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Previously: "An Idiot Abroad" Comes to Oklahoma

In 2008 British actor and comedian Stephen Fry decided to hop in his London cab and drive across America, seeing all 50 states in the process.  That was the premise of the BBC mini-series "Stephen Fry in America."  When he reached the middle of the country (around the middle of the series) he took some time to explore Oklahoma City.

His first stop was at the Oklahoma City Salvation Army where he discussed the every-growing need for the charitable organization.  Speaking with some of the staff, he learned how common it was becoming for their assistance to be sought by families in the area.

 
A tour of the Salvation Army facilities was given by "Heidi" who had another gig that led to Stephen's next stop.  I'm not exactly sure which restaurant this is but the outside boldly proclaims "Shishkabob Restaurant."

Honestly I'm not positive if that's the name of the place or just part of the advertising.  I Googled and couldn't find a place called "Shishkabob" and I guess I'm too culinary boring to have eaten there.   But "Heidi the Salvation Army Lady" has been there and made a special appearance performing a belly dancing routine.

 

 

She breaks down some of the misconceptions of the art with Stephen and does plenty of demonstrations of the dance involving swords, gyrations and whatnot.   She also explains the distinctions between belly dancing and exotic dancing and where exactly patrons should place their tips on her person.  So...you know...pretty educational.

 

Next up: it's rodeo time!  It's not specifically mentioned which rodeo this is or if Stephen is still in Oklahoma City but he continues to maintain the "stranger in a strange land" fascination with what us locals might consider to be mundane.  

The focus of interest on this rodeo wasn't bronc busting or bull riding but on mutton busting.  A few rides were shown with determined tykes bound to stay on their steeds.  I can imagine the British TV audience scratching their heads in bewilderment.  

And that was all the time that could be spent in the Sooner State.  Stephen headed down south to Texas next to explore the Houston socialite scene.  With only six hour-long episodes, there wasn't a lot of time to stay in one place but I think some Okie pride came across to folks across the pond.

Top 5 Things For Sale at the Frontier City Gift Shop

Previously:

New World Comic Con  - -  Antiques Etc.  - -  Choctaw Welcome Center 

Sam Noble Museum Gift Shop  - -  Cherokee Trading Post  - -  Cloverleaf

Frontier City recently finished up their summer season but they're already prepping for their Halloween brouhaha.  I was out there recently shooting some footage (and dodging the rain) and when I was exiting through the gift shop, I remembered it's been awhile since I did one of these "Top 5 For Sale" list.  So with that uninspired preamble, here we go...

5.  Sweat Pants

This one may seem a little mundane but that's kind of the point.  I just can't imagine anyone buying sweat pants at an amusement park gift shop.  It's almost like it's both too big of a purchase yet too small of a purchase all at the same time.  "Those rides were super fun but now I want to pick up some sweat pants at the gift shop before we go home."  And if buying sweat pants at the gift shop is actually very common, please don't tell me.  I prefer to live in my own delusions.

4.  Bigfoot Magnet

Yeah, I know.  I keep beating the Bigfoot drum but no one else seems all that interested.  But Oklahoma really needs to play up its relationship to the mythical monster.  I'd like to see sightings increase and a flood of new Bigfoot related attractions across the state...or at least along Route 66.

3.  Frontier City Snow Globe

And speaking of the Mother Road, nothing says "old school kitschy souvenir" like the gold ol' snow globe.  Sure, the inside might contain a somewhat generic Ferris Wheel but the base is totally branded with a Frontier City vibe.  That lettering is definitely raised and that takes effort!  Effort I appreciate.

2.  Rainbow Squid Hat

Hats go in and out of style on all the time and non-fashion forward folks like myself can never keep up.  It's times like these when it's necessary to take a sledgehammer to the social customs of the day.  And that's where our colorful friends comes in.  He fits comfortably between, "I crave attention" and "I NEED attention."

1.  Dark Bison T-Shirt

Everything in the world is happening on this shirt.  An Oklahoma bison dressed just like Batman except not enough to have to pay for the rights to the character!  Is this a recurring character in Frontier City canon?  I don't know.  And it not only glows in the dark, it "High Def" glows in the dark!  What does that mean?  I don't know.  But it's the wise man who admits there is much he does NOT know...possibly.

Well those are my picks this time.  And the most important thing to remember here is: if you've bought sweat pants at a theme park gift shop, please don't tell me.

