Celebs | Flashback : Dallas

Our city hall has suddenly — and improbably — found itself in the headlines in recent weeks. As of this writing, its immediate fate is unknown. I don’t think I’ve written about this landmark building in the 12 years I’ve been writing about Dallas history. I guess I assumed I’d always have time.

Dallas City Hall is the work of architect I. M. Pei (1917-2019), who, in 1966, was commissioned to design a new city hall by then-mayor J. Erik Jonsson. The very modern design was both acclaimed and derided, and its bumpy road to completion was long and arduous — it was dedicated on March 12, 1978, 12 years after Pei accepted the commission. It is an instantly recognizable building by an internationally respected architect, and it has quietly held the fort on the southern edge of downtown for almost 48 years.

In the project plans presented to the City, I. M. Pei & Partners included these quotes from “Goals for Dallas,” the blueprint that Dallas leaders created for the city’s future:

In an oral history conducted by the Dallas Public Library in 2002, Pei discussed his City Hall project and was asked if he had visited the building in recent years (the link to the oral history and transcript are at the bottom of this post under “Sources & Notes”):

I’ve been back quite a few times. I always went up to the second floor to look at that public space. That public space — some people ask, “Why do you make that space so extravagant? People only come here and pay taxes or pay water bills.” I said, “Precisely. This is a People’s City Hall. You don’t build it for the mayor; you don’t build it for the Council; you build it for the people. They’re the ones who should enjoy it.” I remember that. I always go up to the second floor to look at that space. I think the public that comes to pay taxes should know that this is why. […] That was the original thought, and I still think it’s right — that this City Hall is designed for the people of Dallas. (I. M. Pei oral history, Aug. 1, 2002)

Below are a whole bunch of photos of I. M. Pei in Dallas, aerial views of the city before and during construction of the city hall, and two deceptively calm and quiet photos taken by me from the Central Library across the street only a couple of weeks ago, back when life seemed a little less precarious and before I thought it necessary to look up the dictionary definition of “beleaguered” to make sure I was using it appropriately. I was.

The model:

Aerial from 1967 (the original name of the project was the Dallas Municipal Center):

Aerial from 1976:

I. M. Pei giving a presentation in Dallas, in which he unveiled his vision for the new city hall (April 28, 1967, Dallas Times Herald photo by Ken Hardin):

Showing off the futuristic-looking model to no doubt startled members of the Dallas City Council and city administration workers (October 5, 1970, DTH photo by Joe Gordon).

Construction, 1973:

Construction, 1974:

Construction, 1975:

Construction, 1976:

Pei shows British sculptor Henry Moore the site where his sculptural work The Dallas Piece will be placed on the City Hall plaza (April 14, 1976, DTH photo by Paul Iverson):

Pei in a hardhat, looking pleased (July 7, 1976, DTH photo by Jay Dickman):

Pei with new mayor Robert Folsom, with a killer view of the Dallas skyline behind them (July 7, 1976, DTH photo by Jay Dickman):

Side view, from Marilla:

Finally, Dedication Day, March 12, 1978 — Pei is seen cutting the ribbon with (left to right) former City Manager Scott McDonald, current City Manager George Schrader, Mayor Robert Folsom, former mayor Wes Wise, and the man who started the whole thing rolling, former mayor J. Erik Jonsson (Pei said that his two greatest allies in the long slog to get the City Hall finished — and to continue with other projects in Dallas — were Schrader and Jonsson, both of whom he was quite fond of and considered friends):

A chronology of the long, long trek to completion (at least up to 1976), prepared for the City by I. M. Pei & Partners:

I. M. Pei in 1978, happy in Dallas (DTH photo by Phil Huber):

And in October 2025, our solemn City Hall at the end of another day, holding steady as downtown Dallas’ southern anchor.

***

Sources & Notes

Top and bottom color photos of City Hall taken by Paula Bosse on October 23, 2025 from the Central Library.

All other images are from various collections of the Dallas History & Archives division of the Dallas Public Library (including the Dallas Times Herald Collection and the Juanita Craft Collection). All images are used with permission.

Construction photos, “Goals for Dallas” quote, color model photo, and chronology are all from the presentation binder Dallas Municipal Center by associated architects I. M. Pei & Partners and Harper & Kemp (July 5, 1976) (Dallas History & Archives/Dallas Public Library call number R690.513 D145).

The 2002 quote from Pei about City Hall is from I. M. Pei: An Oral History Interview, conducted in New York City on August 1, 2002 by Bonnie A. Lovell for the Dallas Public Library. Ostensibly about Pei’s involvement in commissioning the Henry Moore sculpture, this is an entertaining read/listen, as Pei discusses the larger City Hall project and his affinity and admiration for the city of Dallas and its citizens (audio recording and 48-page transcript with index, Dallas History & Archives/Dallas Public Library call number 730.92 M822YP 2003) — you can listen to the recording and read the transcript on the Dallas Public Library Recollect Digital Collections page here.

