Karen, co-moderator of the website and fan forum, shares the details of her visit to Tulsa Oklahoma to see the stage play at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Thursday, November 9th-  I departed my home in Alabama for a few days 

of bliss in the world of The Outsiders--Tulsa, Oklahoma.  After a 

tiring 10 hour drive, I finally reached my destination.  Throwing my 

stuff out (literally) at the hotel, it was on to the Circle Theater (movie theater) on 

South Lewis Street to see The Outsiders, and then Rumblefish. What a 

rush it is to be able to see The Outsiders at the theater where it all 

started!  Of course, the actual Circle Theater is undergoing major 

renovations, but its still the same.  I met some fans of the movie; Cherie, 

Ashley & Sarah, and got the following opinion from them that they ”love 

the Outsiders!“. It was so cool to be able to meet Jeff from the Fan Forum, and his mom, 

and then get to pose for pictures under the newly re-designed marquee, 

with the “The Outsiders” in lights!  We all agreed to possibly meet for 

lunch within the other 2 days I had in Tulsa, which we did on Saturday. 

More on that later.

Friday, November 10th- We drove around to the Admiral Drive-In 

Theater, which had closed for the season only the weekend before.  

Not much has changed at that theater, but I did notice some renovations in 

connection the Great American Landmarks contest that the Admiral won 

last year.  We did find the location of the Pines Drive-In, on Pine 

Street, but there is nothing left of it. Time marches on I guess. We met 

with Mike Ransom, of Tulsa TV Memories, and spent 

almost 3 hours discussing the movie and other topics. We got a great 

interview with Mike; and a picture of me, Mike and James .  After we met 

Ces (also from the Fan Forum) and baby Adam for dessert at a local restaurant, it was time for 

the play!!  I was so keyed up about getting to see the stage play.  We 

had only been in the theater a few minutes, when I spotted author S.E. Hinton 

herself, making her way in for a viewing of the play. She recognized me 

immediately; and after greeting each other I introduced her to James. 

We got a great picture of me, James, Susie and play director Sally Adams.

I got to talk to some of the parents who had kids in the play, and I 

handed out a number of our little Outsiders Website cards. After 

a lengthy discussion with the director, we were invited back the 

following night for interviews with the cast. That was exciting in itself.   

It was time for us to be seated, so after finding our seats we waited 

anxiously for the start of the play.

I have to admit, I really didn’t know what to expect, but no fear, 

because the play was wonderful!   The kids portraying the characters did a 

great job!   No singing in the play, contrary to earlier reports, and 

the drowning scenes and rumble scenes were great, with the dramatic 

lighting. The death scene with Johnny was so moving; I heard a number of 

muffled sniffles from around the theater. The guy who portrays Dallas in 

the play, Whitson Hanna, did a  marvelous job of  bringing Dallas to 

life. I was very impressed. Having only ever seen the movie, I knew the 

play would  seem different,  but the man who adapted the book for a 

stage play was very skillful in what he did because it is only one set 

for the entire play.   After the play was over, we grabbed a quick 

bite to eat and headed back to our hotels. 

Saturday, November 11th- We departed the hotels for quite a day of 

adventure. The entire day turned out to be a matter of complete timing- 

it was as if one thing had gone wrong, none of the following events 

could have taken place.

First, a trip to the print shop was in order to pick up the more 

business cards for the website, and then on to Bixby for a quick tour of the filming 

locations for Tex.  I found the location of the house with no problems, the 

only problem was- THE HOUSE WAS GONE!  Yes, that’s right, the house was 

torn down last spring after vandals ransacked it.  I was in total 

shock. So, finding the gates open, I drove onto the property, and I 

spotted a truck coming from the barn on the property. Turns 

out the owner was there, and after James introduced himself, the owner 

talked to us freely, giving us the whole scoop on why the house was 

torn down. She also gave us some great stories about things during the 

filming of Tex. She allowed us to take pictures and film of the site.  

We drove by the Bixby School, which looks pretty much the same, and 

then it was back to Tulsa.  There was talk of driving on to Owasso, but 

after a debate, I drove to the neighborhood where The Outsiders was 

filmed. So after we pulled up to the vacant lot/ rumble scene, we got out to 

take pictures, and a car pulled up beside us, and the man asked us what 

we were doing. After I presented him with a card, he said the owned the 

vacant lot!  He told us several stories about the filming events that 

took place there and he actually lived next door during the filming.   

