Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 261

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Monday 02/25/2008 9:39:38am Name: Webmaster Topic: Hot Club of SF Comments: Went out to the PAC last night to see the Hot Club of San Francisco. This group, led by guitarist Paul Mehling, recreates the sound of the original Hot Club of France with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Great show--also saw reader and bassist Jon Cummins there. I previously saw Paul back in 1991 from my perch in the live audience of "Austin City Limits". He was a member of Dan Hicks' "Acoustic Warriors" at that time.

Monday 02/25/2008 9:07:21am Name: Lowell Burch Topic: I.Q. Comments: I never heard the original Dr. I.Q. but my Dad did the show for a local car club for several years. He handed out silver dollars for the correct answers and Mars bars (the shows original sponser)as a consolation prize. I just visited with my Dad about the original Dr. I.Q. He said that usually the questions were of a biographical nature and the number of silver dollars increased as the questions got more difficult.

Sunday 02/24/2008 11:54:50am Name: Frank Morrow Topic: WOMAN IN THE BALCONY E-Mail: frankmordot@iodot com Comments: THE WOMAN IN THE BALCONY "I have a woman in the balcony, Doctor." That was a famous line from a radio quiz show that triggered lots of material for comedians during the war. The doctor was "Doctor I.Q," and the "woman in the balcony" would be just one of many people in the audience whom the Doctor's helpers would find to answer questions by the star of the show. If the contestant answered correctly, he or she was given fifteen silver dollars. If they gave a wrong answer, they were given a candy bar! Toward the end of the program someone in the audience was selected to try to repeat the Doctor's "thought twister," which was a short, rather convoluted saying that people usually called a "tongue twister." It was the same type of pattern each week, but it was rare for someone to repeat it exactly and win the prize.

Saturday 02/23/2008 8:40:38pm Name: Scott Comstock Topic: Jack Bushnell E-Mail: scottycomstock at yahoo dot com Comments: I have worked at two television stations over a span of 42 years. I was hired both times by Jack Bushnell; the first time, as a graduate of Tulsa University and KWGS, he hired me for KVOO-TV. When he moved to Oklahoma City for WKY radio and television as their director of Engineering, I wanted to work for him again. The drawback was my lack of an FCC ‘First Class License”. I knew I had to get one. I studied, took the exam and failed. However, on my third try I managed to pass. That was in April of 1974. On June 17 1974 I became a member of the WKY-TV Engineering staff. Jack Bushnell gave me my career in broadcasting and I will be forever grateful.

Saturday 02/23/2008 5:57:26pm Name: Webmaster Topic: Jack Bushnell Comments: John M. "Jack" Bushnell, the engineer who put KVOO-TV on the air, died Feb. 16. He was 83. More in this Tulsa World story.

Friday 02/22/2008 5:08:18pm Name: Frank Morrow Topic: midget fix E-Mail: frankmordot@iodot com Comments: MIDGET FIX During the Golden Age of midget car racing after the war, Tulsa had some of the best racing in the country at the Fairgrounds track. (Jack Morris was the PA announcer.) Several of the drivers later ran in the Indianapolis 500. The second year we attended, I witnessed one of the slickest, seemingly pre-arranged races I have ever heard about. But it took only one straightaway to accomplish it. The year before, a Kansas City driver, George Binnie, easily won the Tulsa track title. From about the third race on, he was almost unbeatable. But he also was hated. He was a very dirty driver. He developed the dangerous technique of hitting the driver in front of him just enough to make the man spin out, but would allow Binnie to keep going. He would do this even during preliminary heat races, much to the ire of the crowd and his competitors. Binnie was also big and tough. No one messed with him. Consequently, drivers and fans alike hated him. The next year Binnie bought a new car, but it wasn't as good as the old one with which he previously won the championship. Although he didn't win any races, he finished high enough in the weekly events to be tied in points with the popular Ted Parker when the last race of the season came around. Whoever came in ahead of the other would win the track championship. Parker either had car trouble or had a poor time trial early in the evening, relegating him to the rear of the field for the final race. Meanwhile, Binnie would be starting toward the front from outside the second row. It looked hopeless for Parker. When the race started, I couldn't believe what happened. Coming down to take the green flag, all the drivers started more slowly than usual, and they moved over to the outside, pinning Binnie too near the outside front straight wall, thus allowing Parker to have a free lane to drive through on the inside. At the drop of the green flag, the field of cars continued to go much slower than usual. Parker stormed through the obviously pre-arranged opening and took the lead going into the first turn while Binnie was pinned inside his "cage" of cars. Parker easily won the race and the championship.

