May 02 2004 at 08:53:34
Name: Jim Reid (via email)
Email: JimReid56-at-aol~dot~com
Comments: I had posted a note a couple of years ago about finding Mr. Zing's hat in a dumpster during a Channel 8 "cleanup". I'm enclosing a picture of the hat. I've had visitors at my house who'd grown up in Tulsa, and when I show them the hat, it almost brings tears to their eyes.

May 02 2004 at 00:22:07
Name: Darrell
Location: Midwest City, OK
Comments: I was just reading some of the stuff about John Chick.

I first saw John on his TV show when I was age 10 after my Grandpa & Grandma moved to Stroud in 1969. I really liked it. He had good people on. The ones I liked were Tanya Harwell & Ted Creekmore.

Last time I saw the show he was on a scooter. How many years did his show last, and at what age and when did he pass away?

May 01 2004 at 20:38:40
Name: edwin
Location: margoretaville or sumpthin
Comments: Tony Randall was NOT happy when I drove him by his old house (that used to be) on 14th St.....He never came back to Tulsa again!....& told me why he wouldn't in no uncertain terms!

I'd like to hear more of that story.

May 01 2004 at 18:14:59
Name: Dave Harmon
Location: Where the 405 & 110 Collide
Comments: A main thoroughfare to downtown pre-expressway days was 14th street starting at Lewis. If I remember correctly, it had 2 lanes going each way. I'm pretty sure that some houses were cleared out along with 14st when the expressway was plunked down. I had already made my hat when that happened.

May 01 2004 at 10:56:24
Name: David Bagsby
Email: dcb-at-sunflower.com
Location: Lawrence KS
Comments: Used to be a treat to drive downtown past the Maypole yard to see what seasonal array they had set up. Always thought they must be rich to be able to do more to their lawn than just mow it. Seems like 21st Street used to be one of the main lanes to downtown pre-expressway days.

April 30 2004 at 23:42:14
Name: Lowell Burch
Location: Under the Attic Fan
Comments: Thanks to you guys, I remember so many things I never thought I would forget, like the Maypole yard.

Lea's was the first pizzeria I remember but Houston Elementary served a mean "pizza pie" - biscut dough topped with chili and cheese. Not as bad as it sounds, at least for a little kid who did not know what real pizza was. At home, we ate the box mix pizza by Chef Boy-R-Dee for a special treat. We topped it with whatever happened to be in the fridge - baloney, tuna, sauerkraut, etc.

Appian Way was the pizza mix we favored with J.C. Potter Country-Style Sausage...or hamburger.

Watch a 1 minute Chef Boy-R-Dee pizza mix commercial at TVparty!

April 30 2004 at 18:48:09
Name: msbv2
Location: still Memphis
Comments: Wasn't there also at one time a place called Ken's Pizza in Tulsa? Might even have been a franchise. Seems like it was very similar in decor to Shakey's if I'm remembering correctly. It was a long time ago, but I seem to recall one of their promos was a "DrinKen glass".

Beginning in the early 80s, Ken Selby phased out Ken's in favor of his Mazzio's chain. Here is some history at the Mazzio's site, where you can see his original restaurant, The Pizza Parlor.

April 30 2004 at 15:13:23
Name: David
Location: Goldsboro, NC
Comments: My mind is racing back to more 60's era eating establishments. Remember on Pine street, the old "Pines" and "Jimmie's Drive-In". Just before the "Pines" was re-worked, it was used in Tom Cruise movie, ""The Outsiders" along with the "Admiral Twin Drive-In". That is a great movie to bring back some 60's thoughts....

April 30 2004 at 08:23:18
Name: Mike (Popperini) Bruchas
Location: Pizza - must have pizza!
Comments: Both Shotgun Sam's and Shakey's (on Admiral) by TU - I spent many a night at! If I ever hear a CCW song on the radio - I flashback mentally to a jukebox in a Tulsey pizza joint!

Was it Shotgun's AND Shakey's that both had player pianos?

Tulsa oldster question - where was the first place to have pizza in the 40s/50s?

April 29 2004 at 22:46:43
Name: David
Email: dm1401-at-prodigy~dot~net
Location: Goldsboro, NC
Comments: Anyone remember Shakey's or Shotgun Sam's Pizza Parlors. Long, long time ago. I also wonder what happend to Hank Killian and the Rainbow Ranch Boys from the Horn Brothers Show?

