Year Installed:
1961
Last Year Operated:
Currently Operating
Section:
Texas
Manufacturer: Other Names and Nicknames:
Crazy Horse Saloon Theater
The Crazy Horse is show saloon, complete with a small stage for western singing and can-can dancing, as well as a bar. In keeping with the park’s family friendly atmosphere, park promotional materials make it very clear that “although it is a saloon, only soft-drinks are sold there.”
The theater is rather small, with room for a small stage, a piano, and several tables for the guests. Four or five performers in saloon costumes sang period songs, danced on the stage and mingled with the guests.
In keeping with the park’s historical emphasis, the entire back bar is an actual antique bar from an 1890 vintage saloon. Carpenters crafted a new front bar to conform to the original. Antique tables and chairs were acquired from a saloon in Little Rock, Arkansas.
A 1966 show courtesy of LaVerne Huselton Catter.
While there are shows and performers in all of the sections of the park, the Crazy Horse is unique in that is the park’s first indoor show. It continued as the park’s only indoor show for the first seven years of operation, until the much larger Southern Palace replaced the amphitheater in 1968. It is also the longest running theater in the park, operating continuously since the first season. Inside, the singing and dancing showgirls still entertain visitors.
Being the only indoor theater, the Crazy Horse also served as an employee auditorium, being used for orientation sessions, training, and other meetings
The Crazy Horse Saloon opened with the Park in 1961 and is the oldest theater in the park.
Year Installed:
1961
Last Year Operated:
On-going
Section:
Texas
Manufacturer: Other Names and Nicknames:
Section: Texas
Year installed: 1961
Gunfights in front to the Texas Courthouse. From Six Flags Postcard. Note Judge Roy bean on the porch with a “hanging rope”. Also note the park photographer with a Polaroid Camera in the Mid-left of the photograph. The photographers sold the Polaroid pictures to guests.
The Gunfighter Shows have been held in the Texas section since the park opened in 1961. The shows recreate the good-guy/bad-guy shoot-outs of the wild west. They are designed to be entertaining more than historically accurate. Typically they take place on the street in front of the Courthouse in the Texas Section. Over the years, however, shows have been held in various locations around the park. In some shows, outlaws rob the Train while it is running, leading to a shoot-out in front of the Texas train station. Shoot-outs have also been held in front of the Jersey Lilly, around the corner from the Courthouse.
Gunfighters in front of the Texas Astrolift. The Texas Railroad station would be out of the photograph to the photographers left. The area in the upper left corner of the photograph is now the location of the Boot Scootin’ Ride.
Starting in 1994, the Texas section hosted the Texas Backlot Stunt Show, an outdoor action-comedy stunt-show featured in the Texas section. Additional sets were built next to the Jersey Lilly for this show. The first show, the O.K Corral Shootout Backlot show,was tied to the release of the Warner Brother’s movie Wyatt Earp. The stunt shows continued through the 1990s.
At this time, the Gunfights continue in front of the Courthouse.
Unidentified Show Girl, Jay Johnson (of SOAP) LaVerne Huselton Catter, Unidentified Show Girl
Unidentified Show Girl, Jay Johnson (of SOAP) Cissy King (future dancer on Lawrence Welk Show)
Pictures from the 1966 production of “Let’s Find a Cause.” Of the cast, the ventriloquist Jay Johnson went on to be a star of the hit comedy SOAP and Cissy King became a dancer on the famous Lawrence Welk Show. Photos courtesy of Cast Member LaVerne Huselton Catter.
Located across from the theater and the Skull Island dock stood one of the park’s historical recreations, the Confederate Soldier’s headquarters and recruitment station. This area was a recreation of a small confederate encampment and included a group of large tents, protected by cannon and framed by colorful civil war recruitment banners mounted on the scaffolding above the tents. Park guests could “enlist” in the Confederate army by signing on the dotted line. In addition, guests could visit with the reenactment players, who displayed their knowledge of civil war times.
The reenactment players were outfitted in the authentic distinctive gray uniform of the Confederate States of America. They marched through the streets of the confederate section and performed precision drills with their rifles. From time to time during the day, a union spy would be spotted in the crowded. At that time, the confederate soldiers would search the crowd, find the spy, and execute him by firing squad.
Year Installed:
1961
Last Year Operated:
1967
Section:
Mexico
Manufacturer:
None
Other Names and Nicknames:
The Indian Village
Although the Native Americans did not have a flag to be recognized in the park’s theme, they did play an important role in the development of Texas. As such, an area representing their contribution was appropriate.
The Indian Trading Post and Village is not contained within a single section, but rather sets on the border between the Mexican and Texas sections. The front of the Indian village is the trading post. The Trading Post is a large souvenir shop selling Western and Indian related items.
Behind the trading post was the Indian village. A set of four tee-pees sat in the corners of a small square blacktop performance area. Here Native Americas performed authentic hoop dances during the day. Typically, two Native American’s perform the Hoop dance with wooden hoops, not unlike a hula hoop. A third slowly marks time on an Indian tom-tom.
The Indian trading post still sits at is original location. The Indian village, however, has been removed.
