Here's the link:

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800052507&cf=biog&intl=us

I don't know if the Fish was that good (didn't KFC seem a lot less nastier when you were a kid?) But if I could start a Minnie Pearl Chicken shop, I just might be interested! Actually I remember her chicken being very spicy, but not hot. Everyone was in a race to figure out the mix of secret herbs and spices. I think someone figured out that it took a lot less spices to make the chicken, but that a good chunk of the taste is in the preservatives and the hydrogenated anti-matter. I remember a chain in the south, Captain Chicken, that seemed to be on the same order as Minnie Pearl's; they had a cartoon (like a Jack Davis MAD MAGAZINE rendition of The Flash) as their mascot.

Right now my favorite eating joints in Tulsa are:

Coney Island, downtown, for coneys.

Jim's Coney Islander/Never on Sunday on Harvard for gyros.

El Rio Verde and/or Don Franciscos (toss-up, Rio Verde has more atmosphere) for Mexican food.

Wilson's Bar-B-Que (with Elmer's It-Be-Bad at a VERY close second, but Wilson's is more tender.)

I never can remember my favorite hamburger place's name, because I seldom get over there, but it's on Edison, just west of the Gilcrease Road (Joe's? Bob's? Al's?)

The best chili I tasted was at a sub place (The Sub Spot?) in west Tulsa. I've never been there, but they deliver.

Pizza? The jury is still out. The few independent pizza places I've sampled tend to be fresh, but bland - even Mary Jane's, which we seemed to live on for about a month last year.

Avocado Burrito - Mark's Submarine, across from the TU stadium (he also makes great tea!)

Submarine sandwiches - I really love the Sub Spot, which is way out in the Scissortail Shopping Center in East Tulsa.

In talking about good food, my favorite hamburgers from childhood came from Andy's Hamburgers in Barnsdall, Ok. If you were traveling from Pawhuska to Tulsa, that was the place where you HAD to stop for lunch. I used to watch Mrs. Campbell (Andy's widow) cooks those hamburgers, but I still can't replicate them. I know there was no great secret, because sometimes she would have a "Back in 5 minutes" sign on the door, and she would come around the corner from the grocery store with ten pounds of fresh meat and cook it right there on the spot (no secret spices). I think the principle was close to that of White Castle; flatten the meat on salt and peppered onions and soak up as much of the grease as you can in the buns when you grill them.

Like I said, I have come pretty close to making an Andy's Hamburger, but it's not 100 percent there. They sold the grill to a truck stop in Pawhuska, and the taste continued on. I have no idea why that magic grill makes a difference.

That's some great music, all right!

One distinguishing thing about this place was a 35ft X 20ft high mural made from broken bits of tile. As I recall, the picture was of a map illustrating Cortez' travels. Seems like Mom read the Spanish tile layers were allowed to pick the subject, because of a deadline being met early.

Shakey's had live music most every evening, mainly centered around multi-talented Ralph Watson. During his reign there, he received a recluse spider bite while fishing at my uncle's pond, and that led to amputation at the knee. He healed quickly, and thought nothing of "resting" his leg on top of the piano (seemed to help tips too).

One day while refueling his mower, he spilled gas into his boot (good leg), and got gangrene which cost his remaining leg too! Again, he bounced back, and had fun with his "take off legs". During all of this, Billy Dozier, Ron Chandler, Bob Kiser, and Ralph all played tenor banjos with those corny looking straw hats and arm bands. I bet that sound saved a lot on exterminating!

All of these guys were top flight players in legitimate music, and were reduced to the equivalent of "the Brown Bomber" Joe Louis being a doorman / greeter. But they were very entertaining, and seemed to have fun (after their 4th or 5th German Dark Lager)!

Casa Bonita had been a large grocery with a take out Deli that had lots to choose from, but when construction started, it took a year to remodel it. A friend worked that summer there ('69) and only "antiqued" the woodwork, which meant he would swing a chain into the new wood, leaving impressions. His arms were massive after that!