April 29 2004 at 08:13:01
Name: Mike Bruchas
Location: Last days at a place - sadly - going out of business -- soon to re-join the unemployed again...
Comments: Watching 89 yr old HERMAN WOUK on TODAY plugging his new novel, "A Hole in Texas" on the Superconductor thang in Texas. Did not know that Wouk was a writer for Fred Allen on radio 60 years ago....May we all be as sharp as Wouk is today!

Buy his new book here via the TTM Amazon.com link!

April 28 2004 at 15:48:25
Name: David Bagsby
Email: dcb-at-sunflower.com
Location: Lawrence KS
Comments: Does anyone remember a club on Admiral called the Mind Shaft?

April 28 2004 at 07:20:56
Name: Mark Hyatt (via email)
Comments: I saw the recent update on the Tulsa State Fair page which had the lyrics to "Take A Look" theme song.

But there was another "Take A Look" theme song that I don't think anybody else had mentioned. I partially know the words to it, the rest of it someone will have to fill in the blank. It went like this:

Take a look
Take a look at the people who bring you the news.
Take a look
________________________________________________?
Take a look at Channel 6
Take a look at Channel 6
Take a look.

This jingle was used in a commercial ad for EyewitnessNews 6.

April 27 2004 at 08:51:52
Name: Charles
Location: Borden's treasure chest
Comments: I remember that Maypole on 21st. I also remember that the same yard would have different-themed decorations for various holidays throughout the year. We always enjoyed going by there and seeing what the "latest" was.

April 27 2004 at 08:28:40
Name: Joe
Location: from inside the padded booth
Comments: With MAYDAY coming up this Saturday, I was remembering the Maypole in someone's yard over on 21st by the fairgrounds. This was back in the late 60's/early 70's. That annual decoration was a highlight for me as a kid when my family would come into town.

April 24 2004 at 00:39:57
Name: Lowell Burch
Location: Where every day is Earth Day
Comments: I remember my first Earth Day. I thought it was all a bunch of New Age nonsense until I saw a big mob of people wearing Earth Shoes and playing with an Earth Ball - a gigantic beach ball. I thought that maybe there was something to Earth Day, after all. Sure, they looked pretty silly bouncing that big ball around in a vacant field but it looked like they were having a lot of fun doing it.

Personally, I like the tornado sirens. They drown out the voices in my head.

April 22 2004 at 15:21:27
Name: Mike McCool (via email)
Location: Tulsa
Comments: Mike McCool is the director of TAEMA. I requested his definitive statement about the circumstances under which the sirens are activated (see comments below)...webmaster

"The Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency operates the system of 83 sirens in Tulsa. The agency takes its cue to activate the 'tornado tone' from the National Weather Service office on 11th St. When they issue a tornado warning, we hit the sirens. The agency takes its cue to activate the 'flood tone' from the engineers in the ALERT System of the Public Works Dept. of the City. When they say the time is right, we hit the flood tone. The Public Works engineers monitor the rain gauges and stream & creek gauges around town to watch the potential flood situation."

April 22 2004 at 08:25:08
Name: Webmaster
Email: mike~at~tulsatvmemories~dot~com
Location: Tulsa
Comments: Tulsa Counterculture of the 70s (a TTM sub-site) is the Nostalgic Site of the Day at Seattle author Clark Humphrey's pop culture site, MISCmedia.com.

April 22 2004 at 07:19:49
Name: Mike (I watch too damned much TV ON the job) Bruchas
Comments: Happy Earth Day - does anyone remember the first one?

I do - was wearing my Dexter mock Earth shoes with the negative heel - bought from John A. Brown's. I think I was at TU that day for a celebration.

Then when I kept getting muscle aches after driving long distances and wearing my leather (and later a seccond pair of mock suede "earth shoes") too much - my doc in Tulsa said - "Don't wear them damned shoes so much - they are BAD for you!"...

Don't let Granny hear you say that; she still swears by them.

April 21 2004 at 23:36:46
Name: Frank Morrow
Email: frankmor.nospam@io.com
Location: Austin
Comments: KRMG had tornado coverage starting in 1957 from the airport via its Newsmobile. Although the radar was rather rudimentary, it still showed returns that could indicate a possible funnel, i.e., a cloud with a hook or a doughnut.

Meteorologists were readily available, and there also were reports via spotters on the ground.

   

Frank at KRMG, from the Tulsa Radio in the Fifties page.

April 21 2004 at 21:57:18
Name: Dave Harmon
Location: Where the 405 & 110 Collide
Comments: I'll take the earthquakes thank you!

At least my junk would be in one pile instead of spread around the countryside.

I remember one time in Tulsa in the 50's when the sky turned green....that was enough for me....I was never the same after that.

