Questions for a Texan

[Lastkidpicked]

Well, well, well. Real life imitating our favorite TV show, Dallas.

There are two things happening right now here in Texas. The rebuilding after the Hurricane is underway and at the same time, oil prices are finally rising again.

Oil company executives are handing out million dollar bonuses to each other. Every place I go has a "Now Hiring" sign. Haliburton is on the radio calling all young folks to attend their hiring fair, and if you want to work in the Texas oil fields, they will pay to relocate you.

The RV dealership I drove past is looking for mechanics and offering a $5000 signing bonus.

It has the same "feel" that they were able to capture in Dallas. The feeling that ANYBODY (Except Ray) could strike it rich in Texas.

And I will be careful not to make any political statements at all here on this friendly board, but with life imitating Dallas, I just have to point out:

The former CEO of ExxonMobile (think Westar and Jeremy Wendel) is now our nation's Secratary of State. And his name is Rex Tillerson! How much more of a Dallas oil man name can you get? Rex Tillerson! You can't make this stuff up. They might as well have named him Punk Anderson.

I'm looking out my window and can't figure out if this is real-life or an episode of Dallas. Maybe I'll go to a barbeque and push somebody in the pool just to see what happens.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Hey, Friends!
Stumbled across something that I forgot to bring to you last year during the Hurricane Harvey storm that damaged much of Texas.

Welcome to the Legendary Southfork Ranch, made famous by the Ewing Family in the television series Dallas! Southfork Ranch is a premier special events venue and meeting destination in the Dallas Metro Area.

Welcome to Southfork Ranch
Southfork Ranch is welcoming Hurricane Harvey evacuees, free of charge. Management at Southfork Ranch are happy to help disaster victims who have come to North Texas.

I remember that many of you on here have toured Southfork. I'm sure you are proud of the announcement posted above.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

This is a very helpful thread started by @Lastkidpicked so I decided to bump it up in case some newer forum members might not have know it exists.

Hello friends. I sure enjoy reading all of your posts here.

Kenneth posting about his American (including Texas and Southfork visit) made me realize that you all might have some questions from a person who lives in the U.S., and travels frequently to Texas.

Please feel free to ask questions that pop into your head while watching Dallas, such as:

How far is it from Dallas to San Angelo? Would it be faster to drive or to fly?

How long would it take to drive from the Ewing Building to Southfork?

Why is there no security on Southfork?

What kind of vehicles are parked at the Cattlemans' Club in 2017? (The answer will suprise you).

Do they really have Texas-shaped waffles in the hotels?
View attachment 4989

Feel free to ask away!

P.S. I really enjoy the "behind the scenes" stuff even more than what you see on TV. When I had to drive past the Renaissance Building, I even went to where the executives park in real life so I could figure out exactly which parking spots J.R. and Bobby would have used. So feel free to ask any behind the scenes questions that pop into your head while watching the show.

@Lastkidpicked, You've mentioned in several threads how good the attention to detail was in early Dallas seasons when they filmed everything in Texas. Everything down to the West Coast mirror on Ray's truck!

I agree Dallas captured the look and feel of Texas extremely well in the seasons where everything was filmed in Texas. I'm wondering if you can think of another TV show which also captured the feel of Texas very well.

One show I watched which was set in Texas was Friday Night Lights. It's set in west Texas though, around Odessa.

If you saw it. what's your opinion of how accurately Friday Night Lights depicted Texas high school football and the culture surrounding it, and how much has Texas high school football changed since that series aired (2006-2011)? That hasn't been long, so maybe a better question is: The movie it was based upon was set in 1988, so how has Texas high school football changed since 1988? Is it as big a deal as it was back then, or close to as big? Are the star players on the high school football teams really treated like celebrities in their home towns?

Thanks!

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

This is a very helpful thread started by @Lastkidpicked so I decided to bump it up in case some newer forum members might not have know it exists.



@Lastkidpicked, You've mentioned in several threads how good the attention to detail was in early Dallas seasons when they filmed everything in Texas. Everything down to the West Coast mirror on Ray's truck!

I agree Dallas captured the look and feel of Texas extremely well in the seasons where everything was filmed in Texas. I'm wondering if you can think of another TV show which also captured the feel of Texas very well.