Deric Davis mentioned Chuck E. Cheese's. Oddly enough, one of the warehouse areas which is used by the company that I work for was the gameroom of Chuck E. Cheese's on Admiral by the Traffic Circle. The black walls, the prize room where the tickets were turned in for prizes, and the brick floor are still there, though the rest of the area towards the front of the building was gutted in remodeling a few years ago.

Still feels a little spooky, or nostalgic, to go back in there, but I am pretty sure that most of the good prizes were pulled out some time ago.

I went to Casa Bonita with my 3 year old daughter this evening. Now I must tell you, Casa Bonita used to be my favorite place as a child, I think my gut has stored more than its fair share of cheese enchiladas over the years, BUT today's Casa Bonita is (not the same). I was shocked at how few people were there tonight. On a Friday evening at 7:00 - I did not have to wait in any line, and I was eating my food within 3-4 minutes. I really hope something changes, because this place should stay open, and it is not going to in its present condition.

BTW - Taco Bueno wins as far as fast food Tex-Mex goes, unless you've been out late drinking, and then Taco Bell is good... Arthur Treacher's was great - you are right, nothing tasted quite as good as their batter. I found that there are still many open across the nation - just not here. Again, you can get a franchise. Go to http://www.arthurtreachers.com. LJS is OK, not as good as Treacher's but miles ahead of Captain D's. And lastly, Arthur Treacher was a celebrity? I have never even heard of him, save for the restaurant - who is/was he? I PROMISE to stop talking about food. I think.

We had a TTM get-together at Casa Bonita a few months ago, and it seemed fine to me. It was also pretty crowded that Saturday night.

I know this may be a minority report, but I happen to like Taco Tico!

I've been trying to figure out whether our tastebuds are more sensitive when we are young, or if we are just more prone to be sucked into marketing gambits because of innocence. I have heard young people get into arguments over which taco chain is better (I can't tell the difference, except in the way the sauces are served). I would love to have an order of that fish just to see if it's as good as I remember it.

In my experiences, it looks like LSJ is winning over the people who are paired together during lunch, but don't want to eat the same thing - there is hardly a table where both people are eating hamburgers, or both are eating fish. The biggest problem I've found at the 15th Street location and the one on Charles Page Blvd. (east of Adams Road) is that it takes forever to get your order.

The other downside is that, as they always seem to be about 20-30 minutes behind, everyone seems to be on overload. One day we got frosty mugs and had two glasses each while waiting for our order (root beer and fish doesn't sound good to me either, I usually drink Dr. Pepper out of the frosty mug). Since they were apparently still trying to catch the fish, and our frosty mugs were no longer frosty, I went back and asked for two fresh frosty mugs. The woman behind the cash register looked at me like I was stupid.

"What's the matter with those?" she said.

"They're no longer frosty, ergo they are no longer frosty mugs" I replied.

She slammed two fresh mugs down on the counter and ran off into the kitchen without saying a word. It's one of those "fast food" places where everyone ends up standing at the counter just to put even more pressure on the employees.

However, the worst experience I've had was at The Brook. I ordered "fish and chips." The waitress asked me what kind of vegetable I wanted, and I picked slaw. I got four little pieces of fish and a tiny cup of slaw. I asked "Where are the chips?" The waitress explained that I had picked slaw rather than chips as my vegetable. I said that I had ordered "fish and chips." To make a long story short, she took the slaw back, I ate all of my fish, everyone was finished, and then a bucket of dry french fries were brought with the check.

Moral:

That kind of nonsense didn't happen when Arthur Treacher was around.

Sorry to be blabbing about food so much... This site has made me hungry of late.

Yum! Brands foods, which used to be called Tricon, and was once owned by Pepsi, now owns A&W Root Beer restaurants. Tricon used to be Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC, but 2-3 years ago purchased Long John Silvers which had recently bought A&W Root Beer stands. I remember a gas station in Tulsa not too long ago that had a Rex's Chicken and an A&W Root Beer residing within the store. (Like the Texaco at 61st & Yale...somehow chicken and gas didn't mix too well in my mind...webmaster)

Anyway, their website is at http://www.yum.com

That would be the 1970 TV movie, "The Love War". I definitely remember watching it when it came out.