April 21 2004 at 09:53:58
Name: Big Jon
Email: studieman-at-aol-dot-com
Comments: Yeah, but we're better off with the early warnings than what we had in the old days.

In the mid-50s, my parents told my sis & I to go to the cellar, which was a common occurance back then. This was really a "bad one" they said, and our closest neighbors met us as we entered the cellar. By that time it was standing room only, and after a few minutes the door was being pulled on by the wind, and a train sound was heard. Kids were crying, and moms were praying from the fear of a twister's might.

After several minutes, yelling and knocking could be heard over the sounds of nature, and Dad knew there wasn't any more room. Before opening the door, Dad happened to have a hammer and thought he might have to use it to secure our safety. As a 5 year old that was scary!

Within minutes everything was calm, and the stranger was on his way with his family, and the neighbors went home.

Back then, we didn't have a clue of the expected weather, we just lived in fear 3 months a year.

April 21 2004 at 08:48:29
Name: Webmaster
Comments: Tulsa's emergency sirens are activated by the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency. The National Weather Service issued the numerous tornado watches and warnings for northeast Oklahoma last night. From a story on KTUL.com:

Tornado warnings were issued for ten counties and at least one tornado was confirmed on the ground.

A tornado in Creek County...touched down near the Allen-Bowden school district, about 11 miles southwest of Tulsa. The tornado dissipated, but later reformed over eastern Tulsa County, where another touchdown was reported just east of Broken Arrow.

Another tornado touchdown was reported in Rogers County, about 15 miles west of Talala.

April 21 2004 at 08:07:44
Name: Mike Bruchas
Location: 6 degrees of separation from OKC
Comments: Former OETA guy Bruce Tidwell - up here in DC for many years - is still undergoing chemo for cancer but is doing better and in good spirits. We (ex-Okie transplants and others) all wish him well!

Former OETA engineer/OKC Cox Cable engineer Steve Nease - also up here in DC almost 20 years now - is working as a contractor for the US government on managing operations at MTN - the Mid East TV network's DC plant. This is the other US sponsored Arabic TV network that works in companion to Radio Sawa - VOA's arabic radio service.

April 21 2004 at 08:02:25
Name: Mike (sneezy) Bruchas
Location: Pretty, warm, pollen-driven DC
Comments: Question for Dr. Woodward after viewing your recent photo exposé - how come the King and Granny both aren't getting any grayer/larger-girthed like the rest of us?

Any chance that they can give us some of their secrets?

Also - what no Corvair pictures??????

April 20 2004 at 14:12:27
Name: David Bagsby
Email: dcb-at-sunflower.com
Location: Lawrence KS
Comments: Does anyone out there have a photo of the Eastgate Shopping Center sign?

April 20 2004 at 12:51:13
Name: Webmaster
Email: mikeattulsaTVmemoriesdotcom
Location: T-town
Comments: There are two new pages: A day at home with Lee & Lionel, created by Lee!

April 19 2004 at 20:16:54
Name: Jim
Email: Ex1harleycop
Location: Tulsa, OK
Comments: Does anyone know where a guy could get some old 1960s and 70s professional wrestling films I think they used to be on Channel 6 on Saturdays back in those days. Please let me know..........Jim

April 18 2004 at 21:15:57
Name: Gary Thompson
Email: Gary-at-kxoj-dot-com
Location: Jenks.....slowest speed limit of any main street in my life.
Comments:

Anyone know who runs 89.1 FM? I can pick it up on scan heading to and from work every morning here in the South Tulsey region. I think it's a pirate.

I heard that the former GM of Cox Tulsa, Chuck Browning, ran a pirate out of his home in South Tulsa. Could this be it?

I never hear any I.D.'s, jocks or talking of any kind. Just a decent mix of Techno, Rave, Dance, and Trance.

Any idea?

April 18 2004 at 21:00:17
Name: George M Shriver
Location: Tulsa
Comments: New Year's Eve with B.J. Thomas

I received a couple of emails expressing their desire to read the story of the December 31st, 1969 New Year's Eve bomb with B.J. Thomas at The Factory club. TV Memories webmaster also has written that he too would like to hear the story.

So, I'll begin to compose the story over the next few days. It's not a simple story that can be told accurately in just a few paragraphs. To be fully appreciated, some background information should be presented to the readers before he or she can understand the weird events of that night.

But first, I am forced to admit that I may had gotten at least one things wrong in my last posting.

