Author Topic: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment  (Read 27870 times)

Old Guy

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Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« on: March 17, 2008, 04:53:13 PM »
I've seen a lot of shows mentioned on other threads so how bout one for the shows themselves.  Street shows, music acts, theater shows, night shows, visiting acts, etc Any memories? Tales? Questions? Deep knawing moral issues? Oh.. hold it ...that's another thread....
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Old Guy

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2008, 10:52:24 AM »
I'll get this started with a mention of SDC's funnyest show ever, The Boxing Show which was a summer show in the craft barn (then known as the wagonworks barn) in Deepwoods in 1978.
Bleachers were set up around a boxing ring and a British boxing champ would challange all comers to last three rounds with him for a prize of $100.00. Of course this was all a setup. There would be popcorn and soda venders walking around the bleachers and when the champ came out he would grab a popcorn and dump it over the venders head. We'd all boo. The chalange would come and who should answer the call than a couple of hillbilly brothers, the smart one who wants the money and the dumb one who is going to fight without a clue. This was played by one of Bransons funnyest men, Wayne Milnus, longtime star of the Toby Show, SDC's undertaker, later to be Judge at the SDC courthouse (more on that show another time), and many more. The ring was rigged with a mini tramp so he could do huge leaps over Percy (the champ) and at one point he would grab a rope hanging from a beam and do wild swings out over the audiance! He would end by accedentaly knocking out the champ and winning the purse.
The show only ran there one summer becouse entertainment lost the use of the barn but  it beacame a regular show ar SDC TN the next few seasons, using shots from the MO version in there brochures.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2008, 06:06:40 PM by Old Guy »
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Copper

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2008, 04:39:57 PM »
I am going off of memories when I was very young:\

I remember about three different shows in the Saloon when I was a kid. One of the shows had Mean Murphy; he had the silver cup over his bit off nose. The second was the Carry Nation’s show where she would hack the saloon up with her ax. The third one I remember vaguely. I think that everyone was nervous because the owner was coming, something like that, and she would sit in the box seat above the bar. If you remember any of these Old Guy, please expound on them!

I would have loved to have seen the Medicine Wagon Show!

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2008, 10:52:52 PM »
The Saloon show was terrific in the late 80s.  I am too young to remember the Carrie Nation show, but would have loved it (along with a little introduction to history).  The show I remember most featured an actress, playing Tillie, who really stole the show.  There were ad libs all over the place, and we couldn't stop laughing.  It was corny and fun.  That was before Mean Murphy came onto the scene.  As I mentioned in another thread, the bartender was always afraid that his brand new St. Louis mirror would be broken in a scuffle, and sure enough, the strobe lights flashed as a panel on the mirror slid to reveal a broken version of the mirror.

They also made a point of saying this was a "family show" and something was said of the painting of a scantily-clad women above and to the right of the mirror.  Before our eyes, the woman's arm pivoted to cover herself more appropriately.  As a kid, I thought this was rich.

I don't remember a medicine show, but I do remember the Toby Show.  I'd like to more about the Rainmaker and the Undertaker, as they are some of my favorite characters.  It makes me sick every time I see the Rainmaker's wagon not being utilized these days.  People walk by and can't appreciate what it really is.  I remember the Rainmaker would bring a kid up onto the contraption, and he would ask, "How long ya been on the wagon?"  One of the jokes that only the adults laughed at.
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Copper

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2008, 10:59:36 PM »
I don’t remember the original Carry Nation’s Saloon show; I only saw the anniversary show a few years ago. I do remember the broken mirror scene in the Saloon.

I have been promised that the Rainmaker will return this season and the role of the rainmaker will be played by one zany man. I am looking forward to this, as a kid I loved it.

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2008, 11:04:21 PM »
That, my friend, will be something to look forward to!

I would like it even more if they didn't tell the public when it will happen - just let it happen seemingly at random.
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Joy

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2008, 01:22:03 AM »
Miss Tillie is the character I miss the most from the Saloon. I definitely remember Mean Murphy; it was back when they used guns with blanks instead of a recorded sound. I remember it clearly, because I have always been afraid of loud noises and I still have to plug my ears during the train robbery, and it was noticeable to me a couple years ago when they had someone shoot a gun in the Saloon, but it only had a recorded sound instead of real blanks.

I think my perfect mix of characters for the Saloon would include Miss Tillie, Dusty Chaps, Choctaw Charlie, and Mean Murphy. Those are the characters I remember and miss the most.

~ "Becky" Joy ~

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2008, 10:56:56 AM »
Dusty Chaps!  I couldn't remember his name.  There was such a chemistry between him and Tillie - almost like they were smitten with each other outside the saloon show.  There's no way they could have had such a chemistry unless they enjoyed each other and their jobs.
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StaceySue

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2008, 06:46:42 PM »
I love this forum!  I spend a lot of time lurking.  I guess I'll post now.

I remember several of the saloon shows. I remember the prohibition one vaguely.  I remember a Buffalo Bill show where all of the girls wore pink saloon dresses.  I also like the Mean Murphy one.

 My favorite show of all time was in the Riverfront Playhouse (I think it's called now), or Gaslight as I remember it.  It was a musical show about a time machine.  A magician picked up someone from the audience (an actor) and travelled with him to the past.  I also remember a show there about pretending a house was haunted.  Volunteers from the audience helped with the haunting.  I also liked the show that Cajun Connection had in there with the set being a riverboat that was travelling down the river. 


Joy

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2008, 07:08:18 PM »
Ah yes, I miss Cajun Connection's indoor set. It really helped set the mood by feeling like you were really in the Bayou.

