I want to know what "fair" site was used for the location scenes? Does anybody know or remember back 45 years? I am fairly certain it wasn't filmed at the Texas State fair. I think the scenes are from a location in California but I would like to pin it down closer. Any guesses?
-the big BM
According to publicity, both the Texas and Oklahoma state fairgrounds were used.
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It's funny you would ask this.
My father and I attended the Stock Car races last weekend at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. He asked me if I had ever heard of the film 'State Fair' and mentioned he remembered the crew filming the racing scenes at that very track when he was a youngster. Apparently, a good crowd came out as requested and filled up the grandstands.
I haven't seen this film yet so I'm interested in checking it out.
That is so cool! I'm glad you and your Dad go to do that before they left. Our crappy Mayor got rid of the race track deal - I never went but it was something a lot of men had done with their dads & sons and it was just a cool family tradition.
I went to the University of Oklahoma - we always play The U of Texas in Dallas on the weekend of the Fair; i wondered where it was until i saw "Big Tex" and realized that was indeed where at least part of it was filmed. Big Tex caught fire a few years ago, people were so sad!
We definitely have red dirt in Oklahoma! I live in OKC and it's tough to try and grow anything here. I hope you all got to see the movie and see if you recognized any places, I am just a ways in and wanted to see who played the sister. OK, back to the film for me :)
The story and the ORIGINAL state fair movie was about the Iowa State Fair and
filmed in Iowa. The first 2 State Fair movies were filmed there like they were
SUPPOSE to be . Then Texas stole it for the last one with Pat Boone.
...but the 1945 film was obviously filmed in Hollywood. Location filming, except for stock footage, outside of California was very rare in the 1930's and 1940's.
shareThe fair scenes, with the exception of the race, was filmed at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The farmhouse was around Kaufman. Texas is a big state - it depends on where you are as to the color of the soil, so please don't use that as a guide. My understanding is that the racing scenes were shot in Oklahoma.
As to Texas "stealing" the second location, the person making that statement should probably take that up with Richard Rodgers. A remake was decided on and it was changed to Texas, probably to take advantage of the size of the Texas state fair (and yes, it's the biggest). Making a statement like that based on a decision made close to fifty years ago is really kind of silly anyway.
Yes, I'm from Texas, but frankly, I prefer the charm of the original 1945 version to the updated 1962 version. The actors were much more interesting (and better) and the storyline fit the era better than it did by 1962.
Sadly, they just demolished the Oklahoma State Fair Grandstand in Aug 2010. (The current managers of Fair Park are more interested in having an Oklahoma State Parking Lot than one of the nations top 3 fairs, as it once was.) Anyway, this year's state fair program, in the Oklahoma City newspaper, featured a full page article about when they filmed the racing scenes there.
shareWe were a Top 3 fair? :( I know this is a bit off-topic, but I am so ready to vote the Mayor out, that was just SO shady. Now they are getting rid of the theater downtown and I have a million memories there, it's so sad! I like a lot of the changes down town but demolishing the "race place" was just mean. Thank you for reminding me what year it happened. That was the year I did most of my work in local politics. Swore off it but this year? SO back in!
It is about time for the Fair this year, it would have been cool to see that after seeing the movie, i had also only seen the '40s version before this morning.
I'll probably get in trouble for this, but in for a penny, in for a pound. :) Dr Ed Shadid, who is currently on the Oklahoma City City Council, will make an awesome Mayor, check him out. His cousin is Anthony Shadid, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who was kidnapped in Libya, then died in 2012 in Syria. Just a really amazing family, very down to earth.
I was raised within a mile of the farm house location. We arrived in the area some 8 yrs after the filming was done. The home belonged to the Wilkerson family of Kaufman county Texas. The address for google would be fm 1895 at cr 4029 Kemp Texas 75143.The home is due north of 4029 by about 500 yrds. The orignal home is gone and the newer brick house sits among the trees that circled the home.As dinner guest, Mrs. Wilkerson told us about "the porch" on the front of the house that was added to the home ,and remained after the filming.They spoke of the convoy of tractor trailer trucks that lined fm 1895 for hundreds of yards.The family was known for the fine line of Herferd cattle they raised. The barn and other out building still remain.
shareThe location in Kaufman County was at the Becker homestead in small community of Becker, Texas. My wife, née Becker, was on the set for a visit, missing school for the day from Dallas, and she can be seen in the car Pat Boone used along with her two brothers and a friend and with Boone in a photo on this blog: http://open.salon.com/blog/bbd/2009/04/21/roots_run_deep
It was definitely filmed at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. I was 11 at the time when I went with my family to watch them film part of the movie. I still have autographs from Pat Boone and Ann Margaret that I got at the time.
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