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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 173 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
I noticed that, in a
2003 rant,
columnist Michael A. Smith had expressed an interest in the old
General Cinema "Coming Attractions"/"Feature
Presentation" jingle with jazzy harpsichord. I sent them a link to it
on this site, and
both gentlemen
were very pleased to hear it.
And, like a parent, I'm sure Mike feels like a proud papa seeing how this little spot on the web has grown. Here's to many more! Also, Happy New Year to all. I will be working tomorrow, which is going to seriously curtail my football intake.
Yes, Erick, you arrived in the very first Guestbook, and yes, this site has wildly exceeded my expectations. Thanks to all contributors; you literally make this site.
Good wishes to you all in the coming year!
Thanks, John.
In my days at KTUL - "Bewitched" for years - was the first ABC network show
- Mon.-Fri. at 10:30am. Forever when I hear the theme - I will flash back
to Tuma doing the live KTUL i.d. with "...It's 10:30...", as we "took the
net"!
For us oldsters - it was NOT officially the New Year till Guy Lombardo and
the Royal Canadians "played it in".
Growing up in Chicago - one of the stations - WLS or WGN - used to do an
all night Marx Brothers movie marathon AFTER Chicago celebrated 12am. Didn't
one of the stations in Tulsa try this at one time, too? WFMT radio in Chicago
used also go live or raid its archives for their Midnight Special all night
radio show on New Year's night - often dragging out old discs with Mike
Nichols(!) stuff on it from before his days as a comedian.
(WFMT starts tonight's broadcast at 8pm!).
However you end the old year and start the the NEW - be safe! Best wishes!
Happy Birthday to you.
And kudos, whatever that means, to His Royal Webmasterness, Mike Ransom for
making it all so totally TULSA, my old home town.
Congrats to Mike Ransom for having the "stickiness" (there's a good Internet
word) to keep the doors open for all of us to spill our old legends, lies,
and the occasional fish story. As Johnny Martin would surely say from that
great air studio announce booth up yonder, "Thanks for the use of the hall."
While a senior in college, he began working at WKY-TV (now KFOR) as a reporter,
noting recently that his first big story was about a giant radish. He worked
in TV news at Channel 4 for fifteen years, where he produced and hosted public
affairs programs, as well as the acclaimed weekly "Saturday Magazine."
Steve also served as adjunct professor of speech and media for OU, OSU, and
SNU.
As a college student, Steve filmed for the OU football coach's TV show, produced
and hosted by his father, Howard Neumann, who hosted OU shows going back
to the Bud Wilkinson days. He later hosted and produced both the OU football
and basketball coaches' shows through his company, Steve Neumann Productions,
which also produced "Discover Oklahoma" for the Oklahoma Tourism Commission.
While maintaining his freelance business, Steve served as Director of Athletic
Broadcasting at OU for several years, under both Steve Owens and Joe Castiglione.
At the time of his death, he worked for Daktronics, the world leader in sports
scoreboards.
Full
obituary and guestbook at NewsOK.com
On the sixth anniversary of the start of Tulsa TV Memories, thank you so
much for giving us the forum to recollect and reconnect.
Here's to you!
I was well acquainted with the Jaycees building, which was the national
headquarters. I worked there for a number of years -- first as public relations
manager and then for several years doing a/v services and video editing.
The Jaycees organization has been shrinking steadily for decades. The staff,
which numbered about 75 when I first worked there, was down to probably less
than 20 when the offer came in. The building's plant systems were in need
of replacement, a number of other expensive repairs and updates were needed,
and they just didn't need that much space any more to run the organization,
so it was an offer they couldn't refuse. The Jaycees constructed a new national
headquarters building on South Lewis (just north of ORU) which looks just
like a branch bank.
It actually ran about a half-season, I believe. This was the second effort
by WB to turn "Casablanca" into a series, the first (starring Charles McGraw)
having been one of three rotating installments of "Warner Bros. Presents,"
the very first WB series ever, in 1955. All three segments were based on
successful WB features. Of the three, the only one to survive as its own
series was "Cheyenne" ("Kings Row" being the third).
Casablanca
(Two-Disc Special Edition) includes the premier episode of that 1955
TV series.
I was by 21st and Boulder and saw that the U.S. Jaycees building has been
torn down. It's just a graded plat of dirt with signs announcing that nine
homes will be build on the lot. I knew the Jaycees had moved to another part
of town, but I would have thought someone would want to buy and use a magnificent
architectural gem such as the Jaycees building. Too bad.
