Top 5 at the Dick Tracy Headquarters

Previously:

Top 5 at the CRC Car Show

Top 5 at the Banjo Museum  - -  Top 5 at the Harryhausen Exhibit

Top 5 at the Oklahoma History Center  - -  Top 5 at the Museum of Osteology

Legendary lawman Dick Tracy originally flowed from the pen of Pawnee, Oklahoma native Chester Gould.  The creation of the prolific cartoonist started in the funny pages but ended up on radio, TV, movies, and tons of toys & memorabilia.  Pawnee celebrates their favorite son with a annual festival and a museum on the town square.  Since I stopped by recently I thought it'd give it the ol' "Top 5" treatment so here's the Top 5 pieces of memorabilia on display at the Dick Tracy HQ:

5. Dick Tracy NES Game

I'm not a big video game guy but I did have a Nintendo back in the day.  This guy is from 1990 and seems like it would tie in to the Warren Beatty movie but according to a 30 second Google research session, it was more about the comic strip.  There were car chases & crime solving aplenty in 8 bit glory as Tracy joined Mario & Link in the NES pantheon.

4.  Secret Code Maker

Tracy saw way too much action for his team to rely on just a Decoder Ring.  This vintage beauty let Baby Boomer kids create uncrackable codes to update their crime fighting friends and bedevil their felonious foes.  Imagine what little Ralphie from "A Christmas Story" could do, locked away in his bathroom, with this thing!  Little Orphan who?

3.  Pawnee Police Dept Patch

According to Dodie, the nice lady working at the museum that day, the town's police actually do wear this patch as a part of their uniform.  It makes me wonder if there are other police departments in the country that have a fictional character as a part of their uniform.  I'd like to think Pawnee's finest like the idea of continuing Tracy's work.

2.  2-Way Wristwatch

Dick Tracy's #1 gadget is the 2-Way Radio Wristwatch.  It's one of the first examples of a recurring tech gadget in popular fiction and the museum staff is happy to point to it as a precursor to the Apple Watch.  Other than the hat/coat and square jaw, it's probably the most well known part of the character.

1.  Chester Gould Original Art

If you're going to celebrate an artist, you're gonna need some art.  The HQ has several examples of it on display.  They've also got original newspaper comic strips, old sketches and other examples of Gould's creativity.  It's a great way to get to a good look old school Oklahoma artwork.

Crime Busting Collection

One of the more unique museums in Oklahoma can be found in Pauls Valley.  The Toy & Action Figure Museum houses every kind of super hero, villain, monster and cartoon character that has ever been immortalized in plastic.

It's also home to the Oklahoma Cartoonist Collection which honors the surprising number of cartoonists and comic book artists that were from (or lived in) Oklahoma.  One of the most famous honorees is Chester Gould, creator of comic strip character Dick Tracy.  At my last visit they had a small exhibit dedicated to Dick Tracy memorabilia:

The character has been around since the early 1930's and has appeared in numerous different types of media ranging from newspaper strips to film serials to animation.  The character's biggest hit was probably the 1990 Warren Beatty movie.  A lot of this collection was released in conjunction with that film but there are some other older pieces as well:

    

 

Dick Tracy has been around long enough to be one of those characters that has staying power.  And with the constant rebooting and rehashing of franchises, it's only a matter of time before this hero with Oklahoma origins returns to a screen near you.