Sunday, October 21, 2001

15 The 'Giant' movie set

Legend has it that when Edna Ferber was researching her book "Giant," which in 1955 was made into a movie, she asked King Ranch boss Robert Kleberg Jr. if she could stay on his ranch for a few weeks. All she wanted, she said, was to learn about "a typical Texas ranch."
   Kleberg was quick to tell her that King Ranch wasn't typical. But the book-movie and the ranch had many similarities, which the ranch folk found embarrassing. They could've done worse than have James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor (as she looked in 1955) portray them.
   The ranch was, and remains, bigger than Hollywood.
   The King Ranch
  

825,000 acres of South Texas, larger than Rhode Island
  

Owning or co-owning more than 55,000 acres in Florida, is one of the leading producers of citrus fruits in the United States
  

Its resident cowboys are multi-generation descendants of vaqueros from a town in Mexico
  

Once owned properties in South American and Australia
  

Has 50,000 to 60,000 cattle at any given time
  

Caters to tourists with tours, recreational hunting, and an on-site museum
  

Known for its special breeds of cattle, the Santa Gertrudis and the Santa Cruz
  
  

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