One show I watched which was set in Texas was Friday Night Lights. It's set in west Texas though, around Odessa.

If you saw it. what's your opinion of how accurately Friday Night Lights depicted Texas high school football and the culture surrounding it, and how much has Texas high school football changed since that series aired (2006-2011)? That hasn't been long, so maybe a better question is: The movie it was based upon was set in 1988, so how has Texas high school football changed since 1988? Is it as big a deal as it was back then, or close to as big? Are the star players on the high school football teams really treated like celebrities in their home towns?

Thanks!

that goes to the point I make here sometimes that they *vastly* underplayed Bobby's stated football background on the show. As the former All-SWC quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, I'd think he would have been far more well-known for that in most circles than for being a wealthy oil scion. Maybe that's part of why he would have made such a great 'road man' with influence in Austin?

(not a Texan here, but Northeast Ohio - think Paul Brown and the pro football hall of fame and substitute steel for oil. Half of the people where I grew up were Cleveland Browns and half were Pittsburgh Steelers, but 90+% were OSU Buckeyes fans. Most people would have known who the All-Big Ten QB for Ohio State was from less than a decade earlier, and from what I understand we were a big step down from Texas as far how nuts people were and still are over football.)

 

[Kenny Coyote]

that goes to the point I make here sometimes that they *vastly* underplayed Bobby's stated football background on the show. As the former All-SWC quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, I'd think he would have been far more well-known for that in most circles than for being a wealthy oil scion. Maybe that's part of why he would have made such a great 'road man' with influence in Austin?

(not a Texan here, but Northeast Ohio - think Paul Brown and the pro football hall of fame and substitute steel for oil. Half of the people where I grew up were Cleveland Browns and half were Pittsburgh Steelers, but 90+% were OSU Buckeyes fans. Most people would have known who the All-Big Ten QB for Ohio State was from less than a decade earlier, and from what I understand we were a big step down from Texas as far how nuts people were and still are over football.)

Yeah, I think it was underplayed too. I think it would have helped Bobby a lot as the "road man"! It sure would have been fun to see even one season of that time, before Bobby married Pam and was living a completely different lifestyle than what we ever saw him do.

Had Bobby not been from a wealthy oil and ranching family, I could definitely picture him becoming a football coach. I think he would have enjoyed that more than the oil business.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

that goes to the point I make here sometimes that they *vastly* underplayed Bobby's stated football background on the show. As the former All-SWC quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, I'd think he would have been far more well-known for that in most circles than for being a wealthy oil scion.

You are right about that! And that leads us to:

I agree Dallas captured the look and feel of Texas extremely well in the seasons where everything was filmed in Texas. I'm wondering if you can think of another TV show which also captured the feel of Texas very well.

One show I watched which was set in Texas was Friday Night Lights. It's set in west Texas though, around Odessa.

Texas football is still huge!

Just how big is Texas football?

There are still small towns that recruit high school football players from around the state. Let's say that Braddock High School wants Kenny to play for them. But Kenny is just a kid, and his family lives 300 miles away. So what happens?

Magically, a company in Braddock hires Kenny's father to work at the factory. So Kenny's father moves to Braddock with his family, and BANG! Kenny is now a student at Braddock High School.

Had Bobby not been from a wealthy oil and ranching family, I could definitely picture him becoming a football coach. I think he would have enjoyed that more than the oil business.

The real advantage Bobby Ewing would have is that he wouldn't need the income from his coaching job, so it would take much of the pressure off him.

What pressure?

We have seen examples where a team loses a game and the next day the coach wakes up to find FOR SALE signs on his house!

The best way to describe it for our European friends is imagine the World Cup. . .

Every Friday night.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

Yeah, I think it was underplayed too. I think it would have helped Bobby a lot as the "road man"! It sure would have been fun to see even one season of that time, before Bobby married Pam and was living a completely different lifestyle than what we ever saw him do.

Had Bobby not been from a wealthy oil and ranching family, I could definitely picture him becoming a football coach. I think he would have enjoyed that more than the oil business.

yeah, even the little football bits with the ever-crucial Guzzler episode were 'off' - 'you were a junior with all that ability but no confidence'... I think freshman would have made more sense in that dialogue. And it should have been Oklahoma on the game ball Guzzler threw to Bobby, not Colorado!

