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Tulsa TV Memories Guestbook 125 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
Paul Fletcher Murray was the cinematic cornerstone of the Oil In Oklahoma series, and as a projectionist, I was always amazed at how I could put a 15 minute set of A and B-rolls on the projectors, hit the go buttons, and they would be frame accurate from start to finish. My kinda guy. I'd like to hear from Mike Billings too. Besides being the only guy in the lookout mountain 'hood' that bicycled to work every day, he was a hoot to be around. We'd spend a lot of time perfecting our Bob Gregory imitations, complete with the ever-moving cupped hands and those look-the-camera-in-the-face diatribes that told you, in effect - Now. You. Know. Cuz Bob G. said so. Word, baby.
 Chris Lincoln perfecting his imitation with the original
Do any of you remember a pirate FM in Tulsa briefly in the '70's? Rock music
but I can't remember what else. It went off before the FC caught them but
I do remember seeing n FCC monitoring Econoline with many antennae downtown
by the Federal Building.
Oldsters who remember the mighty 1570 will recollect why.
Randy I think is in video at St.Francis Hospital and has re-married. His first wife passed sadly a few years back quite suddenly. Les has been a VP at EDS in Dallas for years - way back when was Ross Perot's EDS newsletter editor. Since Les is about 5'11" and Perot about 5'2" - it must have been interesting seeing them traverse the hallways together at corporate. Her sister Patrice and brother-in-law, her own brother and her hubby are all lawyers in Big D. Local gals - Les & Patrice went to Monte Cassino and used to know ALL the nuns there.
I think mentioned once before here - Leslie was a TU homecoming queen nominee
from Lottie Jane Mabee Hall or the Independents at TU. The day of the game
- she was on the Skelly Stadium field - pulling sideline camera cable for
ABC!
What is Martie Sherrill doing? At one time she did medical stuff for one
of the Tulsa hospitals after leaving KTEW. But I think she was replaced by
the late Joyce Skala = Joyce as mentioned here before, sadly died or took
her life in that religious cult mess in San Diego a few years back.
"Wolfman's" widow, Lou Lamb Smith, to whom he was married for thirty-five
years, came from North Carolina to attend a music festival over the weekend
and called herself "elated" by Del Rio's plans after checking a two-foot
replica of the statue to be put up. The News-Herald said it depicts Wolfman
Jack dancing a jig on one leg with a rainbow of musical notes and records
raining down behind him.
Mike Ransom - you have a shot of Mike Pierce on the 8's The Place joke reel. He's blackheaded with film at a sounder reader or Moviola. Good to hear from you and if you have PF Murray's e-mail address would love to hear from him. Last heard of him when in OKC 20 years ago - from Tommy Roberts. Tall Paul was a producer at MCA Discovision creating video discs.Wasn't Paul a Jesuit school grad too? I think also Viet Nam vet. Wonder where former stablemate Doug MacAllister is? He and Murray did good work together at 8.
Last night - remembered Rich Louden - whom Mike Pierce should know. Went
to TU then was an 8 studio camera op then a reporter. Rich was such a goof
when a TU/KWGS minion but became a decent reporter. From KC and I think I
heard that he anchored there after leaving 8 - for a while then left TV.
Anyone have any info????
I helped Paul Murray on a shoot about a year ago, in San Jose. He goes by Fletcher Murray now, his middle name (his old credit was Paul F. Murray.) He a great guy and a great cameraman, he was always an inspiration to me. He has a successful production company in Burbank, not far from NBC. I've been in the San Francisco Bay area since the summer of '79 when a station in San Jose moved me out here to shoot for them. I worked at KABC in LA for a short time but I moved back to the bay area after about year and I love it here. I've been a "freelance cameraman" ever since. I was born and raised in Tulsa and still love it there. Though I rarely get back there now, all my family has passed on. I have great memories of my youth growing up in Tulsa and my career in Tulsa Television. I started out at KOTV 1973 as a Production Camera working the day shift with Buddy and I can't quite remember the other vet cameraman with us, I think it was Lyle. I know he'd been there almost as long as Buddy, but I was real lucky to get the job and even more fortunate to work with them. My 1st day was the premiere of Clyde's Parker's 9 am talk show. Oh well, I could go on for days. but I'd better not. I was looking on the internet for info on an old friend and producer who has fallen off a cliff near his home in Portland, Paul Stojanovich. He created the TV show "Cops." I was a cameraman on the original 8 shows of the series. Anyway, the first site to pop up with info was KBJH or what ever KVOO 2 has become. I started poking around Tulsa TV stations 'til I found this site. It was great to see Barbara's note (hey Barbara, do you remember the Green Country series?) and hear what she and Jeff have been up too. In the past 10 years I've seen or talked to Robert Billings, Carlos Hernandez, Stan Hopkins, Diane Elliott, Terry Wilson, Doug Wren and most recently Mike Jett. He told me of the passing of Greg Sherrell. I sure owe a lot to him, Robert, Carlos and Paul, (and others) including Rosser, for teaching me my craft. I'll write more sometime maybe. Love to hear from whoever any time.
Morgan Woodward has restored Cad's for years and his '38 "60 Special" has
won many awards. He also has a beautiful cream colored '51 convertible. I
toiled with a '64 and '69 Corvair. Great cars!
Print your own Admiral Twin Drive-In Kit checklist
from TTM's Tulsa Drive-In Theatres page.
The reason I remember the lyrics so well is that I affected a phony show biz voice to sing along, all the better to savor the absurdity of both a guy buying a round of COFFEE in a nightclub, and an audience raptly listening to this coffee ballad.
Betcha ya still own a Corvair, don't you?
