The symbol of Dallas…
by Paula Bosse
One of my favorite views of the skyline — back when Pegasus had no competition.
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Original photograph by Lloyd M. Long, from postcard “Night Scene, Heart of Dallas, Texas” (D-43).
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Landmark alert!
by Paula Bosse
An ad with the famous local building making a cameo.
It’s called PLATEAU
…the wonder fabric by Pacific Mills
that’s so perfect for our Texas weather. Suits of
[redacted??] look like regular weight worsted
…yet can be worn most every month of the year.
A new shipment exclusive at Irby-Mayes.
I love this 1948 ad. Irby-Mayes was located — where else? — in the Mercantile Bank Building!
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
1912
by Paula Bosse
The Texas Land and Mortgage Company of London, Ltd. was the first mortgage company in the state of Texas. The Dallas branch of the English company opened in 1882 at a time when British investment across Texas was booming; it was one of the few speculation firms in the state that grew and prospered into the 20th century. Much development of the city in this period can be attributed to loans granted by the Texas Land & Mortgage Company.
The building they occupied (built by them in 1896) was located at the northwest corner of Commerce and Field, across Field from where the Adolphus has stood since 1912. The building in the 1912 ad looks a little different from the one in the photo below, taken four years earlier. It’s not a terribly attractive building in either photo, but there is some improvement in the later picture, and it IS vastly superior to the 7-Eleven occupying that corner today.
1908
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Advertisement from the pages of The Cattle Raisers’ Association of Texas, March 1912.
Bottom photograph from Greater Dallas Illustrated (Dallas: Friends of the Dallas Public Library, 1992 — originally published in Dallas in 1908).
For a short biography of A.G. Wood, the Scottish general manager of the Texas Land & Mortgage Co., see the Encyclopedia of Texas (1922) entry here.
Click pictures for larger images.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Elm St. at N. Lamar, looking east (click for much larger image)
by Paula Bosse
In a sort of unfocused wandering around the internet yesterday, I happened across two photos of Elm Street in 1909 that were virtually the same shot, and I came across them on completely unrelated websites. Just a weird coincidence. And they’re pretty cool.
(Ever since I wrote about L. Craddock & Co. Liquors a few months ago, I swear I see that building everywhere now! It’s become a kind of landmark I use to get my bearings. It’s the building on the left with the little cupola on top — it was at Elm and Poydras, between N. Lamar and Griffin.)
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The first photo is a postcard, from Ebay.
Second photo is from Texas: A Southwest Empire (Chicago/St. Louis: Passenger Traffic Dept. Rock Island-Frisco Lines and Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 1909).
To check out the businesses along this stretch of Elm, see the Worley’s 1909 city directory here. This page shows all the businesses in this photo, moving west to east. It will start with Sam Freshman Liquors right before you cross N. Lamar. On the east side of Lamar, on the right, E.M. Kahn’s. L. Craddock, on the left, is at the corner of Elm and Poydras.
The Worley’s and other criss-cross directories are invaluable in determining locations, especially at the time of this photo, because Dallas street numbers changed in 1911 and do not correspond to today’s street numbers (a surprisingly interesting topic, which I researched here). Besides, those directories are a lot of fun to play around with! (Then again, I was one of those kids who enjoyed reading the dictionary.)
Click photos for larger images.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
It’s alive!
The old Statler Hilton looks like it might finally be renovated! Read about the exciting plans here.
Click picture for larger image.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
by Paula Bosse
The photograph above, by George A. McAfee, shows Ervay Street, looking south from Main, in about 1920. Neiman’s is on the right. I’m not sure what the occasion was (I see special-event bunting….), but the two things that jump out right away are the number of people on the sidewalks and the amount of congestion on the streets. In addition to private automobiles (driven by “automobilists” or “autoists,” as the papers of the day referred to them), the street is also packed with cars standing in the taxi rank (cab stand) at the left, and a long line of hulking streetcars. This busy intersection is jammed to capacity.
The city of Dallas was desperately trying to relieve its traffic problems around this time, and there were numerous articles in the papers addressing the concerns of how to manage the congestion of streets not originally designed to handle motor vehicle traffic. Dallas and Fort Worth were working on similar plans of re-routing traffic patterns and instituting something called “skip stop” wherein streetcars would stop every other block rather than every block. Streetcars, in fact, though convenient and necessary, seemed to cause the most headaches as far as backing up and slowing down traffic, as they were constantly stopping to take on and let off passengers. There was something called a “safety zone” that was being tried at the time. I’m not sure I completely understand it, but it allowed cars to pass streetcars in certain areas while they were stopped.
That traffic is crazy. But, to be perfectly honest, it’s far less interesting than all that human activity — hundreds of people just going about their daily business. It’s always fun to zoom in on these photos, and, below, I’ve broken the original photograph into several little vignettes. I love the people hanging out the Neiman-Marcus windows. And all those newsboys! Not quite as charming was all that overhead clutter of power lines and telephone lines; combined with the street traffic, it makes for a very claustrophobic — if vibrant — downtown street scene. (Click photos for larger images.)
