August 24 2010 at 21:43:27 Name:
Lee Woodward Topic: Fans & Wells Email: DaDenDotCom Comments: Since we have opened a new window on A/C and
wells...well, here goes some more.
In the late forties-early fifties, it was not uncommon to see automobiles
using a small version of the evaporating coolers. It mounted in the top part
of the passenger side window. The car window was then rolled up to a snug
position to hold it in place. Expandable side pieces filled the small space
at either end.
On the outside, underneath the unit, a bar with a rubber covering was adjusted
against the door for support. Just like a tray at Sonic. They worked okay,
except that they ran out of water very quickly and had to be refilled.
The downside was, you had to keep moving to make it work as it had no internal
fan. So if you had a hot date, she would get even more so unless you kept
driving.
When I was at KCNC-AM in Fort Worth in 1953, I read commercials for Clardy
Auto Air Conditioning, the first I know of that was the real deal. The
compressors were gigantic and weighed a ton. Fortunately in those days, there
was a lot of room under the hood. The condensing unit was huge also, and
took up most of the cars trunk.
Two holes were cut through the panel between the back seat and the rear window,
this was to accommodate two clear plastic tubes that blew the air up into
the car. Later factory versions used this same method but extended the duct
work clear down the area above the door frames. Much neater.
A sidebar to this early A/C was that the less affluent showed their status
by just adding clear plastic pipe in the back window of the junkers, simulating
air conditioning. Some even added "Masking Tape" Venitian blinds, imitating
the real ones that some who had A/C put in their cars, Pretty funny to see
these guys driving around on a 102 degree day with their windows up, sweating
like pigs. But to them, in some way, they were cool.
Arlington, Texas had many artesian wells such as Jim Ruddle made note of
here in Tulsa. It was wonderful drinking water. Arlington was also famous
for having mineral water. This was dispensed right in the dead center of
Arlington, in a little Well House by a fellow named Barney Lowery, a town
character.
He offered both artesian water and mineral water. People came from miles
around to purchase this healing elixir, filling their gallon jugs. I believe
it was ten cents a gallon. It was the same kind of mineral water that made
Mineral Wells, Texas famous, as did Mary Martin. Of course, the learned city
planners looking to the future, ended up scraping all of the original downtown
off the map and of course paved over "The Mineral Well."
I knew an attorney who would use nothing but artesian water to make ice with
so he could pour his Scotch over it.
47 August 24 2010 at 17:59:30 Name:
Gary Chew Topic: Leo Russell Email: Northeast of Eden Comments: Lemme see here, how can I say how so
ab-so-freakin'-loot-ly great is what I hear from Leon this afternoon on my
PC machine.
"Same Old Song" approaches "This Masquerade" but more up tempo; "Oklahoma
Boogie," is the only song I've ever heard Sapulpa used in a lyric; "How Can
This Be Love?" doesn't sound anything like "This Can't Be Love; "I Love the
Way You Love Me" is so neat in its minor key. And fasten your seat belt for
Leon's instrumental burn called "Blind Lemon Cream. Too much Leon, Yip!
46 August 24 2010 at 17:04:12 Name: K. Bolen Topic: AC in the B.C. Email: bojoker@att.net Comments: In the B.C. *before color TV* We had both....
I remember the "Water Cooler" was the size of a Bekin's moving trailer sitting
in the front window, chuttering and spitting out "cool air" and other items
that would migrate into the water tank. My job was to periodically fill the
tank and report any issues with the foam belt that would dip through the
water and make its way past the blower motor.
In addition, the "attic fan" was the other way to draw air into the house.
During those hot Oklahoma summers, not much really kept you cool...other
than inactivity and sitting on a block of ice..however, during those "cooler"
fall months, nothing was better than having that attic fan going at night...cool
air and that soothing wrrrring of the fan...
45 August 24 2010 at 16:02:01 Name: Scott Linder Topic: Air conditioning in years past Email: Comments: Mr. Woodward is quite right in all of his comments
with regard to the use and appreciation of evaporative coolers. These units
were widely used is homes and businesses for many years. It's intersting
to me that some appear to find them "strange" or perhaps from some other
planet.