An old friend call and informed me that Charlie Thompson did not sell the Rooster to Dan Brown, but, rather he originally sold the teen club to Bill Inman. He said that Bill would rename the club to The Torch and three or four months later, he would again change the name to The Rendezvous. He went on to say that Don Brown would take over operation of the club in late 1968 and rename it to The Factory. That sound plausible because I know that B.J. Thomas would play at the Rendezvous a little over a year before that New Years Eve of '69/'70. However, I am not completely sure of his chronicle of events. I was very busy at that point in time managing Soul City (formally the Scotch Mist). Perhaps some of the readers of this site can shed some additional light on this matter.

Robert Walker take note; he also told me that Freddie Cannon played the club when it was the Torch.

Secondly, I was sorting through some of my old notes and came upon a copy of the article published in the Tulsa World, December 28th, 1968 about B.J.'s upcoming New Year's Eve appearance at the Factory.

It was not the legendary Tulsa County that would be the house/opening act, but, rather the equally (if not more so) impressive Tulsa Power Plant. The Tulsa Power Plant members' list was a literal Who's Who in the Tulsa music scene at the time. All were major contributors to the "Tulsa Sound". It including Larry Bell, organ, Ann Bell, vocalist, Tommy Tripplehorn (Jeanne's dad...webmaster), guitar, Gary Gilmore, bass, Valentino Piena, drums, Eddy Bishop, vocalist (horn?) and Mark Thomas, guitar.

Tripplehorn and Gilmore both had only recently returned to Tulsa. Tripplehorn had been out in California working with Gary Lewis and the Playboys. He was one of the original members. Gilmore had just finished up a two year tour with Taj Mahal.

Heavy hitters all.

April 18 2004 at 13:25:23
Name: Dave Harmon
Location: Where the 405 & 110 Collide
Comments: The Ma-Hu mansion......

In the early 50's I remember going there several times with the neighbors to buy eggs. We called it the egg farm. Of course, I had no idea of the history of the place and as the years passed, I would always look up the hill as I drove past.

Now, another one of my life's little mysteries is solved by reading up on the old Ma-Hu.

Jeeeze.....I sure learn a lot here!

April 17 2004 at 11:05:13
Name: David Bagsby
Email: dcb-at-sunflower.com
Location: Lawrence KS
Comments: We lived in the Temple exchange area (TE 5-5110). Is the Bass eatery White River Fish?

Ours was TE 5-1145.

April 17 2004 at 10:18:05
Name: David Worrell
Location: Los Angeles
Comments: Our family ate at the old Bordens frequently when I was very young, but there was also a restaurant among our early Tulsa favorites that my dad simply called "the Bass Restaurant", owing to it having big mounted black bass all around the walls. Does anyone know which Tulsa restaurant this might have been? I just remember it taking 10 minutes more or so to drive there than it did to Bordens and the Golden Drumstick.

I'd also like to know if anyone remembers the restaurant called "Kings" at 31st and Sheridan? (It would have been there from late 60's to early 70's.) My friends and I liked it because it seemed unique. It was open really late, and it had telephones at the tables that were used to call in your order. My friends and I always ordered this french-fried cheese stuff called a "Cheese Frenchie". LOL.

To someone who asked once upon a time, yes, I definitely remember the "Mad Mouse". It was at Bells. It was the roller coaster there before Zingo, and it was the first coaster I ever rode.

Frank Morrow mentioned 5 digit phone numbers, and 24381 in particular, and said he was wondering if it was his number or the time? It was Time. In our neighborhood (21st & Sheridan area) Time was LUther 2-4381 (in the early 60's you dialed the first two letters: LU 2-4381). Our phone number began with the "National" prefix - NA.

I'm slightly puzzled by the account given of the Ma-Hu's barn burning in the piece by Ken Reed. I lived about 5 blocks from the Ma-Hu (everyone in our immediate neighborhood mispronounced it as 'Maw-hoo' instead of correctly as May-hue). And I was there watching when that barn burned. It was memorable because it was a HUGE fire -- the biggest I'd ever seen. But I could swear that happened when I was at least 10-12 years old, which would have placed it after 1965. Reed says it burned in 1960. But I would only have been 5 then, and wasn't allowed to go that far from home. Oh well, I know it's kinda trivial, but I'm just curious as to exactly when that barn did burn.

April 16 2004 at 21:27:15
Name: George M Shriver
Location: Tulsa
Comments: What ever happened to Charlie Thompson?

Charlie Thompson's Green Rooster club, at about 68th and South Lewis, did indeed become the "Factory Club". Charlie sold the Rooster to Don Brown in 1969. Don renamed it The Factory and reopened it as a private club featuring live, local and national top 40 bands. The Factory was in direct competition with the highly successful PJ's club in Brookside.