Thursday 02/21/2008 10:16:02am Name: Lowell Burch Topic: Milk, man! E-Mail: lburch3@cox.net Comments: I remember the milk tabs popping off of the bottle as the frozen milk pushed up through the neck. Sometimes the bottle would break. My dad, Fargo native, said they used the milk boxes in North Dakota, not to keep milk cool, but to keep it from freezing. I still remember the Meadow Gold Milkman and former Disney artist drawing pictures on tv at noon for us little kids. I saw Ted Neeley on tv and he still looks like he did 30 years ago. JCSS is one of my all time favorite movies, stage productions and scores, too. I saw it at the Fontana when it first came out. The place was packed. The road show also came to Tulsa about a year before the movie came out.

Thursday 02/21/2008 7:32:27am Name: Rick Brashear Topic: J.C. Comments: I love "Jesus Christ Superstar". As a contemporary musical, the talent is great and the music is memorable. I have the original album and love the movie. The songs can get stuck in your head...stuck in your head...stuck in your head, until you pass them off to a co-worker and let them contend with it. I have never seen a play of the score but would like to some day. JCSS was at least one redeeming factor of the 70s. Disco sucked.

Wednesday 02/20/2008 10:46:24pm Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: J.C. Comments: In Chicago for the next few days is a touring company doing Jesus Christ Superstar and believe it or don't -- Ted Neeley is still playing role of Christ at age 64.

Tuesday 02/19/2008 6:10:00pm Name: John Hillis Topic: Milkmen Comments: And of course, more than one overnight radio show has been named "The Milkman's Matinee."

Tuesday 02/19/2008 10:41:55am Name: Charles Topic: Milk delivery is still alive! Comments: We had milk delivered to our home in Tulsa until they stopped doing it decades ago. My favorite was the plastic gallon jug with the spigot on the front. What was fascinating to a child created many spills and messes for his Mom. Here in Fargo we still have milk delivery to homes. I am happy that my children get to experience one of my childhood memories. We have a box on the front porch and get deliveries twice a week. (yes the milk tends to freeze a bit when it's 20 below....but it thaws!)

Monday 02/18/2008 6:57:22pm Name: Rick Brashear Topic: Milkmen Comments: We had a Carnation truck come by for milk delivery. He would also leave cottage cheese and cream. Of course, in the winter, somebody had to be up right after the milk was delivered or the bottles burst on the porch. At some point later, the milk was delivered in cardboard cartons, but you still had to get them off the porch. My grandparents (mom's folks) had a "butter & egg man" come by twice a week. I was little at the time and figured he had his own cows and chickens because he delivered from a panel truck with his name on the side. My grandmother got in several bottles of cream one time to make her own butter. I was stupid enough to ask if I could work the churn. Once I started, and my arms were falling off, she said I couldn't stop until it was done. I never again volunteered to do any pioneer work. I have that churn in my attic.

Monday 02/18/2008 4:36:55pm Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Milkmen E-Mail: frankmoratiodotcom Comments: THE MILKMAN DOESN'T RING In the late '40s and early '50s, milkmen frequently became friends with their clients. They not only delivered, but put milk in the refrigerator and picked up the empty bottles. They even sometimes entered your empty house and used the note of instructions left on the kitchen table. Occasionally they'd stop, have a cup of coffee, and chat for a while. What a safe, trusting, intimate, and leisurely time we grew up in.

Sunday 02/17/2008 8:25:39am Name: Adam Smith Topic: Thank you! E-Mail: adam.henry.smith@googlemail.com Comments: It can't be told too often: This site is great! You are too kind, Adam. Should have some new stuff out here shortly.

