DeGolyer Library News & Notes

Ebby Halliday lived to see 104 birthdays and once she turned 90 years old each succeeding  milestone was celebrated with more festivities and more grandeur. Ebby’s photographs, scrapbooks, and correspondence document the public adoration of the Queen Mum of Real Estate.

In 2001, for her 90th birthday, the Communities Foundation of Texas honored her with a party featuring a cake which was a remarkable replica of Ebby’s landmark office, the white house at the corner of Preston Road and Northwest Highway.For her 95th birthday in 2006, Ebby Halliday had an ice cream and birthday cake bash at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field.

Ebby’s 99th birthday in 2010 was a week-long extravaganza. It began with a Dallas Mavericks game, meeting Dirk Nowitzki and getting an autographed team ball in pre-game ceremonies. The next day, there was a birthday dinner hosted by Ebby’s longtime personal physician Dr. Hugh McClung’s country home in Terrell. After the McClung celebration, a jubilant Ebby was honored by Pointer Sisters at the Winspear Opera House with a concert benefiting Special Care and Career Services. On March 9th, the day of her birthday, Ebby had lunch with T. Boone Pickens and friends at his office, followed by an Ebby Halliday company birthday party. Finally, the following day there was a cake and coffee ceremony in the Flag Room at City Hall, sponsored by Mayor Tom Leppert and the Dallas Regional Chamber.

When Ebby hit the century mark, she famously said, “Go easy on the candles.” Her 100th birthday in 2011 transformed the Meyerson Symphony Center into “Cirque du Ebby” with a circus-themed cocktail reception, a gala dinner, and a concert with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and guest tenor Mario Frangoulis and soprano Andriana Chuchman.

In 2012 for her 101st birthday, Ebby Halliday was celebrated during a dedication ceremony at the school that bears her name, the Ebby Halliday Elementary in the Rylie, Texas.

To celebrate her 102nd birthday in 2013, more than 500 well-wishers – mostly sales associates and staff members of the Ebby Halliday companies dropped by famous Southfork ranch for pancakes and to pay their respects to the First Lady of Dallas Real Estate. 

Her last public celebration was her 103rd birthday in 2014, an intimate fete for local business leaders to celebrate Ebby and get a glimpse of design plans for the YWCA of Metropolitan Dallas’ new headquarters to be named Ebby’s Place.

Along with each celebration came hundreds of birthday cards with best wishes and praise, which Ebby saved and now can be found in the Ebby Halliday Papers.

Project archivist Krishna Shenoy is processing the Ebby Halliday papers thanks to a generous gift of the Ebby Halliday Foundation, to preserve and make accessible the work of the First Lady of Real Estate.

Contact degolyer@smu.edu for additional information or assistance with accessing the collections. For access to these collections or to learn more about the women of the southwest, be sure to visit the DeGolyer Library and check out our books, manuscripts, pamphlets, and photographs.

The Ebby Halliday Papers contain 25 years of Christmas holiday greetings sent by Ebby and her husband Maurice Acers. These undated, paper postcards and folded cards are all 8 inches by 9 inches and feature a photograph of Ebby and Maurice from a special event or celebration that took place that year. The back of the cards deliver a joyful holiday message such as “Seasons Greetings”, “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Holidays”, and “Happy New Year”.

Some cards show the couple’s whimsical and humorous side.

In other years, they choose to celebrate their love and appreciation for the Lone Star State and the city of Dallas, which Ebby called home since 1938.

Some cards reveal their elegant side and penchant for dressing with style. Ebby’s humble beginnings working in hat shops and fine department stores set the stage for her reputation as one Dallas’ best dressed. Whether the photo was taken in Rome at an international real estate conference or at the foot of the stairs at their home on Preston Road, the cards conveyed the couple’s glamour and poise.

A few of the cards emphasize the couple’s commitment to the many causes they supported over the years, such as the Beautify Texas Council and the Clown Ministry. In one particular year, Ebby and Maurice chose not to include a photograph of themselves on the front, but rather a collage of their business and civic achievements. The interior of this card says, “Many symbols, crests, shields, letterheads, logos…but these are only the identifying marks of the organizations through which we have the most valuable heartwarming experience of all…friends like you.”

