Together with business partner Harold Goldsmith, who died in a private airplane crash in Aspen, Colorado, in 1991, Weinglass built Merry-Go-Round into an international publicly traded retailer with over $1 billion in annual sales, 1,500 stores and 15,000 employees.
Weinglass attended Forest Park High School (Maryland) in mostly Jewish northwest Baltimore in the 1950s, where he was a frequent truant.
In the film, the character "Boogie", a womanizing prankster played by actor Mickey Rourke, was patterned directly after Weinglass.
After leaving Merry-Go-Round Weinglass opened a string of retail locations called Boogie's Diner, the first clothing and food concept mix.
In 1992 Weinglass attempted to entice the National Football League to expand to Baltimore, nine years after the city's beloved Colts moved to Indianapolis.