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Tulsa TV Memories GroupBlog 218 TTM main | What's new on TTM? | GB Archive
See Zeb, Tuffy and Leafy talking in this QuickTime movie (1 meg). Now on Google Video: "Hurst Sings Zing". Read the press release just below.
That's a clean-up of a dirty joke that was going around in the early 80s.
LEAFY BARK TAKES HIS PLACE IN HISTORY Attention, Baby Boomers! Your past is coming to revisit you! If one of the highlights of your childhood was a visit to the KTUL-TV, Channel 8 studios to be on the “Mr. Zing & Tuffy Show”, there’s a treat in store for you. “Leafy Bark”, the talking tree from the late 60’s show, has found a new home at the Tulsa Historical Society. Thursday, August 10, Leafy Bark will move to his new residence after 30 years of residing in Broken Arrow. Following the seven-year run of “Mr. Zing & Tuffy”, Leafy Bark found himself on the auction block. But, not to fear. Leafy found a wonderful home with Shari and Bill Casper - continuing to entertain children in Shari Casper’s preschool. Daily, Leafy would awe 3 and 4 year olds as he towered over their desks, talking and encouraging them (with the help of Shari). He probably even sang that old familiar song from the show “Don’t Leave the Yard Without Telling Mother!” Recently, as Shari looked to retire, she wanted Leafy to have a good home. She contacted KTUL-TV, who asked Tuffy, aka Homer Wayne Johnson, to assist her in this effort. Tuffy, delighted to know his old friend was still in the “entertainment” business, contacted Mike Ransom, webmeister for tulsatvmemories.com. Mike suggested the Tulsa Historical Society as the perfect home for Leafy. There was a resounding “yes” from THS to making the newly renovated and expanded facility at 2445 S. Peoria Leafy’s new home. Thursday, August 10, at 9 a.m. Leafy will leave the Caspers’ home in Broken Arrow, after Bill Casper removes an entire wall to make room for Leafy to move through the garage. He will travel quickly, in a special van, to the Tulsa Historical Society. Leafy would like to invite all his friends to welcome him to his new home - he should be arriving at the Tulsa Historical Society about 10 a.m. Be on hand to give him a warm welcome!
For more information, contact:
Leon recorded that one as "Hank Wilson".
Johnny Lee was "lookin' for love in all the wrong places" at Gilley's in "Urban Cowboy".
Should I be embarrassed that I remember that?
The chorus of the great blues song, unrelated except in sentiment, goes, if memory serves, "Hey, Bartender, pour one, pour two, pour three more glasses of beer." It has been several hours since the last time The Blues Brothers movie last ran on AMC, but I think that was part of the soundtrack with vocals by Belushi and Ackroyd. So both the sage of Brazos Valley and Floyd Dixon can lay claim to the call to the beertender.
I don't have a menu, but St. Michael's was my first "real job" the summer I graduated from Edison (1960). The menu had only the many espressos and home made German chocolate, cheesecake, and a date/nut torte. Soon, Cy put in draught beer - served in tall Pilsner glasses. The "olive in the beer" idea came from a lounge at the Crystal Bowling Alley, where we went on occasion. Then he added the hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, and peppered beef sandwiches; the pièce de ré•sis•tance was a standing rib roast sandwich – served at the tables from a cart, au jus. That was the extent of the menu when I left St. Michael's to go to work at Shell Oil in July, 1962. I noticed in a blog by Joel Burkhart, he referred to Cy as "Ty" Kelly. His full name was James Sanford Kelly, nicknamed "Cy" (pronounced Ky) by his older brother when he was a baby. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it stuck. When Cy sold the coffeehouse, he assisted Bill McLaughlin build a venture called "The Forge" in Utica Square. I left Tulsa for about 15 years in 1965, so I don't know what happened to that. Anyone?
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Carlos, P Kent Doll and myself were the trio that shot/edited OK football on TK-76's for (at least) 2 seasons. Many fond memories. And for the record, when Carlos was driving, we never were involved in a traffic altercation of any sort. But I never had any problem reading the license plate of the car in front of us. Unless we were so close that the hood of the van obscured my view. I kid. later y'all.... pda
Jack Larson and Noel Neill, the series' Jimmy and Lois, have cameo roles in the current "Superman Returns", now showing at the Admiral Twin Drive-In. Series star George Reeves visited Barnard Elementary School and KOTV's "Kids Korral" in the early 1950s.
Actually, I captured that shot on my laptop, which you can see on my lap in the photo. I clarified the text under it a bit.
