The Royal Theater in Archer City, Texas, inspired Larry
McMurtry’s novel, The Last Picture Show, and
featured prominently in Peter Bogdanovich’s both brilliant and unrelentingly
bleak 1971 film adaptation. The
renovated theater hall was now serving as a large dining room for a pre-auction barbecue dinner Thursday night August 9th complete with all the fixin’s
and a truckload of Shiner Bock beer. The
heat outside, even at dinner time, was stifling enough to irritate native
Texans and cause consternation among attendees from more northern climes. Inside however the air blew cool and some 150
book enthusiasts enjoyed food and conversation, all glancing occasionally
toward the entrance door for sight of McMurtry.
He
showed up fashionably late, moving slow and steady, suspenders in place, white
shirt mildly untucked, tennis shoes and jeans worn easy, completing a look that
was a cross between local rancher and bohemian college professor: both
wellsprings that flow through his complex personality. He’d suffered a second heart attack a few
months back and at age 76 was physically frail and quiet spoken but mentally sharp.
