| January 28 2002 at 17:06:25 Name: Mike Bruchas Location: Charlotte, NC Comments: There was another former Tulsey news phototog who went off to "the Oz" or "EN-ZED" - as they say on SpeedVision on our Aussie shows - about 20 years ago. He came back a few later known as "#$#@#, the Aussie photog" - will not mention his real name here. He affected an accent and tried to pawn himself off as NOT being a former Okie. The Real British deal on KVOO was Garry Kemp - wasn't it? Local writer J. Lee Ready used the Okie-escent name of Buford Montaigne on KVOO when he was still pulling shifts on KWGS. So that's 2 "legit Brits" who graced the airwaves......
Time to talk air names again I guess - Matt Bunyan - owner of StarShip -
was GEORGE MASON in several on air posts....
Well, I will stand corrected by a bonifidi birth certificate, but I had it on good authority that Mr. Hedges just had a huge English fetish and affected the accent as well as everything English. I was told he was from Kansas (Oz) and that his final desire to live in England was the end to his dream. I only went in there twice; the first time to see if he had an album by the new and sensational Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa. He said no and then offered the opinion as to how "she was such an idiot!" Then on to touting me to an unknown English tenor named Webster Booth. Mr. Booth was a consummate musician and had a lovely light voice but as they say in the sports world...."He could not carry Pavarotti's jock!" Since I knew no more of him than Mr. Hedges knew of Kiri, I couldn't say whether he was an idiot or not . In any case I'm sure the real English fellow who used to, of all things, DJ for KVOO Country Radio as well as other local stations, could ascertain if David were the real deal. By the way, Borders does about as well as anyone in having or locating hard to find stuff. I just got a compilation CD of Gogi Grant's best offerings from the late 50's & early 60's called "Torch Time". Great stuff! Wilhelm's piece is worth the read.
I believe the authentic English announcer to whom you refer is Garry Kemp. A bit of background on Mr. Kemp and an early picture can be found here.
I was doing some searching for KELI Tulsa with Google and came up with a song about the station from a German band called "Intoxigation Blues Band" and a song called "K.E.L.I. Tulsa Oklahoma". Why the heck is a blues band from Germany singing about "going home to Memphis" and listening to the radio? Heck if I know. It does rock in a laid-back kinda way. Here's the URL: http://music.peoplesound.com/artists/artisthome.asp?artistid=90119&country=en&albumid=0 Also I scanned a 1984-5 vintage 14K-92K sticker and it's here for anyone who is interested: http://home.earthlink.net/~bgspradlin/1492keli.jpg. Also: I LOVED and laughed my head off at Kirk Demarais' Phantasmagoria cartoon! Everyone should see it. I'm sending the URL to my brother, who was scared to death of the thing (so he rode with my mother). I loved the way you worked my Zingo sticker into it, looked very nice.
Yes, that was nice work by Kirk.
I do remember running late one time and the rest of the band had already left for Okmulgee so I was traveling the Beeline at about 85 m.p.h. in my '66 Malibu. When I arrived, the band was nowhere to be found. The van drove up about fifteen minutes later and I asked them what had happened. They said the OHP had a road block and that it took forever to get through it. This has been a mystery to me every since. I left after they did but I never saw them or the road block. I did not think I was driving so fast that I passed them and went through a roadblock with out seeing either!
I remember the live version and the cartoon version of Beany and Cecil. Easily
one of my top favorites.
"Does anyone remember a live-action Saturday morning kids' show from the early 60's that featured an old sea captain? Every so often he'd go underwater and goof around with strange aquatic puppets (while still wearing his regular captain's clothing.) I also seem to recall he was poorly chroma-keyed into an aquarium to simulate being under the ocean. The show aired on channel 2." Could Mitch be thinking of the live-action version of Bob Clampett's classic Beany and Cecil? If so, Mitch is in luck. The adventures of Beany and Cecil are now preserved in DVD format -- with several episodes of the live-action version from the 1950s and the animated version from the early 1960s. Clampett is best known these days for his years making Warner Brothers cartoons in the 1930s and early 1940s (where he played a large role in creating Bugs Bunny), but his work on Beany and Cecil is largely forgotten today. The main characters of the series were Beany, a boy who befriends a Seasick Sea Serpent named Cecil. With Captain Huffenpuff at the helm, the three had adventures, usually involving a villain named Dishonest John ("nyahh ahh ahh" was his trademark sneer). Episodes of the show were revived on video tape during the mid-1980s, but are now out of print. An excellent DVD, including several hours of interviews of Clampett, became available in early 2000. Clampett's work had a sly, satirical bent that predated Rocky and Bullwinkle. Clampett believed to his dying day that Rocky and Bullwinkle were direct rip-offs of his work on Beany and Cecil.
I find no confirmation of this on the internet, but I seem to remember Red Skelton being angry or suing because Bullwinkle's voice resembled his own Clem Kadiddlehopper.
