Flashback : Dallas

Dads’ Day at Hockaday — 1947

Mid-day snack in Lower Greenville

by Paula Bosse

“Dads’ Day” at the Hockaday School for Girls, was a big thing. In this annual celebration, fathers (many of whom traveled from other states) would spend a few hours on the campus with their daughters, attend special programs and performances, visit classrooms, engage in friendly sporting matches against their daughters (volleyball, softball, kickball), and enjoy refreshments. In 1947, there was an al fresco Coke and hamburger lunch. But the big event was that night: a formal dinner in the Crystal Ballroom of the Baker Hotel. And, luckily for us, the Dads’ Day festivities of February 1947 were captured by Life magazine photographer Cornell Capa. A few of the photos appeared in the March 10, 1947 issue, in the story “Dad Has His Day; Texas Schoolgirls Invite Fathers to Come and Be Dates for a Day.” This Dads’ Day story even got the cover. Below are photos by Capa which weren’t used in the story.

Dads watching one of several presentations in their honor:

Sitting in a classroom. I don’t know who this girl is, but I love this photo of her. (If readers recognize any of the people in these photographs, please comment below.)

Hangin’ with the girls, enjoying refreshments:

Volleyballing with hats on (I love this photo!):

Enjoying more refreshments (lotta Coke at Hockaday…). (Note Bosque Bonita in the background, the property’s original house, Greenville and Belmont. Read more here.)

More refreshments on a chilly February day:

Girls who attended Hockaday as a boarding school, in a dorm, making the paper crowns which fathers will wear at the formal dinner at the Baker Hotel:

Below, Ann Seidenglanz (whose preparations for this big dinner were captured in the pages of Life — she even made the cover!) places a crown on her father’s head (Charles B. Seidenglanz):

I don’t know who these people are, but I love this photo:

Jerrie Marcus was accompanied by her father, Stanley Marcus. (Jerrie Marcus Smith died in March of this year. Please check out the book she wrote about her great aunt Carrie Marcus — A Girl Named Carrie: The Visionary Who Created Neiman Marcus and Set the Standard for Fashion.)

Miss Ela Hockaday, founder of the legendary school and, at the time of this photo, its president emeritus.

***

Sources & Notes

Photos are by Cornell Capa, taken on assignment for Life magazine — none of the photos above appeared in the published article (March 10, 1947). See the published story here; see the photos Capa shot (almost all of which were never published) here. All photos Copyright: ©Time Inc.

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None of the people in the photos above are identified, other than covergirl Ann Seidenglanz. And Stanley Marcus is obviously instantly recognizable to any Dallasite. If you can identify any of the others seen above, I’d be happy to add their names to this post.

Also, check out the lengthy Dallas Morning News story which preceded this Dads’ Day event (with studio photos of several fathers and daughters), in the DMN archives: “News of Women.” DMN, Feb. 9, 1947, Section III, p. 1, 2, 13.

More about the Greenville Avenue-era Hockaday campus can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “Belmont & Greenville: From Caruth Farmland to Hub of Lower Greenville.”

And you are always welcome to follow me on Patreon, where it’s Flashback Dallas every day, for as little as $5 a month.

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1 Comment

June 13, 2023

The Texettes, The Elite Corps of Texas Stadium Usherettes — 1971

Become a fabulous Texette… (July 1971)

by Paula Bosse

I will never be accused of knowing anything about sports — or even about things that are sports-adjacent — but I’m fairly literate in pop culture, and I am genuinely surprised that, until yesterday, I had never heard of the “Texettes.” I have no idea how long they lasted (for all I know, they’re still around!), but it was from 1971 until at least 1984 (I say 1984 only because there was a classified ad in the The Dallas Morning News announcing Texette auditions in June of that year — but Blackie Sherrod mentions them in what I think is the present tense in a 1989 column, so they might have been around into the ’90s). Seriously, how have I never heard of them? There’s almost nothing about them online, which is weird, because they were around for a significant amount of time.

