Article first published in Vol. 37, 2020.
By Samantha Linn
Editor's note: All photos courtesy of Kathy Hubert
In the 1920s, a cotton farmer named Guy Fields built a grandstand and baseball diamond in one of his cotton fields in El Paso's Lower Valley.
Image caption: Scott Douglas is shown here early in his dance career
According to Bob Ingram, author of the book Baseball: From Browns to Diablos and sports editor of the El Paso Herald-Post for more than half a century, the core of the team consisted of Wally, Sewell and Jodie Fields. The team was named after the nearest town, Clint, and baseball "boomed in the lower valley." The team's "star pitcher" was Jimmy Hicks, who played for several semi-pro teams in regional leagues. He would spend most of his life as a lawman and much later became sheriff of El Paso. His son, also named Jimmy, would become a world famous ballet dancer.
William Oren (W. O.) Hicks, better known as Jimmy, was born in 1902 in Blum, Texas. His father, Rufus Patterson Hicks, married Alma Eva Coburn and she bore six of his seven children.
According to a telephone interview with a grandniece of Jimmy Hicks, Sonya Hicks Rama, Alma died in 1910 at the age of 33 from a heart attack, and the children would be motherless until Rufus remarried in 1915.
Two of Jimmy's older brothers, Vernon and Troy, served in the Navy during World War I. One of his brothers became a watchmaker, another a fireman. Jimmy made his way to El Paso and worked as a highway patrolman through the 1930s.
Jimmy Hicks and Alberta Elsie Celum married in 1926 in Clint. He was 24; she was 15. On June 16, 1927, the couple had a baby boy and named him Jimmy Oren. They would have two more children together, Dana Nell on June 5, 1929, and Kay Frances on Christmas Eve 1932. The three children grew up during the Great Depression and World War II ‒ a time of tension and unrest in America ‒ and in their home.
Jimmy was a born dancer. Even with the deprivations of the Depression and the war, young Jimmy Hicks' mother encouraged him to develop his incredible talents both in El Paso and in California. The training and passion for dance that was firmly established in his soul would build and propel him into a full-time career in the future, as his love of performing and working hard, even as a child, combined with his rare innate abilities.
Jimmy started dance lessons in tap and other styles under Karma Deane, an El Paso photographer and dance teacher. El Paso Herald-Post columnist Ann Carrol wrote that children were encouraged to dress professionally and attend dance clubs at Deane's studio. In a 1952 El Paso Herald-Post article, Sheriff Hicks recalled that he himself was athletic in his youth, but "I could never dance. Jimmy danced from the time he was of kindergarten age."
Sonya Rama said in an interview that "Alberta was a stage mom". She enthusiastically encouraged her three children to go into show business. A 1936 El Paso Herald-Post article recorded that when Jimmy was seven, he was selected to join the dance group Siesta Busters in San Diego at the American Exposition. A February 1936 El Paso Herald-Post reported, "In September, Jimmy and his mother and two sisters went to Hollywood." Immersed in the performing industry, seven-year-old Jimmy declared his philosophy: "If Shirley Temple can, so can I."
He danced at the Shriners' Auditorium for the Will Rogers Memorial program in Los Angeles in November 1935. Then in December, he danced at the annual benefit for the Los Angeles Examiner. These early performances in California brought attention to his "personality and limber body," according to the El Paso Herald-Post. Robert F. McGowan, a children's director well known for the Our Gang series, signed Jimmy for a role in the Paramount film Too Many Parents when he was eight and had been in Hollywood only five months. Back in El Paso, he was performing at various events with the Alyce Outlaw School of Dance, according to a February 1936 Herald-Post article.
Jimmy toured and tap danced professionally in California as part of the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit, a national system of vaudeville and movie theaters which promoted drama and comedy along with other acts. Nine-year-old Jimmy was beginning to acquire the experience that would properly season him for life as a professional dancer.
Image caption: Scott Douglas performed many roles in productions around the world
Even as a young boy, Jimmy is said to have "worked steadily." In an interview, Kathy Hubert, the daughter of 's sister Kay, said his father did not provide support while the family was in California, and it is presumed that they survived on young Jimmy's earnings. The guidance of great dance instructors pointed him in the direction of performing in major theatres and becoming a well-known star.
After attending Dudley Elementary and graduating from El Paso High, Jimmy joined the Navy like his two uncles, and served with the Seabees, the Naval Construction Battalion. He also worked for a short time with the FBI in California. During this time, his father took a break from the Texas Highway Patrol to spend four years in gold mining activities in Mexico from 1945 to 1949.
