The most notorious of these men was Glenn McCarthy, the son of an oil worker from Beaumont who struck it rich as a “wildcatter” digging wells throughout the state.
McCarthy spent lavishly, regularly sinking into debt before seeing his fortunes rise again with the flow of Texas gold.
In 1949, he built the $21 million Shamrock Hotel in Houston, and hosted an over-the-top opening party, attended by 3000 people, that included numerous Hollywood celebrities and a chaotic live national television broadcast.
McCarthy sold the Shamrock to the Hilton family several years later to pay off his debts, but still couldn’t keep himself from purchasing 14 newspapers, a collection of local bars, and his own “Wildcatter” brand of bourbon.
He served as the inspiration for Jett Rink in Edna Ferber’s novel Giant (played in the movie version by James Dean), and has gone down in history as the quintessential Texas oilman and “King of the Wildcatters.”
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