The ad above, announcing the first-ever Texette auditions, appeared in the Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers on July 21, 1971. The opening of the brand-new Texas Stadium was on the horizon (the first Dallas Cowboys game to be played there was on Oct. 24, 1971), and the huge stadium was going to be 100% unfamiliar to Cowboys fans — they were going to need people to help them find stuff. Here’s where the Texettes came in. They were described as “hostesses” and “usherettes” who wore mini-skirts and go-go boots. Open auditions were held to find 125 Texettes. Hopefuls were advised to wear hotpants or mini-skirts and heels. The only qualifications appear to have been that the “girls” be between the ages of 18 and 30, at least 5’1″, DFW residents, and attractive.

BECOME A FABULOUS ‘TEXETTE’ AT THE NEW TEXAS STADIUM
and other Dallas/Ft. Worth entertainment events.

An elite usherette corps of 125 attractive girls to hostess Dallas Cowboys games as well as pop concerts, conventions, etc.
In addition to compensation, you will be custom fitted in a “Texette” outfit and become eligible for many other benefits.

Texettes were “hostesses” who smiled and welcomed people to the stadium, helped fans find their seats, and gave tours. (They also seem to have functioned as something not far removed from cocktail waitresses in the press box.) The first year (1971) they were paid $8 a game (equivalent in today’s money of about $60). They also appeared at various DFW events as sort of all-purpose Chamber-of-Commerce-like greeters with toothy smiles and toned thighs.

Their outfits consisted of white knee-high go-go boots, blue mini-skirts, white blouses, vests, yellow neckerchiefs, and white cowboy hats. They pre-dated the “sexy”-era of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (before the famous cheerleaders we know today, high school students cheered the team on at the Cotton Bowl), but the Texettes’ Western-inspired, drill-team-inspired costumes might have served as a kernel of the inspiration for those of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. It’s interesting (to me, anyway) that the Texettes and the Cheerleaders existed at the same time for a few years — for quite a while, in fact. Seems like they might cancel each other out. But I guess the Texettes were more cute-girl-next-door cowgirls in the stands, and the cheerleaders were sexy-girl-you’ll-never-be-able-to-talk-to-in-real-life cowgirls on the field.

As I said, I’d never heard of this “elite usherette corps” before yesterday. If anyone knows how long they were a thing, please comment below.

I’ve found two bits of film of Texette auditions (both are in the indispensable WFAA archives held by the Jones Film Collection at SMU). The first is from July 1971 (the same audition advertised in the top ad) — it can be seen in Channel 8 footage below (there are two separate clips — at the 19:44 mark and at the 24:26 mark). The report is delivered by a frightened man giving off “Tim Calhoun” vibes.

A later report — from 1975 — shows another try-out. The reporter notes that the job has unique perks, like maybe finding a football-player husband or catching the eye of a talent scout. By then, the pay had jumped to $10 an appearance, and there were a lot more applicants.

Below, a new Texette (Madonna Moore) on the field at Texas Stadium. This might have been taken on Oct. 15, 1971, the day the very first football game was played there (local team Bishop College lost to Texas Southern University, 34-21).

Bradenton (FL) Herald, Oct. 16, 1971

Showing off their new outfits are Texettes Cheri Mitchell, Claudia Garza, and Joyce Zodin. (The caption was incorrect about the date the Cowboys would take the field — that wasn’t until Oct. 24, 1971, in a game against the New England Patriots, which they won 44-21.)

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sept. 16, 1971

Texette June Copeland stands in front of Mike Ditka’s locker, which appears to have been rifled through.

Irving Daily News, Apr. 5, 1972

The Texettes were still going strong in 1982 as they entered their 11th year. I think the skirt has gotten shorter.

June 1982

This has nothing to do with the Texettes, but I love this photo of Dave Arey, director of operations at Texas Stadium. He’s seen here holding a replica of the stadium, which seems like it would have been perfect as a doggie bed.

Irving Daily News, Aug. 22, 1976

***

Sources & Notes

This originally appeared in a slightly different form this morning as a post on my Patreon page (where I post daily Dallas-history tidbits for subscribers who are generously supporting me for as little as $5 a month).

