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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 184 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
It's called the Red Dirt Roundup and features Randy Brumley. Local satire, comedy, music video, short films... like Mazeppa for the new millenium!
Hope you have time to check it out!
Another of my films, my unfinished masterpiece "Doggy Bag Afternoon" was shot on location at the Brook Theatre, where I and a couple of my actors worked at the time. I also noticed the Williams Center Cinema page. As it happens, I was the third manager of that theater, and at the age of 20, the youngest theater manager in the city (while attending TU, no less). I actually pleaded with the chain that ran it to do with the theater pretty much exactly what Brent Kliewer and the other folks eventually did in making it a film society/retro house; as it was obvious to me early on that a first-run house in that location was doomed to failure. Our biggest hit while I was there was "Ice Castles," and man, did I get sick of that film. It was during that time that the geniuses at American Entertainment decided to fire the projectionist union, claiming that the money saved meant we managers could be paid more for assuming those duties (and they said it with a straight face). Still, it was kind of cool learning the job. Of course, you had to pay attention to what you were doing. I remember running a return engagement of "The Muppet Movie" right on the heels of "Friday the 13th." Somehow in the process of assembling the film and splicing new trailers on, I got a little mixed up. So I'm watching through the window going "That's funny. I didn't remember 'The Muppet Movie' being a Paramount picture." Then we fade into a night shot of "Camp Crystal Lake" and I go "Whoa!!" and hit the stop button. So after a brief unscheduled intermission while my hands fly over the projector re-threading the correct film...
Ah, those were the days. I wonder how long my Spider-Man toothbrush holder
(to hold the toothbrushes used to clean the film gate) stayed up on the wall
after I left.
Yahoo said 3 days ago he was playing basketball from his wheelchair with a granddaughter. He died of pneumonia today. You remember after GREEN ACRES - he often played villain roles on Columbo and other shows. He was an actor of quite a range and he always looked YOUNGER than he was. I forgot that he also was quite a conservationist - remember way back when - he did the Arbor Day tv PSA's for years.
Sammy left Tulsa in 1997 to run the Emery Creek Victorian Bed & Breakfast in Branson, MO, where he plays a bit of morning piano for the guests.
You might try the search "1961 yearbook 'tom tom'" on eBay periodically. Better yet, save the search to "Favorite Searches" on eBay to get an email when a match happens.
Mike was referring to Rex Brown's note about a show he produces, "Red Dirt Roundup", featuring Randy Brumley. It airs Fridays on Cox channel 71 at 11:00 pm. I moved Rex' note up to Friday afternoon as a timely reminder.
I really enjoyed Jim...a gentle soul, who was so very easy to work with. He is missed, I am sure. I first moved to T-town in April of '79, and quickly filled my wallet with club cards...Jim and I frequented a number of the same places, but until I saw his collection of cards, I had forgotten about them.
Here's to Jim!
Nice to see Anthony Mason again! He's done quite well for himself. I used to work with Anthony at KTEW in the late 70's early 80's. I was the associate producer of the 6 & 10 p.m. newscasts. One fond memory I have of Anthony was when he attended my ? Birthday party at my parents home in Tulsa. And, in a close race with then reporter ROCHE MADDEN and, I believe "Troubleshooter" Jim Forbes (Jim, I'm not sure on this one) he won the coveted title of "BEST LEGS" during the evening's festivities! YES girls (and guys) Anthony had great gams! He was also one of the best investigative reporters around.
Go get 'em Anthony!
Mark wrote: "I've been racking my brain for a couple of years about Dr. Redlove's Ice Cream Parlor...that was out south on Lewis, wasn't it? Near 61st street? I can't find anyone who remembers." I was just reading your entry on Tulsa TV Memories from August last year. I got talking with someone here in Denver who also grew up in Tulsa and we were reminiscing about old Tulsa memories and that brought me to the site. I remember going to Dr. Redlove's when I was in 3rd or 4th grade it must have been around 1973. I have always remembered it being in the Farm on 51st and Sheridan. It later became several other restaurants including an Interurban (I think). The place you remember on Lewis was Happy Joe's Pizza. (I am quite sure about this one, my family went there often.) It had a similar motif with the red wallpaper and saloon-look. The servers work white shirts with garters on the sleeves. The kids could watch the pizza-makers roll the dough and make the pizzas through a window (much like Shotgun Sam's). It was in the corner of one of the L-shaped strip malls. It also had an old-fashioned candy counter with jaw-breakers and peppermint sticks in big jars. The thing I remember most about Dr. Redlove's (I don't know why this stuck with me) was they had sugar packets with the signs of the zodiac with very 70's style artwork and every time my family would go there I would snag all 12 and take them with me to school the next day.