Sunday 02/17/2008 3:11:26am Name: Webmaster Topic: Internet radio Comments: Since my Realtor wife, Gaye Brown, moved on to a Smartphone, I inherited both her old Razr V3C phone and her Dell Pocket PC. After much trial and tribulation, I was able to make the "Fantastic Theatre" theme my ring tone. I look forward to the occasional startled reaction. I added a wi-fi card (some t&t there, too), and an 8-gig Compact Flash memory card to the Pocket PC. With the inexpensive Resco Radio software, I now have a portable radio with presets for my favorite internet stations. It works at home or anywhere with wi-fi. It also auto-records on timer. This evening, I captured the entire 5-hour block of KWGS' great Saturday evening in-house-produced music programming on MP3 (51.6 meg). Just the thing to listen to while running or reading. Some good radio stations, internet and broadcast, are linked from the Yesterday and today page.

Saturday 02/16/2008 1:33:53pm Name: Lowell Burch Topic: Idol/Midway Comments: Two Tulsans are in the top finalists for Idol this season, and 5 Sooners made it in the top 50. Another is from Joplin. Pretty good. Midways were always considered sleazy. Not hardly family fare with the crooked games, hootchie kootchie girls, leering carnies, cheap junk and hijack prices. And consider the fair board, they actually allowed such a vile environment to set up business in the heart of an otherwise very wholesome event. They must have had no more character than our fair board has today - anything for a buck. The midway has cleaned up a lot recently but it still has its wicked elements, such as the fried Twinkie. Just ask the food Nazis! See Lowell's sons playing at Under the Mooch (record store at 1423 S. Harvard) as The Earthmen at 7 pm tonight (Saturday). It is a FREE come and go event.

Saturday 02/16/2008 1:32:33pm Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Obits Comments: Did not realize that ABC Pentagon ace John McWethy had retired. Unfortunately he died in a skiing accident this week at age 60. Between him and Martha Radditz, ABC had some good reporters there at the Pentagon. I also saw where Roy Scheider of JAWS and ALL THAT JAZZ fame passed due to blood cancer at 75. I remember him for several NYPD cop roles in films like the SEVEN UPS and saw him maybe 2 years ago in some cheapy revenge film as the father of an agent getting revenge on baddies - he is slain in that flick. I need to NetFlix ALL THAT JAZZ again. 2 great talents.

Friday 02/15/2008 11:37:52pm Name: Frank Morrow Topic: All-nighters E-Mail: frankmoratiodotcom Comments: ALL-NIGHTERS During Oklahoma gubernatorial and senatorial elections for a time in the late '40s and very early '50s the candidates would buy a 24-hour block of time on radio, then stay up the entire time taking phone calls and answering audience questions. It was amusing to hear the candidates' responses late in the programs when they were very tired and sleepy from being awake for 20 hours or so. The announcers would not stay up the whole time as the candidates did, but would work in shifts in their off-time from their regular jobs. I remember KVOO's Doc Hull and KTUL's Vic Lundberg announcing for some of these broadcasts.

Thursday 02/14/2008 8:42:11pm Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Mail Comments: In the late 1950s, the Post Office had twice a day helicopter deliveries from Chicago to Downers Grove and farther West. We used to go and watch the landing and pick-up. It was an old Bell like seen on MASH with side bins. The P.O. which the copter came from is now empty in Chicago and straddling the Eisenhower Expressway. It was the first 24/7 P.O. that I had ever been in. I am so old - I remember putting post cards in the mail slot on the Burlington Zephyr mail cars to mail to folks when in Union Station in Chicago! BTW, I think AMTRAK has stopped running the 2 or 4 am weekday outta DC FAST MAIL to NYC and Boston. Used to have NO food car and 2 or 3 old coaches with a lotta mail boxcars or refurb'ed coaches hauling mail.