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July 1, 2025

Roger Staubach, HVAC Spokesman — 1970s

Rog and Fran, comparing their Carrier systems

by Paula Bosse

Dallas Cowboys star quarterback Roger Staubach appeared in a series of ads — and did personal appearances around the country — for the Carrier air conditioning company. Many of the ads featured Staubach’s family — and what a stroke of luck, because, as the ad below proclaims, “Everyone in my family loves air conditioning.” Sing it, Roger!

1979

I came across an interesting piece of trivia about Roger Staubach’s time as a Carrier spokesman: if he was unable to appear in person, he could still be at your local trade show, in his Cowboys uniform, telling you how much his family loved air conditioning. In January 1978, the Cowboys were fresh off a Super Bowl win, and it would have been expected that world champions might have other things to do, but a week or two after the Cowboys defeated the Broncos in Super Bowl XII, Roger was at the National Association of Home Builders convention in Dallas hawking A/C. …Sort of.

The Carrier Air Conditioning exhibit featured a “telequin” of Roger Staubach, a mannequin with Staubach’s face projected onto the face, giving the general effect that the Cowboy quarterback was standing there in uniform, giving the Carrier sales pitch. Staubach is Carrier’s national spokesman. Steve Millheiser, a Carrier salesman, said response to the exhibit had been excellent. “The Roger thing has been great,” he added. (Dallas Morning News, Jan. 26, 1978)

I couldn’t find much about “telequins,” except that there were apparently other celebrities who had a model of themselves made by Telequin-A.V.M., Inc., a company that specialized in “animated, talking mannequins.” I’m sure it was odd watching a mannequin with Roger Staubach’s animated face professing its love for A/C. …The ’70s, man. Weird times.

1979

1978

Roger Staubach and Fran Tarkenton, 1977

***

Sources & Notes

All ads from eBay.

Roger Staubach did a ton of TV commercials — a lot are on YouTube. He declined to do ads for underwear, beer or sugary cereals

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June 2, 2025

When Big D Had No Love for Bruce — 1974

Imagine what coulda been… (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

First off, apologies for the image quality of this advertisement. It’s from eBay (“He’s from Barcelona…”).

I thought it was an interesting ad, because I never knew that Bruce Springsteen played the Sportatorium, Dallas’ legendary wrestling mecca and off-and-on home to the Big D Jamboree. How had I never heard about this? (This was a show put together by local promoter Gene McCoslin, who had a long history with Willie Nelson.)

1974 was pretty early for Bruce to play in Dallas. He was starting to gain notice nationally, but he wasn’t a star yet. The tickets to the Sportatorium show were $4.50 in advance/$6.00 at the door (roughly $30 and $40 in today’s inflation-adjusted money). As it turns out, the show was canceled, because — hold onto yourselves — only 28 advance tickets had sold. …TWENTY-EIGHT.

That show was scheduled for November 10, 1974. A few months earlier — in June 1974 — Bruce was, for some inexplicable reason, booked as the opening act for… Maria Muldaur (“Midnight at the Oasis”). That show was scheduled at the UTA campus in Arlington. The Dallas Morning News reported that Bruce was a last-minute no-show, claiming a bout with the flu, but, apparently, he was unhappy with the small turnout and just didn’t go on. (Trouper Maria, having lost her opening act, performed for nearly 2 hours, and got rave reviews.)

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, June 9, 1974

Springsteen’s first actual performance on a Dallas stage appears to have been sometime in the same year as those two ill-fated non-gigs: 1974. Freelance rock critic Kim Martin-Pierce remembered it: “He always had a troubled history here. [He was booked to play at the old Mother Blues nightclub, but] he sold so poorly at Mother Blues that they moved him over to Gertie’s on Lemmon Avenue. He didn’t draw well at all there either, but he gave the greatest performance I’ve ever heard in a small club.” (DMN, “Springsteen Finally Shows Big D Who’s Boss” by John Anders, Nov. 30, 1984, after Bruce’s two sold-out shows at Reunion Arena)

Sorry, Bruce, for the cold shoulder! I think Dallas eventually came around. But you missed out. Playing the Sportatorium would have been really, really cool. And those 28 people would still be talking about the most amazing show they had ever seen.

***

Sources & Notes

Top ad from the Dallas underground newspaper Iconoclast, Nov.8-15, 1974; found on eBay in April 2024.

This post appeared previously in a slightly different form on the Flashback Dallas Patreon page.

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April 29, 2025

Lulu Roman, 1946-2025

In a Dallas courtroom, 1971

by Paula Bosse

Lulu Roman — known for her appearances on the TV show Hee Haw and her numerous gospel recordings — died last week (on April 23, 2025). She was a Dallas native and a graduate of Samuell High School. A summary of her life and career can be found in the Hollywood Reporter obituary and her Wikipedia entry.