These two restaurants (along with Big Mike's and Shotgun Sam's) were my
favorites. Funny, there is definitely an Old West theme to all of them.
I am duplicating 30 hours of stuff that was re-packaged and geared to "teen issues" then - now it is "family viewing". Pretty stiff stuff and shot low low budget - now any "film-making" is done on mini DV and edited on Avids or PC's. It either looks network grade or looks a cut above cable access. BTW - they now stretch material to fit a TV "hour" with breaks inside the shows - usually cross-promoting all the other "family" films in their on-line library. Funny in so many of these films - the same type-cast "earnest" actors appear. Now they hire off-TV folks like Gavin McLeod and Hal Linden to appear with a lot of nobodies - to kind of upgrade the cast.
Speaking of musicians famous elsewhere - livin' in Tulsa - at one time 1
or 2 members of the Irish rock group, "Horselips", lived in Tulsey with their
significant others.
Here is Los Reactors' home page. One of their CDs includes vintage video footage from local TV news coverage of the group.
I finished the night at a swing club listening to The Zuits. (My son, John,
plays trumpet. Yes, they are available for bookings.)
Well, my husband and I now live in Evansville, Indiana where we own several shopping centers. We have three children--Lucas 17, Maria 15, and Whitney 13. I am out of television news and am presently studying for a Masters Degree in Pastoral Care...I volunteer at an AIDS clinic and a Hospice Center.
Would be interested in hearing from anyone...
I graduated from Kellyville and knew your dad very well. He was a nice guy.
I graduated with your brother Sam. Welcome to the board! John
Hanson signed Guestbook 22 back in 1999---at least purportedly. The signer was working from TU and named "The Auction" as his favorite TV show. 2 am would have been very late viewing for the young, globe-trotting Hansons. However, star and producer of local comedy show "Beef Baloney", Robert Kurtz (then a TU student), named "The Auction" as BB's inspiration in his interview with Wilhelm Murg. Hmmm-bop. Nevertheless, fans around the world showed up to inspect the sacred Hanson signing. Just before Hanson, at 5th and Main, 8 pm, my brother Alan is playing bass with Rusti Love. He'll be the tall guy. Jon Glazer is on keyboards.
If that's not enough entertainment for you, Leon Russell's Birthday Bash
is at Cain's Ballroom
tonight.
You asked about the date of the factory explosion in Jenks, the one that killed my good friend Bobby Avery. It was the Ides of March, March 15, 1971. After the Mack Creager incident, we saw Bobby two more times: at our wedding Dec. 30, 1970, in Texas, and in January 1971 in Little Rock. News of the explosion appeared on the front pages of the Tulsa World and the Sapulpa Herald. I have the clippings.
Thanks for posting my remembrances of the Mack Creager incident.
I don't think Gary mentioned when the famous interruption of the Mannix episode took place. I grew up in Kellyville, near Tulsa, but was living in Big Sandy, Texas, at the time, just before I got married. I was 23. My fiancee, Linda Isom, and I were up from East Texas visiting a friend in Tulsa, Bobby Avery, who also grew up in Kellyville. Bobby and I had known each other almost from birth. Linda and I were newly engaged, we were not married yet, so the Mack Creager incident must have happened around Thanksgiving 1970, I figure. The three of us were watching Mannix in Bobby's rented house. We couldn't believe our eyes. Was that an embedded subliminal message trying to sell us popcorn or was that Mack Creager flipping us off? In our stupefied state, while basking in the glory of witnessing such an amazing event, Bobby and I immediately decided to telephone KOTV. We redialed many, many times on Bobby's rotary phone and never did get through. However, so many calls were trying to make it to the Channel 6 switchboard that somehow some wires got crossed and I found myself talking with a woman who was also trying to call KOTV. "That was just terrible! Terrible!" she exclaimed. We didn't think it was terrible. We felt like we had seen a UFO and lived. We made sure to watch the Channel 6 news later that night. We agreed Mack looked a little peaked while delivering the sports report. That was one of our last visits with our good friend Bobby, who died a few weeks later in an explosion at a factory (operated by a company called Connally, not sure of the spelling) in Jenks. We'll always remember one of our last visits with him, the time we had the privilege of witnessing the famous Mack Creager finger incident. I enjoy your site. Another fond memory I have of Tulsa TV: I was 7 or 8 years old, maybe 1954 or 1955. Along with my Cub Scout den from Kellyville I got to appear on the Little Rascals afternoon show with the real, live Spanky McFarland. He was dressed like he was 8, even though I think he was in his 30s at the time. I remember seeing Lee Woodward and Lionel and Cy Tuma in person on the way to Spanky's clubhouse.