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June 11, 2023

A Few Photo Additions to Past Posts — #20

Cute little Peruna…

by Paula Bosse

Time to organize creeping clutter — here are a few things I’ve added to old posts.

The first few are related to Peruna, the diminutive SMU mascot. The drawing above and the ad below have been added to the post “Little Peruna: He Died With His Mustang Bridle On — 1934” (bit of a tearjerker…). (Sources: the drawing is from the 1939 SMU yearbook, The Rotunda; the Varsity Shop ad is from the 1960 Rotunda)

This photo of the wonderful memorial to Peruna I — by noted Dallas artist Michael Owen — has been added to the post “The Peruna Monument — 1937.” (Source: SMU Archives)

This 1956 ad for Ted Hinton’s Motor Lodge has been added to “Ted Hinton’s Motor Lodge — From Bonnie & Clyde to Motel Heliport.” (Source: Reddit)

I know that Austin’s BBQ was a big favorite of people, and here are a couple of photos I’ve added to “Bull Pen Barbecue/Austin’s Barbecue — 1949-2000.” (Sources: ads are from the 1964 and 1965 Sunset High School yearbooks)

These two images have been added to “The New Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Building — 1928.” (Sources: photo is from a SWB ad in an 1899 Dallas Fire Department publication, via the Portal to Texas History; the postcard is from “the internet”)

This little ad has been added to my sole post mentioning Hitler (and not in a way one might expect…), “The Texas Fire Extinguisher Co. and Hitler — 1942.” (Source: Texas Fireman magazine, June 1951, via the Portal to Texas History)

texas-fire-extinguisher-co_texas-fireman_june-1951_portal

A photo of the Washington Theatre/Theater from Oct. 1916 has been added to “The Washington Theater — Dallas’ First Movie Palace.” (Source: Theatre Exhibitors Herald and Motography, June 1919)

This blurry 1970 screenshot of the strip shopping center on Mockingbird, just east of Central (once home to Trini’s Restaurant), has been added to “Trini Lopez: Little Mexico’s Greatest Export.” (Source: KERA Collection, Jones Film Collection, SMU)

This 1949 ad for Wynnewood (“The Planned ‘City Within a City'”) has been added to the post “Wynnewood.” (Source: Dallas magazine, Feb. 1949)

The last additions have been made to the post “Metzger’s Milkmen in Bermuda Shorts — 1955.” It’s a long story, but this post has been “hidden” for several years, and I’ve just gotten around to basically rewriting the whole thing. I’ve added a bunch of photos, articles, and assorted other stuff, and I’ve also removed a bunch of stuff. Below are a few of the things added: a photo, a cartoon, and a sampling of headlines from newspapers around the country — see the post to learn about the to-do about BERMUDA SHORTS! (Sources: the photo is from Life magazine, the cartoon is from the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the headlines are from Boston, Detroit, and Murfreesboro, Tennessee)

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metzger_bermuda-shorts_detroit

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***

Sources & Notes

A “note”: why, yes, you can support me on Patreon! Click here for more info.

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8 Comments

June 5, 2023

Schulte Cigars, Elm & Akard — ca. 1923

Life at Elm & Akard…

by Paula Bosse

A. Schulte Cigars — at 1416 Elm — held down the southwest corner of Elm and Akard streets (Elm is in the foreground, with the streetcar tracks). The winsomely named Zesmer’s Bootery was at 1412 Elm. Around the corner on Akard was an orange-drink stand. Above the building was a surprising array of billboards. (There is a lot of advertising in this photo.) Here’s another view of the same block, looking west:

Every time I see those curlicue lamp posts, they seem to be in photos of Elm Street.

1400 block of Elm, 1923 city directory

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo by Frank Rogers; found on eBay.

Color postcard from the Flashback Dallas post “Views of Elm Street, With Cameo Appearances by the Fox Theater — 1920s-1960s.”

A previous Schulte location was at 201 S. Ervay, which you can see in the amazing photo in the post “‘There Are Eight Million Stories in the Naked City…’ — ca. 1920.”

Please consider supporting me on Patreon for as little as $5 a month. I post exclusive content there daily!

