In 1989, I wrote an article for KANSAS! Magazine about The Film Clip, located in lower level of the Haskell Township Library in Sublette, Kansas. The Film Clip contains an impressive display of movie memorabilia and what is said to be the most extensive collection of literature relating to the entertainment industry in Kansas.
I recently contacted Jamie Wright, Librarian, hoping to update information for my readers, only to learn that The Film Clip collection was moved to the Haskell County Museum last fall, for safe storage, awaiting renovation of the library and is not available for viewing.
According to Wright the contract, calling for an addition to the library and remodeling of the interior, was awarded to Building Solutions LLC, of Dodge City. Present plans are for the renovation to be completed and The Film Clip open for viewing in the fall of 2011, she said.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT
Cessna Aircraft has been in the news a lot lately. For a bit of Cessna history, click on the link. To see why I would even be interested, see below.
Ungerer Flying Service, of Marysville, Kansas, had been in business only a few months when we acquired the dealership for Cessna Aircraft and became the proud owners of one of Cessna’s first post war airplanes. The Cessna 120 rolled off the production line in 1946, following the end of World War II. Shortly after, the 120 was followed by Cessna’s 140, 170, 172, 190, and 195 which we also acquired as they rolled off the line.
The Cessna Story
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BURL IVES AND THE KANSAS CITY BOAT, SPORT AND TRAVEL SHOW
ILLEGAL ALIENS
When I was touring the Yucatan Peninsula,
BARTEL WELL DRILLING, INC.
Prolonged drought conditions is of increasing concern to Kansans–particularly western Kansans. As the water table of the Ogallala aquifer continues to decline well owners, faced with having to deepen existing wells, or drill new wells, turn to well drilling companies such as Bartel Well Drilling of Meade.
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WHEN I WAS A HARVEY GIRL
“My very first job was as a Harvey Girl,” said Marjorie (Marge) Smith
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MARY SPURGEON
When 86 year old Mary Spurgeon was asked to sculpt an eight-foot likeness of Wyatt Earp, to be displayed on Dodge City’s Wyatt Earp Boulevard, she didn’t bat an eye. She was used to challenges—
THE DIRTY THIRTIES
How Mary Spurgeon dealt with "Black Sunday"
Mary Spurgeon, the artist who sculpted the Wyatt Earp statue on Wyatt Earp Boulevard, in Dodge City, Kansas, grew up in a family of five girls and no boys near Ensign, Kansas a small farming community fifteen miles southwest of Dodge City.
On Sunday, April 14, 1935, she was herding cattle four miles from home. It was a fine day with sunshine and a gentle south wind. Shortly after three o'clock, the wind swung to the northeast and a black cloud rolled across the plains, engulfing everything in darkness.
Seventeen year old Mary Johnson used her coat to protect herself from the stinging, blowing sand. For three hours, the storm raged, alternating between total blackness when "you couldn't see your hand a foot from your face" and brief periods of dim light. Finally, she was able to walk home, leading her horse, wiping the dust from his teary eyes and runny nose.
"It wasn't an easy life, but we had freedom--time to think and time to dream," said Spurgeon whose award-winning western sculpture and paintings reflect her pioneer heritage. Sitting her horse day after day, watching the cattle graze, Spurgeon had dreams that sometime seemed far-fetched.
ON ROAMING THE PRAIRIE
A Personal Essay
Previously published in The Legend Magazine
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KISMET, KANSAS
THE LITTLE WORLD’S FAIR
COUNT BASIE
One of the qualities that set Count Basie’s band apart was the Count’s simple, somewhat “elliptical” piano style and the rhythm section that supported it.
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THE THEATRE IN THE PARK
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LIVING OFF THE LAND
(Excerpt from article in May/June issue of Grit Magazine)
In 1949 my husband, Carl, and I decided to move to Arkansas, take life easy and “live off the land.” We had been operating a flying service in Marysville, Kansas since the end of the war and before that Carl had flown B-24’s and B-29’s for the Air Corp. I was a photographer. About as close as either of us had ever come to farming was Carl hoeing weeds in his Dad’s annual spring garden when he was a boy. He figured, however, that anyone intelligence enough to fly bombers and operate airports surely had enough sense to learn how to farm.
To read the entire article, go to:
http://www.grit.com/property/farm/living-off-the-land.aspx
HOMELAND SECURITY; MEADE COUNTY, KANSAS
"Sixty-eight percent of the world's beef is produced in a triangular area from Dodge City west to the Colorado border, south to Amarillo, Texas and back to Dodge," Stice said. "This includes range cattle, feed lots, and the three Southwest Kansas packing plants -- National Beef, Excel and IBP -- which process process a combined total of one million head of livestock a day."
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MID-AMERICA AIR MUSEUM
"We have a great museum," Bert said. "You'd be hard pressed to find an aviation museum with the diversity of airplanes we have anywhere else in the world."
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THE AIRBASE
From Fragile Hopes, Transient Dreams and other Stories: The B-24 Airbase at Liberal, Kansas
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THE DALTON GANG HIDEOUT
Mystery surrounds the Meade, Kanas hideout used by the infamous Dalton Gang --
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Evening Shade
How a cookbook built a gym for Evening Shade, Arkansas
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