By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

What do New Braunfels and the 1929 Academy Award for Best Production (Picture) have in common?

The answer is in Jack Kaufmann’s oral history recording for the Sophienburg Museum’s “Reflections” radio program. Jack’s father, John P. Kaufmann, Sr., owned and ran one of the early theaters or movie houses in New Braunfels. Jack could remember the switch from silent films to the “talkies.” He was a very young boy when the news that former World War I pilot, now Paramount movie director, William Wellman was going to make a film in San Antonio.

Starring Richard Arlen, Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Clara Bow, “Wings” would be a movie about planes and pilots in WWI. Filming began on September 7, 1926, and ran through April 7, 1927. It was awarded the “Oscar” for Best Production (Picture) at the first annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award ceremony in May 1929. It was also the only silent film to win that distinction. “Wings” was filmed nine years after the end of WWI. Director Wellman recreated war-torn France at multiple San Antonio locations: Camp Stanley (Bullis), Fort Sam Houston, Kelly Field, the Oppenheimer Ranch off Culebra — and the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels!

Beginning with a $2 million budget, Wellman convinced the U.S. Army Air Corps to chip in the equivalent of $16 million in men and equipment to make the war epic. The U.S. Army 2nd Division used the filming as a legitimate training exercise, using 5,000 soldiers, 300 pilots, 100 airplanes, five tanks and uncounted artillery pieces. The coordination of the battle scenes also earned “Wings” the only Academy Award given for Engineering Effects.

Most of the movie was shot at Camp Stanley. The Army had pounded the ground with shells to imitate the pock-marked French countryside. Real soldiers dug the miles of trenches that were used for the recreation of the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. Every detail, from the landscape to troop movements, followed the actual military orders and written accounts. Wellman spent 10 days rehearsing the battle scene in order to capture the perfect five minutes of film in one take. Why? Because everything but the bullets, shells and smoke bombs simulating poison gasses, was real. Artillery, tanks, exploding mines, airplane crashes — all were real. The U.S. Army had stipulated $10,000 insurance policies be taken out on every serviceman for good reason; there were two injuries and one unfortunate fatality.

New camera techniques were developed to shoot the spectacular aerial footage. Cameras were mounted on the front of the planes in both directions so that the pilot’s face could be seen straight on and the viewer could experience the pilot’s view of the battle. Wellman even waited four weeks for the blue Texas sky to get cloudy so that the aerial maneuvers would have a better impact through a sense of scale against the clouds.

I could list a hundred interesting facts and details about “Wings,” but I want to get back to the New Braunfels connection. Two stories have been handed down through the last 90 years. In 1980, Jack Kaufmann recalled the event from Jan 1927:

“… they had a crash scene that they made at Planters & Merchants, what is now Mission Valley Mills … Richard Arlen was supposed to have been shot down. So they put an old airplane up there on a ramp, on top of this bluff, above the river. And, ah, they started that airplane up and just let it go off the ramp. And then they had cameras down below and they just filmed it when it went down into the water and crashed. Then they stopped the cameras and then Richard Arlen waded out in the water and got in the airplane and they turned the cameras back on and he crawled out … why they did that I don’t know, because they crashed many and many a plane over at Camp Bullis with pilots in them and everything.”

Well, Jack, I’m thinking that although Richard Arlen was a WWI pilot and could fly, he was also the leading man and they couldn’t take the chance of an accident. For you newer-to-town folks, Mission Valley Mills is that giant building behind the Marketplace Shopping Center.

The other leading man in “Wings” was Buddy Rogers. He was often billed as “America’s Boyfriend” and a real favorite of the ladies. On the day of filming, the seven Timmermann sisters came over from Geronimo to catch a glimpse of Rogers. Thrilled to get to see him making a movie, they joined other citizens crowding on the railroad tracks above the river. (I wonder if they were on the bridge?) When the day’s filming was over, the seven girls “worked up enough courage to introduce themselves to Buddy Rogers and his mother.” Through the next 40-plus years, Rogers, his mom, and the Timmerman sisters kept their friendship going through cards and Christmas gifts. Buddy Rogers returned to San Antonio in 1967 and he invited the brave and bold seven Timmermann sisters to a revival of “Wings,” where they were his guests at the gala for Kelly AFB’s 50th Anniversary.

