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Oklahoma Today November-December 1985 Volume

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Oklahoma Today November-December 1985 Volume NOVEMBER-DECEMBER '85 SQUARE DANCE: RUFFLES, RlCK RACK & YELLOW ROCKS HAM FOR THE H0LInIYS: THE OKLAHOMA SMOKEHOUeF - I SQUARE DANCE ROUNPUP I If the words squaw hnce make you Y think of Gene Autry movies or junior high gym class, come to Oklahoma City this November. Some 5,000 Sooners just may t convince you there's more to it than rick rack and do sa dos. LAST OF THE BIG TOPS I ,0 I Have a yen for circus the way it used to 10 be? ~ookno further than Hugo and the HAM OPERATORS Carson & Barnes Circus, the biggest outfit still under canvas-and the greatest On the shores of Grand Lake, some show in Oklahoma. Green Country entrepreneurs took a dollop of 19th-century expertise, added a dash of microchi~sand cooked up 7V The circus at home-in a flourishing business, heOklahoma Hugo. Photo by Phillip Smokehouse. I OKLAHOMA PORTFOLIO Radcliffe. Inside front. Fall A seasonal sampler by photographer scene near Spavinaw dam. Ivan McCartney. Photo by Howard Robson. 22 Back. Autumn oak, Wichita THE MONK, THE MUMMT Mountains. Photo by Steve & MABEE - Wilson. RlDlNQ HERD ON THE WEST Meet Mr. Jim Jordan of No Man's Land. DEPARTMENTS FEATURES Today in Oklahoma ....................................4 BookdLetters...........................................4-5 8 I It took a monk. an oilman and Uncommon Common Folk .........................6 Princess ~enndof the 23rd Dynasty Oklahoma Omnibus...................................17 CULTIVATING CHRISTMAS - I to create one of the state's most Destinations: Remm Bend .....................38 Not many farmers can claim a holiday distinctive museums-the Mabee-Gerrer On to Oklahoma.........................................49 tradition as their cash crop. I in Shawnee. Entertainment Calendar.............................50 holds its annual festival and where a lot of "yellow rockin'" takes place. Kathryn White writes about square dance lingo, fashions, patterns and tempo beginning on page 12. $u Mention November, and my thoughts turn to the delicious aromas of Thanksgiving and the pleasures of visit- ing with family and friends throughout Hanukkah and Christmas. It's always a special time in Oklahoma. Each of us at Okhioma TODAY sends The Okhioma TODAY staff is getting stamp in the "Great American" series. each of you our best wishes for a joyous excited about the upcoming January1 Dr. Bernard Revel, an orthodox Jewish holiday season. -Sue Carter. February issue, which celebrates our scholar, lived in Tulsa from 1912 to 30th Anniversary. As you remember, we 1923. The stamp, commemorating the asked our readers to let us know their centennial of Dr. Revel's birth in 1885 as favorite things about Oklahoma. And well as the university's centennial cele- were you great about responding. You bration in 1986, will be issued next fall. shared your favorite picnic spots, the Revel's nephew, Joseph Kornfeld of best lakes for fishing and your favorite Tulsa, traveled to New York for the Ozarks, photograph by Dad Fittger- big-city activity, among others. stamp's unveiling-and has written an a/d, text by CIay Amahon, Graphic Arh The best letters, perhaps, were from interesting tribute to his uncle, Eymit- Center Pm;$37.50. Frequent Okkdo- our out-of-state subscribers. Now these nas to &tiny. ma TODAY contributor David Fitzgerald folks have serious cases of homesickness iW The town of Hugo in southeastern first made a name for himself in the for Oklahoma sunrises and sunsets, Oklahoma sits just north of the Red Riv- Sooner State with his book of photo- trees, rain and even our wind-not to er in one of the more scenic areas of our graphs titled Okkzhoma. His second offer- mention chicken fried steaks, camping state. And when writers Casey Morgan ing, Wrh, takes him farther afield- and canoeing. Many were kind enough and Bob Ritz and photographer Phillip across the Ozark plateau that stretches to add that reading the latest issue of Radcliffe arrived at the Carson & Barnes from the Missouri River to Arkadelphia, Oklahoma TODAY helped ease their Circus grounds last winter to research from Cape Girardeau to the Neosho Riv- homesickness. So if you have friends or this issue's cover story, they were sur- er, and takes in one of the prettiest parts relatives beyond the reach of Oklahoma prised at how much the area looked like of Oklahoma-that lean, rocky strip hospitality, send them Okhioma TODAY a ranch. The workers wore cowboy along our eastern border. for Christmas. Our 30th Anniversary is- boots, Western shirts and jeans, and they Fitzgerald, a native Oklahoman, spent sue may very well save their lives-it were driving tractors. One thing was dif- three years wandering