The use of these units was simple, effective and very energy-efficient. A
fan pulled air through a water-saturated filter, which was indeed made of
"excelsior", as Mr. Woodward mentioned. My family used two of these units
in our home on North St.Louis, as well as what what was then called an "attic
fan".
This unit was located in our hallway and drew air into the attic via a rather
large fan behind a multi-vaned vent. During use, this fan pulled air into
every window and door in the house with amazing efficienty.
Yeah, I'm sure that these units didn't keep us as cool and comfy as our air
conditioning unit of today, but they did the job until we could visit a resturant
with real "air conditioning" or see a movie at one of those theatres with
a frosty sign that said "It's Cool Inside".
44 August 24 2010 at 12:39:35 Name:
Jim Ruddle Topic: Artesian well cooling in Brookside
Email: Comments: This isn't really about evaporative coolers in the
usual sense. Ask me for names and addresses and I can't comply. I simply
don't know. However, back in the late 'twenties or early 'thirties, some
enterprising soul in the Brookside area discovered that he had an artesian
well in his backyard. It wasn't a gusher, just a flow of cool water. He hooked
a hose and pump to the source, ran it through an automobile radiator belted
to something like a quarter-horsepower electric motor, put in a rear window,
and let the damned thing go.
Apparently, it worked and was the talk of the older (much older) generation
that preceded me.
43 August 23 2010 at 19:59:04 Name: Gene Savage Topic: 14K For A Day... today! Email:
inbox@blacklightradio.com Comments:
http://www.BlackLightRadio.com
Just a reminder to anybody that missed it that we moved 14K For A Day to
August 24th, the day 14K launched on KELI, because it turns out they didn't
sign off the 17th, they signed off the 16th. *blush* (The 24th is a happier
memory, anyway.)
I've interviewed Randy Fuller, Mel Myers, Dave Michaels, Tom Browne, Duncan
Payton, Brian Kane, & Kandi Black (Kelley Cash / Kelley Meyers) for the
event, and segments from those interviews will air throughout the day.
In addition to airchecks of the station, I'll also be airing promos and sweepers
Mel has re-discovered this year on a 14K master production reel.
If you'd like a CD of that production reel, Mel's asking $10 sent to
MelMyersProSpots@cox.net via PayPal. That includes your postage.
Also, if you're on Facebook and have any interest in KELI's rich history,
you'll want to check out the KELI fan page at
http://www.facebook.com/KELIRadioTulsa
14K For A Day will run for 27 hours, starting tonight (8/23) at 11pm. The
final hour ("The K-Crew Farewell Pool Party") will air at 11pm tonight, 11am
Tuesday 8/24, and to wrap up the show at 1am 8/25. All times central.
42 August 23 2010 at 17:48:49 Name: Lazzaro Topic: Robbery of the Piccadilly circa
1970 Email: Comments: The story rings a bell for me but no details. I'm
curious now though.
41 August 23 2010 at 08:22:50 Name: DolfanBob Topic: Massad's lingerie shows Email: DolfanBob@lycos.com Comments: Lazzaro. What a past blast that picture is. My
girlfriend at the time did several of his shows. She was a petite brunette
who looked like Valerie Bertinelli (I'm not even lying). I have since lost
all those photos of her. Do you still have any more of those pics? I would
be very curious to see if she was in some of your pics. Thanks for posting
that.
40 August 23 2010 at 08:01:59 Name: Joe Riddle (via email) Topic: Robbery of the Piccadilly circa
1970 Email: Comments: I want to ask a question to some of the news folks
that were around Tulsa in the late 60s - early 70s.
I'm pretty sure this would have been around '70, '71 or '72.
I would like to know if anyone remembers the robbery of the Piccadilly Cafeteria
in the Southroads Mall?
As I remember, it was robbed and the manager was kidnapped by the robbers.
Later, they found him and I believe he had been shot. He was definitely murdered.
The reason I remember this is because his family lived on my street where
I grew up in Brookside and I went to school with his daughters. The daughter
that was my age, her name was Doris Bell. She had an older sister Cecilia
Bell.
As I remember she was two or three years older. Doris and I were going to
school at Holmes Elementary and I was in fourth or fifth grade at the time.
Her family moved away shortly after the murder. It was pretty big news at
the time, there weren't a lot of murders in Tulsa or kidnappings at that
time.
Does anyone remember?