May 29, 2023

Love Field Aviation Camp, World War I

Love Field, with water tower, 1918

by Paula Bosse

On Memorial Day, a few photos of Love Field, which began as an aviation training camp during World War One. Read more on its history in an article by the City of Dallas Office of Historic Preservation, here.

via DeGolyer Library, SMU

via Library of Congress

***

Sources & Notes

Top photo is from the collection “Love Field Air Corps Training Depot and Dallas Aviation School, Texas” at the DeGolyer Library, SMU; more information on this photo can be found here. The second and third photos are from this same collection and are linked directly below the images. (The entire collection can be viewed here.)

More on WWI-era Love Field can be found in the 2014 Flashback Dallas (Valentine’s Day) post “From Deep in the Heart of Texas, I Give You Love Field — 1919.”

If you would like to support my work, please consider following me on Patreon for as little as $5 a month — I post exclusive content there daily.

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May 22, 2023

Cowboys Love Cokesbury’s — 1947

cokesbury_092847

by Paula Bosse

Today is my late father’s birthday. He was, in every respect of the word, a “bookman.” Every year on his birthday I post something bookstore-related.

His specialty was Texana and Western Americana. This Texas-themed Cokesbury’s ad is from September 1947, the same month The Aldredge Book Store opened (the store my father — Dick Bosse — eventually owned, a store which was also known for having “some pretty good books on Texas”).

***

Sources & Notes

This ad appeared in the Sept. 28, 1947 edition of The Dallas Morning News.

Read other Flashback Dallas posts on bookstores here.

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May 22, 2023

Tabletop Jukeboxes — 1940

Sammy’s, Greenville Ave., 1940

by Paula Bosse

Who isn’t thrilled to find yourself sitting in a booth at a restaurant with your own personal tabletop jukebox? You don’t see them much these days — the only place I can think of that still has them is Campisi’s. They were an absolute thrill to me as a child. I wonder how many of those little machines were broken by overly curious children who went crazy pushing all the buttons and twisting the knobs to flip the pages to see song selections by people they’d never heard of like Patti Page and Artie Shaw?

I just happened upon a collection of these coin-operated machines — called “wallboxes” — here. I had to look to see if Dallas was represented, and, yes, Dallas is represented. Thrice.

At the top, SAMMY’S — 1516 GREENVILLE AVENUE (below Lowest Greenville, one block south of Ross)

There were several locations of Sammy’s restaurants around town, but this was, I think, the first. (I’m pretty sure the building is still there — it just keeps getting renovated and turned into different restaurants/bars.) (UPDATE: Thanks to a comment on my Facebook page, I now realize that, according to Google Street View, the building that once housed Sammy’s bit the dust sometime between 2012 and 2013, when it became a parking lot. See it in 2007 on Google here.) This is the first time I’ve seen a photo of its interior. Below: what it looked like in its heyday.

ROSE OF THE RANCHO (later just The Rancho) — 4401 BRYAN STREET (in Old East Dallas, at Burlew Street)

Named after a popular movie, this cafe (which was busted a few times for selling liquor without a license) was in business near the Mrs. Baird’s plant at Bryan and Carroll, from at least 1936 to 1978, which is a long time for a restaurant. A 1938 newspaper article about a sorority’s Rush Week noted that the Delta Theta Kappas were attending a “stagette” supper there in September 1936.

The photo below, from 1940, shows an interesting interior. Sort of Art Deco-in-a-goldfish-bowl. There’s a lot to like here — I’m feeling hints of “nautical” — except for those booths, which look like the most uncomfortable restaurant seating I’ve ever seen. Browsing the songs on one of those little jukeboxes would at least have offered a bit of respite and distraction from obsessing over how inhospitably uncomfortable that bench you were sitting on was.