thousands of miles will feature Bests, Favorites and Firsts in ferent: Occasionally the head of an ele- to get to know the Ozarks and its people. Oklahoma. phant or giraffe would pop up over a (Yes, this book includes portraits of hill + As the holidays approach, it seems fence or from behind a building. people along with portraits of hills.) The appropriate to note milestones in two of They were fortunate enough to amve result is some 125 color photographs of the religious communities in our state. on "oiling the elephants" day. Once a everything from the Buffilo River to the The Rev. Basil Zebrun, new minister year the elephants are sprayed with oil to Elephant Rocks, from a latterday moon- of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Ortho- keep their skin from drying. Afterwards, shiner to a Silver Dollar City gunsmith, dox Church at Hartshorne, writes that they photographed beautifully. The sto- from still lifes shot in the log-cabin the church now has regular services at 7 ry of the people and the animals who school at the Ozark Folk (=enter to the p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays and 9 travel with the largest tent show in the rushing waters of Big Spring. a.m. on Sundays. The Russian Orthodox world-and their hometown-begins Oklahoma vistas range from dawn at church, which was featured in our Sep- on page 28. Greenleaf State Park and views of Ten- tember/October issue, had been without Have you ever been "yellow rock- killer and Fort Gibson reservoirs to Tah- an assigned priest for more than 50 years. ed?" If so, chances are that you will want lequah's Murrell Home and the Skyline A former Oklahoman who helped to be among the more than 5,000 expect- Drive. found New York City's Yeshiva Univer- ed to square up November 2 at the Myri- sity and later became its first president, ad in Oklahoma City. That's when the Cherokees: An Illustrated History, by will be honored with a U.S. postage Oklahoma Square Dance Federation Bilb M. Jones and Odie B. Faulk, FFiere 4 Oklahoma TODAY I Cfen'fd ThMaam; $30. Jones and Murray election. I wanted to tell you them's no place to Faulk have produced a large-format, Their attack on old Bill was one of the live like Oklahoma. I was born August popular history of the Cherokee tribe, "poorest" displays of responsible journal- 13 near a little town called Sterling, in liberally illustrated with both historical ism I've encountered in the more than the Indian Territory. At present, I only photographs and fourcolor reproductions 50 years I worked for papers. live six miles from the place I was born. of works by prominent Cherokee artists. Did Mr. Henry, in his research on the I like my Okkzhoma TODAY books. (The list of artists is impressive, includ- campaign, come across the cartoon They have so much to say about ing Bert Seabourn, Troy Anderson, Wil- where Bill was getting his toilet water Oklahoma. lard Stone, Bill Rabbit, Joan Hill, Joan out of the stool? So many people go out of this state to Brown and Virginia Stroud.) I John A. Giespie see things, but they should stay in Okla- homa. It has so many things to see. I am The book takes readers from myths La Puente, California concerning tribal origins through its pre- 83 years old, and I still want to travel history and on to the continually tragic over Oklahoma. interactions of Cherokees with white in- I now receive my favorite magazine, S. Blankenship truders-from Hernando de Soto to the Okkzhoma TODAI: at my home address; Marlow dissolution of the Cherokee Nation. when I was receiving it at my work ad- It covers major events in the tribe's dress, my co-workers also enjoyed the Although I have never subscribed be- history-from early alliances with the magazine, so I had to wait sometimes fore, I have enjoyed reading ORkJloma British to the splitting of the tribe into weeks before I even got to read it. TODAY for some time. So, with my re- Western and Eastern branches, the Trail Being in the military, I spend most of cent move to Texas, I decided to sub- of Tears, the Civil War, the Cherokee my time in a distant land, distant being scribe since I can no longer buy it at the Nation's brief golden age and Oklahoma anywhere that is not Oklahoma, so I can grocery store. statehood. appreciate my co-workers' interest in I would like to take this opportunity to Most interesting, perhaps, are the anything that is considered to be news praise the articles of Kathryn Jenson smaller pieces of information: the fact, from home. Keep up the good work! White. I really like her style of writing. for instance, that Sequoyah not only cre- I enjoy OkMoma TODAY and espe- You must be very proud to have her as a ated the Cherokee syllabary but also ran cially enjoyed the articles about my own contributor.
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