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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 206 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
My next door neighbor at the time was Cindy Giddens. Cindy's mother says the date of the show we attended was January 6th, 1966. It was the day of her 7th birthday. I'm also told Cindy is sitting on the far left of the top row, partially obscured by Mr. Zing. To her left is myself, then her younger brother Bruce. Cindy says she remembers being about to cry because Mr. Zing forgot to announce her birthday, but that he finally did at the end. What years was Mr. Zing on the air, and when did John Chick pass away?
Here in Fargo, we can still get milk from the Milkman. We get it delivered to a box on our front porch twice a week. A bonus of Fargo delivery is that there is no rush to get it in the morning for about half the year (unless you mind it being frozen).
Rasslin' News: He also bit a guy's ear off during a fight and later ate it while showing it to everyone and drinking beer, let's see what kind of brew goes best with ear. "This ear's for you!"
TPS lunch offerings:
Milk Men: P.S. Sorry about the Sloppy Joes after the ear story.
Well, at least the fair burg of Gas, Kan. didn't enter into either story. Here is his new site: CowboyBillWatts.com.
If I ever admitted this in the presence of school chums, I would have been laughed right off the blacktop playground...but I, very secretly, lusted after TPS pizza. Moreover, on bean chowder/cinnamon roll day, I'd reach for the alternate entree...a sausage roll with gravy. There was always oodles of that on hand, since chowder/rolls was the preferred entree.
I was partial to that sausage roll, too.
One menu item I remember particularly well was something called "Crusty Beefeater". I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it looked like already-consumed lasagna with a think layer of liquified fat on top. On a positive note, I remember being particularly fond of the large and soft chocolate chip cookies and the cinnamon rolls.
Due to problems with Guestbook posting, I have again removed the "code character" anti-spam feature.
Unfortunately, this was still in the "bone dry" days, and nobody ever made a really big buck selling set-ups only. Because of that, the Zebra Lounge could never afford top entertainment and it eventually folded. The Orchid Club, well out of what was then downtown Tulsa, thrived for years as a set-up joint, but it too suffered from a lack of really quality performers. The Blue Moon, on the north side, ran a similar operation and featured comedian Shug Meade as a frequent top bill act. The big star at the Orchid Club was a lovely girl named Claudine Easley, "Cute, Curvaceous Claudine" was the way the ads ran. She was a classmate of mine at Central High School, and shocked the school administration by appearing in her role as a modest stripper at the Orchid. She was a very nice kid, with a wry sense of humor, and an attitude that simply stated that she was her own person and if you didn't like it, look elsewhere. She was the youngest member of the well-known bootlegging Easley family, but had about as much criminality as the Muppets. While going back through some earlier guestbooks, I came across mention of Tulsa crime figures and someone, Mike Bruchas, I think, said that when he came to Tulsa from Chicago, he was surprised that none of the underworld characters had nicknames, that they all used their full names. Not so. Claudine's older brother was known as "Pretty Jim" Easley, and the curly-haired dude from the notorious Edwards clan was "Cadillac Jack." I know this is long, but one more note: Martin Edwards, who came to a grisly end, was one of a number of bootleggers who were charged in a liquor conspiracy in the 'fifties. One day, while the trial was in recess, Martin encountered a World reporter on the street and approached him with a fearsome scowl. The reporter thought he was in for a violent encounter, but Edwards only wanted to complain that the paper kept running an unflattering mug shot in which Edwards had a black eye. The reporter said, well let's go up to the paper's photo department and get a new one made. Edwards agreed and the result was a cleaned-up, civilized picture that is probably still the preferred Edwards photo in the World's files.
I was welcomed there as a pleasant oddball (which I was) and went back a few more times to freak out my friends in this swanky old style nightclub. Does anyone else have any stories about this place, or know who was playing and singing there?
I swear I had written earlier about having Rowan & Martin on as guests when they played there. That was pre-"Laugh-In" and just when they were starting to come up. You had to watch your tab at that club because the staff had fast pencils and could do great damage to you when you weren't paying attention. It was "The Place" for awhile.
Our milkman would leave our milk out on the porch in the winter and it would sometimes freeze, either popping the lids or breaking the bottle. We usually just went down to the milk store on 46th and North Cinninati. We finally started locking our door when some workmen accidently came to the wrong address and hauled off our furniture instead of our neighbor's.
I have always been a really big fan of bread and butter and the diagonally cut bread and butter sandwiches for .02 each meant that for .40 I could have 2 desserts, 8 bread and butter sandwiches and a chocolate milk. Not exactly balanced but soul-satisfying nonetheless.
You got a good lunch for that .25 and then .35 cents. Do you remember you could buy a ticket(?) for the week or the month. Still in the food category: I have a menu from St. Michael's Alley (circa 1965) very similar to the one on display at the restaurant (1960). Mine has a limited food section. Does any one know if they served food from the start? The menu on display only shows the coffees and teas. My favorite entree was the "Charcoal-Chili-Cheese" ; open-faced char patty covered in chili with diced onions and grated cheese on top, sides were baked beans, dill pickle spear, and crinkle chips (they still serve the chips). This was the most expensive item on the menu at a whopping $1.00. I still make these at home since they are no longer on their menu. If I can somehow forward a copy of the menu, I think it would be a great addition to the Coffee House section. One more thing about the TPS cafeteria fare, remember the whipped butter sandwiches cut diagonally and if you forgot your lunch money, it took almost an act of Congress to get you lunch.
