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Texas has been home to so many colorful characters, out...)
Texas has been home to so many colorful characters, out-of-staters might wonder if any normal people live here. And it's true that the "Texian" desire to act out sometimes overcomes even the most sober citizens—which makes it a real challenge for the genuine eccentrics to distinguish themselves from the rest of us. Fortunately, though, many maverick Texans have risen to the test, and in this book, Gene Fowler introduces us to a gallery of Texas eccentrics from the worlds of oil, ranching, real estate, politics, rodeo, metaphysics, showbiz, art, and folklore.
Mavericks rounds up dozens of Fowler's favorite Texas characters, folks like the Trinity River prophet Commodore Basil Muse Hatfield; the colorful poet-politician Cyclone Davis Jr.; Big Bend tourist attraction Bobcat Carter; and the dynamic chief executive of the East Texas Oil Field Governor Willie. Fowler persuasively argues that many of these characters should be viewed as folk performance artists who created "happenings" long before the modern art world took up that practice in the 1960s. Other featured mavericks run the demographic gamut from inspirational connoisseurs of the region's native quirkiness to creative con artists and carnival oddities. But, artist or poser, all of the eccentrics in Mavericks completely embody the style and spirit that makes Texas so interesting, entertaining, and culturally unique.
(Gene Fowler's autobiography of his early years in the Roc...)
Gene Fowler's autobiography of his early years in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, his eventual reuniting with his Father, and his tales of his newspaper days in Denver's turbulent past.
(Life at John Decker's Studio/home on Bundy Drive in Brent...)
Life at John Decker's Studio/home on Bundy Drive in Brentwood, CA. in the late thirties and forties and the men who gathered there. Reminiscences of the poet Sadakichi Hartmann,around whose life the story is wrapped, John Barrymore, the host, artist John Decker and WC Fields as they gather with a supporting cast at Decker's Studio at the end of their lives. Rude, urbane, witty, vicious, caustic, loyal, intrepid, and hard living, these men make for a fascinating read written by one who gathered with them at the last meetings. Fowler was one of the best writers of his age and his intimacy with the subjects is evident in the affection and respect he affords his subjects. Not blind to their faults, a well rounded picture emerges of an age, place,and people that no longer exist; and if you believe Fowler, mores the pity. Tragedy and triumph are talentedly wrapped up in this reminiscence of Hollywood in the Golden Era.
(From the back of the book: They were an unlikely but invi...)
From the back of the book: They were an unlikely but invincible team, the speculator and the bartender who joined forces to run the DENVER POST. But out of their partnership came one of the most sensational and profitable newspapers in America. Sensationalism, slapstick and sentimentality were the keynotes. For forty years Bonfils and Tammen ruled their Rocky Mountain empire, chronicling murders, wars, pioneering and gold strikes and shaping the course of history when they uncovered the Teapot Dome Scandal.
Crazy Water: The Story of Mineral Wells and Other Texas Health Resorts (Chisholm Trail Series)
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In 1863 Sam Houston, physically and emotionally scarred...)
In 1863 Sam Houston, physically and emotionally scarred by a lifetime of battles, tried the soothing mineral water baths at Sour Lake, TX. Almost a century later, Dallas billionaire H.L. Hunt heard of miraculous cures at Indian Hot Springs, on the Mexican border, and bought the fading resort. His improvements and the famed springs which could restore all kinds of powers attracted such celebrities as boxing champ Gene Tunney and Texas congressman Olin Teague.
“Crazy Water: The Story of Mineral Wells and Other Texas Health Resorts” documents the mineral water boom, taking readers from one end of the state to the other, listening to testimonials, reading amazing descriptions, marveling at the gullibility of the afflicted and the inventiveness of the healers who attracted the rich and the poor.
Mineral Wells, Marlin, Glen Rose, Sour Lake, Indian Hot Springs, Wizard Wells —there were dozens of places all over the state where heavily mineralized water lay beneath the soil. Before the discovery of antibiotics —and sometimes afterward— drinking and bathing in mineral waters were important parts of health care for many Texans. They even used mineralized mud salves and sat in radio-active dirt. Taking the waters was a fashionable as it was restorative, and health resorts turned into vacation playlands.
Gene Fowler (born Eugene Devlan) was an American journalist, author and dramatist.
Background
He was born Eugene Parrott Devlan on the "west bank of Mullen's Mill Ditch" in Denver, Colorado, the only child of a brief marriage between Charles Francis Devlan and Dora Grace Wheeler.
