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President's Letter
Dear Members and Site Visitors,
It has been an interesting time here in northern Oklahoma. One of my horses kicked a 600 pound heifer in the head and she dropped like a stone. The meat processors will only take an animal that can walk into the processing plant. Wild game is the exception, so we all had a quick session how to process a whole animal.
After finishing we had a lot of strange looking cuts of beef and some amusing labels but we got it done. During the days of the 101 Ranch, I bet things like that were handled quite differently!
101 Ranch O.T.A. board member and family friend, Bill Balcer found some items that belonged to my late father, Jack Webb of the 101 Ranch that had been stolen some time back. They were listed on E-Bay and we bought them back.
Things have progressed really well with our restoration of the Ranch power house and it looks great.
Now that the holidays have past, I must remark on how the years are certainly flying by.
It was great to see everyone at the annual reunion and our business meeting this past August.
Here is to a mild winter and our best to all,
Jean Evans, President
101 Ranch O.T.A.
Vice President's Letter
Dear Members and Site
Visitors,
Things have been busy for the 101 Ranch Old Timers Association since our last update. Our 2009 annual reunion and business meeting in August went off without a hitch and proved informative for attending members.
Our guest speakers were Dr. Bob Palmer of the University of Central Oklahoma and Jayne Detten of the Ponca City Main Street Development Authority. Their topic was the huge Ponca City downtown mural dedicated to the 101 Ranch. It has been a worthwhile project and we were happy to have helped provide funding and historic input on that historic reference to days gone by.
A few days before the August annual meeting, we installed our third podium information sign at the Ranch. It is on the Wild West Show activities of the 101 Ranch and the Miller brothers. It features a 1930 era 101 Wild West Show poster. It is as much about the unique features of the ‘Fabulous Empire’ that was once the Ranch as it was the Wild West Show.
If you find yourself in the area of the Ranch (just southwest of Ponca City, Oklahoma), stop by and view it along with the first sign on the Miller family mansion known as the ‘White House’ and the second sign dedicated to Native American involvement in the Ranch.
During September, President Jean Evans and a number of board members traveled to our State Capitol at the invitation of Oklahoma State Senator David Myers representing northern Oklahoma. A year ago, Senator Myers requested our help to supply artwork for an oversized postcard to be displayed at the Capitol Building. We were happy to comply and our visit gave us the opportunity to see the finished product. It is three feet by four feet and features the 101 Ranch ‘White House’. It is a great historic image and will be viewed by thousands of Capitol visitors.
In addition to that, Senator Myers supplied us with a replacement image of the 18 foot long panoramic found in our museum at Marland’s Grand Home in Ponca City. Now we have a new pristine copy in place replacing the 50 year old deteriorated image.
This effort was accomplished along with finishing installation of two new lighted display cases obtained through a grant from the Oklahoma Department of Libraries.
Those are just a few of the things our board members have been involved in since our last communication. We look forward to future accomplishments.
Our best wishes and we hope everyone, “Winter Well’.
Al Ritter
Vice President, 101 Ranch OTA
Letter from Michael Wallis
Winter is upon us - this season of highs and lows and contrasts, from the mayhem of commercialized celebration to the solitude of candlelight and old hymns. Some embrace winter; others dread it. They say it is a bleak period that suggests death and is absent of hope. They forget the intimacy, reflection, and anticipation that winter brings.
It is when the old year dies and a new year is born. Winter is the time for home. It is when words tumble out like the fall of snow and the best stories are told. Bones of the naked landscape are visible while every new snow hides blemishes and scars and makes everything equal.
Evening comes with slow steps. From the shiver of dusk, shadows fall on silent gardens with hidden flowers. There are no leaf blowers or lawn mowers, only ice bright as diamonds, and the stillness of a starry night sky where snow clouds are carved and ghosts haunt the moonlight.
Inside, away from the sting of the wind and winter's breath, there are soups to warm body and soul and cocoa to sip. The aroma of wood smoke, roasting meat, and hot cookies brings comfort. Cats purr in the yellow candlelight. When night lamps click off, new dreams arrive. Winter is when we dance those dreams alive. It is when the gift of snow allows us to become children once again. Winter means baseball is soon to come. William Blake said it best: "in seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."
We agree. Enjoy the winter.
Michael & Suzanne Wallis
Oklahoma Stars on the Screen
From the March 1925 issue of the 101 Magazine
Many Popular Movie Stars Began Their Careers Here At Marland With the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch. Perhaps You Knew Some of 'em--Anyway. You Know 'em Now.
The brightly lithographed posters which tease Mr. and Mrs. Public into walking up to the box-office and laying their money on the marble carry the smiling faces of many film celebrities who made their picture debut on the 101 Ranch.