So there you go — the first Best Picture Award and New Braunfels. Without the Sophienburg’s “Reflections” oral history program, stories like these would be forgotten. Our history would be lost. If you know of someone who needs to share their stories for posterity, please contact the Sophienburg at 830.629.1572 or email us at archives@sophienburg.com.

The “Reflections” program is aired every Sunday at 9 A.M. on radio station KGNB at 1420 AM. Recordings are available for purchase at the Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

Sources: Sophienburg Collections: Jack Kaufmann Reflections program #204; New Braunfels Herald and Neu Braunfelser Zeitung newspaper collections; https://www.wnyc.org/story/184071-wings-oscars-first-best-picture/; https://variety.com/1927/film/reviews/wings-3-1200409954/; ; https://www.expressnews.com/150years/culture/article/War-movie-Wings-brought-Hollywood-to-SA-6192708.php

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The sharing of history comes in many formats including murals, oral storytelling, books, newspapers and sometimes social media. Recently a photo of the New Braunfels Brewing Company was posted on the “Remember in New Braunfels, TX when…” Facebook page questioning where that building was. The answer is the New Braunfels Smokehouse Plant on North Guenther Avenue, but for all those new to the area, here is a little more to that story. The following article appeared in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung on July 27, 2010.

Prohibition unpopular in New Braunfels

By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

At 12 noon on October 12, 1920, an airplane crashed into the New Braunfels Brewing Company, one of four breweries in New Braunfels at the time. The NB Brewing Co. was located at the end of North Guenther Street (NB Smokehouse Plant).

Two pilots from Kelly Field in San Antonio had landed in NB, eaten lunch, and taken off again. Suddenly the pilot seemed to lose control of the plane and was heading straight towards the brewery. When it seemed certain that the plane was going to crash, one of the pilots unfastened his safety belt and jumped out, landing safely on the galvanized roof. The other pilot perished when the plane hit the third floor of the brewery. The impact created a large hole and the heavy motor dropped to the cement floor in a blaze of blue flame.

As if the NB Brewery didn’t have enough problems! In January the federal Prohibition Amendment (18th) made the manufacturing and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal and this brewery resorted to making a weak beer called Busto just to stay afloat and not drown.

The question of Prohibition had been in politics for a long time. Drinking alcohol was thought to be one of the main reasons for wide-spread social problems.

When Texas was a Republic, Prohibition was dealt with by “local option”. (Decisions of law would be left to towns, counties, even neighborhoods.) I have read that Texas banned saloons in 1845. I don’t think the Germans knew that here. Obviously the law was never enforced.

The state constitution of 1876 had required the legislature to enact a local option law. Eleven years later the “drys” (those in favor of Prohibition) presented a state Prohibition referendum, but lost. Add another eight years and 53 counties were dry. Can you guess which category Comal County fell into? A very strong push by the Anti-Saloon League in 1908 to put all of Texas under Prohibition failed, but slowly the number of dry counties was increasing.

Locally in 1908 the Republican Club of Comal County organized for the purpose of fighting Prohibition in Comal County and Texas. They would send delegates to the next Republican State Convention and demand a straight-out anti-Prohibition plank “to protect personal rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States” (Source: Sesquicentennial Minutes, Roger Nuhn). The NB photo from 1908 with the message “Farewell to our Local Self Government” appears to be bearing a casket.

Then in 1916 under the leadership of Texas Senator Morris Sheppard the campaign in favor of national Prohibition successfully passed the 18th Amendment. The Texas legislature ratified the federal Amendment in 1918 and Texas voters approved the state Prohibition Amendment in 1919.

