Howard Hughes, Craig Cullinan, Frank Calvin Mann, and me!

[rnoldh]

Howard Hughes has always fascinated me. He is an iconic figure that was both eccentric and genius among other things. His life and achievements were the kings of things that couldn't have been invented, Another case where truth is stranger than fiction.

Houston has been my adopted and beloved home since August, 1967. Hughes died in 1976 and last visited Houston in 1938 so I hardly had a chance to know him. Many Houstonians say that they met him but most are full of BS.

Amazingly, I did get to know 2 Houstonians that knew Hughes well. One was a oil fortune heir whose grandfather had founded Texaco Oil Co, The other man was a black man that was a mechanical genius and flew with the Tuskegee Airmen in WW11.

The first man was Craig Cullinan, grandson of Joseph S. Cullinan the founder of Texaco Oil.

The second man was Frank Calvin Mann a black mechanical genius who actually flew on the famed Spruce Goose flight.

I've got to run off and do an errand now, but I'd like to recount some of my remembrances of these men and their comments on Hughes. Also it will be a sort of historical perspective of old Houston.

Anybody have any stories or dealings with Hughes? Or old Houston

I'll try too gather some material but here is a taste. These are pictures I took when I visited Glenwood Cemetery recently, to pay my respects to Craig Cullinan. He's buried about 75' from Hughes and his parents:

Here are Craig and his Grandfather Joseph S. Cullinan:

And here is the burial site of Hughes and his parents (about 75' away):

I'll be adding some very interesting stories to this thread. For instance, when Craig Cullinan died 4 years ago he was probably one of the few people to have a lifetime membership to both the River Oaks Country Club and Treasures Topless Club. I miss him dearly!

 

[Shikar]

Very interesting...do tell us more.

Regards.

 

[rnoldh]

Well, to start I met Craig in 1984. I didn't travel in his circles and I met him at a 12 step meeting. Both of us among millions of others had drinking problems. Craig died sober in 2004 and I haven't drank since 1984, so 12 step programs can work

We both had a genuine interest in history and Craig was truly old historic Houston money and history. I was just a NYC Jewish guy that had gone to Rice U., and we struck up a friendship. Over the years I think we went to hundreds of lunches and dinners generally after 12 Step Meetings.

Craig, understandably, was reticent to talk about his past. A lot of this was because he had squandered a vast fortune. But he was truly a great guy and a very smart man. When asked how he could have gone through a large part of the Texaco fortune, he said, "a lot of effort, wine, women, and song along with 5 divorces!". He is truly missed by me.

Generally he wouldn't talk about his past at meetings but one on one with me and others he trusted, his stories were amazing. He told me how his grandfather, Joseph S. Cullinan had come to Texas back in the 1890s to work for John D. Rockefeller in Corsicana, Tx. When the famed Spindletop find came at the turn of the century, Joe Cullinan went to Beaumont, Tx. to get in early on the find, and he led the group that founded what became Texaco.

These stories seem hard to believe but they are quite true. Craig also told me that his Grandfather had sold out relatively early, (sometime in the late 1920s or 1930s) or they would have been the majority owners of Texaco today. It's not like grandpa did badly though. At the height of the depression in the 1930s they were worth 100s of millions!

I can't say much else about Texaco since many of the heirs are quite alive and well ( some are friends of mine to this day.) Craig never actively engaged in the oil business. He went to Yale in the late 1940s (where he knew GHWB and the Skull and Bones crowd) and was also in the Air Force. He later published newspapers in the Houston area in towns like Angleton.

Then in the early 1960s he was a founding partner of the Houston Astros baseball team; Here he is with his partners in the Astros.. In later years he had dissipated much of his fortune but never lost his spirit. He golfed nearly to the end and chased women which is another story I'll get into later.

Craig C. is 4th from the front:

Back to Howard Hughes. When Craig was young (being who he was), he met many famous people (like Bob "Texaco" Hope and Bing Crosby). The last time Hughes came to Houston was in 1938 for a parade, after Hughes had set a flying speed record and Craig recalled meeting him at a private reception. Craig would have been a teenager then but he recalled Hughes as quite dashing and shy.

After 1938 Hughes never returned to Houston till his final flight in 1976 when he supposedly died en route to Houston for medical treatment.

Well, Hughes didn't make it of course, and died in Houston. Many years earlier, Howard Hughes dad, Howard Hughes Sr., had bought a cemetery plot at Glenwood cemetery in Houston, Tx. Around the same time Craig's grandfather had purchased plots at Glenwood. They are at the back of the cemetery overlooking Allen Parkway. Hughes and Craig are buried about 75' apart. I call it the 50 yard line first row of cemeteries(By Houston standards at least). They are there with the legendary Texas oil people like the Farish's and the Blaffers. I live quite close to Glenwood, so I pay my respects to Craig often. Great and pleasant memories.

Frank Calvin Mann could not have been more different than Craig. How I knew him and how he knew Hughes I'll write about later.

Anyone interested in or know of historical Houston?

 

[rnoldh]

Nobody seems to care about old Houston, but I do.

A couple of SFers PMed me and asked questions, so I wanted to say something about Frank Calvin Mann.

He was perhaps one of the most brilliant and amazing men I have ever met. Please read this if you have any interest. I met Frank in the early 1980's when he had an auto repair shop in Houston's 3rd Ward. That was still when the 3rd Ward was a lower end black are and not the gentrified area it is now becoming.

Frank was very modest and never mentioned his accomplishments. Imagine having flown on Howard Hughes legendary Spruce Goose flight and not even mentioning it. Frank never knew Craig Cullinan or vice versa but I knew both of them. There was even a tangential connection. Craig's grandfather, Joe Cullinan, had funded the "Houston Negro Hospital" in the 1920s because black people were not seen in white man's hospitals back then. So Joe Cullinan personally funded a hospital for the black people of Houston. The hospital exists to this day as the Riverside Hospital on Elgin in Houston. Today it's a public drug and alcohol rehab hospital.

