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Round Top Register - Texas Fun Travel Guide - The Courtjester - Subscribe
A Chat with Miss Emma
Exploring 35 Years of Round Top shopping with the empress of antiques
Emma Lee Turney talks with her hands. When she gets all fired up, she waves them around like batons orchestrating her points. She has a lot of practice. She has been conducting interviews for over forty years, and for the most part, she speaks about the same subject…collecting antiques.
She had been kind enough to fit me into her busy schedule and was holding forth, waxing poetic about what she calls the "experience of adventure" that underlies her passion for antiques. "Antiquing has always been the experience of adventure to me. I've had collections. I own collections, but I am not considered a great collector. I just love the adventure, and I love making things work. That's how I got started."
Emma Lee "got started" in the Round Top area thirty-five years ago, and over that substantial period of time, has used her love of collecting, and interest in "making things work," to create one of the most successful and highly regarded antiques and crafts events in the nation. In the process, she has transformed the economy, the landscape, and even the culture of the sleepy little backcountry town that was once Round Top.
And I must admit that's not an original opinion. A few of the Round Top Register's competitors have made similar points.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Miss Emma's show is the "…best antique show in Texas…some say the best west of the Mississippi, others say best in the country…"
Southern Accents claims "…the Round Top Antiques Fair is one of the country's premier antiques events."
CBS news Sunday Morning raves "…When the (Antiques) Fair opens, it looks like opening night….It isn't the scenery that draws crowds to tiny Round Top…it is the Round Top Antiques Fair…it's the best…Round Top has become a decorating Mecca."
In fact, the list of major publications that regularly tout Emma Lee's show is so long that were I to name them all, there would be little room for either Emma Lee's story, or my own journalistic self respect.
Emma Lee and the shopping juggernaut she began, has inspired many other copycat antiques and craft events over that thirty-five years, and together with her four venues, they attract the single largest influx of tourism, tourist dollars, and sales tax revenue of the year in Fayette and surrounding counties. The massive gathering draws thousands of visitors to the area. No one knows how many, but estimates range from as low as 15,000 to pie-in-the-sky guesses like 50,000. Either way, that’s a lot of shoppers to be absorbed by a town of 77.
There's a lot going on in this part of Texas these days, but nothing compares with the exhilarating, over-the-top shopping mania that possesses this part of Texas during the Round Top Antiques Fair.
But it was not always that way. To understand the profundity of Emma Lee Turney's accomplishment, you need a short history lesson. In the mid 1960's, Round Top was enmeshed in the early stages of a radical change. For the previous ten years, the sleepy little German community had been suffering from an intrusion of Houstonians, and the clannish local community was somewhat split on whether this was a good thing or not. Then Mayor Don Nagel (...who was mayor of Round Top for over 29 years, and was followed in that position by his son Dave Nagel, who was Mayor for over ten years. In fact, Dave's wife Carole is now Mayor of the community. It's something of a dynasty.) thought it might help his economically deprived community. Local historian John Banik and a few others also favored modest growth in the town. They, and the members of the Round Top Rifle Association had successfully promoted the town's long-standing Fourth of July parade, and through that vehicle, the community.
Then Houston Post columnist Leon Hale had bought a farm in nearby Winedale, and often wrote about the pristine and somewhat eccentric town in his popular columns. Various up-scale Houstonians had begun a slow migration to the region and were buying second homes and ranches in the area. All were seeking the Texas version of the American Dream, which accroding to modern tradition must include critical lone star icons like tractors, manure, ten-gallon Stetson hats, oil wells, longhorn cattle, diamond stick pins and expensive cowboy boots made from exotic animals.
At various times during this slow transformation, three powerful women arrived on the scene. The most famous of the three was Miss Ima Hogg. Ms. Hogg, the daughter of a colorful governor of this fine state, was one of the most significant figures in modern Texas history, especially in terms of the fine arts. She had been the primary force behind the founding of the Houston Symphony, founded Bayou Bend in Houston (now part of the Museum of Fine Arts), and helped Jacqueline Kennedy with the restoration of the interior of the White House. Miss Ima had influence on a broad range of fine arts activities in the state of Texas, and across the nation. Late in life, she became interested in historic restoration, and after working on her father's home in Quitman, she discovered the Round Top area. She bought the old Winedale Stagecoach Inn from her friend Hazel Ledbetter, and launched a major restoration that was to become the Winedale Historical Center.
