Editor's Note: Gailard Sartain has died at 78. If you know, you know: he was a vital figure in the entertainment world of Tulsa in the early 1970s and went on to a career in TV series like Hee Haw and movies like The Buddy Holly Story, Mississippi Burning, and Ernest Saves Christmas. In this story originally published in January 2011 (original byline: Lindsey Neal), This Land explored the genesis of Sartain's cult Tulsa show Mazeppa Pompazoidi.
Tulsa, April 1970
Oral Roberts University is a glimmering, cornflower-yellow tourist attraction, only seven years old.
The Golden Driller is four—youthful but chiseled—with a “Mid-Continent” belt buckle, and stands outside a 20-year-old Bell’s Amusement Park.
Camelot Hotel is only three and fit for a wedding reception; The Mayo Hotel is 45 years old and the doors are still open. Nearby, the ornate Cimarron Theater stands at 4th & Denver—a ballroom fit for a king.
Driving down Harvard between 21st and 31st, you see a giant, shiny statue of a chubby cartoon boy painted in glimmering red, white and blue with a fixed expression of happiness. He’s the mascot of “Kip’s Big Boy,” home of the big boy hamburger. This is your favorite burger joint to hang out at night for coffee.
The city is going through a musical renaissance. Downtown near 18th & Boston, Magician’s Theater and Nine of Cups are hot spots, attracting amazing musicians and nightly parking lot fights. Leon Russell is the Master of Space and Time and Jim Halsey is cranking entertainment through town.
Tulsa has only 4 stations on TV: 2, 6, 8 and 11. Home VCRs don’t exist yet and you only have one shot to see what’s on TV, and you’d better not miss it. Specifically, you better not miss Mazeppa Pompazoidi every Saturday night, because Saturday Night Live doesn’t exist yet.