Frank thought Cullinan's founding of that hospital was one of the greatest things he had ever seen. I told him that he had done things that were just as amazing.

My friends Mike and Paul B. were extremely close to Frank, and when he died they were the administrator's of his estate (which was not large). But they tried to develop Frank's story into a movie script and got pretty far along. They invested about $100,000 and did the story boards and hired a film writer. But I think Scorsese's film beat them to the market. Of course "The Aviator" was about Howard Hughes and did not mention Frank Calvin Mann. But Mann's story would have featured Hughes prominently.

If anyone cares I could probably get the publicity package and story boards about the proposed Frank Calvin Mann film. Read the above link about him and see if you think his life merited a movie?

 

[riveroaks]

Denzel Washington could play Franklin and when this script is option, you're gonna have your own membership to Treasures too!

 

[rnoldh]

Originally Posted by riveroaks

Denzel Washington could play Franklin and when this script is option, you're gonna have your own membership to Treasures too!

Denzel was contacted to play Frank Mann. He would have been superb. But the proposal went no where.

And I do have a life time membership to Treasures. Mitch the day manager is a friend. After Craig died I pretty much stopped going to topless joints. Probably been to one or two in the past 5 years for one visit.

If anyone shows interest in the thread I'll recount some stories of Craig's legendary whoring ( He would not mind).

I go often to pay my respects at Glenwood Cemetery and it's very infrequent that I'll run into one of the Texaco heirs. I miss old Craig C. I miss Frank Mann too. Two extraordinary people in different ways!

 

[riveroaks]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

Denzel was contacted to play Frank Mann. He would have been superb. But the proposal went no where.

And I do have a life time membership to Treasures. Mitch the day manager is a friend. After Craig died I pretty much stopped going to topless joints. Probably been to one or two in the past 5 years for one visit.

If anyone shows interest in the thread I'll recount some stories of Craig's legendary whoring ( He would not mind).

I go often to pay my respects at Glenwood Cemetery and it's very infrequent that I'll run into one of the Texaco heirs. I miss old Craig C. I miss Frank Mann too. Two extraordinary people in different ways!

Cuba Gooding Jr. then

But seriously, Laurence Fishburne would be good.

Hook up a brother up with an intro to Mitch... I haven't been to Treasures of all the t-joints in all the towns in all the world.

Those stories sounds interesting

 

[Shikar]

Thank you for taking the time to write this...its like a glimpse into the past....

Regards.

 

[HORNS]

My colleague bought Stan Laurel's fishing boat, which was made originally for the owner of John Deere tractors back in the late 1920's. He's been heavily researching the history of the boat and has been talking to Stan Laurel's daughter, who lives on Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California. She met Howard Hughes several times:

One account was when Stan and a few people were fishing around Catalina island and docked for the evening to go to a restaurant. Howard, being the agoraphobic freakazoid that he was, stayed on the boat while everyone else left. But he started freaking out when seagulls landed on the boat, so he started shooting at them with the pistol he always carried with him. The police responded to the incident and the chief of police came down as well to handle the situation as well. He told Howard that he was forbidden to ever come to Catalina island again.

 

[Harry Lean]

Thanks for posting about Howard Hughes. We need more discussion about this fasinating man.

 

[rnoldh]

Well, I hope some Houstonians and interested people keep this alive.

The brothers that control the rights to Frank Mann's life story and/or pssiible movie, have asked me to refrain from posting more about Mr. Mann. But his life was truly movie worthy.

If anyone has genuine movie experience or higher level contacts please PM me and I'll put you in direct connection with the brothers.

Back to Craig C. I knew him much better than Frank and I miss him dearly. He was married and divorced many times and chased women till the end. And he was about 80 when he died.

For many years, Craig, an attorney friend and I would go to one of the topless clubs in Houston owned by the Davari brothers. Our favorites were Centerfolds on Richmond and Treasures on Westheimer ( former site of the legendary Cutter Bill's Western Wear).

The trick we learned was to get the entertainers OTC (outside the club). Here are some "Pleasures from Treasures"

from the 1990s till 2003

Wow, how I miss old Craig Cullinan.

There are also legendary stories from the 1940s and 1950s when Craig had big money But I have to refrain from recounting them.

He owned horses that ran in the Triple Crown and he palled around with Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin in their drinking days in the 1950s.

And it was Craig's connection to Branch Rickey that really helped win approval for the initial Houston Astros franchise.

BTW: In no way am I a big time Texan, Rock Star, oil man or such. I just met these people through the years via an interest in history and a good reputation.

 

[rnoldh]

I really do miss the old boy and I realized that I hadn't posted a picture of his final resting place.

I visited Craig (and Hughes this past weekend again). It's no big matter since Glenwood Cemetery is just a few blocks from the Town Homes I'm selling.

Criag:

Craig and old Joe (founder of Texaco):

Howard Hughes on a sunny Saturday:

Some might find it lugubrious to go to a cemetery often, but Glenwood is really fascinating. It traces the history of Houston from the Allen Brothers who founded the city (and who are buried there) to the oil pioneers that made the city great. I just love the history.

 

[Drafton]

Frank Mann is interesting... why is little documented on him?

 

[yerfdog]

Whoa, cool stories. Enjoyed reading those.

 

[rnoldh]

Originally Posted by Drafton

Frank Mann is interesting... why is little documented on him?

Perhaps because he was black and that was the way it was back then.

He rode on Howard Hughes famed Spruce Goose flight yet I can't find one reference to it on search engines.

He would be very, very glad to see many of the changes that have occurred since his death.