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 re ...

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 fi ...

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 Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, Pennsylvania) in 1900. He graduated from the

Morristown School Morristown may refer to: Places Canada * Morristown, Kings County, Nova Scotia * Morristown, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia United States * Morristown, Arizona * Morristown, Indiana ** Morristown station (Indiana) *Morristown, Minnesota **Morristo ...

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a Town (New Jersey), town in and the county seat of Morris County, New Jersey, 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 university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

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

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

. 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 ''vaquero'' ...

in the Western U.S.

Career and military service

Rinehart joined the Story Department at

Paramount Pictures Corporation Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio in ...

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 continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 C ...

's East Coast director. He worked as a convoy truant officer. Rinehart also served in the U.S. Marines during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. 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 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 non-fiction and novels, notably, the landmark Rivers of America Series and the first ten books in the Ne ...

, 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 Tarpon 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 and ...

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 (AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located in Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 21 interconn ...

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

Family

On September 19, 1925, Rinehart married Gratia Houghton Rinehart. She was a niece of Alanson B. Houghton, the U.S. ambassador to England. They had two children together before their divorce in June 1938. She died eleven months later, in May 1939. 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 Journalists from Pittsburgh 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers Morristown-Beard School alumni 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American journalists Rinehart family