Another TV sci-fi movie I remember well from 1970: "Hauser's Memory". It starred David McCallum (Illya of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.", and human of the future in "Outer Limits" episode "The Sixth Finger"). It was produced by Jack Laird (producer of "Night Gallery") and written by Curt Siodmak (who also wrote "Donovan's Brain", which has been remade a number of times under different titles).

I think all the Crystal's Pizza (& Spaghetti) locations are gone now. The last one I visited was in Abilene, TX around 1995 or so, and it was not drawing in many customers at the time. It was gone within a year.

The only two Casa Bonitas left are Tulsa and Denver. Everyone who has been to it says Denver's better. (I've never been, and I like the Tulsa one just fine, thanks.) I don't know if they're still co-owned with Taco Bueno (a.k.a. Taco Malo or whatever other funny Spanish adjective you cared to fill in).

And I prefer not to eat my fish out of a frosty mug :)

The two locations like this I know of are at 51st just west of Harvard and at 15th and Lewis.

This means you can get a frosty mug with your fish!

At the time I was a runner for one of the television stations, making a fortune with an eye on law school and praying for even better days. With much luck along the way, that's how things worked out; and now, since somebody brought your site to my attention last week, I've been revisiting faces and places that I hadn't thought about in years. Nostalgia suddenly has a future, and I still see clearly those images of black and white television (when nobody could get a clear picture of anything except Channel 6), of Cy Tuma, Jack Morris and Channel 2's George Martin.

Tuma, so likable and friendly, who occasionally sent me for his hamburger, had lots of Ted Baxter in his makeup, as did Morris, along with his archaic, late news greeting of "Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen." But nobody cared. And Martin, dear George Martin, one of the nicest guys who ever lived.

That was then, and that was better.

I also remember frequenting the A&W on Admiral. A&W is alive and well in Fargo with 2 locations. I take my son there for a "frosty mug".

Shakey's on Admiral was always a huge treat. That's usually where the birthday parties were held. Always heard about the banjo player but never got to see him.

I'm assuming A&W Root Beer is gone. I know the one on Admiral is. Used to be able to refill your jug there before heading to the drive-in to see classics like 'Escape from the Planet of the Apes'.

On a different tangent, I attended the Kenny Wayne Shepherd/ZZ Top concert last night at the Convention Center. A great show, but the crowd was disappointing. The arena was only half full.

I loved Crystal's when I was a kid, it was different, and had a fun atmosphere. There were over the top decorations, that little movie theatre, video games, skee ball, and actually good food. Maybe my memories are tainted through my childhood eyes, but I don't remember it having the "stigma" that Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza had.

The last time I remember being at Crystal's Pizza was in when I was in high school around late 1992 or 1993, and it was obvious that the place was going downhill. I have not had the chance to go in since it became a store, but I would like to see if anything remains of the old Crystal's Pizza. I think the proper name was Crystal's Pizza & Spaghetti, but I could be wrong.

I also have great memories of eating at Shakey's Pizza (not on Peoria) and being mesmerized by their player piano...

Today, there is hardly a reason to go to a pizza parlor with the ease of delivery and the atmosphere-less pizza restaurants.

I paid a visit to a Tokyo Shakey's Pizza back in 1990.

In Ford's "Rio Grande," however, the "Regimental Singers" did appear, but Stack was not part of that group either. Even though Stack was well-connected to old line Hollywood's golden age (like teaching Clark Gable how to shoot skeet and advising Tyrone Power on the serpentine intrigues of Wall Street) his path seldom crossed the surly John Ford's.

Somebody significant to Oklahoma that was in "...Yellow Ribbon" was Pawhuska's Ben Johnson. It was his work there that convinced Ford to try a year later to make him a star in 'Wagonmaster.' And even though Johnson never quite made it to the top, he did come close and had a very distinguised career.

See previous posting way back when of my friend Jeff Newman's anecdote of being Brinkley's radio engineer at NBC.

