Alan Gillespie Rinehart (1900–1982) was a writer, film producer, and playwright. Rinehart was a son of

mystery writer Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reas ...

Mary Roberts Rinehart Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876September 22, 1958) was an American writer, often called the American Agatha Christie.Keating, H.R.F., ''The Bedside Companion to Crime''. New York: Mysterious Press, 1989, p. 170. Rinehart published her fir ...

and a brother of book publishers Stanley Rinehart Jr. and Frederick Roberts Rinehart.

Early life and education

Rinehart was born in

Allegheny, Pennsylvania Allegheny City was a municipality that existed in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania from 1788 until it was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907. It was located north across the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, with its southwest border formed by ...

(which has since merged with

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Pennsylvania) in 1900. He graduated from the Morristown School in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

(now Morristown-Beard School) in 1919. During his time at the school, Rinehart wrote stories and poetry for ''The Morristonian'', the student newspaper. After studying at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, Rinehart received his bachelor's degree from the School of Mining at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. During the period between his studies at the two universities, Rinehart worked as a

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the '' vaquer ...

in the

Western U.S. The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

Career and military service

Rinehart joined the Story Department at

Paramount Pictures Corporation Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...

in 1931. He worked as an editor and producer for Paramount. Rinehart also worked as a correspondent and national affairs editor at ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine during its early years in the 1920s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Rinehart served as a special assistant to the

War Shipping Administration The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Co ...

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

director. He worked as a convoy truant officer. Rinehart also served in the

U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1930, Rinehart penned the play ''Volcano''. Messmore Kendall, owner of the Capitol Theatre, acquired it in November of that year. He tasked

Robert Milton Robert A. Milton (born July 30, 1960) is the chairman of the board of directors of United Airlines Holdings, which is the parent company of United Airlines. He also serves as the lead independent director of Air Lease Corporation. He was the chairm ...

with staging the play.

Farrar & Rinehart Farrar & Rinehart (1929–1946) was a United States book publishing company founded in New York. Farrar & Rinehart enjoyed success with both nonfiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Nero ...

, the publishing company run by Rinehart's brothers, published the play's text in wide release.

Purchase of Cabbage Island

In 1936, Rinehart bought Cabbage Island, a 100-acre island located five miles from Pine Island, Florida. Rinehart's mother Mary constructed a six-bedroom winter home on the island to craft her novels. In 1938, Rinehart and his mother provided a facility on the island to run a

tarpon Tarpons are fish of the genus ''Megalops''. They are the only members of the family Megalopidae. Of the two species, one (''M. atlanticus'') is native to the Atlantic, and the other (''M. cyprinoides'') to the Indo-Pacific Oceans. Species an ...

study by Charles Breder, curator and director of fishes and aquatic biology at the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

. The Rinehart property now operates as the Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant.

Family

In 1925, Rinehart married Gratia Houghton Rinehart on September 19, 1925. She was a niece of

Alanson B. Houghton Alanson Bigelow Houghton (October 10, 1863 – September 15, 1941) was an American businessman, politician, and diplomat who served as a U.S. Congressional Delegations from New York, Congressman and Ambassador. He was a member of the Republica ...

, the U.S. ambassador to England. They had two children together before their divorce in 1938. In 1946, Rinehart married textile designer and stylist Ernestine Hines Dobbs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rinehart, Alan American male journalists American magazine editors Film producers from Pennsylvania Time (magazine) people University of Pittsburgh alumni 1900 births 1982 deaths Writers from Pittsburgh 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights Journalists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male writers Morristown-Beard School alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists Rinehart family