An historic menu and program from the Formal Opening Banquet of The Shamrock on St Patrick's' Day March 17, 1949 in Houston Texas. From the Gold Embossed Crest on the Front Cover to the Embossed Image of The Shamrock Hotel on the Back Cover, this is a piece of Houston Texas History. There are 8 pages with a glued in Image of Glenn McCarthy on the inside front cover, a glued in Poem, The Story of Two Premieres by Glenn McCarthy on the inside back cover and a glued in Picture of The Shamrock in the Menu / Program. Includes a Introduction by Glenn McCarthy, a Foreword, Our Program and the Menu. The Narrator and Master of Ceremonies was Pat O'Brien  with a live National Radio Broadcast by Dorothy Lamour. The Entertainment included Dorothy Shay, Russ Morgan, Nat Brandywine, Ben Yosts, Gordon Currie and Mischa Gaminsky. The Menu Program is in fine condition with minor wear and minor discoloration from the yellow tassel which holds the pages into the menu cover. Measures about 9" x 11 3/4" when closed.   


From the Houston Chronicle
"March 17, 1949: On this St. Patrick's Day in 1949, the 18-story Shamrock Hotel, at the intersection of Main Street and Holcombe Boulevard, held a grand opening party that to this day, remains one of the largest social events in Houston's history. Around 50,000 lucky Houstonians gathered outside in hopes of catching a glimpse one of the 175 celebrities attending the dedication ceremony, which included Dorothy Lamour, Ginger Rogers, and Lana Turner. Construction on oilman Glenn McCarthy's hotel began in 1946, and when it was completed in '49, the 1000 room hotel would also boast the world's largest hotel swimming pool – so large, in fact, that you could water ski on it. Unfortunately, the Shamrock was demolished in 1987, and where the Shamrock's pool once was, is now a parking lot for the Texas Medical Center.


From Wikipedia
"Historic grand opening.  The hotel opened with fireworks displays on St. Patrick’s Day 1949. Two thousand Houstonians paid $42 a person to have dinner at what was widely publicized as “Houston’s biggest party" which cost an estimated one million dollars. The party was attended by over 150 Hollywood celebrities including Ginger Rogers, Hedda Hopper, Robert Preston and Errol Flynn along with noted Los Angeles business executives and reporters, some of whom were flown in to Houston International Airport on a customized Boeing 307 Stratoliner airplane which McCarthy had bought only days earlier from Howard Hughes. Many more were brought in by train on a chartered Santa Fe Super Chief. With a crowd estimated at 50,000 gathering outside the hotel, newspaper boys dressed in black tie handed out commemorative editions of the Houston Post as guests arrived that evening. The party became very overcrowded, with three thousand people milling in the hotel's public areas, a thousand more than had been foreseen. Houston mayor Oscar F. Holcombe and his wife sat in a hallway for two hours after his chair was stolen. "It was the worst mob scene I have ever witnessed," Holcombe said later. The festivities became so raucous that a radio broadcast from the hotel by actress, singer and World War II pinup girl Dorothy Lamour was cut off by the network; assuming he was off-air, NBC audio engineer Raoul Murphy uttered an expletive heard live nationwide and dead air greeted the audience for a very long twenty seconds. Due to the numerous broadcast difficulties, Lamour reportedly fled the stage in tears. The Houston Chronicle's society editor wrote that the event was "bedlam in diamonds". Life called it "...the most dazzling exhibition of evening dresses and big names ever seen in Texas. Everyone had to concede it was quite a party and quite a hotel." The grand opening of the Shamrock is still cited as one of the biggest social events in Houston’s history.


Due to the size limitations of my scanner, the entire menu may not show in some of the scans.