According to a New York Philharmonic program, the younger Hicks stayed in California and studied modern dance at the Los Angeles City College under Ruth St. Denis and Lester Horton for two years.Hicks adopted the stage name "Scott Douglas" and would work under it for another four decades.
Jennifer Dunning recorded that in 1948, Douglas became a member of the San Francisco Ballet, studying under director William Christensen, after stepping away from dance lessons with St. Denis and Horton. Two years later, in 1950, he left San Francisco to join Ballet Theatre, later to be known as the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in New York. Early in his career with Ballet Theater, Douglas broke his leg in a rare accident and returned to El Paso to recuperate, where his father also was recuperating from an operation.
Many decades later, Dick Andros, a dancer who made his debut with the San Francisco Ballet in 1948 with Douglas, said that because he and Douglas had the GI Bill, their dance training was paid for and allowed them the best training in the U.S. Dancing with the ABT, Douglas earned the title "principal dancer" in 1953 and "lead male dancer" soon after. Scott Douglas was loyal to the ABT for many years, performing in numerous well-known productions and touring all over the world. Founded in 1939, it is known today as "America's National Ballet Company," thanks to a Congressional Act in 2006. The dance company still tours the U.S. annually and has performed in more than 40 countries.
A 1953 article in the El Paso Herald-Post informed locals that Douglas, along with the ABT, would perform for Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation in London on June 2 of that year. The company was touring the U.S. and Canada, and before their April European tour, they planned on making an appearance in El Paso on February 13, 1953. A local newspaper recorded Sheriff Hicks saying that he was "proud" of his son performing for the queen.
Several El Paso Times articles in February 1954 featured the return of one of its favorite sons. Scott Douglas appeared at a packed Liberty Hall in El as one of the stars of a ballet based on Ernest Hemingway's bullfight story entitled "The Capital of the World." He was welcomed home by his father and sisters and their families and his former dance teacher Karma Deane. He likewise was feted in Juárez, and bullfighters dedicated bulls to both father and son. His partner in the ballet was Lupe Serrano, the Ballet Theater dancer from Mexico with whom he often appeared and who also would become an international star.
In addition to his major ballet roles, Douglas acted in some popular movies such as Bundle of Joy with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds and Pardners with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 1956. Shortly after, Douglas and the ABT would appear in Moscow known for its ballet productions and stars, among other European cities where he performed Billy the Kid and other ballets.
Image caption: Sheriff W. O. (Jimmy) Hicks was El Paso County Sheriff between 1951 and 1958.
According to Sonya Rama, W. O. (Jimmy) Hicks likewise had established his reputation in law enforcement, having faithfully served under six sheriffs as a deputy. In 1951, he was elected El Paso County Sheriff. As recorded in a July 1956 El Paso Times article, Hicks had no unsolved murders in his first five years as sheriff. He kept "a spirit of teamwork between [his] offices and other agencies for the good of the people."
In 1955, Hicks was elected president of the Sheriffs' Association of Texas. In his book, More Than a Badge, Carl C. Williams recorded his time as Hicks deputy in the mid-50s and noted that "[he] learned a lot from him." In a personal interview, Williams emphasized that Sheriff Hicks took good care of his deputies, and they, in turn, protected him. He added, "He more or less subscribed to and applied the Davy Crockett approach to law enforcement: Be sure you're right, then go ahead."
Many knew that Sheriff Hicks also enforced the fair treatment of prisoners. "He was very strict on it, and personally visited the jail at least twice a week," said county jail manager Raymond O'Rourke in 1958 to reporter Bill Cook in an El Paso Times article.
Unfortunately, along with the exciting new accomplishments, came a time of strife and family dissension. According to Kathy Hubert. Hicks and his wife Alberta had divorced years earlier because of domestic violence, and she married William Elmer Konze in 1955. She would lose this husband to death less than two years later in 1957. Jimmy Hicks would go on to marry two more times, according to an Austin American article published in 1958.
Two of his brothers would die suddenly in the 1950s ‒ and so would he. On April 21, 1958, Sheriff Hicks was found wounded in the head by a .45 caliber pistol in the bathroom of his Gateway Hotel room.
According to the Austin American article published one day after his death, Sheriff Hicks' deputy, Sgt. T. W. Nix, had been in the room with Hicks and had lunged at him in an effort to prevent the suicide attempt, but the effort was in vain. Hicks died about 90 minutes later without regaining consciousness at the El Paso General Hospital. His son Scott Douglas was notified as he was boarding a ship that would take him and The ABT to Europe for a summer tour.
"Even Hicks' announced enemies bore the unmistaken look of shocked grief when told of the sheriff's suicide," recorded Bill Cook in an April 23,1958 El Paso Times article. Mike Sullivan, who later became sheriff in 1965, said, "I can't remember all the things he's personally done for me."
