Nick C. Hall on his palomino horse Champ.

 Courtesy of Leslie Hall Clot

It took a Missourian transplanted to Tucson in the 1930s to really see why the Old Pueblo should appeal to Hollywood and to begin enticing moviemakers and their stars to town.

Nick C. Hall was born in 1882 near Tarkio, Missouri, and went on in his home state to attend the University of Missouri, to work at his father’s newspaper, the St. Joseph Report, and to open an automobile agency, Hall Bros., in Kansas City. During WWI, Hall served in the Motor Transport Corps of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corp based out of Washington, D.C., and married Harriet Ade. The couple spent some time in San Antonio, where he worked at the St. Anthony Hotel.

In 1934, after Barney Goodman of Kansas City purchased the Santa Rita Hotel in Tucson, Hall relocated here in order to manage the downtown jewel.

Hall soon realized the potential his new town had to offer the filmmakers of nearby Hollywood in the Western genre. He envisioned not only filling guest rooms at his hotel but bringing much-needed work for desperate Tucsonans during the Great Depression.

The Santa Rita Hotel ad. (Nick C. Hall, Mayor of Old Tucson) Tucson magazine, September 1939.

As Old Tucson historian Paul Lawton wrote, β€œTucson’s casual and haphazard wooing of the motion picture industry changed in 1934. … Hall liked having his lobby full of movie people and he went all out to get them. He hired photographers to search out and photograph picturesque ranches and impressive mountain and desert scenery. Hall found out who owned each piece of property and who could give permission for its use. Hall persuaded local businessmen to cater to the movie makers by supplying any unlikely item at any unlikely time. He knew the β€˜right’ people in Hollywood and kept them reminded of Tucson by gifts of steaks cut from champion steers.”

By May 1936, Hall was taking trips to Hollywood and talking to motion picture companies including the newly formed Pickford-Lasky Productions about filming in Tucson. This led to the filming of The Gay Desperado starring Ida Lupino and Leo Carrillo in town, which included Hall helping to set up a dark room in the basement of his hotel and a room on the mezzanine floor for the make-up room.

In October 1936, the world premiere of The Gay Desperado took place at the Fox Theater in Tucson. Arizona Gov. B. B. Moeur, Tucson mayor Henry O. Jaastad and of course Hall were in attendance.

Another film Hall helped to bring to Tucson was MGM’s Let Freedom Ring about the battle between man and the untamed desert in laying the railroad from Red Rock to Ajo.

In early December 1938, MGM movie staff showed up in town and moved into the Santa Rita Hotel. In order to help the director find extras, Hall opened a temporary casting office and hired 500 unemployed individuals, with the most desirable type for the film being the β€œold timer … carrying with them the very spirit of the early days in the Southwest.”

The filming for this movie ended in late December 1938, and it premiered at the Fox Theater.

As the latter movie was wrapping up production in Tucson, Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, had read the galley proofs of what would be a magazine serial and then a novel entitled Arizona. It was about a female pioneer Phoebe Titus in Tucson during the U.S. Civil War, written by recent Phoenix transplant Clarence Budington Kelland. Cohn bought the movie rights to it.

Cohn, however, kept quiet about the deal until a couple weeks after director Wesley Ruggles signed a contract with his studio in mid-January. Cohn also borrowed Claude Binyon from Paramount Pictures to write the movie script.

This tightly guarded secret regarding the film rights finally was let out in very early February 1939 when Louella Parsons, the Hollywood syndicated gossip columnist, shared it in her newspaper column.

Later in the month, Binyon traveled to Tucson β€œfor atmosphere” as well as to do some historical research for the film and stayed at the Santa Rita Hotel. He was later joined by Ruggles. It’s very likely at this point that Hall after learning the men’s purpose in being in Tucson had the first opportunity to suggest the idea of actually filming in Tucson rather than the studio’s ranch in Burbank, California.

Following this, Hall began working behind the scenes to carry out his plan to have the film shot in Tucson, which included making trips to Los Angeles.

