CASA MANANA Program

One of the items in the little archive of material left to my mother by Fenn Leech was this Program from the 1937 season of the original Casa Manana. It is a snapshot of a time long past, although I can honestly say that this is the Fort Worth that I grew up in and remember with much fondness.

Until this time Fort Worth was considered just a "Cowtown" where the herds were driven and dropped off for slaughter. After 1936 and Billy Rose the City that would be became the cultural center of the state of Texas. And it still is!

SALLY RAND

 SALLY RAND, who headlined the original CASA MANANA nightclub shows at the Fort Worth Frontier Centennial in 1936 was an Extraordinary Lady. I know, because I was lucky enough to be able to work with her years later when she made a special appearance at the New Casa Manana in 1973, 33years after her first fan dance on the previous stage.

 At the left above is Miss Rand as she appeared in 1936 and on the right as I knew her...when she was 70 years old and still an incredible dancer! My job was to bring her fans and hand them to her just before she made her entrance. Now Miss Rand was just a bit over 5 feet tall in her heels and those fans with their pink, glitter encrusted celuloid handles and four foot long pink ostrich plumes were VERY HEAVY! I marveled at every performance how she made them seem to float as if they weighed nothing at all! And alhough her body stocking had gotten a bit thicker over the years, she still was a commanding presense onstage....

Offstage Miss Rand was one of the most personable and classy Ladies I've ever had the pleasure to work with. As a group, the technical staff pooled our funds and sent a grand bouquet of flowers to her dressing room for opening night. Above is my copy of the letter she sent to EVERY ONE OF US just before the close of the show. You don't see that kind of thing anymore...you won't see Her kind of professional anymore, either. I'll treasure my memories and this letter until the day I die. 

The Leech Boys - Finale

As I've mentioned my mother FRANCES OLIVER MAYNARD went to Weatherford High School with the Leech brothers and the Van Hoosier sisters. She visited with them all in New York while still a single girl and kept up by mail and phone after she married.

These photos I've been posting all come from the files kept by Fenn Leech which were passed on to my mother on his death three years ago. I'll be donating them to the Weatherford Historical Society after these posts are finished.

On the left above are Fenn Leech, Marzelle Van Hoosier and F.C. Leech at the Stork Club in New York in the 1940's. And on the right the same three in Las Vegas in the early 1990's.

I feel a strange kinship with these people who I never met and yet in whose footsteps I followed...
...almost like family, though not related. We all cut our teeth at a magical place called
CASA MANANA!

Casa Manana Babies 1936

 Here are those LEECH boys in the dressing room at the original CASA MANANA in 1936. They really are just boys, aren't they! F.C. on the left was billed as "Barry Leech" and his older brother Fenn on the right was "Larry" during their brief sojourn in the footlights over the next 4 years. I love these photos.
 As I've said, I was about the same age when  I first started performing professionally at the new CASA in 1972.

 These are the VAN HOOSIER Sisters who were also students of MARY MARTIN in Weatherford and appeared as Showgirls at the original CASA in 1936. MARZELLE on the left continued on in show business in New York in the 1940's when this picture was taken ( I'm afraid I don't know the identity of her partner here, but they definatly had some kind of nightclub act together). MARGIE on the right appeared in all four seasons of the original CASA after which she married and wisely quit the business. She is seen in the photo below on the stuffed pony in a number from the original season of CASA MANANA, another shot of which appears in the retrospective article from the FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM on the left.

If a Time Machine is ever perfected I believe I would like to travel back to witness the spectacle BILLY ROSE created in Fort Worth back in 1936!

Mary Martin & The Leech Boys

 MARY MARTIN, the legendary Broadway Star was born and raised in Weatherford, Texas, where my Mother FRANCES OLIVER MAYNARD also grew up and where I spent summers as a boy in the 1960's. Everyone in town referred to Ms. Martin as "Mary" for she was a hometown girl and always would be. She is buried in the town cemetery, not far from where my family lie...and where i will rest one day. These people are my people.

Anyway...MARY ran a dance studio in Weatherford in the early 1930's and two of her most talented students were the very young LEECH Boys; F. C. ( Barry) & Fenn ( Larry) were high school classmates of my Mother and she maintained a close relationship with them for all of their lives.

In 1936 while BILLY ROSE was preparing the FRONTIER CENTENNIAL and casting dancers and showgirls from local talent, MARY MARTIN escorted 6 of her best pupils to Fort Worth to audition for spots in the ensemble of the first CASA MANANA show. F. C. & Fenn, 15 and 16 years old at the time were hired on the spot as part of the "Mens" chorus. ( I was also 15 when I first started working at the New Casa in 1972).