Rose of the Rancho, 1940

I came across the photo below when I was cataloging a collection of photos from the mid 1940s at the Dallas Historical Society — I remembered “Rose of the Rancho,” mainly because of its unusual name. Sadly, the photo shows only the sign (but, as a bonus, it does show the Mrs. Baird’s building, which I keep hearing is about to be renovated any day now). (It’s interesting to note, tangentially, that the guy who took this photo — and all in the collection I was working on — was obsessed with jukeboxes and other coin-operated machines. I feel confident that he stopped in at the Rancho for at least a cup of coffee, armed with a fistful of nickels in order to run through a few hits of the Mills Brothers or Andrews Sisters.)

Rose of the Rancho, 1944 (Dallas Historical Society)

OAK GROVE CAFE — 2630 N. HASKELL (near Weldon Street)

I couldn’t find much about this place, but it had a lot more of the jukebox units installed in it than the other two places: 32 boxes! Imagine if each table had its own concert going on. …And then multiply that by 32. I think those speakers directionalized (is that a word?) the sound so that it kept pretty much to the immediate area. Otherwise, “spillover” music at varying volumes could have been one of many things that tried the patience of waitresses just trying to get through their shifts. …Or it could have been great: different musical offerings at different tables, all day long. Bing Crosby with eggs and toast at table 4, “Stardust” with corned beef at table 6, and Harry James, hold the onions, at the counter. (UPDATE: I’m obviously not well acquainted with this technology. Thanks to the comment below by Bill Parrish, I realize that all of these tabletop machines played the same thing, and each table could adjust the volume. I think I like my idea of 30 different machines chaotically playing 30 different songs simultaneously, but that would have been pretty obnoxious!)

Oak Grove Cafe, 1940

***

Sources & Notes

The three photos stamped with “Buckley Music System” are all from the Hagley Digital Archives, here (scroll to find the specific photos).

The 1944 photo (which I have cropped) showing the Rose of the Rancho sign and the Mrs. Baird’s building is from the James H. Bell Collection, Dallas Historical Society — more information is here.

More on the Buckley Music System can be found here.

See one of these machines in action (with French narration!) in a YouTube video here.

If you’d like to support the work I do, please check out my Patreon subscription page here, where every day I try to post something new which hasn’t been posted here on the blog.

9 Comments

May 15, 2023

Fair Park at Night — ca. 1912

by Paula Bosse

The postcard above — “Luminous Fountain by Night at Fair Park, Dallas” — is one I’ve never seen. And it’s beautiful!

This ornamental fountain was commissioned by the City of Dallas Park Board in 1912 and debuted at that year’s State Fair.

On July 18, 1912, it was reported that the mayor and members of the Park Board were touring Fair Park to see how progress was coming on the new women’s and children’s “comfort station” (restroom and lounge) — during the inspection they decided a fountain would be nice in front of the main exhibition building. Five days later (!), the Park Board voted on it and appropriated $2,500 for the project (approximately $80,000 in today’s money). That afternoon committee members went out to Fair Park and decided it would go “in the middle walk, half way between [the] Exposition Building and the street” (Dallas Morning News, July 23, 1912). And less than a month after that, a design had been made and published. It was to be 30 feet in diameter at the base and 24 feet high. When the State Fair of Texas opened on Oct. 12, 1912, the fountain was completed. It took less than 3 months. From “You know what? A fountain would look real good here…” to DONE!

Dallas Morning News, Aug. 18, 1912

Here’s a photo of it, sans water, from a book published in 1915:

The weirdest little tidbit about this fountain’s debut at the 1912 State Fair is that there was a display of fish swimming around in it, courtesy of the Government Fish Hatchery at San Marcos.

The fountain was in front of the huge Exposition Building. Here’s a circa-1908 depiction of people milling about at night outside the building (a building which really does need a fountain in front of it!).

Back to that top image — I love it. “Illumination” was really big at the time (see “The Grand Elm Street Illumination — 1911”) — I’m surprised I don’t see more postcards like this — even if they’re just fake day-for-night images. A similar “nighttime in Fair Park” postcard is the one below, showing the entrance (this postcard has a 1909 postmark).

Since I have a postcard of the entrance from this same period showing what it looked like during the day (postmarked 1910)….

That star is pretty cool, especially at night.

