Oklahoma Today Volume 41 Issue 6

52 Pages·1991·10.7 MB·English

by  Oklahoma Today

A N A N T I Q U E M A L L S P L U R G E

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Holiday Lament
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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA

November-December 1991 Vol. 41, No. 6
THE RANCH THAT FRANK BUILT
Will Rogers once said Woolaroc "is the most unique place in the United States." Now
a new book lends credence to the claim. By Jeanne M. Deulin, photographs by Jerry
Poppenhouse
THE ANTIQUE MALL ODYSSEY 16
Shopping malls have finally caught up with the past, making bargain-hunting for
antiques and collectibles the newest way to get malled. By Suzette Brmer,photographs
by Scotr Andenen
A COWBOY'S CHRISTMAS 23
Sometimes twelve gifts in twelve days isn't all it's cracked up to be. By Baxter Black,
i/lustration by Keuin Garrison
THE WELL-CONSIDERED BOOKSTORE 30
This is one bookstore where the joys of reading aren't reserved for the intellect alone.
From the fragrant air to the polished floor underneath, Full Circle engages all your
senses. By RawM anh, photographs by Joseph Mills
KEEPING CHRISTMAS 3.4-
Land runs made central Ti3 4'7p3 r3
Oklahoma a ~lacweh ere dozens
I

ofcultures biended. Ahundred
years later, German, Mexican,
and British traditions still

thrive. By Kman Goff-Parker,

photographs by bymi W.Mame/
Page 24 Page 20
ONE ON ONE 4
IN SHORT 5
LETTERS 6
OMNIBUS 0' Cedar Tree, by Barbara Palmer 7
PORTFOLIO Photographing Life 24
FOOD The End 0'Main, by Rebecca L. Martin 43
WEEKENDER Making Merry, by Barbara Palmer 45
ARTS TheC reation Windows, by Tern'L. Damw 47
ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR A guide to what's happening 49
COVER: Morning at Kerr Plaza in downtown Oklahoma City. Photograph by Tommy
Evans. Inside front cover: Spring Creek at Martin Nature Center in Oklahoma City.
Photograph by Tommy Evans. Back cover: Canoes on Lower Mountain Fork River in
Beavers Bend State Park. Photograph by David Vinyard.
November-December 1991 3
OKLAHOMA

mDM

I year and from forty to fifty-two edito-
I '
rial pages an issue. Numerous awards
1 for editorial excellence came its way, David Walters, Governor
Introductions
including being named magazine of the
@

year in 1991 by the Regional Publish-
ers Association.
I
9 m the party guest you can't get But why the need for a publisher?
rid of. The man who came to The chief reason is the magazine is Published by the Oklahoma

dinner. going to introduce advertising in 1992. Tourism and Recreation Department