As the oldest son and main inheritor of most all the SEVCO memorabilia, that for others to enjoy commercials from the eighties is a kick! I have a copy of every SEVCO commercial from 1974 on (including radio jingles from the 1960s) and would be glad to share them. I'll share copies of the SEVCO commercials for the Ed Greer Tape Center commercials that Gailard Sartain used to do; they were pretty funny, too! (Remember 1417 E. 11-teenth?) Many pictures of Joe Pierre and the SEVCO family can be found at http://photos.yahoo.com/josephpierre@sbcglobal.net. Thanks for the memories, guys, and hi to Ed Colton!
Miserable night in DC, but I am playing that great Billy Parker "Swingin' With Bob" CD on my work 'puter and have the a.c. cranked up....the best of Billy Parker to me!
I saw the thread about his accent and I wanted to let people know that he disguised his accent because he was a Holocaust survivor. Joe was a young boy in Poland when the Russians invaded and put him and his mother in the camps. But it was his voice on all of the commercials.
PS: The black ring that I had around my eye was from an allergic reaction to the dye on the eye piece and I only wrecked three news cars while working with Darrell Barton in OKC. Twice the news cars were parked and someone ran into them and one I took the mirror off while driving through a gate. Just setting the record straight.
 Sorry, I'll do a little better job on this photo later this evening. (Later...) OK, this should be better...webmaster 
"I've got some more gigs coming up this fall out of state: Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the induction of Carl Radle into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Carl was my mentor and was in Eric Clapton's fantastic band when I was with Eric back in the day, and also was in Derek and the Dominoes. "Unfortunately, Carl passed away many years ago but his memory will live on. I'm honored to be a part of this event. That is on October 12th."
Hey, everyone. Please say a prayer for Jan Dean. http://www.myspace.com/shaveitcleanfordean
Our thoughts are with Jan today.
RIDESHY wasn't a place as much as it was a system. As indicated, it was the telephone number of a very big prostitution operation in the 1970s. The nonsensical moniker was easy to remember and didn't need to be written down or looked up in an address book. It was in the Riverside exchange (RI 3-ESHY) and therefore was portable, with an order through the phone company, from the Arkansas River east to maybe Lewis; close to Jenks to about 21st Street. It was the incoming Customer Service line. But no one ever went to RIDESHY, including most of the employees. If you were a regular customer, or referred by one, you called RIDESHY and left a message on a recorder. RIDESHY would call you back, unless they thought you were trouble, and take your "order". They then called to dispatch the appropriate Representative to come to you. Lots of "orders" came from hotels. Some of the Customer Service Representatives worked out of their own house or apartment. Once the service was arranged, the customer was directed to the employee's residence where the order was filled. So to speak. At times, RIDESHY rented apartments, typically in the Riverside area, but they could be anywhere. Customers, after calling the RI 3 number, would be directed to one of the organization's apartments. The only thing that actually existed at the RIDESHY telephone address were telephones, a dispatcher, and a manager. If the police took down one of the apartments, or an employee's home, all we got was a couple of Customer Service Reps and a couple of customers. The organization stayed intact and only a small piece of the business was impacted. Services were still be rendered elsewhere while the handful of suspects were being booked. They managed their risk very well. If the telephone location was raided, it was back up in business within hours and the same location or within a business day or two if they needed to move. Those people are all gone now, but I'd bet someone is doing the same thing with BlackBerries today.
Thanks, David. I added your comments to the RIDESHY/May Rooms page.
Her shop was a children's clothing store where I spent many summers helping her stock shelves and gift wrap! I lived, at that time, with my parents in New Mexico and would go to Tulsa in the summer on the train to be with her. She was a wonderful Irish lady who died in New Mexico in 1952. Thanks.
Mike talks about his folks' background and their dance school on Cherry Street in his book, How High Can a Guy Stoop?.
We stopped using it after a while....I state, edwin-floor director for some time......including when Jimmy Jr. was my assistant and had to clean up the monkey poop.... My mother has the tiger shoes.....She is old and loves to show the grocery boys what size of tennis shoes her "hubby" wears........ok...I'm in the will, Tuffy!
Their Utica Square show a month ago was really something to remember. Description by Ken Harwood and others of that concert is in GroupBlog 215, along with a photo of a wild woman doing some interpretive dance.
He may have passed away but his music will always be timeless. God bless ya Ray!!!
Here's a great 1960 Tulsa Ray Charles story in GB 177.
I can remember my folks taking me up into it to see some of the radio personalities my mother knew as a C.R. Anthony's manager at Mayo Meadow when I was a kid! Finding the pics on your site reminded me what felt "wrong" about the fairgrounds midway!
Whew, that's a relief! I was afraid if I clicked it, it would be like Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine: I'd end up back at Ch. 8 with director Hurst Swiggart yelling into my headset: "Where's my shot, camera two?" Or I'd again be operating "Leafy Bark" on Mr. Zing and Tuffy. Or offering forced laughter at Jack Morris' corny jokes, while operating camera for the news segment.
