An Idiot Comes to Oklahoma

So "An Idiot Abroad" is a British travel/comedy show produced by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.  The premise seems to be that they send their buddy Karl Pilkington on wacky adventures across the globe.  I've seen exactly one episode of it so I might not have the best grasp of it.  The second season has a "Bucket List" theme and, as you've probably guessed, it includes a stop in Oklahoma.

This episode's item on Pilkington's Bucket List was to drive Route 66.  He started on the Santa Monica end and most of the episode focuses on the western portion of the Mother Road.  The Brits seemed quite taken with the Western motifs of the culture so there was a lot of shots of cacti as our protagonist did American things like panning for gold, shooting guns and hanging out at a hippie commune.

But there was also a stop in the Sooner State to see the Catoosa Blue Whale.  Since most of the episode took place in California (and possibly Arizona) they never mentioned Oklahoma by name.  If they had, the audience might have noticed they were seeing roadside sights out of order.

He's a deadpan kind of guy but I think he liked the whale...in a way.  He was interested that it was built as an anniversary present by Hughes Davis to his wife but also concerned that future anniversary presents would most likely pale in comparison. 

Other than a few more shots from the road (including the shot above in Chelsea), that's pretty much it for Oklahoma.  Pilkington moves on to hang out with with some Amish folks and do some stunt flying in an American flag emblazoned plane. 

There were only a few minutes of screen time for Oklahoma but I think we made a good impression on our friends across the pond.  Maybe the whale can expect a few more Brits to stop by and say hi. 

As a bonus, here's a look at the Blue Whale's cameo on this season of the ABC comedy "The Goldbergs":

Top 5 Smokey Bear

Previously: 

Top 5 at the Dick Tracy Headquarters  - -  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

Beaver's Bend State Park in the southeastern part of the state is in the middle of a heavily forested area that has been a big part of the lumber industry for years.  That industry, and its history, is celebrated at the park's museum.  Several displays include large murals painted by artist Harry Rossoll.  If you don't recognize the name, you'll definitely recognize his most famous creation:

Since good ol' Smokey Bear fits right in with the Forest Heritage themes of the museum, they have a display of Smokey memorabilia.  I'm a sucker for advertising mascots (like the Michelin Man I spotted in Ardmore) so, as I sometimes do, I decided to rank them in a Top Five List.  Let's get started with...

5.  The True Story of Smokey Bear Comic

I've covered this comic before on another blog but I think it's worth mentioning here.  Several product mascots have appeared in comic format before (although not nearly enough) but this one chronicles real life events that led to the Smokey Phenomena.  It's a great piece of an American legacy.

4.  Smokey & His Friends One Act Play Kit

I've never been a huge theater guy but I'd love to see a production of this.  I'm guessing it would be kids in cardboard cutout masks portraying various woodland creatures with an overall message of "Don't light stuff on fire" and that's really all it would need to be.

3.  Little Golden Book

Slight breach of etiquette here with the inclusion of "the" in Smokey's name but the Little Golden Book franchise is legendary and being included is quite the feather in his famous hat.  I've never seen the Pillsbury Doughboy or the Green Giant in one of these things (even though I'd love to) so Smokey is breathing rarefied air.

2.  Sheet Music

Smokey is not the only ad icon to have his own theme song but he may be the only one with a song that has four verses.  Gather round the piano with the rest of the choir and belt out the Ballad of Smokey...what could be better?

1.  Special Edition Doll

Look at this thing!  I wish there was something in the shot for perspective to show how big it is.  It's pretty good size, maybe slightly smaller than a Chucky doll (for lack of a better comparison).  I don't have any real info on it other than it's a "Special Edition," but it's clearly the star of the display.

Smokey's had a long and distinguished career and his influence has spread to a variety of mediums.  These few examples are hopefully just the beginning of of an even longer influence for years to come.

Hiking With Dinosaurs

Previously:

The Adventures of Jurassic Pet  - -  Where the Red Fern Grows  

Possums  - -  Thunderstruck  - -  Bringing Up Bobby

 

 Oklahoma filmmaker Ryan Bellgardt's entry into to the world of cinema in 2018 was the scifi/action film "Jurassic Games."  It takes place in a semi-futuristic world that lets violent criminals have a chance at freedom by taking part in a virtual reality game involving running from dinosaurs in Oklahoma state parks.

Okay, so the plot doesn't involve state parks but the production definitely did.  I spotted Little Sahara and (possibly) Red Rock Canyon being used as locations but one of the most noticeable was Robbers Cave State Park near Wilburton.   

The park is located in the eastern part of the state and used to be a hiding spot for outlaws like Belle Starr and Jesse James but in this movie it was the home of raptors, giant spiders and vicious trilobites.  However the park's unmistakable exposed rock outcrops remained the same.  So, like any normal person I tried to match up some of the rocks to some of the shots in the movie.  Let's see how I did:

One of the game playing convicts is accosted by his fellow bad guys in a little grotto area.  This is not too far from the beginning of the park's main hike and it's a nice little area surrounded by steep rock cliffs.  Notice the slanted crack in the rock behind the character and the two trees.  Those are good markers if you want to find the spot yourself.

These friendly little guys coming to bite the heads off the film's cast were perched atop some fallen boulders found not too far from the first spot.  So if you'd like to hop around pretending to be a computer generated raptor, look for the twin trees.

Near the beginning of the hiking trail there's a narrow crack in the rocks you have to traverse to get to the rest of the trail.  It's gets so tight that some of the more claustrophobic visitors might have some issues.  But it opens up into a wider area after a short walk.  I think I got the location right in my pic based on the curve of the rock but I'm not 100% sure.