Yes, it would be great to have a menu to go with the St. Michael's Alley section.
I grew up around 48th & Peoria and moved out of my parents' house at the age of 19 in 1975. In all that time, I never had a key to my parents' house, because it was never locked. Same with my grandparents' house over near Henthorne Park. Was it really that much safer back then, or did we just not hear about all the bad stuff on TV each night like we do now?
Also, well remember the school lunch pizza, bean chowder, and cinnamon rolls (yummy). The rolls were always hot trade/barter items at Jones Elementary. We occasionally got little tubs of ice cream with the wooden spoon that looked like a shoe print. Where's the Meadow Gold delivery man when you need him?! By the way to all the readers...who was your milk man?
As for the 11th Street, I think it closed in '83 or '84. I grew up in the neighborhood behind it. Fun times indeed.
Also, when did the 11th Street Drive-In (originally the Hi-Way 66 Drive-In) close? I just can't remember.
Back then, the food was prepared on-site from scratch as opposed to the pre-made frozen glop they serve now. The pizza was very good but it didn't taste like conventional pizza and was served in squares. Other favorites were bean chowder and cinnamon rolls (on Wednesdays) and chicken/turkey tetrazzini. Fridays we always had fish (for the Catholics amoung us). The best part was, lunch only cost a quarter! Somewhere, I have a copy of a recipe book that TPS put out with all of the great recipes they used. I need to find it, because bean chowder and a cinnamon roll sure sounds good right now!
Kinky Friedman...LOL... I saw that special on CMT the other night as well. My wife walked through the room and heard "GO KINKY." She swung around and said WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING!!!!???? I told her not to worry. We don't even get Cinemax ("Skinemax"). Then she saw it was CMT and rolled her eyes again...leaving the room with that "You're such a child" look on her face.
GAS NEWS FLASH!!!!! New sewage plant proposal by city fathers raises a stink! Opposition: decries proposal foul and does not meet the smell test. Town folk: demand public airing. GAS WILL NEVER ESCAPE THE CIRCULAR STENCH OF POLITICS.
Jeff, you may have gone to the well once too often.
Danny Meyers wrote in Guestbook 131 about the "Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys" concert he produced at TU. I was reminded that KWGS' Casey Morgan had driven Kinky around Tulsa at some time, but I conflated her Kinkster event with Danny's. Here is Casey's response, by permission:
Mike - what with one thing and another, you've confused two events. I'm not sure when Kinky appeared at TU, but I did read that story and it seems like it was in 1968 or 69, when I was 13 or 14 years old.
I had forgot all about Kartville on Mingo
Road. A good friend of mine had a job there when I was in Jr High at Union.
It was like the best job ever for a Jr High kid. He would always let his
friends get the super-modified go carts. I wish that there was still someplace
like that for my kids. Celebration Station and Ultimate Pizza just seems
a little too slow and safe. My, how times have changed.
I had the pleasure of playing with Jon on New Years Eve @ the C-Note and attempted to recreate the sinewy bass lines of Mr. Ron Morgan (Tulsa's own bass God) from Jon's CD.
Back in Tulsa there was a place called Happy Joe's pizza on South Lewis, this was one of my favorites; something about the cheese, it had kind of a sweet flavor, somewhat like the old Orin's Pizza in Norman. My brother told me about a regional chain out of St. Louis called Imo's that sounded like it had the same flavor. (2 locations in the KC area) I did a Google search and both Godfather's and Happy Joe's are still in business and Imo's is not franchising. Anybody remember school pizza or Chef Boy-Ar-Dee pizza kit in a box? Gotta go, my beans are burning.
Our house was on a raised foundation, so when the TV picture started rolling we would stomp our feet to make it stop. Why that worked I don't know, but it usually did. I guess the vibration in the floor somehow affected the vertical hold tube. When stomping our feet and fiddling with the vertical hold failed, my dad headed to Git-N-Go (11th and Mingo by Clancy's Pizza) to test the tubes. More often than not he was able to diagnose and fix the problem without calling a repairman. Nowadays you'd have no clue in repairing a TV. It's usually cheaper to buy a whole new set. Vacuum tubes are actually more efficient than transistors. I have a couple of vintage Seeburg jukeboxes (1953 and 1959) and a 1939 Zenith console radio with the "magic eye" tuner that work just fine with tubes. It lends a warmth that you just don't have with the new electronics. I love listening to the old radio programs every Sunday night on KRMG on my old Zenith. Back to TV...my parents always had remote control TV. Of course us kids were the remote! If we flipped too fast between 2, 6 and 8, they would say "Not so fast, you'll wear out the tuner!" PS to Jim Reid. I'm jealous of your film collection. Very cool indeed.
