Nancy Smith was the celebrity/society columnist of the Dallas Morning News and Dallas Times Herald when the city became “The Third Coast” between Hollywood and New York. She covered Nancy Reagan’s visit during the 1976 primary, then went to Washington D.C. for the 1981 and 1985 Reagan Inaugurations, and wrote columns for two newspapers during the Republican Convention of 1984. She interviewed hundreds of celebrities and famous personalities, made annual two-week visits to Hollywood where she interviewed stars, and covered the New York Film Critics Awards and Washington political events. She is a sixth-generation Texan who graduated from SMU and wrote “Dallas International with J.R. Ewing” as well as three books on Empress Eugenie and the Second Empire of France.
Dallas Celebrity in the Glamorous 1980s Era of Ronald and Nancy Reagan
When Dallas Leaders Hosted Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth Taylor, and Hundreds of Superstars and Royalty
by Nancy Smith
Dallas Celebrity in the Glamorous 1980s Era of Ronald and Nancy Reagan
When Dallas Leaders Hosted Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth Taylor, and Hundreds of Superstars and Royalty
by Nancy Smith
Published Dec 30, 2015
796 Pages
Genre: PERFORMING ARTS / Film / History & Criticism
Book Details
Dallas as Ronald Reagan’s International “Shining City”
Since both Ronald and Nancy Reagan had been movie and television actors, they took their star-quality to the White House which seemed magical for the first time since the Kennedy Camelot years. President Ronald Reagan said “America is too great for small dreams”, and Dallas was inspired to reach out globally. The 1980s decade was a phenomenon when patriotism and prosperity and Hollywood and Broadway converged bringing to Dallas such celebrities as Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Prince Charles, Robert Redford, Jack Lemmon, Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth and hundreds more. Leading to the Republican Convention in 1984, Dallas streamlined the city with a dozen new skyscrapers, founded the Arts District, presented dazzling benefit galas, and was recognized as a center of luxury. The flair of visiting stars and royalty was a catalyst that helped change a medium-size Texas town into a model of the Reagan ideal “shining city”.
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