Huntington Hartford
Encyclopedia
George Huntington Hartford II (April 18, 1911 – May 19, 2008) was an American
businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P
supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island
in the Bahamas
, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation (TOSCO)
, which he founded in 1955. On his death in 2008, numerous obituaries noted that "he had once ranked among the world's richest people.". "
. His grandfather George Huntington Hartford
and his uncles John Augustine Hartford
(1872–1951) and George Ludlum Hartford
(1864–1957) privately owned the A&P supermarket chain, which at one point had 16,000 stores in the U.S. and was the largest retail empire in the world. A & P stores were a ubiquitous feature of American life in the 20th century; in a 1950 issue of Time magazine that featured Hartford's uncles on its cover, an article described the typical A & P store as "the real melting pot of the community, patronized by the boss's wife and the baker's daughter, the priest and the policeman. To foreigners A & P's vast supermarkets are among the wonders of the age; to the U.S. middle class, they are one of the direct roads to solvency. 'Going to the A & P' is almost an American tribal rite.'" A&P is considered an American icon
. "To immortalize outstanding American merchants", Joseph Kennedy in 1953 commissioned a bronze bust of George Huntington Hartford
, four times life size along with 7 other men, which would come to be known as the Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame in Chicago. When his uncles died without heirs, Huntington Hartford inherited their fortune. Some of the money also went to The John A. Hartford Foundation, valued at $800 million as of 2007.
Hartford grew up on a 1000 acres (4 km²) plantation in South Carolina
called "Wando", a house in Newport, Rhode Island
called "Seaverge" and an apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan
. He purchased a penthouse duplex on the 13th and 14th floors of One Beekman Place
in the 1950s after moving from an apartment at the River House. He owned a home called "Pompano" on 240 El Vedado Drive in Palm Beach
, a 150 acre (0.607029 km²) estate in Wyckoff, New Jersey
called "Melody Farm", a 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) Hollywood estate known as "The Pines" also known as Runyon Canyon Park
, a townhouse in London, a home in Juan-les-Pins
France
and a house on Paradise Island
in the Bahamas.
Hartford was the original owner and developer of Paradise Island
in the Bahamas, which he opened in 1962 at a cost of millions. Hartford's aspiration was to turn Paradise Island into a new Monte Carlo
and he obtained a gambling license for his development. He had the Ocean Club built on the island from the disassembled stones of a monastery that William Randolph Hearst
had stored in a warehouse in Florida. The Ocean Club has been featured in two James Bond
films: Thunderball
, in 1965, and Casino Royale
in 2006.
In a 1960s interview by David Frost
on British television Hartford stated that the flag he created for his Paradise Island was in the shape of a "P" and that he wanted to put it on the moon as a symbol of Peace for the world.
He was a patron of the architect Edward Durell Stone
. To showcase his art collection, he commissioned Stone to design the Gallery of Modern Art at 2 Columbus Circle
for him in New York City
. His modernist marble-clad museum opened in 1964. Hartford wanted Edward Durell Stone
because he had done the Museum of Modern Art
for the Rockefeller family. Hartford commissioned Salvador Dali
to paint The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus for the museum's opening. Hartford owned paintings by Monet, Manet
, Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
. In an interview by Edward R. Murrow
on his show Person to Person Hartford gave a tour of the art collection of his Beekman Place apartment. He owned Rembrandt's Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo, which sold at Christie's
auction house in London
on December 8, 2009 for $33,210,855, a world record for a Rembrandt.
Hartford sought to purchase RKO
from Howard Hughes
. Hartford owned Huntington Hartford Productions which produced several films including the Abbott and Costello
film, Africa Screams
in 1949. In the following year Hartford produced Hello Out There, the last film of James Whale
, the acclaimed director of the 1931 version of Frankenstein
. Hartford produced the Broadway show Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
which opened at the Belasco Theater in 1969 starring the then-unknown actor Al Pacino
. Pacino won a Tony
for his performance. Hartford himself was portrayed by John McMartin
in a scene in the 2004 film Kinsey
depicting Alfred Kinsey
's unsuccessful attempt to convince Hartford to support his research.
Hartford founded the Oil Shale Corporation, later known as Tosco, in 1955, and set up the Denver Research Institute at University of Denver
to research alternate methods of oil extraction. Tosco was later acquired by ConocoPhillips
.