I didn't plan it that way. For the magazine to grow, it needs
Berl Schwartz
When I crossed the Arkansas border more financial support. Advertising will
Publisher
last January and slipped a homemade give readers an even better editorial
Jeanne M. Devlln,
tape of Rodgers and Hammerstein's product-more editorial pages, even- Editor
"Oklahoma" (from a 1950s studio re- tually more issues a year. Felton Suoud. Suoud Des~gnI,n c.,
cording with Nelson Eddy as Curly) What kind of advertising? Appropri- Art Direction
Barbara Palmer. Associate Editor
into my cassette player, I thought I'd ate, tasteful, and not a distraction from
Steve Rice, MarkMAd Sales
be leaving in : the editorial con- Melanie Mayberry, Circulation Manager
May. tent. Oklahoma To- Llsa Breckenridge, Administrative Assistant
I'd come to $ day is unique as a Pam Poston, SubscriptionServices
Pam Fox, Accounting
teach journalism chronicle of the Steffie Corcoran, Copy Editor
for a semester at state's culture and ConhibutingEditors
3 Burkhard Bilger, M. Scott Carter.
OU, a break from history as well as a
Ralph Marsh, and Michael Wallls
twenty-two years lively guide to its
in newsrooms as a present. It is also Tourism and Recreation Directors
James C. Thomas, Amng Esctufrve Dtmctor
reporter and edi- pictorially beauti-
Davld Davles, Dcpury Dfnaor
tor. By spring, I ful. Advertising Tom Creider, Parks
knew I wouldn't won't disturb Krlstlna S. Marek, PIunningandDcvl/opmmt
be leaving in Oklahoma Today 's Kathleen Marks, TrdandT ounsm
Mike Moccia, Admtnfstruhe Smm
May. I extended aesthetic identity. Tom Rich, Rerorrs
my leave of ab- As publisher, I'll Berl Schwartz, ORIahoma Today
seek to accommo- Tourism and Recreation Commission
job back East and date advertisers Lt. Gov. Jack Mlldren, Chairnun
spent the summer teaching and advis. without forgetting that readers come Sweet Pea Abernathy
J. Patrick Bark
ing the Oklahoma Daily. first. Oklahoma Today's ethical stan-
C. Coleman Davls
One thing led to another: the friend- dards are high. The ethical standards Llnda k Epperley
liness of Sooners, a fascination with will remain high. Charles S. Givens
Henry A. Meyer, I11
Oklahoma culture and history, the ex- Should an advertiser innocently Ray H. Quackenbush
hilaration of new back roads to explore, suggest that a twelve-page spread on Michael D. T~pps
the first time I saw a buffalo-and, no fertilizer would sure look good around
small factor, a job offer I couldn't resist. a full-color ad for his chain of farm Oklahoma Today (ISSN 0030-1892) IS publ~shedb l-
monthly tn January. March, Mav. July. September and
I'm the first publisher in the thirty- stores, there's Jeanne Devlin to help November by the Oklahoma Toun.sm and Recreatton De-
five year history of Oklahoma Today. me maintain those standards. partment, 401 W~llR ogers Bldg P 0 Box 53384. Okla-
homa C~tyO, K 73152 (405) 521-24% or [phone].
Before retiring this summer after Jeanne joined Oklahoma Today as Subscnpunn prlces $13 50Iyr In U S.. $18 501yr. fore~gn.
U S copyr~ght0 1991 by ObIahoma Today maganne
twelve years as editor-in-chief, Sue managing editor in 1989 after a varied Reproducuon In whole or In pan w~rhoutp crmlsslon IS
Carter had seen her role evolve. Be- career in journalism, teaching, and pri- prnroahterrb~~arfleo dr T edhlet omnaagl aczoinnes ~ad neorra rtc~sopno.n s~blefo r unsol~c~td
sides the editorial content, Sue oversaw vate industry, including time spent as PnntedarPen1 P T&
marketing, production, circulation, and a llSA Today correspondent and a vice
staff supervision. She was a de facto president of advertising for Pente
publisher. Games, the one-time Stillwater manu-
As its longtime readers know, Sue facturer of the upscale board game. As Second-class postage pa~da t Oklahoma Clry, OK and
Carter nurtured the magazine into an a reporter and editor for the NmsPress atod Odk~lta~hoonmeaanl T&a y offCic~ersc PuloasntmonaP.s t0er SBeonx d5 3a3d8d4r,e Ossk clhaahnogmeas
outstanding travel and tourism publi- in Stillwater, she won numerous C~tyO,K 73152
cation. It grew from four to six issues a Continued on page 6
Oklahoma TODAY
Tradition

vous at Tulsa's Gilcrease Museum. it was kind of an unexplored area."
There, they encountered the Cherokee Their reaction? "Gosh, we ought to
buckbrush baskets of Ella Mae make a tape about this."
on Tape