Miss Ima developed a deep commitment to preserving the heritage of Texas, particularly in the way that preservation was pursued in the Northeast, and began to wield her considerable influence to make it happen. She spent a lot of time in Round Top, staying at the old Erdmann House just off the Square and eating hamburgers at Birkelbach's Round Top Café. However people in Round Top felt about Houstonians in general, Miss Ima was loved and revered.
Even earlier, her friend Hazel Ledbetter, who was also a mover and shaker, bustled into the community and, along with the Winedale Stagecoach Inn, bought much of the property that is now Anderson's Round Top Inn, including the historic Schiege House, and an old cigar factory. She also opened an antiques store just off the Square in the old Schwarz brewery, which she bought.Later she sold it to another preservationist, Faith Bybee, whom Miss Ima had influenced to begin a major restoration project with Round Top at its center. Ms. Bybee and her husband Charles soon founded the Texas Pioneer Arts Foundation and the Henkel Square Museum Village.
Not long after, Miss Ima talked James Dick into locating the rural music festival he envisioned in the area, from whence sprung the now globally recognized International Festival-Institute at Round Top. She suggested to Dr. James Ayers that he bring Shakespeare to her performance barn in Winedale, and next thing you know, the University of Texas Shakespeare at Winedale program, which in recent years has performed at the Globe Theatre in London, sprang into existence.
Faith Bybee went on a prolific buying spree, not only buying up almost every significant historic building in Round Top, but scouring the countryside for other significant homes, buying them, and moving them into town. For a while, it seemed like every time some old wreck of a building went up for sale in Round Top, one of those three ladies would buy it. Not everyone in town was pleased about that, but it produced a lot of work for local craftsmen, and brought money into a community that was used to living on shoestring, so most folks considered it at least a mixed blessing.
Round Top in those days was still a very remote and untouched place. It had no railroad, was near no main highway, and had little to attract tourists except its Fourth of July parade. Almost everyone in town was kin to almost everyone else. It had been that way for over a hundred years. And frankly, it was charmingly behind the times. German was spoken in the public schools here until World War II. Subsistence farming was dying out, but lasted fifteen years longer than in the rest of Texas. There were still chickens and vegetable gardens all over town. Beer drinking and hard work were practiced in near
Olympian proportions.
Then those three ladies showed up, and the news media followed. Soon, intrusive gawkers from Houston were trespassing all over town on the weekends, peeking in windows and generally making pests of themselves. One day Hazel Ledbetter called an antique dealer and show producer/manager she knew, Emma Lee Turney, and invited her to dinner. She pitched the idea of an antiques event in Round Top.
According to Emma Lee's book, Denim and Diamonds, it was into this cauldron of change that she drove in a red truck carrying a seven-foot pine wardrobe of Texas origin, in October of 1968.
Now that you are caught up, I had better get out of the way, and let Emma Lee talk.
Let's go back to the beginning, before you began creating antiques events. When did you first develop an interest in antiques and decorative
arts?
I grew up in a house with an attorney father, who…would take antiques in lieu of a fee. I grew up in a house of antiques. When I moved to Texas, my friends and I would roam around on Saturday at the shops in Houston. One of my friends and I decided we would open a little shop. We started buying antiques in East Texas. She knew a lot of the old store keepers up in Tyler and Kilgore. It was great experience.
When did you get the idea to start creating antiques and crafts events?
My partner at that time…her family, owned a historical site eight miles east of Cleveland. It had a country store on it. Her grandfather had retired from the country store. We felt there was a great need for better public relations for the antiques business here.
There were only two shows…the Theta Charity Antiques Show in Dallas, and I think the Bellaire Antiques show had begun, a small show with about 25 dealers.
