Fort Griffin Fandangle

The Fandangle grew out of a Christmas benefit. In December 1937, inspired by Billy Rose's Centennial show in Fort Worth and the Cavalcade at the State Fair in Dallas, Robert Nail and the music teacher Alice Reynolds staged the Lions Club Cowboy Ball in the high school gym to raise money for the needy. Nail set three rules: anyone with ties to Shackelford County could be in the show, it would be advertised only by word of mouth, and there would be no profanity. Alice Reynolds also designed the steer-head and fiddle emblem. The association was incorporated in 1947.

What the plaque says

FORT GRIFFIN FANDANGLE IN JULY 1938, AREA RESIDENTS GATHERED HERE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FIRST SHOWING OF THE FORT GRIFFIN FANDANGLE. EARLIER THAT YEAR, ALBANY HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA TEACHER ROBERT NAIL, JR. WROTE AND DIRECTED A PLAY DEPICTING THE SETTLING OF THE FORT GRIFFIN AREA. RECEIVING SUPPORT FROM THE LOCAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, NAIL CRE-ATED A SIMILAR SHOW, LEADING TO THE FANDANGLE'S FIRST PERFORMANCE. NAIL RELIED ON VOLUNTEERS FOR EVERY ASPECT OF THE SHOW, WHICH INCLUDED PERIOD COSTUMES, LIVESTOCK, ELABORATE SETS AND MANY PERFORMERS. MUSIC ALSO PLAYED A VITAL ROLE; LATER ORIGINAL SONGS REPLACED TRADITIONAL FOLK MUSIC. ALICE REYNOLDS DIRECTED MUSIC FOR THE PRODUCTION AND SERVED IN A VARIETY OF OTHER ROLES FOR 45 YEARS AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE FANDANGLE'S SUCCESS. THE ACCLAIMED SHOW BECAME AN ANNUAL AFFAIR. IT WENT ON HIATUS DUE TO WORLD WAR II, BUT RETURNED ONCE NAIL CAME BACK FROM MILITARY SERVICE. IN 1964, PERFORMERS WERE INVITED TO HELP INAUGURATE AN AMPHITHEATRE IN PALO DURO CANYON FOR THE SHOW, "TEXAS." THE NEXT YEAR, THE FANDANGLE MOVED FROM THE STADIUM TO A NEWLY BUILT PRAIRIE THEATRE. IN 1967, THE PRODUCTION ACCEPTED AN INVITATION TO PRESENT A SHOW AT PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON'S RANCH. IN 1968, NAIL DIED SUDDENLY; DESPITE THE LOSS OF THE SHOW'S CREATOR AND DIRECTOR, THE FANDANGLE CONTINUED. THROUGH THE YEARS, THOUSANDS OF ALBANY RESIDENTS HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE FANDANGLE AS WRITERS, COMPOSERS, LYRICISTS, CHOREOGRAPHERS, DESIGNERS, LIGHT AND SOUND SPECIALISTS, MUSICIANS, DANCERS, ACTORS AND MAKE-UP ARTISTS. TODAY, THE FORT GRIFFIN FANDANGLE, AS A TRUE PEOPLE'S THEATRE, CONTINUES TO EMPLOY THE TALENTS OF ALBANY RESIDENTS IN CREATING A UNIQUE TELLING OF THE AREA'S PIONEER STORY. (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Old Jail Art Center — steps away
  An art museum in Albany's 1878 stone jail, where the masons carved their initials to be sure of pay, now holding Chinese tomb figures and works by Picasso and Klee.
• Fort Griffin State Historic Site — 14 mi
  The ruins of an 1867 cavalry post on a plateau above the Clear Fork of the Brazos, judged unfit for habitation and used nine more years, now home to the official state longhorn herd.
• Fort Phantom Hill — 23 mi
  A field of lone stone chimneys north of Abilene, left by the fire after the Army left in 1854, later a stage stop and a buffalo-hide town of more than 500 people.
• Conrad Hilton Center and Mobley Hotel — 29 mi
  The 40-room oil-boom hotel in Cisco that Conrad Hilton bought in 1919 when a bank deal fell through, now a museum of the Hilton start and of Cisco's 1927 Santa Claus bank robbery.

More markers nearby

• City of Albany — steps away
• Ledbetter Salt Work, C.S.A. — steps away
• Dr. Jack Shackelford — 0.2 mi
• Lt. Col. William E. Dyess — 0.2 mi