Bob's son, Adam, played the boy who got to drink from the fire hose.

I learned this from George Maras, who is Bob's brother, and a one-time baseball prospect himself.

George tells me that Roger changed the spelling of his name from "Maras" to “Maris” in 1955 after playing 25 games for the Tulsa Oilers AA team. Roger had a run-in with then-manager of the Oilers, Joe Schultz. The name change allowed Roger to play for his next team (Reading, PA) without the wrath of Schultz following him.

Schultz later managed the Seattle Pilots (a major league expansion team that existed for only one year, 1969). Jim Bouton, former teammate of Roger's with the Yankees, chronicled his own comeback with the Pilots in his classic book, "Ball Four". Schultz was often heard to say, "Let's go get 'em and then pound some Budweiser."

This bat with the "Maras" spelling is from Maris' stint in Keokuk, Iowa, just prior to Tulsa.

(image from The History of Keokuk Baseball Web Site)

The film company arrived in Tulsa on 7/18/1988 and stayed for eight weeks. The movie premiered on 7/21/1989.

The "Spatula City" billboard was at Memorial and the Broken Arrow Expressway. It stayed up all summer, no doubt baffling more than a few Tulsans.

Reader's camera phone shot from the same location today at Oaklawn:

"X" marks the plot; the above shots are looking about 15° north of straight east:

6/4/2007: The same sharp-eyed reader suggested that this brief "Plots R Us" building shot, intercut with the Oaklawn footage, might not be at Oaklawn, based on his "UHF" expedition two days ago.
We found the actual location without leaving the computer: Moore Funeral Homes' Rosewood Chapel at 2570 S Harvard Ave., just north of Steve's Sundry.	.

Rich Uncle Harvey Bilchik's residence is located at 6636 S. Knoxville. Actor Michael Richards, guesting on the DVD commentary, said Tulsa was a great place... $100,000 would buy a mansion (of course, that was during the oil bust in 1988).

Teri (Saturday Night Live's Victoria Jackson) was Weird Al's girlfriend in the movie. She was a dental assistant, and the dentist's office was at 7335 S. Lewis. Her apartment was shot at 4322 E 66th, Apt. K (only a couple of blocks from where I, the webmaster, lived at the time!)

(from GroupBlog 222) Austin T. said:

I was 12 years old when this was filmed in Tulsa, and Weird Al was my hero.

My dad brought me home from soccer practice one afternoon, and there was Al, sitting in one of those director-style chairs. They were filming a scene in his girlfriend's apartment (Victoria Jackson) at 4322 E 66th, Apt. K. My dad happened to live in Apt. V, right across the way, and down a few units.

Anyway, I introduced myself to him and told him I was a big fan. He signed an autograph for me. I got one for my little brother, too, since he wasn't there (we both lost them over the years, unfortunately).

I had a couple of friends who were extras in the movie as well. Joe Smith was on my soccer team, and if I'm not mistaken, is the kid in the audience with a speaking part that says "I wanna go home!" when Al's ratings are sagging right before Stanley Spadowski's TV debut.

The movie was shot in Tulsa at the recommendation of Executive Producer Gray Fredrickson, who had worked with Francis Ford Coppola in Tulsa on "The Outsiders" and "Rumble Fish". Coppola visited the "UHF" sets in L.A. during the filming.

Earl Ramsey of the "American Gun Association" (Ivan Green, who also appeared in the "Ernest" movies) tells the interviewer, "Guns don't kill people...I do." Tulsa comic Barry Friedman played one of R.J.Fletcher's yes-men.

Ivan Green	Barry Friedman

Interiors were shot at Kensington Galleria at 71st and Lewis on the second floor. Weird Al got a good deal for the space.

Mike Judge ("Beavis and Butthead", "King of the Hill", "Office Space") and Tom Lehrer ("Poisoning Pigeons in the Park", "The Vatican Rag") are big fans of "UHF".

Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos was in talks to do the music for the film, but it didn't work out.