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“Dallas” debuted on this day 42 years ago, and I can think of no better way to mark the occasion than with another Lego tribute from my husband, Andrew.
After creating a Sue Ellen portrait made of his childhood Legos and a “Who Shot J.R.?” playset, Andrew has built his own Southfork, complete with minifigs to represent the Ewings and all their friends — and a few of their enemies, of course.
Andrew spent a long time designing the house, carefully considering details like the angle to pitch the roof. It took him even longer to build the thing, especially since he had to track down some of the more obscure pieces online. (Who knew there was an underground market for Legos?)
In addition to recreating the outside of Southfork — including the arch over the driveway, the swimming pool and the yellow-and-white patio furniture — Andrew recreated some of “Dallas’s” most famous settings, like the foyer, dining room and the bedrooms of J.R. and Sue Ellen and Bobby and Pam.
Fitting all those rooms into the house wasn’t easy. The Hollywood sets from the TV series don’t exactly align with the exteriors of the real-life Southfork in Texas, making this project like our own version of HGTV’s “A Very Brady Renovation.” Andrew made it work, though, and even came up with the clever idea to put one wing of the house on a hinge so you can “swing” it to the side to get a better look at the interiors.
(This also allowed us to come up with my favorite feature of all: The hinge splits J.R. and Sue Ellen’s bed down the middle, so whenever the couple has a fight, she can swing her half of the bed into a whole other room. It’s just like when she used to move across the hall from J.R. in the ’80s!)
Andrew also carefully chose minifigs that resemble the actors. The Lego J.R. has Larry Hagman’s mischievous twinkle, and I especially love how Andrew dressed Sue Ellen in black and white, just like the iconic dress Linda Gray wore in “Who Done It?,” the episode that resolved the “Who Shot J.R.?” cliffhanger. (The Lego Miss Ellie is a little more Donna Reed than Barbara Bel Geddes, but oh well.)
Together, Andrew and I have had a lot of fun staging some of “Dallas’s” most famous scenes. Check out the gallery below, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments.
Dallas Decoder 