Thanks for the story, Dixon. I knew the incident had to be either late 1970 or in 1971. I had no luck tracking down the date of that factory explosion. Anyone else know?
Get your Pavarotti tickets on Saturday!
As she got older - sometimes she dragged her "companion" to work with her at the KOTV front desk. A very large kinda Raggedy Anne -on steroids - doll that someone had made for her or given her. No - she did not talk to it - it just sat there with her. One time when then-Gov. Boren was due at the last minute to do something for news, I gave her a heads-up. She said, "Huh - big deal. He puts his pants on just like the rest of you men! I ain't impressed."
Yup - that was Faye. Heaven help ya if you went out to get a sandwich for
her and they screwed up the order!
Steve is the founder of the new, non-profit organization, Tulsa Area Music Archives (TAMA).
One thing that rattled and angered Beaumont Bruestle at TU was gas stations and especially Texaco - then a big employer in Tulsa in the 70's. Bruestle and Hank Barrows lived near 21st and Lewis and had been against the then supersizing of Texaco station on that corner - kind of a NIMBY thing. I think Monte Cassino School had also opposed it, "but had been bought off by Texaco" per Bruestle.
Evidently Bruestle may have protested the rezoning or something - but we
heard that Texaco management in Tulsa had leaned on TU - as a financial
contributor - and Bruestle had almost been fired due to Texaco's "clout".
Bob Brown taught a class or two at TU while working at 6. Often I think he rendezvoused with John Bateman on the TU campus to do stories there. Bob's anecdotal and organized style made him a great instructor on the realities of TV news production. The late Dale Speer was a great writer and I thought a great teacher - so many of us were saddened to learn that he committed suicide shortly after we had graduated. Bill Hayes was either good or pi--y to students - he inspired many but played favorites a lot - Bill smoked a lot of pot then. But if he saw a film and recommended it - go see it! If you could shoot something - make something of interest - shooting with the crappiest Bolex - you rose in his respect but he had a lot of personal demons in his life and was murdered in a much hushed up sexually-related slaying at his house just off campus - I was told. He had a lot of talent and we got a kick out of him doing his Air Force Reserve time - he was proud to be an AF flack (then in Viet Nam days) and liked TDY in Europe in the Summer. The photogs he championed - all went on to greater things. I knew Tom Wood's wife from classes and knew he was a good instructor but never had any classes with him. Most of the time he was just too damned serious! Ed Johnson was a good instructor but hacked and coughed so much then (and kept on smoking) - it was hard to understand him some times. Ed was better in small groups - we knew he had "made his bones" in newspaper work. He was an excellent "placer" of grads and folks needing to work while attending TU. Drew Pearson and some other jocks sat in the back of one of Ed's class with me - Pearson surprised me much after TU with his personality but in Ed's class - nothing extra. Larry Graham taught voice and diction and "interpret" (I first heard of cleft palettes and a lot of the biological side of speech in his class), ditto Larry Elwell (later GM at KWGS after Ed Dumit and a figure of controversy there but a GOOD teacher) and the great Larry Bradshaw (last heard at ENMSU in NM) - who got some many of MORE interested in politics. Pinky Jones (I never remember Mary JANE or Mary JUNE Jones) was funny but a hard grader and I had one or two classes with Rod Jones - who we all liked, too but he was head of Arts and Sciences I believe at TU for part of that time. Pinky first told us of Rod and Skitch Henderson as WWII flyers. Fred Graves did some voice stuff and theatre history was his forte. Fred was a hoot. Beaumont Bruestle - I had for a theatre course but loved his Humanities and film history classes better - music from his musical about Ben Franklin is still stuck in my head. TU presented it - it was not bad. Because I took several Bruestle classes - I never got to sit in on any Ben Henneke classes. We all knew him and respected him. APRROACHABLE TO ALL is Ben Henneke. As I had said before - he IS the living spirit of TU. Hank Barrows was Bruestle's "life partner" but an enjoyable lecturer.
Later we had classes at the then-new Chapman Nursing School, which Ed had arranged - the Nursing faculty who "deigned" to let us use their beautiful NEW COLOR studio with 1" technology and a classroom as Kendall Hall was being dismantled, but we were often felt they really did not want us there. I think Bob Brown taught his class at Chapman. Broadcast students were "not really wanted" to work there - a lotta turf trouble at TU then. Nancy Vunovich was just incoming when I was senior and never got to know her well.