It was an very interesting time; as the two clubs battled it out for superiority for nearly a year. In the end, The Factory with its size (three times larger), superior management and far larger entertainment budget won out. PJ's closed their doors shortly after New Year's Eve, 1970. That New Year's Eve was a day and night to remember. B. J. Thomas was the featured act at the Factory with the legendary Tulsa Country as the house band. B. J.'s song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", written by Burt Bacharach, had just won the Academy Award for best song of the year. Despite this impressive entertainment line-up and a sold-out house, the night turned into a dark debacle with a comic twist. But, that's another story, which (if anyone is interested) I'll tell another time.

Ironical, because of the flighty nature of the club business, the Factory Club went belly-up just a few months after PJ's. But that, too, is another story.

Charlie Thompson was a tall, thin, dark man with the typical deep, smooth radio voice. I don't think he ever had a disk jockey type radio job. More like an announcer or news type. He was the second owner of the after-hours club, Scotch Mist, out in Creek County. He sold that club to a Dallas club operator named Jerry Ray and then opened the kid joint on Lewis. I don't think he ever quit the radio business; seems to me that I remember hearing him into the late 70s.

I'm definitely interested in hearing the B.J. Thomas story.

I recently read the autobiography of Chuck Negron, one of the original members of Three Dog Night. He mentioned the group's 1969 Tulsa show with B.J. Thomas second-billed. He said he witnessed his first all-out orgy (when's the last time you used the word in that sense?) in a wing of the Tulsa Holiday Inn.

There was an OKC story, too, but there is just no way to get the gist of it across without being extremely indelicate and gross.

April 16 2004 at 11:47:37
Name: Alan Lambert
Email: alambert-at-rsu~dot~edu
Location: Rogers State University
Comments: This is in response to the question about the Hank Thompson School of Country Music at Rogers State University.

Sad to report that after the death of Western Swing legend, Leon McAuliffe, in the late 1980's all of the then state of the art studio equipment was removed. The school itself closed out soon after.

April 16 2004 at 07:04:37
Name: Mike Bruchas
Location: warm & fuzzy DC - with heavy security by la Casa Blanca for Mr. Blair's visit
Comments: Is the Hank Thompson School of Country Music still in residence at RSU in Claremore? If so - who's teaching these days?

April 15 2004 at 14:35:04
Name: Robert Walker
Location: Location Location
Comments: Re: Charlie Thompson - Name sounds vaguely familiar, but the "Green Rooster" really rings a bell. But is the "Factor Club" really "The Factory?" I remember quite a few interesting evenings there back in the day..specifically, being onstage with Freddie Cannon, (!) performing 'Hey Jude' (!!) You can just imagine, can't you? I dated a beautiful young lady by the name of Rita Wallace who also worked at The Factory for a while, if that name means anything to anyone. RWW

April 14 2004 at 07:00:42
Name: Mike Bruchas
Location: No - I haven't finished my damned taxes yet! Have you? Gotta figure how to PAY more this year on less money.......
Comments: Does anyone but PBS do stereo simulcasts of TV shows with an FM station signal any more3?

Remember when we were shocked the radio signal commerciuals often did not match the TV spots!

Didn't Mazeppa try a simulcast on one of his shows with KAKC or some station?

Will DT in Tulsa mean we can no longer pick up KOTV audio on our FM radios???

We are feeding out a national webcast of the Amer. Meteorogical Assoc. - so many Okies, so little time - so many guys whose look screams WEATHERMAN!

And its baaaaad weather outside so these guys feel like they are in OK!

April 13 2004 at 11:10:50
Name: George Shriver
Email: george(at)gmshriver(dot)com
Location: Tulsa
Comments: Whatever happen to Charlie Thompson?

Does anyone remember Charlie Thompson? He was a 60s radio personality who dabbled in nightclub management. At one time he owned an eighteen-and-under club on south Lewis named The Green Rooster, or something like that. It later became The Factor Club.

I don't remember the station(s) where he worked.

April 13 2004 at 08:04:24
Name: Mike Bruchas
Location: Squinty-eyed from doing taxes
Comments: Is KFAQ still AM-stereo? I remember 20 years ago when GM said it would make all new car radios AM-stereo compatible. Another DEAD format.

April 12 2004 at 09:36:24
Name: Webmaster
Email: mike-at-tulsaTVmemories-dot-com
Location: Tulsa
Comments: Archived Guestbook 160, where "quad" sound was the latest topic. We also talked about electronic supply stores in Tulsa (and saw a risque-for-the-60s calendar from one of them). Tulsa shopping centers and T.G.& Y. in particular were discussed. We started with "Monitor", an NBC radio program of the past, and related links.