She graduated from W. W. Samuell High School in 1964 (her name back then was Louise Hable), and five years later, she became an original member of the cast of Hee Haw. In 1971, her Oak Lawn apartment (2627 Douglas) was raided by seven narcotics agents, who seized 5.5 pounds of marijuana and small amounts of LSD and hashish. She was booked for drug possession, and this effectively ended her connection with Hee Haw (she later found religion, gave up drugs, and was welcomed back to the show when she was clean — you can see her talk about her new-found “high” to a Channel 8 reporter in 1973 on YouTube here). (The photo at the top is from one of Lulu’s appearances in court in 1971.)

She then went on to a successful career as a gospel singer. RIP, Lulu.

1963 Samuell yearbook, Junior class photo

Performing a “Calypso Christmas carol”:

1963 Samuell yearbook

1964 Samuell yearbook, Senior class photo

With classmate David Henderson, in costume for a theatrical production.

1964 Samuell yearbook

Detail of a photo of members of the Thespians Club:

1964 Samuell yearbook

Hitting the big-time, on Hee Haw:

***

Sources & Notes

Top image is a screenshot from Channel 8 news footage of Lulu’s drug possession trial in Dallas on Sept. 3, 1971, from the WFAA Collection, G. William Jones Collection, Hamon Arts Library, Southern Methodist University.

School photos from the 1963 and 1964 Samuell High School yearbooks.

Color photo of some of the Hee Haw cast members (Gordie Tapp, Junior Samples, Grandpa Jones, and Lulu Roman), from The Tennessean; black-and-white photo from Alamy.

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May 22, 2024

Rudolph Gunner: Dallas Bookseller and Emperor Maximilian’s “Best Friend”

238 Main, circa 1894

by Paula Bosse

For the past several years, I’ve been posting bookstore-related posts on the birthday of my late father, Dick Bosse, an antiquarian bookseller who began his career straight out of SMU at The Aldredge Book Store, a literary landmark to many, which he eventually ended up owning. This year’s offering goes back to 19th-century Dallas.

Above is a photo of the bookstore owned by Austrian immigrant Rudolph Gunner, located at 238 Main (later 1006 Main), between Poydras and Martin. Gunner (1833-1911) had, perhaps, one of the most impressive and colorful historical pedigrees of any Dallas resident. He served in the Austrian navy all over the world, but his most important service was as confidante and aide-de-camp to Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota of Mexico in the 1860s. That story is too big to tell here (Wikipedia is here to help), but it’s interesting that a man who was often referred to as “Maximilian’s best friend” eventually wound up in Dallas in 1885 and opened a bookstore, first on Elm Street, later on Main.

My father had a fascination with Mexico and used to talk about Maximilian quite a bit. I wonder if he knew Maximilian’s right-hand man lived out his days in Dallas, having spent several years as a bookseller?

Dallas city directory, 1896

In a sidenote, Gunner mentioned in several interviews that he had a LOT of historical documents and souvenirs from his military career serving in the Crimea, Egypt, Africa, and, especially, Mexico. I winced when I read this passage from an article by A. C. Greene in The Dallas Morning News (“Bookstore Owner Once Was Colorful General — He Headed Maximilian’s Mexico Palace Guard.” DMN, Apr. 18, 1993):

[A]t the time of his death in 1911 [his] home was at 1506 Fitzhugh. [His wife] was still living there, with a considerable collection of historic memorabilia, books, medals and military items, when the home burned, destroying everything but Gen. Gunner’s sword with the emperor’s crest.

Wow. All of that, gone. (And to answer my question above, I’m pretty sure my father would have known this, if only because he read A. C. Greene’s columns and probably even discussed this with him on a visit to the store.)

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo by Clifton Church, from his book Dallas, Texas, through a camera: a collection of half-tone engravings from original photographs (1894) — from the DeGolyer Library, SMU, here.

Read a first-hand account of Gunner’s time in Mexico in a Dallas Morning News article from Jan. 14, 1886 here; his DMN obituary (Aug. 25, 1911) is here.

Read previous Flashback Dallas articles on Dallas bookstores here.

I would love you to join me over on Patreon, where I upload Dallas history posts daily for subscribing members (as little as $5 a month!). If you would like to support what I do, check out Flashback Dallas on Patreon.

books_rudolph-gunner_dallas-through-a-camera_1894_degolyer-lib_SMU

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April 20, 2024

Jimi Hendrix in Dallas, 4/20/69

Doug, Mitch, Noel, and Jimi

by Paula Bosse

Today is 4/20 Day. An alternate (or parallel) way to celebrate the already alternative “holiday” is to mark the anniversary of one of Jimi Hendrix’s best interviews, on the Love Field tarmac on April 20, 1969, given to Dallas reporter Doug Terry (still a college student when he was at WFAA-Channel 8). The band was in Dallas for a show at Memorial Auditorium. It’s just a fantastic, laid-back, cool interview.

