In 1936 as Texas prepared to celebrate its centennial--100 years
after the Battle of San Jacinto--Dallas was chosen as the site of
the official exhibition. Plans were under way for a modest Frontier
Days Celebration in Fort Worth--until Star-Telegram publisher and
civic booster Amon G. Carter stepped in. Carter considered the
naming of Dallas as the official site a gross miscarriage of
justice and was determined to get even by mounting a show that
would directly rival the official event--and pull tourist dollars
into Fort Worth. To put his celebration together Carter hired
flamboyant Broadway producer Billy Rose. The result was Fort
Worth's Frontier Centennial, an improbable conglomeration of
agricultural exhibits, sideshow nudes, an old-time Wild West show,
Rose's musicalized circus Jumbo, and a parade of Broadway and
vaudeville talent led by feature artiste, stripper Sally Rand.
The centerpiece for this extravaganza was the dinner theater, Casa
Manana, with the world's largest revolving stage surrounded by a
tank of water on which it seemed to float, over twenty fountains,
and geysers of water that shot into the air at strategic intervals.
The building featured over thirty Spanish-style arches, was 320
feet in length, and contained the world's longest bar, a fact of
which Rose was inordinately proud.
But it was the revue on this magnificent stage that truly made
theatrical history. On opening night, Paul Whiteman raised his
baton and two bands swung into the fanfare. There were
interpretations of the St. Louis World's Fair, the Paris Exposition
of 1925, and Chicago's 1933 Century of Progress Exposition. Texas
"Sweetheart Number One" wore a $5,000 gold-mesh gown, and Sally
Rand wore only a huge opaline balloon. On opening night when the
orchestra played "The Eyes of Texas," the audience rose to its feet
singing, whistling, and cheering. "Texans," wrote one critic, "are
not given to polite applause."
The Frontier Centennial and its sequel, the Frontier Fiesta, closed
after only two brief seasons (1936 and 1937), the second season cut
short by controversy and lawsuits. Rose left Fort Worth under a
cloud, informed by city fathers that his services were no longer
needed. Undaunted, he went on to become a multimillionaire with
almost legendary status as a theatrical producer.
But Fort Worth was never again the same after the Frontier
Centennial . . . and memories of that festival linger today, even
though the buildings were long ago razed.
Today a permanent theater-in-the-round, appropriately named Casa
Manana, is located on the centennial grounds. Popular with Fort
Worthians, it can only echo the splendor of the original.
General
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