DO rent To Kill a Mockingbird re Mr. Peck's best work and the movie he was most proud of.

Re Mr. Stack - gee - an actor, a champion skeetshooter and from a wealthy family too. Stack often seen as a wooden stereotype - did do some other movies that his acting is better represented by. I think he spoke English/German/Italian and probably could have made it in business or government service - but wanted to act.

See the previous note here of him and Festus (aka Ken Curtis) being a part of the choraleers in John Ford's "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"...BTW The Untouchables was Desilu Studio's FIRST attempt at doing long-form dramatic series work - after making a name for themselves with I Love Lucy and other comedies...

I thought 41 was running IT on Saturday nights back then, like they did every other night...

...and does anyone remember that little music that 41 played over all their IDs? I remember it showed up once in the late '80s in a Snow's Furniture ad, but I've never heard it since.

Thanks for the link; I used it on the KELi page. The Sherman Oaks Channel 41 Afternoon movie clip has a little transitional music on it.

The meat was not the best and kind of fatty, but the souce was to die for. Does anyone else remember this obscure place in Red Fork?

I remember Jim Reid mentioning Martin's BBQ in a previous guestbook. As a lover of great 'Q', I'm saddened to have missed out on what must've been some great stuff.

For what it's worth, I checked the phonebook. The closest I could find was Martin's Barbershop.

The sauce probably isn't as tasty.

I also remembered that on a trip to Dallas about 2 years ago, I stopped in Pauls Valley. There's a drive-in restaurant right off the interstate that serves Rex's chicken (or a close facsimile).

I wonder if they still do? If so, I may need to make a trip.

Yes, it is...there was an article about it in the paper within the last week or so. It started as more of a bar and became BBQ-only over the years.

Didn't seem like it was always that way, though.

Jim Reid, it pains us to have to deliver this news to you, but the honored Webmaster speaks the truth.

Martin's moved to 21st and Memorial right by Conrows on the SW corner, and stayed in business for a couple of years, and then disapppeared only to be replaced by another Q establishment in the same building, but nowhere near as good.

I was hoping that they had sold the "secret" or the "recipe" or whatever is passed on in the transfer at the initiation ceremony, but not so.

And with Elmer gone now, though the family is still running his place at 42nd and Peoria, it just doesn't quite have the same tang, maybe it is just my imagination, though.

I think they are gone for good, unfortunately. The old neon sign on N. Sheridan showed a 2-frame animation of a jackass kicking with the slogan, "Everybody eats here except me, and U can see what I am" (or close to that). Wasn't the "U" a horseshoe in the animation?

One of my favorite bad movies was "Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow", usually shown on Fantastic Theater, I think. Hot rods, girls, rock'n'roll and creepy characters; also, absolutely no plot, continuity, or sense of production values. It was like three four movies cobbled together but, hey, with all of the commerical breaks, all of the movies seemed that way!

Don't forget one of the best sci-fi (?) exploitation flicks ever made, "Amazon Chicks in Biker Hell."

While that one didn't run on Channel 5 on TCT, 41 did run it in the early days after Bob Davis leased the license was to the group that put on the News on the Mall; and if I remember right, there was a lot of time to fill on late Saturday night.

Also, the "Hop and Chop" flicks that turn up every so often on the various U's late at night are priceless. Just watching the sound two seconds out of sync with the picture is worth some entertainment, not to mention the 14th Century Samurais wearing sneakers and wrist watches.

Ah, but then Grasshopper, Your Master is easily entertained.

Lamotte was the first CNN Dallas bureau chief. His reporter there was James Alan Miklaszewski, now known as Jim (probably to fit in one line on the character generator) of NBC Pentagon fame.

CNN producers like yours truly loved that Dallas bureau, because it was incredibly productive, some days banging out 8 or 10 stories between two guys.

Exec producer Alec Nagle was always pushing CNN's Washington bureau to do more stories like Dallas did--"people" rather than "institutional" stories, and because of that (and because he was a helluva reporter), Miklaszewski was moved to Washington, where he distinguished himself on the White House beat for CNN until NBC picked him up.