For that matter, the old Oral Roberts building down the street still has
a For Sale sign up. It looks pretty sad on the outside and I'd be scared
to think what it may be like inside by now. I hope the south part of downtown
can experience some renaissance sooner than later as the north part is now
doing.
David Soul of "Starsky and Hutch" fame. Earlier this year - he played a
possessive, arrogant symphony conductor on "Law & Order - SVU" episode.
I recognized the voice but he has become a chameleon in his charactor roles.
Do you remember a time after Starsky when he was "Rick" at Rick's Cafe Amercaine
on ABC. The network tried to resurrect "Casablanca" as a series and I think
only did a pilot.
I have a mention of it in my still unpublished book:
The girl's apartment was just off Riverside Drive. And she was gorgeous.
-----
My name is Joe Tanner. I'm currently working on an autobio and research led
to your site. As an adolescent and the son of one of the highest earners
there, I was employed at Rideshy. I mowed the lawns of the various houses,
tended bar at Bud Holt's private residence, etc. - flunky, gofer, call it
what you will.
I'm now 42 and trying to make sense of many things, not least of them being
memories of the people and events at Rideshy and my time in Tulsa. My uncle
was a local musician named Lynn Tanner. He played at Jose's Hideaway and
the Filling Station, among other places.
Any help you can offer wouild be greatly appreciated. Any persons with
perspectives on the place and/or people, please contact me. Thank you.
I've learned from a reliable source that the final location of RIDESHY
was near the old 33/66 junction in Wagoner County, where it made its last
(one-night) stand before being put out of business around 1975 by the sheriff
in those parts. Bud Holt was a product of the "Cheyenne Club" downtown, and
spent a good bit of time at the Avalon Steak House in west Tulsa.
The Filling Station was in the same building on the southwest corner of
15th & Peoria as the
Empire Bar today.
Any more help out there?
Here's a look back at the first What's New
page.
Below: a site of New Year's celebration in the 70s: Cardo's Cadillac.
We had formed the octet mainly to entertain on campus. But, we also cruised
the rich neighborhoods during the Christmas season, looking for a house that
had lots of cars out front, indicating a party was in progress. We would
stop, go onto the front yard, and start singing. People inside would hear
us and invite us in for food and drinks. The producer of the TV show had
heard us singing on campus and invited us to perform on their TV show.
Dave Hindman, who had lots of experience in radio but none in TV, was the
announcer/host. After we sang, Dave was to announce the next part of the
program. He had done fine up until then, but something happened. He froze.
The stage manager whispered to the octet to sing some more. So we repeated
"White Christmas" while Dave recovered.
Dave, my former roommate, went on to a fine career in radio and TV on WKY
in Oklahoma City either before or after he joined the Navy. I lost track
of him after he got out of the service.
In those days, 6 was much more professional but not near as much fun. Oh!
the tales I won't tell. However, I can say that I ran camera on
Lee Woodward's audition and I was the one who put
vodka (from a bootlegger) in Uncle Hiram's
7-up cup on live TV. Never missing a beat, he smacked his lips and asked
for more.
Welcome, Roy! Is that you in this photo of the
first telethon in Tulsa?
I remember everyone in that picture. Television then was all live and wild.
We did some of the worst TV, but everyone worked very hard.
We did a Saturday night live remote of the Leon
McAuliffe dance at the Cimarron Ballroom. Ellison Stambaugh, who was
the best director in town, did the show. One Saturday night we were 5 minutes
late going on the air because the ladies at the dance had us occupied up
in the balcony where the cameras were. Ellison would have killed us but he
was 3 floors away. I hid from him for a week.
If you have questions about names, I remember almost all of the production
people at both stations.
By the way I worked with Mr. Gomi. Your readers
might be interested to know that TU drama classes did some shows on KVOO.
One name I remember was Edie Rue McClanahan.
You know how she is known today. (The link shows a couple of TU pics of
Ms. McClanahan with Frank Morrow...webmaster)
The ad touts all color episodes, but I don't believe KOTV broadcasted in
color until 1965. And according to
TV
Tome, "Suspense Theatre" was originally an NBC show, so this must have
been a later, syndicated run.
