While on my unsuccessful quest for a Twin T-shirt, I chatted with Blake Smith,
VP of Select Cinemas. He said they are planning a big celebration of the
Twin's 60th season next year, so maybe that will be my year.
July 25 2009 at 23:39:44 Name: Rose Bowl Bunker Commander Topic: Brookside: "In" vs. "On"
Comments: I've lived in Tulsey at least part of every decade beginning
with 1950s, and can't recall ever having heard "ON Brookside". Running with
a bad crowd, I reckon.
Also lived in both Southern Tier of New York state and in New York City,
and never heard of living "ON New York".
One lives ON planet Earth, but IN Oklahoma. Likewise: IN Brookside, but ON
35th Place.
Historical note just to throw a Spaniard in the works: in the 19th century,
white Dixieites said they lived "AT the South". But then, they didn't know
proper usage of sheets, either.
Happy Birthday, Comrade Webmeister!
July 25 2009 at 21:42:42 Name: David Bagsby Topic: Salutations
Comments: Mike
Happy Birthday! Just got my internet set up here in Kansas City so now to
get caught up on the Guest Blog
July 25 2009 at 18:14:13 Name: over in Ranch Acres Topic: Nelson's Comments: A reminder that Nelson's Ranch House is going
strong over on Third Street.
Had lunch on Friday, chicken fry, chocolate pie. Old downtowners like me
will recognize a lot of faces, the tip glasses are at the register, and when
I asked about the Roundup Boys, I was sent back to the "Dining Room".
July 25 2009 at 17:56:48 Name: Scott Linder Topic: Happy Birthday to Mike!!
Comments: Yes, Happy Birthday to you, Mike. So you're 39 now,
right?
After you enjoy that nice meal at Nelson's please enjoy a complimentary Sunday
lunch at Pennington's Drive In tomorrow. I might suggest the fried shrimp
with one of those nice fresh rolls and some black-bottom pie for dessert.
July 25 2009 at 14:13:34 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Toast to our webmeister!
Comments: Happy Natal Day, Mike Ransom!
Go eat some chicken fried steak at Nelson's on me!
July 25 2009 at 10:36:45 Name:
Gary Chew Topic: Getting Older Email: Northeast of Eden Comments: HBD 2 U
HBD 2 U
HBD dear Michael
HHHHHH BBBBBBB DDDDDDDDD 222222 UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU !!!
Del in Cal
July 25 2009 at 03:00:17 Name: John K. Young Topic: Happy Birthday Email:
johnk662561atyahoodotcom Comments: Just wanted to wish our webmaster here a Happy Birthday!
Hope you have a great one, Mike! Now that you're "legal" you can enjoy some
of that homemade "Kickapoo Joy Juice" that we used to use to boost our octane
and clean the carbon out of our engines at the same time! :)
Yeah, it makes you look like you're foggin' for mosquitoes, but if you knock
back a couple of shots first, you find all that white smoke doesn't bother
you at all! :)
July 24 2009 at 22:02:21 Name:
Scooter
Segraves Topic: In/On Brookside Email: gb3kudzu at diamondcity dot
net Comments: Even this many years and miles away from it, can't
begin to wrap my mind around "on Brookside." That would be OK, were Brookside
a street. But to me, even as a shallow, callow freshman at TU in 1958,
"Brookside" was an area of town -- the kind of place one would definitely
be IN, were one so fortunate. All these years later, still is. (Of course,
"ON the restless ribbon" would be quite another thing.)
July 24 2009 at 20:37:52 Name: over in Ranch Acres Topic: In or On?
Comments: Been here in since '72 and seem to use in and on Brookside
interchangeably.
However, beyond 71st is always "outsouth" (all one word).
July 24 2009 at 19:28:19 Name: Gaye Brown Ransom Topic: Brookside Email: gaye@gayebrown.com Comments: I lived IN Brookside as a little girl and went to
Holmes Elementary (now the Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education) IN Brookside
at 45th and Peoria. Moved around then for years, then moved back to Tulsa
and rented an apartment ON Riverside IN Brookside then bought IN Brookside
on 37th Place. Then your webmaster Mike and I married and I moved OUT of
Brookside (boo hoo).
