We were going to go to the Telephone Pioneer Museum at AT&T's World Headquarters Center, but when Marie called to find out the exact hours, she found out the museum was closed. Figures AT&T would close down something that was actually cultural and enjoyable. Who the hell wants to grace an AT&T establishment on their birthday, anyway. Soooooo, we went to Southfork Ranch -- home of the Ewings of the prime-time soap opera, Dallas.
Credit is being given to Marie Grace Elmore for writing up the adventures of our day for me. Some information also came from the official Southfork Ranch website
The house was built in 1970 for Mr. & Mrs. J.R. Duncan and children. The show, Dallas, started in 1978, ran for 13 seasons (356 episodes), and has been aired in 95 different countries. The scripts and story lines of the show were a well guarded secret; even the cast didn't know who was going to be killed off each season.
The scouts for the show looked around the area and discovered Southfork. They landed their helicopter in the front yard and asked to use the home. The Duncans first said "no." The show's scouts continued to look around the area, finding nothing that appealed to them as much as Southfork. They came back to Southfork with their checkbook and the Duncans said yes this time, with the stipulation that they only use the outside area and only do their filming in June, July, and August when the children were home from school.
Filming was never done inside the home. All shots were filmed outside and then the inside scenes were completed months later in a California soundstage. The inside of the house was nothing like the set that was used in the TV series. Now that the home is open for public touring, it was decorated to the specs of the show.
When the "Who shot JR" episode aired, fans confused TV with reality. Many found the house and the Duncans would step outside to flowers and cards left for the ailing J.R. Ewing. The Duncans got so many requests for use of their property for private functions that tents and a party pavilion were built for these purposes. The deluge of fans and tourism on the Duncans' privacy got so bad that they were forced to sell. They sold the property for 12.4 million. The proeperty then became a tourist attraction.
The second owner put in a fake oil well out back. Part of the tour was going up on an observation deck built around the oil well and showing/telling how it worked. The oil well was no longer there when we took the tour, but the observation deck still was.
This current owner took out loan against the property for a business venture that went bad and ended up selling the ranch to a third owner for the measly price of 2.2 million. The current owner has continued to buy up land around the ranch and it is now up to 350 acres.
Southfork was a working ranch until recently. Our hard economic times forced the owner to sell off of a lot of animals. The only ones that remain are a handful of horsed, ponies and longhorn cattle. The ranch had donkeys until last fall.
Credit is being given to Marie Grace Elmore for writing up the adventures of our day for me. Some information also came from the official Southfork Ranch website
The house was built in 1970 for Mr. & Mrs. J.R. Duncan and children. The show, Dallas, started in 1978, ran for 13 seasons (356 episodes), and has been aired in 95 different countries. The scripts and story lines of the show were a well guarded secret; even the cast didn't know who was going to be killed off each season.
The scouts for the show looked around the area and discovered Southfork. They landed their helicopter in the front yard and asked to use the home. The Duncans first said "no." The show's scouts continued to look around the area, finding nothing that appealed to them as much as Southfork. They came back to Southfork with their checkbook and the Duncans said yes this time, with the stipulation that they only use the outside area and only do their filming in June, July, and August when the children were home from school.
Filming was never done inside the home. All shots were filmed outside and then the inside scenes were completed months later in a California soundstage. The inside of the house was nothing like the set that was used in the TV series. Now that the home is open for public touring, it was decorated to the specs of the show.
When the "Who shot JR" episode aired, fans confused TV with reality. Many found the house and the Duncans would step outside to flowers and cards left for the ailing J.R. Ewing. The Duncans got so many requests for use of their property for private functions that tents and a party pavilion were built for these purposes. The deluge of fans and tourism on the Duncans' privacy got so bad that they were forced to sell. They sold the property for 12.4 million. The proeperty then became a tourist attraction.
The second owner put in a fake oil well out back. Part of the tour was going up on an observation deck built around the oil well and showing/telling how it worked. The oil well was no longer there when we took the tour, but the observation deck still was.
This current owner took out loan against the property for a business venture that went bad and ended up selling the ranch to a third owner for the measly price of 2.2 million. The current owner has continued to buy up land around the ranch and it is now up to 350 acres.
Southfork was a working ranch until recently. Our hard economic times forced the owner to sell off of a lot of animals. The only ones that remain are a handful of horsed, ponies and longhorn cattle. The ranch had donkeys until last fall.
I have no pictures of the front of the house. I don't remember why. This is the front entrance hall and dining room:
A view of the pool. In the show, the pool was Olympic sized. Corner shots were taken from inside the actual house but never revealed its true size which, in reality, is quite small:
J.R. and Sue Ellen's Bedroom:
The kitchen:
Have you ever seen such an opulent bathroom? There were his and hers toilets, in their own separate rooms, with a telephone in each one.
A picture of the ranch from the back balcony:
Bobby's car. My father had this same car, a Lincoln Mark IV, except his was gold.