On July 26, 1939, after it was announced about a week earlier that the movie Arizona would be filmed in the Old Pueblo, the Tucson Daily Citizen shared:

β€œNo, the producing company (Columbia Pictures) didn’t have to come here to film Arizona just because in the novel this was the scene of the action. On the contrary, it took a lot of diplomacy, a lot of string pulling. ... Nick Hall ... conceived the idea and carried on the negotiations which led to the producer’s decision to film Arizona here.”

(Old Tucson Scrip). Nick C. Hall, Mayor of Old Tucson, signature at bottom right.

Hall began his work chaperoning Columbia officials, including Jim Pratt, construction superintendent, as they planned the construction of the movie set located on Kinney Road about five miles north of Ajo Road, based on what Tucson looked like in the 1860s.

Hall made all of the arrangements for the cast and crew including the lead actress Jean Arthur to stay at his hotel and made frequent visits to Hollywood to work out details of their needs.

Hall, at times, played the role of public relations person for the production to the news media and also worked with the county to have patrol officers assigned to the route taken by the film crew from Tucson to Old Tucson to speed things up.

In late August 1939, the cast of the film β€œelected” Hall the mayor of Old Tucson, half in jest and half in seriousness due to the fact that he had been responsible for bringing the filming of Arizona to Tucson, which resulted in the construction of the Old Tucson movie set and in appreciation for taking care of the needs of the cast and crew.

By early September 1939, however, before any filming had begun, everything connected with the film stopped due to the start of World War II.

In October 1939, Arizona Gov. R.T. Jones proclaimed Nick C. Hall as honorary mayor of Old Tucson β€” in a sense validating his previous unofficial election a couple months earlier, and issued a large and ornate certificate bearing the emblem of the State of Arizona and signed by the governor.

Production of the movie "Arizona" with William Holden and Jean Arthur at Old Tucson in 1939. The movie was the first to be filmed at what would become Old Tucson.

By early 1940, according to the Tucson Daily Citizen, Hall had brought in more than $1,000,000 annually over a period of three years β€” 1937, 1938 and 1939 β€” in motion pictures business to Tucson. Hall had spent much of his time and his money inducing Hollywood to come to Southern Arizona to film their pictures.

In April 1940, Hall picked up Ruggles at the airport and brought him to the hotel. Soon after, the rest of the cast and crew returned to Tucson.

The film company essentially took over Hall’s hotel, setting up production offices, timekeeping offices, camera dark rooms, business offices, cutting rooms, a projection theater and even had its own transportation department on site.

Downtown Tucson parade during the world premiere of the movie "Arizona" in 1940. It was the first full-length movie filmed at Old Tucson Studios.

On April 7, 1940, the official dedication of Old Tucson was held. The festivities began with Hall as host of a luncheon at the hotel and followed with the presentation by Gov. R.T. Jones of a scroll to Ruggles. The guests then were driven by bus to Gates Pass circle where they were met by stage coaches and ox-trains to convey them to the movie set.

There, Hall, acting as mayor of Old Tucson, presented the key to the city to the movie director. A month later in this role he presided over the opening of the real but temporary Old Tucson Post Office.

As time got closer to the movie premiere, the Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees) worked with two local banks and local merchants to issue Old Tucson scrip (paper money) in 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents, one dollar and five dollar amounts. The scrip could be used in Tucson and Old Tucson (which for a period was being run as the real old Tucson with stores, entertainment etc.) from Nov. 10-17, 1940. All the currency featured the signature of its mayor, Nick C. Hall.

The majestic Santa Rita Hotel, seen here on on Broadway between Scott and Sixth Avenue, as it looked in the late 1940s. The grand hotel with a stunning lobby was designed in the Mission Revival style by architect Henry Trost. Nearly 2,000 people attended the grand opening in 1904. It was demolished in 2009 to make way for the Tucson Electric Power building.

On Nov. 15, 1940, the world premiere of the film Arizona took place in downtown Tucson at four different movie theaters, Rialto Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Fox Theatre and State Theatre. The film’s stars, Jean Arthur and William Holden, were in town.