We decided we would have a show out there on that 3 acres…and we did. That was 42 years ago. Dealers came from Atlanta, Georgia and a couple of the best dealers in Houston participated. We had about 25, but they must have brought everything their families had ever owned because it covered that 3 acres. We had an antique car show in connection with it. There was the country store…it still had its old fixtures in it.
My partner was in the advertising and PR business, so we just had incredible publicity right off the bat. We just got this incredible support from the newspapers before and after…
It was a one day show and 6,000 people showed up. The highways were filled and it was so exciting. I still have the articles that were written about it. The energy was so incredible. My partner and I got out there to get it set up. We asked the dealers to set up that morning at 5 AM. We didn't give a set-up day. My partner and I said "It's gonna be too hot for these people to be out here in the open, and her father brought out timbers…he had everything in his barn…just amazing things…and he built a pavilion for us…and covered it…in two days.
We built a little building called the "Crumpled Straw," and we served a thousand hot dogs. That was the first show…and it kicked off all the shows in Texas.
Elizabeth Moore, who with her husband Harvin, the architect, owned Hackberry Hill here in Round Top, was in the shop of one of the leaders in the antique business in Houston, and the dealer said "I don't think this will amount to anything. I had those fresh ideas when I was young." And Elizabeth Moore said to her, "Oh I doubt it's going to be nothing. It was just in Life Magazine before about nine million people."
We managed shows for Westbury Square…in Houston… to present something special for them. We did the first shopping center shows. They were selected as one of the most innovative ideas for shopping center promotion.
That is so long ago. You wonder why you do these tremendous things…of course we just got pennies for our booth rents and any admission…compared to what we have to have today to produce the shows…you're in all the newspapers and the radio and on TV and everything…and then people drift off.
Someone says, "Oh, I can do that. I can start a show." And that's how these shows have proliferated in Texas, and all over the country. There were not many shows up East at that time, very few.
A friend of mine up in Connecticut said "Why don't y'all come up here and do a show. We don't have any shows like that up here…but we stuck to Texas.
My partner and I were in business a couple of years. She didn't care to proceed in the antiques show management, but I did. I just loved it.
I spent my off hours getting writers to write about the joy of collecting…of living with collections...to create an inner interest to share in this great adventure. Madeline McDermott Hamm, Home Decorating Editor for the Houston Chronicle, has
played a profound role in collecting and decorating with antiques. I feel that is what a show manager's job is…to create more interest. I was successful at it. My files show that I got it done…
Tell me the story of how the first Round Top show came into being.
I had no idea at the time the impact it would have on my life in so many ways. I felt very successful. I had already been successful as a show producer for seven years.
Hazel Ledbetter's daughter, Joyce, would come over to my shop on Saturdays and have coffee and visit. She was a collector, and Hazel was a wonderful collector. Hazel called me one day and asked me if I would come up to dinner.
Marguerite Johnson, of the Houston Post, had written this marvelous article about Hazel, and Faith Bybee, and Ima Hogg, and the restoration they were doing in this small German town.
Hazel said she wanted to talk to me about maybe presenting an activity up there that would keep the public from peeking in our windows.
I came to dinner. I liked Hazel. She had a wonderful shop here, I mean top drawer. She was quite a doer. I learned a lot from her…and I learned a lot of things not to do from her. She said "I want you to do an antique show."
I met Clarence Hinze, who was President of the Rifle Association at the time. We shared the same birthday. He has passed away now…but what a fine man. He got right into it, and I rented the hall.
I told Hazel, "I will do a show if you will open your house. Hazel put her stamp of approval on the show.
The first show we had twenty-two dealers, and they were the pick...I could have gotten two or three of them together and people would have flocked to see what they had.
Then Ima Hogg entered onto the scene, was so thrilled about it, and was a wonderful patron of the show. The cream of the crop showed up, as far as the professional and cultural leadership of Houston. There was wonderful publicity. I don't remember the exact attendance, but it was 1,500 or 1,700 or something like that.
Ima Hogg was responsible for getting Faith Bybee to come here. Faith was getting ready to do something in Connecticut. Miss Ima was the final hammer. She said, "You need to do something for Texas. There are enough people in Connecticut." I had the backing of these marvelous leaders of Houston, financiers with a national reputation.