In a way, Bobby wasn't all that far off from 'Johnny Football' Manziel at A&M in real life a generation later, but not Heisman-level and far less bratty.

 

[Bill Dilks]

Great thread, LKP. Great info, about Texas AND yourself. I'm proud to "know" you.

-b

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Great thread, LKP. Great info, about Texas AND yourself. I'm proud to "know" you

Well, thank you Bill.

Truth is, I really enjoy reading your posts as well. The reason I post on here so often is I pass many of the filming locations and it is fun to think, "That is where Cliff would park when he was running Barnes-Wentworth." And "This is the gas station where the Ewings would probably stop for gas."

To put a finer point on it: I'm grateful that you all come on here to share your enjoyment of the show. It makes my day even more fun to read what you have to say about it.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

You are right about that! And that leads us to:

Magically, a company in Braddock hires Kenny's father to work at the factory. So Kenny's father moves to Braddock with his family, and BANG! Kenny is now a student at Braddock High School.

that sort of thing happens in Ohio, too. Usually it's the Catholic schools who 'recruit' there, but I had a coach who moved on to Massillon High later (where Paul Brown started - a big deal) and got busted there somehow for something like that - fudging a kid's residence.

Yeah, I think it was underplayed too. I think it would have helped Bobby a lot as the "road man"! It sure would have been fun to see even one season of that time, before Bobby married Pam and was living a completely different lifestyle than what we ever saw him do.

Had Bobby not been from a wealthy oil and ranching family, I could definitely picture him becoming a football coach. I think he would have enjoyed that more than the oil business.

hell, back in those days, Jock could have just bought Bobby a team. The parallel from my area would be Eddie DeBartolo Jr. (if he’d been the QB at OSU) - Edward Sr. was a mall magnate who bought the 49ers for his son, who didn’t seem as serious about the family business as a JR-type, in the late 70s right around the exact time Dallas started.

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/29/...-approved-by-nfl-nfl-agrees-to-49er-sale.html

(sorry for hijacking the thread, LKP - go on with the Texas stuff!)

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

back to Texas here: I know it's a huge state and there has to be quite a variation of accents, but I'd love to hear a Texan's assessment how how 'legit' the various accents on the show were. We know Donna and JR were native (maybe Donna more so, as Larry Hagman only spent part of his early years in Texas, and JR certainly didn't call his half-brother 'Rye' like Donna did)

Were accents like, say Jordan Lee or Fenton Washburn, pretty legit, or maybe more a trained actor's version of a 'Southern accent'? Fenton sure felt legit to me, but I really wouldn't know.

I feel like Sue Ellen was the latter and Pam, too - and those two were pretty inconsistent as to how thick they'd lay it on, if at all. Pam rarely used it after a while, but occasionally it would pop out for some reason (maybe due to the director's encouragement?).

 

[Kenny Coyote]

back to Texas here: I know it's a huge state and there has to be quite a variation of accents, but I'd love to hear a Texan's assessment how how 'legit' the various accents on the show were. We know Donna and JR were native (maybe Donna more so, as Larry Hagman only spent part of his early years in Texas, and JR certainly didn't call his half-brother 'Rye' like Donna did)

Were accents like, say Jordan Lee or Fenton Washburn, pretty legit, or maybe more a trained actor's version of a 'Southern accent'? Fenton sure felt legit to me, but I really wouldn't know.

I feel like Sue Ellen was the latter and Pam, too - and those two were pretty inconsistent as to how thick they'd lay it on, if at all. Pam rarely used it after a while, but occasionally it would pop out for some reason (maybe due to the director's encouragement?).

I'd like to know too, but I think you need to qualify the question as to is it a Dallas area accent or one of many different Texas accents because there are a lot of different Texan ones, as you'd expect in such a huge state.

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

I'd like to know too, but I think you need to qualify the question as to is it a Dallas area accent or one of many different Texas accents because there are a lot of different Texan ones, as you'd expect in such a huge state.

oh, I agree - that's part of why I could absolutely believe someone like Cliff who grew up in the city and aspired to a different economic/educational class and went to law school in NYC wouldn't have a trace of the accent, and also why Donna and JR could sound fairly different at times but both have legit Texas accents. Now that I think of it, I think LKP has expounded on this in the past!

