Casa Mañana, Fort Worth 1938
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In 1936, the city of Dallas was selected to be the site of the official Texas Centennial Celebration.
This prompted Amon G. Carter, the legendary newspaper publisher, oil investor and civic champion, to begin making plans for another celebration in his hometown of Fort Worth.
He decided to develop 40 acres of a nearby cow pasture into a giant entertainment complex, with exhibits, sideshows, a Wild West show and a large outdoor amphitheater and restaurant called Casa Mañana, or ‘The House of Tomorrow.’
The businessman hired Broadway showman Billy Rose, known for producing massive and high-budget specials, at a cost of $1,000 a day for 100 days to create a ’show of shows.’
Casa Mañana housed the largest revolving stage in the world, measuring 130 feet in diameter. Large chorus lines of imported New York dancers and local talent performed on this floating stage on a lagoon, surrounded by dining tables set under the Texas stars.
The restaurant and theatre complex could accommodate 3,500 patrons and was wildly popular, taking some of the attention away from the Dallas celebrations, some 30 miles away.
Casa Mañana was brought back each summer for four consecutive years. By the end of the theater’s final season in 1939, the stage, built as a temporary fixture, needed extensive repairs.
Plans to renovate the theater as a permanent building were derailed by the onset of WWII. In 1942 Casa Mañana was dismantled; its steel frame was left abandoned on the former fairgrounds until 1958 when a 1,800-seat theater under a geodesic dome was built on the old centennial grounds.
Today, the Casa Mañana remains a flourishing theatre-in-the-round and performing arts organization located in Fort Worth’s Cultural District.
This Casa Mañana menu is dated 1938 and the wonderful illustration of the dancer is by artist Harold K Simon, who created many works of art for Broadway and the famed Radio City Music Hall in the form of posters, playbills, and magazine illustrations.
Each order includes a print of the interior menu.
All printed in USA.