I had tried contacting Doug several years ago to let him know this clip was racking up the hits on YouTube, in case he wasn’t aware it was there, but I didn’t hear back from him until this week! He had seen the post I had written about this interview and wrote a bit about that momentous occasion in the email. He also adds some interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits I always find interesting (the following is used with Doug’s permission):

I was still a college student most of the time I worked at WFAA. I handed in my resignation after covering the north Texas pop festival in that same year. [Watch one of Doug’s reports from the Texas International Pop Festival here.] Your comment about being in a large city and its advantages was something that I did not fully grasp until years later. The access was wonderful, I saw Hendrix at least three times, on one occasion being in the dressing room with a camera when he warmed up for a show (that footage is nowhere to be found).

There are two aspects to mention about that interview. First, I was a weekend reporter and late night news anchor at Ch. 8 and I assigned myself to go interview him. In those days, one could call up the airlines when a notable person was coming in and they would give the flight number and arrival time. Amazing. Most of the people at the station at that time probably had no idea who Jimi was and wouldn’t have cared if they did know.

The other interesting point is the work of the photographer. Ordinarily, we did over the shoulder interviews, the camera to the back and side of the reporter. The fact that this was shot from the side made all the difference. As a shooter, he was not otherwise outstanding but this interview would be much less interesting if it had been shot in the traditional line-up sort of way. The two bandmates goofing around was distracting but great.

Thank you so much for getting in touch, Doug!

My original 2017 post about this interview (with the film clip of Jimi, Mitch Mitchell, and Noel Redding at Love Field) — which includes additional info about Jimi’s other performances in Dallas — is here: “Jimi Hendrix, Glen Campbell, Tiny Tim — In Dallas (…Separately), 1969.”

jimi_WFAA_042069_SMU_b

***

Sources & Notes

Screenshots from the WFAA Collection, G. WIlliam Jones Film and Video Collection, Hamon Arts Library, SMU.

Excerpt from Doug Terry’s email to me (April 16, 2024), used with permission.

jimi_WFAA_042069_SMU_a

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December 28, 2023

Some-Context Channel 8 Screenshots: 1971

WFAA Collection/Jones Film Collection/SMU

by Paula Bosse

I have been working as part of a 3-person team (led by Jeremy Spracklen and Scott Martin) on the WFAA archive of news film, housed in the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection at the Hamon Arts Library at SMU. I have been working on 1970 and 1971, going through daily footage shot for Channel 8 News. I get a bit bogged down by all the sports and car crashes, but at this point, I am so all-consumed by these two specific years that I feel I would do well on Jeopardy if the categories were things like “Minor League DFW Hockey Teams of the Early ’70s,” “Internecine Squabbles of the Dallas City Council, the Dallas School Board, and the Dallas County Commissioners Court,” and “So What’s the Deal with the Sharpstown Scandal?” My 2023 has been spent immersed in 1971, where the chaos of the implementation of court-ordered school busing, the huge securities fraud scandal that involved some very powerful Texas politicians (Sharpstown), and the battle between Craig Morton and Roger Staubach to become the Cowboys’ #1 quarterback were some of the stories that dominated the headlines. And, lordy, there were some pretty exotic hairstyles, fashions, and interior design trends hammering away relentlessly throughout this post-hippie (it might really still have been current-hippie), pre-disco period.

Here are a few of my favorite moments from this 1971 DFW-centric news footage from the WFAA archives. Links to the pertinent clips on YouTube are included at the end of the descriptions. These clips are rarely the full reports that would have been seen on the nightly news — they are often just silent footage or B-roll, without any identification of people or clues as to where they were filmed or even why they were newsworthy. It’s (mostly) a lot of fun to dig through and watch the unfolding of history from more than 50 years in the future.

Above, from JUNE 1971

One of my favorite human-interest stories from the past year (meaning 1971!) was the profile of one of the few “lady mailmen” in Dallas at the time. She’s utterly, utterly charming, has a supportive and interesting husband and family, and loves her job. The Channel 8 cameraman shows her as she sorts her mail in the Beverly Hills Station post office in Oak Cliff and follows her as she walks along her route on West Davis. The only problem with this 7 minutes of interesting footage is that the woman is never identified. I dove in, really wanting to identify her. I thought I had cracked the mystery of her identity, only to find myself at a dead end again. If only her children could see this wonderful profile of their mother. If you know who this woman is, please let me know, and we’ll add her name to the YouTube description and try to track down any family members. I would LOVE her children to be able to see this.

The “lady mailman” is interviewed here (this first bit is in three short segments, totaling 4 minutes); a later clip shows her on her route, here (about 3 minutes). The old post office building still stands at 509 N. Barnett.