I would get up at 5 AM on Friday, drive from Houston to Round Top, to set up the show. Now it takes ten days, and working on the grounds all year long.
Then I decided that we needed to do it twice a year, or someone else was going to do it, so then we did the Spring show…and it was just an amazing crowd…just wonderful booths, room settings out in the country. '
There was a lot of Texas available then…Texas furniture. My, gosh, the room would be covered with these cupboards, these enormous cupboards, just a sea of cupboards. These wonderful Texas dealers brought their best. It was not air conditioned. They had flaps on the walls there at the Rifle Hall, and they had great big fans…which made it just fine in there. It took me twenty-five years to get them to air condition that Hall…and then five years to install it. The first thing they did was take the flaps down and put fixed windows in there. At one point it got 105 in there. I truly do not know how I kept that show together with no ventilation. Another President of the Rifle Association came along, and I think they put sixty tons in there…I mean it is well air conditioned.
What was it like in those early years? How does it differ from the current shows.
It was small, but there were so few shows. A show doesn't have to be big to be good, and be important. It was so fresh. Such energy and support from collectors, people who wanted to be a part of this scene. This group that was being featured in society columns…"who was at the Round Top Antiques Fair, and who wasn't." It was like you went to New England and had a nice weekend antiquing in the country. We brought that to Texas.
It started out at that time, and it still is, a social event to a lot of Houstonians who own properties in this four county area, who stage parties on that weekend. It's just the big thing to be invited to Round Top. We often get requests for as many as seventy-five tickets in advance.
It created a marvelous, special economy in the community. Annie Schatte (a legendary local realtor who has since passed away) and her son had their real estate office in the Round Top General Store, and on the weekend, people would be lined up outside to go buy properties. I have seen it with my own eyes.
It was such a special time. Ima Hogg had that wonderful grace of royalty. When she came to you, she gave you her thirty seconds or a minute and she never took her eyes off of you, and made you feel so important. We would always send her guest passes. She was a wonderful patron of the show, and bought lots of things for Winedale and her personal collection. She would usually be first in line, or if she wasn't, people would let her be first in line. I would say, or Betty Meyer who manages our admissions would say, "Miss Hogg, we sent you guest passes."
But she would stand at the front of this line that ran out to the highway, and in her loudest voice…she had a strong voice…she would say "Oh, I want to patronize this show. This is the best show in the country." She would just go on so everybody could hear.
I learned that from her, to be supportive…and the way her public persona was so elegant. I never saw her drinking beer, but a lot of her friends would come with their gloves and hats on, and they'd be sitting out there under a tree drinking a Shiner beer. They wouldn't any more do that in Houston, Texas! We all got to have a very unique, pleasurable experience on our first visits to Round Top.
Birkelbach's was the restaurant of the day (Herman Birkelbach ran the original Round Top Café, now Royers' Round Top Café). I went in and told him "You better cook extra." He looked at me a little askance, but he did, and they were overwhelmed.
The town marshal, Ernst Emmerich, at that time was one of my champions. (Mr. Emmerich was partners with the grandfather of the current President of the Round Top Bank, Ronny Sacks, in the Sacks and Emmerich Garage, and also ran a barber shop in the same building. Ronny, who is also the leader of the Round Top Brass Band, remembers playing at some of those early shows when he was in high school, with a group called the Frisch Auf 5.)
Mayor Don Nagel, Mr. Elo Marburger, Clarence Hinze... those men would get out and direct traffic themselves. They saw the impact it was having, that it would bring a very high-profile crowd, and they would buy properties, and they would be spending time here. Jimmy (James Dick) was starting and Winedale was starting. So we were all here together, and starting at more or less the same time.
I'm sorry you didn't get to meet the Schill Steel Company boys, Richard and John. They had a ranch out at the edge of town. Richard delighted in costuming.
(Reportedly, Richard Schill wore a bright red western outfit with the brim of his hat fastened to the crown with a 10 carat diamond to make it look like an Australian bush hat.)
