jack Wrather Productions, and got down to business.

During production of one of his movies, The Guilty, Jack met the woman who would later become his second wife. Her name was Bonita Granville, and she starred in some of the films that were funded by the money from the oil that provided the future foundation for the house that Jack built. Previously, Bonita had been the star of many films as a child and as a young woman. In particular, she ahd starred in several films adapted from the Nancy Drew children's books.

During their marriage, Jack and Bonita had two children of their own, bringing Jack's total to four.

Around 1950, Jack and Bonita decided to expand their business interests into a new form of entertainment that was sweeping across the land. It was called television, and Jack formed a company called Wrather Television Productions to get a start in this brave new world.

Bonita became a production manager for the company. Jack bought the rights to a popular character, The Lone Ranger, who had been on the radio for many years, and adapted it into a television show starring Clayton Moore.

Jack also bought the rights to several other television programs, including 'Lassie and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.

Lassie was a program about an intelligent collie who got into all sorts of adventures. While referenced on television as a female, Lassie was always played by a male dog. Lassie and his descendants, trained by Rudd Weatherwax and his sons, have been on television in various adaptations for nearly 50 years.

Jack and Bonita also purchased several television stations, including KFBM in San Diego and KCET, a California station that became part of the PBS network. Jack then partnered with the manager of one of those stations, Maria Helen Alvarez, and started yet another company, Wrather-Alvarez Broadcasting, to manage the stations.

So these are the TV stations across the country that showed the television programs that were managed by Jack's second wife who starred in some of the films that were funded by the money from the oil that provided the future foundation for the house that Jack built.

The Hotel That Jack Built

Now we come to the interesting part of the story.

It was 1954, and one of Jack's friends, Walt Disney, was building a new theme park in California called Disneyland. Construction was well underway in the city of Anaheim, about half an hour south of Los Angeles. Walt knew that his new park would bring many guests from across the country, and they would need a place to stay.

Problem was, Walt had run out of money.

He had mortgaged his home and sold his life insurance policy to finance construction of the park. So Walt turned to his friend Jack and asked him to fund construction of a lavish hotel concept on some land just to the west of Disneyland.

Construction of the new complex, dubbed the Disneyland Hotel, began in early 1955. It opened in October 1955, several months after the official opening of the park. The rooms at the Disneyland Hotel boasted many features not found in other hotels around California, such as air conditioning, wall-to-wall carpets, and a color television in each room. Today we take these features for granted, but in 1955 they were unheard of 'luxuries' in an affordable hotel room.

The Disneyland Hotel also featured a huge Olympic-size swimming pool that was heated to stave off the cool temperatures in the fall. And the futuristic monorail, which debuted at Disneyland in 1959, had its path extended to bring guests from the Hotel right to the main entrance of Disneyland.

Hotel employees even wore nametags similar to (but not as attractive as) those worn by Disney Cast Members, including one in the shape of a plain blue oval and another in the shape of an even plainer white rectangle.

After Disneyland had become a financial success, Walt tried to convince Jack to sell the Disneyland Hotel. Jack refused. The Disneyland Hotel grew and was expanded many times over the years. One of the later additions was named the Bonita Tower, after Jack's wife. Granville's, a popular steakhouse inside the hotel, also bore her name.

The Hotel That 'Walt' Bought

It was not until 1988, after both Jack and Bonita had passed away, that The Walt Disney Company was able to purchase the Disneyland Hotel. It did so by purchasing Jack's company, The Wrather Corporation, and all its assets. Those assets also included the Spruce Goose (Howard Hughes' plane) and Queen Mary exhibits in Long Beach, California. (I discussed those in a previous column.)

So, in the end, this has been a simple history of the story behind the new swanky hotel rooms featuring new color television sets showing the television stations across the country that showed the television programs that were managed by Jack's second wife who starred in some of the films that were funded by the money from the oil that provided the future foundation for the house that Jack built.

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