Blackbear. Their tape on Ella Mae Blackbear took
Life suddenly veered in a new a year and a half to finish. It follows the
direction. "I kept thinking 'this is really basketmaker as she gathers buckbrush,
Scott Swearingen is an Oklahoman great' and wondering if any films had collects plants for dyes, and, finally,
born and bred, but he managed to reach been made about Cherokee baskets," weaves the grass into the forms she
adulthood having never attended a recalls Swearingen. learned at her mother's side; running
powwow or seen Indian crafts. Until 1981, Research turned up a few written parallel with Blackbear's story is the story
his image of an American Indian was the accounts, but no films, no videos, no of Cherokee basketry.
Lone Ranger's stoic sidekick. Tonto. slides of any kind. The Swearingens By the time the Blackbear tape was a
His historic 'C1 wrap, the Swearingens had another in the
perspective w a s works on Knokovtee Scott, a Creek
much better. "I just $ shellworker, as well as enough other ideas
remember Oklahoma to keep tape rolling into the 21st century.
C
history being Ten years later, four tapes form the
presented (in fifth Native American Master Artists Video
grade) as if the place Series. (The third tape is on Osage
was kind of empty ribbonwork, the fourth on Native
and nothing hap- American music.) Work has commenced
pened here until the on a powwow video.
I
land run," says Swearingen sees no end in sight: "This
Swearingen. has opened up a whole other world to me.
Years went by. He It is fascinating to me that Oklahoma
moved to California could have the most vibrant, diverse
only to return to living Native American culture in the
Tulsa in 1981 to raise -. .h.E-r. country-by far-and I was able to grow
a family and, hope- Gig-.. 1 up and get all the way through high
-
fully, to continue school and go to Oklahoma State and not
making nature Osage nbbonwork by the [ate Geotgeann Robinson. have the slightest idea about it."
documentaries with His videos may ensure a different truth
his wife, Sheila. couldn't believe their luck. for the next generation.
Flora and fauna it might have re- "Here was something that seemed Tapes are $34.95 each, plus $2.50 for
mained, too, had someone not asked the really gorgeous to us, something extraor- shipping and handling. For information,
couple to document the annual Rendez- dinary," explains Scott Swearingen, "and call [phone]. -JMD
Chrome for Christmas