I was on the board of the Brookside Neighborhood Association for several
years and it is considered 31st to I-44 and Riverside Drive to Lewis (many
think it's just to Utica). I love the neighborhood. It's fun, walkable and
always active, except ON Sundays.
Happy Birthday Mike! (for tomorrow)
July 24 2009 at 17:33:38 Name: Scott Linder Topic: Brookside silliness Comments: The Brook Theatre, Lewis Meyer's Book Store,
Tex Meyer's Deli, KVOO Broadcast Center, Claude's Hamburgers, Pennington's
Drive-In, etc. were ON Peoria, but they were all IN Brookside, along with
my house when I lived in Tulsa.
The Brookside area is known and understood by any REAL Tulsan. Any others
are suspect.
July 24 2009 at 14:53:08 Name:
Mike Miller Topic: The "IN" Crowd
Comments: Do people also say, "I live ON Tulsa? Or, I live ON
Oklahoma?
I know I'm not cool because I used to live IN Brookside. Are you sure somebody's
not putting you "ON?"
Maybe the "ON" usage is prompted by the "SIDE" of Brookside, as in "on
the sunny side of the street". Or maybe it's that Brooksiders' neighbors
to the west live ON Riverside Drive.
And perhaps the "IN" usage is shorthand for "in the Brookside area".
July 24 2009 at 01:57:09 Name: Webmaster Topic: Skyline Park film
Comments:
Mike Lins sent this video and said:
"I believe this is Skyline Park, or at least my
father does. My grandmother is the one wearing the red shirt in the video."
July 23 2009 at 23:47:39 Name: Suzanne Spears Topic: "IN" vs "ON" Brookside Email: charlerock at aol dot com Comments: Just recently discovered TTM and I love it. I've
spent way too many hours lost in nostalgiaville. Have learned much but also
have many corrections to make...later.
For now I am finally driven to add an old-timer's opinion to the "in/on"
question. I've lived IN Brookside since 1952 and I had never heard it referred
to as ON Brookside until some nouveau pseudo yuppie resident from back East
somewhere decided that it sounded cooler to say ON Brookside. Someone in
an earlier blog presented a very sensible argument as to why IN is correct
and ON isn't.
So there...I feel better now. Thanks.
Welcome, Suzanne, and we'll be looking for those corrections.
Searching TTM for both 'ON Brookside' and 'IN Brookside', 26 pages have
it ON, 29 have it IN. I seem to be a serial "ON" offender myself.
July 22 2009 at 19:33:44 Name: Webmaster Topic: Free walk-in movies
Comments:
Free film and music events held on the first Wednesday evening of each month
through October.
July 22 2009 at 17:39:48 Name: John K. Young Topic: Walter Cronkite Email:
johnk662561atyahoodotcom Comments: In his book,
A
Reporter's Life, Cronkite talks about the time his Telegraph Feed went
down during a baseball broadcast he was "recreating" for his WKY listeners.
He made the guy at bat fight off an ungodly number of foul balls before they
could get the "live" Telegraph Feed back up.
That story alone is almost worth the purchase price of the book, IMO. Also...I
didn't know until I read his book that he and his mother spent a short time
living in Sapulpa when his father was serving in The Great War (WWI).
July 20 2009 at 23:05:22 Name:
Gary Chew Topic: More On Cronkite Comments: Reading Hartz and Ruddle here on this site
and all the other deserving praise that's been heaped on Walter from ever
quarter made me think while I was in the kitchen a minute ago that maybe
what Cronkite, in his passing, has brought many, especially folks long of
tooth, some Common Ground to stand on again. Doesn't it feel good? I'd bet
a dollar Mr.Cronkite would feel good about that notion.
Lots of good news people hail from Oklahoma or have done time in the Sooner
State. I remember watching one of them on WKY when I was still in high school
up in Kay County, Oklahoma. His name was Frank McGee. And the list goes on.
Good Day!
July 20 2009 at 19:04:49 Name:
Jim
Ruddle Topic: Cronkite Comments: Jim Hartz tells a story that pretty much sums
up what most of us felt about the guy.
