Photographs | Flashback : Dallas

July 23, 2015

Nardis Sign-Painters: “Everything In Sportswear” — 1948

You don’t see this much anymore (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

I’m sure there were people in the past who thought that advertising painted directly onto buildings was as tacky as billboards are today, but I love it, and, sadly this type of sign-painting has become something of a lost art. Here we see men painting a sign for the successful apparel manufacturer Nardis Sportswear (later, Nardis of Dallas). The company’s corporate headquarters appears to have been on Browder street, with manufacturing factories on N. Austin and S. Poydras streets. The sign in the photo would seem to have been painted on the side of one of the factory buildings.

nardis_1948-directory 1948 city directory

1952 Mapsco

I think all these Nardis buildings are gone, so we don’t even get any faded ghost signs to remind us that Dallas was once a large-ish garment manufacturing center.

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Sources & Notes

Photo — dated 1948 on reverse, with stamp of the Hank Tenny Studio at 1420 Wood Street — found on eBay.

My previous post on the Nardis company — “Nardis of Dallas: The Fashion Connection Between ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and the Kennedy Assassination” — can be found here.

2 Comments

July 18, 2015

Radio Broadcasting, 1922-Style

WFAA “newsreader,” 1922 (click for larger image) Belo Collection, SMU

by Paula Bosse

This fantastic photo shows the interior of a little shack-like building on top of the old Dallas Morning News building at Commerce & Lamar, soon after WFAA radio had begun broadcasting in the summer of 1922. There are so many things I love about this photo. Let’s explore the details. (All pictures are larger when clicked.)

The Magnavox speaker/monitor.

The booster seat and the shoes that need a shine.

The announcer at work. (I’m assuming this telephone was being used as an early microphone?) The newspaper is The Dallas Journal, sister publication of The Dallas Morning News which owned WFAA radio. The headlines appear to be about the nationwide railroad and coalminers’ strikes, both of which had been getting more and more violent throughout July of 1922 (violence surrounding the railroad strike led to Texas Governor Pat Neff declaring martial law in Denison that month).

The control panel (which has its own fan).

And an open window around the corner, in the supervisor’s office. Cross-ventilation and oscillating fans might not have been hugely effective in keeping operators and machinery cool in the summertime.

Here’s another view of the “Operating Room,” as published in the DMN on June 25, 1922, the day before WFAA began broadcasting.

DMN, June 25, 1922

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Photo titled “WFAA Radio Original Control Panel” from the Belo Papers collection, DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University; it can be viewed here.

A companion post to this, “WFAA’s ‘Altitudinous Antenna System'” — which contains a background of WFAA’s debut and several photographs — is here.

Other Flashback Dallas posts on Dallas Radio and TV are here.

Click pictures for larger images.

3 Comments

July 17, 2015

WFAA Radio’s “Altitudinous Antenna System”

Seems … “busy” … (click for larger image) Belo Collection, SMU

by Paula Bosse

Broadcast radio was very, very, very new when WFAA radio went on the air in June, 1922; it was Dallas’ second radio station, but it was the city’s first commercial station, and its debut was a BIG deal. (WRR had preceded WFAA, but it was mainly used for city business.) Figuring out where to place towers and aerials and antennae (which may all be the same thing, for all I know) was a major problem, with not a lot of precedents. So why not just do what they did in the photo above?

WFAA began broadcasting at 12:30 p.m. on June 26, 1922, and the day before that, a giddy and surprisingly technical article appeared in The Dallas Morning News (which owned WFAA). The full article is linked below, but this is the specific passage devoted to those towers/aerials/antennae:

wfaa-towers_dmn_062522 DMN, June 25, 1922

I’m not sure if the photo at the top was from these first days (it appeared, undated, in the DMN in 1927), but here is a photo that accompanied the above article from 1922:

wfaa_tower_dmn_062522

Is that a little building? Why, yes it is.

WFAA. It began as a 50-watt station. Its studios occupied all of a 9×9-foot shack on top of the old Dallas Morning News Building. Its antennae were strung from a water tank on the The New building to a 20-foot mast on top of the Texas Bank Building. (DMN, May 21, 1950)

When WFAA began, it broadcast from inside of and on top of the old Dallas Morning News building, which was located at Commerce and Lamar. By 1927, it had moved its studios to swankier digs in the Baker Hotel. Below, another description of how the rooftop aerial situation — the “altitudinous antenna system” seen at the photo at the top of this post — functioned at this time.