I’m pretty sure that fountain bit the dust a long, long time ago. Maybe when everything was being revamped for the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition. It’s a shame. I don’t think there can ever be too many fountains.

***

Sources & Notes

Top postcard — “Luminous Fountain by Night at Fair Park, Dallas” (postmarked 1913) — is available now on eBay, here; one is also currently available on Card Cow here. I’m pretty sure this is going to be a strong contender for my favorite image of the year.

Photo of “Fountain, Fair Park” is from the book “Park System, Dallas, Texas, 1915,” here — from the Dallas Municipal Archives via the Portal to Texas History.

The postcards have pretty much all come from eBay over the years.

If you want even more of this sort of thing, perhaps you’d like to support me on Patreon for as little as $5 a month. I’m somehow managing to post daily there with “exclusive” content! I’m not sure how long I can keep this up, but if you’d like to see more Flashbacky stuff, hie thee to Patreon.com!

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4 Comments

May 9, 2023

Dallas Fire Stations — 1951

by Paula Bosse

Above and below, an interesting collection of snapshots of firehouses which were dotted around the city in 1951.

Edited: Because I found so many weird errors in the magazine’s captions (“Almons Road” is supposed to be “Abrams Road,” for instance…), I just went and looked them all up. There are a lot of errors! The corrected list — or at least the best I could do — is below. A surprising number of the buildings are still standing.

CORRECTED LOCATIONS

1) Station No. 32: 7007 Benning (at Jim Miller, in Urbandale)

2) Station No. 22: 3004 Armstrong (at Central Expressway)

3) Station No. 16: 5501 Columbia

4) Station No. 4: 1602 Young Street

5) Station No. 3: 3215 Gaston (see it around 1901 in the first photo in this post)

6) Station No. 14: 834 W. Tenth (and Tyler)

7) Station No. 12: 2300 S. Ervay

8) Station No. 13: 425 S. Hampton

9) Station No. 7: 706 E. 10th

10) Station No. 18: 1003 McKinney

11) Station No. 23: 1735 S. Ewing

12) Station No. 31: 9365 Garland Rd.

13) Station No. 19: 5600 East Grand

14) Station No. 31: 9365 Garland Rd. (again!)

15) Station No. 5: 3801 Parry

16) Station No. 11: 3828 Cedar Springs (which I wrote about here)

17) Station No. 8: 4422 Live Oak

18) Central Station: 2111 Main (now 2121 Main)

19) Station No. 29: 2449 Abrams Rd.

20) Love Field Station

21) Station No. 6: 2202 Forest Avenue (several pictures of this station are in this post)

22) UNKNOWN

23) Station No. 24: 2331 Poplar

24) Station No. 15: 600 N. Bishop (now Gloria’s restaurant — I wrote about the station here)

25) Station No. 27: 8401 Douglas

26) Station No. 26: 3303 W. Jefferson

27) Station No. 17: 5435 Lewis

28) Station No. 25: 4239 Lancaster

***

Sources & Notes

Photos are from the trade magazine Texas Fireman, 75th Anniversary Edition (June 1951), which is scanned in full here (the individual photo montages are on pages 40, 42, and 44); from the collection of the Dallas Firefighters Museum, via the Portal to Texas History.

See a few fire houses from 50 years before the ones seen above, in the Flashback Dallas post “Dallas Fire Stations — 1901.”

If you want to see more, more, MORE Flashback Dallas, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where for as little as $5 a month, you can see something Dallas-y every single day!

5 Comments

April 30, 2023

From the Vault: Life Along Turn-of-the-Century Main Street

East on Main from Market…

by Paula Bosse

I am in the midst of a supremely stressful move of a relative. Very, very stressful. So my output here has been punier than I would have liked. When time is at a premium, it’s always handy to be able to dip into the FD archives. Here’s a look at a photo I really like which was featured in the 2017 Flashback Dallas post “The Swiss Avenue Car on Main Street — ca. 1900.” Lots of zoomed-in details.

I hope I make it through this next week. Wish me luck!

If you are so inclined, please consider supporting me on Patreon, where, somehow, I’ve managed to post pretty much every day.

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