In the same article, other detectives, such as Joe Gonzales and George Althoff, complimented Hicks' work and effort to make his home city a better one. "There was never a better investigator in the Southwest.. . . he'd see things on an investigation that the average detective would miss every time," Althoff said.
A February 1958 El Paso Times article reported that Hicks had suffered a heart attack several months before. According to Nix, Hicks had said to him the morning of the shooting: "I am just tired of living. I just don't seem to ever get well."
"Nobody will ever know just how sick he was these past few months. He could be in misery, and still wear a smile for the public. You have to be brave to do that," said Captain Frank Manning in the article by Bill Cook.
However, some members of the Hicks family did not believe that the sheriff committed suicide, despite the headlines declaring such in local newspapers. Nor had Hicks been ill in the weeks before the shooting, according to the family. Hubert said that Hicks had just been cleared by doctors two weeks before his death. To this day, some of his grandchildren say that they were raised believing that their grandfather did not shoot himself. No autopsy was performed.
Amid this time of loss, 31-year-old Scott Douglas was remembered in his hometown by Ann Carroll in an April 1960 El Paso Herald-Post article. Two years after his father's death, Carroll wrote about the sweet memory of the young dancer. Watching Douglas dance on Dave Garroway's Today show on NBC, she wrote, "I paused with a coffee cup halfway to my lips. Beautiful music and a pair of ballet dancers in an arresting performance. It was beyond my poor description in pure grace and beauty" She added, "I found myself watching the young man instead of the girl. He dominated the scene."
Carroll concluded her article with these heartwarming words, "Who remembers the small school boy, Jimmy Hicks, dancing at various local programs? We should be proud of this young man."
Life also changed for the family Douglas had left behind in his home town. Scott's sister Dana, his first dance partner, married William Rex Kerr and moved to Dallas. Dana had been named "most beautiful" in high school. His younger sister, Kay Frances, married John R. Biros in the early 1950s, a marriage tha would last more than 60 years.
In recent personal interviews, Kay Biros' daughter, Kathy Hubert, recalled visits from her uncle Scott Douglas during his career. His life partner Glen Tetley sometimes accompanied him. The two lived very "polished" lifestyles in New York and were "fun to be with." Douglas, wearing one earring, was sophisticated, dressed smartly, and was immersed in popular culture. It was clear he lived in New York. "He was a great uncle,"she concluded.
Hubert recalled that her mother said the siblings loved their mother, but it was always clear that Jimmy was her favorite child. Alberta lived in California for some time until Kay brought her back to El Paso, buying her a house and helping her find a job.
After his father's death, Douglas danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet as well as with Nora Kaye at the 1959 Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy. He danced in Carmina Burana performed by the New York City Opera and with Jerome Robbins' own dance company, Ballets: USA, in 1961, ironically as the Third Sailor in Robbins's own Fancy Free.
Douglas also performed as the charming prince in Swan Lake, and in Antony Tudor's Pillar of Fire as the friend. He danced as the pastor in Agnes de Mille's Fall River Legend and in Sir Frederick Ashton's Patineurs as the Boy in Green.
A video posted by vaimusic.com titled "American Ballet Theatre: Historic Bell Telephone Hour Telecasts, 1959-62" on August 18, 2015, shows Scott Douglas dancing in Patineurs. Seeing his body move with such grace brings alive the nostalgic image of the young son of a Southwestern Sheriff.
Scott Douglas' obituary reads that while traveling all over the world with the American Ballet Theatre, he danced "an unusually wide range of roles" such as the male soloist in Les Sylphides, Tancredi in The Combat and Paris in Helen of Troy.
Image caption: Douglas danced the roles of both the outlaw and Sheriff Pat Garrett in Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid.
These roles all "benefited from his manly bearing," according to the writer of Douglas' obituary. Ironically, these roles were extremely "classic romantic leads" which immensely contrasted with his leads in performances in Ashton's Les Patineurs and George Balanchine's Theme and Variations with no storyline.
In several performances, Douglas danced two contrasting roles. For instance, in Billy the Kid, he took on the roles of both Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett at different times. The writer of his obituary noted that in Rodeo, he performed the character of the Champion Roper and "his dark rival, the Head Wrangler." Likewise, in Miss Julie, Douglas performed as the "wimpish fiancé” as well as "the proud, obsessed Jean." This further illustrates his acting talents which allowed him to quickly change personas.