I had few encounters with him but one, especially, was memorable.
I had sailed to the Bahamas and was moored in Hopetown. My partner and I
were heading back to the boat from some mission on shore when coming up the
trail was the familiar figure of Walter Cronkite.
He didn't know me, but I was obviously a boater--maybe it's the odor--and
he, of course, had sailed for years. We struck up a conversation which eventually
got around to his asking what I did and I had to admit that I had been a
news broadcaster, far, far down the ladder from him.
So how did he react? He invited me and the lady to come for drinks on his
boat that evening.
When we got there, Walter and his wife, Betsy, were there, as was Andy Rooney
and his wife.
Walter had a crew that sailed his boat to various destinations he wanted
to visit, then he'd fly to wherever that was, join them, and do a little
sailing of his own. The crew, a young couple, also served as cook and waitress.
We had a few sundowners and the talk rolled along. Rooney amazed me by telling
us that he got his start in communications by writing dialogue for the old
Red Ryder comic strip. ("You betchum, Red Ryder.")
Cronkite and I started talking about books for boys that we had read when
younger--Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Huck, of course, and then
we found a mutual interest that none of the others knew of: The Mark Tidd
stories of Clarence Budington
Kelland. Mark was a fat kid who stuttered, but who was brilliant in a
rather sloppy way.
We overstayed our invitation, I'm sure. The waitress-crew kept hauling hors
d'oeuvres around instead of being able to serve a regular dinner.
It was a fun evening, totally relaxed and natural, and That's The Way He
Was.
July 20 2009 at 13:14:37 Name: Terri Topic: Itch In Time
Comments: Dana - After a disappointing morning of no McCartney
tickets, wasting a vacation day for no McCartney tickets, and general Monday
surliness, thanks for the Merrie Melodies respite. This has to be one of
my all-time favorite cartoons too, along with the gypsy flea family cartoon.
Thanks for turning my frown upside down!
July 20 2009 at 12:37:14 Name: Erick Topic: Nelson's Ranch House Comments: Nelson's will be open until 3 am on Friday
nights? Wish I knew that this past Friday night when I opted for Denny's.
What a sad shell of its former self that restaurant is.
July 19 2009 at 23:41:19 Name:
Jim Hartz via email to webmaster Topic: Walter Cronkite in Oklahoma Comments: I enjoyed the
Tulsa
World's brief article on Walter Cronkite's early years in Oklahoma
broadcasting. I can add a few details to one of the anecdotes which Walter
recounted in his book. It was the story of his very first broadcast, which
was aired on WKY in Oklahoma City.
The event was a University of Oklahoma/University of Tulsa football game
played at Skelly Stadium in Tulsa. Walter and his color man, Perry Ward,
a name familiar to Oklahomans of a certain age, had rigged up a spotting
board with lights and switches they thought would help them keep track of
which players were on the field. Walter described it as a Rube Goldberg device
that never worked properly and was responsible for contributing to a disastrous
first broadcast. Most of the time neither he nor Perry knew who was in the
game. And, he said, his play-by-play reflected that.
(Perry Ward, perhaps best known to Tulsa TV viewers as the spokesman for
Safeway, is the guy being given the "horns" in this
1955 Oiler Park Radio-TV Night
photo...webmaster)
Walter told me he was convinced that his broadcasting career started and
ended on the same day. After the game he sat down on the top row of Skelly
Stadium and nearly wept. The gods were smiling, though, and the debacle was
written off as first broadcast jitters. Walter Cronkite survived the calamity
and went on to become the most famous and trusted newscaster in America.
That was 1937.
He related all this to me, laughingly, during an airplane trip exactly twenty
years ago. We were on our way from New York to Houston where he was the keynote
speaker at a big 20th anniversary celebration of the moon landings. The featured
guests at the NASA event were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins,
the three astronauts from Apollo 11. I was honored to be the emcee for the
evening.
Houston." BORDER=0>
Jim Hartz and Walter Cronkite at the 20th anniversary celebration
of the moon landing.
Although Walter spent the most illustrious years of his career at CBS News
he was close friends with many who worked at other networks, and other venues.