JANUARY 1971

So, yeah, fashion and interior design trends were pretty… in-your-face in 1971. In the three screenshots below, you’ll see some retina-abusing images of with-it decor. The first features the always beautiful Phyllis George, the Denton native who was in the midst of her Miss America reign. In this clip, she has come back home to DFW for an appearance at an event in which a room designed with her in mind is unveiled (by decorators C. John Megna and William Farrington). She is wearing a dress designed by Carlo Bitetto specifically for her to wear IN THAT ROOM (!). You don’t often see sparkles and plaid cheek-by-jowl.

The clip with the super-color-saturated room and its battling patterns is here.

FEBRUARY 25, 1971

Before Lion Country Safari, Mesquite had World of Animals, a drive-thru safari park. World of Animals had a wild-animal veterinarian who visited regularly from California: Dr. Martin Dinnes. Below, Dinnes is seen providing dental care to popular attraction Harold the Chimp. This is not really something I expected to see, but there you are. (Dinnes was later engaged to actress and wildlife preservation activist Tippi Hedren for several years.)

The clips of Dinnes being interviewed and preparing Harold for a tooth extraction (and I grimaced a bit, because the camera keeps rolling during the procedure, so be warned!) are here and here. (The last clip has a shot of Harold’s hand, which, understandably, appears to be gripping the chair.) That is one well-behaved, chill chimp!

MAY 18, 1971

In 1971, there was an ongoing battle between old quarterback Craig Morton and NKOTB Roger Staubach over who would be named the team’s official starting QB. Coach Tom Landry worked for months with a two-quarterback system, alternating them from game to game — he was fine with this, but everyone else hated it. Below are screenshots of Morton and Staubach at the Cowboys practice field. I know virtually nothing about sports training, but this, um, extremely low-tech gadget struck me as weird. And funny. I mean, okay, it was 1971, but surely there was something more technologically advanced than this? It’s a football on a string, tied to a post. And maybe there’s a spring or something in there. This must have been effective. Rog looks like he’s straining. I don’t know. But I love it.

See Craig in an interview with Verne Lundquist from May 18, 1971 about his elbow and shoulder injuries here, and then using the football-on-a-string thing (and then training with Staubach) here; and see Roger interviewed on the same day about really, really wanting to be the starting QB here, and then he hits the string thing here before working out with Morton in what must have been a fairly tense period of both of their careers.

JUNE 1971

Medical examiners used to be on the news a lot. One who popped up frequently was Tarrant County M.E. Dr. Feliks Gwozdz. I was amused more than I should have been when I saw the skull-and-crossbones coffee mug on his desk. I hope it said “World’s Greatest Coroner!” on the back.

The silent footage of Dr. Gwozdz at his desk is here.

JULY 14, 1971

Back in 1971 there was what seemed like the threat of a union strike every 10 minutes. I enjoyed the footage of a bunch of Southwestern Bell employees who look like they were probably a lot of fun to hang out with. Their t-shirts read “Ma Bell Is a Cheap Mother,” which is just great.

Strike footage is here (about 2½ minutes) and here.

JULY 1971

One of the top stories of 1971 was the endless furor set off by court-mandated school busing in attempts to desegregate schools. It was a mess. The man seen below is attorney Bill Brice, a leader of one of the many anti-busing groups. …Surely the cameraman noticed the monkey.

Man with monkey can be seen here.

AUGUST 29, 1971

When the Dallas School Board and Supt. Nolan Estes weren’t pulling their hair out over desegregation, they tackled other issues. One of which was so overshadowed by anti-busing demonstrations that it barely got any play, but I find it really interesting. It concerned Crozier Tech High School downtown. At the end of the 1970-71 school year, the landmark school was closed, and there was lots of discussion on what the DISD should do with the building/land, which they owned (2218 Bryan). This press conference was supposed to be about Estes’ vision of a 40-story school-office complex, which he suggested be built on the land — the first 10 floors would be for school use, and the top 30 floors would be leased to businesses as office space, with leases, theoretically, paying for construction and maintenance of the building. The building was never built (and thankfully, old Tech still stands). School board president John Plath Green and Supt. Estes sit in front of an architectural drawing of the envisioned DISD skyscraper. Too bad no one wanted to talk about it.

Footage from the press conference where reporters only want to ask about busing, is here.

SEPTEMBER 23, 1971

The Sharpstown Scandal was a bigger story than busing, but, even though political scandals are juicy, it just didn’t get everyday people mobilizing, marching in the streets, and shouting each other down in public forums the way busing did. But it was a massive story, and several political careers bit the dust because of it. The sprawling and confusing securities-fraud scandal mostly involved drab politicians and business executives. But one part of it involved, bizarrely, six celebrated — if not beloved — NASA astronauts and an insurance company pension fund.

