The Admiral Twin Drive-In
Theatre in Tulsa was a setting for Francis Ford Coppola's 1983
movie, "The Outsiders". Some of the movie's action took place in the patio
seating in front of the concession stand.
The location of the movie's opening shot was at the Bowen Lounge on the
Corner of
Dreams (SE 11th & Denver).
Gailard Sartain (aka late-night Tulsa TV's Mazeppa) played the minor role
of a teacher (here's a
photo of Coppola
directing him in the burning church scene).
Coppola shot "Rumble Fish" right on the heels of "The Outsiders". Stewart
Copeland (drummer for The Police) recorded his score for the movie in four
days here at Longbranch Studios with chief engineer Bill Belknap. The new
Special
Edition DVD of "Rumble Fish" includes the features "On Location in Tulsa",
and "The percussion-based score".
These films were based on the books
The
Outsiders and
Rumble
Fish by Tulsan S.E. Hinton. The Outsiders was set in Tulsa's late
50s/early 60s milieu of "greasers" and "socs". She attended Rogers High School
in that time period, as did Gailard Sartain, Leon Russell, and David Gates.
Tex (1982) was the first Hinton book shot in Tulsa. You see a lot
of Tulsa in the movie (Camelot Inn, Bellaire Village, I-44, Riverside Drive,
University Club
Tower), and it is an excellent movie.
NE corner of 51st St and Peoria (courtesy of David Bagsby)
(via email, 11/3/2002) S.E. Hinton said:
"Thanks Mike, I've enjoyed looking at your
site before. Glad you included me."
For more about her books and movies,
visit sehinton.com.
9/20/2005: A new, deluxe DVD release of
"The
Outsiders" has been released. According to S.E. Hinton (via an email
forwarded in July by Jenn at the
The
Outsiders Book and Movie site), the special features on it are fantastic.
Featurettes especially relevant to this site: "On Location with S.E. Hinton"
and "The Outsiders on Location".
How High Can A Guy Stoop?, is a candid, behind-the-scenes book
by former Tulsa TV reporter/anchor Mike Miller.
He had a part in Weird Al's immortal "UHF"
(shot in Tulsa). He co-hosted the Tulsa premiere of "The
Aristocrats" (reviewed on this site), a movie devoted to multiple
interpretations of the dirtiest joke ever told.
Barry currently guest-hosts KWGS' program, "Studio Tulsa" when not plying
his trade in person. He has been published in Esquire and other fine
publications. More at Barry's site.
Here's a book about lounge and Tiki records from Tulsa World writers John
Wooley (who interviewed yours truly a few years
ago), Thomas Conner and Mark Brown . It's a discography and price guide,
but has many sidebars, photos and album covers.
Yale, Oklahoma's Chet Baker is featured. Martin Denny, Esquivel, exotica,
spy jazz, TV soundtracks...all covered.
Casey Morgan told us: "For those of you who miss the Billy Parker /
John Wooley(visit his new web
site...webmaster) western swing show formerly on KVOO, you should know
that John is doing the show alone on KWGS now. It's called "Swing On This"
and it airs Saturday nights from 7 to 8 on 89.5 fm." It is an excellent show.
KWGS streams its broadcast on the internet,
so you needn't live in Tulsa to listen. John Wooley's documentary on Western
Swing,
"Still
Swingin'", is available from Amazon.com.
Finally, Weird Al's "UHF" is available in DVD! This movie was shot in
Tulsa in 1988, and much local talent was used. You can read all about it
on this site's UHF pages.
"The In Sound From Way Out" by composers/performers Gershon Kingsley
and Jean-Jacques Perrey was the electronic music used on "Mr. Zing and
Tuffy" and "Uncle Zeb's Cartoon Camp". The song, "Barnyard in
Orbit", is one I particularly remember. Click to hear RealPlayer samples
of the music.
A compilation, "The Essential Kingsley and Perrey", contains this album,
plus another Kingsley/Perrey album for the same price.
Carl Bartholomew (Uncle Zeb) said: Howdy, boys and girls...
Produced, directed, wrote, and played the lead in a straight to video feature,
Cole Justice, in 1988. Was in all Blockbuster
stores, 20 foreign countries and two schedules on Showtime and The Movie
Channel.
Read all about it and him in this 4/29/2007 Tulsa World story,
"'Plane'
and Simple", by John Wooley.
Carl will do a book signing Saturday noon, May 5, 2007 at Barnes & Noble,
5231 E. 41st St.
(from Guestbook 80) The webmaster said:
Just remembered a promo for Channel 8 in which Ramsey Lewis' version of
"The 'In' Crowd" was played over a sequence of old film clips. One particular
shot was of a young, full-trousered and tailed George Raft executing an odd,
graceful stepover dance step (possibly some form of tango) while conducting
with a baton. ...this was probably from the 1935 movie,
"Every Night at Eight" (the
movies being promoted were shown "every day on eight!")
Frances Langford
was a star of this movie. In 1994, she married Harold Stuart (former owner
of KVOO-TV/AM).