The episode "Rapture at Two-Forty" was the pilot for an excellent 1965-68
dramatic series, "Run For Your Life", starring Ben Gazzara (for younger readers,
he played the slimy villain in the ludicrous but entertaining Patrick Swayze
epic,
"Road
House", a film revered by MST3K's
Michael J. Nelson).
"Run For Your Life" was previously mentioned in Guestbooks
34 and 77, where
you can hear the opening.
How many of the stars can you name? Give yourself the quiz, then rest your
cursor on each face to see the ID. There is only one I don't recognize. Maybe
someone can help out on that one. (Later: thanks for the ID from Wes Clark
of Avocado Memories, a site that influenced
the creation of this one.)
I noticed something I never saw before. In the scene with Fran Drescher and
Billy Barty outside of "City Hall", you can see KTUL's NewsStar 8 satellite
truck parked on 10th Street.
Happy Holidays!
A
Stroll at the 2004 Tulsa State Fair.
The
Return of Dr. Omed's Patented Sunset Derby. Like it says, lots of
Tulsa sunset scenes.
Scenic
Tulsa: Signs Of Other Times. The Meadow Gold sign, Jim's Coney
Island...which burger drive-in did that Daylight Donuts on Yale near the
Celebrity Club used to be?
In it: the starry ceiling at the Ritz, the statues at the Orpheum, the
wall decorations at the Will Rogers, the pipe organs, the interior of the
Ritz in 1927, the Majestic in 1918, the Circle in 1934, Third Street in front
of the Rialto in 1937, the Ritz neon sign, locations of all the theatres
from Tulsa's past, and the biggest parade in Tulsa history (for the world
premiere of the 1949 movie, "Tulsa").
In addition to the theatres, there's a brief background on thirty-one
Tulsans who are, or have been, connected with the movie industry.
OU/OSU nostalgic almanac/football calendars are also available for 2005.
These items are available at the offices of Yellow Pad on Main Street
in downtown Tulsa and they can also be ordered online at
YellowPadInc.com.
(Also noted on the Bulletin Board.)
The station had bought a package of B&W movies pretty cheaply. The movies
were not made in B&W, but we didn't pay for the color rights. Most of
the time we'd get a B&W print of a color movie, but sometimes we'd get
a color print with a note from Euell to run it in B&W. I was a little
rebellious and used to run them in color anyway. I never heard from anyone
about it.
One night I got a print of the John Wayne film "The War Wagon" with a note
to run it in B&W. I ignored the instructions like usual and ran it in
color. Unfortunately, when I got to reels 2 & 3, they were actually in
B&W. All I could do was run the film that way and answer the hundred
or so phone calls that I got from angry viewers.
Just got back from a Caribbean cruise. I checked in on the site from Soapy's
Internet Station in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands on 12/9, and found TTM unavailable
(except for the Guestbook). I was able to fix it from there. Looks like the
site went off the air sometime on Tuesday 12/7. Sorry for the suspense.
I went back and added comments to some of the entries made in Guestbook
172 while I was away.
The OTASCO Christmas jingle was mentioned. Wilhelm and others weighed
in on Rob's Records, a used record store near 15th & Memorial. Skitch
Henderson, former "Tonight Show" bandleader and Tulsa Philharmonic conductor,
was discussed. Local food topics chewed over included Tastee-Freez on 11th
& Yale, the IHOP near Utica Square, S&J Oyster Company on Brookside
(now closed), the Steak 'N' Shake at 62nd & Memorial (soon open), and
Kitty Clover Potato Chips.
I came into some U-Matic professional video tapes made by Dirty Butter
Creek Gang Productions in the early 90s, possibly including some old late
night ads for Christina's International Introductions. It was a Tulsa-based
marriage agency with videos of potential brides from South America. Thanks
to Edwin, I now have a player that can handle these tapes (after a visit
to Radio Shack).
We heard from Tulsa TV veterans Rich Laudon and Dick Enderwood for the
first time. We learned that Dr. Billy James Hargis, colorful and controversial
Tulsa-based televangelist of the 60s and 70s, passed away. He was probably
a partial inspiration for Mazeppa's character Rev. Dr. Menleaux Park (seen
on the Lost Tapes of Mazeppa,
Vol. 1, now available on DVD; a good Xmas gift idea).
There was much more besides, so check out Guestbook
172 at your leisure.
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And to all TTM readers and contributors.
My pleasure.
(12/28) I
became acquainted with the 
