Earle C. Anthony
{{Short description|American businessman and philanthropist}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Earle C. Anthony
| image = Earle C. Anthony of KFI, 1925 photo by the Gilliams Service.jpg
| caption = Anthony at KFI in 1925
| birth_name =
| birth_date = December 18, 1880
| birth_place =
| death_date = August 6, 1961
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| education =
| alma mater =
| employer =
| occupation = Businessman
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| boards =
| spouse =
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
}}
Earle C. Anthony (December 18, 1880—August 6, 1961) was an American businessman and philanthropist based in Los Angeles, California. He worked in broadcasting and automobiles and was also a songwriter, journalist and playwright.
Early life
Earle C. Anthony was born on December 18, 1880.
In 1903, Earle C. Anthony founded the California Pelican, UC Berkeley's first humor magazine, during his student years.
Career
In 1897, Anthony built an electric automobile of his own design,{{cite web |last1=Weisenberger |first1=Newcomb |title=Remembers KFI: 3. EARLE C. ANTHONY’S FIRST CAR |url=https://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/LA/nw3.htm |website=oldradio.com}}{{cite web |title=Earle C. Anthony’s Early Days – A Packard Pioneer |url=https://theoldmotor.com/?p=113369 |website=The Old Motor |access-date=10 September 2023 |date=29 January 2014}} the first to run in Los Angeles, at the age of 17.{{cite web |title=L.A.'s First Electric Car |url=https://www.laalmanac.com/transport/tr705.php |website=laalmanac.com |access-date=10 September 2023}} A replica of this car, made in the 1920s with parts of the original automobile, is exhibited in the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
On 22 February 1904, Anthony and his father opened the Western Motor Car Company in Los Angeles,{{cite web |last1=Fischer |first1=Greg |title=A Heap of Downtown History In Neon 'Packard' Sign |url=https://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/a-heap-of-downtown-history-in-neon-packard-sign/article_75902082-c2a3-11e0-b1b8-001cc4c03286.html |website=Los Angeles Downtown News |access-date=10 September 2023 |language=en |date=9 August 2011}} as a dealer for National, Northern and Thomas automobile brands, and the following year he acquired a Packard distributorship.{{cite web |last1=Freestone |first1=Nigel |title=Earle C Anthony opened the Western Motor Car Company in Los Angeles, California, US as a dealer for the National, Northern and Thomas marques - the following year he acquired the distributorship for Packard, with whom he would pay a major role for over 50 years |url=https://365daysofmotoring.com/earle-c-anthony-opened-the-western-motor-car-company-in-los-angeles-california-us-as-a-dealer-for-the-national-northern-and-thomas-marques-the-following-year-he-acquired-the-distributorship-for-p/ |website=365 Days Of Motoring |access-date=10 September 2023 |date=22 February 1904}}
In the 1930s, Anthony acquired a Hudson automobile brand distributorship.{{cite web |title=The story behind Earl C. Anthony: Packard Promoter |url=https://www.oldcarsweekly.com/features/the-story-behind-earl-c-anthony-packard-promoter |website=Old Cars Weekly |access-date=10 September 2023 |language=en |date=3 March 2020}} He became a distributor for eighteen brands. Anthony refined his interest until he represented only Packard.
Anthony constructed a 50 watt transmitter,{{cite web |last1=Weisenberger |first1=Newcomb |title=Remembers KFI: 1. I Remember Earle C. Anthony |url=https://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/LA/nw.htm |website=oldradio.com}} on a breadboard, on his kitchen table, received a license from the Department of Commerce, and began broadcasting as KFI on April 16, 1922.{{cite web |last1=Weisenberger |first1=Newcomb |title=I Remember Earle C. Anthony |url=https://www.antiqueradios.org/gazette/eca.htm |website=antiqueradios.org |access-date=10 September 2023}}
In 1923, Anthony was the founder and owner of what eventually became 50,000-watt KFI AM (640) radio,{{cite web |last1=Weisenberger |first1=Newcomb |title=Remembers KFI: 2. The tower’s story |url=https://www.oldradio.com/archives/stations/LA/nw2.htm |website=oldradio.com}} a station he controlled until his death in 1961. From 1929 to 1944, he also owned KECA/1430, which evolved into KABC. He was an early president{{cite news |title=BROADCASTERS ELECT.; Earle C. Anthony Made President of National Association. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/09/15/archives/broadcasters-elect-earle-c-anthony-made-president-of-national.html |access-date=10 September 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=15 September 1926}} of the National Association of Broadcasters and during his term oversaw the establishment of the organization's first paid staff. He also was a founder of one of the earliest television stations in Los Angeles, KFI-TV (channel 9, now KCAL-TV), and KFI-FM (105.9 MHz, now defunct),[http://earthsignals.com/add_CGC/KFI-FM_History.html KFI-FM history, retrieved April 19, 2017.] both of which were disposed of in 1951.