By 1946, Old Tucson was run down and the supervisors of Pima County, which owned it, were trying to decide what to do with it. In the end, they decided to allow the Jaycees to take over the movie set and run it as a tourist attraction on a lease. The lessee then decided to form a town government by choosing Jaycee members for mayor, town council, etc.

Initially, this really burned Hall up but then he cooled off. He shared, β€œNo I’m not mad anymore. But I was just thinking about this business of voting me out as mayor of Old Tucson. The Jaycees may not remember back as far as 1936-37, but I had a dream and that dream came true. I sold it to Wesley Ruggles … and he (built) that set for β€˜Old Arizona.’

β€œThen the war scared β€˜em off, but I got them back the next year and they shot the picture (Arizona) and spent another $2,700,000 on it. That was old Mayor Nick Hall who got them here and got them back. β€œ

By 1947, the Jaycees recognized Nick Hall as β€œmayor of Old Tucson,” and it appears no real challenge ever rose again to his mayorship.

In June 1951, it was announced in the newspaper that Hall had been put in charge of the Goodman owned Chapman Park Hotel in Los Angeles.

This is a mockup of what a ramada at Old Tucson will look like once it's named for Nick C. Hall.Β 

It continued, β€œDuring his 17 years as the head of the Santa Rita, Hall made his hotel headquarters for visiting movie and stage personalities. ... Probably more than any other single individual Hall was responsible for many movies filmed in Arizona and was instrumental in securing a change in Arizona’s compensation law which threatened, for a time, the state’s movie industry.”

In July 1959, Robert Shelton of Kansas City formed the Old Tucson Development Co. and began to turn the old film set into the tourist attraction we know today.

The same year Shelton took over Old Tucson, Hall died of a heart attack while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach, California.

The following day, Old Tucson flew the American flag at half-staff in honor of its mayor.

An undated photo of the lobby in the grand old Santa Rita Hotel.Β 

On Feb. 7, 1960, the newspaper announced β€œNick Hall, the late famed mayor of Old Tucson, is going to be memorialized. ... Nick’s old office (at the Santa Rita Hotel) will be rebuilt by the Old Tucson Development Co. and housed in its historical museum. In it will be his copper-mounted saddle always seen in the rodeo parade, his desk, the many autographed photos … given to him by movie stars.”

Today at Old Tucson you can find many names honoring movie characters or people connected with its history. Phoebe’s Sweets, for example, honors the main character in the movie Arizona, Phoebe Titus; and Shelton Hall Museum is named for Robert Shelton. Nothing could be found that honors the man who is mainly responsible for Old Tucson existing in the first place, Nick C. Hall, however.

In 2022, the author of this Street Smarts column (David Leighton) was researching the history of the Rillito Race Track when he came across the name of a horse race β€œThe Nick Hall Stakes”. Not having heard the name Nick Hall in Tucson history, he researched Hall’s life and found out that he was responsible for the existence of Old Tucson.

As a result, he along with City Councilman Steve Kozachik, with support from Hall’s great niece Leslie Hall Clot, Visit Tucson President & CEO Felipe Garcia, and Western film author Gene Freese worked with John A. Harper and Tony Sanders of the American Heritage Railways to name something at Old Tucson in Hall’s honor.

The ramada at Old Tucson, near the gazebo, was chosen to be named the β€œNick C. Hall Ramada.”

The Fox Tucson Theatre has been a Tucson landmark for decades. Its history has been captured in photos since the 1930s, when it opened as a vaudeville venue and movie house. Video by Pascal Albright / Arizona Daily Star

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David Leighton is a historian and author of “The History of the Hughes Missile Plant in Tucson, 1947-1960.” He has been on PBS, ABC, Travel Channel, radio, and in Arizona Highways. He named four local streets in honor of pioneers Federico and Lupe Ronstadt and barrel racer Sherry Cervi. He also named the Jonathan Rothschild Alamo Wash Greenway. If you have a street to suggest for a column, or a story to share, email him at azjournalist21@gmail.com