So those are the movie star rocks I could find.  Feel free to go on your own rock hunt.  But check out the movie first.  You might be able to find it in a Red Box or maybe just buy the DVD and support Oklahoma film.  The more movies that film here, the more blog entries I can do.  That's win/win.

I Visited Belle Starr's Grave

Belle Starr, the Outlaw Queen, made her way into the pantheon of legendary wild west bandits by living an exciting life and having a series of outlandish adventures, some of which are actually true.  Yes, like many legends, most of her exploits began, not from a six-shooter's flow of bullets but rather, from the flow of ink of a writer's quill.

But tall tales beget fame and fame begets monuments.  The picture above is a statue of the notorious highwaywoman that can be found at the Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary near Bartlesville. It's impressive but it's not the only place in Oklahoma to remember the infamous rogue.  Her final resting place is near Stigler, close to the Lake Eufaula dam but you need to make a little effort to find it.  So let's take a look.

The first thing to know is that the grave is on private property so when you go, don't be douchey.  That essentially means don't trash the place.  The owners maintain a great trail that leads to the grave.  It starts at the end of their driveway and has signage instructing visitors where to go.  It's also conveniently near a historic marker.

According to the marker, it looks like the Canadian River used to pass through this area and it was home to Belle and her husband.  The outlaw life doesn't necessarily end tidily so only Belle made it back home to be interred.  And to see her final resting place, you need to head down the trail.

There are plenty of signs along the path.  Many of them warn about spiders and snakes and there are lots of "Enter at Your Own Risk" signs.  That may seem a little hostile but it's probably just the owners protecting themselves from liability.  Remember, they don't have to make their private property accessible, they're essentially just doing it to be nice.  And they did a great job on the trail.  It's an easy-to-follow short hike.

And here it is...you can see there's a fairly elaborate headstone and that she's interred above ground.  Like many graves, past visitors have left mementos like dollars, shotgun shells, trinkets, but mostly coins.  I've seen this before at other historic grave sites and I assume it's just good old fashioned "paying tribute."

I didn't stay long and I didn't want to disturb anything.  The dead need their rest.  So I headed back down the trail (only getting lost once) and was back in the car in no time headed off for my next adventure.  One that would surely pale in comparison to the those of the Outlaw Queen...

On Location: Possums

Previously:

The Adventures of Jurassic Pet  - -  Where the Red Fern Grows

Thunderstruck  - -  Bringing Up Bobby

Nowata is the quintessential Oklahoma small town.  Located in the northeast part of the state, it's biggest claim to fame for years was that guy's "bowling ball art" he displayed in his yard.  But fate finally came a' callin' when the 1998 film "Possums" cast the town to play itself.

The movie stars country music singer Mac Davis as the radio announcer for the town's high school football team.  When the school cancels the football program (the "Possums") due to lack of funds, Mac continues to announce imaginary games every Friday night.  The town get swept up in the fake games and wackiness ensues.

Of course, the fun part for me is checking out the town to see how much it has changed from the time of the movie's production.  You can see above that the town's mural has faded since the vibrant 90s.  The town has the standard "small town look" and if you drive around Oklahoma as much as I do, they all start to blend together.  But I was able to match a few buildings I saw.

You can see the Nowata County courthouse in the background in a few scenes.  Most of downtown gets shown off throughout the film.  But since it's a football movie the main location is the High School football field.

So the fake games of the fake team eventually go to the fake State Championship and win!  Since the fake games became so popular, word spreads to the actual State Champs and they're not happy.  So they all pile into the school bus and head to Nowata.  Check out who plays the coach:

Yep, that's legendary OU football coach Barry Switzer as the coach of "Prattville Pirates."  As far as acting goes, he does a pretty good job.  It's a small part but he did well enough that I'm surprised he didn't do more acting.  The only other things I've seen him in include a cameo in Oliver Stone's "Any Given Sunday" (as an announcer) and as himself in an episode of the OKC-based series "Saving Grace."

Well, the Pirates challenge the nonexistent Possums to a game to decide what's what, so Mac Davis and his pals have to scramble to get a team together.  Eventually they play and one of them wins.  It all seems to work out...roll credits.  It's not a bad little movie.  But it's definitely a great claim to fame for a small town.

OKPOP Groundbreaking

The OKPOP museum is scheduled to open in Tulsa sometime in late 2021 and last week the Oklahoma History Society had their ceremonial groundbreaking.  I was able to be there along with other press, various dignitaries and a collection of fellow Oklahoma cultural enthusiasts.

The windy day included speakers like Governor Stitt (who, upon mispronouncing Bob Wills' name, was promptly corrected by many in the crowd), Lt. Governor Pinnell, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and one of the Hanson brothers (you have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing right).

After the surprisingly large number of speakers, the dais of dignitaries, construction company executives, historians, and one pop star (you guess yet?) wore their Golden Driller helmets and brandished their guitar shaped shovels (both nice touches, I thought) and gathered around the ceremonial dirt for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

They were joined by family members of Oklahoma honorees like Archie Goodwin's son and Roy Clark's widow and, to the tune of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oklahoma," they proceeded to...

...move some dirt around...I guess?  It was all ceremonial, as most groundbreakings are these days, so no actual digging was required.  But this was the first groundbreaking I had ever been to so I was into it and glad to be there.  Now all we have to do is wait for the building to be built and maybe I can get some sweet ribbon cutting footage!

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.