One of the big towers is on top of the lofty Dallas Mercantile Bank Building, while the other is atop the high Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway Building. The wires are connected with the WFAA operating room on the roof of the Dallas Morning News Building between the two other structures. (DMN, Feb. 20, 1927)

But back to that little shack. Let’s see it a bit closer. Here’s the exterior.

Belo Collection, SMU

And here’s the interior.

Belo Collection, SMU

The generator and battery room.

wfaa_generator-battery_dmn_062522 DMN, June 25, 1922

And the supervisor’s office.

wfaa_supervisors-office_dmn_062522 DMN, June 25, 1922

And Dallas broadcasting never looked back from its humble beginnings.

Advertising detail, June 25, 1922

wfaa-logo_dmn_062522

***

Sources & Notes

Photographs from the Belo Records Collection, DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University. Top photo can be accessed here; rooftop “broadcasting room” (exterior) is here; “broadcasting room” (interior) is here. More photos here. (The interior and exterior shots of the studio seem to be from 1922. The announcer is reading from the DMN’s sister publication, The Dallas Journal, which contains an article about a subject hot in the news in July, 1922 — a strike by Kentucky coal miners.)

A Belo photo identified as showing the room containing the “Transmitter on top of The Dallas Morning News building, 1924” is here.

To read the article describing how WFAA (which, by the way, at some point stood for “Working For All Alike”) was put together — how it was literally put together — see the Dallas Morning News article “Most Complete Radio Station in the Southwest to Begin Broadcasting” (June 25, 1922), written by R. M. Lane, here, and the accompanying photos here.

See the companion Flashback Dallas post, “Radio Broadcasting, 1922-Style,” here.

Other Flashback Dallas posts on WFAA radio can be found here.

Other Flashback Dallas posts on Dallas Radio & TV can be found here.

2 Comments

July 14, 2015

Neiman-Marcus / France-Texas / A-Z — 1957

Mais oui!

by Paula Bosse

Bastille Day again already? It seems to come earlier every year. Last year I wrote about the 1957 Neiman-Marcus French Fortnight — the very first fortnight celebration. This year I thought I would present a few of the pages from the lavish advertising supplement Neiman’s placed in the October, 1957 issues of American and French Vogue. The mini-catalog was titled “Neiman-Marcus Brings France to Texas, Everything From A to Z.” (Link to the entire ad insert is below.) Here we have “C,” “R,” “V,” and “Z.” Enjoy a flashback to fabulous ’50s fashion photography. And Happy Bastille Day!

Click to read a list of events and exhibits happening around the store.

***

These pages are from a reprint of a 30-plus-page 1957 Neiman-Marcus advertising spread; from the collection of Stanley Marcus’ papers at the DeGolyer Library, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University. This is the very epitome of high-fashion advertising of the 1950s, and the sophisticated-but-fun-and-frothy art direction is wonderful. The entire mini-catalog has been scanned by SMU, and it can be viewed in a PDF, here.

My previous post “Neiman-Marcus Brings France to Big D — 1957” — which gives some background on this first N-M fortnight celebration and contains a great photo of the exterior of the downtown store elaborately decorated to resemble the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré — can be found here.

All images larger when clicked.

6 Comments

July 13, 2015

Locomotive & The White Swan Building

Back when the N. Lamar area was a bit more industrial

by Paula Bosse

Just a quick one today: loco chugging past the White Swan Building.

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Sources & Notes

Image from Flickr, captioned “Vintage postcard: MKT railroad engine, White Swan Building, Dallas, Texas”; viewable on Flickr here.

The historic White Swan Building is located at 2200 N. Lamar, just north of Woodall Rodgers; it currently houses the House of Blues.