I remember the first time I saw the Hughes Brothers was when they were the opening act for Cajun Connection. Our family enjoyed them so much, we made sure to check out their own show at the Gazebo later that day. 13 years later, we're still huge fans.

~ "Becky" Joy ~

Copper

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2008, 10:42:09 PM »
Yes, the Gaslight Theatre/ River Front Playhouse was one of my favorite venues as a kid. Timothy Turnbuckle’s Traveling Time Machine, was hilarious. The also had a show called Hoedown which stared Terry Sanders and Dan Embree, two Silver Dollar City greats. I miss these types of shows; SDC doesn’t offer them any longer. Would have loved to see the Haunted show and the Chicken Thief!

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2008, 11:23:00 AM »
Hatfield's Haint was the haunted house show.  It had a great set and special effects, and it was funny in all its quirkiness.  Do you remember the guy going upstairs with his candle.  The candle was accentuated by lighting effects and when he extended his arm - with the candle - into the upstairs bedroom, the lighting was supposed to go with it.  It never did, and the audience thought this "mistake" was hilarious.  The guy then would "ad lib" putting the candle in and out of the room repeatedly to see if the effects person could keep up.  It may have been a real mistake at one time, but they clearly put it in as a part of the show later on.  Of course, a visitor only knew this upon repeat visits, the same way we know the "lost lines" and "breakups" on the train robbery are actually planned.  It just makes it all seem more impromptu.

Timothy Turnbuckle was its replacement, before Cajun Connection and the Haygoods (I don't remember ever seeing the Hughes Brothers.) took over the theater.  Turnbuckle had a nerdy guy in the audience who started the show before the show ever started.  He would take endless flash pictures of the stage and the theater, and as soon as the lights went down for the show to start, he took one last shot - flash - in the dark.  The audience would be laughing at him before it ever knew he was a part of the show.  As I wrote in another thread, though, this show always disturbed me:  how was it that they came to present day to get this guy out of the audience if we were already supposed to be in the 1880s upon entering the park?  This was SDC admitting that we really weren't in the 1880s, and it took away part of the magic.

Again, there are lots of music shows, but if you want to see a comedy, you can't.
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Copper

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2008, 09:58:59 PM »
There was also a show named Shenanigans. Bucky Heard, Terry Sanders and Redneckers were in it. It was fun and filled with music. The year was 94, the same year the Opera House opened with Listen to the River, another great show. The Opera House has had quite a few shows: American Spirit, Heartland Jubilee and For the Glory. These were all great SDC original shows that I liked.

Does anyone remember when Thunderation first opened (93) they had Hard Luck Hank, a puppet show at the Valley Theatre? He and his donkey were trying to blast the silver out of the mine, except his donkey kept blasting him.

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2008, 10:29:52 PM »
'Fraid out of all the years I've been visiting, I don't remember any of the puppet shows.  Weird!

Anyway, as for the newest show in the Opera House - Headin' West - does anybody else get that the order of the scenes is wrong?  Why do they go to the Rocky Mts., and then to the Great Plains on their way to the West Coast?
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Old Guy

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Re: Old Shows Remembered SDC Entertainment
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2008, 02:40:52 PM »
I am going off of memories when I was very young:\

I remember about three different shows in the Saloon when I was a kid. One of the shows had Mean Murphy; he had the silver cup over his bit off nose. The second was the Carry Nation’s show where she would hack the saloon up with her ax. The third one I remember vaguely. I think that everyone was nervous because the owner was coming, something like that, and she would sit in the box seat above the bar. If you remember any of these Old Guy, please expound on them!

I would have loved to have seen the Medicine Wagon Show!

Wow, a lot to cover here... The first saloon show was the Carry Nation one. For the press preview, thay sold nickle beers, the only time alcohol was ever served at SDC along with bags of peanuts The saloon girls and guys sang "Why do they call them Wild Women" an actual turn of the century song (I used to have the origanal sheet music). Midway through the show there was a lound banging on the door and Cary came marching in with her girls singing
"Away away with Rum by gum
with Rum by gum
with Rum by gum
Away away with Rum by gum
is the song of the temporance union"
She would pull a tourist from the audiance and admonish him for being a drunk.
"Tell all these good people how long it's been sense you woke without your mouth tasting like the bottem of a parrots cage cage"
"...but Jim has seen the light (Cue pinspot on guest) "There it is Jim. That one"
She and her girls would then start smashing the place up
The saloon owner pops up from behind the bar with a spitoon stuck on his head Carry would rench it off
"Thank you my good man. This is just what I need"
"No Carry! Not my new St. Louie mirror!"
She winds up "Stand aside you felonious purvayer of pestulance!"
Crash! Mirror smashed and Carry and her girls lead the audiance back into the sunlight "This joint is Closed"

Mean Murphy (played by Ed Marshal, former rainmaker) came next and lasted several seasons, then the Buffalo Fred and the Buffilo Gals show with his pink and white suit and guns,the knife throwing, rope twirling, song and dance stuff. It was in my opinion the funnyest of all the saloon shows.
Last I heard the man who played Fred was in Oklahoma working with at risk kids I believe.

Dusty Chaps!  I couldn't remember his name.  There was such a chemistry between him and Tillie - almost like they were smitten with each other outside the saloon show.  There's no way they could have had such a chemistry unless they enjoyed each other and their jobs.

Oh, and I must mention, Tilly and Dusty are friends of my wife and myself, and did wed a number of year ago and have a whole passel of happy children. A happy ending that explains the chemistry.

More latter!
« Last Edit: March 21, 2008, 06:11:12 PM by Old Guy »
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