So, after talking and filming for a few minutes, we drove around the 

block to see the Curtis house, and the owner was standing out in the yard. 

He waved at us, and we waved back. James simply got out, asked 

him if he was the owner and if this was the house used in the filming 

of “The Outsiders”.  He was very nice and talked with us for about 30 

minutes. We asked permission to take pictures of the house, and he was so 

cool about it. He said it was nothing new, and he guessed he had one of 

the most photographed houses in America.

We took pictures of the alley behind the house, and the alley where the 

Socs chase Ponyboy.  We cruised around by the street where Dallas was 

killed, and then around by the Crutchfield Park.  I did make some 

pictures of the area where Soda gives his heart to heart talk with Darry and 

Pony in the movie.

We made a few pictures, and then after a few more stops, it 

was time to meet Ces and Jeff for lunch.  We had a great time chatting 

and sharing stories. Ces brought baby Adam, and he is so sweet!  I 

signed the tree out in front of the restaurant, printing “The Motorcycle 

Boy Reigns”.  I took a picture of it.

We took pictures of all of us in front of the restaurant. It is so much 

fun to be able to meet the people from our website and fan forum; I can finally 

put a face with a name! Then it was off to the stage door for the 

interviews with the kids in the play.

We were to report at 5:30 so we would have plenty of time to meet with 

everyone. We were greeted by Kessa and Melissa, who showed us some of 

the kids getting their makeup put on, and a few of the others were 

already in their costumes. I walked around handing out business cards, while 

James did the filming of the interviews. The kids were genuine in their 

answers to our questions, and I spent a few minutes answering questions 

about C.Thomas Howell from August (Ponyboy).  All of them were excited 

to be in the play  and you could really tell they had put a lot of hard 

work into this production. It really came across on stage, I was so 

proud of all of them!   One of the kids told me, they had auditioned for 

this play before school started, and they had rehearsals at least 3-4 

times a week for many weeks.  It takes a lot of dedication and hard work 

to prepare for a play like this.   After a while, the kids had to go 

through their routines of getting ready for the opening scenes, while 

James and I went upstairs to get our tickets from the will-call window 

(where passes are handed out).   

The play seemed different the second night because now, instead of the 

cast simply being “people on a stage”, I could identify individually 

with each character. Earlier, I had seen Chase, Nicholas and August,  

playing a game on the floor in the green room; now they were on stage, 

saying their lines, and bringing the characters of Bob, Johnny and Ponyboy 

to life. It’s a very different thing to see indeed.

After the play, we walked back down to the stage door, hoping to grab 

some quick pictures before we went back to our respective hotels. We 

got some great pics with the cast, and I somehow ended up in a picture 

with the majority of the cast, (they said they were putting me “against 

the wall”); along with a great picture of me & Jerib (Two Bit).   

Sunday November 12th- Time for that long drive back home.  As always, 

I hated to leave Tulsa.  It almost seems like a second home to me. I 

can navigate the streets with ease, I don’t need a map to get around; 

I’m not sure, but if the chance ever arose, I think I could move there 

and be happy. I want to especially thank Ces, Jeff and James for a memorable trip.  

And a huge THANK YOU to 

S.E. Hinton for making all this happen in the first place. Without the 

book, there would not have been a movie.  I was so glad we got to see 

Susie at the theater on Friday, and very grateful she posed for a 

picture with us, and the director, Sally Adams, who did a fantastic job with 

a wonderful group of actors and actresses.  I really think this 

adaptation of the book could easily be on Broadway.

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!

Sunday June 12 - Sunday was leaving day. 

We got up, got organized and packed and headed off for lunch.  Susie was taking me back to the airport so Karen departed about 10:30am to head home to Alabama.  I just hung out there at the room, walked around outside, stuff like that.  Pretty uneventful.  Spent time writing all this out so I could remember it all correctly for this memorior.  Right on time Susie picked me up and it was bye-bye Tulsa for me!!!  

For now that is....

So, there's the trip. My side of it anyway...whew!