Top 5 Things for Sale at NWCC

Previous "Top 5 For Sale" Lists:

Antiques Etc.  - -  Choctaw Welcome Center - -  Sam Noble Museum Gift Shop

Cherokee Trading Post  - -  Cloverleaf

The fourth annual New World Comic Con was held yesterday in the Centennial Building at State Fair Park in OKC.  It was a great event that incorporated cosplay, kid's games and local artists.  And like all cons, there were a ton of vendors.  Since they mainly seemed to be from Oklahoma I thought it would be a great time to do another "Top 5 Things for Sale" list, so let's see what I found:

5.  Dick Tracy Collector's Case (Chris' Vault)

Dick Tray has Oklahoma roots since his creator, Chester Gould, was born in Pawnee.  The character has existed for decades put got his biggest marketing push when the 1990 movie was released.  The toys didn't do too well and now items from that line are sought after collectibles by fans.  Here's the collector's case for those hard to track down action figures.

4.  Geeky Pot Holders (Two Clover Charms)

I'm always happy to see custom made items for sale at conventions, particularly when they're functional and used in nontraditional geek settings like the kitchen.  There were other franchises represented besides Star Wars so you could probably find your particular favorite.  Throw in the fact that these babies come with a package of cookie mix and I'm all in.

3.  Rare Droids Figures (Valhalla Collectibles)

I didn't want to do two Star Wars items in a row, but here we are.  This is good example of finding something unique that you didn't know you wanted.  The Droids had a short lived Saturday morning cartoon in the 80s and these two were only available in Spain.  They can fetch a pretty good price on eBay so it's always nice to run into our boys in the wild.

2.  Geeky Kids' Dresses (Warehouse RoyGBiv)

Another great custom item.  These outfits feature the old standards like Wonder Woman, Batman Ninja Turtles, the Avengers and a few that are maybe more about the parents like E.T. and The Walking Dead.  Definitely what the well dressed mini-geek is wearing.

1. Comics!!! (New World Comics)

These days it's kind of cliche to lament the state of comics at comic book conventions but at this one they were well represented.  New World had multiple tables containing box after box of comics in the center of the floor, all for $1.  This groovy issue of Jimmy Olsen wasn't in the dollar section but for Sliver Age shenanigans I'm always willing to shell out a few bucks more.

So there are my top picks.  Only slightly less than a year (probably) until the fifth annual NWCC.  See you there...

The Oklahoma Ape Escape of '44

Previously:

Thor in Oklahoma  - -   The Twilight Avenger in Tulsa

It's time to take a look back at Captain Marvel's visit to Oklahoma City.  It was 1944 and the day started off in the most normal, mundane way: a clown was trying to commit suicide by leaping to his death.  (Mondays, amitite?)

Well that's all it took for young Billy Batson to say the magic word and transform himself into Captain Marvel, the world's mightiest mortal.  The Captain immediately proceeded to go about the business of clown catching only to be told that it he was not stopping a suicide but responding to a super responsible way of getting someone's attention.  So who is this clown?

Now this is where things get interesting.  The clown identifies himself as Zoo Keeper/Radio Personality "Uncle Leo" and of course the Captain recognizes a fellow broadcaster...but I didn't.  Not until I did a little research and discovered that Uncle Leo was a real guy:

(From "Images of America Oklahoma City Zoo: 1902 - 1959," Arcadia Publishing)

I assume there was some kind of cross-promotion going on at the time with radio stations and Fawcett Comics but I haven't found any confirmation yet.

But I did find some exposition a few panels later as Leo explains that a gorilla named Colossus has escaped from the Lincoln Park Zoo (now known as the Oklahoma City Zoo).  There's also apparently an "armed posse" out to get the gorilla because that's the kind of thing that happens I guess.  So it's up to the super strong and near invulnerable Captain Marvel to safely bring the great ape in.

So the search is on...

...starting with the Civic Auditorium (now known as the Civic Center Music Hall)...

...and then the Skirvin Tower (now the Skirvin Hilton Hotel)...

...Union Station (now known as Oklahoma City Union Depot)...

...the Lincoln Park Amphitheatre (now known as the Oklahoma City Zoo Amphitheatre)...and culminating in an exciting King Kong-style denouement atop an oil derrick at...