My favorite “hidden” image in the larger photograph. The only moment of calm.
I love this. The woman in front of the Neiman-Marcus plaque looking off into the distance, the display in the store window, the newsboy running down the street, the man in suspenders, the women’s fashions, and all those hats!
A barefoot boy and litter everywhere.
The congestion is pretty bad above the streets, too.
Cabbies, newsboys, and working stiffs.
I swear there was only one streetcar driver in Dallas, and he looked like this! Those motormen had a definite “look.”
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Original photograph attributed to George A. McAfee, from the DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University, accessible here.
For other photos I’ve zoomed in on the details, see here.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Britling Cafeteria’s rear entrance on Jackson St., 1920s
by Paula Bosse
A few weeks ago, I was zooming in on a view of the Dallas skyline when I saw an interesting restaurant sign: the Britling Cafeteria. After a little research, I learned that Britling Cafeterias are something of a cultural institution in Birmingham and Memphis (Elvis’ mother worked the coffee urn station in Memphis, and if that isn’t the sign of a Southern institution, I don’t know what is). Here in Texas, though … I’d never heard of it. It claimed to be the first cafeteria chain in the South, having begun in Birmingham in 1917 (and named for a character in, of all things, an H. G. Wells story). When the Dallas location opened at the end of 1922, it was only the sixth restaurant in the chain, joining others in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Memphis.
The Britling Cafeteria was at 1316 Commerce (“Right in the Heart of Things”), between Field and Akard. There were two entrances, one on Commerce and one on Jackson (seen in the photo above). It sounds pretty nice for a cafeteria — it was lavishly decorated in black and gold, lined with mirrors, filled with flowers, and it had a mezzanine and a raised platform for a live orchestra to provide background music. It had a seating capacity of 450, with an expected daily capacity of 3,000. We’re not talkin’ Luby’s here. Quick “Southern home-cooking” had arrived in Dallas, and it seems to have remained an active advertiser until the ads suddenly stopped in 1926. I hope Dallas enjoyed it while it had it.
Below is the interior of the Atlanta location, from about the same time as the Dallas location. Cafeterias were a whole lot nicer back then.
The first non-institutional cafeteria I can find mentioned in The Dallas Morning News was the one in the basement of the Praetorian Building (“Cleanliness, courteous, tipless”) in 1912, but the cafeteria “concept” must have still been fairly new to Dallas as the Britling advertisements that appeared in the week before the grand opening felt it necessary to explain how the system worked. “You’ll wait on yourself — and do it gladly.”
1922 (click to read)
But first, stop by for a “Day of Courtesy” preview — flowers for the ladies!
1922
1923
Below, a sample of some of the Southern home-cooking on the menu as well as the warning that there WILL be live music as “a charming quintet of young Dallas women play, sing and whistle (!) here twice daily.”
1926
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Photo is a detail from a larger view of the city from the DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, seen in an earlier post here. The block in which the cafeteria was located is now 2 AT&T Plaza.
Postcard of the interior of the Atlanta Britling Cafeteria from somewhere on the internet.
More can be found in the DMN article “Britling Cafeteria Will Open” (Nov. 26, 1922), with details on the chain and specifics on the Dallas location, here.
Great short history on the cafeteria that every self-respecting citizen of Alabama and Tennessee is apparently familiar with can be found here.
An amusing first-hand account of a Texan (J. J. Taylor) visiting a newfangled cafeteria in San Francisco appeared in The Dallas Morning News on Aug. 25, 1912 and can be read here.
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Main, east from Murphy (DeGolyer Library, SMU)
by Paula Bosse
Another day, another dollar. At left, the City National Bank, which was built in 1902-03. At right (and below), a woman dodging traffic to catch a streetcar.
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Stereograph image from the Lawrence T. Jones III Texas Photography Collection, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University; it is accessible here.
The DeGolyer description reads “Looking east on Main Street.” The City National Bank at the left was at the northeast corner of Murphy and Main, which would be, today, about where One Main Place stands.
A photo of the City National Bank, from the 1909 Worley’s directory:
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Oak Lawn & Lemmon, 1966
by Paula Bosse
Chances are, if you’re a native Dallasite and you’re a cult movie buff, you’ve heard of Dallas filmmaker Larry Buchanan (1923-2004), the self-described “schlockmeister” who made a ton of low-budget movies in Dallas, almost all of which are considered to fall in the “so-bad-they’re-good” category. I’ve made it through only three of them, and while they’re definitely not great (or even good, really), there were moments I enjoyed.
Buchanan’s most well-known movie — if only because the title has worked itself into the sci-fi vernacular — is Mars Needs Women, shot in Dallas in a couple of weeks in late 1966, starring former Disney child star Tommy Kirk and future star of “Batgirl,” Yvonne Craig. For me, the worst thing about the movie is its incredibly slow, molasses-like editing (courtesy of writer-director-editor Buchanan who was working on contract to churn out movies that had to be cut to a very specific running time, and he’s obviously padding here with interminably long scenes that drag and drag). And then there’s the dull stock footage and weird background music that I swear I’ve heard in every cheap Western ever made. Still … it has its charm.
