Dallas International with J.R. Ewing

When J.R. Ewing arrived in Dallas to film “Dallas,” the city soared to international. Southfork Ranch became the major tourist attraction. Ambassadors and Royalty and British tabloids focused on the Ewings at the Cattle Baron’s Ball. As shown in Dallas International with J.R. Ewing, actual Dallasites starred in their own parallel series, the real soap opera of Dallas. The 1980s Gold Rush made Dallas the world’s oil capital. Dallas was the international symbol of wealth and glamour, a Future City, an El Dorado. Dallas women like Morgan Fairchild and Jerry Hall were as beautiful as Sue Ellen or Pamela Ewing. Caroline Hunt Schoellkopf founded a 5-star luxury hotel, the Mansion. Neiman Marcus with its Fortnights was spectacular. “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” was a gala. Episodes of real Dallasites were even more dramatic than on TV. Jake Hamon Sr. was murdered by his mistress and set off the Teapot Dome oil scandals of President Warren G. Harding. A socialite fell in love with comedian George Burns. Blonde bombshell Priscilla Davis recaptured love for her murdered daughter by rearing her racially mixed granddaughter. Author Nancy Smith was the one newspaper columnist who wrote during all the years of the original ‘Dallas” series from 1978 to 1991. As celebrity writer and society editor of the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times Herald, she interviewed tycoons and movie stars, Kings, Queens, Princes and Princesses, and Ronald Reagan’s Inaugurations. This is the real story of Dallas.