File:Earle C. Anthony Packard Showroom.jpg
From 1915 to 1957,{{cite web |title=From Point A to Point B with the “Romance of Transportation,” Earle C. Anthony, Inc., Los Angeles, 22 February 1929 |url=https://homesteadmuseum.blog/2022/02/22/from-point-a-to-point-b-with-the-romance-of-transportation-earle-c-anthony-inc-los-angeles-22-february-1929/ |website=The Homestead Blog |access-date=10 September 2023 |date=23 February 2022}} Anthony was the Packard distributor for all of California, "the world's most prominent Packard car dealer",{{cite web |title=Anthony Hall |url=https://dac.berkeley.edu/navigating-cal/buildings/anthony-hall |website=Disability Access & Compliance |publisher=berkeley.edu |access-date=10 September 2023}} selling one out of every seven Packards. When Packard was merged with Studebaker Corporation, Anthony saw the handwriting on the wall and relinquished his 40 plus year relationship with Packard. In the Summer of 1957, Anthony acquired two franchises for the ill-fated Edsel, a new, medium-priced car from Ford Motor Company, one in San Francisco and one in Los Angeles. In the fall of 1957, Anthony also got the Lincoln Franchise for Los Angeles and later added Mercury in the Summer of 1958. He would remain a Lincoln-Mercury dealer until his death.
He was also instrumental in developing the concept of the gasoline service station,{{cite web |title=Found PHOTO Old Earle C Anthony 1936 Gilmore Yosemite Economy Run Hudson 8 Car |url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/266251993906 |website=eBay |access-date=10 September 2023}} opening the first two in California (the Chevron was the trademark of the National Supply Co., a service station chain Anthony headed with several other auto dealers and sold, a few years later, to the Standard Oil Company of California in 1913.) He was also a pioneer in inter-urban bus transportation, founding a company later incorporated into Pacific Greyhound lines and had a role in the development of car radios. He influenced the building of the Golden Gate Bridge.{{cite web |last1=Mishkind |first1=Barry |title=Centenary Radio: KFI: Earle C. Anthony’s Vehicle At 100 |url=https://www.thebdr.net/earle-c-anthony-drives-kfi-to-fame/ |website=The Broadcasters Desktop Resource |access-date=10 September 2023 |date=15 April 2022}}
= Former Earle C. Anthony-owned stations =
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
- (**) Indicates a station that was built and signed-on by Earle C. Anthony.
| class="wikitable" |
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
! Station ! Years owned ! Current ownership status |
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| KFI-TV | 9 (9) | 1948–1951 | Independent KCAL-TV, owned by CBS News and Stations |
=Radio stations=
| style="border: 1px solid #a3b0bf; cellpadding="2"; margin: auto" bgcolor="#cedff2" | AM Station
| style="border: 1px solid #a3b0bf; cellpadding="2"; margin: auto" bgcolor="#ddcef2" | FM Station |
| class="wikitable"
! City of license / Market ! Station ! Years owned ! Current ownership status |
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| rowspan="2" | Los Angeles !style="background: #cedff2;"| KFI 640 ** | 1922–1951 | owned by IHeartMedia |
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
!style="background: #cedff2;"| KECA 790 | 1929–1944 | KABC owned by Cumulus Media |
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"
| rowspan="2" | Los Angeles !style="background: #ddcef2;"| KFI-FM 105.9 ** | 1947–1951 | Defunct, ceased operations in 1951 |
Philanthropy
Anthony was active in many civic activities. He helped save the Hollywood Bowl by assuming leadership of the Symphony Under Stars Foundation in the early 1930s. He donated resources for a wind-resistant cross to replace others that had previously been blown over in the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs).
Anthony helped to bring major league baseball to Los Angeles. This resulted in the Los Angeles Dodger games being carried on KFI and Dodger owner Walter O'Malley becoming a board member of Earle C. Anthony, Inc., according to his biographer, Arthur Landing.