If you've got teenagers, bring 'em on down for a tour -- I will set up a meeting with Dale Young, Director of Prospective Student Services, phone: 293-4978, email: youngii@osu-okmulgee.edu
Thanks to Mike Ransom and company for helping get my need for a job out after
I was part of the big WCG layoff last summer.
Rex, you're welcome.
If you'd like to flash on the sight of chicken-fried steak as well, here is Nelson's Buffeteria on this site.
The only thing I have on Gomi at the moment is the email address he gave in his email copied in Guestbook 84, to wit: gomi.k@japan.email.ne.jp If there's a library of any size in or near Rye, NY, it should be able to give you Nippon TV's mailing address. If not, let me know. The Tulsa library's business research section gave me NHK several months ago.
Incidentally, I learned about Gomi in an idle recheck of Google.
One of my daughters travels to Japan occasionally and will be there on a
six-month fellowship, starting in the Fall. I'd like for her to meet him.
Another polished time-master was the late Howard Cosell. Howard would literally talk out a 3:30 sportscast ("Speaking of Sports') or commentary ("Speaking of Everything") for ABC radio with no copy, doing the morning sports show from his breakfast table in Pound Ridge, NY, with just the Times sports section in front of him, and buttoning up with "This is How--ward Cos-sell" at exactly 3:29.
Glad to hear the Camelot's going to be put back to useful life. One of many
Tulsa hotels I stayed that that later became hobo havens...at least most
of them later....
It will take a few minutes to load but if you like the ride then I'm pretty sure you will enjoy the cartoon. I'd love to hear your feedback, or your Phantasmagoria memories. Also, I'm looking for an old Phantasmagoria bumper sticker. Please contact me if you know where I can get one.
thanks,
Wow, that's quite a production, Kirk! I think I recognize a couple of the items in the Souvenir Hut.
So now they have to spend MORE to fix the problem, or they won't be able
to book any concerts, musical plays, etc. The theater designers were so careful
to design it for the Academy Awards telecast (with good sightlines), but
somehow they forgot about good acoustics. Duh!!!
I hate to see it leave us as a hotel, but I'm glad they're doing something
with it.
I went to the Camelot the first day but the line was too long. I will go today and report if there is anything to report.
I told readers about an ORU dj named Bruce who had a great voice, loved by
the girls, but he was "roly-poly" (in Guestbook
55). He wrote and admonished me (with great humor) that he only weighed
150 pounds at the time. Well, that is what 30 years does for the memory -
but I KNOW he had the pipes, I won't forget that.
It was bought in '93 by the Mahareshi Mahesh Yogi (of Beatles fame), but fell into extreme disrepair and was shut down in '96 by the city. It has been something of a "hobo heaven" (as Wilhelm Murg might say) since then. Quite a comedown after having boasted Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Elvis as guests.
Here are Mr. Burns' answers to questions recently posed by the Tulsa World:
 Accountability Burns ad from his 1984 campaign for county commissioner
In recent years, I've spotted Accountability at the Holland Hall Book
Fair (an annual event since 1961, coming up next month).
Mitch
Awhile back, I posted the following on Yesterdayland about Whistling Wizard: The Charlemane figure lived again on TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma from the late 50s through the early 80s. I got this response today from "Kids TV Man": Dear TulsaTV, "Charlemane The Lion Hand Puppet" also became the first version of "Pookie The Lion Hand Puppet" on the WXYZ-TV Ch.7 Detroit, Mi. ABC-TV Network version of "12 O'Clock Comics!"/"Lunch With Soupy Sales!". From Yesterdayland's Soupy Sales synopsis: "In 1955, the television station WXYZ of Detroit gave Sales a fifteen-minute show as a summertime replacement for Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Shortly afterwards, Sales appeared on another WXYZ show called Comics."
Thanks a zillion! Wild, Wild Planet is indeed that film. Seems like I saw
it at the 11th Street Drive-in.
David Bagsby asked about a movie that had strange guys in trenchcoats, hats and dark sunglasses going around and shrinking people by pinching them on the neck then stuffing the vacated clothing into a satchel back in Guestbook 92 (down a few entries from the "Enterprise" debut report). I'm 99% sure it's WILD WILD PLANET, an Italian sci-fi film released to the US in 1967. It has to be seen to be believed - very exotic, surreal and cheaply made. Mr. Webmaster, you'll love the cliched yet ethereal electronic score if nothing else. I saw this several times on one of the independent Dallas/Fort Worth stations carried by Tulsa Cable in the 70's. I'm not sure but it may have also been shown as part of that Thursday (?) morning matinee series that ran in Tulsa theaters every summer. Mike R. also mentioned THE STARLOST in Guestbook 82 (in my conversation with Keir Dullea of "2001"). There are two Tulsa connections to this show: 1.) It was syndicated but I don't think any of the local TV stations picked it up. A few years after its US debut it started playing on a Tulsa Cable cable station. I don't remember which one except that it wasn't any of the independent stations from other cities. It was one of those "local" cable channels that usually featured some kind of bulletin board between programs. 2.) It's on video from Tulsa-based VCI Entertainment! Go to www.vcientertainment.com for more info. Be warned that the versions they sell aren't as they originally aired, but "movies" made by editing episodes together. I hope eventually that more discussion will be generated here about Tulsa Cable & VCI's place in Tulsa TV history.