When Nagle died at age 36 of a heart attack, Lamotte was brought to Atlanta as EP, but managing producers, being a task like herding cats, was not his forte, and he moved back to reporting.

What happened to that company? I haven't seen a location open in quite some time. The locations I knew of (68th & Lewis, Cherry Street, and 71st & Memorial) are all shut down.

From the Tulsa World:

"Other notable closings in 2002 included Super King Catfish, Golden French Bakery, Ronlyn's Deli, Finns Chop & Chowder House, Aladdin Kebab House of Tulsa, The Grille at Doubletree Hotel Downtown, five Rex Chicken locations, Grilled Chicken by Salari, Little Tokyo, Miss Saigon, Silk Road, Great Alaskan Kodiak Steakhouse, Black-Eyed Pea, Big Brothers Pub and Grill, Five Star Cafe, Sterling Plate and Full Moon South."

There were at least 7 at one time, but I think they're all gone!

There were also the cheapie teen rock'n'roll music exploitation films, which all seemed to feature Bill Haley and his Comets with guest appearances by the likes of Gene Vincent and Little Richard.

Plot lines were pretty much the same, too: Meany grownups ban rock and roll dances until the kids, with an assist from Bill Haley's spit curl, show them that the music's not that bad, and the Dean Jagger character winds up in the middle of the dance floor, twisting the night away with his "secretary."

TCT had five or six of these that Columbia put out for the drive-in market in the late 50s, I'd guess. Production values were, shall we say, "minimalist."

According to The Daily Oklahoman, Larry LaMotte, 60, of Atlanta drowned Sunday while swimming off the Florida Panhandle at Grayton Beach. A surfer found his body floating face down in the water, The Associated Press reported.

High winds that caused rough surf and high waves resulted in six drownings off the Florida Panhandle last weekend, according to AP.

LaMotte was news director at KTOK-AM 1000 from 1965 until 1972.

He was a reporter and weekend anchor for KWTV NEWS9 from 1978 until 1980 before going to work for CNN News.

He worked as a CNN bureau chief in Dallas, Los Angeles and Washington and as a national correspondent in Atlanta.

But my favorite movie title in the series was "They Stole Hitler's Brain."

You're in luck; Sherman Oaks takes viewer phone calls about "They Saved Hitler's Brain" and "The Creeping Terror" in a 10 minute RealVideo clip on the Creature Feature page.

1. Goldie's Hamburgers
2. Coney Islander Hot Dogs
3. Weber's Root Beer
4. Rex Chicken
5. Bama Pies

While Dallas is wonderful, the above were integral parts of my growing up Tulsan.

Whenever I am in Tulsa, I seek out those things I have missed.

Sigh.....

This year's race was very warm and humid. I must report that my wife was treated to the sight of more than a couple of over-achievers barfing at the finish line.

Later, plenty of beer was served up with a free performance by Mickey Thomas and Starship. Good show (excluding the barfing).

One of Starship's biggest hits featured a former KELi DJ and KOTV Dance Party host, Les Garland. More about him courtesy of KXOJ's Gary Thompson on the KELi page.

http://www.subgenius.com/ZONTARZONE_/zhome.HTML

It was a low-budget remake of the great Roger Corman's already low-budget IT CONQUERED THE WORLD (which inspired Zappa to write the song "Cheapness"). Here are the details: http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/zontar.html

If you go back and watch it again you will probably have a very different reaction. It should be readily available for sale at finer video stores.

Seems to have been a particularly disturbing sci-fi flick, but maybe that's because of my mood at the time, and maybe that's a question for the Counter-Culture section.

I have seen the future of surrealist poetry and its name is Google Automatic Translation. I'm addicted to it.

