Thursday June 9 - I flew out to Tulsa from Indiana. Susie and Karen picked me up at the airport and we talked about various things through Tulsa on the way to our Bed & Breakfast. Susie dropped us off and we discussed dinner plans. After unpacking and getting situated, we drove out to Susies house (she had given Karen directions), arriving about 4:15-4:30 as requested.
She guided us on a limited tour of her home; her main living areas and office. We admired her immense library of many kinds of books, met her cat, Mr. Smithers and 'the Puppy Sister', Aleasha. We enjoyed a glass of wine with Susie while discussing aspects of The Outsiders as we wandered through her study and later talked to Kim Aubrey (of Warner Brothers) on the telephone about things regardign the rerelease of the DVD. He wanted our contact information so that we could keep in touch. They there at Warner Brothers were apparently impressed with the website and its contents and wanted to combine our efforts on promoting the new DVD coming in September. Thrilled us and of course we were quick to jump on the wagon!
She showed us a few pictures taken on her trip out to Santa Fe and from the set of her long time good friend, Tim Hunter (director of "Tex"). She had a small role in that film and had several pictures taken with C. Thomas Howell, who plays one of the outlaws in the film. She hadn't seen Tom since "Outsiders" days in person, so it was double a great experience for her. (we do not have any of those pictures, she just showed them to us)
After that, we went to dinner with Susie at Bodeans there in Tulsa and had a great time with great food. I'm not a huge eater, although I do love good food, and was so stuffed I thought I'd be full for the duration of the trip! Our topics of discussion ranged from "Hawkes Harbor" to paranormal experiences and interests to husbands. It was fun just 'hanging out' and chatting as good friends would. Susie is funny and witty in a dry, quiet, soft sort of way. She's great.
By the time dinner was over it was pushing 9pm and we were all beat and ready to call it a night so we went straight back to the B&B after discussing plans for Friday. We set to meet at 11am and tour the filming locations and she also popped the surprise of us getting to sit in on an independant film being shot there in Tulsa; with her having a cameo appearance! Imagine our delight and shock at that opportunity! Apparently one of the folks in her writing group was filming his screenplay at a high school there and wanted her to participate. She was excited as well.
So, there we were, tired as heck but reeling with excitement and too wired to sleep! We spent a while rehashing the nights events, looking forward to the next day, and trying to wound down enough to sleep! I was sooo tired though; I think once I fell asleep a train could've run through the room and I'd have not woken up.
Saturday June 10- Since we had set 11am for the meeting time, and Susie was picking us up, we went on to breakfast (Cracker Barrel). When she picked us up, we went straight out to touring the filming sites. First we visited Crutchfield Park where the stabbing scene and the death scene of Dallas were filmed. We have video footage of this as well, which Karen is working on editing. Susie was a barrell full of details as she described sets, emotions, activities, ect during shooting. We saw the old abandoned school building that their offices were located in while filming. That was where Francis cooked up his wonderful Italian meals for everyone and also celebrated his and Rob Lowe's birthdays while on the set.
Next it was on to find the 'Curtis' house and she took us right to it. It doesn't really look much different today than it did in the film. However everything looked somewhat different in 'real life' than it did on screen. We saw 'the Lot' and after alot of circling around and backing up, found 'Johnnys' house. She wasn't exactly sure what one that was , but when we found it, it jumped out at us like a white elephant.
** A few neat tid-bits she had to share **
-In the scene where Darry hits Ponyboy and he runs out of the house (after coming home very late) and you can see him run through the house...well we asked if that was done on a set and she said, "no. They just took the wall off of the house, filmed the scene, then put it back."! Wow...well, whatever it takes!
-The 'Windrixville' church; the building was simply an old square house that they built a steeple onto. They used the inside of that building for some scenes, but did build a set for the fire scenes. The location is now underwater as a small community has settled there and that's exactly where they put the man-made lake!
-Several of the cast came down horribly sick with what became known as the 'Ponyboy flu' as C. Thomas Howell was the first to get sick.
-Ralph showed of a few of his dancing skills for Susie and some other crew members when not on set. He's quite the dancer!
-The nights that the 'rumble' scenes were shot; the first night was pouring rain, cold and miserable. They had built the fire over in corner (seen in the film) and every time they would call "Cut!" the cast would literally run over to the fire to warm up. However with the mud, the literally were 'playing with fire' as they darn near skidded into it!