At one of those early shows, Richard ordered a new navy blue Rolls Royce. He had it ordered to be delivered to Round Top just before the show, and spent the weekend driving around the town square telling people where to go. It created a scene here you couldn't duplicate.
Why do you suppose it was such a hit. That's not common in life. To create an instant success, and then have it stay that way. How did that happen?
You have to work on it. Before I presented my first show, I had never been to an antiques show. So I sat down and thought of everything that could go wrong. I worked off of that, and so everything went right. You want only the best, and if you aren't already the best, you make yourself the best. Don't take seconds.
I was raised in a family that didn't think about negatives. I didn't know about negative thinking until I was past about forty-five or fifty. My family was very pioneering. If you wanted to do something, you just got up and did it. We just made things work.
In the early years, you got some support from certain local people here. Some of them still work with you during your events. What local people have contributed to your success?
The 4H club has been selling their plants at the Rifle Hall for about 30 years. Some of those children who sold plants at the 4H long ago take off from their jobs and help with this show. They never say a thing about it. I am very grateful. These people have extended themselves at various times.
Years ago, we prepared our mailing, and I sent my nephew up here on Friday to take it to the post office. He loved to come up here, and go over to Third Base (a Warrenton ice house), only it was called Friendly Freddy's at the time. He got to drinking beer and didn't take the mailing. We're always on a deadline.
I called him Friday night and he said, "Well, I haven't taken it yet."
The post office was closed but I called Doris, the postmistress, and she opened the post office on Saturday and accepted that mail. That would not happen any place else…any place, let alone a big city.
Did you always know it would succeed? At what point did you realize that you had created an institution that would last for
years?
Thank you for saying that. I was very happy with the show as it was in the Rifle Hall. The wait list was so long. I had about eighty on the wait list, and the people would literally have to die before they would give up their space.
Mary Emmerling, famed creative director of Country Home, HGTV commentator, and author of twenty-seven some-odd books on American country, was here. We were standing in the door of the Rifle Hall during one of the shows, and lamenting what I could do. Mary said, "Why don't you get a tent and put it out back like they do up East."
I said, "Well, they'll just think I'm selling used cars."
But, in about a month I had arranged for a tent. We were up to eighty-one dealers at that point.
I don't force anything, and I don't force feed anything. I operate on public demand. Every place I have gone, either they didn't have a show, or someone in the community has come to me and said "Why don't you do a show here?" I'd look over what kind of shows they had…in San Antonio…Austin…incredible collector's city…and then start. But I've sold all those shows in the last few years because Round Top is all we can handle.
In all the years you have run these events, you must have some good stories you would not mind telling. Tell us a funny story or
two.
Well it was real funny the time in the beginning when one of the locals got too much beer, and tried to ride his horse in the Rifle Hall. At least, it was real funny when it was over. There are funny stories I love to tell but they couldn't be printed.
One gal came to the show early on, and one of the dealers had this country table with $1250 on it.
She looked at it, and measured it and everything, and said. "I'm going to have to go ask my husband, but I'll be right back." She got her husband, they came back, and he liked the table…and she pulled out twelve dollars and fifty cents.
Of course the table was marked $1,250.00, and I don't think that woman ended up buying it...but the dealer did sell it during the show.
This is the 35th anniversary of the Round Top Show. When you look back over all that time, how do you feel about that accomplishment?
I'm very elated. I take a great sense of elation and a feeling of success. I know of only one slightly negative review we have ever had…and that was a newspaper in Lufkin. I think it was a woman I had turned down for a space previously because her things were too late for our show. We built this market, and we've been acknowledge as having contributed to antiques collecting nationally, and especially in the survival of rural America and American Country. We've been credited without solicitation that we have contributed to this survival. It just makes you feel good that what you always wanted to do, you got to do it, and you were successful.
What types of things do you collect, and why?
I've had a lot of different things. I haven't kept a lot of furniture, because I like my beds comfortable, and I like my couches comfortable. I want a softer look.
I have wonderful art. I have some Bill Anzalone and some James Painter…the late James Painter. I love those pictures. I have wonderful prints and paper work.