Organized crime sprang up, especially in large cities and the controversy continued in Texas about how to use the amendment. Did it mean strict enforcement or not? In 1925 Prohibition opponents were in control of Texas and refused to support enforcement measures. When the Great Depression of 1929 happened, the federal government, needing liquor tax money, repealed Prohibition with the 21st Amendment. Texas reverted to local option where it is today. Presently there are 51 dry counties.

Was NB affected? Yes and no. Some of the liquor production went underground. I’ve heard some crazy stories, including chases by the “feds” and underground tunnels, but none substantiated. It wasn’t illegal to drink liquor, only to manufacture and sell it. It was okay to ferment fruit (wine?); okay to provide communion wine; and okay for doctors to prescribe liquor for medicinal purposes.

Headlines in the Herald August 19, 1933: “Comal County Lays Plans to Dance Prohibition ‘Out’ in Monster Street Demonstration on Plaza August 19th”. A giant dance with Judge Klingeman and Mayor Fischer leading the grand march. Prohibition was over and so was Busto Beer.

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Museums tell the stories of our lives over and over again in detail. It becomes challenging to present annual events – like Christmas – in a new and interesting way. Our current special showing is an 18-month long exhibit of War Stories: Memories of New Braunfels in WWI, so Christmas during WWI is an easy pick.

Since that time frame predates us by quite a few years, Keva headed for the archives to find an image to create the scene. Image found. Perfect. The archives, however can provide just as many puzzles as it can solve. The photo is catalogued as “Christmas tree given to the children of Amanty, France, 1917. Unfortunately, it came to us and was catalogued during the early years of the museum, when very little detail was included about the donors or the provenance of the artifact. With a little further research, we learned that Amanty was located in the Meuse department in Lorraine region in northwestern France. Early in 1917, farmer’s fields were appropriated to set up a temporary airfield, or aerodome, about one mile from Amanty by the French escadrille (squadron) C4. Most temporary airfields during WW1 made use of already existing fields for takeoffs and landings. The hangars were fashioned of canvas stretched over metal tubing frames providing cover for aircraft maintenance. Wooden structures were built for barracks, operations offices, and other out buildings. In October 1917, the escadrille C 43 and 1st Aero Squadron made Amanty their home. The airfield was then used by the U.S. 1 Corps Observation Group School and 91st Aero Squadron.

WWI was the first war of the industrial age, bringing with it the use of poison gas, submarines, tanks and aerial warfare. “Aeroplanes” were just coming into military use at the beginning of the war. Initially, they were used mostly for reconnaissance. 1 Corps Observation Group School trained both pilots and observers for the new aerial observation and photography. The 91st Aero Squadron was assigned to general surveillance. The 91st Aero Squadron, originated at Kelly Field, on August 21, 1917. From there they traveled to New York and New Jersey before being shipped overseas. They arrived in France on November 15, and at “Amanty Aerodrome” on December 14, 1917. Could the photo of the Christmas tree have been taken at that time? The photo shows a tree with decorations of looped tinsel, American flags and paper ornaments. Small parcels and cards surround the bottom. Above the tree, it is easy for you to see the ceiling joists of the hanger-like building. American doughboys sharing gifts with the children in war-torn France is such a beautiful expression of the Christmas spirit!

The “Amanty Christmas tree” scene was recreated on the stage of this year’s Weihachtsmarkt in honor of those American doughboys and flyboys. The Sophienburg continues its centennial commemoration of the American involvement in WWI by adding the Amanty Christmas Tree to our “War Stories” exhibit.

You can visit the Sophienburg Museum and Archives Tuesday through Saturday to learn about the history and heritage of New Braunfels and Comal County. We invite you to bring your children out on December 5th to learn about and experience the “Legend of St. Nikolas”. This annual event is only $5 per family and includes a short program, a children’s activity and an opportunity to walk through the exhibit floor. Choose either the 5:00 pm or the 6:30 pm program. by calling 830.629.1572 to make your reservation. Space is limited.

Sources:

• Sophienburg Museum & Archives
• History of 12th Aero Squadron; History of 91st Sqadron; Amanty Airdrome – Wikipedia

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