He lived a full, rich life, and had no enemies that I know of.
SomaFM has set up a new Internet radio channel: Mission Control, ambient
electronica with live NASA audio. It currently features the 40-year anniversary
Apollo 11 rebroadcast, exactly the way it was back in 1969, only now with
a moody soundtrack. It works.
July 19 2009 at 20:10:40 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: You Guessed It Comments: It worked, naturally.
Webmaster: The letters and numerals are hard to distinguish sometimes.
I make mistakes on the
"Captchas" myself, but it
beats getting auto-spammed.
We don't want to lose any of your comments. One way to avoid grief is
to select all your text then right-click and copy it before submitting. If
anything goes wrong, you won't have lost all your typing.
July 19 2009 at 20:08:37 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Coded characters Comments: Webmaster, O, Webmaster. Those damned coded
characters required for submission of a posting simply don't work for me.
I type them, even using a magnifying glass on occasion to assure correctness,
but then when I try to submit the item I'm informed that I've entered the
wrong thing.
I shall try again with this and if it doesn't work, I'll just have to bow
out.
July 19 2009 at 13:03:29 Name: Webmaster Topic: Backburner Comments:
Sorry I've had the site somewhat on the backburner recently. Thanks to everyone
for keeping things moving.
One of the reasons I've been preoccupied: I'm in the new program described
in this story in today's Tulsa World:
"TCC
offers classes to redevelop tech skills ". I've known Jan LeMoine, mentioned
in the article, since junior high school. She and her brother Dana are TTM
contributors.
July 18 2009 at 20:17:44 Name: Dave Topic: Cronkite in OKC Comments: The Cronkite national obits mainly report his
time living and working in Kansas City and Houston before he made the jump
to United Press and went overseas to become a war correspondent.
I just learned that Douglas Edwards, Cronkite's predecessor at CBS and
America's first network TV news anchor, was born in Ada, Oklahoma.
July 18 2009 at 18:24:30 Name: Wilhelm Murg Topic: Uncle Walter's Death Email: wilhelmurg at Yahoo dot
com Comments: The sad thing in all of this is that while everyone
wants to pay homage to Cronkite, no one is talking about doing what he taught
us, which is to go back to fact-driven news. I finally gave up on cable news
all together when it became a bunch of jerks in neckties giving their opinions.
Who are these people and why should I care about their opinions? I miss the
old CNN with the motto "Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you the world."
Now it takes them 15 minutes just to show pictures of Nancy Grace's brats
with slow music playing behind it - and why am I supposed to care about this
psycho's railing against due process of the law?
The sad thing about all this commentary is that these people seem to think
they are in the mainstream, but more often than not, they don't even seem
to comprehend the issues they are commenting on. I remember a Mike Galonos
commentary where he bragged that he only let his children watch sporting
events and reality TV - isn't that a well rounded diet of entertainment?
Reality television is the most contrived and exploitative garbage I've ever
seen - a series of police chases, Flavor Flav (who used to be relevant) picking
a new love interest, bland singers, and people having nervous breakdowns
on an island somewhere.
Can anyone imagine Cronkite speaking out against Chairman Mao during the
Nixon visit, or demanding the execution of Charles Manson before there was
even a verdict in the case, or criticizing President Carter during the Iranian
hostage crisis?
Perhaps the ultimate example of contemporary news hypocrisy is how Michael
Jackson was raised to sainthood after his death by the same people that did
everything they could to demonize him while he was alive.
News was once something you could trust, now that it's all based on focus
group opinion, it's not even worth watching. Cronkite's death is just a blazing
reminder of how far we are from real news these days.
Well said, sir.
July 18 2009 at 13:56:06 Name: Scott Linder Topic: Cronkite and JFK Comments: I clearly remember watching Walter Cronkite
report the death of JFK. I was a ninth-grader at Wilson Junior High School
at the time, and Principal John Elstner announced on the intercom that the
President had been shot in Dallas and then placed the microphone next to
the speaker on a television in the school office tuned to KOTV. The entire
school fell silent as we listed to the broadcast.
School was dismissed early and my Dad picked me up, having left work early.