3 Comments

July 11, 2015

Newsboy

“Nickel a copy, mister.”

by Paula Bosse

In 1912, The Dallas Morning News reported that there were over 700 newsboys in the city of Dallas, over 200 messenger boys, and “hundreds of other working boys between the ages of 6 and 17” (DMN, July 19, 1912). Some of these boys were working to help out their families, but many were homeless. Child labor was a major concern throughout the country, and most larger cities, such as Dallas, had “newsie homes” and associations to look after the interests of the boys.

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Sources & Notes

Newsboy photo found on eBay.

To read “Story of a Street Waif” (DMN, Dec. 22, 1912) — a somewhat Dickensian fictionalized account of a resilient Dallas newsboy written by Mrs. M. L. Kauffman (Sam Houston’s granddaughter, the former Margaret Belle Houston) — click here.

Photographer Lewis Wickes Hine had perhaps the greatest impact on the reform of child labor laws. Hine traveled the country photographing and interviewing working children in order to put a human face to a growing problem. Some of his photos can be seen here; his Wikipedia entry is here.

Photos of newsboys from previous Flashback Dallas posts can be found here.

1 Comment

July 10, 2015

Salvador Dali Brings “Nuclear Mysticism” to Dallas — 1952

Dali does Dallas (in a slanted doorway at Union Station)

by Paula Bosse

The artist and pop phenomenon Salvador Dali came to Dallas in 1952 to present a lecture at McFarlin Auditorium on the SMU campus as part of the popular Community Course series. This was during his “Nuclear Mysticism” period, during which his paintings were influenced by the atomic age, science, and religion. One of the examples of this direction in his art is his painting “Raphaelesque Head Exploding” from 1951.

“Raphaelesque Head Exploding”

This 1952 American lecture tour included at least three stops in Texas: Houston, Fort Worth, and Dallas. Dali and his wife, Gala, arrived in Dallas on the afternoon of Thursday, February 14, 1952, after the artist had spoken at a members-only event and luncheon at Fort Worth’s River Crest Country Club earlier in the day. The lecture at McFarlin Auditorium was on Saturday night, Feb. 16. One wonders what he did in Dallas on his free day Friday.

While in Dallas, Dali was interviewed at the Baker Hotel by Paul Crume of the Morning News, a bit of an odd choice, in that Crume — author of the very popular front-page “Big D” column — was generally the paper’s go-to humor writer, an indication, perhaps, that Dali was considered less of a serious artist than as a quirky and larger-than-life entertainer. Which… fair enough.

One of the interesting little morsels that Dali told Crume was that he was amazed that his dreams in Texas had all been in technicolor, a relative rarity for him.

“Astonishing! In New York, all black and white. In Texas, all in color. In Italy, everybody dreams in color. In France, not so much. It is very mysterious. But in Houston, I am dream in color twice. And then, last night here [in Dallas].” (DMN, Feb. 17, 1952)

Dali loved dreaming in technicolor and mentioned it several times throughout his career. This little tidbit from Earl Wilson’s column in 1944 is amusing (if weighted down by Wilson’s unfortunate lapses into dialect).

dali_earl-wilson_112644 New York Post, Nov. 26, 1944

To dream in technicolor every time “is very dangerous. Dreams in color every time is a terrific symptom of madness.” …I’m not sure what that says about Texas and/or Texans.

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo (dated Feb. 15, 1952) shows Salvador Dali standing in a slanted doorway at Union Station in Dallas (it seems likely that the photo was taken on Feb. 14th when he arrived in Dallas from Fort Worth, and was then published on Feb. 15th); it is from the Hayes Collection, Dallas History & Archives Division, Dallas Public Library (Call Number PA76-1/7171).

(Regarding this crooked door frame at Union Station: when Dali saw it he exclaimed, “A Dali-an door!”) (He would have loved Casa Magnetica at Six Flags.)

Articles about Dali’s visit to Dallas can be found in the archives of The Dallas Morning News:

“Key to New Art Revealed by Dali” (It’s Mysticism)” — an unbylined review, probably written by Paul Crume (DMN, Feb. 17, 1952)
“Texas Tints Dreams of Artist Dali” — interview by Paul Crume, conducted in the Baker Hotel (DMN, Feb. 17, 1952)
“Big D” column by Paul Crume (DMN, Feb. 19, 1952)

An entertaining 1965 appearance by Dali on Merv Griffin’s talk show can be seen here. He talks about dreaming in “glorious technicolor” at about 4:55. And, I mean… it’s just a great example of Dali as entertainer.

