I saw the above on the front page of this Saturday's, March 26, 2022, online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Upon seeing the
When Hollywood liked Fort Worth as much as Fort Worth liked Hollywood headline I instantly wondered if this was going to be one of those Star-Telegram staples I made mock of many years ago, a staple which seems to have disappeared in recent years, the disappearance of which caused one to think someone at the Star-Telegram had developed an eye for the absurdly ridiculous.
The Star-Telegram staple to which I refer I came to call the Star-Telegram's Green with Envy syndrome. Articles about some perfectly ordinary thing relating to Fort Worth which the Star-Telegram would claim made towns far and wide green with envy.
Eventually I made a
Green with Envy web page documenting some of this type nonsense.
So, I read today's Star-Telegram with it mind that today's article would likely contain some element of the Star-Telegram's Green with Envy verbiage. Or in some way be totally delusional.
This was a long article. The first instance of delusional verbiage came in the last sentence of the second paragraph...
Fort Worth was on its way to becoming the Hollywood of Texas!And then there is the paragraph which followed Fort Worth becoming the Hollywood of Texas...
Big-time production certainly seemed to be heading to Fort Worth in 1920 when Lone Star Pictures Corp. announced plans to relocate here from California. Like southern California, North Texas offered the promise of good weather for outdoor filming almost year-round. Their first picture was to be a “romance of the Texas oil fields,” but the studio never came, and their oil-field love story was never filmed.
Fort Worth has a long history of some big deal not materializing. Or being delusional about some development being touted as destined to become the #1 tourist attraction in Texas. Which is what the Star-Telegram touted when the Cabela's sporting goods store opened a store in Fort Worth.
The following paragraph contains multiple Fort Worth delusions...
Hollywood liked Fort Worth as much as Fort Worth liked Hollywood, reflected in how many films opened here. In the fall of 1940 Warner Brothers opened “The Westerner” starring Gary Cooper here. The decision to premier it in Fort Worth was easy since this was “the city where the West begins” as Amon Carter often said. At its Sept. 19 opening, with World War II already raging in Europe, a Star-Telegram headline screamed, “Everybody but Hitler here for Premier.” The city rolled out the red carpet for Cooper, director William Wyler, and producer Samuel Goldwyn, and Warner Brothers booked the film into all three first-run theaters (the Hollywood, Worth, and Palace). The opening pushed news of the war off the front page of the Star-Telegram. Amon Carter joined in the spirit of things by throwing a party for distinguished visitors at his Shady Oak Farm. Everyone agreed, Fort Worth hospitality was unmatched, or as Samuel Goldwyn said, “It is doubtful such an event would have been held anywhere else outside Hollywood.”
Hollywood used to like Fort Worth as much as Fort Worth liked Hollywood? The use of the past tense seems to indicate neither town still likes the other. The decision to open a Hollywood Western in Fort Worth was easy because Amon Carter often said Fort Worth is where the West begins? Only Fort Worth pretends the town to be where the West begins. Most Americans think the town which has that honor is St. Louis, Missouri. That town even built a giant arch to symbolize St. Louis being the Gateway to the West.
The Star-Telegram screamed everybody but Hitler is in Fort Worth for the movie premier? Clearly, the Star-Telegram's habit of printing ridiculous hyperbolic nonsense is a habit that has been around for a long long time.
And then we have this doozy of a paragraph...
The year 1951 proved a banner year for movies about Fort Worth. “Follow the Sun” was 20th Century Fox’s “inspiring true story of America’s greatest athlete,” which for the movie’s purpose meant Fort Worth golf legend Ben Hogan. It opened on March 23 simultaneously in all three first-run theaters, and the city proclaimed, “Ben Hogan Day!” One Star-Telegram columnist called the premier “the biggest thing to hit this town since Amon Carter put on a cowboy hat and climbed up on a horse.” After the premier Mrs. Hogan told the Fort Worth Press “they got all the facts exactly right,” and Amon Carter pronounced star Glenn Ford worthy of an Oscar.Movies about Fort Worth? With 1951 being a banner year for such?
And then we have this paragraph...
Horses and Fort Worth just naturally went together. A 1951 Warner Brothers movie starring Randolph Scott used the city’s name for its title though there was little connection to actual historical events in the script. In “Fort Worth” Scott played peace-loving newspaperman Ned Britt trying to tame the town through the power of the press, but of course in the end it took a six-gun. The only bow to history was a passing reference in Britt’s newspaper to a panther spotted sleeping on Belknap Street. The movie’s opening (June 13) reportedly broke “all known world premier records” with 7,000 flocking to all four downtown theaters (the Big 3 plus the Majestic). The city also provided an “Official World Premier Hostess” to escort Scott around town. Applicants for the job had to supply a photo of themselves in a bathing suit.The idea of someone trying to tame Fort Worth with the power of the press is an amusing thing to read. To this day Fort Worth does not have what most towns have, that being a real newspaper practicing real journalism, ferreting out corruption and wrongdoing, instead of being a cheerleader for what is known as the Fort Worth Way, currently best exemplified by how the Star-Telegram has covered Fort Worth's ongoing mess known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island Riverwalk District Vision. And, really?
The premier of this movie titled
Fort Worth broke all known world premier records? I am guessing towns far and wide were green with envy when that happened.
And then there is the final paragraph of this Star-Telegram article, a paragraph which contains the most delusional item in the entire article...
With all the natural attractions of Cowtown, and the hard work of the Fort Worth Film Commission there is a good chance Fort Worth will attract future productions. They will need financial inducements, location settings, and plenty of extras. Fort Worth is open for business.Fort Worth has natural attractions? Really? And those are what? The Tandy Hills is the only thing I can think of? The
Fort Worth Stockyards are not a natural attraction, but they are an attraction, really, the only thing remotely unique in all of Fort Worth....