Maybe you did activate the Wayback Machine after all. Hurst and Tuffy are talking with some fine folks who have taken care of Leafy Bark all these years, and as you can see, he is in good health, though minus his original luxuriant foliage. More to come.
But, I'm wondering how long it will take before we have streaming video of "Lee and Lionel" programs showing up on the neat little TV screen of the main logo. Maybe Lionel could put a show on a loop from home and microwave it into the TTM server. Please! No "Go For Dough On The Early Show!"
And when you click it, you go back to the main page.
I looked through the archives and found nothing so maybe I didn't ever bring him up. It was my understanding that he came to 6 from a major station in Cincinnati and was going through a sticky divorce there. He had a big city voice and carried himself well; in other words, a class person. Having worked in the clothing business, I took note of his clothes, which were top quality. He was also the only person I knew who wore a fedora. He gained a slight nod from management for his witty repartee which he offered as he showed FAX pictures that he selected from the wire service. He did this on "Sun-Up" when I hosted it. I would see him sometimes walking the streets downtown, alone and deep in thought. And then one day he was.....gone... So, now Harry Sedgewick has been mentioned.
I spent the summer of '67, my senior year, doing the floors every week. I was paid enough to rent a bucket and mop, buy the Spic & Span, and have a few bucks left over. I also got in free while I was doing the floor. I spent every Friday and Saturday night there. When I left for college I gave up the job (don't remember to whom), but it was still going at that time, about August of 1967. The performers were mostly from a different planet and I have few memories of them. The exceptions would be the house band, and Dudley Murphy. Even after hearing their sets so many times, they were always entertaining to me. There was a regular group in the audience, while I was going, which included Joe Allen, Joe Colpitts, Mike Rawlins, David Heckle, a blond girl from Brookside named Kristy, a girl with long brown hair named Shelly, Sandy Courter, Carl and Larry Gregory and some others I remember even less well than these. Most of us were underage, which I believe is why Bob never pursued a liquor license. For me, the Dust Bowl was a unique experience and made a lasting impression on me and my life.
I added this note to the Dust Bowl section of the Tulsa Coffee Houses of the Past page.
My favorite Twilight Zone was "To Serve Man" - which was also ripped off in one of the NAKED GUN movies, too!
I just remember when the Miss America contest still was a big Saturday night draw on TV in early September back when I was an undergrad at TU in the 70's, usually opposite the Bama/somebody- college football night game. There were fights over the TV clicker at John Mabee Hall's main TV on what to watch. Now nobody gives a rodents' whatever on them BEAUTY contest shows. If Doctors Woodward and Hillis remember, KOTV carried the tape-delayed MRS. AMERICA pageant for several years. One reason why was that somebody in Corinthian TV corporate had a wife who was a contestant one year.
The title of "Miss Universe" has always seemed a bit smug. "Twilight Zone" writer Richard Matheson wrote a story in 1955 called "Miss Stardust" in which this presumption was challenged by an alien, described as looking like a vacuum cleaner with a head of cabbage on top, wearing a jacket. It was made into an "Amazing Stories" episode in 1987 with "Weird" Al Yankovic as the Cabbage Man.
No, the big buck$ haven't started pouring in yet, but hope springs eternal! ;-)
I hurriedly went to see if I still had the wonderfully scathing note to John Irvin (Program Director years ago at Ch. 6) on her opinion of what he could do with his idea that Edwin multi-task as a janitor when not running camera, etc. As the commercial says: "Priceless!" I would gladly enter the note but having no resource to "Legal" these days, I will await a public input from the "players." Wouldn't want any litigation. Also, I expect Mr. Irvin would be the major ego in play, so perhaps just leaving it to the imagination is best for now at least. It is a great note.
She was referred to often as "the beautiful blonde defendant", was acquitted, and, the day after the trial ended, eloped to Mexico with her defense attorney. My understanding is that that marriage didn't last long either.
We saw a 10-minute 1970 film about underage alcohol sales at convenience stores. We saw the first of a series of pictures from Margaret Brixey, a Tulsa singer who has worked with Ernest Tubb and Leon McAuliffe, among others, and appeared on the Horn Bros. show. Wirt Cain checked in, and Teresa Girdner sent a photo from "The John Chick Show". We got another "Beef Baloney" update. The Metro Diner will soon be gone from its near-TU location. Ike's Chili and Coney Island(er) came up again. We saw a photo of Edwin and the former Mrs. Fincher. Requests were made for new pages about the Edge of Insanity (EOI) radio network, and Tulsa bars and restaurants.
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Mystery Man