...the State Capitol building.  Captain Marvel used the Wisdom of Solomon to outsmart the beast and, in doing so, procured himself an attaboy from the Mayor:

It all worked out with a minimum of shenanigans and with Colossus heading back to the zoo with visions of candy canes dancing in his head.  Is it okay to give candy to gorillas?  The clown zookeeper DJ seems to think so.  And that's good enough for me.

The last panel features young Billy saying they have an adventure planned in Indianapolis next month so this must be in a series highlighting various American cities (not unlike Sad Sack visiting select U.S. states).  But that's a job for the guy who does the Indiana Pop Culture blog.

On Location: Thunderstruck

It's not uncommon for professional athletes to make the transition into acting. Sometimes it turns into a prosperous second career and sometimes...you get movies like Thunderstruck. The 2012 film was legendary baller Kevin Durant's foray into movie stardom and featured the OKC Thunder in all their glory (kind of). So let's pop the top off this can of Pringles:

A fair amount of the movie was shot in Arkansas but since it takes place in Oklahoma City hey made sure to include some obvious local settings.  The most obvious, of course, is Chesapeake Energy Arena.  Plenty of game scenes were shot there:

The story is essentially your basic body-swap-without-a-body-swap story.  Young Brian is an Oklahoma high school student with dreams of being a basketball star but no actual talent.  After getting the opportunity to try to sink a basket from half court during a game, Brian screws it up monumentally and is consoled by KD.  And that's when this Friday gets freaky:

For no apparent reason they switch basketball ability.  Brian becomes incredible talented while Durant starts to play like a high school bench warmer.  As you can imagine, wacky hijinks ensue.  Instead of breaking down the plot (or "plot") let's take a quick look at the few Oklahoma filming locations they used, like this shot outside the Chesapeake Arena exterior:

Later in the film there's a nice establishing shot of downtown that shows crane work being done on the Devon Energy Center.   It was under construction from around 2009 to around 2012 with the cranes arriving around 2010 giving us a nice little time capsule moment for the movie.

Toward the end of the movie our hero Brian hastily heads over the bridge into the Bricktown area on his way to swap back b-ball powers with KD and you get a nice little look at the area:

Once he gets there it's time to de-magic the magic.  But who was the sinister fiend behind the curse this whole time?  It occurs to the guys that the switch first happened after the basketball bounced off Rumble the Mascot's head so they recreate the incident:

Yep, Rumble was apparently (perhaps unknowingly) the mastermind behind this entire voodoo dumpster fire.  At least the guys got their payback.  That monstrous, cheer mongering prairie dweller will think twice before he curses an NBA legend and some rando kid.

So after that, both of the guys win their respective games (spoiler warning, I guess) and we all learned some kind of valuable lesson...The End.  (Also, Jim Belushi was in this movie.)

 

On Location: Bringing Up Bobby

"Bringing Up Bobby" was a fairly unsuccessful independent film from 2011 starring Milla Jovovich and Bill Pullman.  It was written and directed by former X-Man Famke Janssen but, most importantly, it was filmed in Oklahoma...which is essentially the only reason it got my attention.

The cast and crew utilized several locations in the Sooner State so if you end up watching it, at the very least, you can have fun spotting the Oklahoma locations.  In fact, let's do that now, starting with this great big cross:

The beginning of the movie tries to set the tone by showing off this big boy.  You can see it along I-35 at the Life.Church in Edmond.  Next up, our characters decided to get some dinner at a very familiar location along Route 66 (and not too far from the church):

Yep, that's Pop's 66 Soda Ranch in Arcadia, the world famous locale that sells over 700 different kinds of soda.  I guess the crew couldn't resist such a unique looking exterior and they couldn't stop at just one because right down the Mother Road they shot a scene at...

...the historic Arcadia Round Barn.  It's one of the few round barns in the U.S. and has lasted (in various states of repair and disrepair) for over 100 years.  It's currently a tourist attraction and rents out their "Upstairs Loft" for events, which we get to see in the movie:

After a while, the film moves away from the showy tourist attractions and towards the showy office buildings in downtown Oklahoma City.  Here's the office of one of the main characters:

Leadership Square houses tons of businesses and is recognizable by the red sculpture "Galaxy" outside.  These are only a few of the locations the film utilizes.  If you catch it on TV, keep your eyes open and maybe you'll see some places you recognize.