The star of my hit play about Amon Carter is the Fort Worth-Dallas rivalry.
AMON! The Ultimate Texan opens for three shows in mid July at Grapevine’s historic Palace Theatre.
By Dave Lieber
Five years after my play’s world premiere, followed by almost 60 performances in theaters across Texas, it finally hit me.
It’s not my script for AMON! The Ultimate Texan that brought in thousands of patrons who’ve seen it, some more than once. To a greater extent, it is certainly Kelvin Dilk’s acting and Connie Sanchez’ directing that turned my words on a page into an award-winning hit.
What’s another reason? As the playwright, I suggest that the negativity that Fort Worth historically and hysterically felt and, in some quarters still feels for Dallas is the root cause of our theatrical success.
Much to my surprise, the DFW rivalry turns out to be funny.
The biggest laughs in this play of a hundred-plus laughs come at Dallas’ expense. The meaner the comment, the louder the laughter.
No wonder this play has never been performed in Dallas. Amon Carter hated Dallas.
I could have called the play 817 Versus 214. Problem with that is there were no area codes in Amon’s time.
Announcing three shows at Grapevine’s Palace Theatre. Details at AmonPlay.com.
Saturday, July 13: 3:30 pm and 7 pm.
Sunday, July 14: 3:30 pm.
The shows’ sponsor is Randy White Real Estate Services.
In this true-to-life comedy play, watch the life of Amon G. Carter unfold as one of the most powerful Texans who ever lived. He owned the Star-Telegram, WBAP-AM and Channel 5.
Yet he used his power for the good of Texas – but to the detriment of what he called Little D.
How to demonstrate the seriousness of this rivalry? I recently came across the transcript of a 2023 history panel called “The Myths of the DFW Rivalry.” No myths here. If it’s something nasty Fort Worth’s Amon Carter said or did, it probably happened.
The panel included several Dallasites but only one representative from Cowtown -- historian and native Fort Worthian Richard Selcer. When his turn came to speak, he came charging out of the gate.
According to the transcript in Legacies, A History Journal for Dallas and North Central Texas, Selcer began his Fort Worth defense by saying:
“I’m here representing Fort Worth in this nest of Dallasites. I just want to go on record that I did not say ‘nest of vipers.’ But it’s the same difference. In Fort Worth, we like to say the difference between niceness and arrogance is the Trinity River….
“Another Fort Worth saying is, ‘Flush twice. It’s a long way to Dallas.’ But the rivalry goes back to the beginning. If you go back to the pioneer time before the Civil War when settlers were coming west, when they got to Dallas, people warned them, ‘Don’t go west to Fort Worth. The Indians will kill you.’ The railroad got as far as Dallas in 1873 and then died, and it wasn’t until three years later in 1876 that Fort Worth got the railroad….”
The Fort Worth historian ended his comments with this: “I’d like to point out in a slightly more morbid fashion that Fort Worth gave John and Jackie Kennedy a big welcome in 1963. [Transcript notes ‘Audience groans.’] We welcomed them, were kind to them, and then we sent them off to Dallas. I’ll end by saying that Fort Worth has hospitality and western history while Dallas has that stupid TV show and an assassination.”
Harsh? Incredibly so. But the rivalry is such a big part of AMON! The Ultimate Texan, it should have its own dressing room.
Learn more about the rivalry here.
Announcing three shows at Grapevine’s Palace Theatre. Details at AmonPlay.com. Tickets are on sale now.
Saturday, July 13: 3:30 pm and 7 pm.
Sunday, July 14: 3:30 pm.
