{{short description|American businessman}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{infobox person | name = Patrick Frawley | birth_name = Patrick Joseph Frawley, Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1923|05|26}} | birth_place = [[León, Nicaragua]]<ref name=NYTimes /> | death_date = {{death date and age|1998|11|03|1923|05|26}} | death_place = [[Santa Monica, California]] | occupation = Businessman, Publisher, Producer | known_for = Frawley Pen Company/[[Paper Mate]]<br />[[Schick (razors)|Schick]]<br />[[Technicolor, Inc.]]<br />Frawley Corporation<br />Twin Circle Publishing Co.<br />[[Classics Illustrated]] | spouse = {{marriage|Geraldine Frawley|1945}}<ref name=latimes /> | parents = Patrick Frawley and Maria (née Peugnet)<ref name=Joan-obit>"Joan Frawley: 1927 - 2016," ''Los Angeles Times'' (Jan. 7–15, 2017). [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/joan-frawley-obituary?id=15720587 Archived at Legacy.com].</ref> | family = 1 sister, Joan Frawley<ref name=Joan-obit /> | children = two sons, five daughters }}
'''Patrick Joseph Frawley, Jr.''' (1923–1998) was a Nicaraguan-American [[business magnate]] whose portfolio included [[Paper Mate]], [[Schick (razors)|Schick]], and [[Technicolor, Inc.]]<ref name=obit>{{cite news|last1=Helmore|first1=Edward|title=Obituaries: Patrick J. Frawley Jnr|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaries-patrick-j-frawley-jnr-1186971.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaries-patrick-j-frawley-jnr-1186971.html |archive-date=2022-05-25 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|accessdate=8 December 2017|work=Independent|date=24 November 1998}}</ref> A devout [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], he was a leading [[American conservative]] figure from the late 1950s onward. He became involved in publishing and film production from the late 1960s.
== Biography == Frawley was born in [[León, Nicaragua]], to an Irish-born father and a French-Spanish mother.<ref name=NYTimes>Thomas Jr., Robert McG. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/09/business/patrick-frawley-jr-75-ex-owner-of-schick.html?smid=url-share "Patrick Frawley Jr., 75, Ex-Owner of Schick,"] ''New York Times'' (Nov. 9, 1998).</ref> He grew up in [[San Francisco]], though he dropped out of high school and returned to Nicaragua as a teenager to learn the ways of business from his father.<ref name=NYTimes />
Because of his father's [[United Kingdom]] citizenship,<ref name=NYTimes /> Frawley enlisted in the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]] and served in [[World War II]]. In 1945, he married a Canadian woman named Geraldine and settled in [[San Francisco]].<ref name=obit />
Shortly after the war, Frawley acquired his first company, a [[ballpoint pen]] parts manufacturer that had defaulted on its loan,<ref name=history>[http://www.papermate.com/pages/about.aspx# Paper Mate History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100926081929/http://papermate.com/pages/about.aspx |date=2010-09-26 }}</ref> renaming it the '''Frawley Pen Company'''. In 1949, the Frawley Pen Company developed an ink that dried instantly; the pen that delivered this ink was called "The [[Paper Mate]]." The company claims to have made the "first pen with a [[Retractable pen|retractable ballpoint tip]]" in 1950.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/ballpen.htm | title=BALLPOINT PEN | publisher=The Great Idea Finder | accessdate=April 25, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/cosmo30/history_ballpoint_pen.htm | title=The history of the ballpoint pen | year=2002 | accessdate=April 25, 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
In 1955, the Frawley Pen Company was obtained by [[Gillette|The Gillette Company, Inc.]] for $15.5 million, and formed the basis for the Paper Mate Division of Gillette. Frawley used the profits to buy controlling shares in [[Schick (razors)|Shick]] and [[Technicolor, Inc.]]<ref name=obit />
[[Fidel Castro]]'s takeover of a Shick factory in Cuba in 1958 awakened Frawley politically, and from that point forward he advocated (mostly behind the scenes) for [[anti-communist]] causes.<ref name=obit /> Frawley and [[Walter Knott]], founder of [[Knott's Berry Farm]], provided financial support to [[Barry Goldwater]]'s 1964 presidential campaign, and they funded [[Fred Schwarz]]'s anticommunist rallies.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hendershot|first1=Heather|title=What's Fair on the Air?: Cold War Right-Wing Broadcasting and the Public Interest|date=15 July 2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=58|isbn=9780226326764|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrP7HExgf3gC&pg=PA58|accessdate=8 December 2017}}</ref> He provided funds to the anti-communist [[Information Council of the Americas]] (INCA), founded in 1961.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=William W. |title=Power on the Right |date=1971 |publisher=Ramparts Press |page=171}}</ref>
Frawley had [[alcohol addiction]] problems, and in 1964 checked into the [[Shadel Sanatorium]] in [[Seattle]] for [[aversion therapy]]. He thought the experience was so valuable that he "bought the hospital for Schick, and renamed it Schick Shadel."<ref name=obit /><ref name=NYTimes />
In 1967, Frawley established the '''Twin Circle Publishing Co.''' as a subsidiary of Schick Investment Corp,<ref name=desertsun>Cassels, Louis. [https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19700905.2.74&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1 "Frawley An Opinion-Maker In Roman Catholic Church,"] ''Desert Sun'' Vol. 44, No. 28 (5 September 1970).</ref> founding the Catholic weekly newspaper ''[[Twin Circle]]''.<ref name=desertsun /> That same year, he acquired [[Gilberton (publisher)|Gilberton]]'s ''[[Classics Illustrated]]'' line of [[comic books]] from founder [[Albert Kanter]]. He continued selling ''Classics Illustrated'' and its sister series ''[[Classics Illustrated Junior]]'' under the publisher name the '''Frawley Corporation'''. Frawley published the series final titles, "In Freedom's Cause" and "Negro Americans," in 1969, but mainly concentrated on foreign sales and reprinting older titles. By the early 1970s, ''Classics Illustrated'' and ''Classics Illustrated Junior'' had been discontinued,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sacks |first1=Jason |last2=Dallas |first2=Keith |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1970s |date=2014 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490564 |page=57}}</ref> although Frawley held on to the rights at least through the mid-1980s.