But the BEST thing about this movie (and, presumably, his others) is that it was shot entirely in Dallas, using a lot of instantly recognizable locations. (Every time I saw a place I knew, I perked up — it reminded me a bit of seeing Bottle Rocket for the first time — almost shocked to see common every-day places in an honest-to-god MOVIE!) So, if you don’t feel you can sit through the whole thing (available, by the way, in its entirety online — see link at bottom), I’ve watched it for you, with a whole bunch of screen shots. So feast your eyes on what Dallas looked like in November of 1966. (By the way, because the movie revolves around …. Mars needing women, the movie is actually set in Houston, home of the Johnson Space Center. Even though you see the very distinctive Dallas skyline — repeatedly. Houston! You wish, Houston!)
My favorite shot is the one at the top of this page and is seen in the first 90 seconds of the movie: Oak Lawn at Lemmon, with the familiar Lucas B & B sign at the right. This area was used a few more times. One character goes into the old Esquire theater, but, sadly, there was no establishing shot showing that great old neon sign. I think the first interior — showing a couple at a lounge — was shot in the swanky private club, Club Village, at 3211 Oak Lawn (at Hall), just a short hop from Oak Lawn and Lemmon.
Next, we’re off to White Rock Lake.
White Rock Lake. Shot day-for-night, with the pump station in the distance.
White Rock Lake pump station, where the Martians are headquartered as they search for healthy, single women to take back to Mars to help re-populate the planet.
Love Field parking lot. Still shooting day-for-night. Badly.
The Southland Life Building, etc., magically transported to Houston.
Athens Strip — a strip joint on Lower Greenville, one block north of the old Arcadia Theater. I’ve never heard of this place, but I came across the story of a guy who had visited the place back around this time and remembered one of the VERY unhappy dancers who hurled handfuls of the coins (!) that had been tossed onstage back into the audience, with such force that his face and chin sustained minor lacerations.
Local celebrity-stripper “Bubbles” Cash, inside Athens Strip. Plainclothes Martian (standing) ponders whether she has what it takes to birth a nation. (She does.)
My favorite example of what a director is forced to resort to when there is no budget. This is some sort of sophisticated communication device. I think those are matchsticks.
Yvonne Craig, without a doubt the best actor in the movie. In fact, she’s really good. She had already made a few movies in Hollywood at this point, but the lure of a starring role brought her back to her hometown (where the newspapers reported she was happily staying with her parents during the two-week shoot).
Martian #1 and sexy space geneticist strolling through Fair Park — band shell behind them, to the left.
The Fair Park planetarium.
Love Field. I love the interior shots of the airport in this movie. (The stewardess walking down the stairs? Destined for Mars.)
Cotton Bowl, shot during a homecoming game between SMU and Baylor. Some shots show a packed stadium, some show this. Word of warning to the homecoming queen, Sherry Roberts: do NOT accept that flower delivery!
SMU, Meadows School of the Arts. I love the pan across the front of the building. Mars Needs Co-Eds.
SMU. BMOC (Big Martian On Campus).
The one location I couldn’t figure out. And it’s because it isn’t in Dallas. It’s the Collins Radio building in Richardson, a company that was absorbed by/bought out by/merged with Rockwell International. I think all the interior and exterior shots which are supposed to be NASA were shot here. How did a low-budget director like Larry Buchanan get into a place like that? According to a 1986 Texas Monthly article, Buchanan, in his day-job career as an ad-man, was hired by Collins Radio in 1961 to work in their “audio-visual” department” (the man who hired him was Harold Hoffman, whose later film work with Buchanan was done under the name Hal Dwain).
So, yeah — COOL location.
More Fair Park, more murky day-for-night.
White Rock Lake pump station, aka the Martian lair.
FANTASTIC flying saucer. Do the Martians get their five healthy, single women on board the ship and get them back home? You’ll have to watch it for yourself to find out.
You tell ’em, Konnie.
Check back in a few days for more on Larry Buchanan (including a long-lost photo of him at work back in his advertising days in the 1950s).
UPDATE: Here it is — Larry Buchanan filming a Chrysler spot in the Katy railyard in 1955 for Dallas’ Jamieson Film Company, here.
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The entire movie is on YouTube in a pretty good print. Watch it here.
Larry Buchanan Wikipedia page is here.
Mars Needs Women Wikipedia page is here.
Collins Radio/Rockwell Collins Wikipedia page is here.
Consult the Dallas Morning News archives to read a somewhat sarcastic Dallas Morning News article by Kent Biffle on the shooting of the Cotton Bowl sequence (I miss his Texana columns!): “That UFO Was a Field Goal” (Nov. 20, 1966).
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Elm Street, looking east… (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Damn you, suburban theaters and television, for killing this! (Hang in there, Majestic!)
Favorite thing gleaned from the postcard above? That Dallas had a newsreel-only theater — the Telenews. (See the original, somewhat pedestrian, daytime photograph which was transformed by all sorts of dazzling magic in order to turn it into that striking postcard, here.)
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All images are larger when clicked — some MUCH larger!
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Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
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