39 August 19 2010 at 13:40:22 Name: Lazzaro (via email) Topic: Massad's lingerie shows Email: Comments: There was some mention
recently of Massad's closing shop. I thought I had read a comment about
Mr. Massad's lingerie shows on TTM (scroll up at above link), but
a little investigation reveals it was in the comments section of the Tulsa
World story,
"Massad's
women's clothing store closing after 60 years":
Dr Evil, Tulsa:
I have a couple of fond memories of Mr. Massad and his "Specialty Items".
#1. In the early '80's the band I was playing guitar for got booked to back
up one of his Lingerie Shows when the D.J. he normally used got sick. I have
to say that was my favorite Gig ever. Playing a loose guitar jam while really
Hot Women Parade around in front of you basically naked. All 5 Band Members
made $100 bucks cash that night.
#2. That's where my wife's "Honeymoon Lingerie" came from.(If she should
ask these two stories are the other way around. LOL)
Live long and prosper Mr. Massad. Your little Specialty Store on 15th. street
will be missed.
At any rate, here's a photo from one of the shows on Brookside. Mr. Massad
has his arm around the brunette, checking her costume.
38 August 19 2010 at 09:56:56 Name:
Lee Woodward Topic: Evaporative Coolers Email: AnonDotCom Comments: Ah Mr. Trout,
Your family suffered from a malady known to many back in the day of "evaporating
coolers."
In actual fact, they were quite efficient if set up and run properly. From
the routine you describe with your family's unit, I will explain.
First, the unit had to sit on the sunny side of the house as this aided in
evaporation. The second thing is that the fan speed should be adjusted according
to outside temperature and cloud conditions. A higher fan speed under marginal
evaporating conditions created your "swamp" conditions.
Adding the pull of an attic fan further deteriorated the process. This is
the same reasoning that the auto-fan control in your car slows down as the
inside temperature decreases. If you override the control by putting it on
constant high, you return to the swamp. In our home, built in 1893, we had
no duct work, so we enjoyed great cooling in the large informal room and
this went away the farther downstream to a front room.
I will tell you that many times it could get overly cold and the lowest speed
would need to be set. I never recall any high speeds being used and no vibration.
Oh! and by the way, the element used inside the three sides that were kept
wet by the drip rings was and is, still called "excelsior."
Some time went by until we owned the first
real condensing window A/C units. This was an invention and product of a
local in Arlington Texas named Curtis Mathes. This company later got into
furniture manufacturing, making the inside part of their window units in
beautiful hardwoods, and then elaborate media systems to complement the Mathes
TVs.
Today's systems are so proficient, one never need sweat, until a bird puts
your power company out of commission.
37 August 17 2010 at 19:21:13 Name: Michael D. Trout Topic: Swamp coolers Email: michaeldtrout at earthlink
dot net Comments: My parents bought our house on East Newton Street,
in the early 1950s a bit before I was born. The brand-new house had a curious
feature attached to the master bedroom's eastern window: a swamp cooler.
The now-forgotten swamp cooler
might be considered a poor man's air conditioner. This was a few years before
air conditioners became generally available to homeowners, and nearly every
new house came with a swamp cooler. Many businesses had them too. In those
days, a lot of people hadn't even heard of air conditioners.
In appearance, a home swamp cooler was a metal box, about the dimensions
of a refrigerator but about half as high, supported on a wooden platform
outside the house. Three walls of the box were perforated with horizontal
slots. The other wall of the box, nearest the house, had a small section
of ductwork connecting the swamp cooler to a window.
The bottom of the metal box was always filled with water, using a system
much like the ball float valve system in a toilet tank. Inside of the box,
on each of the three sides with the horizontal slots, was an inch-thick pad,
made of a mysterious substance something like cork but much less dense. The
water system kept these pads always wet. In the center of the box was a large
squirrel-cage fan.
When the switch inside the house was turned on, the fan spun, pulling air
through the slots into the box. As the air passed through the cork-like material,
it used some of its energy to evaporate the water, thus making the air cooler.
This cooler (and moister) air was then blown through the ductwork into the
house. The principle is roughly the same as when your body cools itself through
sweat evaporation, or the large misting fans used on football players on
hot days.