George Raft is also remembered for his signature coin-flipping gesture in
the original
"Scarface".
Extreme trivia: this Raoul Walsh-directed movie was cited by Andrew Sarris
in his influential article, "Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962", which was
subsequently lambasted by Pauline Kael in her essay, "Circles and Squares".
(from Guestbook 80) Steve "Dallas" Smith said:
Mike, I remember an ad like that as well... It
had the Channel 8 voiceover (Cy Tuma, was it?) saying, as a hodgepodge of
classic movie scenes flashed over 3/4 of the screen (with Raft's dance occupying
the remaining portion), "A Raft of great movies on Channel 8, by George!"
To this day, whenever I play "The 'In' Crowd"
(great tune), I think of that ad.
(from Guestbook 80) Don Lundy said:
Re: the George Raft promo. Some of Carl
Bartholomew's work circa 1973; the memorable spot promoted the Channel
8 Morning Movie, a collection of black and white titles.
(from Guestbook 81) Carl ("Uncle Zeb") Bartholomew
said:
How great that people still remember some of the promotional things we did
over the years. Here's a little background on, "Channel 8's Raft of Good
Movies" promo. It was one of the first things I ever did.
David Banks brought the movie, "Every Night At Eight," to my
attention thinking that maybe we could use that title to our (8's) advantage.
I viewed the film and found a scene of George Raft doing an ever-so-smooth
dance routine just to the left of frame. I think he was actually leading
a band to the right of screen, but he stayed to the left for at least 30
seconds and ended with a full twist and nod.
His position in the film was was most important because at the time (early
70's) we had no way of moving any video source around to where we ideally
would like for it to be. However, we could split the screen and insert a
second source to the right. In this case, the switching of this spot became
a major feat. In 30 seconds, Glen Blake had to roll film chains, take at
least 4-5 studio camera shots (live, light-box graphic shots) and make it
all sync-up to the Ramsey Lewis hit, "The In Crowd." with me yelling, "Take
it! Take it!" It probably doesn't sound like much now, but then we thought
it was a monumental achievement.
I talked with Glen last night and he did recall the spot and the tag line
as voiced by Cy Tuma: "Channel 8...a Raft of Good Movies...by George."
"Mississippi Burning" features one of Gailard Sartain's best dramatic
performances to date.
Finally available again on video: cult classic "Hollywood Knights" with Gailard
Sartain! Somewhere between American Graffiti and Animal House, but it stands
on its own as a comedy. GS appears in several of the "Ernest" movies as well!
Gary Busey starred in "The Buddy Holly Story", for which he received
an Academy Award nomination (and won Best Actor from the National Society
of Film Critics). Look for Gailard Sartain as "The Big Bopper"!
"Carny" is another good Gary Busey movie. His performance as the
insulting "Bozo" at the carnival is somewhat
reminiscent of his Teddy Jack Eddy days.
Leon Russell's "Will O' The Wisp" album sports a cover painted
by Gailard Sartain.
(from Guestbook 72) Erick Church said:
Just read Bob Losure's book, "Five Seconds to Air".
What a great read!
Lots of stories and pics from his days at KRMG and KOTV.
Me and Ted Against the World:
The Unauthorized Story of the Founding of CNN
by Reese Schonfeld, Chris Chase...
Mike Bruchas said, "Great anecdotes!
TTM contributor John Hillis is mentioned at least 8 times in the book!"
Steve Zabriskie (The Big "Z") has written a book: Be A
Hitter!
Daddy A Go Go - Former KTUL and CNN
producer John Boydston now creates rock and roll music CDs for kids. But
no boring "I love you, you love me" to drive parents to distraction; this
is power pop influenced by the Beatles and surf music.
"Big Rock Rooster" is reviewed on this site by
Wilhelm Murg.
"Mojo A Go Go" poses a Tulsa TV question in musical form: "Where in the World
is Sasha Foo?"
The covers of "Monkey in the Middle" , "Mojo A Go Go", and "Eat Every Bean
and Pea on Your Plate" were painted by Gailard
Sartain! The latter made Amazon.com's
Top
Ten Best Kids CDs of 2006.
Reader Bob Shelton remembered "Quiet Village"
as the 1st Fantastic Theater theme. Martin Denny's version is a classic of
the late 50s/early 60s "Exotica" genre. But I seem to remember KRMG's
Johnny Martin saying that composer Les Baxter's
version was the one used.
Click to hear RealPlayer samples of the music.
(from Guestbook 1, 3/6/1999) The webmaster asked:
Maybe you can help me...there was a late night movie show on OKC TV around
1974 (I was attending OU at the time) that featured some tinkly cocktail
music during breaks from the movie. It had a host and either a car dealer
or jewelry store owner as the sponsor. Do you remember that?
Erick Church responded:
I remember what you're talking about, Mike. That movie special was called
Trust House Theatre, and was hosted by a husband and wife team that owned,
you guessed it, Trust House Jewelry. That show ran through the late 80's
on various OKC stations, and they still occasionally buy time to host movies.