When Jeanette Koenig and J. Don predictable.) Instead, Koenig fills vintage
Cook put the pieces together for "Route Cadillac hubcaps with a melange of
66," an Oklahoma City gallery and gift Route 66 souvenirs emphasizing Okla-
store, they started with a couple of homa. (A deluxe version holds a hand-
guidelines. It had to be totally unpredict- painted Route 66 watch by Oklahoma
able, and it had to be totally eclectic. City artist Tim Ozment.)
Something, in fact, like Route 66, the The design of the '60s-era Cadillac
highway where you never know what lies hubcaps make them perfectly suited to
around the next curve. In the store's case, serve as a party tray, explains Koenig.
this may be a lamp with a fuschia-and- The chrome center, for example, could
turquoise-painted cowboy boot as a base, hold salsa or cocktail sauce, and one could magnet,-a bag of red dirt, and a guidebook.-
Price: $40 and up.
a neon armchair, stacks of Route 66 t- fill the surrounding valley with shrimp on
shirts, a cowhide-backed jacket, or a ice or tortilla chips. what's available," says Koenig. "We
flamingo fashioned from a shovel. Apart from the fact that the hubcaps wanted something that could be thrown
Given that, when Koenig set about are an icon of the road, they are right in away unless someone found a use for it."
creating a gift basket to sell to Route 66 line with another of the store's guiding Kind of like Route 66.
aficionados, using an actual basket was principles: using available and recycled To order the gift hubcap, call (405)
pretty much out of the question. (Too materials. "Artists have always used 848-61 66. -BP
September-October 1991 5
Continuedf rom page 4 Rogers Follies" on Broadway. Army National Guard, in Oklahoma
awards, including one in 1989 for the Let me know if you want to tape my City. This museum is one of the finest,
second-best lifestyle section of its size version of "Oklahoma" with Nelson if not the finest, non-regular military
from the National Newspaper Asso- Eddy as Curly. museums in the nation. Thousands of
ciation. As managing editor of Oklahoma -Berl Schwartz Oklahomans and others served with
Today, she was largely responsible for the 45th in World War 11, the Korean
editorial development in the last two (Bed Schwam, 44, has been Washing- War, and now Desert Storm.
years. ton bureau chief of United Press Interna- Ted L. Maloy
After two issues as acting editor, tional, which included supervising White Greater Houston Area Chapter,
Jeanne becomes editor with my ap- House correspondent Helen Thomas;h e was 45th Infantry Association
pointment as publisher. She was kind editor of the York Daily Record when Houston, Texas
enough to lend me this space-her Pennsylvania publishers named it the best
space resuming in January. . newspaper in the state in 1989; managing Just heard on "Jeopardy" that
Having been an editor, I know what editor of the award-winning Knoxville "Howdy Folks" is the official poem of
editors want from publishers: to be left News-Sentinel in Tennessee; assistant the state of Oklahoma. As native
alone, Greta-Garbo style (except, of managing editor of Scripps Howard News Oklahomans, we didn't know we had
course, when they need something, Service, which included running the such a poem. Would you be so kind as
like more staff). And having been an Olympic bureauf or the newspaper chain at to forward a copy to us. Thanks much.
editor, I intend to be the kind of pub- the 1984 Games in Los Angeles; a reporter Oberia Harris
lisher I've always admired: the kind who covered Congress, state, and local San Diego, California
who keeps abreast of every facet of the government for the Louisville Times of
magazine, who asks questions, settles Kentucky, and who as a cub forthe Phila-
disputes, and takes final responsibility, delphia Bulletin wrote about music and Glad to oblige. "Howdy Folks, " by
but who lets people do their jobs. The interviewed John Lennon and Yoko Ono. David Randobh Milsten, was written in
nicest thing a publisher ever said to me He served last spring as thefint McMahon 1938 and describes the happenings at the
was he was looking for an editor who'd Centennial Profasor of Journalism at the dedication of the Will Rogers Memorial at
"write his name across the paper." Univetsity of Oklahoma and continues as Claremore on November 4, 1938. The
(Then he hired somebody else.) Write an adjunct instructor in the School of poem, which has been set to music, is writ-
your name, Jeanne. Journalism. He likes baseball, antique ten through the eyes of WillR ogets. In 1941,
Jeanne and I have similar goals. We hunting, andhebing raise his ten-year-old the eighteenth legislature of Oklahoma
want to retain and improve the editorial twin daughters, with his wije, Alice, an adoptedit as thestatepoem. It can be found
quality. We are dedicated to Oklahoma attorney.) in the Directory of Oklahoma, which is
Today's emphasis on good writing. We availablef rom the Oklahoma Department
want to experiment. For example, of Libraries, 200 Northeast 18th Street,
we've talked about an occasional short Letters Oklahoma City, OK 73105.
story to showcase Oklahoma's phe-
nomenal pool of talented fiction writ-
ers. We want to explore issues, like the Ron Wood was incomctLy identified as
wild horse article featured in July. We I'm sitting here reading an article on Scott McCutchen on page 27 of the July-
want more stories about Oklahomans- "The Return of the Wild Horse" (July- August '91 issue.
famous, offbeat, or just plain interest- August 1991), and I like the idea of In the September-October '91 issue, the
ing. And we want more humor. After adopting a wild horse. How does one profile of violin maker Tauno Ekonen
all, this is still the land of Will Rogers. find information on this? should read string instmments by baroque-
Speaking of which, what did I do Brenda Parmley era craftsmen like Antonio Stradivarius
when I went back East in August? Ripley have been converted to meet modern or-
In a Pennsylvania antique shop, I The adoption program in Oklahoma is chestral standards. We regret the editing
found and bought a first edition of Will handled by the Bureau of Land Manage- mror. Readers have also been curious as to
Rogers: Ambassador of Good Will, Prince ment office in Moore. That telephone num- the locations of thephotographsi n "A Tour
of Wit and Wisdom, by P.J. O'Brien, ber is [phone]. on the Prairie." They are:pages 22 and23,
"with an appreciation by Lowell Tho- Washington Irving Cove at Lake Keystone;
mas," a 1935 biography published by Missing from your story on pages 24 and 25, near Ingalls, south of
The John A. Winston Co. "Remingtonland" (March-April 1991) S.H. 51; pages 26 and 27, northeast of
And I took my family to New York was a reference to the national 45th Noman; insetphoto,p age 27, Lake Hefner
City to see-what else-"The Will Infantrv Division Museum. Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma TODAY
0' Cedar Tree