Project archivist Krishna Shenoy will be working on processing the Ebby Halliday papers thanks to a generous gift of the Ebby Halliday Foundation, to preserve and make accessible the work of the First Lady of Real Estate.

Contact Samantha Dodd, curator of the Archives of Women of the Southwest for additional information or assistance with accessing the collections. For access to these collections or to learn more about the women of the southwest, be sure to visit the DeGolyer Library and check out our books, manuscripts, pamphlets, and photographs.

Texas didn’t make Thanksgiving an official holiday until 1848. But in 1961, the Lone Star State became a special place in the holiday’s history, as home to the world’s only Thanksgiving shrine, known as Thanks-Giving Square.

Today, Thanks-Giving Square is a unique, interfaith, multicultural site and research center on a 3.5-acre site in the heart of downtown Dallas. It’s designed as a serene and uplifting meeting place, focusing on tolerance and mutual understanding–ideas which Ebby believed in deeply. It seeks to promote gratitude among all people.

Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson and opened to the public in 1977, the site includes a chapel with a stained-glass ceiling, an exhibit hall, a ring of thanks, a bell tower, fountains and green space.

Ebby Halliday was involved with Thanks-Giving Square Foundation between 1995 to 2000 and guided several major initiatives, such as the expansion of the square from 1 acre to 3 acres and the installation of three monoliths honoring the history of Thanksgiving in the World, Nation, and Texas. In 1997, former President George W. Bush, who was governor at the time, came to dedicate the Texas Monolith. During her tenure as Thanksgiving Square Foundation’s first female Board President, she supported the installation of a 14-foot diameter, vertical ring, covered in gold-leaf, also designed by Philip Johnson. The Ring of Thanks was opened in a public ceremony in May 1996 as an “emblem of gratitude in the place of praise”.

Project archivist Krishna Shenoy will be working on processing the Ebby Halliday papers thanks to a generous gift of the Ebby Halliday foundation, to preserve and make accessible the work of the first lady of real estate.

Contact Samantha Dodd, curator of the Archives of Women of the Southwest for additional information or assistance with accessing the collections. For access to these collections or to learn more about the women of the southwest, be sure to visit the DeGolyer Library and check out our books, manuscripts, pamphlets, and photographs.

Almost as famous as Ebby Halliday was Ebby Halliday’s ukulele. Whether she was the recipient of an award or welcoming a new class of real estate agents to Ebby Halliday, Inc., Ebby channeled charm and humor through her ukulele. She had a penchant for changing lyrics to well known songs to suit her topic and audience. She assured the audience “You know I really can’t play the ukulele or sing, but it helps to have a  shtick, everybody needs a shtick.”

She rewrote the lyrics to well-known songs of the time and drew inspiration from songbooks such as the Community Sing Session songbooks which provided a collection of songs for group singing for all occasions. These community songs had a simple chord structure, a melody that was recognizable, simple rhythm and a memorable chorus. Ebby would take classics and make them her own by changing the lyrics to suit her audience.

She used the tune to “Happy Days Are Here Again” to celebrate the economic impact of low interest rates, Fannie Mae loans, and eager homebuyers. The songs weren’t always the same. They changed over the years and with the times. Listen to Ebby sing “Happy Days Here, Again” (timecode 1:26) to a group of real estate agents in training.

She even took the popular song “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” most famously known as a Coca-Cola commercial during the 1980s and used it to promote Ebby Halliday’s Relocation services, known as RELO.

Ebby used the Ragtime-era song “Five Foot Two and Eyes of Blue” to promote the town of Irving as the place to be.

Ebby’s collection of songbooks includes this one by Pinky Hull who was a Ragtime piano player and magician. It folds out to reveal the lyrics to over 50 popular songs such as “Light of the Silvery Moon” and “Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey”. Ebby’s magic was knowing how effective a funny lyric, a familiar tune, and the occasional off-beat note could be in winning over admirers in business and in friendship.

Project archivist Krishna Shenoy will be working on processing the Ebby Halliday papers thanks to a generous gift of the Ebby Halliday foundation, to preserve and make accessible the work of the first lady of real estate.

Contact Samantha Dodd, curator of the Archives of Women of the Southwest for additional information or assistance with accessing the collections. For access to these collections or to learn more about the women of the southwest, be sure to visit the DeGolyer Library and check out our books, manuscripts, pamphlets, and photographs.