Here's an excerpt from Amazon.de's description of the film LOVE STORY:

The film ends without the stylistic lift, which would have made it one of the films, which one also years would have still absolutely had to see later. But the adaptation of the uncomplicated and book collecting main filled with moving intentions succeeded. O'Neal convinces as the nice boy, who as its father can be just as starrkoepfig (good work of Ray Milland), and Ali MacGraw creates it to play itself the spectator under the skin. The spectator must only with the set of "love is called to laugh in order pardon to never ask to have" watch out that it does not begin.

Apparently that description is a translation from German, which was originally translated from English.

From Amazon.com:

...the film ends up lacking the kind of stylistic boost that might have made it a must-see for the ages. But its faithfulness to the book's uncomplicated and, yes, moving intentions is pretty solid. O'Neal is convincing as a nice guy who's as bullheaded in his own way as his steely father (a nice job by Milland), and MacGraw has a way of getting under one's skin. A viewer just has to try not laughing at the refrain, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

I was looking up the date of the film because the mention of children's summer movie programs reminded me of the summer movies from the early 1970s when I was a child. It was 50 cents to get in or 25 cents and a coupon (that was printed in both the World and the Tribune, if I remember correctly). I was standing in line at the Circle Theatre where LOVE STORY was the feature (didn't it seem to be in the Tulsa theatres for year!) I think I was going to see PINOCCHIO IN OUTER SPACE or DONDI. I remember seeing those films at the Circle and the Boman. Does anyone else remember where they played?

As a side note;

I returned to the Circle many years later in its very last days, when it was a soft-core porn theatre to write a review for SPYFACE, an early 'zine put out by Kallen Godsey. It as the darkest theatre I had ever (NOT) seen; the only light came from the screen. I caught the last five minutes of what appeared to be an X-rated film chopped down to an "R" (it seemed to be leading up to something, then there was an jarring jump to the end credits). This was followed by a color film about equestrian competitions, the kind of film you might see in school when the teacher needed a break. Then a second feature began which seemed to be another edited X-rated movie. I left only a couple of minutes into it because of a gentleman way in the back of the theatre who started moaning loudly during the horse film.

Ah, the Circle Theatre; it's not just creepy, it's cancerous too!

As previously reported, the Circle Cinema is being restored to state-of-the-art status.

If you prefer to read this Guestbook in (bad) German, here you go.

Thanks for writing, Pete...tell us more when you have time.

Don't be too hard on kids who don't know who Leon is. I know a lot of youngsters who have no idea even who The Beatles were, much less what they contributed to the world of music and pop culture.

I finally got Cox Cable, for the internet, mainly. I was flipping around when I saw some silly game show. I stopped to watch because they had someone on the program that they identified as Celebrity X. His face was marked out but I knew who it was right off. I said, "Hey, that's Gary Busey." Sho' nuff, when they removed the cover from his face, it was hisself!

The Cinemark Tulsa is hosting the "Summer Movie Clubhouse" for kids again this year. It's every Tuesday from June 10 - August 12 at 9:30 am. Admission is $1.00 at the door or $5.00 for a 10 movie pass. Details at the Cinemark site.

A number of Tulsa theaters ran a similar program in the 60s (it was the Village Theatre in my neighborhood). Admission was about a dime. Episodes of old 40s/50s movie serials were part of the show...it was a lot of fun. (This was also mentioned briefly by Brian in Guestbook 100.)

Our wily Webmaster said: "One thing I'm more sure of is that 2001 opened at the Fox."

I also saw 2001 at the Fox. As for the Continental, I saw many films there in the '60s including (I think) "The Sound of Music," "The Fall of the Roman Empire" and Bond flicks.

I know David is a filmmaker himself...if you are, too, or like to see new films, the Tulsa Overground Film Festival is coming August 16-17, looking for film submissions of 25 minutes or less by June 23 and July 18...more at their web site.

I saw several movies there on that huge screen in the 80's (and great dolby sound) and was sad to learn it's now closed. Blockbuster rentals, DVD-VHS and those generic 12+ screen super-cinema's have all but killed off those single screen houses and even some of the smaller 4-6 screen theatres.

I did a search on Google and found scans of a vintage article about the opening of the Continental at: http://cinerama.topcities.com/1966_march.htm

Billy