Post by neferetus on Jul 11, 2005 14:02:30 GMT -5
Here's another nice write-up on Alamo Village from 2004...
BORDERLANDS
Border Crossings:
The Original Fake Alamo
by Soll Sussman
PLANETA FORUM
BRACKETTVILLE, Texas -- Glitzy new versions of "The Alamo" may come and go, but here in this dusty town not far from the Mexican border, there will always be an original fake Alamo.
No matter how durable the new Disney version of "The Alamo" starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton turns out to be, you will still be able to walk into the John Wayne and Western Museum on the set built for the 1960 epic directed by and starring the Big Man himself. The movie poster on display here instantly brings back an entirely different era in Hollywood and the United States.
"It took years to make," the faded poster for Wayne's movie proclaims. "It cost $12,000,000. ... It will be remembered forever."
Wayne directed, starred as Davy Crockett and put up a lot of his own money to make the film.
There's something just a little bit disorienting about driving onto a remote 18,000-acre ranch and suddenly catching sight of the Alamo
ALAMO RANCH
There's something just a little bit disorienting about driving onto a remote 18,000-acre ranch and suddenly catching sight of the Alamo, looking for all practical purposes the twin of the real deal in San Antonio. You know that someone, somehow, had to have been caught up in a grand dream for this to be here.
At age 88 Virginia Shahan runs the ranch and Alamo Village. In an interview at the village's office and gift shop, she recalled how the idea of making movies in a big way started in Brackettville.
"My Dad bought this ranch in 1925," she said. She met Happy in college at Baylor University in Waco and "transplanted" him to the ranch near Brackettville, 120 miles west of San Antonio and 30 miles east of Del Rio on the border. They were married in 1939. He was mayor in the 1950s, when the Fort Clark military base closed down, and people started talking about attracting movie production as part of an economic development effort to offset the lost jobs.
They heard about the search for a filming site for Wayne's "Alamo" and were able to attract the location manager out to take a look. She said the deciding factor was the expertise of a short local craftsman named Chato Hernandez in adobe construction, learned from WPA projects in the Depression.
CAN YOU BUILD AN ALAMO?
"Wayne looked down at Chato," Mrs. Shahan recalled, and the very tall movie star asked Hernandez if he thought he could build an Alamo. "Chato replied, "Mister Wayne, do you think you can make a movie?"
Wayne was a frequent visitor and sometimes resident during preparations for the movie and the filming, a period that lasted about two years. "I found him to be a very ccompassionate man, a very thoughtful man," Mrs. Shahan said. "Wayne said he always enjoyed coming here because he could relax."
There were battles over budget, to be sure. She said that her husband always had the idea that the set should be built to last, that it could attract more movie production to Brackettville. "He was trying to bring industry into the country," she said.
Mrs. Shahan took over after Hap's death in 1996 and has quickly learned the business. "It taught me," she laughed. "Just don't believe everything you hear -- or first put your money where your mouth is. I've loved every bit of it. ... I haven't had time to get old."
As longtime Alamo Village hand Rich Curilla tells it, Mrs. Shahan still says her husband was "the biggest dreamer she ever knew."
Curilla has been fascinated by the Alamo era in Texas history since he was a 7-year-old boy in State College, Pa., watching the old Davy Crockett television series. Now 57, he was a teenager in 1960 when Wayne's Alamo premiered. He saw it 13 times over a 6-month period.
An old toy replica of Davy Crockett's Alamo, complete with soldiers, is in a display case in the John Wayne Museum here. If you look closely, you'll see where it came from - "Property of Richard L. Curilla." He moved here in 1988, and holds a variety of jobs, including staging the Wild West shows presented as an extra attraction during the peak tourism season.
No one here talks about a competition with Disney's new $90-million historical epic that opened on April 9, 2004, just an opportunity for renewed interest in the Alamo Village.
BUILT TO LAST
The Brackettville replica of the 1836 Alamo is impressive, and even the period town built to be old San Antonio has complete buildings -- no false fronts. The Alamo replica was built to be historically accurate, but the town set is an invention.
By the Alamo Village's own count, it has hosted more than 200 productions over the years including movies, television shows, commercials, videos and other shoots, most notably Jimmy Stewart in "Two Rode Together," Dean Martin in "Bandolero," Willie Nelson in "Barbarosa," and the hit miniseries "Lonesome Dove."