Tuesday 02/12/2008 10:49:00am Name: Frank Morrow Topic: fun house E-Mail: frankmoratiodotcom Comments: I assume that they don't have fun-houses at the State Fairs anymore. We old guys will remember them, particularly at the end of the exit ramp, when the barker, who had a mirror, would press a button, and a blast of air would come up from the floor, blowing up the skirt of the females. Guys would hang around for hours, hoping to get a glimpse of pink or white, perhaps with a little lace. I recall an incident at the state fair in Tulsa right after WWII when a teenage girl started to come down the ramp to go out, but, when she saw what was happening, she ran back in. She appeared again, slowly creeping toward the place where the blast of air would occur. She apparently didn't know that the barker was watching in his mirror. She let another woman go by. Then, she again crept slowly toward her rendezvous with destiny. Of course, the crowd of males standing on the ground below was mad with expectation. I was standing down front, looking up at the ramp and the girl. Finally, the girl made a dash for safety and freedom, but the barker timed it perfectly, letting go with a big blast that blew the poor child's skirt up to her waist. I'll never forget how the barker's voice sounded, "Ho. Ho. Ho. She didn't have on any panties at all!" The men cheered. As a completely inexperienced seventh grader I was rather disappointed. I much would have preferred to see some panties rather than a bare behind. Such was the male-female culture in the sexist '50s. Today, because girls wear jeans, there is nothing to blow up. Anyway, many women would gladly raise their skirts voluntarily, thereby taking all the fun out of it. I didn't have the experience or sophistication to realize that this was actually third-class rape.

Monday 02/11/2008 9:01:12pm Name: John Hillis Topic: Clear Chunnel Comments: Re Mr. Bruchas's "Clear Channel Does Something Right" -- as a sage useta say, even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and I think that applies to the long-ago owners of KXXO. I would guess the station is voice-tracked. The absence of the DJ's reading the weather forecast or speaking to anything current is generally a give-away, though some are pretty darn good at hiding that they're not live and recorded from an ISDN a gazillion miles away. It took me about 2 or 3 years of listening to WSAI in Cincy before they died and went to sports talk before I figured out the morning-drive jock wasn't live. In other news of the Sooner State, there was an Oklahoma answer in the New York Times crossword yesterday: four letters, WNW of Stillwater. Even I got that one. And since, like Al Hibbler, I don't get around much anymore, I'll note a few entries back the reference to Margaret Whiting's "Moonlight in Vermont." I remember reading in Johnny Mercer's biography that he coached Miss Whiting, the very young daughter of his late songwriting partner, to read the lyrics and envision the things being described--like the telegraph cables. The book said he also called the song's writer during the recording session and asked if he could modify the lyric because they hadn't seen ski tows or whatever the lyric was, and wanted to make a very minor change of words to something she could visualize. Being a lyricist himself, Mercer was very respectful of their work. Which has nothing to do with either Clunk Channel or the Times' crossword. Can you tell it's late here back east?

Friday 02/08/2008 11:51:14pm Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Clear Channel does something right Comments: Here in Chi-town when not listening to all news WBBM-AM, the local College of DuPage jazz station or WFMT-FM, I have gotten to like WNUA-FM, an all-jazz station run by Clear Channel with Ramsey Lewis in the morning and Dave Koz in the afternoon - but I have to wonder how much of the DJ patter is canned. But on Saturdays and most of Sundays, the station plays killer thug rap/hip hop and stuff that might earn an FCC fine for lyrics. There is no cross-promotion on weekends of the jazz on the station but Sunday nights it reverts back to jazz. Funny on Saturday and Sunday - you never hear a station ID. Wonder if the rap/hip hop time is sold to a contractor?

Friday 02/08/2008 11:32:40pm Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Sunday drives E-Mail: frankmoratiodotcom Comments: EARLY SUNDAY EVENING DRIVES Before the war and right afterward, the highlight of the week was the Sunday drives in the countryside around Tulsa. This would occur even when we had company. On such occasion eight to ten people would squeeze into our car. (Cars were larger and roomier back then.) Sometimes a trip to the zoo was included, and occasionally we would watch a polo game that was being played at Mohawk Park. A big event was to go to the airport to see the planes take off and land. The highlight was seeing the "mail plane" come in. It was a twin-engine DC-3 that seemed mighty big to us. After it landed, it taxied to the airport where it discharged the mail and some passengers. Then it went down to the end of the runway, standing for a long time warming its engines, getting them ready for the climax of the evening---the take off. It always seemed like the plane waited a very long time, and the engines, always missing, sputtered, coughed and emitted black smoke, sounding like they could never get the plane off the ground. Finally, the big moment came. The big, silver monster turned and headed toward us and the big crowd that had filled up the parking lot. As the plane roared over us, a cheer usually erupted. The parking lot quickly emptied. Still feeling the exhilaration, we always would end the special day by getting those great ice cream cones at Hawk's on 11th and Lewis. Two big scoops for a dime in those tandem cones.

