I thought this was just a faded advertisement for the Star Biscuit Co. when I photographed it. I thought it was a faded sign of the times, an indication of the decline of small towns in rural America. But I was fooled. The sign was a prop, a backdrop for a scene in the 1998 movie, Hope Floats. Star Biscuit Co., Leading Brand Of The World, a brand I'd never heard of anywhere in the world which had me reaching out to Google for some insight. It turns out that Hope Floats, the third film directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr., was set and filmed in the small town of Smithville texas. Smithville is officially designated a ‘Film-Friendly City' by the texas Film Commission and the three-time Oscar nominated movie, Tree of Life, was also filmed here in 2011. Perhaps if I'd driven through a year earlier I'd have seen Brad Pitt or Sean Penn. Thankfully, their movie didn't erase this charming remnant from Hope Floats.
The faded Hope Floats Star Biscuit Co sign on the side of a wall in Smithville, Texas.