Anthony also founded the Los Angeles Auto Show, introduced neon signs to Southern California from France, and personally built the first automobile ever constructed in Los Angeles (later rebuilt and now in the possession of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles).
Personal life, death and legacy
Anthony was a lifelong Episcopalian.
Anthony died on August 6, 1961.{{cite news|title=In Memory of Earle C. Anthony|date=August 10, 1961|work=The Los Angeles Times|page=41}}{{Cite news |date=1961-08-08 |title=EARLE C. ANTHONY, PIONEER IN RADIO, 80 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/08/08/archives/earle-c-anthony-pioneer-in-radio-80.html |access-date=2022-04-18 |issn=0362-4331}}
Anthony's only son, Kelly Anthony, was disabled in a WWII mishap and died a few months after his father. Anthony's fortune was left to a trust that was established mainly for endowing fellowships at the California Institute of Technology and UC Berkeley{{cite web |title=Earle C. Anthony Fellowship |url=https://graduatedivision.ucmerced.edu/node/130 |website=graduatedivision.ucmerced.edu |access-date=10 September 2023}} which was Anthony’s alma mater.
Some of Anthony's employees and friends also received pensions from the trust for the rest of their lives.
His home{{cite web |title=1930-1939 |url=https://www.lfia.org/1930-1939/ |website=Los Feliz Improvement Association |access-date=10 September 2023}}{{cite news |title=Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Earle C. Anthony, Los Angeles — Bernard R. Maybeck, Architect |url=https://archive.architecturaldigest.com/article/1930/2/residence-of-mr-and-mrs-earle-c-anthony-los-angeles-bernard-r-maybeck-architect |access-date=10 September 2023 |work=Architectural Digest |volume=VIII|issue=1 |date=1930 |quote=The Complete Archive}}{{cite web |title=Earle C. Anthony estate |url=https://calisphere.org/item/01f2488dbfdef7f2f39728dfd0a01d3c/ |website=calisphere |access-date=10 September 2023}} in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles was designed by Bernard Maybeck.{{cite book | last =McCoy | first =Esther | author-link =Esther McCoy | title =Five California Architects | publisher =Reinhold Publishing Corporation | year =1960 | location =New York | asin=B000I3Z52W | page =53}} Over the property's history, many internationally distinguished visitors were entertained in the mansion and its eight and one half acre environs. The core building was designed by Maybeck in the style of a medieval renaissance castle. The basic Norman-French and Spanish structure also exhibits Greco-Roman and Moorish influences. After the death of Anthony's wife the home was purchased in the early fifties by Sir Daniel J. and Countess Bernardine Murphy Donohue. The mansion was donated to the Immaculate Heart Sisters in 1971 upon the death of the Countess. The interior of the Nordic entrance tower was furnished by Donohue as a replica of the Pope's prayer room at the Vatican in Rome.
As noted, Donohue bequeathed the property to the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It is currently now known as the [http://www.la-archdiocese.org/org/hop/Pages/default.aspx Cardinal Timothy Manning House of Prayer for Priests] and the Immaculate Heart Retreat House. It is an urban sanctuary available to individuals or groups for a few hours or a day for reflection and prayer. A chapel, dining room and conference rooms are available.
2014-2019,{{cite news |last1=Kiefer |first1=Peter |title=Inside the Katy Perry Convent That Sparked a Real Estate War: Never-Before-Seen Photos |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/real-estate/inside-katy-perry-convent-sparked-a-real-estate-war-1247527/ |access-date=10 September 2023 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=18 October 2019}} Anthony's, Bernard Maybeck designed, 8-acre estate with 30,000 square feet of living space, a pool, tower and prayer house was to be sold for $14.5 million by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to Katy Perry, but disputed by Canfield-Moreno Estate owner Dana Hollister, restaurateur, and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Earle C. Anthony (15 September 1925) [https://www.antiqueradios.org/gazette/ecavoice.wav recording of Earl C. Anthony's voice] at Southern California Antique Radio Society
- [http://www.trombinoscar.com/ancetres/anthony9701.html 1897 Anthony Electric], at the Petersen Automotive Museum (French and English; retrieved 12 November 2012) at Trominoscar.com
- [https://theoldmotor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Earle1.jpg 1897 Anthony electric automobile] image
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Earle C.}}
Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles
Category:Philanthropists from Los Angeles
Category:20th-century American philanthropists