With only four days to go, the Dallas Museum of Art is working feverishly to brace itself for an exhibition that 1 million people might come to see. "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" opens Friday, but so far, the boy king is keeping a low profile.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN

Tarek Fathy (left) and Ahmed Salaheldin, Egyptian restorators of cultural Heritage, lift a wood mannequin depicting King Tutankhamun as a young boy onto its display position at the Dallas Museum of Art.

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The show's treasures consist of 130 rare Egyptian artifacts, some of which might predate Moses. But in terms of advertising, only scattered evidence suggests that a cultural event of such magnitude is about to arrive, which raises the question:

Is Dallas ready for King Tut?

Yes, says Judy Conner, director of marketing for the DMA. But even she acknowledges that Tut might not make his presence felt until the curtain rises. "If you were to come to the downtown area today, you'd say, 'Gosh, where are all the banners about Tut?' " says Ms. Conner, whose venue will host the exhibition for 32 weeks – until May 17, 2009.

Tickets remain even for opening weekend, but, Ms. Conner says, plenty is happening behind the scenes. Preparations involve not only marketing and promotion but also transportation and security.

The stakes are high and, in some cases, unparalleled in the city's cultural history. Preparing for Tut is a collaboration that involves dozens of city agencies, institutions and private firms, whose leaders view the show as a milestone.

"The more this project succeeds, the more the city succeeds," says DMA director Bonnie Pitman, who predicts the Tut exhibition will draw at least 1 million visitors, as it has in other cities since opening in Los Angeles in 2005.

Although he lived more than 3,300 years ago, the king who ruled Egypt from age 9 until his mysterious death at 19 continues to be a pop-culture phenomenon. He inspired a song by Steve Martin on Saturday Night Live in the 1970s, and in his most recent U.S. stop, he drew 1.3 million visitors to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia last year.

"Being able to host an event of this magnitude gives us an opportunity to tell the story of the city of Dallas," says Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We're inviting a million people to see what's happening, to tour the exhibition, eat in our restaurants, shop in our shops and see the new Dallas we're so excited about selling."

Preparations involve:

Mr. Jones' agency is responsible for regional and national ads, on which the Convention and Visitors Bureau is spending $1 million. One such ad appeared recently in People magazine. The DMA is responsible for local advertising, which up to now hasn't been as apparent – a fact that hasn't gone unnoticed, says Mr. Jones, in various Tut-related committee meetings.

Missing from Tut preparations is a point person, like, say, Bill Lively, who's spearheading the effort to raise private donations for the $338 million Center for the Performing Arts, set to open a year from now. The chance to show off the expanding Arts District is chief among the reasons the Tut show was booked.

"I know it's an issue that has been raised," Mr. Jones says of the lack of local promotion.

The concern is amplified because of the dire circumstances of 2008. High fuel costs and a shaky economy might dissuade potential out-of-town guests from making the trip. If that happens, says Ms. Pitman, they could miss out: The last time Tut toured the U.S. was in the 1970s. This, she says, might be the last traveling exhibition. The Egyptians are using the proceeds to open a new museum in Cairo.

By the end of the week, the DMA will have put its promotional push into overdrive, she vows, blanketing Dallas with print, radio and television ads, and of course, boy-king billboards.

Raj Sethuraman, associate professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business, says high gas prices and a crisis economy may affect Tut turnout, but perhaps not too much. "It may well come to be an entertainment or diversion from all the problems we're facing. And, yes, maybe that is the way to portray it: 'Come to Tut and have an exhilarating experience that takes you away from your problems.' "

Tut promoters have aggressively urged residents and visitors to take DART and avoid parking in downtown lots, where, on weekdays, availability is at a premium. The show is open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The closest DART stop to the DMA is at St. Paul Station, three blocks south. Ms. Pitman is among those who wishes there could be a shuttle from St. Paul Station to the tented Tut entrance on Harwood, just south of Woodall Rodgers.

DART offers shuttles from Mockingbird Station to the SMU campus during football games. Shuttles from downtown run on weekends during the State Fair of Texas. But Sue Bauman, vice president of marketing and communications for DART, says the agency is prohibited from running a shuttle between the museum and St. Paul Station because of federal regulations. Unlike the SMU example, it's not part of a regular route.

Ms. Bauman says the city plans a "wayfinding" system to shepherd visitors from St. Paul Station to the DMA and hopes the signs will be in place before opening day. María Muñoz-Blanco, director of cultural affairs for the city, says that the signs "will make the pedestrian walkabout much easier downtown" and that Tut visitors should expect to see such signs at 20 to 30 locations.

David Brown, interim assistant city manager and first assistant police chief, says Dallas police and fire units have prepared extensively. They studied other U.S. cities that have hosted Tut (Los Angeles, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Philadelphia); conducted an inspection of the DMA; and formulated an evacuation plan.

Mr. Brown urged visitors not to worry about the three-block walk from St. Paul Station to the museum. He won't say how many but notes that "extra police patrols" will man parking lots and DART stops for the 12 hours the show is open each day.

Ms. Pitman says the DMA is hiring as many as 150 new staff members for "guest services." She declines to say how many will be assigned to security. But Mr. Brown says security personnel and off-duty officers will be on hand "in ample numbers, inside and outside the DMA."

Despite mounting economic worries, the Convention and Visitors Bureau is targeting a regional audience that spans a 300- to 500-mile radius within Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas. Such people have driven to Dallas for years, says Mr. Jones, to shop or attend sporting events. But this time, the city curries a different favor: "We want them to begin to consider Dallas as a cultural destination."

Mr. Jones was part of the delegation that went to Chicago 18 months ago to bid for Tutankhamun. He predicts an economic impact of $150 million, based on the 1.2 million who saw the "Ramses the Great," exhibition at Fair Park in 1989. Ramses, he says, generated $3.1 million in local taxes, "so we have reason to believe we can reach and even exceed those figures."

Ms. Pitman says the DMA and the city have a lot riding on the shoulders of the ancient boy king. If the DMA fails to draw the 1 million she says it needs to break even, who makes up the shortfall?

"Well, we're planning for success," she says. "It's in everyone's interests to have this be a success. We see this as a platform for a celebration of the arts – for the role the arts can play and will play in the future of Dallas. We're at the cusp of that change. We're excited about it, but yes, it's a risk."