He lived in Lyford Cay
in The Bahamas
with his daughter Juliet Hartford, and he died there on May 19, 2008, aged 97.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, is a supermarket and liquor store chain in the United States. Its supermarkets, which are under six different banners, are found in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A&P's liquor stores, known as...
supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island
Paradise Island
Paradise Island is an island in the Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of New Providence. It is best known for the sprawling 'Vegas-by-the-sea resort' Atlantis.Paradise...
in the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation (TOSCO)
Tosco Corporation
Tosco was an independent US based petroleum refining and marketing corporation. It was founded in 1955 in Santa Monica, California by A&P heir Huntington Hartford, and originally focused on extracting oil from oil shale and developing alternative energy sources.-Oil shale operations:In 1964...
, which he founded in 1955. On his death in 2008, numerous obituaries noted that "he had once ranked among the world's richest people.". "
Biography
Huntington Hartford was born in 1911 and educated at HarvardHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. His grandfather George Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford founded The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in 1859 with George Gilman in Elmira, New York.He was born in Augusta, Maine...
and his uncles John Augustine Hartford
John Augustine Hartford
John Augustine Hartford was an executive with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and ran the company with his brother George Ludlum Hartford after the death of their father, George Huntington Hartford. Hartford ran the business operations side of the empire, while his brother George ran...
(1872–1951) and George Ludlum Hartford
George Ludlum Hartford
George Ludlum Hartford was an executive with the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company and successor to his father, George Huntington Hartford with brother John Augustine Hartford...
(1864–1957) privately owned the A&P supermarket chain, which at one point had 16,000 stores in the U.S. and was the largest retail empire in the world. A & P stores were a ubiquitous feature of American life in the 20th century; in a 1950 issue of Time magazine that featured Hartford's uncles on its cover, an article described the typical A & P store as "the real melting pot of the community, patronized by the boss's wife and the baker's daughter, the priest and the policeman. To foreigners A & P's vast supermarkets are among the wonders of the age; to the U.S. middle class, they are one of the direct roads to solvency. 'Going to the A & P' is almost an American tribal rite.'" A&P is considered an American icon
Icon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
. "To immortalize outstanding American merchants", Joseph Kennedy in 1953 commissioned a bronze bust of George Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford founded The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in 1859 with George Gilman in Elmira, New York.He was born in Augusta, Maine...
, four times life size along with 7 other men, which would come to be known as the Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame in Chicago. When his uncles died without heirs, Huntington Hartford inherited their fortune. Some of the money also went to The John A. Hartford Foundation, valued at $800 million as of 2007.
Hartford grew up on a 1000 acres (4 km²) plantation in South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
called "Wando", a house in Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
called "Seaverge" and an apartment on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He purchased a penthouse duplex on the 13th and 14th floors of One Beekman Place
Beekman Place (Manhattan)
Beekman Place is a small street located on the east side of Manhattan, New York City. The street runs from north to south for approximately two blocks and is situated between the eastern end of 51st and 49th streets. Beekman Place is also used to refer to the residential neighborhood that surrounds...
in the 1950s after moving from an apartment at the River House. He owned a home called "Pompano" on 240 El Vedado Drive in Palm Beach
Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...
, a 150 acre (0.607029 km²) estate in Wyckoff, New Jersey
Wyckoff, New Jersey
Wyckoff is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 16,696. As of the 2000 Census, Wyckoff ranked 54th in 100 highest-income places in the United States...
called "Melody Farm", a 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) Hollywood estate known as "The Pines" also known as Runyon Canyon Park
Runyon Canyon Park
Runyon Canyon Park is a park in Los Angeles, California, at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, managed by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The southern entrance to the park is located at the north end of Fuller Avenue in Hollywood. The northern entrance is off the...
, a townhouse in London, a home in Juan-les-Pins
Juan-les-Pins
Juan-les-PinsCountry:Region:Department: Alpes-MaritimesArrondissement: GrasseCanton: Vallauris-Antibes-OuestMunicipality: AntibesPopulation:?Coordinates:Time zone:CET, UTC+1Elevation:10 amslPostal code:06600...
France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and a house on Paradise Island
Paradise Island
Paradise Island is an island in the Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of New Providence. It is best known for the sprawling 'Vegas-by-the-sea resort' Atlantis.Paradise...
in the Bahamas.