My main memory of the swamp cooler is that I hated it. The air coming out
of the swamp cooler seemed to be maybe one degree cooler than the air outside,
and it was much more humid. The fan seemed as loud as a DC-7 engine, and
it vibrated the house nearly as much. When both our swamp cooler and our
attic fan were operating, the noise was excruciating. It was an experience
just as pleasant as working in a blast furnace in the Amazon jungle in July.
It seemed wiser to just go outside and stew in the simmering Tulsa haze.
In hindsight, blasting slightly cooler (but much more humid) air into a Tulsa
home in July may seem bizarre. The real problem is that as the humidity goes
up, the effectiveness of a swamp cooler goes down. Swamp coolers really work
well only in dry places, and northeast Oklahoma's stifling humidity was enough
to knock any swamp cooler for a loop. Still, at the time, many thought of
Oklahoma as a dry state (I'm speaking of humidity,
not of intoxicating beverages).
In the early 1970s I lived in Tucson for four years, in a dormitory with
77 rooms with no air conditioning. It was plenty hot, but we could always
retire to the TV and game rooms, each of which was connected to a large swamp
cooler. Thanks to Arizona's low humidity, the swamp coolers pumped out air
that was almost comfortably cool.
It wasn't too many years before home air conditioners became available, and
swamp coolers began rapidly disappearing from Tulsa. Today, we're all hopelessly
addicted to the cold air and low humidity produced by air conditioners, even
here in upstate New York (ironically where the air conditioner was invented).
And our electrical grid is paying the price, as an air conditioner consumes
at least four times the electricity of a swamp cooler.
My best swamp cooler story:
One brutally hot Tulsa summer day a bunch of us neighborhood boys were wandering
around looking for relief; nobody had swimming pools in those days. As happened
often, we started milling around the huge parking lot of the Sheridan Road
Baptist Church, ideal for bicycle races. The church was closed every day
but Sunday, and on rare occasions we found an open door and wandered inside,
just to soak up the cooler air.
In those early years, the church was cooled by an enormous wooden swamp cooler
the size of a small house. It must have worked fairly well, as the interior
of the church was somewhat comfortable. This day, though, we were looking
for water to splash in. I don?t know who suggested it, but we discovered
that we could climb inside the giant swamp cooler by squeezing through the
lower slot, which was not covered by the cork-like material (which was more
than a foot thick).
Inside was a very strange, dark world of cooler temperatures but unforeseen
unpleasantries. As in all swamp coolers, the water was slimy with algae and
smelled; we splashed around to get cool in the knee-deep water but the thick
hunks of slime made it less than fun. Worse was the giant propeller spinning
above our heads. It was loud, many times louder than our home swamp coolers,
and we had to keep hunched over to avoid being decapitated. The propeller
was sucking air into the cooler with great force, depositing a slimy mist
on our bodies and creating a strong whirlwind that kicked up green waves
in the slimy water. It was impossible to communicate except by screaming
directly into someone's ear. We all quickly agreed that we needed to get
out of this dark, inhuman cavern of slime and noise.
Our dumbass decision to climb inside the swamp cooler was now complicated
by our other miscalculation. It was Sunday morning. Cars were starting to
pull into the parking lot and discharge worshipers. Somebody was bound to
see us climbing out of the swamp cooler, and who could imagine the divine
retribution awaiting our capture?
We waited, hunkered down in the slime, going deaf from the noise of the giant
propeller, which seemed to be hoping for a chance to sever a young lad's
neck. But Sheridan Road Baptist Church was a big church, and there was seemingly
no end to the hordes walking through the parking lot next to our swamp cooler
prison.
Eventually one of us, I think it may have been Keith Gifford, could take
no more. He began climbing out through the slot, unconcerned for his fate
if spotted. Sure enough, folks in their Sunday best stopped in their tracks,
jaws agape, pointing in astonishment. But nothing horrible happened to Keith
as he eased out of the slot, dropped to the ground, and raced for home.
Without a word the rest of us immediately lunged into a slot. Everyone in
the parking lot gasped as a gaggle of filthy, slime-coated boys popped out
of every slot in the giant wooden swamp cooler. We tumbled to the ground
and followed Keith, ignoring an occasional shouted ?Hey!? and ?What the??
We never returned to the giant swamp cooler; at any rate it wasn't long before
the church got air conditioning and the huge wooden box with its evil propeller
was demolished. I think it was quite a while before we even risked a bicycle
race in the church parking lot.
