The Fans

The Fans

One Friday in the summer of 1938, three men wondered into the office at Commander Mills in Sand Springs, Oklahoma looking for work. They had arrived in nearby Tulsa earlier that day from South Carolina. Needing money for food and maybe a place to stay for a few days, they hitched a ride out to Sand Springs as soon as they heard there was a cotton mill here. They were experienced mill hands and experience was always welcome at Commander Mills. After all, it was summer, and Friday. There would be the usual number of hands who would "lay out" to avoid the heat and maybe start the weekend a little early. The South Carolina men were put to work immediately on the night shifts. As they settled into their duties and began to chat with the locals, the word was passed around about why they were so far away from home. They were Bob Wills fans and they had made their way to Tulsa on the slight chance of getting into one of the big shows that were frequently presented featuring the popular star and his Texas Playboys band. Little did they know, but they had chanced into very friendly hands. This happened to be one of the weekends when Bob Wills would be appearing at the Coliseum in Tulsa. Some of the Fishers who had lived in Sand Springs and worked at the mill since 1935 took the strangers under their wings to help them any way they could. Many of the local Fisher clan were real Bob Wills fans too and already had their tickets for the show and dance to be held Saturday night. The out of towners were treated to breakfast and a place to nap and then a ride to the Coliseum. But what about tickets for the three strangers? Well I guess that’s where being a big fan in 1938 is a little different than being one in 1999. Chester and the other Fishers made sure the fellows were there when the Bob Wills’ bus arrived and when the band began to come down out of the vehicle, Chester stopped a couple of the Play Boys and told them about the three guys who had hitch hiked all the way from South Carolina to see the band. Well they were impressed but they didn’t have tickets to give away so they told the wayfarers to wait across the street and when some of them came to the street doors during the break to come on over and go back in with them. What a thrill that must have been for them to not only get to see most of the show but to be snuck in by the Play Boys. Back in those days, when the show and dance ended at the Coliseum, the band would move their performance over to the studios of radio station KVOO on one of the top floors of the Philtower Building at fifth and Boston in downtown Tulsa. Glenn Condon was the radio show host and he called the program the Oil Night Club. It went on from 1:00 to 5:00 AM every Sunday morning. Public attendance was welcome but limited. Free tickets to the Oil Night Club were handed out at the dance and the South Carolina boys along with the Fishers moved on over to the radio station to listen to the Play Boys play and sing some more. As everyone crowded into the office building and began to fill the elevators, Chester’s wife, Toots, stopped cold. She wasn’t going to get on that elevator. It might fall. It wasn’t safe (in 1938 it probably wasn’t). They begged, they pleaded, they tried to reassure her that it would be all right. She would walk up the stairs she thought. But it was almost twenty floors up and they finally talked her onto the elevator by saying they could walk down after the show if she still was worried. The show was great. The South Carolina boys had lived their dream of seeing their favorite performers up close and personal. Perhaps they told their children and grandchildren about the summer they went west and had the trip of a lifetime for a fan. Oh yeah. Chester almost didn’t get home at all that Sunday morning because when it came time to leave, the door to the stairs was locked and Toots just was not going to get on that elevator again.

Attached is a card that was given out with souvenir books on the Oil Night Club. I wish we still had the book.