When Disney's new $90-million historical epic finally opened on April 9, the Alamo Village marked the occasion with its first-ever outdoor showing of the John Wayne version on a 20 by 40 foot screen.
"It started out to be a small event," Tulisha Wardlaw, Hap and Virginia's daughter, said. "Well, we've gotten such a response that it's a major event." (The Wayne movie, by the way, is readily available on VHS or DVD, in case you couldn't make the trip).
TRAVELER TIPS
Admission for the Alamo Village (in 2004) is $7.50, and it is open every day except around Christmas. Western shows run several times a day during the summer. More information is readily available on their website.
The main set for the new "Alamo" was built in Dripping Springs, north of San Antonio near Austin. Although the new movie itself drew less than stellar reviews, everyone who saw the historically accurate set said it was spectacular. However, it wasn't built to last. There was some talk as the movie opened of trying to preserve the set, but the efforts appeared less than promising.
It would have made a terrific three-point trip -- go to San Antonio to see the real Alamo tucked into its picturesque downtown, go to Brackettville to see the original fake Alamo and then up to Dripping Springs for a modern fake one.
Instead, I would propose staying near Brackettville for a movie-themed trip. The region bills itself as the Southwest Texas Badlands, but more to the point, its border cities of Del Rio and Eagle Pass have produced a couple of modern classics.
Eagle Pass, across the border from Piedras Negras, was the site for John Sayles‚ "Lone Star," and Del Rio is the sister city of Ciudad Acuña, where Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek steamed up the screen in "Desperado."
Anyone who has seen the latter would enjoy a stop at The Corona Club, a classic Mexican nightclub on Acuna's downtown strip. It has lately started featuring Texas musicians like Reckless Kelly, Joe "King" Carrasco, Billy Joe Shaver and Pat Green.
AUTHOR
Border Crossings is a series of features prepared by Soll Sussman who reported on Mexico and Central America as a correspondent and regional news editor for The Associated Press. He left for a stint as A.P. bureau chief in Toronto. Because his heart never really left Mexico City, he quickly came to his senses and moved closer to the Mexican border. He now is a freelance writer happily living in Austin, Texas.
BORDERLANDS
Border Crossings:
The Original Fake Alamo
by Soll Sussman
PLANETA FORUM
BRACKETTVILLE, Texas -- Glitzy new versions of "The Alamo" may come and go, but here in this dusty town not far from the Mexican border, there will always be an original fake Alamo.
No matter how durable the new Disney version of "The Alamo" starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton turns out to be, you will still be able to walk into the John Wayne and Western Museum on the set built for the 1960 epic directed by and starring the Big Man himself. The movie poster on display here instantly brings back an entirely different era in Hollywood and the United States.
"It took years to make," the faded poster for Wayne's movie proclaims. "It cost $12,000,000. ... It will be remembered forever."
Wayne directed, starred as Davy Crockett and put up a lot of his own money to make the film.
There's something just a little bit disorienting about driving onto a remote 18,000-acre ranch and suddenly catching sight of the Alamo
ALAMO RANCH
There's something just a little bit disorienting about driving onto a remote 18,000-acre ranch and suddenly catching sight of the Alamo, looking for all practical purposes the twin of the real deal in San Antonio. You know that someone, somehow, had to have been caught up in a grand dream for this to be here.
At age 88 Virginia Shahan runs the ranch and Alamo Village. In an interview at the village's office and gift shop, she recalled how the idea of making movies in a big way started in Brackettville.
"My Dad bought this ranch in 1925," she said. She met Happy in college at Baylor University in Waco and "transplanted" him to the ranch near Brackettville, 120 miles west of San Antonio and 30 miles east of Del Rio on the border. They were married in 1939. He was mayor in the 1950s, when the Fort Clark military base closed down, and people started talking about attracting movie production as part of an economic development effort to offset the lost jobs.
They heard about the search for a filming site for Wayne's "Alamo" and were able to attract the location manager out to take a look. She said the deciding factor was the expertise of a short local craftsman named Chato Hernandez in adobe construction, learned from WPA projects in the Depression.
CAN YOU BUILD AN ALAMO?