Two other pupils, also sisters MARGIE & MARZELLE VAN HOOSIER where hired as showgirls. This was quite an accomplishment for 4 kids from littleWeatherford.

 MARY MARTIN also auditioned, singing a song for MR. ROSE...after which he famously advised her to "Go Home and Sing Your Love Songs to your Husband!" or as  MARY herself related it"  Go Home and Have Babies!" . I imagine that whatever was actually said fell somewhere in between, but the effect was the same.

Of course, MARY MARTIN went on to fame in Hollywood and on Broadway, perhaps in part because of that first early rejection...and the LEECH BOYS tasted their own bit of fame over the next three summers at CASA MANANA in Fort Worth. My mother repeated their legacy to me many times during my childhood...and eventually I ended up working there myself...almost as if it was my time to fulfill....I've held a soft spot for both MARY and the LEECH BOYS ever since, although I never met any of them.

[It should be noted that BILLY ROSE wasn't auditioning actual Performers. All the Acts that played CASA MANANA in the 1930's were already established Vaudeville or Broadway entertainers. ROSE was only looking for Showgirls and Dancers whom he couldn't afford to import.
So his dismissal of MARY MARTIN's talent, while it might seem short-sighted of him is really only a practical consideration. A short setback for her, but within 2 years she was already an established act on her own.]

CASA MANANA 1936 - The Texas Centenial Celebration

 Outraged that DALLAS had been chosen as the center of celebrations in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Independance of Texas, Fort Worth civic leaders led by AMON CARTER, were determined to out-do anything their neighboring city might come up with. To that aim the New York showman BILLY ROSE was tapped to create a frontier-themed extravaganza and paid the unheard of  sum of $1000.00 per day for the 100 days it took to mount.

 The open area just east of the newly constructed WILL ROGERS MEMORIAL COMPLEX ( seen in the upper left of the photo above) was designated as the Frontier Centenial. This area bordered by Lancaster Avenue on the north and University Avenue on the east included the magnificent CASA MANANA ( in the lower left of the photo above) a 4200 seat open air nightclub which featured a 130 foot diameter revolving stage set within a 175 foot long lagoon of sparkling water. Three extravagant stage shows were presented nightly during the summer of 1936. The club was open from 6pm to 2am. The show was $1.00. A full meal was $1.50 with the top of the line mean featured at $2.00.

CASA MANANA lasted for 4 summer seasons from 1936 to 1939. The entire grounds were razed in early 1940.
I found these two photos of the area, on the left taken in 1952 and on the right a current satellite image. At the lower left of the photo on the left you can see where the original CASA MANANA stood, it's stage foundation and metal support structure still in place. The current CASA MANANA building designed by BUCKMINSTER FULLER and built by KAISER ALUMINUM in 1958 stands on the space just above the original location. The rectangular building to the south of the new Casa was the scenic and prop shop where I worked in the 1970's ( in fact I learned to drive the old theatre pickup truck, which was a stick shift, on the vacant lot right behind that building and over the exact spot where the original theatre had stood.) FARRINGTON FIELD on the right in both photos was built in 1939.

My friends Barry and Annie Cleveland published a very indepth article on the construction of the original CASA MANANA with many on site photos from the time
http://www.csun.edu/barrettc/documents/FortWorthForEntertainment-TDT.pdf
is the link if you want further information.

CASA MANANA - 1936 Frontier Centennial

As I have posted previously, my professional career began at the CASA MANANA PLAYHOUSE, Fort Worth, Texas in 1972. That Theatre was built in 1958 and ran a season of professional musical productions in the Summer as well as an award winning children's theatre in the winter and spring.

I apprenticed during the 1972 and 1973 Summer seasons, eventually becoming Propmaster and finally working as a Dresser with the Wardrobe Union there.

In the Children's Playhouse I appeared as an actor and honed my craft as a Puppeteer under the guidance of JOHNNY SIMONS, with whom I would later work as part of the  HIP POCKET THEATRE. My time at CASA lasted from 1972 until I left Fort Worth in 1976.

But...there was Another CASA MANANA, one that existsd 20 years before I was born and almost 40 years prior to my experience with the newly revived theatre....

 And I have a connection with that 1936 CASA as well, both through my Mother, FRANCES OLIVER MAYNARD of Weatherford, Texas and through Miss SALLY RAND who headlined the original CASA MANANA and with whom I worked at the New CASA in 1973.

My Mother inherited an archive of interesting articles and photographs which have now come down to me. I always knew this story growing up, and carried it with me as a sort of legacy during my time there and I am going to share that story in the next few posts.

The photos above come from a lengthy article in the  FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM
 published on the 60th anniversary of the Frontier Centennial(the 100th anniversary of Texas Independance), the centerpiece of which was the  largest outdoor nightclub on Earth...
CASA MANANA!