Jack Wyatt
Encyclopedia
John Francis Minford "Jack" Wyatt (August 19, 1917 – April 4, 2008) was an advertising executive and television
host from New York City
and Dallas
, Texas
, who, during his early fifties, was ordained as an Episcopalian
priest. From 1958–1959, he was the interviewer on the ABC
crime
/drama
reality show, Confession
, in which he quizzed convicted criminals on the air to determine the root causes of their lawlessness. He also hosted a local version of Confession on WFAA-TV
, Channel 8, in Dallas prior to the network's decision to pick up the program in the summer of 1958.
, Missouri
, and reared in Forest Hills in the borough
of Queens, New York. He began his work in radio
and television production and advertising in New York. Several of his clients from Dallas prompted him to relocate there in 1954. He formed the Jack Wyatt Company, which became Wyatt, Dunagan & Williams Inc. His firm subsequently merged with Lennen & Newell, Inc., in New York. His subjects on Confession included prostitutes, murderers, counterfeiters, and alcoholics who had run afoul of the law.
At the time an advertising executive, Wyatt moderated the Confession discussion with a panel that included police officers, clergy, psychiatrists, sociologists, or civic leaders. Sometimes the criminals wore hoods or mask to remain anonymous. Sam Price of Dallas, co-producer of Confession, said that many of the guests were brought from the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville
for the interviews in Dallas. Wyatt once said that law enforcement officers had told him that Confession had actually helped in the rehabilitation of some of the criminals.
According to his daughter, Susan Wyatt of Memphis
, Tennessee
, Wyatt began studying for the priesthood in 1967. She describes her father as "always a person who was very much involved with people and things in growth and change. He was a warm, outgoing person who touched many lives." Wyatt enrolled at St. Augustine's College in Canterbury, England
and completed his last year of study at King's College of the University of London
.
Sam Price recalls Wyatt as having the "urging to take the next step, whatever he was doing, whether it was broadcast, advertising – from film to videotape and things like that – this was the next step for him." Price voiced surprise at the commitment to the priesthood. Wyatt was ordained at St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma City
, Oklahoma
, where he served as an assistant priest. He later procured his own congregation in Durant
in Bryan County
in southeastern Oklahoma. He then became the canon to the Bishop of Oklahoma.
, a resort
community in Aransas County
on the Texas Gulf Coast and worked thereafter as a supply priest and interim rector in several area churches. He was also the spiritual director for a hospice
in Rockport.
Wyatt died of cancer
at his home in Rockport at the age of ninety. In addition to his daughter, he was survived by his wife, Florence Rebecca Wyatt (October 18, 1923 – September 29, 2008) of Rockport, another daughter, the Reverend Claudia Wyatt Smith of Blue Hill
, Maine
, and a grandchild. Mrs. Wyatt died some six months after her husband.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
host from 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...
and Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, who, during his early fifties, was ordained as an Episcopalian
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
priest. From 1958–1959, he was the interviewer on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
/drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
reality show, Confession
Confession (TV series)
Confession is a short-lived ABC crime/police reality show which aired from June 19, 1958, to January 13, 1959, with interviewer Jack Wyatt questioning criminals from assorted backgrounds. The program was carried by videotape from WFAA-TV, the network affiliate in Dallas, Texas, the first station to...
, in which he quizzed convicted criminals on the air to determine the root causes of their lawlessness. He also hosted a local version of Confession on WFAA-TV
WFAA-TV
WFAA, channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network...
, Channel 8, in Dallas prior to the network's decision to pick up the program in the summer of 1958.
Early life and career
Wyatt was born in Kansas CityKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, and reared in Forest Hills in the borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of Queens, New York. He began his work in radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and television production and advertising in New York. Several of his clients from Dallas prompted him to relocate there in 1954. He formed the Jack Wyatt Company, which became Wyatt, Dunagan & Williams Inc. His firm subsequently merged with Lennen & Newell, Inc., in New York. His subjects on Confession included prostitutes, murderers, counterfeiters, and alcoholics who had run afoul of the law.
At the time an advertising executive, Wyatt moderated the Confession discussion with a panel that included police officers, clergy, psychiatrists, sociologists, or civic leaders. Sometimes the criminals wore hoods or mask to remain anonymous. Sam Price of Dallas, co-producer of Confession, said that many of the guests were brought from the Texas State Penitentiary in Huntsville
Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 35,508 at the 2010 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area....
for the interviews in Dallas. Wyatt once said that law enforcement officers had told him that Confession had actually helped in the rehabilitation of some of the criminals.
According to his daughter, Susan Wyatt of Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, Wyatt began studying for the priesthood in 1967. She describes her father as "always a person who was very much involved with people and things in growth and change. He was a warm, outgoing person who touched many lives." Wyatt enrolled at St. Augustine's College in Canterbury, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and completed his last year of study at King's College of the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
.
Sam Price recalls Wyatt as having the "urging to take the next step, whatever he was doing, whether it was broadcast, advertising – from film to videotape and things like that – this was the next step for him." Price voiced surprise at the commitment to the priesthood. Wyatt was ordained at St. Paul's Cathedral in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, where he served as an assistant priest. He later procured his own congregation in Durant
Durant, Oklahoma
Durant is a city in Bryan County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 15,877 at the 2010 census. Durant is the principal city of the Durant Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 42,416 in 2010...
in Bryan County
Bryan County, Oklahoma
Bryan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 36,534 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Durant. The county shares the same boundaries as the Durant Micropolitan Area. It is also home to the headquarters of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma located in Durant...
in southeastern Oklahoma. He then became the canon to the Bishop of Oklahoma.
Retirement and death
In the early 1980s, Wyatt retired to RockportRockport, Texas
Rockport is a city in Aransas County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,385 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Aransas County. The coastal community has approximately 8000 citizens. Large windswept live oaks are a dominating feature of the area and the state's oldest live oak,...
, a resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
community in Aransas County
Aransas County, Texas
Aransas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is part of the Corpus Christi Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2000, the population was 22,499. Its county seat is Rockport. Aransas County was formed in 1871 from Refugio County.-Geography:According to the U.S...
on the Texas Gulf Coast and worked thereafter as a supply priest and interim rector in several area churches. He was also the spiritual director for a hospice
Hospice
Hospice is a type of care and a philosophy of care which focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's symptoms.In the United States and Canada:*Gentiva Health Services, national provider of hospice and home health services...
in Rockport.
Wyatt died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
at his home in Rockport at the age of ninety. In addition to his daughter, he was survived by his wife, Florence Rebecca Wyatt (October 18, 1923 – September 29, 2008) of Rockport, another daughter, the Reverend Claudia Wyatt Smith of Blue Hill
Blue Hill, Maine
Blue Hill is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,390 at the 2000 census. It is home to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, George Stevens Academy, the now-closed Liberty School, New Surry Theatre, Kneisel Hall, Bagaduce Music Lending Library, the Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, and a grandchild. Mrs. Wyatt died some six months after her husband.