In this Channel 8 footage, you can see something you don’t see every day: five NASA astronauts walking together down the street (a sixth one was nearby, on his own). James Lovell, Pete Conrad, Fred Haise, Ken Mattingly, Richard Gordon, and Alan Bean were in Dallas on Sept. 23, 1971 to testify as witnesses before a federal grand jury that was investigating the activities surrounding the Sharpstown Scandal. These are screenshots of the five (minus Lovell), carrying briefcases through grubby downtown Dallas, and of Lovell on his own, exiting the Federal Court House. When I first watched this footage, it just seemed really odd: five internationally (galactically!) famous astronauts — heroes! — walking together down the street, without any kind of security or entourage. If you were a NASA freak (and there were a lot back then, at the height of the Apollo-Gemini programs) and you just happened to have walked past this group, your head would have exploded.

See Lovell exiting the sterile- and dystopian-looking courthouse on his own (that woman he holds the door open for has no idea who he is), and the others walking somewhat playfully down the street here (I love this footage!); a confusing wrap-up of the day’s events is here.

OCTOBER 14, 1971

In footage from the State Fair of Texas, I was really taken by this building, which I swore I had never seen. It was the home of the “lost children” center during the fair, in the Dallas police HQ in Fair Park. It looks different to me now, but it’s still there, near the Aquarium. It looked better in 1971!

Lots of footage of crying children and harried parents, here and here.

OCTOBER 1971

This young dandy is named John Ott (I’m not 100% sure about the spelling). He was a real estate developer in Euless. He couldn’t have been more on top of the 1971 fashion wave. Represent, Euless!

It’s a story about replanting trees (with, admittedly, interesting footage of trees being uprooted and replanted). Here and here.

OCTOBER 31, 1971

In the screenshots below, Channel 8 reporter Judi Hanna (who had recently debuted an unfortunate hairdo) interviews Dallas City Councilman Garry Weber about City Council things. I don’t know where this was filmed, but I only hope it wasn’t his home. It’s hard to focus on what anyone is saying, because of the tidal wave of stuff coming at you. (Ironically, he was being interviewed about sponsoring a change to the city charter in order to crack down on the “visual pollution” of unenforced sign ordinances.) I was so overwhelmed by this vista, that I somehow assumed I was seeing cupid-studded wallpaper. But no. Check out the second screenshot, which also includes a peek at the room’s drapes. I can’t tell where the wallpaper ends and the drapes begin.

Appropriately shown on Halloween night, clips from this report are here (followed by footage of signs-galore along Lemmon Avenue) and here.

OCTOBER 1971

Lastly, a shot of Mingus, Texas, a small West Texas town near Thurber. I just love this image. I think I found the location — here’s what it looks like now.

Why was the tiny town of MIngus being featured on a Dallas news report? The Greater Mingus-Thurber Metropolitan Area was in the news because it was the location of a commune of the controversial Children of God (i.e. “cult”). Actually, the “Children” were in the process of being evicted by the landowner, who, interestingly, was a TV preacher in Los Angeles (I guess even TV evangelists have a breaking point). Members of this group splintered, and a few moved to Big D for a while, where they continued to be newsworthy until they moved elsewhere.

The shot of Mingus is from one of the many clips contained in this Oct. 7 package, here (it is specifically at the 1:08 mark). Below that is a shot from a week later, after some of the self-described “Jesus Freaks” had landed in Dallas — a group member is seen walking through Exposition Park to their new HQ, at 639½ Exposition — it and other CoG footage from Oct. 14, 1971 is here (this specific shot is seen at the 17:18 mark). (If you are considering a documentary on the Children of God, there’s lots of footage for you in the WFAA archives at SMU.)

AUGUST 1971

This is a bonus.

As I worked my way through 1971, there was one truly amazing story. It involved the kidnapping of a toddler in Fort Worth. On Aug. 25, 1971, 21-month-old Melissa Suzanne Highsmith disappeared. Her 22-year-old mother, Alta, had hired a new babysitter, who was supposed to watch her for the day while Alta was at work. The babysitter picked Melissa up in the morning as planned, but she never returned the child. The babysitter and Melissa disappeared without a trace. There were no leads in the case for years. …And YEARS.

In 2022, the Highsmith family learned of an online DNA match, which would indicate they had found Melissa. Eventually, it was determined that a 50-something-year-old woman named “Melanie” was actually the long-missing Melissa. The woman who kidnapped her raised her as her own daughter, and Melissa never suspected she wasn’t the woman’s child (although she says she never felt really “connected” to her).

Melissa (she now uses “Melissa” again) was reunited with her family at the end of 2022. One report I read said that she grew up only 10 minutes from the Fort Worth apartment her mother lived in. Despite the Highsmith family’s 51 years of loss, grief, worry, and suffering, there has ultimately been a happy ending!

In the screenshot below from an Aug. 26, 1971 Channel 8 story, Alta Highsmith shows a photo of her missing daughter to the camera. The report is here.

If you managed to get all the way through this, you deserve an award! This might be the longest thing I’ve written all year! I’m more than ready for my 1971 Jeopardy challenge (Dallas edition)!