(from Guestbook 8) Mike Bruchas said:
Trust House
Jewelry in OKC! I can never remember their real names - Jeff Midkiff who
grew up in OKC and worked with me at 34, called the husband and his wife
-- Snakeman and Voodoo Woman. They were staples of WKY-KTVY every Sunday
night. Some of the movies weren't that bad. Then KGMC got them for other
nights of the week and I directed their "bits" for "rolling into the movies".
In the days of tube cameras - showing off flashy jewelry could burn VERY
expensive camera tubes - so we were careful. Their jewelry store was fancy
but seemed like folks that wanted to show off fancy jewelry shopped there
(the big hair and gold chain set).
(from Guestbook 67) Patrick Bryant said:
Ah, Nite Owl Movie, brought to you by Trust House Jewelers, with Jim and
Gloria Berkey. They used to bring the biggest, glitteriest diamond rings
out to the station. "Paved in diamond property".
(from Guestbook 182) Mike Bruchas said:
We also did some TRUST HOUSE inserts that aired in 34's late night weekend
movies. Jim and his wife were okay and though we had been told that "Snakeman
and Voodoo Woman" were a pain to work with.
(from Guestbook 63, 12/5/2000) The webmaster
exclaimed:
The Trust House music is on the video that Steve Smith sent me, used as
background for a Cy Tuma signoff!
Mike, the music KTUL played during that signoff was a old Henry Mancini tune
called "Dreamsville". My folks were big fans
of his during his heyday and I have all manner of pleasant memories connected
with his music.
"Dreamsville" is from the
album, "Music
from Peter Gunn" (with Johnny "Star Wars" Williams on cocktail piano).
Click on the image to hear a RealAudio sample of the song (or to buy the
CD). This is an atmospheric slice of cocktail/noir.
2/14/2001: I just got back from a great Caribbean cruise. While we were
in the Normandie room on the M.S. Paradise listening to some music before
dinner, the orchestra segued into "Dreamsville".
(from Guestbook 160)
The webmaster said:
I just made a discovery while listening for the first time to Henry Mancini's
"Music
from Mr. Lucky/Mr. Lucky Goes Latin" CD . The tune "March of The Cue
Balls" is music I've strongly associated with Channel 6 in the 60s. I recall
it being used to get into and out of commercials, etc. You can hear an excerpt
of it on Amazon's listing for
The
Best of Mancini.
The only published, fully documented, first-person account of America's deadliest
race riot; written at the time by survivors and reporters, and transcribed
from Maurice Willows' collection of original pictures, newspaper clipping,
letters and documents. Mr.Willows was brought from St. Louis as the Director
of Red Cross Relief, and was Bob Hower's grandfather.
(from Guestbook 103) The webmaster said:
Just got permission from David Halpern
to show you his photograph of the KVOO radio transmitter
site from his book "Tulsa Art Deco". I've put it on a separate page for
best viewing. It's somewhat large (246K).
(from Guestbook 246) The webmaster said:
Michael Hardeman ("Michael Evans" on KRAV,
KELi, and KWEN-95 in the top 40 days) has
a new book out:
Oklahoma
Wonder and Light.
From Amazon: "This photographic journey showcases some of Oklahoma's
most scenic landmarks—such as the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains, the
Great Salt Plains, Turner Falls, and Red Rock Canyon—as well as more
intimate views of this remarkable state."
Thought some of you might be interested in a newly started project taking
a look at historically significant abandoned or forgotten buildings in Tulsa.
The author, Tim Hollis, clearly used Tulsa TV Memories as a primary source
for material and contacts, but he came up with a
few shows I still hadn't heard of by 2005!
I wrote an article about the 1969-70 Michael Parks TV series, "Then Came
Bronson", for Billy Ingram's great
TVparty! web site in
1999. (Here is the article on this site; I've
added a lot of extras to it since then).
Billy has now written a TVparty book (with a bonus CD-ROM of video!)
He was nice enough to give me a credit in it.
Hal Lifson feels that 1966 was a watershed year for pop culture. Check out
his densely-illustrated book and see if you don't agree.
Carl Bartholomew has a written a new family chapter book:
David Banks brought the movie, "Every Night At Eight," to my
attention thinking that maybe we could use that title to our (8's) advantage.
I viewed the film and found a scene of George Raft doing an ever-so-smooth
dance routine just to the left of frame. I think he was actually leading
a band to the right of screen, but he stayed to the left for at least 30
seconds and ended with a full twist and nod.
Trust House
Jewelry in OKC! I can never remember their real names - Jeff Midkiff who
grew up in OKC and worked with me at 34, called the husband and his wife
-- Snakeman and Voodoo Woman. They were staples of WKY-KTVY every Sunday
night. Some of the movies weren't that bad. Then KGMC got them for other
nights of the week and I directed their "bits" for "rolling into the movies".
In the days of tube cameras - showing off flashy jewelry could burn VERY
expensive camera tubes - so we were careful. Their jewelry store was fancy
but seemed like folks that wanted to show off fancy jewelry shopped there
(the big hair and gold chain set).