Friday 02/08/2008 10:16:55pm Name: Karen Capel Topic: RDG, crocheted spittoons -- Mike Bruchas E-Mail: kcapel@sbcglobal.net Comments: Mike (Bruchas), I saw your name and recognized it. Then I read your post about my dad and the "crocheted spittoons." I don't know where that comment ("you win the crocheted spittoon") came from either. Dad passed on Jan 8, 2000, at 86. Mom passed Apr 9, 1999, at 85. Thought you would like to know. Karen (Gorton) Capel in Champaign IL

Thursday 02/07/2008 9:50:08pm Name: David Batterson Topic: O.K. E-Mail: davidbat{at}yahoo[dot]com Comments: Well, www.dictionary.com says: "Origin: initials of a facetious folk phonetic spelling, e.g., oll or orl korrect representing all correct, first attested in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1839."

Thursday 02/07/2008 9:07:46pm Name: Rick Brashear Topic: TTM & Alka-Seltzer commercial Comments: That voice has to be Gene Wilder's. BTW, Dustin Hoffman did a VW commercial in his early days.

Thursday 02/07/2008 3:39:56pm Name: Andy Holthouse Topic: Spanky link Comments: That was a great Spanky link!

Thursday 02/07/2008 6:50:06am Name: Webmaster Topic: TTM on TVparty's blog Comments: Today in the TVparty blog: excerpts from TTM about Spanky McFarland, Lee and Morgan Woodward, and Romper Room in Tulsa.

Wednesday 02/06/2008 4:33:59pm Name: Mike Miller Topic: Telephone Polls vs telephone polls E-Mail: michaelmmiller@hotmail.com Comments: Does anyone else recall an important function of telephone poles that follow railroad tracks? I remember watching the conductor count the poles while he timed them with his stopwatch. This method could determine the speed of the train. Okay, I was just a kid, but it was fun. Now we can go off on another tangent: Okay vs O.K. and what O.K. stands for. Anyone responding "Oklahoma" will be disqualified.

Tuesday 02/05/2008 10:43:39am Name: Frank Morrow Topic: poles E-Mail: frankmoratiodotcom Comments: Mentioning "Wichita Lineman" reminds me of the lyrics of "Moonlight in Vermont," a record sung by Margaret Whiting that I played at every station I worked for in the '50s: "Telegraph cables, they sing down the highway and follow each bend in the road."

Monday 02/04/2008 9:09:37pm Name: Dave Topic: corner gas Comments: Speaking again of gas stations, is anyone watching "Corner Gas," on WGN at 7 p.m. Wednesdays? It;s a Canadian CTV network import. Seems to be a rural Saskatchewan version of Seinfeld, if such a thing is possible. It's all explained at CornerGas.com.

Monday 02/04/2008 6:49:36pm Name: Gary Chew Topic: The Wichita Lineman Comments: Frank's comments about telephone poles made me wonder that maybe Jimmy Webb, a western Oklahoma songwriter, may have spent some time singin' along with some of them. This allows me to mention that Jimmy will be performing in a downtown Sacramento club this Sunday. Don't be leavin' your cake out in the rain now, ya hear? Delmeaux de Gillette du Coffeyville

Monday 02/04/2008 8:49:20am Name: Frank Morrow Topic: poles E-Mail: frankmoratiodot com Comments: TELEPHONE POLES It would be completely insane to young people to day to think how much fun and interest that telephone poles could have. But, in our day you could get up close to the wooden poles and smell the creosote or listen to them "sing." They could be "base" during chase games, and they could be wonderful targets to throw rocks at.

Monday 02/04/2008 2:58:02am Name: edwin Topic: Spanky Comments: Andy, I don't know where he lived, but the area you wrote about could be close since he had a booze store about a block south of Apache on Harvard across from the bowling alley sitting at an angle to Harvard...still there. That was rite before his insane kids show. He was quite haggard and unkempt at that time. Within a few years he wore gold chains however and started shaving and wearing suits. He sure didn't like talking to teens at that time either (I know!)