-The mustang and the stingray seen in the film are now both owned by Francis F. Coppola's son
- The flask that Bob was carrying around with him in the drive-in and park scenes was S.E. Hintons' husband, Davids. They had misplaced the prop one when it came time to shoot those scenes so her husband drove home and got his own to use for filming! She still has it.
-Tom Cruise was very, very intense and she's glad to know alot of his material is back in the film. On the night of the rumble scenes, where Tom is doing flips off of the truck and things, they had just had this huge italian meal cooked up by Francis. When he found himself too full to be effective on camera, Susie politely encouraged him to step out of site and "unburden himself". As she states, "...and the results are up on the screen." He did a great job learing those techniques and gymnastics from Patrick.
-Inside the 'Curtis' house, you notice pictures on the piano. Those pictures actually are of Tom Howell, Rob Lowe, and Patrick Swayze, given for use in the film by their families!
-The 'alley' scenes from the beginning of the film which are restored in the new dvd edition were filmed in the alley directly behind the 'Curtis' house. Susie described how she really was afraid that someone was going to be run over in that scene as none of them were stuntmen and here they were driving and climbing on the car all at the same time. She's very emotionally attatched to each of them, and refers to them still as "the boys".
-The outdoor seating at the Drive-In seen in the film were not there; they built those for the film and then took them down. The concrete area and fence where they were however is still there.
-While filming, even off set, they could only call each other by their character names.
From there it was to downtown where several scenes were shot including the beginning sequence of Ponyboy leaving the theater, the 'jail' that was used also in the beginning sequences of the film, the store Dallas 'robbed', and the hospital scenes. The theater is still in operation showing arts and independent films only. We saw Will Rogers High School where she graduated from and she described how in her days there, there was the 'soc' entrance in the front of the school, and the 'greasers' entrance in the back. Thomas Edison High School would've been the 'soc' high school all the way around. Her husband, David, graduated from there.
We decided to do lunch at the "Wild Fork" there in Tulsa, another of Susie's favorite dining spots. We talked some about the promotional touring she will be doing for "Hawkes Harbor" this fall as it is coming out in paper back in September (busy month for her!) as well as just the regular old 'chatter'. The food was amazing and once again I found myself stuffed to the gills.
As we drove around, I was paying close attention to the artitechural details of the many historic (and some not so historic) homes and mansions we passed. I am a history and artitechure buff, and the splendid landscaping and color and texuture combinations used I found amazing. Here where I live everything is so cookie-cutter and boring.
As we headed either to or from the Admiral (I honestly don't remember) we passed a few spots used in "Rumble Fish" and she had some neat stories from that set as well. I'll prob. put those over on the Rumble Fish page of the site.
We also ran out to see the Admiral Twin Drive-In (aka "The Nightly Double"); however Karen and I planned to go there the next night for a movie so we didn't spend alot of time. But Susie described what was filmed where and how they did the under the fence scene and the projection booth on top of the concession stand, ect.
By that time it was time to head over for her grand performance in the independent film! So we went over to Thomas Edison Jr / Sr. High School and she found her writing group buddies. We just basically stood around trying to stay out of the way, yet take everything in at the same time. The title of the short film is "Bryce Fell", but I really don't know much about the actual plot. The part Susie had was of an angry teacher trying to head off a fight between three boys, two-on-one. She hit her marks dead on and looked every bit the part! The experience was very cool and informative. No pics though, sorry. She seemed so at ease (of course she would, these folks are her friends!) and apparently got to visit with some people she hadn't seen in some time. Her introduction of us to her friends as "her webmasters" made us feel very special and a part of something very special and definately memorable. It was just too cool all the way around!
By the time we got done there it was around 4pm and we were all in need of a break, so she dropped us off at our rooms, and went on home to unwind before we went back over to her house that evening around 6:30. She was "putting us to work" sorting her stills from the various films which had just been stored precariously over the years. Like that was 'work' for us!! Hell yea- we're all over that! So anyway, after freshening up, we drove over there for drinks, conversation, and of course, picture sorting. Her husband is very nice and makes a great bartender! We just sat around chatting about the site, how it started, where Karen came in, statistics of the site, and technical stuff like that. We spent the remainder of the evening going through the boxes of goodies she's collected from her films; lots of awesome behind the scenes shots and articles, and other memoribilia. She sent us home with some great pics to share too! We headed out about 9:30. Another great ending to a great day!