***

Sources & Notes

All screenshots are from news film in the WFAA Collection, held by the G. William Jones Film & Video Collection, Hamon Arts Library, SMU. Clips are posted regularly from this Channel 8 collection on YouTube, here.

My previous collection of WFAA screenshots can be found in the post “No-Context Channel 8 Screenshots: 1970-1971.”

lady mailman june 1971 WFAA_sm

8 Comments

November 23, 2023

Colony Club Billboard in Beautiful Kodachrome — Early 1960s

Downtown Dallas has it all…

by Paula Bosse

This. Is. A. Fantastic. Photo.

If only for the great, great, great Colony Club (“the best of the undressed”) billboard featuring Chris Colt (“the girl with the 45s”).

See this same view of the (one-time) intersection of Elm, Ervay, and Live Oak here and here. (The dazzling animated neon Coca-Cola sign was once where Chris Colt is showing off her 45s.)

I almost never post images with watermarks, but this photo is pretty spectacular. Look around the watermark!

I don’t know the seller of this color slide. I have no affiliation with the person. I get no cut in any sale. But I want someone reading this to BUY IT! Let’s keep this with someone who loves Dallas history! (And if you DO buy it and would like to send me a digital copy… well, I wouldn’t say no!) See this slide currently on eBay HERE. (HURRY!)

To see a naughty photo of Chris Colt, you can click on an antique collectors’ website here.

Colony Club ad, Nov. 22, 1962

And below is a photo of Colony Club owner Abe Weinstein in his younger years counting his moolah.

photo: Dallas Jewish Historical Society

***

Sources & Notes

Top image is from a color slide in a current eBay listing here. (Seller’s title: “Original Slide Dallas St Scene Colony Club Coca Cola Billboards Southland Life.”) There is no date, but Golden Steer Barbecue opened at 1713 Live Oak sometime in 1961.

Abe Weinstein photo — from his days as the co-owner of Abe’s and Pappy’s — is from the Facebook page of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society.

kodachrome_elm-ervay-live-oak_chris-colt_colony-club-billboard_ebay_WATERMARK_sm

7 Comments

July 26, 2023

Sinead O’Connor — 1990

oconnor-sinead_rolling-stone_june-1990_ebay

by Paula Bosse

Sinead O’Connor died today. I loved her. When she came to Dallas to play the Bronco Bowl on May 25, 1990, I was there. She sang “Nothing Compares 2 U” a capella. The audience was so quiet while she sang you could hear a pin drop. It was one of the most memorable live music moments I’ve ever experienced.

In the early days of alternative radio station KDGE, I spent a lot of time at the Edge studios and provided a surprising amount of (uncredited, unheralded, and uncompensated) “comedy” writing for one of the on-air personalities. I even did a few on-air bits.

One night, out of the blue, I got a phone call at home, and was told to call the station’s answering machine and give ridiculous directions to a secret Sinead O’Connor party which was supposedly being given in her honor while she was in town for her show at the Bronco Bowl. So I did. The sound quality is atrocious, but I had to scramble to find a tape recorder before the bit aired a few minutes later. I’m still waiting for my Peabody.

So here’s one of the improvised stealth comedy bits I did on The Edge (and, yes, I really do give directions like this). It is followed by a commercial for Sinead’s appearance at the Bronco Bowl, produced by 462 (pure ’90s nostalgia). I’ve been told by a friend that he could access this link on his laptop but not his phone, but I’m going for it anyway.

Listen to it here.

I wish Sinead hadn’t had such a hard life. She made many of our lives better. She made my life better. RIP.

***

Sources & Notes

Rolling Stone cover, June 1990, from eBay.

Recording from collection of Paula Bosse.

oconnor-sinead_rolling-stone_june-1990_ebay_sm

3 Comments

April 9, 2023

Muhammad Ali Visits Graham’s Barber Shop — ca. 1967

Muhammad Ali in a Dallas barber chair

by Paula Bosse

I often just browse through the ads of old Dallas high school yearbooks on Ancestry.com. The other day, I saw the photo above and stopped and said to myself, “Is that Muhammad Ali?” I then looked at the text and, yes, that was, in fact, Muhammad Ali. Sitting in a barber chair in Dallas, Texas. What was the story behind that?

In my less-than-extensive research, I found three instances of Ali being in Dallas in or before 1967 (the year of this Lincoln High School yearbook ad). The first was in November 1960, just one month after the 18-year-old Olympic champion had won his first professional fight. He was tagging along with Archie Moore (who was acting as something of a mentor) when Moore came to Dallas to fight local boxer Willie Morris. (Morris had lost to the then Cassius Clay in the Olympic trials, and, in a somewhat bitter interview with The Dallas Morning News said this about the young upstart: “He’s not near as good as all this talk about him.”)