Another great Trout story! Thanks. Previous swamp cooler discussion in
GB 166.
36 August 15 2010 at 23:53:10 Name: Webmaster Topic: Sad news Email: Comments:
35 August 15 2010 at 19:49:22 Name: Tulsa Area Music Archives Topic: TAMA Vol. 5.6 podcast now
available. Email: info at preservemusic dot
org Comments: TAMA Volume 5.6 Podcast now available!
The John LeMay Interview.
In this bonus podcast our special guest is John LeMay, Leon Russell's chief
engineer from those halcyon days in the early Seventies when Leon was back
in Tulsa, and operating three separate recording studios in the Tulsa area.
John followed a list of other distinguished engineers who worked for Leon,
including J.J. Cale, Pete Nicholls, and Steve Ripley. There's a short list
I'd put up against anybody else in the recording business!
34 August 11 2010 at 10:45:37 Name: Erick Topic: Fred Norman Email: Comments: Very sad to hear about the loss of Fred Norman.
He did the most with the least during his years at KOCO.
He was the chief there from 1972 until I think 1978 when Wayne Shattuck came
to town. Wayne left for Dallas in maybe 1980, Fred was the chief again until
Wayne came back to 5 in 1984. After that, I think Fred did the noon news
until '87.
I saw an interview with Fred on OETA recently about his time as a pilot in
WW2.
33 August 10 2010 at 16:43:11 Name: Webmaster Topic: Sneak preview of drive-in show Email: Comments: Coming to your PBS station this fall:
MY GENERATION; This segment features drive-in owners and customers across
the country.
32 August 09 2010 at 17:32:18 Name: Lazzaro Topic: Farm Security Administration/Office
of War Information Color Photographs Email: Comments: Name: Charlie
Topic: Old Pictures
Neat link. Thanks.
31 August 09 2010 at 17:16:53 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Sam Stewart Email: Comments: Chandra. Sorry to say I should have mentioned that
Sam Stewart passed away a year or two ago.
30 August 09 2010 at 13:16:56 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Old photos Email: Comments: The only photos of Bill and Sam that I can think
of would be the radio/TV game at Oiler Park. I couldn't find it but I'll
bet Mike R or Mike B can find it.
29 August 09 2010 at 10:05:21 Name: Chandra Topic: Looking for . . . Email: chanie77@cox.net Comments: Date: September 15 2002 at 15:39:39
Name: Mike Bruchas
Location: Wainy Souf Caryliner
Comments:
Mike Miller has neat shot of Bill Hyden, Sam Stewart and some other friends
from this Summer. Maybe he will send it in for posting.
What is Sam Stewart doing these days???
Mike Bruchas, do you have any way of getting in touch with Regenia Stewart
(Sam Stewart's widow)? I am a long lost relative and would like to reach
her or her daughter Rae. I am in Omaha, NE and my name is Chandra. She will
know who I am if you ask her permission to give me her information.
It would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!!
Chandra
chanie77@cox.net
28 August 09 2010 at 09:34:19 Name: Charlie Topic: Old Pictures Email: Comments: I've seen some old Tulsa stuff on here from the
Ford collection. I ran across this today. It's a collection of photos taken
by the Farm Security Administration/Office of War and are now part of the
Library of Congress. Lots of old pictures about the oil companies in the
40's. I found some neat photos by searching Tulsa Okla and Route 66. Thought
it was good enough to post about. Enjoy.
27 August 08 2010 at 18:35:17 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Fred Norman from Legacy.com Email: Comments: Frederick Jack Norman was born on January 25, 1924
in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was the son of Violet Gladys and Ernest
Leslie Norman.
He died Thursday, August 5, 2010, in Oklahoma City at the age of 86. He grew
up in San Francisco, Hawaii, and Seattle.
On July 25, 1953, he married Gwinn Pattee Allenberg, and together they had
seven children. Later in life he married Suzy Case.
At age 18 he became a naturalized American citizen and joined the US Army
Air Corps. He navigated 35 missions in a B-17 in WWII. He also flew numerous
search and rescue missions during the Korean conflict, was a chief meteorologist
for the Strategic Air Command, and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple
Heart. He graduated with a meteorology degree from Texas A&M in 1962.
