Family troupe swells 2019 cast
By Kathy Thomson
The Fort Griffin Fandangle is put on by members of the Albany community and the cast typically includes many family groups, but this year one of those ensembles was a little larger than most.
“Our group is 19 strong!” Melinda Musselman said. “Viva Fandangle!”
Henry and Melinda Musselman brought 19 family members and employees with them to swell the ranks of the cast, which already included their nephew’s family of three. All total, the Musselmans’ contingent included 22 people, two trailer loads of horses, a team of mules, and a wagon.
Family members in the performances were Henry and his wife Melinda, their daughters Louisa Fikes and Molly Smith, daughter-in-law Julie, son-in-law Brendan Fikes, and several grandchildren including Jordan and Hattie Fikes, and Leslie, Perry, and Mia Musselman.
Musselman ranch hands that joined them in the 2019 show included Alvaro Tadeo and his brother Pato, Guillermo Sanchez, Jeremiah Valles, Santiago Farrias and his wife Melanie, Mitch Horne, and Peter Blake.
The Henry Musselman family lives in Midland the majority of the year, but they still own and run family ranches in Shackelford and Stephens Counties.
“I’d rather live on the ranch full-time,” said Louisa, “but for now we need to be where we can make a living. However, I’m hoping that we can move to Albany in the not-too-distant future.”
The Musselmans are in the oil and gas business.
Louisa and Molly also give riding lessons in Midland, teaching youth to ride, jump, and play polo.
“I love working with kids and horses,” Louisa said. “Growing up with horses, you can sometimes take riding and working with horses for granted. Then you see the joy in someone who always wanted to ride but didn’t have the opportunity, and you realize what a special childhood you had.”
Henry and Melinda’s children grew up in Midland, but spent a lot of time working with horses at the family ranches and at the Midland Polo Club, and Molly and Louisa both said that they loved it.
Henry grew up in Albany, riding the bus to school and often riding three horses a day at the ranch.
“My grandad got here around 1888 or 1890, and he bought land from the Texas Land and Immigration Company, from Colonel Graham,” Henry said. “Then he bought the Ibex place from the Poindexters in 1928. We still have both of the ranches in our family.”
Henry added that they went through so many horses per day because they did not trailer animals to get where they needed to work, instead they rode there horseback.
According to his daughters, while Henry was growing up, sometimes he rode a little faster than he might have preferred, courtesy of his siblings and a less-than-perfect pony.
“They had a Shetland, and it had some bad habits,” said Molly. “When Dad would ride out with his older brothers, their Mom would tell them, ‘Now one of you needs to keep hold of that pony!’ And they would…but only until they got to the far corner of the pasture, where they’d turn the pony loose and watch it run Henry back toward the house.”
The episodes apparently didn’t deter Henry from enjoying horses, and he missed riding regularly after college.
“In Austin, just after college, I had some friends who played polo, so we chose to move to Midland where I knew some folks that played,” Henry said. “Polo was a way to get horseback again.”
The Musselmans became a fixture at the Midland Polo Club, and eventually brought their love of polo back to Shackelford County.
Polo on the Prairie
“Our polo games were rained out in Midland one spring (at the club), and since they had all been so nice to us and gotten us started in polo, we invited them to play the matches at the ranch.”
Henry mowed a hay meadow, baled, and then transformed the location into a polo field.
“My mother-in-law, Mary Anne McCloud, was on the board of visitors at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,” said Henry.
McCloud invited M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s president, Dr. Charles LeMaistre, out for the polo games.
“After that, we decided to do a fundraiser for the cancer center the next year, in 1987,” said Henry.
Henry says McCloud was the force behind the event, but M.D. Anderson credits both McCloud and Henry as co-founders.
The first year it was held, Polo on the Prairie raised $25,000 for cancer research. Since then, the fundraiser has been held at the Musselman ranch northeast of Albany every May (except in 2019 when rainy weather caused the event to move a few miles east to Breckenridge) and has raised over $7.4 million for cancer research at M.D. Anderson including this year’s addition of $775,000.
Hosting a big event outside, on the Musselman ranch, in a pasture?...Who would have dreamed up such a possibility? Perhaps someone like Henry, who had seen a similar idea work in the past.
Fandangle at the
Musselman Ranch
The Fort Griffin Fandangle, which started as a class play in 1938, was performed at the football stadium until 1957, and then for several years was only presented as “Samplers” and not a full show.
In the spring of 1964, the cast went on the road and put on four shows (three of which were rained out) in the brand new amphitheater in Palo Duro Canyon.
Those shows sparked an interest by a group in Abilene to take over the Fandangle and move it there, but Henry’s older brother Johnny had other ideas. He wanted to see the show stay in Albany.
“I would really like to credit Johnny for getting the Fandangle going again in Albany,” said Henry. “Johnny was the Chamber of Commerce manager, and I was in the fifth grade at the time. We were riding out one April day and we came upon a hill on the Ibex ranch and Johnny asked what I thought about having the Fandangle out in the pasture!”