When I was in college at Shawnee back in 1980, I had my first experience with a My Pi in OKC. When they advertised that a "small" was enough to feed 2 people, they weren't just a-woofin'! Sadly, I never got to sample the Tulsa My Pi. My Pi
Another pizza place that went to Restaurant Heaven was "Godfather's Pizza".
I remember taking a date to the one that was in the
now-being-destroyed-in-the-name-of-Wal-Mart, Mayo Meadow Shopping Center.
They had a pizza that, if I remember correctly, was advertised to weigh five
pounds and two pounds of that was cheese! My girlfriend at the time was an
aspiring nurse and referred to the pizza as the "Myocardial Infarction Special".
It may indeed have been a "Heart Attack in a Pan" but it sure was good!
My dad starting taking home movies back in the 50s. They include some early Tulsa stuff, like Skyline Amusement Park's stagecoach and steam locomotive. Old technology can still be best. I used to use an old Sears Silvertone tube amp that some of my buddies turned their nose up at in preference to the new solid state amps. I personally thought the new amps lacked body. Now I am seeing several of the same model Silvertone being played proudly on nationwide TV, or for sale on eBay for big bucks. I had hoped Tink would give me a good deal on the new 1970 Javelin I wanted to buy. They didn't so I couldn't. Later, when someone rear-ended my parked 1969 AMX, the insurance company sent me to Tink's. Luckily, they put their most inexperienced, blind repairman on the job because I can always be reminded of the accident when I look at the less than adequate repair job. (Thanks for letting me vent - it was only 30 years ago!)
All the L&H and 8mm Blackhawk films talk has really got me curious and excited to see if I can find my family's film vault of cinematic treasures. WOW, I could not believe the picture of that tube testing machine. I thought I had seen everything on this site. It was just like I remembered it.
I truly enjoy this site and all the memories it brings back. Tulsa is a very special place and I think as everyone does they lived in the golden era.
Larger shots on the Retro Audio Lab site: U-Test-M (possibly from U-Tote-M stores) and RCA Tube Tester.
I bought my first 8mm L&H film from Blackhawk in 1970 and the addiction has grown since then. I now have over 500 16mm prints, including all the films of Laurel & Hardy. When I was in high school at Bishop Kelley, some teachers would let me bring in films and run them during class. Later, when I worked master control at Channel 8, I used to bring my film and put them on the film chain to watch during the Sunday morning church shows. I'll occasionally invite friends from work over for movie nights and the first time they come they are amazed when they see no DVDs, but big reels of film and a 12x12 screen. I still have that 8mm print of L&H in "Do Detectives Think?" from 1970.
Your story about making bulb runs also hit home but we went to Shopper's Fair for both movie and slide projector bulbs. I also remember going with my dad to the GIT-N-GO to get tubes for the old RCA console TV. Anyone remember the tube testing machines at the C-stores? The top had plugs so you could test and identify your tubes and the cabinet below held the new tubes. The set would always crap out right in the middle of "Bonanza" (IN COLOR) or one of the other two shows that were on. How did we survive without cable or dish and remote control? Those were great days!
I remember ordering 8mm Laurel and Hardy films from a company by the name of Blackhawk Films. I seem to recall they advertised in the weekly TV World insert. Like everything back then, it took 4-6 weeks to receive the film. That's an eternity for a kid but it was well worth the wait. Periodically, I would subject my friends and family to my "movie nights". I don't know if they enjoyed them or not, but I did. I ran the films on our Brownie 300 movie projector onto our pull-up screen with the tripod stand. On more than one occasion the projector bulb would burn out from overuse, prompting my dad to [begrudgingly] make a bulb run to Jubilee City. I'd always loved Laurel and Hardy but my love for them was bolstered by Mazeppa running their movies on his Uncanny Film Festival And Camp Meeting. By doing so, he introduced them to a whole new audience. All of the sudden my friends were actually asking me to run my films. Thanks Mazeppa!
I moved only after being urged to do so by Joe Creek one wet Oklahoma spring.
It used to be fun watching the televised remotes of teen gatherings such as Battle of the Bands, Monroe Junior High Football, and State Fair Talent Shows. I wonder why, with the lightweight, digital equipment, that they don't go back to doing more of that type of thing. It would be great community relations.
I also remember a place my future/former wife took me on my birthday around 1978, I think it was Tommy's Continental a little farther down on South Lewis. I think it was a supper club in an old house, seems like they had a piano bar and a singer named Mavis or Avis. Only went once and that was kinda late in the evening so the memory is a little fuzzy. If any remembers this place and can share some info, it would be appreciated.
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I kinda forgot
about Godfather's Pizza. But it's all coming back and I do remember the five
pounder, never had one, it cost too much dough.(ouch) I was invited to the
pre-opening of one in north OKC by a friend who sold them paper goods, nobody
loves all-you-can-eat free pizza more than I.
And the "Think Tink" logo. I had bought two cars from
Tink, the first one a '70 Roadrunner from the downtown dealership before
they moved to the Sheridan location. Many happy hours of cruising the Restless
Ribbon (thank God gas was 35 cents a gallon). The second car I bought from
Tink was a '76 Fiat X 19, a Fix-It-Again-Tony special, Boy did they see me
coming!