I collect rare books, fifteen century up to the eighteenth century, cookbooks, gardening books. My fourteen hundred's book is a book on dragons. It's wonderful. I have early folk art, and signs. I've always been interested in communication and transportation. Toys have always fascinated me too...and airplanes.
My family was always interested in airplanes. They flew in the 1930's and barnstormed as a hobby. Before I was born, they had driven up to see Lindbergh off. They just jumped in the car and went up there. There's a picture in the (scrap) book they took of him in the Spirit of St. Louis. They were that pioneering and adventurous. They didn't know “don't do something.”
One of my dealers from Westlake, Louisiana brought a little airplane to me that is a handmade replica of the Spirit of St. Louis with holes for five little American flags. It was a radiator ornament that was used in the parade when he return to New York.
That means something to me. It relates to my family…and that the dealer thought to do that. She is one my most loyal dealers and such a wonderful person.
Oh my goodness. I am just surrounded with love, and people who care.
But now I don't collect much anymore. I don't have time to take care of them. Collections are a responsibility to care for.
At one time, I collected early Texas houses, but that was like pouring money down an endless rat hole. I have done my pioneering Texas woman act. I've got to have some creature comforts.
At the Big Red Barn, you are expanding the number and content of your shows. Tell us something about the new shows, their themes, and what those events offer.
The purpose was to create a venue where we could add these new shows, like the
Country Interiors Design Show, which I started in Austin many years back. I presented it in the Coliseum.
Country Living’s Nina Williams came from New York and presented a lecture on decorating with country antiques. If you've ever been in there, you know it's just like a sty, but we back draped it in white so everything looked glorious. I used to present shows in Fredericksburg, and my Fredericksburg dealers got so excited about it, they were my PR people. Now, I revived that thinking. We are combining our
Garden & Architectural Ornament Show with that, because next summer in 2003, from April 15th until September 15th, we will present the
Summer Shops in the Big Red Barn at Round Top. We will have nationally known dealers and regional dealers who are just starting out.
This is not set in stone yet, but we will probably be open Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will be a constant inventory turnover.
We will be hiring out of the high schools for people who might be going into sales or interiors and even a couple of guys who have strong backs. We hope to be able to present a training program for some of these young people who will be free next summer to help.
The Holiday Show in the Country is not just Christmas, but holiday things and using them in a lifestyle environment…and they can be new or old.
Over the years, many other dealers and event managers have taken advantage of your success, and the national reputation of your shows, and have opened "copycat" events in the area. How do you feel about that?
Any negative feeling I have doesn't last very long. But you have to be penetrated by it a little bit. Anybody who left me to go somewhere else, I was usually glad to see them go… but not everybody. There were a couple of dealers that left me and I was very surprised to see them go because they made so much money in my shows. But if they were not happy with what I was doing, I want them to be happy…so just go on.
I haven't suffered any loss of income. I've been able to expand. So, I can't afford to spend a lot of thinking on negative issues. With the patronage we have, I want to be more grateful.
What really bothers me, is where I've been plagiarized, where people use things that are said about my show to promote their show…or making claims that are inaccurate. That bothers me, plagiarism and a lack of integrity. But how can I resent that as long as my booths are filled, and I have a good attendance.
Was there ever a time that you considered getting out of the business?
I went through a little tiny spell in the late 1970's where finances got tight and I couldn't figure out if I was going in the right direction. That lasted about a day or two, and then I got my thinking cap on and moved forward. I've had offers in the past to buy the shows, but I have a special feeling for Round Top. I am very grateful for the opportunity I've been given in life. It is so different from even the very good shows up East. There is this wonderful energy that everyone gets into. I like being part of that. I like being surrounded by people who are positive and fun loving.
It's a serious business. It costs a lot now to be an antique dealer, and it costs a lot to travel and do these major shows. I appreciate that.
We advertise a lot in major publications, Country Home, sometimes Texas Monthly, and others…I was pleased to advertise with you, because for one thing, so much pressure was brought on me by my dealers. They'd say, "Well it's just funny. You see them everywhere."