"Wayne looked down at Chato," Mrs. Shahan recalled, and the very tall movie star asked Hernandez if he thought he could build an Alamo. "Chato replied, "Mister Wayne, do you think you can make a movie?"
Wayne was a frequent visitor and sometimes resident during preparations for the movie and the filming, a period that lasted about two years. "I found him to be a very ccompassionate man, a very thoughtful man," Mrs. Shahan said. "Wayne said he always enjoyed coming here because he could relax."
There were battles over budget, to be sure. She said that her husband always had the idea that the set should be built to last, that it could attract more movie production to Brackettville. "He was trying to bring industry into the country," she said.
Mrs. Shahan took over after Hap's death in 1996 and has quickly learned the business. "It taught me," she laughed. "Just don't believe everything you hear -- or first put your money where your mouth is. I've loved every bit of it. ... I haven't had time to get old."
As longtime Alamo Village hand Rich Curilla tells it, Mrs. Shahan still says her husband was "the biggest dreamer she ever knew."
Curilla has been fascinated by the Alamo era in Texas history since he was a 7-year-old boy in State College, Pa., watching the old Davy Crockett television series. Now 57, he was a teenager in 1960 when Wayne's Alamo premiered. He saw it 13 times over a 6-month period.
An old toy replica of Davy Crockett's Alamo, complete with soldiers, is in a display case in the John Wayne Museum here. If you look closely, you'll see where it came from - "Property of Richard L. Curilla." He moved here in 1988, and holds a variety of jobs, including staging the Wild West shows presented as an extra attraction during the peak tourism season.
No one here talks about a competition with Disney's new $90-million historical epic that opened on April 9, 2004, just an opportunity for renewed interest in the Alamo Village.
BUILT TO LAST
The Brackettville replica of the 1836 Alamo is impressive, and even the period town built to be old San Antonio has complete buildings -- no false fronts. The Alamo replica was built to be historically accurate, but the town set is an invention.
By the Alamo Village's own count, it has hosted more than 200 productions over the years including movies, television shows, commercials, videos and other shoots, most notably Jimmy Stewart in "Two Rode Together," Dean Martin in "Bandolero," Willie Nelson in "Barbarosa," and the hit miniseries "Lonesome Dove."
When Disney's new $90-million historical epic finally opened on April 9, the Alamo Village marked the occasion with its first-ever outdoor showing of the John Wayne version on a 20 by 40 foot screen.
"It started out to be a small event," Tulisha Wardlaw, Hap and Virginia's daughter, said. "Well, we've gotten such a response that it's a major event." (The Wayne movie, by the way, is readily available on VHS or DVD, in case you couldn't make the trip).
TRAVELER TIPS
Admission for the Alamo Village (in 2004) is $7.50, and it is open every day except around Christmas. Western shows run several times a day during the summer. More information is readily available on their website.
The main set for the new "Alamo" was built in Dripping Springs, north of San Antonio near Austin. Although the new movie itself drew less than stellar reviews, everyone who saw the historically accurate set said it was spectacular. However, it wasn't built to last. There was some talk as the movie opened of trying to preserve the set, but the efforts appeared less than promising.
It would have made a terrific three-point trip -- go to San Antonio to see the real Alamo tucked into its picturesque downtown, go to Brackettville to see the original fake Alamo and then up to Dripping Springs for a modern fake one.
Instead, I would propose staying near Brackettville for a movie-themed trip. The region bills itself as the Southwest Texas Badlands, but more to the point, its border cities of Del Rio and Eagle Pass have produced a couple of modern classics.
Eagle Pass, across the border from Piedras Negras, was the site for John Sayles‚ "Lone Star," and Del Rio is the sister city of Ciudad Acuña, where Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek steamed up the screen in "Desperado."
Anyone who has seen the latter would enjoy a stop at The Corona Club, a classic Mexican nightclub on Acuna's downtown strip. It has lately started featuring Texas musicians like Reckless Kelly, Joe "King" Carrasco, Billy Joe Shaver and Pat Green.
AUTHOR
Border Crossings is a series of features prepared by Soll Sussman who reported on Mexico and Central America as a correspondent and regional news editor for The Associated Press. He left for a stint as A.P. bureau chief in Toronto. Because his heart never really left Mexico City, he quickly came to his senses and moved closer to the Mexican border. He now is a freelance writer happily living in Austin, Texas.
