Dallas Almanac

Did You Know?

Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones is a graduate of St. Mark’s prep school.

Actress Morgan Fairchild grew up in Dallas.

Dorothy Malone was the first Dallas native to win an Oscar (for her supporting role in Written on the Wind).

Ginger Rogers grew up in Fort Worth but began her acting career in Dallas when she won a contest at the Majestic Theatre.

Movies made in the Dallas area include-JFK. Ruby. Horn on the Fourth of July, RoboCop. The Karate Kid, and Bonnie and Clyde.

Dallas native Marvin Lee Aday, the singer better known as Meat Loaf, appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Wayne’s World.



You Need to Know

Sailboat enthusiasts planning to take to the water this month, remember: March and April are the most unpredictable months of the sailing season. “The weather changes rapidly in Texas,” says Jeff Martin, sailing committee chairman at Chandlers Landing Yacht & Tennis Club, located on Lake Ray Hubbard east of Dallas. “You can go out on a perfectly beautiful day and find yourself in the middle of the lake, surrounded by thunder and lightning.”

Before you set sail for the first time this season. Martin suggests checking out the club’s web site (www.clvtcsail.com) for everything you need to know about sailing, including up-to-the-minute Doppler weather radar reports. “People forget about hypothermia,” he says. “The air temperature may be 60 degrees, but the water will be in the 50s. Make sure flotation devices are in place.”



Traditions

The 24th Annual Tri Delta Charity Antiques Show is among the best of its kind, attracting more than 50 internationally known dealers in art, antiques, and collectibles. From March 3 through March 7. Dallas Convention Center, 650 S. Griffin St. Information: 214-691-3533.

The dozens of entertainers at the North Texas Irish Festival should get you in the mood for Celtic culture. Craobh Rua will be on hand-and whether that’s a seafood dip or a band from Belfast, it’s sure to bring out the leprechaun in you. Mar 6-7 at Fair Park. 214-670-8400.

Yesterday: Family Politics

Dairyman Earle Cabell was the third Cabell elected Dallas mayor.

Forty years ago this month, Dallas dairyman Earle Cabell cracked the foundation of the Citizen’s Charter Association (CCA)-the powerful political establishment that had called the shots in city politics for three decades–when he refused to wait his turn to be mayor.

Maybe it was destiny calling.

Earle’s grandfather, William L. Cabell, known as “Old Tige” from his days as a Confederate general, was elected mayor of Dallas in 1874; Earle’s father, Ben E. Cabell, was elected mayor in 1900. The CCA approached the third generation Cabell about running for mayor in 1959, but when R.L. Thornton, perhaps the most prominent power broker in Dallas history, decided to seek a fourth term as mayor, the association reneged on its offer.

Cabell, livid from the letdown. announced he would open his political headquarters on March 6. 1959, and kick the pants off the high and mighty “big banker bosses,” CCA conciliators offered him the nomination and money for the ’61 campaign if he would refrain in ’59, but Cabell adamantly refused. Thornton won in a narrow victory after a bitter runoff. but the damage was done. In 1961, Cabell was back with a vengeance against CCA-anointed Joe Geary and perennial gadfly George Fox. The CCA, desperately clinging to the political rudder, leaked a report that it would drop a bombshell during the Junior Chamber of Commerce’s televised debate of mayoral candidates at the Hotel Adolphus. When his turn came, Geary waived a police report documenting Cabell’s arrest for disorderly conduct in the parking loi of a North Dallas restaurant. But in a retort that would have made Old Tige proud, Cabell turned the charge to his advantage by claiming he bad fought “to protect the honor of his wife.”

A few days later. Cabell became the first non-CCA mayor of Dallas in 24 years. By the mid ’70s. the CCA was no longer a political force.

-Tom Peeler