Sunday 02/03/2008 7:12:44pm Name: Dave Topic: Gibble gibble Comments: Speaking of cheap, non-national gas stations, anyone remember Gibble Gas? They didn't have any stations in Tulsa but they were all over the rural areas from about 30 or 50 miles out of town. I thought the name was hilarious.     (See GasSigns.com/gibblegas.htm for more)

Sunday 02/03/2008 3:57:14pm Name: Andy Holthouse Topic: Spanky McFarland E-Mail: andyocoregon@comcast.net Comments: First, Rick: About all I could find out is his first name was Darryl and don't know his last name, but it wasn't Griffin. You can email me at my address above if you want more info. Now, for what I really wanted to ask. Does anyone know exactly where Spanky McFarland lived when he lived in Tulsa? I remember as a kid his house was pointed out to me down near Memorial Drive and about Marshall or Latimer. It was in the 1950s and I never saw him, but supposedly he lived there for a while.

Sunday 02/03/2008 1:35:10pm Name: Andy Holthouse Topic: For: Rick Brashear E-Mail: andyocoregon@comcast.net Comments: Rick, I cannot remember what the owner's name was. I remember he was a large, rotund guy who smoked cigars. That now describes me, haha. I have a buddy who used to work for him at the car lot, so I'll ask him what his name was. He'll probably remember. It may take a couple of days to get the answer via email, so be patient.

Sunday 02/03/2008 8:22:00am Name: Mitch Gray Topic: Gas And Cars And Jobs Comments: I used to cruise in the lavish comfort of my '62 VW Bug. Imagine the power of that 1200 cc engine and that awesome heater that kept me frozen. I bought my gas at Consumers stations. I think 22 cents was the cheapest I paid. Cost $2.10 to fill up. However I was earning $1.45 an hour flippin' burgers at Big Mike's at Southland (When it was an open air mall). It took less than 2 hours work to fill up for the week. Seemed like good times back then. Calgon, Take me away.............

Sunday 02/03/2008 8:20:00am Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Various E-Mail: frankmoratiodotcom Comments: YOU MIGHT BE OLD AND FROM TULSA, IF…………… You remember the words to the "Cream of Wheat" song on "Let's Pretend." (That's a long one. I'd better sing it for you sometime. It goes "Cream of wheat is so good to eat that we eat it everyday. C. of W. is so good to eat that it makes you shout 'Hurray!' It's good for growing children and grown-ups, too, to eat. For all your families breakfast, you must eat C of W.") You can sing the "Buster Brown" Song. ("I like shoes. You like shoes. Everybody likes shoes. But there's only one kind of shoes for me.....Then all the kids in the audience yell 'Good ole Buster Brown.'") You can imitate the voice of "Froggie the Gremlin." (Really low and gravelly.) You remember who did "Sing Along Time" on KRMG. (John Doremus) You know what radio program Handly Stafford was on. ("Baby Snooks.") You can quote any of the opening of "Grand Central Station." (This was a long, long, thing said very fast to the background sound of railroad tracks going by. The announcer calls out all the streets and stops that are passing by, ending with "Graaannd Centraaalll Statioonn!") You remember the subtitle to "Eggs at Eight," mornings on KVOO. (Alias Entertainment) You remember what special, audio prop John Henry used in his KVOO sportscasts. (typewriter) You can identify the theme music from "I Love a Mystery." ("Valse Triste," by Sibelius) You remember the name of the family on "One Man's Family." (Barbour) You can identify the man who played different characters on "Glamour Manor." (Cliff Arquette) You can hum the theme song of Leon McAuliffe. (I'll have to perform for you.) You can sing the theme song of Johnnie Lee Wills. (I especially remember the last line: "With your support and loyalty, and your friendship, too." You remember the first name of the man whose intro ended with "Good Evening, anybody, here's Morgan." (Henry) And are really sharp if you remember the theme song for Morgan's program. (I can't remember, but I'd recognize it if I heard it.) You can pronounce correctly the title of "Young ______ Brown." (Widder) You remember what "Portia" faced. (This one's easy: "Life.") You remember what other soap opera the woman who played Portia performed on. (Just Plain Bill) You remember the slogan of the El Wino commercials on KAKC. (Your favorite flavor of the flavor favorite.) You can sing the Rainbo Bread commercials. ("Rainbo Bread is oh ,so good. Get Rainbo in your neighborhood. On Rainbo Bread you must insist. Put Rainbo on your shopping list. Rainbo Bread, good Rainbo Bread. Good bread, good bread, good bread [fade]) You can complete the following sentence from a commercial: "So, if your head scratches…."Don't itch it... (scratch, scratch, scratch)... (Fitch it") You remember who almost always said, "There's good news tonight." (Gabriel Heatter.) You remember George Hicks' description of D-Day. The most famous broadcast that day. You remember hearing a program written by Norman Corwin. He was THE big name writer of special network programs. He did them for V-E day and V-J day. You remember hearing "Uncle Willy" on KRMG. (the voice by Bill Hyden) You can imitate the bird on "The Worry Bird Club" on KVOO. (It's the Woody-the-Woodpecker call) Related pages on this site from Frank: Lost Cultural Aspects of the '50's Generation in Tulsa ‘50s Generation National Radio Memories