2 Comments

July 7, 2015

The Wilson Building & Its Tenants — 1908/1909

Forever & always, Dallas’ most beautiful building (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

I love the Wilson Building. Who doesn’t? Every time I realize it’s still standing, I’m actually kind of shocked. To find a 100-plus-year-old building still standing in Dallas is a rarity. If the wrecking ball ever strikes this building, there will definitely be hell to pay.

I’d never seen the above photo, which was published along with lovely art nouveau borders in the book Greater Dallas Illustrated, The Most Progressive Metropolis of the Southwest (1908). I’m fascinated by office buildings of the first half of the twentieth century that had business names painted on upper-floor windows. I always think of Sam Spade’s office.

I was really hoping to find at least ONE detective agency in the Wilson Building at that time, but steep rents and a choosy leasing agent were probably working against such downmarket enterprises setting up shop in such a grand palace. Below is the list of occupants in the building at about the time the top photo was taken. Aside from the Titche-Goettinger department store occupying the basement and first two floors, Dallas’ premier office building was home to several important local business concerns, lots of insurance companies and agents, some notable architects (Lang & Witchell, C.D. Hill, Overbeck & Willis), and a surprising number of osteopaths (including Edna B. Brown, one of only two women specifically mentioned by name). (Click directory page for larger image.)

***

Photo of the Wilson Building from Greater Dallas Illustrated (Dallas: Friends of the Dallas Public Library, 1992 — originally published in Dallas in 1908). The Wilson Building is located on Main and Elm at Ervay.

It’s doubtful that it would fall victim to the wrecking ball, but the Wilson Building may not actually be protected from any possible future threat of demolition. For clarification, see the comment near the top of the comments section in this Dallas Morning News article on recent demolition in the same block, here.

Sam Spade image is a still from the 1941 Humphrey Bogart film The Maltese Falcon, based on Dashiell Hammett’s novel. (Poor Archer….)

Directory page from Worley’s 1909 city directory.

My previous post — “The Wilson Building Under Construction — 1902” — can be found here.

Click pictures for larger images.

3 Comments

July 2, 2015

Commerce Street — 1942-ish

Commerce St. (click for larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Today, a somewhat random shot of Commerce Street from the early 1940s.

…And now I have a hankering for a Dr Pepper.

***

Cropped shot of an item currently being offered on eBay, here.

3 Comments

July 1, 2015

A New Turbine Power Station for Big D — 1907

New and old power plants, 1907 (click for much larger image)

by Paula Bosse

Construction began in 1906 on a new power plant for the Dallas Electric Light & Power Company. It was built next to the old power plant, and it furnished electricity for the city’s lighting and power needs as well as for its streetcars and interurban cars. When construction began, the project was expected to cost more than $500,000 (over $13 million in today’s money), a large (but necessary) expenditure for the growing city.

power-station_dmn_020906 Dallas Morning News, Feb. 9, 1906

The photo at the top shows the new plant on the left, and the old 19th-century plant on the right. Here, a view from the other side:

Inside? A lot of fascinating stuff that looked like this (as well as a stern-looking man who appears to be trying to avoid the camera):

The power station was northwest of downtown, between the MKT and Cotton Belt and Rock Island railroad yards (approximately where the American Airlines Center is today). Before the Trinity was straightened and moved, the plant was only about half a mile from the banks of the river. Even though the grade of the new station’s floor was built above the highest flood level, the historic flood of 1908 put the plant out of commission for several days, but — probably because it was filled with brand new equipment — the city’s power was restored much faster than one might have expected.

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Sources & Notes

Photos are from the Street Railway Journal, May 18, 1907 (Vol. XXIX, No. 20). To view the entire 7-page article — which includes more photographs as well as several floorplans and schematics, all of which are very cool (even to someone like me who has absolutely no idea of what any of it means!) — check it out, here.

The American Airlines Center incorporated elements of the 1907 plant’s design into its own:

aac

My previous related post, “DP&L’s Twin Smokestacks,” can be read here.

Photos are much larger when clicked.

4 Comments

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