I guess I'm kind of looking for "Fenton Washburn sounds like a rural good ol' boy from North Texas but Jordan Lee sounds like a guy from Houston who grew up with money, and Liz Craig... that accent's just nonsense!" (I'm making these up, of course)

 

[Seaviewer]

Just how big is Texas football?

Young Sheldon plays off that a bit as well.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

I guess I'm kind of looking for "Fenton Washburn sounds like a rural good ol' boy from North Texas but Jordan Lee sounds like a guy from Houston who grew up with money, and Liz Craig... that accent's just nonsense!" (I'm making these up, of course)

Kenny Coyote is right, we are in a big state and Dallas is the banking center, so the accent is more neutral in the city.

Houston is the oil center (home of the Seven Sisters). Houstonians pride themselves as being "Good Ole Boys" and they speak with an intentional drawl in order to preserve their heritage.

If you want to know what most of my friends sound like, find the ending to episode "Taste of Success" when Bobby buys the refinery.

Both Sue Ellen and J.R. speak with the same exact accents as my Texas buddies:

J.R. Do you know what Bobby did?
Sue Ellen: Of course, Darlin. He opened Ewing 23.
J.R.: Ewing 23? That's nothin'! He bought a refinery!
Sue Ellen: J.R., just calm down.
J.R.: Calm down?! Don't you know what this means? Bobby did something I never could do. He bought a refinery!
Sue Ellen: What are you goin to do?
J.R. I'm gonna bring Bobby Down. I'm gonna cut him out. . . If I have to destroy Ewing Oil to do it.

I can't upload it from my phone, but if you can find this scene (look up Youtube Dallas the Refinery) then you will hear both Linda Gray and Larry Hagman doing an accurate accent and sounding exactly like my buddies.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

I have a question for a Texan: How close to authentic is Patrick Duffy's version of a Texan accent where the only thing he changes from how he normally speaks is he drops the g from every ing ending? Bobby says things like: "I was askin' Jenna if she wanted to go ridin' today" - is that any more Texan than if he didn't drop the g?

 

[Lastkidpicked]

I have a question for a Texan: How close to authentic is Patrick Duffy's version of a Texan accent where the only thing he changes from how he normally speaks is he drops the g from every ing ending? Bobby says things like: "I was askin' Jenna if she wanted to go ridin' today" - is that any more Texan than if he didn't drop the g?

Good to hear from you, Kenny!

This summer I've traveled more for my job more than usual and noticed the different accents. I would say that the "deepness" of the Texas drawls goes from deepest to mildest along these lines:

In some of the smaller towns around Texas and Oklahoma, the drawl is deepest. I think this is because in these small towns they want to preserve their heritage.

In some of the bigger cities, such as Houston, there is a Texas accent that is very noticeable but it is not the deep drawl you hear in the small towns. Larry Hagman and Linda Gray nailed the Houston accent perfectly in the refinery scene.

For Patrick Duffy, remember that Dallas was not really correctly named. Houston is our oil center, and Dallas is our banking center. So in Dallas proper, we have people who moved here from all over the country and the Texas accent is diluted quite a bit. When you see scenes with Patrick Duffy at Southfork, and especially Patrick Duffy on a horse, he remembers to add in a mild accent and this is very close to how people speak inside the city.

The idea of Patrick dropping the G seems more of an overall country feel than specifically Texan. Again, you'll notice he mostly does it filming Southfork scenes and scenes when he is on a horse. In this case, his accent is more of an overall attitude of adopting a slower pace and a more laid back way of speaking.

 

[Lastkidpicked]

Young Sheldon plays off that a bit as well.

One thing that Young Sheldon does very well is showing how "little old ladies throw shade". For example, down in Texas a hidden meaning is, "Well, bless his heart." Picture a little old Texas lady saying, "Guzzler wants to be a big real estate developer, bless his heart."

What that really means is, while @Taylor Bennett Jr. might be a nice enough boy, he will never finish those high rises down in Venezuela.

Or as a Texan might tell you, "If your Grandma mentions your job and always adds, 'Bless his heart', then you should probably be looking for a different job."