Saturday 02/02/2008 11:29:00pm Name: Rick Brashear Topic: Gas wars & other prices Comments: Fina stations seemed to always be cheaper than the others. When I started driving, they would drop to 16-cents a gallon when the others were 19. There were two stations out near Haskell on opposite sides of the highway. They got into a gas war one day. One of the guys eventually put out a "FREE" sign, which prompted the other guy to come across and start beating the crap out of the cheap guy. When I was a kid, my dad would sometimes send me to a store 15th & Memorial, a 1/2-mile away, to buy him some cigarettes. They were 25-cents a pack. My mom would spend $20 at Sipes for 2-weeks of groceries for five people. The sacks filled the car. Andy: Was the owner's name Mr. Griffin? Edwin: Anyone one who would trade a cool car for a woman needs to be looked after.

Saturday 02/02/2008 9:45:00pm Name: edwin Topic: prices and my ego and ego enablers Comments: I don't think anyone compares the prices of things with The payout of the "early" years (to us). I, myself, liked 35 cent droughts.(sp) I was making 600 a month....I bought a new 671/2 Mustang GT for 3200 and picked up a fine woman with it. Of course I had to sell it when I married her and replaced it with my Fathers '57 Nash Rambler...a better car anyway!...(my Father, of course, bought my Mustang - what choice did he have). That fine woman and I would have been married for 40 years this month if it were not for my inane actions during that period. Happy to say...Tami cares for me at this time and cares very much for my thoughts of how television should be done and what it is for. All Hail Fine Females!

Saturday 02/02/2008 1:23:00pm Name: Andy Holthouse Topic: Gas Wars E-Mail: andyocoregon [at] comcast [dot] net Comments: Does anyone remember Gas Wars? During the summer of 1966, I worked at a small Tulsa gas station that was independently owned by a man who also owned a used car lot on 11th St. He would drop by every now and then and change the pump prices, up or down as the wholesale price fluctuated. In those days, an independent gas dealer could afford to sell his gas a few cents per gallon cheaper than the larger corporate stations. I remember pumping gas one week for 11.9 cents per gallon! The managers of the larger gas stations down the street came down and gave me a bad time for selling gas much cheaper than they could. I just told them I was only a worker bee and had no control over the pricing, which was the truth. Imagine filling your gas tank for less than $3.00 total! One of my other duties at the gas station was to detail the used cars and prep them for sale. I got to drive a '59 Cadillac 2 door hardtop that he was selling for only $700! It was a big, red monster and was in excellent condition! I can only imagine what it would be worth today. Speaking of cars, I had the opportunity to buy a '55 T-Bird for only $1,100 that summer, but I couldn't quite scrape the money together. I had to settle for a '55 Ford 4-door, V-8 Stick that I paid $150 for. It was a good car until I wrecked it on a boulder in Mohawk Park six months later.