The photo of Ali in the barber chair isn’t from this 1960 visit, but he was specifically mentioned in a Dallas Times Herald article as being in the crowd of a Nov. 1960 event I wrote about a few years ago. There’s film footage of this, and I’ve scanned the crowds, hoping to find him, with no luck. But if you want to look to see if you can find him, that footage is linked in the Flashback Dallas post “Newly Discovered Footage of Jack Ruby — 1960.”

It’s more likely that the barbershop photo was taken in March 1967 when Ali, a Muslim, made two appearances in Dallas: the first was to “preach” at a local mosque, and the second (two days later) was to speak to students at Bishop College.

The mosque appearance was on Easter Sunday — March 26, 1967 — at Muhammad’s Mosque of Islam, described by Dallas Morning News sportswriter Bob St. John as being housed in “an old, pinkish building which used to belong to an insurance company and heretofore rested in reasonable obscurity on the corner across from Booker T. Washington High School.”

St. John continued: “On Sunday afternoon, it was no longer obscure. The old building rocked from its foundation as people filled it and lined the sidewalk outside and even poured into the streets, some coming to see Cassius Clay and others Muhammad Ali….”

The article mentions that Ali was living in Houston at the time, so it’s certainly possible he visited Dallas more often, but he was so famous at this time that it seems likely that the mere hint of his charismatic presence in town would have shown up in the papers. As it was, a visit by him to a Dallas barbershop was memorialized in this ad, which someone like me can now write about in a vaguely historical way (on a day which just happens to be Easter Sunday, the anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s 1967 Islamic sermon delivered across from Booker T. Washington High School).

UPDATE: I was very excited to see the three photos below pop up recently on eBay — they show Ali at his mosque appearance (all three were taken on March 26, 1967 by Bob W. Smith, a Dallas news photographer). Ali is seen signing copies of a 20-cent Muslim paper called “Muhammad Speaks.” (A quote from Ali about why he was autographing these newspapers, from Bob St. John’s article: “A fish goes for bait. Then it’s hooked. I’m bait. Many would not buy if I didn’t autograph them. But once they’re bought… they’ll be sittin’ around some evening and pick up the paper. They’ll start reading. First thing you know, they’re hooked.”)

But back to the barbershop and Johnny Graham and a closer look at the two photos from the ad that originally caught my eye.

ali-muhammad_grahams-barber-shop_lincoln-high-school-yrbk_1967

“Muhammad Ali a Customer of Graham’s Barber Shop.” Ali is shown with an unidentified Graham’s customer, Jimmie Malone, Marie Cook, Althea Kimbrough, a customer, barber William Schufford, manager John Coleman, and two other customers.

ali-muhammad_grahams-barber-shop_lincoln-high-school-yrbk_1967_ford

The photo above also appeared in the ad, showcasing Graham’s community service and his work with the Kennedy Foundation. “Enjoy the free services of Graham Barbers. The barbers from left to right: Verbie Marrow, Lillie Hudson Brim, Willie Schufford, Emanuel Phillips, Supervisor, and customers.”

Johnny Graham was one of the most successful Black businessmen in Dallas at the time and was known for his philanthropic generosity. By the end of 1967, he owned eight barber shops and employed 135 barbers. Six of his shops are listed in the 1967 directory:

grahams-barber-shop_1967 1967 Dallas directory

***

Sources & Notes

Barbershop photos are from an ad in the 1967 Lincoln High School yearbook.

Photos of Muhammad Ali at Muhammad’s Mosque of Islam in Dallas were taken by news photographer Bob W. Smith on March 26, 1967, found on eBay.

The Dallas Morning News articles about Muhammad Ali in Dallas — and one about Johnny Graham:

“Morris Prefers Bout with Clay” (DMN, Nov. 26, 1960)
“Clay Makes Dallas Stop” by Bob St. John (DMN, Mar. 27, 1967)
“Clay Pleases Crowd With Speaking Form” by David Morgan (DMN, Mar. 29, 1967)
“Johnny Graham Offers Example” by Julia Scott Reed (DMN, Dec. 28, 1967)

Please consider supporting the work I do at Flashback Dallas by funding me on Patreon.

7 Comments

Flashback : Dallas

Category: Celebs

November 10, 2025

Dallas City Hall

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July 1, 2025

Roger Staubach, HVAC Spokesman — 1970s

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June 2, 2025

When Big D Had No Love for Bruce — 1974

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April 29, 2025

Lulu Roman, 1946-2025

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May 22, 2024

Rudolph Gunner: Dallas Bookseller and Emperor Maximilian’s “Best Friend”

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April 20, 2024

Jimi Hendrix in Dallas, 4/20/69

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December 28, 2023

Some-Context Channel 8 Screenshots: 1971

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November 23, 2023

Colony Club Billboard in Beautiful Kodachrome — Early 1960s

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July 26, 2023

Sinead O’Connor — 1990

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April 9, 2023

Muhammad Ali Visits Graham’s Barber Shop — ca. 1967

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Category: Celebs

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