By 1970, Twin Circle Publishing broadcast daily radio hits and a weekly half-hour television show espousing Frawley's conservative Catholic views. At that point, he took over publishing the ''[[National Catholic Register]]'' newspaper, changing its editorial focus from progressive to conservative.<ref name=desertsun />
In 1970, Schick became a subsidiary of [[Pfizer|Warner-Lambert]].<ref name=NYTimes /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.safetyrazors.net/schick/schicktech.htm |title=safetyrazors.net: Schick Injector razors |access-date=2021-04-28 |archive-date=2021-05-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517041537/http://www.safetyrazors.net/schick/schicktech.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Also in 1970, Canadian theatre and film producer [[Harry Saltzman]] won control of Technicolor from chairman Frawley in a proxy fight.<ref>{{cite news|last=Turner|first=Wallace|author-link=Wallace Turner|title=Coast Millionaire Upset By Publicity and Politics|date=July 14, 1970 |url=http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20Materials/White%20Assassination%20Clippings%20Folders/Miscellaneous%20Folders/Miscellaneous%20II%20Radical%20Right/Misc%20RR-061.pdf}}</ref>
In 1971,<ref name=sunn-1>{{cite web|url=http://sunnclassicpicturesinc.com/management/management.html|title=Management Team|accessdate=October 11, 2010|publisher=Sunn Classic Pictures|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204155349/http://sunnclassicpicturesinc.com/management/management.html|archive-date=February 4, 2013}}</ref><ref name=day-ct>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ge0gAAAAIBAJ&pg=3134,3813458&dq=sunn+classic&hl=en|agency=[[Associated Press]] (AP)|title=Film gives new twist to Lincoln assassination|date=May 23, 1977|accessdate=October 11, 2010|location=[[New London, Connecticut]]|work=[[The Day (New London)|The Day]]|page=15}}</ref> Frawley (on behalf of [[Schick (razors)|Schick]]), along with [[Charles E. Sellier]] Jr., and Rayland Jensen founded [[Schick Sunn Classic Pictures]], based in [[Park City, Utah]]. The company produced independent feature films, documentaries, and [[made-for-television movie]]s; in the period 1977–1982 the company produced a number of television films with the ''[[Classics Illustrated]]'' brand, including ''[[The Time Machine (1978 film)|The Time Machine]]'', ''[[Donner Pass: The Road to Survival]]'', and ''[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1980 film)|The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]''.
In 1995, Frawley sold the ''National Catholic Register'' and (the renamed) ''[[Faith & Family|Catholic Twin Circle]]'' to the [[Legion of Christ]].<ref name=latimes>Dart, John. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-10-07-me-54194-story.html "2 Catholic Papers Sold : Media: Group with reported ties to Legion of Christ religious order buys National Catholic Register and Catholic Twin Circle,"] ''Los Angeles Times'' (OCT. 7, 1995).</ref>
Frawley died on November 3, 1998, in [[Santa Monica, California]], leaving behind a sister,<ref name=Joan-obit /> two sons, five daughters,<ref name=obit /> and 20 grandchildren.<ref name=NYTimes />
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frawley, Patrick}} [[Category:1923 births]] [[Category:1998 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American newspaper publishers (people)]] [[Category:20th-century Roman Catholics]] [[Category:American anti-communists]] [[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]] [[Category:American Roman Catholics]] [[Category:Catholics from California]] [[Category:Comic book publishers (people)]] [[Category:Film producers from California]] [[Category:Nicaraguan emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II]]