BringingRome afamily tradition

G
rowingup,asfarafieldas I drab landscape. We pass through ness.0urdoglikewisecrashesthrough

had ever gone looking for a Stigler and Keota, past the sandstone the woods, nearly delirious with the
Christmas tree was the Lions farmhouse where Betty grew up and smells of the country.
Club tree lot along Highway the cemetery where her parents are Later we'll walk more slowly, and 1'11
75 in Bartlesville. buried. There is a gas well at the foot ask, as I do every year, to hear the
My father, though, was a Missouri of the mountain that some might think names of Granddad Bonham's cows
farm boy who grew up cutting down an eyesore, but Betty points out the and dogs. Most of the cows' names
Christmas trees from the back pasture. tidy brick homes her old neighbors began with "Miz" and have a rural
He left the farm and moved to Okla- have bought with their royalties. charm, but the dogs' names are where
homa to work as a chemist for an oil Mr. Bonham's wit shone. Terpsichore
v,
company, but he retained some coun- 2 was a spirited dog named for the Muse
try ways. For instance, the winter the of the dance; another dog answered to
d
blue spruce at the side of our house Florence Josephine. Two trouble-
needed trimming, we skipped the tree makers he called Little Devil and
lot and used the six-foot top of the Worse. I missed knowing him, but
tree. In our suburban neighborhood, hearing the names he gave his dogs,
that caused me excruciating embar- I know I would have liked him.
rassment; I thought it roughly com- Our separate households have
parable to dragging in the birdbath to their own agendas when we get out
use as an end table. I know better our work gloves and hacksaws. My
now. in-laws go for size, choosing huge
My husband's mother, Betty trees with great, spreading branches
Bonham Palmer, grew up on a farm that fill the corner of their family
near Keota in Haskell County. Along room and permanently block the
with her brother Griff and her father, & back door for the holiday season.
each year on the Sunday following B They are purists when it comes to
Thanksgiving, she went bumping decorating the cedar. No lights. All the
along in a wagon up the mountain be- - - decorations made by one of their chil-
hind the pasture and the pond to cut dren or grandchildren. They allow
down a red cedar Christmas tree. themselves, however, to throw tinsel
I don't remember exactly when or A thicket of trees just a few hundred on by the handful, which I appreciate
how we struck upon the idea of blend- yards from the fence line is the spot hugely, having been taught the tedious
ing our families' memories and tradi- that is almost sure to yield our final strand-by-strand method.
tions. Yet now we travel every Decem- Christmas trees. The cedars there are At dusk, we tie our tree (from the first
ber to "Granddad's Mountain" to cut shielded from the wind and grow even tree patch: conical, tall, not too wide)
our Christmas trees. We've done it for and plump. But we don't look there on top of our car, stuffing extra
five years now, and something about it first. We walk along the road that once branches for garlands into the hatch-
must be deeply satisfying, because it's carried the wagon and then cut across back. The biting, spicy smell of red
three hours down 1-40 for my family, high grass to where little draws carry cedar will linger in our car for days.
and my husband's sister and her family what's left of the fall rains down the Tomorrow or the next day, we'll
come up from Texas when they can. side of the mountain. decorate our tree, throwing on handfuls
We meet in Muskogee and head On the slope, we race from tree to of tinsel. Then I'll go back and rear-
southeast, carrying thermoses full of hot tree, stopping to deliberate, our range the tinsel, a strand at a time.
chocolate through December's olive muffled shouts surprising in the still- -Barbara Palmer
September-October1991 7
0I;laRQC