I'd say, "Well we're not trying to draw everyone."
They'd say. "It's so good. You brag about being so supportive…" some of them are very candid with me. "…and you're not supporting that paper."
I've had customers tell me how much they enjoy the Register. So I thought, hmmmm. I don't want to be left out of anything that's successful.
Oh yeah, I'm sure the Register is the whole key to your success. (laughter) Now, About antiques and crafts dealers…over the years, you must have noticed some common traits. What is their passion?
I don't think my comment will be original. I feel that collecting…and a lot of our dealers started because they had over-collected…I feel that we relate to the past through collecting, and create a heritage for ourselves…a knowledge and awareness of the past…of the culture of the past…the history…the heritage.
There has never been a better time to buy fine antiques than today. We have the proof. It is built better than most contemporary furniture…has better style. You can create your own style, create a look that is only you. You can't do that with many things…even with clothes it is hard to do.
It is individual as there are people who are collecting.
Your shows have a long-standing reputation for quality. What do you look for to accomplish this?
Quality is different to everyone. That's the way it is. The quality of the merchandise is determined by rarity, craftsmanship, time frame, whether it has been restored or is in original condition, and whether or not it can be used. You know, can you actually sit on the chair without it collapsing under you? Those are the guidelines for quality.
We draw quality dealers because of the reputation of the show. The reputation that we get good buyers, and that other dealers shop our shows, speaks for the pricing and the value. It took me a long time to accept curmudgeons in my shows.
One interviewer asked me one time, "How do you select your dealers? I said, "Well really, at this stage, it's personality first and collection second." The less trouble the better. But we've
The less trouble the better. But we've never had much trouble, because we conduct our shows in the country the same as the ones in the city, for security, safety and success.
Emma Lee Turney is a cultured and gracious woman, but she is also a tough and effective business person. Her success was built by an impeccable sense of timing, matched by an indomitable spirit. Both were seasoned by a lot of hard work. Denim and Diamonds offers a short biography of this commanding woman which suggests the source of her success.
Emma Lee's mother was the great grand-daughter of a Cherokee Indian who walked the Trail of Tears. Her parents' marriage failed during the Great Depression when she was less than a year old. She was handed over to her mother's friends, the Turney family of Tulsa Oklahoma. Suddenly she had four older siblings, and a new set of parents.
Her new found family had a "pioneering spirit," and a spontaneous and "can do" spirit. On weekends, she went barnstorming with her father over Indian territory. Her family had been friends of Wiley Post, the pilot who perished with Will Rogers in a plane crash in Alaska. Her father taught her to drive when she was twelve. The Turney family was also deeply committed to helping their neighbors through the hard times in the Dust Bowl, when " a bowl of soup earned solemn respect." Over time, Emma Lee came to understand that she herself was an example of their altruism.
Her new mother, Flora Turney, believed that there was only one way to do anything: the right way. You can see that character trait in Emma Lee today. It is second nature to her. She doesn't believe in compromise or failure. As she says, "Don't take seconds." At times during the interview I was struck by how little she even considered such limitations in her plans…almost as though such concerns do not exist for her. I asked her about that.
"Actually, I just don't know any better. Who in their right mind, at 73, would go out and borrow the kind of money I have. (to finance the Big Red Barn project) I had just gotten out of debt. It's just that I have these wonderful people on my team…who are creative, that use initiative, people who feel they are a part of success. It's fun to be a part of something that is successful, especially if someone doesn't chew you out all the time. They all do their jobs, and do them better than anyone I have ever encountered anyplace. And, I don't know how to think that something is not going to succeed. When people ask me what I think about all that down the highway, (the shows that have sprung up in the wake of the Round Top Antiques Fair). I don't think about it very much because I don't have time, but I'll tell you how I feel.
If people come here, wherever they visit, wherever they shop, I want it to be successful. I don't want people to come here and leave saying 'It's not all it's cracked up to be.' I want them to be happy.
That's a very Pollyanna attitude, but honey, I watch everything everyone does, and I'll always have help thinking up something better.”
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