My own TV memory??? I was one of the kids on Mr. Zing & Tuffy!! :) Rusti Love (p.s. my dad J.R. is the one on the right in the duo pic.)
There is little or no surviving footage of most local shows of that era due to the practice of reusing video tape. However, M.A. "Ike" Eichhorn and family own North Carolina Furniture here in Tulsa and might be able to say definitively whether there is any surviving video or film.
The night club spot in the '70's was a classy job. The late Lowe-Runkle ad
agency had the Cain's account. I was told the spot was done in L.A. Don't
know who the Tony Bennett wannabe was in the commercial and who knows what
he peddled in other markets.
Mike Bruce, the great guitarist who played with Bob Seger and others, used to play with my band occasionally (The Natural Brass Company). Are he and Buddy Bruce one and the same? And I have played several gigs with Tommy Crook who is undoubtedly the best one-man band since Bo Jangles. Are you sure Buddy Bruce played with the Champs on Tequila? I always thought it was Glenn Campbell, during his studio gig days. In fact, I was doing some recording in Leon Russell's Skyhill Studios in LA in the late sixties and Glenn stopped by. He confirmed the Champs/Tequila session.
This link at MSN Entertainment confirms that Buddy was in the original 1957 lineup that recorded the 1958 hit, "Tequila", and that Glen Campbell joined the group later on, as did Seals and Crofts.
Ironically, the station had a vending machine that produced a liquid that
was almost, but not entirely, unlike coffee.
From Pure Milk to Bud to American Airlines to Elmer Anderson's homes, Johnny's warm, friendly, conversational style pulled you in and made each client's product one you just couldn't live another day without. Our family always "traded" (as the King called it) with Johnny's clients because it was like a trusted friend of the family had recommended we do so. The folks involved in creating today's loud hit-you-over-the-head advertising should take a lesson from one of Tulsa's all-time best salespeople - treat the audience with respect, tell your story in a caring intelligent way. I always heard that in his day Johnny was the best salesperson in Tulsa media, his classy one-on-one approach would achieve even greater results today. Thanks for a great website, enjoyed my visit.
Thanks...Johnny Martin has a page on this site. Paul Harvey isn't too shabby in the sales area, either.
I'll have to get the guys in the band to learn that jingle. Probably would make a good break song! Also, years later I remember Jack Fox doing Cain's ads on KVOO. Without any music or fanfare, he would just sit there and talk about how good the stuff was. It made you want a cup of coffee. Hell, it could be 10pm and you're getting ready for bed.....you'd still want some!
Because of the quality of the old Cain's commercial, I thought Cain's was a national brand. Excellent ad, I still remember it well. I get tons of email from people, mainly from other countries, who say I was "recommended" to join them in business partnerships. They say I will make millions if I just send them my bank account number. Of course, they did not get my name from a third party, as they claim. They scower guestbooks, such as this one. How do I know? Within hours I will be getting email addressed to Lowell "Wilson" Burch. Nobody calls me that (to my face) but these frauds don't know that. Later today, "Wilson" will be getting some tempting offers.
I certainly get lots of spam these days, and my email address has been plastered all over the internet for years. But it seems to me that it has dramatically increased in the last several months.
While singing and strolling, the coffee-loving crooner nodded familiarly at one table, making a circular gesture to the waiter indicating they should receive a round of coffee on the house. In the last shot, the camera changed focus to follow the gaze of the now thoughtful-appearing entertainer (his hand mike at rest) to a steaming cup of Cain's coffee in the foreground. I wonder if that was locally produced? It didn't appear to be.
Dave was a funny guy - with great stories - who left us too soon!
Bruce got off active Naval duty and joined the news staff at KOTV in 1961. In 1962 when my draft board in Chicago finally caught up with me, Bruce was instrumental in talking me into going to OCS. We both ended up spending more than 30 years in the Naval Reserve. Bruce left an indelible mark on Journalismas as a J-School professor at OU. He is singularly responsible for the heightened awareness of ethics as a course subject and he was instrumental in the creation of a working TV lab at OU which was managed by another KOTV alumnus, Dave Davis, who passed away a number of years ago. Bruce had a tremendous sense of humor, often at the expense of the establishment. I will never forget his parody script with film showing OKC merchants gleefully setting up Christmas decorations well in advance of Thanksgiving one year. The title of the script was "Yes, Virginia, there is a Thanksgiving." The retail merchants association went ballistic. No sales department (anywhere) would let that happen today. I'm sure Bill Hyden, Ralph Bardgett, Dick Wheeler and some others remember Bruce. Best Regards to all since I haven't contributed in some time!
George Tomek
Partial song list: Wave, Sweet Georgia Brown, Red River Valley, Tequila, Satin Doll, Willow Weep for Me, Blusette (played with great cooperation rather than competition, which characterized the entire show), Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette, Scotch and Soda, Route 66, Orange Colored Sky (Chuck Cissel on vocal in his best Nat "King" Cole style), Day in the Life of a Fool/Girl From Ipanema, Peter Gunn with fuzzed-out guitar by Buddy, What a Wonderful World, San Antonio Rose, It Had To Be You/Tenderly, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Perdido/Almost Like Being In Love... Jon Cummins on bass and Ken Leverett on drums sounded as if they had rehearsed with the two guitarists, who never pre-plan these annual get-togethers. Buddy, looking like a beatific, non-violent Freddie Blassie, spun out legato, melodic lines (and in-between-song jokes), while Tommy was master of his domain, as usual. Occasionally Buddy unleashed a lightning run which seemed to give Tommy a shot of adrenalin. The show ended with a standing O.
Archived Guestbook 124.
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The car restored to 100 points
today? A hundred to a hundred fifty thousand bucks.