It seems TU is NOT cranking out radio/TV folks any more and that saddens
me - I got a good education there!
Sometimes I used to drive her home. She lived close to Harrington's and the
previously mentioned KOME studios in a kinda red tudor-looking apartment
complex downtown. I was never sure how old she really was - but she was the
night receptionist at KOTV when I was there. You NEVER got Faye mad at you!
Keyboardist/singer Jon Glazer (who told about his visit to the Mr. Zing and Tuffy show at age 4 in Guestbook 71) spotted me in the audience then spontaneously knocked out "It's Mr. Zing and Tuffy Time" and "Tuffy's A Sweet Ol' Tiger" (lyrics on the John Chick & company page). Jon and high-powered vocalist/songwriter Rebecca Ungerman have a regular duo gig at Lanna Thai. Jon's first album, "The Divine Rebellion" (all original songs), is coming soon; see JonGlazerMusic.com. Rebecca's first, "I Just Want..." (jazz and pop standards plus originals), is available at RebeccaUngerman.com. You can hear their music at the sites. Gaye and I, Tim Schmitz (Dick's son), KWGS' Casey Morgan and husband Skip (scroll down), and Ken Harwood enjoyed the delicious food and the fun show with these fantastic Tulsa musicians.
5/18: See a video of Jon performing
"Why is Henry Here?"
from this very performance at Lanna Thai.
I had always wanted a Gusty cartoon. I went to a second-hand store outside of Bartlesville and there was one for sale. You bet I snatched it up. I still have it and it's getting a long awaited frame. :)
Kevin composed this poem for Uncle Zeb awhile back.
Thanks to you both; I emended her name in the previous entries.
Might the KOTV Switch Board Operator referred to as "Fran" more likely have been the one..the only....Faye Parker??
The technician who was working on some stubborn piece of equipment and who
didn't know the mike was suddenly live, was fired.
I have a more recent event and I was wondering if someone out there could shed some light on what happened to Beth Rengel the night of her getting upset while she was doing the newscast and her mic keep going in and out and it seemed to work perfectly right at the time she blurted out Well S...t!!! Am I remembering the incident correctly ? And was that the reason she has been gone from Tulsa news now for so long?
Jim Reid gave us the straight scoop on that back in Guestbook 49. According to John Hamill on the KGCT page, "George Stewart honorably resigned as Channel 8 news director over the manner in which Beth Rengel's naughty utterance was handled". She was off the tube for awhile, but returned for a long career on Tulsa TV.
Who was the switchboard operator at KTUL in the 60's? - She helped talent and crew by giving us warnings. We were audited one year because; cameramen and directors were doing jobs around the station not covered by their job description.
Many people who worked on my show lost their job within a few months after
this audit. My director who was everything to our daily show, was one of
them…
She was a trip. Apparently, she had been a dancer at some point in her checkered career, and always looked as though she were made up for a stage appearance. Faye was a very nice lady, but she couldn't just be a receptionist/switchboard operator. She had to be in on whatever was going on in the hallways and on the air. For example, when the auditors were at the station one year, she engaged a serious-looking CPA in a conversation that went something like this: Faye: "What are you guys doing here?" CPA: "We're auditing the books." Faye: "You mean, all those numbers?" CPA: "Well, yes." Faye: "Doesn't that make you kind of goofy?" On another occasion, after a Saturday morning program about cardiac problems,which featured a prominent Tulsa surgeon, Faye stopped the good doctor at the reception desk and asked if he was the fellow who had just been on the show. He said indeed he was, that he was a cardiologist and a surgeon.
Faye: "Could you recommend a good chiropractor, I've got this pain in my
shoulder...."
Info requested: Scooter Segrave's whereabouts, more about Jack Morris' career, and anything about S&S Radio, formerly in Tulsa and B.A. Commercial Airport was formerly on the site of the Holliday Hills addition (of professional interest to the webmaster's Realtor wife, Gaye Brown). News choppers, Henry Lile and Harvey Young Airport were a part of this discussion. Past TU J-school profs and students (several associated with Tulsa TV and radio) were recalled. We were sad to learn that Ronnie Farrar of the Friday Morning Bluegrass Bunch from the John Chick show passed away. New organization and site: the Tulsa Area Music Archive. Sarah Sartain is the Mayfest poster artist this year. Like Cy Tuma, Becky Jackson had polio, and appeared with him in a few benefits. She later became a dancer on KOTV's "Dance Party"!
Read all about it in Guestbook 183.
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Lionel