Mom, Dad and I watched the CBS broadcast on our monochrome Chanellaire console
television as Mr. Cronkite delivered the news of his death. I remember my
Mom saying "Oh, no...".
Of course, that clip of Cronkite has been repeated many times, but it had
special impact on those of us who saw it live. I'll never forget it.
July 18 2009 at 01:05:45 Name:
Gary Chew Topic: Walter Email: Northeast of Eden Comments: One of the reasons I thought working at KOTV was
so cool is that I could listen to Walter Cronkite on FM in my car driving
home every day. The picture wasn't too sharp, but the voice and news were
right on.
A great standard in professional journalism: That's the way Walter was.
RIP, Mr. Cronkite. Your influence is needed today.
July 17 2009 at 22:43:58 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: CBS Network Cronkite Tribute Comments: WBBM-TV in Chicago says at 6pm CDST Sunday
night.
About 8 minutes of their Friday 10pm News was Cronkite stuff. Also had some
interviews with Chicago current and retired staff who had worked with Cronkite
in NYC and L.A. All still in awe of the man.
July 17 2009 at 20:23:04 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: CBS in Tulsa Comments: In my days at 6, it was Eric Engberg as the
Dallas bureau pro from the Tiffany network sent in to do stories.
I, too, am trying to remember Rex Daugherty's CBS story.
I probably spent more time with Charlie Murphy, the ABC guy from Dallas when
in Amarillo and OKC. He was flew in on the red-eye and was red-eyed from
drinking his "breakfast".
======
As my friend, Ron Stahl, wrote from OKC tonight. He cried when Cronkite announced
Kennedy's death; he may have to cry for Uncle Walter tonight.
Just got off the phone with Jack Hobson, out in Hays, KS tonight. He's on
the road back to Tulsa. We agreed that WALTER CRONKITE will always be our
hero and BEST NEWSMAN of our generation.
We are betting CBS will do "a night of tribute" for him in the next 48-72
hours.
July 17 2009 at 20:10:42 Name:
John Hillis Topic: Cronkite
Comments: To anyone who became aware of media after Cronkite retired
in 1981, the fuss over his death may be a little mysterious. But in his day,
he was the most prominent anchorman when the choice of national TV
news was 3 networks (or, as was often said about the puny ABC, 2 1/2 networks).
For CBS affiliates like KOTV, getting your news film on Cronkite was big
ups; getting a package on was ne plus ultra. The one I remember was something
Rex Daugherty did, the waves of time has washed the subject off the beach
of my brain, but I remember vividly the announcer v/o running down the
correspondent reports as they did every night on Cronkite: "Dan Rather at
the White House, Tom Fenton in Paris, Bruce Dunning and Tokyo" and ending
with "and Rex Daugherty in Tulsa, Oklahoma." In a pre-CNN world where the
news was 30 minutes a night, to get a minute and a half of it was a big deal.
It also meant the local reporter's spot had passed the rigorous vetting of
a magnificent group of producers and editors at CBS News in New York as well
as the noted tendency of Cronkite to require a large amount of on-camera
time in the newscast.
The CBS Dallas crew, and bureau chief Travis Linn showed up fairly frequently
at KOTV, four or five times a year, to feed on one story or another. I don't
remember the reporters who were regulars, Bruchas probably does, as I think
he directed a lot of the feeds to New York.
I don't know if it's well known or not, but the founders of CNN basically
offered the entire store to Cronkite if he'd jump. It would be "Walter Cronkite
Cable News Network," and the stature would have been worth it. Cronkite,
out of loyalty to Paley and CBS or because he didn't want to get involved
with a bunch of crazy people who believed you could do TV news all day and
all night, stayed where he was.
July 17 2009 at 19:37:56 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: We have lost "Uncle Walter"
Comments:
Flash
- Extra...
We knew that he was frail, but...
July 17 2009 at 17:16:55 Name: Webmaster Topic: The Brook
Comments:
Today, Tulsa Gal is
Remembering
The Brook Theatre with the help of an "Eddie and the Ecclectics" photo
supplied by David Bagsby.
July 17 2009 at 16:07:22 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Terry Young Email: Comments: Where did former TV journo and mayor, Terry Young,
end up at?