Paradise Island
Paradise Island is an island in the Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island is located just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself located on the northern edge of the island of New Providence. It is best known for the sprawling 'Vegas-by-the-sea resort' Atlantis.Paradise...
in the Bahamas, which he opened in 1962 at a cost of millions. Hartford's aspiration was to turn Paradise Island into a new Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
and he obtained a gambling license for his development. He had the Ocean Club built on the island from the disassembled stones of a monastery that William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
had stored in a warehouse in Florida. The Ocean Club has been featured in two James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films: Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, in 1965, and Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
in 2006.
In a 1960s interview by David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
on British television Hartford stated that the flag he created for his Paradise Island was in the shape of a "P" and that he wanted to put it on the moon as a symbol of Peace for the world.
He was a patron of the architect Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone was a twentieth century American architect who worked primarily in the Modernist style.-Early life:...
. To showcase his art collection, he commissioned Stone to design the Gallery of Modern Art at 2 Columbus Circle
2 Columbus Circle
2 Columbus Circle is a small, trapezoidal lot on the south side of Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City, USA.The seven-story Pabst Grand Circle Hotel, designed by William H. Cauvet, stood at this address from 1874 until it was demolished in 1960...
for him in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. His modernist marble-clad museum opened in 1964. Hartford wanted Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone was a twentieth century American architect who worked primarily in the Modernist style.-Early life:...
because he had done the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
for the Rockefeller family. Hartford commissioned Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
to paint The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus for the museum's opening. Hartford owned paintings by Monet, Manet
Manet
-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....
, Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
. In an interview by Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
Edward Roscoe Murrow, KBE was an American broadcast journalist. He first came to prominence with a series of radio news broadcasts during World War II, which were followed by millions of listeners in the United States and Canada.Fellow journalists Eric Sevareid, Ed Bliss, and Alexander Kendrick...
on his show Person to Person Hartford gave a tour of the art collection of his Beekman Place apartment. He owned Rembrandt's Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo, which sold at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
auction house in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on December 8, 2009 for $33,210,855, a world record for a Rembrandt.
Hartford sought to purchase RKO
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
from Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
. Hartford owned Huntington Hartford Productions which produced several films including the Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...
film, Africa Screams
Africa Screams
Africa Screams is a 1949 comedy film starring Abbott and Costello and directed by Charles Barton.-Plot:Diana Emerson is in the book department of Klopper's Department store looking for a copy of the book Dark Safari, written by the famed explorer Cuddleford...
in 1949. In the following year Hartford produced Hello Out There, the last film of James Whale
James Whale
James Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
, the acclaimed director of the 1931 version of Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931 film)
Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...
. Hartford produced the Broadway show Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?
Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? is a play written in 1969 by Don Petersen. It has three acts, and helped to launch the careers of actors Al Pacino and Ron Thompson.-Title:...
which opened at the Belasco Theater in 1969 starring the then-unknown actor Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
. Pacino won a Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for his performance. Hartford himself was portrayed by John McMartin
John McMartin
John McMartin is an American actor of stage, film and television.-Early life and career:McMartin was born in Warsaw, Indiana and raised in Minnesota. He attended college in Illinois and New York. He made his off-Broadway debut in Little Mary Sunshine in 1959, playing opposite Eileen Brennan...
in a scene in the 2004 film Kinsey
Kinsey
-People:*Alfred Kinsey, entomologist and sexologist**the Kinsey Reports, a pair of books on sexuality by Alfred Kinsey**the Kinsey scale of sexual orientation, invented by Alfred Kinsey, or person's orientation as measured on that scale, as in "Kinsey 6"...
depicting Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey was an American biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, as well as producing the Kinsey Reports and the Kinsey...
's unsuccessful attempt to convince Hartford to support his research.
Hartford founded the Oil Shale Corporation, later known as Tosco, in 1955, and set up the Denver Research Institute at University of Denver
University of Denver
The University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
to research alternate methods of oil extraction. Tosco was later acquired by ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States...
.
He lived in Lyford Cay
Lyford Cay
Lyford Cay is a private gated community located on the western tip of New Providence Island, Bahamas. Considered one of the world's wealthiest and most exclusive neighborhoods, the Lyford Cay Club was built during the latter part of the 1950s by prominent Canadian businessman Edward Plunkett Taylor...
in The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
with his daughter Juliet Hartford, and he died there on May 19, 2008, aged 97.