.\

The ranch that Frank built
inspires a new book.
W
By JeanneM. Devlin
Photographs by Jerry Poppenhouse
from the book Woolaroc
hen Joe Williams got the go ahead in 1990to do a book on
Woolaroc, the elegant country playground of Phillips Pe-
troleum founder Frank Phillips near Bartlesville, he knew
-
one thing had to happen for the book to rine true: he had to
1 understand Frank Phillips.
To argue that Woolarocwas to be about a place, not a man, was to miss
the point entirely. "Frank is Woolaroc," Williams explains simply.
If Joe Williams could grasp what made an oil baron build a plush re-
treat so he could impress presidents, bankers, and movie stars only to then
run ads in the Bartlesville newspaper offering locals free Sunday tours of
it (led no less by Uncle Frank himself on horseback), he could probably
depict Woolaroc in print as Frank Phillips had seen the place.
Williams could see only one way to do this: "I tried to become Uncle
Frank," he says a mite sheepishly. "Seriously. My wife would probably
say at times that I succeeded."
As a concept, it wasn't as outlandish as it might sound. Through the
years, Williams had more than once donned hat, chaps, gun, and the
trademark wire-rimmed glasses of Uncle Frank in order to portray the
oil man at civic affairs in and around Bartlesville. He had read what he
could about Phillips, including Tulsan Michael Wallis's biography Oil
Man. And, like many an Oklahoman, the first buffalo Joe Williams had
ever seen was at the ranch that Frank built. Though they never knew
each other, Joe Williams and Frank Phillips went way back. It didn't hurt,
Cowboys, outlaws, In-
either, says Williams, "that I'm thin and, frankly, balding."
dians, and banking tycoons But writing a book was not performing a short skit in front of a tolerant
charity crowd. Over the next year, getting into Uncle Frank's character
mingled at the annual Cow
became something of an obsession with Joe Williams. The Bartlesville
Thieves and Outlaws Re-
writer hunkered down in the basement archives of the Phillips's log lodge
union at Woolaroc. Guns at Woolaroc like a soldier in a bunker. There, he pored over old photo-
graphs of Woolaroc regulars such as Will Rogers, Wiley Post, and Paw-
were checked at the gate.
-- ~ -
Phillips's thank you one Fr~nkPhi//$.s irrwsttd in the origiacll Ili//do!-f-;lsto/jlIH otel it].Vm York Cih.
year: this hat and chaps. 11 2/11t hf hotd EVNb~roke, Phi//ips z~l/kmNW N)' ~ i ffohur ~llf//t-.Sh~~(iPlled/n
d~/ier.s
.fi.o111i t.~fN~r~ou7.ir1 p Roon~H. e r/l//ed the I;lrc~~~de/ie.zr,.hr,i rh hetng ill t hI~lil
o/c~ro(.

lodge, the 111ostr xpr~~sci~.hl~f ~~dr/i1e'11 rtsh e totr~~tl~yP.C ~/IISthYq
)' uerc the SMIII qf hir

itr'e.r.st~~~er(~jt~1t6'r.r1
1.
Oklahoma 'I'ODAY

In Phillips's day,
Woolaroc was a self-con-
tained ranch, with its own
smokehouse, hen house,
livery stables, dairy cattle,
vegetable garden, and
slaughterhouse. For a time,
it produced its own brands
of sausage and bottled
water. The water was
shipped by the case to
Phillips's New York oftice.
Oklahoma 'TODAY