While working for the National Weather Service in Tampa, Florida, he became
a television meteorologist.
He worked as the chief meteorologist for KOCO channel 5 from 1972 to
1987.
26 August 08 2010 at 08:19:29 Name: Tulsa Area Music Archives Topic: Leon Russell interview on BBC Email: info at preservemusic dot
org Comments: In case you missed it, here is Leon's appearance
on the BBC show Weekend Wogan. Leon performs Delta Lady and Song For You,
and they play a track from the new Elton John/Leon Russell duet album, "The
Union". A great way to start your Sunday. Running time 18 min.
25 August 07 2010 at 15:47:33 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Fred Norman passes... Email: Comments: Received this from Jim Rankin on Friday...
"Fred Norman passed away yesterday (Thursday), obit is not online as of yet.
He was 86 and had flown over 30 B17 missions in WWII.
I talked to Ross Dixon 2 weeks ago today and he told me Fred was doing poorly.
Ross and I were at Jerry Wiedenkiller?s memorial service.
Jerry was promotion manager at KOCO in the 60?s and 70?s. Fred and Jerry
were certainly two of the more entertaining folks that ever worked at KOCO.
Three people from KOCO were present for Jerry?s service. Ross Dixon, Ralph
Tyler and myself."...
=====
I personally can remember Harry Volkman visiting Fred at 5 - what a hoot
to see these guys talking. I am guessing that Harry is close to Fred's age.
Fred was a character and an inveterate letter write to OKC papers after his
retirement.
Don't know if his wife, Susie, is still around - but my condolences to her....
Follow the link, and then kick yourself for throwing out the Broadcasting
Yearbook after it was a year old. Or just follow the link, and look at the
way it used to be back when we had to put gas in the generator to run the
transmitter.
Are there still any 250 watt one-lungers in operation?
23 August 05 2010 at 16:25:46 Name: Erick Topic: Food Email: ericktul@gmail.com Comments: Quick food thoughts...
And, as I always, I apologize if any of this has already been mentioned.
Rex Chicken is back. The location is at the NE corner of 111th and Memorial
by Starbucks. I haven't made it in yet, but word of mouth is good.
And, let us lower the TTM flag to half mast. The Knotty Pine BBQ restaurant
on Charles Page Boulevard was torn down today. A fire destroyed much of the
inside of the building months ago, and it has been closed since. The good
news is, they will rebuild at the same location.
21 August 04 2010 at 12:39:37 Name: SteveP Topic: Fantastic Theater Email: darr-steve@yahoo.com Comments: The theme music to Fantastic
Theater appears on two records that I'm familiar with (I own both). The
Tales From The Frightened records (ghost stories narrated by none other than
Boris freakin' Karloff) and on the Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan record.
Here's the deal - on the original record, the "theme" is "sped up" - or rather,
on the show, and on the "Tales..." records, the song is slowed down - more
closely resembling my memories of the tune from Fantastic Theater. Anyway,
here is the youtube link to the tune if you want to check it out!
20 August 03 2010 at 14:48:50 Name: Webmaster Topic: TASM to get space shuttle? Email: Comments:
Thanks once again for all the birthday best wishes. Never had that many before!
19 August 02 2010 at 15:01:58 Name: Jim Ruddle Topic: Thorpe Email: Comments:
Jim Thorpe's remains are interred in Jim Thorpe, PA. The town never had any
connection to him, but for a price--paid to his last wife--got the bones
and renamed their little burg after him.
And why not? If you lived in a town named Mauch Chunk, PA wouldn't you want
to change it?
But if they want an Oklahoma flavor, why not change the name to one of the
state's more euphonious monikers, like Gotebo, or Bowlegs, or Strang?
18 August 02 2010 at 13:35:16 Name: Scott Linder Topic: Happy Birthday, and thanks....... Email: Comments: Mike, Happy Birthday and many thanks for keeping
TTVM alive and well for all of us. I will be 62 on Friday, 8/6/10. It's difficult
for me to believe that I was having fun with Jack Campbell at KVOO over 46
years ago... Gee, how time flies. Again, best wishes.
16 July 30 2010 at 07:16:56 Name: Erick Topic: 39 Email: ericktul@gmail.com Comments: I'm a firm believer that you are only as young as
you feel. So even though I grew up watching George Tomek and am certain that
his true 39th birthday came before I was out of diapers, I appreciate his
spirit!
