Thursday, July 20, 2017

Top 5 at the Oklahoma History Center

Previously:



The Oklahoma History Center has multiple floors filled with artifacts and exhibits chronicling Oklahoma's distant and not so distant past.  Beautiful Native American artwork sits side by side with a Jim Thorpe Wheaties box.  Well, maybe not side by side but the collection is very eclectic and very far reaching.

But since this blog is "Oklahoma Pop Culture," I decided to make this Top 5 List a list of the best Pop Culture items on display...or rather the five pop culture items I liked when I saw them on my last visit.  So without further ado...

5.  Pokey Hand Puppet


We may all be a little too young to remember the HoHo the Clown show (or various KOCO-TV shows) but several decades ago HoHo and his sidekick Pokie (along with a huge rotating cast of characters) would be welcomed into the homes of Oklahoman baby boomers via black and white TV.  While HoHo may have gone to that big circus in the sky, Pokie, in all his homemade sock puppet glory, remains on display.

4. One of Roy Clark's Outfits


Singer, actor, musician and favorite son of Oklahoma, Roy Clark, was many things.  But first and foremost, he was a showmen.  So flamboyant outfits like this one were in the regular rotation during his time co-hosting "Hee Haw" (hey kids, go ask your parents what Hee Haw was...you won't regret it) or at one of his many live musical performances.

3.  Decades Old Sonic Bag


It's always nice to see something that was meant to be thrown in the trash actually be preserved.  It's the mundane pieces of memorabilia that really help to paint a picture of day to day life in the past.  I think this is from the 60's but I'm positive that its previous owner had the foresight to realize that in the future people would want to look at a sandwich bag in a museum.  Good job, old school Sonic customer!

2.  89ers TV Cards


These days when you watch a game on TV there are any number of technological advancements that allow you to immerse yourself in the competition.  But back when the Dodgers where known as the 89ers, the TV station had to literally hold up cards like these in front of the camera to advertise ticket sales.  We've come a long way...now the NFL has their own robot.

1.  3-D Danny Costume


Well, we started with a local kid's TV show and we'll end with one.  3D Danny (Dan D. Dynamo) was the alter ego of Oklahoma broadcaster Danny Williams who portrayed the standard 50's scifi hero that had adventures and was friends with a robot.  His cool super suit remains as inspiration for today's youth who would also like to befriend a robot some day.

This is just a surface scratching assembly of the huge collection of Okie memorabilia on display at the center.  When you get a chance go stop by and make your own Top 5 List.  Tell 'em 3D Danny sent you.


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