I looked at the catalog and turned up a number of other interesting films:
Then the fact that "talent" could do better away from their jobs? You bet! I remember when I worked at KRBC-TV-AM-FM in Abilene, Texas (1955-56) there was another little deal going on. There was a fellow named Slim Willett (whose claim to fame is, he wrote the song "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes") and he was brokering time on radio. He would pay the station their going rate per hour then go out and sell commercial time himself, do the spots and take the profit. He was very popular and made a ton of money until the FCC changed all that. He did the same thing on the TV side with a country music show. That's the first time I ever saw Roy Clark (just a kid) and Bill Walker (who at that time couldn't keep a beat.) It was because they were all new and worked just to get on Tay Vay! Remember? Slim was making a killing. I've got a "talent sheet" somewhere that shows the rates for doing spots on KOTV back in the late fifties-early sixties. $2.50 for a 30 second. $5.00 for a one minute. Sometimes $10.00. When I first started doing spots, we memorized them. Then we started using "cue cards". Then Bob Mills came up from WBAP and showed us his small short hand cards which he taped just under the lens rack. Here's an example! HLO- IM LW. HR TO TEL U ABOT TH NU WA TO KEP UR CLTHS.. KLEN & NU....TAK M TO RYAL CLNRS AN U'LL NVR USE ANTHR CO. THU RST OF UR LIF........ETC. Finally, we got Teleprompters and learned how to use them.(It was always fun to watch the politicos try that) The only problem was that the big-type typewriters would break down and we had to get black markers and write it in. I remember Art Linkletter trying to do some promos for my Sun-Up show. They rolled the camera over and he looked up at the prompter and said: "Jesus Christ! Hand-printing went out with the monks!" He thought it quaint. By the way, he could do a :30 or a 1:00 spot ad-lib...right on the button. No cues!
I started out to do a minute here. Oh well!
Oh, yes. Morris tried his hand at promoting the stock car races there for
a while, but I think he dropped that job after one season.
Here's a little tid bit that just came my way last week. One of the stars
in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou"
What a lot of people don't know is that Tim actually made his acting "debut" at the Tulsa Civic Center and on Hal O'Halloran's sports talk show on KTOW. Blake and some of his Holland Hall buddies would frequent Tulsa Ice Oilers hockey games. With the team, being dreadful at the time, the boys from HH would wear bags over their heads, much like the New Orleans 'Aints fans of the 1980's. The were known as the "Sackheads".
Hal picked up on this and had Blake and his buddies on his show frequently.
I knew 'em all, too. Never knew one of them would reach Hollywood. But, then
again, no one probably thought I'd reach
Cincinnati!
From what I remember he was very friendly.
Here is Gailard Sartain's recently contributed photo of Spanky in OKC, probably at the time he had the club.
In OKC - often TALENT wanted a check upfront from an agency or at the end of a session rather than be paid thru the company. Sometimes announcers would free-lance at the station doing v.o.'s when off the clock as the staffer on duty -- later many station managers said NO to this.
In DC the post houses were nasty about not wanting to pay SAG/AFTRA - many
members would work at non-union rates just to work. Later talent paymasters
made life easier but we often knew government employees (non-VOA folks)who
did nothing but non-union voice work to supplement their "Fed" paychecks...
Frank Morrow had just brought up talent fees... Also discussed: Al Clauser (Uncle Zeke) and the Oklahoma Outlaws in Gene Autry movies, slings, and especially arrows suffered by the Golden Driller, a brush with the Beach Boys at the Trade Winds West, the Middle Path restaurant... We saw the Bowen Lounge (with writer Wilhelm Murg in the window) and a slide show of the Union High band at the Rose Bowl Parade this year. We discussed the General Cinema intermission jingle and the Fantastic Theater music (and heard both).
As usual, much more is there; check it out.
|
Lee Woodward (via email to webmaster)
I also had recollections of the fine job KTUL's
Jack Morris did as PA announcer during those earlier years. Later, after
the midgets were replaced by the junky old stock cars, KTUL carried the races
on a day's tape delay basis. Not much excitement remaining if you had read
the results in the newspaper. Also, it's just impossible to catch much of
the action on radio when the race is on a quarter-mile dirt track.
is Tulsan Tim Blake Nelson, probably well known
back in Oklahoma. Tim went to Holland Hall High School, then onto Brown
University and eventually Julliard in NYC.