Just kidding, George.
Happy belated 19th, Mike.
15 July 29 2010 at 18:01:43 Name: George Tomek Topic: Webmaster's Birthday Email: Comments: Happy belated 39th birthday Mike! I don't know what
your age is, but taking a cue from my favorite radio and TV comedian of all
time, Jack Benny, I am eternally 39-years-old. Benny always was and, what
the you-know-what, you should be, too.
14 July 28 2010 at 22:09:43 Name: Lazzaro Topic: Master Mike Email: Comments: • åJghF
As always, thanks for the site and the memories.
Many more.
13 July 28 2010 at 04:38:28 Name: Jan LeMoine Topic: Happy Belated Birthday Email: Comments: Mike, I am late to the party (as always), but hope
your birthday was wonderful! Cheers to you!
12 July 27 2010 at 08:03:18 Name: DolfanBob Topic: Belated Birthday Email: DolfanBob@lycos.com Comments: See Mike if you werent born on a Sunday, I would
have known it was your Birthday.....lol
I'm never on the net on the weekends. So a very Happy all be it Belated Birthday.
Keep up the great work on one of my favorite web sites.
11 July 26 2010 at 16:22:57 Name: Mitch Gray Topic: Birthday Boy Email: North Of You Comments: Happy belated birthday wishes for you Mike.
We're at that point in life where our broad minds and narrow waists are changing
places!
10 July 25 2010 at 21:14:29 Name: Webmaster Topic: B-day Email: Comments:
Thank you, everyone. I had a great birthday party at the Freeway Cafe with
my family. I appreciate your sentiments very much.
9 July 25 2010 at 21:02:04 Name: John K. Young Topic: Birthday Wishes Email:
johnk662561atyahoodotcom Comments: Happy Birthday, Mike! :)
8 July 25 2010 at 19:21:58 Name: David Bagsby Topic: birthday Email: Comments: Mr. Mike
Happy Birthday! Your present is in locker 35 at Sheridan Lanes.
7 July 25 2010 at 16:05:30 Name: Delmeaux de Gillette du Coffeyville Topic: Getting Older Email: Northeast of Eden Comments:
Maestro Web Dude: I'm a lousy poet, so I'll let a real poet say it for me
on this July 25th, 2010.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
You've been a busy boy, MR. GC
6 July 25 2010 at 09:34:04 Name: Mike Miller Topic: Birthday Greetings Email: Comments: Happy Birthday, Mike. Keep up the good work. TTM
remains the best website. Best wishes from deep in the heart of wrinkle city,
Florida.
5 July 25 2010 at 05:10:47 Name: Rose Bowl Bunker Commander Topic: MR Email: Comments: Happy birthday to my old friend, Tulsa's #1 Mad
Scientist, Mike!
4 July 24 2010 at 21:06:07 Name: Gary Gunter (via e-mail) Topic: Daniel Schorr remembered.... Email: Comments: Early in my career (1972) I had lunch with Schorr
in Youngstown, OH.
I was weekend anchor, he was speaking there and 2 journalists from each affiliate
were invited to lunch and chat with him.
Hope I make it to 93 (if I'm feeling good).
3 July 24 2010 at 21:03:15 Name: Mike Bruchas Topic: Happy Natal Day to our webmeister! Email: Comments: TTM creator and boy genius, Mike Ransom, turns
>>FILL IN THE BLANK<< on 7/25.
Happy birfday and many more!!!
2 July 24 2010 at 14:58:59 Name: Webmaster Topic: Bowling alley lockers Email: Comments:
Lee Woodward
Gary Chew
Jim Ruddle
Some time went by until we owned the first
real condensing window A/C units. This was an invention and product of a
local in Arlington Texas named Curtis Mathes. This company later got into
furniture manufacturing, making the inside part of their window units in
beautiful hardwoods, and then elaborate media systems to complement the Mathes
TVs. 
The now-forgotten swamp cooler
might be considered a poor man's air conditioner. This was a few years before
air conditioners became generally available to homeowners, and nearly every
new house came with a swamp cooler. Many businesses had them too. In those
days, a lot of people hadn't even heard of air conditioners.