Two weeks later, Johnny and Watt Matthews got Robert Nail to agree to put on the show at the Musselman ranch.
Bulldozers were soon at work building roads, terraces for seating, and a parking area. Electricity was run to the site, lighting and sound set up, rehearsals got underway, and tickets were offered for sale.
One of the regular singers, James Overton, left for military duty, so Henry’s brother Jimmy stepped up to the mike.
Tickets were $3 for folding chairs or $1.50 for bleacher seats. The gates opened at 6:00 p.m., closed at 8:00 p.m. (so car headlights wouldn’t interrupt the show), and the show started at 8:30 p.m. after a 15-minute calliope concert.
A capacity audience of 1,600 attended each of the two performances.
The following February, work began on a new theater located on the Matthews family’s Gourd Ranch just outside of Albany, and the Prairie Theater has been the home to the Fandangle since 1965.
Henry was in the show regularly until 1976, when he moved to Austin and then Midland.
“Our kids were in it in the 1990s a couple of times, and then we made our grand re-entry last year,” he added. “We love the Fandangle and always have. It just became time again.”
The Musselman family was certainly involved this year, and all of those asked said that they hope to return next year as well.
Musselman Participants
Henry drove a pair of mules pulling the Musselman’s John Deere wagon and played J.A. Matthews, while Melinda was a prairie lady and also played pregnant Sallie Reynolds Matthews.
Louisa and Molly both rode side saddle, attired in dresses formerly worn in the Fandangle by their grandmother, Mary Anna Green Musselman. In addition, Louisa was a prairie lady and played the part of bride Mary Louise Matthews. Louisa’s real life husband, Brendan, played the groom, Tom Blanton.
Their daughter, Jordan, was a young rider, yoledae dancer, and in the train scene, while her younger sister Hattie was an Indian, a prairie girl, and rode in the family wagon when it drove through the Town of Fort Griffin.
Henry and Melinda’s son Luke was not in the show this year, but his spouse, Julie, and their children Leslie, Perry, and Mia were in the Indian and prairie scenes. Mia, at 19 months, was the youngest cast member in the 2019 show.
Johnny’s son James, his wife, Lynsi, and their daughter Mae were also in the Fandangle.
Others Join In
Several of Henry’s employees brought their excellent riding skills to this year’s production.
Jeremiah Valles grew up in Midland and has worked for the Musselmans for four or five years. He played one of the Indians, as did Guillermo Sanchez.
“Melanie and Santiago Ferrias are from Buenos Aires, from a polo ranching family,” said Henry.
The Farrias couple seemed to be enjoying their time in Albany at the Musselman Ranch.
“I love it,” said Melanie at Fandangle practice. “I grew up on a ranch and I love being out like this.”
Santiago was in the cavalry, and Melanie joined Henry on the family wagon.
“Mitch Horne is from Calgary, Alberta in Canada,” Henry said. “Mitch is a nice one-goal player. He and Peter Blake were both in the cavalry, but they could only be here the first week.”
The two men were scheduled to play in polo matches in Sheridan, Wyoming during the second week of the show.
“Alvaro Tadeo has worked for us for three years, and his brother just started with us,” said Henry. “Alvaro is a three-goal pro polo player. He’s played in Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Indio California.”
Alvaro and Pascual Tadeo played Indian warriors in the show.
“When they first asked me if I would be in it and play the Apache Kid, I was a little hesitant,” said Alvaro. “I didn’t know anything about this Apache Kid, or what they had in mind. I have a lot of pride, and I didn’t want to do something that might be degrading.”
Once Alvaro learned more about the Fandangle, the story of the Apache Kid, and the part they wanted him to play, he enthusiastically joined in, and his picture is the one on the cover of this year’s Fandangle souvenir section.
The Tadeo brothers grew up riding horses in Tlaxcala, Mexico, and now they help care for and exercise the Musselmans’ string of horses, which includes 40 to 50 polo ponies and another 30 or so lesson horses.
“We worked hard in Mexico,” said Alvaro. “We are still working hard here, but there are more chances to get ahead.”
Alvaro, who was chosen as MVP of the season by the Midland Polo Club this spring for his horsemanship, polo playing ability, and great sportsmanship, will hopefully be able to bring those talents back to next year’s Fandangle.
“I will definitely come back if I’m still working for Henry and he brings me to Albany,” said Alvaro. “This is special, the way you retell your history. I would like to do it again, but it will depend on where I am working.”
Unique Opportunity
Henry said that the people of Albany have an incredible opportunity in the Fandangle and having a chance to participate in the shows.
“I owe so much of what I am to the Fandangle,” said Henry. “You each have your own cog in the wheel, so it teaches you responsibility, commitment to others, dedication, and shows you what you can do. It helped give me confidence.”
Henry especially credited his uncle Bob Green, brother Johnny, Watt Matthews, Alice Reynolds, Marge Bray, and Bob Nail with keeping the Fandangle alive for so many years, and he hopes that the newer generations in Albany will continue the tradition.
“Everyone ought to get involved,” said Henry. “I have every faith Fandangle will continue, and that more Albany folks will get involved again.”