July 17 2009 at 00:42:32 Name: Dana LeMoine Topic: "An Itch in Time"
Comments: Mike's commercial he posted below reminded me of one
of my favorite cartoons. Specifically, at the 7:00 mark!
July 16 2009 at 22:11:21 Name: M Terry Topic: Mayoral Candidates Email: M Terry at Cox dot Net Comments: I believe that at one time the incumbent Tulsa County
sheriff was running for re-election and he was opposed by several candidates
with law enforcement experience along with Mr. Accountability Burns.
It seems as though the state legislature had passed a law that required candiates
meet certain educational qualifications. For some strange reason Mr. Burns
was the only candidate who met the requirements other than the incumbent.
July 15 2009 at 15:50:07 Name: Webmaster Topic: Mayoral candidates Comments:
Tulsa mayoral candidates this time include perennials Paul Tay, Prophet Kelly
Clark, and Accountability Burns.
July 14 2009 at 12:00:39 Name: Webmaster Topic: Toby Comments:
This is my favorite commercial on the air. It's so sincere.
July 14 2009 at 11:56:52 Name: Tulsa Area Music Archives Topic: TAMA Volume 1 Podcast now available Email: info at preservemusic.org Comments: Hear music directly from the vaults of the Tulsa
Area Music Archives, preserving Tulsa's music history!
VOLUME 1
LEON RUSSELL - THE SESSION YEARS PART 1
Meticulously researched from documents obtained directly from the L.A. Musicians
Union in Hollywood, California, Volume One is a full hour of songs from Leon's
session days, and will focus on Leon's extensive body of L.A. session work
from the Sixties, where he established himself as one of the most highly
sought after session players in the business.
July 12 2009 at 13:38:23 Name: Lani B Giese Topic: re: it's Sunday and thinkin' 'bout
Tulsa Email: im4croozzznnnn the road Comments: First of all, I just finished listening to
"Oklahoma Rock N Roll" w/ Mr
Steve Ripley... it wasn't long enuff!! A big thanks to Steve and everyone
involved for the history, the memories and the trivia of which only guys
like you can pass on!! You can count on me being there next week, and as
you can say...family IS what matters!
Second, am I the only one interested in, or have reference to, the huge Doenges
Brothers Ford history in Tulsa's past? I have been hoping there would be
info about their original location downtown, on Elgin. That's where I heard
my Dad, Jesse Brown, say it was at...he was one of the mechanics there till
'59 when he left to start his Jesse's DX Station at 11th/Richmond. I have
a Doenges Ford crew picture from 1955 if anyone is interested, or better
yet have a dad, brother or uncle who worked there at that time. I have a
few names, but about 50% of the names escaped Dad's memory before we ran
onto the picture and labeled it with names.
I hope someone can shed some light on their time downtown. Dad did a short
stint back there in the 70s managing the Truck Division, but his years of
being self-employed had spoiled him, and taking orders was never his can
of soda...so they parted ways again.
Stay cool ya' all, it's pretty warm 95° over here in the deserts of
New Mexico; but our humidity is oh, a whopping 33%. Yea, it's a dry heat.
July 11 2009 at 15:37:29 Name: Scott Linder Topic: Nelson's Buffeteria re-born?
Comments: So has anyone tried Nelson's Ranch House on 3rd, across
from Leon Russell's church studio? Owner Nelson Rogers, grandson of Nelson
Buffeteria's founder, promised the same menu and all that good food we loved
at the old downtown location.
July 11 2009 at 12:16:42 Name: Webmaster Topic: It's Greek to me Comments:
You may have noticed yesterday that the current GroupBlog wasn't working.
The host in Greece was doing some maintenance, I found out when I copied
the Greek text into Babelfish to translate.
That's right: going from the GroupBlog to any part of the main site is a
jump from Athens to 21st and Harvard.
July 09 2009 at 14:43:42 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Oscar Meyer
Comments: The grandson of the original has just passed... We need
a Weiner Whistle salute to him!
Houston." BORDER=0>
Gary Chew
Scooter
Segraves
Mike Miller
Jim
Ruddle
John Hillis