Two months before Fowler was born, his father walked out in an argument over a cup of coffee and deserted his family for a hermitlike life as a logger on Squaw Mountain, Colorado. Fowler did not meet him until 1920. After divorcing Devlan, Fowler's mother in 1894 married Frank Dennis Fowler, who subsequently adopted Gene. Despite the adoption, the boy was raised mainly by his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Wheeler.
Education
Fowler graduated from West Denver High School in 1911, although much of his attendance was rather spotty.
Fowler also contributed to and edited for two years his high school magazine, whereupon several of his teachers urged him to pursue a writing career.
Although unconvinced, Fowler nevertheless decided to attend the University of Colorado.
Career
To supplement his grandparents' shaky finances, he often took odd jobs. At ten, for example, he left school to work as a taxidermist's helper, an experience that led to his becoming a vegetarian.
Later, after he had returned to school, he worked as a printer's devil and then in his uncle's produce business, as a wagon driver delivering groceries to Denver's red-light district.
It was from such experiences that Fowler acquired his zest for the offbeat story and the salty, two-fisted language that came to mark his later writing.
Fowler also contributed to and edited for two years his high school magazine, whereupon several of his teachers urged him to pursue a writing career.
Except for the influence of Jim Lockhart, his journalism teacher, Fowler found academic life unrewarding and left after one year. After returning to Denver, Fowler became a night signal clerk for the American District Telegraph Company. Also in 1912, he was hired as a cub reporter on the Denver Republican.
In October 1913 he became a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News when that paper bought the Republican. The following year Fowler moved to the Denver Post and subsequently became assistant sports editor.
In 1918 Fowler left Denver for a position with the New York American. His New York journalistic career was sensational, both for his success and his legendary hijinks.
Once, dismayed at news of a recent Fowler exploit.
However, despite his irrepressible spirit, Fowler's rapid rise in the newspaper business to become at only thirty-four the managing editor of Hearst's American is ample testimony to his success.
While with the American, Fowler interviewed John Barrymore, initiating a lifelong friendship with the actor and providing the introductory piece for his later biography.
In 1924 Fowler became sports editor of the Daily Mirror, only to return the following year to the New York American as managing editor.
His newspaper career came to an end in 1931. As managing editor of the Morning Telegraph, he had assembled a first-rate reporting staff by paying outrageously high salaries. His publisher was furious when he discovered the size of Fowler's payroll, and promptly fired him.
Thereafter, Fowler turned principally to movie script and free-lance writing. As a scriptwriter, Fowler achieved notable success.
Fowler's Hollywood achievements made him wealthy, but his lasting fame rests upon the books that began to appear in the 1930's, his most productive decade. Fowler proved to be a facile and prolific freelance writer. Trumpet in the Dust (1930) offered an insider's look at the newspaper industry.
It was followed by the fictional Shoe the Wild Mare (1931).
His first biography, The Great Mouthpiece (1931), detailed the life of William J. Fallon, a New York City lawyer "mouthpiece" for the criminal underworld. Then, in collaboration with Ben Hecht, Fowler wrote a play, The Great Magoo (1932), which had an unsuccessful Broadway run.
Timber Line (1933) was both a biography of the two owners of the Denver Post and a tale of newspaper escapades; Father Goose (1934), the life story of Mack Sennett; Salute to Yesterday (1937), a sentimental reminiscence of his Denver years; and Illusion in Java (1939), a romance.
In the 1940's Fowler wrote The Jervis Bay Goes Down (1941), an epic poem; Good Night, Sweet Prince (1944), a biography of John Barrymore; A Solo in Tom Toms (1946), an autobiography; and Beau James (1949), a biography of New York mayor Jimmy Walker. Good Night, Sweet Prince, Fowler's most successful biography, was critically acclaimed and became a best-seller.
Quotations:
Hearst remarked that he wished Fowler would take a long trip. Fowler, angered upon learning of the comment, immediately packed his bags and left on an ocean voyage with his family.
Two days out, he wired Hearst a message reading, "On my way to Egypt. Is this far enough?"
Personality
His quick temper often caused him difficulties with newspaper owners, especially the dictatorial William Randolph Hearst.
Connections
In 1916, Fowler married Agnes Hubbard who bore three children, the eldest of whom was Gene Fowler Jr. (1917–1998), a prominent Hollywood film editor (whose work included It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Hang 'Em High) and a sometime director (1959's I Was a Teenage Werewolf as well as numerous television programs).