I'm an old movie buff and a favorite is 1948's "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. As a promotion, the studio built either 73 or 78 replica "dream houses" all over the country, and many are still standing, some even with original furnishings and decor. According to the Wikipedia entry, there was at least one in Fort Worth.
Anyone know anything at all about this?
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#2
Hometown by Handlebar
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Posted 15 February 2012 - 08:14 AM
Great movie and a great quest. Found online a 9-14-1948 DP&L ad in the DMN for the Dallas Blandings house, complete with house address on Walnut Hill Lane and smiling face of Reddy Kilowatt. Similar ad with address might have run in the S-T, which, of course, is not online for that year.
#3
Hometown by Handlebar
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Posted 20 May 2012 - 05:40 PM
I am disappointed to report that I have checked the 1948 Star-Telegrams of the time period when the replica Blandings house that was supposedly built in Fort Worth should have been in the news—when construction of the house began (April for the Dallas replica, the DMN reported) and when the movie opened (first half of September in both towns). The DMN ran more than a dozen stories and photos on the construction of the Dallas house (which still stands in Preston Hollow) and on promotion of the house when the movie opened in Dallas. One DMN story said a replica house was built in Fort Worth. But I found no mention of it in the S-T in April and September. The movie opened in Fort Worth with no fanfare of any kind, no stories or ads about a replica house in Fort Worth or about the movie studio’s national replica promotion blitz. The title of the movie appeared only in small display ads of individual theaters such as the Tivoli and Varsity on the S-T theater listings page.
#4
pmburk
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Posted 23 May 2012 - 02:03 PM
Too bad! I would love to know where the home was and if it still stands.
The saga continues...
The saga continues...
#5
arch-image
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#6
Stadtplan
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Posted 17 September 2023 - 07:00 AM
It is interesting they chose to center the front door vs the movie it was offset to the right.
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