Saturday 02/02/2008 11:56:00am Name: John Hillis Topic: Newer Wages and Stuff Comments: I can't beat Frank's recollections, but will add a few personally. In 1972, I did a college internship in New York, where one of the stops was WCBS NewsRadio 88, then as now, the network's flagship all-news. I vividly remember one of the street reporters griping that the anchors on the station were making princely salaries, "like $30,000 a year," and they never had to go out in the rain. I also recall a subway token was 35 cents, and my rent at the East Side YMCA was around $45 a week for a single room with cable b/w TV and access to the Y's gym and rooftop solarium/basketball court. A year or so earlier, I had worked for a small-town radio station, names witheld to protect the guilty, where my gross was $15 for DJing half a 6:00 am pre-sunrise-authority -to-sunset broadcast day. In the winter, this worked out to about $2.25 and hour, but in summertime it was about a buck-75. Duties included taking the cash from the various radio preachers who paid before they went into Studio B and on the air on Sunday mornings for $10 per fifteen-minute slot. I dutifully put the crumpled bills (and sometimes change) into the cigar box and locked them in the safe at the end of the shift. In 1973, I went to work as a DJ in a larger town, where the salary was $2.25 an hour, which was below the minimum wage even back then. It was explained to me that the NAB had good lobbyists and had gotten radio stations exempted from the minimum wage because, like the guy who swept up after the elephants in the circus, everybody wanted into show biz, and there was no heavy lifting involved.

Saturday 02/02/2008 12:25:00am Name: Frank Morrow Topic: Prices E-Mail: frankmor [at] io [dot] com Comments: COST OF LIVING Before the war you could buy a nice, brick bungalow for less than $2,000. In 1937, the rent for our first Tulsa home at 13th and Trenton was $27. In the 1950s, the price of a meal in a cafe is a good indication of the cost of living at this time. Because we served meals at the Kappa Sig house only Monday-Saturday, we had to eat elsewhere on Sundays. I would usually go to the same restaurant together with three or four other guys. We normally would have a selection of hamburger steak, chicken, pork chops, or chicken-fried steak. These ranged in price from 75 to 85 or 90 cents. We never had a more expensive steak because it cost $1.25. Oh, yes, grapefruit was 7 cents a pound; potatoes, 6 cents a pound; roast beef, 39 cents a pound; bread was 10 cents; and bubble gum was a penny. Bus fare wasn't raised from five cents until a few years after the war. Public transportation was outstanding. In the '50s you could buy a new Ford, Chevy, Plymouth or Nash for less than $2,000. Gasoline was 20 cents a gallon. The downside was that the cars began to fall apart after 50-60,000 miles. (My '96 Infiniti has 222K and still drives like a new car.) (See Frank's car ads of the period on the Tulsa Car Dealers page...webmaster) Now for the big bomb: My full, four-year scholarship to TU in 1951 was $1,600. Now it's about $35 thousand a year! Courtesy of Frank Morrow

Friday 02/01/2008 7:04:00pm Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Argus Hamilton/post- WWII salaries Comments: Argus "Jimmy" Hamilton was quoted in the new issue of TIME magazine about a famous comedy store strike of 30 years ago in which Jay Leno and David Letterman were involved. Long ways from being "the runner" at KTUL in his early years. I think that I posted here before about TU profs making $1K to $1,200 a year after the War. Think I was told that Ben Henneke and I think C.I. Pontius fought to raise salaries for returning vets. If Rod (Rodman) Jones or Ed Dumit is on-line - they can tell us more.

Friday 02/01/2008 4:24:00pm Name: Andy Holthouse Topic: Watching television in the 50s E-Mail: andyocoregon [at] comcast [dot] net Comments: I can still remember how frustrating it was to try and watch a good television show in the 1950's. That was due to our proximity to Tulsa International Airport. Back then, most of the air traffic was multi-engined airplanes. Those piston-engined planes would play havoc with the over-the-air reception when all we had was a set of rabbit ears for an antenna. We could be sitting on the living room floor watch Red Skelton or some other great show and it always seemed at the worst possible time, an airplane would fly over and the static would fuzz out the television picutre, but we could usually still hear the sound. With the advent of passenger jets, the opposite occurred. We could still see the picture, but the noise was so loud, forget trying to hear the audio. Somehow, we struggled through without the aid of a remote control, I might add. And, we didn't have a color television until 1966. How did we ever survive without color and cable?

Sunday 02/03/2008 12:09:04am Name: Webmaster Topic: Previous GroupBlog summary Comments: Archived GroupBlog 260. We are back to this remotely-hosted GroupBlog. The previous one was just too restrictive in adding links and pictures. I moved all entries over from the last one, so nothing was lost.