Saturday was a later start day; 2:30 is when we were to be at her house. So we spent the morning just hanging out, relaxing, and met one of the fan group members, Ces, for lunch. It was great putting a face with a name and her baby boy is just adorable.
We sat around for awhile at Susies, again, just talking about 'stuff'. She still has her very first typewriter sitting there in her living room on a large wood desk. She has artwork of various kinds, including one painted by the fellow who portrayed the 'Principal' of the school kids in the film. She also showed us the leather jacket from the film; the one Dallas and Ponyboy wore. It's in pretty rough shape, but she has it. We'll have a pic up soon of that too.
We headed out and spent a while checking out Tex locations and driving through Bixby. We've got shots of the school and house for the site. Again, finding the house was an issue, but we finally did. It sits way far back off of the road on a low hill out by itself and still looks the same as was seen in the film. For the 'Collins' house, they used a home that was located in one of the newer subdivisions in the area and the interiors were on a set (I think I'm right on that). Karen and I also later that evening got pics of the 'Camelot' hotel seen in the movie (seen after Tex is shot and calls the Collins house for help). It's vacant and in really really poor condition. Anyway...
We had a dinner date for 6pm with Mike Ransom and his wife; from Tulsa TV Memories website. We ate at "The Brook", which used to be an old movie theater so the atmosphere was cool and once again the food awesome. We talked about the site, his site, and all sorts of other stuff. It was fun, and Mike and his wife Gaye are great folks.
From there it was on to the Admiral Twin Drive-In for me and Karen! I hadn't been to one since I was a kid so it was doubly cool. We took pics at various spots which we will have up on the site soon, including the part of the fence they went under, the concession stand (which doesn't look much different) and other spots around the grounds. The movie playing was "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and it was pretty good. It was so exciting just to be there, imagining where stuff took place, and all that. Late night too, we didn't get back to our room until after midnight! I'm not a night owl so I was beat.
*About Susie:*
-She's everything that is known about her....and not. She's one of the most unpretentious people I've ever met in my life and so laid back and easy to be around. She is also strong willed and knows what she wants; and doesn't want. And has no problem saying so, but does it in a way that is polite; yet firm and final. Very nice and personable; casual and easygoing. She has an athoritative, yet motherly way about her that simply is just natural. She is very emotionally attached to the "boys" as she calls them, and heard from both Matt and Ralph (2x) while we were there via email. She's big into astrology and nature and just being herself. She's a homebody and a best friend and a mother and a wife. She's a cook and a listener. She appreciates fine art, a good reliable friend, and a great margarita. She loves her family, her pets and her horses and simply 'hanging out' with them.
-Her home is simple yet casually elegant (yes, I know those two words don't typically go together, but in this case they do). Her vast collection of every topic of literature imaginable, with the exception of crap reading like 'Danielle Steele' type stuff, is just amazing. She loves warm colors and her home reflects that; warm tones combined with wood and ceremic tiles make it sophisticated yet inviting. Her backyard is completely private and a garden / nature lovers dream, with potted plants of all colors, wonderful landscaping and critters abound. She told us of the time a squirrel got into the house- said "...it was like having a monkey in the house!...".
-Her 'rec. room' is just the coolest; she's got the directors chairs from Tex, Outsiders, and Rumble Fish, and the original posters from each film. The pool table that "the boys" played pool on when they hung out at her house during filming is still there. All this combined with her various awards for horse showing just made for a really cool and relaxing atmosphere, complete with poker table.
-She's got many projects going on at once, which is a bit unusual for her as she typically tackles one project at a time. She's working on another novel (that's all we know), a screenplay for "Hawkes Harbor", the new Outsiders dvd, and a short story collection she's working on getting published! Whew...She said she really battles the 'guilties' when working like this as she feels when she's working on one of the projects, she should really be working on the other. Gee, sounds like me when I'm trying to read a book and manage keeping up with my family at the same time! I don't know how she does it...honestly.
-So, there you have her in a nutshell!