Besides Nora Kay and Lupe Serrano, other female ballet stars Douglas performed with were Natalie Krassovka in Grand Pas and El Pasoan Ingeborg Heuser in Jazziana. Read more about Heuser in Borderlands, Volume 29.
In 1963, he joined the Dutch National Ballet, as well as the Glen Tetley Dance Company. Tetley, like Douglas, had served in the Navy early in his life,according to a January 2007 New York Times article. After earning his B.S. degree at New York University in 1948, he began to pursue a career in dance, fusing ballet with modern dance. He connected with major companies such as The Royal Danish Ballet, The Royal Ballet in Britain and others.
Scott Douglas performed many roles in Tetley's pieces including the leading male dancer in Ricercare. While on an international tour with Tetley in 1969, Douglas performed as Brighella, the leading dancer in Pierrot Lunaire, which was Tetley's first ballet of renown. It reflected Tetley's life journey "from innocence to experience." Douglas is remembered for his "sinister smile and cat-like tread" in this production, according to his obituary.
In 1969, Scott Douglas stopped performing and retired. Nevertheless, he continued as a ballet master,employed by the Netherlands Dance Theatre and the American Ballet Theatre to teach and choreograph dances for students.
At the Stuttgart Ballet, the Royal Ballet in London, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Paris Opera, La Scala and Aterballetto in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he was a ballet master and teacher.
Working together, Tetley and Douglas were assistants and ballet masters at the National Ballet of Canada. Not only did Douglas teach and mentor but he also created ballets for companies such as the Norwegian National Ballet and the Hamburg State Opera Ballet.
Tetley and Douglas were life partners for 42 years until Scott's death on March 26, 1996. At the age of 68, Scott Douglas died of emphysema at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan.
According to a New York Times article in 2006, in tribute to Douglas, Glen Tetley created his last ballet in 1999, Lux in Tenebris, a commission from the Houston Ballet. The piece "speaks of grief and, as the title indicates, light at the end of darkness."
Image caption: Douglas and his father Sheriff W. O. Hicks are shown here in 1957
Both in longevity and variety of roles, Douglas set an enviable standard for classical and contemporary dance. Douglas was said to have helped others to achieve "brilliant effect" which he in his youth had demonstrated. His work with students inspired future dancers, and "his invariable kindness and generosity made him subordinate his own creative possibilities to his backstage work," concluded the writer of his obituary in The New York Times.
His versatility, namely being able to perform as multiple characters, shed light on his nature on and off the stage. "Equally he had the strength of personality and dramatic flair for many noted character parts, where the devastatingly handsome face showed in his classic roles could crack into a wide grin or a dark scowl as needed," according to his New York Times obituary.
In this, he was like his father. The vagaries of life ultimately stole Sheriff Hicks, yet through the hardships that he endured during his last months, he too "cracked into his wide grin as needed." Scott Douglas resembled his father physically ‒ they both were tall, athletically built, had curly dark hair and high cheekbones and startingly good looks, but they lived very different lives.
According to his granddaughter, Kathy Hubert, Jimmy Hicks did not get along well with his own children. His daughter Kay and he had the most comfortable relationship. She told her daughter that Hicks drank heavily, and he and Alberta argued constantly. Williams also recalled that Deputy Nix and his wife, Helen, took Hicks into their home some nights when he was drunk and cared for him.
Carl Williams said Hicks hated seeing photos of his son dancing and rarely talked about his family. However, he told the media he was proud of his son's accomplishments and supported Scott Douglas whenever he and the ABT appeared in El Paso. The local newspapers carried several photos of Hicks and his son over the sheriff's lifetime.
The sheriff had a shining reputation in the community not only as a lawman but also for his many charitable acts throughout the years, especially those& involving children. Yet when his own granddaughter, Kathy Hubert, was hit by a car, he simply took her home, satisfied that she was fine. But her injuries kept her out of school for three weeks.
In heavy contrast to his father, it is evident that Scott Douglas lived a life full of triumph and love. While both father and son were greatly admired in their various professional roles, the son appeared to have been able to manage his life and great talents advantageously, enjoying his family for decades after leaving the stage. Hubert did say that after Sheriff Hicks died, Douglas forgave his father for the neglect and injuries he and his mother and siblings experienced.
Although Scott Douglas became a New Yorker early in his professional life, he visited his family in El Paso and never ceased to boast in his loyalty to Texas. According to his obituary, "he never lost his Southern drawl."
Scott Douglas never yielded to the challenges in his life. He lived his life boldly on stage and off. Scott Douglas, born Jimmy Hicks, although known by two names and many faces, had one true identity. Somewhere deep in the heart of that gracefully established man was a young boy from a small town with aspirations that one day would be displayed on a worldwide stage.