Tom Mix
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Tom Mix, the cowboy idol is an Oklahoman whose early career carried him to many parts of the state, joined the 101 Wild West show and, for several seasons, he lent his lusty whoops and his fine horsemanship to the show arena. Col. Wm. Selig, an early producer, came to 101 Ranch to produce an historical drama and Mix, who was chief of the cowboys, attracted his attention. Mix later went to Selig in Chicago, where several westerns were produced. Following this he was given a handful of cowboys and sent to California, where he made a great many one and two reel thrillers. He gradually came more and more into the public eye and William Fox grabbed him on a long term contract. Today the salary of the former $20-a-month cowboy is said to be four times as large as that received by the President of the United States.
Charles Jones
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Charles (Buck) Jones, whose real name is Charles Gebhart, is another film luminary whose career began on the 101. Several years ago the 101 show was playing at Galveston. A backward country boy, just discharged from the army, approached Col. Joe Miller and asked for a job. He was given the only opening - the task of currying horses for the cowboys. Soon an opening occurred in the cowboy 'string' and Jones was given an outfit and a horse. He made a splendid arena performer and he was held over during the winter for the next season's tour. Following the close of his first season, he married a dainty cowgirl (and, by the way, he still has the same wife) and they took a tiny cabin at ranch headquarters, down on the Salt Fork River.
A picture company drafted him into several mob scenes and he awakened to the possibilities. A line of small parts followed until he was again taken on the road by the 101 show. Intermittent snatches of picture work followed, but the real opportunity never seemed to come along. Then the war came along and Buck was soon a doughboy with the A. E. F. After the armistice he was sent with the army of occupation into Coblenz, Germany. Here, one holiday, an American wild west show was staged for visiting royalty and high officials. It was in this show, before King Albert of Belgium, Lloyd George of England and other celebrities, that Jones' superb horsemanship brought him considerable attention and publicity. The William Fox organization heard of the matter and, upon his discharge, a Fox representative stood before him with a five year contract in his hand. That contract recently expired and it is no secret that the renewal mentioned dollars in quantities that would take an average person's breath. One of the best things about Buck Jones is that he is just - well, just "Buck" Jones; and any of his friends who visit Hollywood find the old latchstring on the outside, with himself and the pleasant little wife glad to prove that success hasn't spoiled them.
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It hardly seems fair to mention Will Rogers at any place except at the head of this article, but Will is not a temperamental actor and his consarned modesty makes him happier if he is not given too prominent a place. (The truth is, Bill is pretty much pleased if folks will just give him plenty of elbow room and time to count his daily earnings). Rogers, always a bashful soul, was with the 101 show at Madison Square Garden, New York City. A great roan steer, new to the show business, broke thru the barricades and was wildly charging toward a packed and jammed crowd. Screams rent the air, mothers gathered up their children and endeavored to move in the tightly wedged mob. The animal was bearing down upon them in fearful lunges. Suddenly a cowboy's whoop rang out, a pony sat on his haunches, and the roan steer lunged into a dust heap, groaning and bawling. The taut rope held the animal until he could be driven back into the herd in the arena. Will Rogers may be slow of speech, but he certainly was not slow of action when a crisis demanded quick thinking and a skillful toss of the rope. That same quickness of wit has since been the envy of many slow thinking politicians who have been the objects of Rogers' good-natured satire.
Following the steer episode, Rogers came into the arena to do his usual roper-spinning stunt. The crowd cheered until it was hoarse, and every novel twist of his rope brought a barrage of hand-clapping. A late arriving vaudeville agent, believing the applause to be entirely due to the crowd's approval of the rope-spinning, made the decision to employ this popular cowboy.
Next day Rogers received an offer and he came doubtfully to Col. Zack Miller for advice. It seemed that that darned fool vaudeville agent had offered him fifty dollars a week and he doubted the sincerity and squareness of the offer. Col. Miller investigated and found the offer to be legitimate. A few days later Rogers made his first vaudeville appearance. The entire 101 Ranch show roster walked up to the box-office and laid down their money just so they could clap for Bill. Their patronage and applause convinced the agent that he had made a real find but later he became discouraged. Rogers' act seemed mediocre. It never improved until one day by accident the cowboy spun his rope in a great circle and tangled it hopelessly around his legs. The crowd laughed. Rogers looked up sheepishly and said, "Well, I'd a heap rather have a rope around my laigs than t', have it around my neck." The crowd roared. From that humble beginning his extemporaneous monologs were developed and today Will Rogers is one of the most quoted men in the world.
Neal Hart, Hoot Gibson, Jack Hoxie, Tommy Grimes and Art Acord all admit that the first round on their ladders of fame would have to be named "101."
Art Acord as featured as the star of the 'Riding Rascal' from the 1920's.
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Art Acord in western costume. More than being a scripted hero on the big screen, he was a war hero during World War I. Prior to enlisting, he appeared in one reel movies produced by Bison Film Company and returned to movie making after the war. |
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