TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. — Nowhere has Hollywood left its mark quite like this desert town of 6,000 souls on the banks of the Rio Grande.
In 1950, Ralph Edwards, the publicity-savvy host of the wildly popular radio and TV game show “Truth or Consequences,” promised to broadcast live from any American city willing to change its name as a promotion for the show’s 10th anniversary.
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Enter: The southern New Mexico resort town of Hot Springs, best known for, you guessed it, its geothermal hot springs.
Townsfolk approved a municipal rebrand. And Edwards showed up with a Hollywood film crew in tow.
But the Hollywood of today is struggling to bring fame and fortune to any place — and to even save itself.
The town formerly known as Hot Springs
In the spring of 1950, the Albuquerque Journal declared in a front-page article:
“TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M., March 31 — That dateline was born today when citizens of Hot Springs, N.M., voted 1,295 to 295 to change their town’s name.”
Television host Ralph Edwards in his Hollywood office on April 14, 1987.
(Alison Wise / Associated Press)
Then-Mayor J.G. Mims said that while the reaction had been overwhelmingly positive, “newspapers and city desks of our neighboring towns have been taking considerable number of potshots at our name changing.”
But still, the promised publicity materialized.
In a cornball but classic black-and-white scene, the horse-riding Sierra County Sheriff’s posse marched Edwards — whom the TV narrator called a “desparado” wanted for “twice weekly invading the homes of millions of Americans by radio and television” — down the town’s main drag and demanded he name the place.
When Edwards incorrectly said Hot Springs, he had to pay the consequences: The gun-toting posse stripped him down, put him in law enforcement garb, and named him a deputy. Informed the town had been renamed, he declared: “Aw, gee, that’s swell!”
Edwards and his wife were so smitten that they flew in from Southern California every spring — for five decades — to attend the annual Truth or Consequences Fiesta, a now 76-year-old festival and parade that started with his first broadcast.
Hollywood nostalgia
Inside the Geronimo Springs Museum in Truth or Consequences is a veritable shrine to Edwards, who died in 2005 at age 92.
The Ralph Edwards Room includes photos of him with seven presidents. There are sombreros and hand-painted neckties from Fiestas past. Edwards family photos and letters. Framed commendations, including from the City of Los Angeles.
Ralph Edwards thumbs the pages of a Bible held by evangelist Billy Graham, whose life was featured on “This is Your Life” on Nov. 13, 1957. At right is Graham’s mother. The Bible, presented to Graham during the show, was printed in 1759.
(Harold Matosian/AP)
Edwards became best known as the genial host of “This is Your Life,” whose surprised subjects had their life stories highlighted by the voices of long-lost friends and relatives.
In Truth or Consequences, locals celebrated his Hollywood success like doting parents rooting for their golden boy.
“Truth or Consequences” aired for 38 consecutive years on radio and television — including an 18-year stretch in which it was hosted by Edwards’ hand-picked successor, Bob Barker, the game show legend who would go on to host “The Price is Right.”
Truth or Consequences adopted him as a favored son, too.
The town and the industry
It’s bittersweet to walk through the Ralph Edwards Room and see the wholehearted celebration of the affable host — and of the film and TV industry, which has struggled so mightily in recent years.
“The industry has been pounded by years of job losses, business closings and the flight of production to cheaper locales, leaving once bustling soundstages around Los Angeles half empty,” my colleague Meg James reported last week.
James detailed the success of the HBO Max medical drama “The Pitt,” which is filmed almost entirely on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
Joaquin Phoenix, left, and Pedro Pascal in “Eddington,” which was filmed in Truth or Consequences, N.M.
(A24)
Hollywood, the physical place, is pinning its hopes for revival on “The Pitt.” Just as a little New Mexico town did with a Ralph Edwards game show.
Today, Truth or Consequences, like so many proud-but-struggling rural places, has a lot of boarded-up businesses. Nearby Elephant Butte Lake, a draw for outdoorsy tourists, is so severely drought-depleted that sunbaked fish carcasses line its shores.
But a kitschy newer display in the Geronimo Springs Museum — “Eddington: The Exhibit” — celebrates another little success story, courtesy of Hollywood.
In 2024, “Eddington,” writer-director Ari Aster’s darkly comedic COVID-era neo-western starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone, was filmed in Truth or Consequences.
During the local premiere last summer, the oft-quiet historic downtown movie theater was full.
Today’s top stories 
Workers count ballots at the Los Angeles County processing center on June 8.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Supreme Court rules states may continue to count late-arriving mail ballotsHospital visits for smoke inhalation spiked during Boyle Heights fireDowntown L.A. World Trade Center to become affordable apartmentsA $200-million makeover will turn the aging L.A. World Trade Center downtown into Sky Castle, a 512-unit complex anchoring a campaign to build 4,000 new affordable apartments across Los Angeles.Rents at Sky Castle are expected to start at $937 for one-bedrooms, with family-size units under $1,300, reflecting L.A.’s push to reuse offices to ease its housing crunch.What else is going onCommentary and opinionsThis morning’s must-readFor your downtime 
(Illustration © Gibson Kochanek / For The Times; images from LACMA, The Huntington, CAAM, Skirball, The Broad)
Going outStaying inA question for you: What are the most unique town names in California?
As I have written in this newsletter, I’m obsessed with getting obscure datelines — the designation of a journalist’s physical presences while reporting a story — from far-flung places.
I have scored California datelines from Weed and Weedpatch. From Cool and Peanut. From Fort Dick and Volcano. Across state lines: Pie Town, N.M., and Valentine, Neb.
What other obscure or fascinating place names have I missed? Let me know if you have suggestions. Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day 
Jeremy Duval is immersed Saturday in the Twister theme room created by artist Javiera Estrada in the Joy Department at the Hospital of Emotions at St. Vincent Hospital.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Genaro Molina at the Hospital of Emotions, a large-scale immersive pop-up exhibition in Los Angeles, where art, architecture and emotion come together inside a real hospital building.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writer
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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