National Cowboy Museum opening exhibit dedicated to Bowie knife April 1
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum will host an exhibition of Bowie knives beginning April 1 and continuing through Nov. 20.
“The Bowie Knife: Icon of American Character” will highlight examples from the museum’s collection and superlative specimens loaned by Bowie-knife authority E. Norman Flayderman.
The Bowie knife became instantly synonymous with the American West after the infamous “Sandbar Fight” in 1827, in which James Bowie vanquished a foe using a large butcher or hunting knife. From the 1830s onward, the Bowie knife played a major role in all walks of life in the West from the frontiersman, to the gambler, to the soldier.
Sheffield Cutlery, the world leader in cutlery manufacture at the time, began to make, market and export the knives to America. Located in Sheffield, England, the manufacturer recognized the popularity of the knife and started exporting the “Bowie” knife to America even before Colonel Bowie’s death at the Alamo in 1836.
They began to increase sales by inscribing the Bowie knife with mottos and slogans intended to play on American patriotism, state pride, occupation or personal aspiration. By the mid-1840s, hundreds of Bowie knives were coming into the United States with slogans such as “Americans ask for nothing but what is right and submit to nothing that is wrong.” Some knives appealed to state pride (A real Mississippian), hunting aspirations (For stags and buffaloes) or gold mining in California (I can dig gold from quartz).
Many knives had slogans referring to war. “General Taylor never surrenders” refers to the Mexican War. “Death to traitors” and “Americans never surrender” refers to the Civil War. These knives found a ready market in antebellum and wartime America.
Some of the English Bowie knives stroked the American ego, with stamped slogans such as “I surpass all” and “Try me.” Other Sheffield Bowie knives that did not carry blade markings were decorated with distinctly American symbols, such as eagles, shields or star clusters on their pommel caps or cross guards.
This exhibition will focus primarily on examples with blade inscriptions and other distinctly American embellishments ranging from 1830-1870. It also will look at the history and legacy of the Bowie knife well into the 20th century. In addition to being a Bowie-knife authority, Flayderman is also a widely respected antiquarian and author. His recently published, illustrated book, The Bowie Knife – Unsheathing an American Legend, will be available for purchase in The Museum Store during the exhibition.
The museum also is hosting a lecture about the Bowie knife as part of its popular Tuesdays At Sundown adult education series. “The Bowie Knife and the South” will be presented by William Worthen with the Historic Arkansas Museum. He will elaborate on the history of the knife and provide context for the excellent exhibition. This Tuesdays At Sundown program will take place at the museum from 6:30 to 8 p.m. May 17.
The National Cowboy Museum is located in Oklahoma City’s Adventure District at the junction of I-35 and I-44. The museum is open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
For more information , go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.org or call 478-2250.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on March 7, 2011: Attend a “True West” book signing
The 1915 oil painting "Santa Fe" is part of the exhibit "Allen True's West" at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
Today’s featured event:
In conjunction with the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s new exhibition “Allen True’s West,” meet the artist’s granddaughter Victoria Tupper-Kirby. Along with True’s daughter Jere True, she co-authored “Allen Tupper True: An American Artist,” and she will be signing copies from 11 to a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today at the museum, 1700 NE 63. The book has the charm of a personal memoir enhanced by scholarly underpinnings.
“Allen True’s West” is a traveling exhibition organized by Denver Art Museum focused on life and work of Colorado artist, illustrator, and muralist, Allen Tupper True (1881-1955). During the first decade of the 20th century, the Golden Age of Illustration, Allen True was one of the most important and recognized illustrators. His images appeared in numerous magazine articles and books, and he became one of the great pictorial chroniclers of the American West. Through illustrations, artists create imagery that links history, the written word, contemporary ideas, cultural interpretation, and current artistic trends. The resulting images by artists like True influenced concepts of the American West that many still hold today.
The exhibition of True’s work includes oil paintings created and published as illustrations, illustrated books, and illustrations from magazines. True was a renowned muralist, and the exhibition features oil studies for some of his murals. Many items, some of which have never been exhibited before, are on loan from the True family.
For more information on the book signing and exhibit, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
National Cowboy Museum announces golden anniversary inductees
Andy Devine
The board of directors of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has announced the 2011 inductees into the Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers as well as the recipient of the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award. The 50th Anniversary of the Western Heritage Awards will be celebrated April 16.
First presented in 1961, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Western Heritage Awards were established to honor and encourage the legacy of those whose works in literature, music, film and television reflect the significant stories of the American West. The awards program also recognizes inductees into the prestigious Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers as well as the recipient of the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named in honor of the museum’s founder. Each honoree receives a Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback.
This year’s honorees are the late Andy Devine and Stuart Whitman for the Hall of Great Western Performers, Ralph Chain and the late Dr. O.M. Franklin for the Hall of Great Westerners, and Howard Council for the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award.
Hall of Great Western Performers
For induction into the Hall of Great Western Performers actors must have made significant contributions to the perpetuation of the Western film, radio, or theater. Through a solid body of works in motion pictures, radio or stage, the inductee must project the traditional Western ideas of honesty, integrity, and self-sufficiency.
Stuart Whitman, California, is an American actor who starred in generally rugged roles. Whitman made more than 200 appearances in various movies and television shows over a half-century span between 1951 and 2000. One of his early roles came in 1957 in the military dramas, “Harbor Command” and “The Silent Service.” In 1961, he earned an academy award nomination for his leading role in “The Mark.” Whitman also is well known for playing the heroic “Marshal Jim Crown” in the Western TV series “Cimarron Strip.” He had many supporting roles in film including “Francis of Assisi,” “The Longest Day,” “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines” and “The Comancheros” where he shared the leading-man status with John Wayne. In 1958, Whitman made Hollywood history when he planted one on Dorothy Dandridge in “The Decks Ran Red” – it was Hollywood’s first interracial kiss.
Andy Devine (1905-1977), California, was an American comic cowboy sidekick and character actor known for his distinctive raspy voice which could be heard throughout his career spanning more than 50 years. Devine was in more than 200 films and is well-remembered as “Jingles” on the long-running Western series “Wild Bill Hickock.” He made several appearances in films with John Wayne including “Stagecoach.” Devine also appeared in “Island in the Sky” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.” He had many memorable roles in television including playing “Hap” on the series “Flipper.” Devine left moviemaking in 1970, but still lent his famous voice to animated films including “Friar Tuck” in Disney’s Robin Hood and “Cornelius the Rooster” in several Kellogg’s Corn Flakes commercials.
Read more about the other Hall of Great Westerners and the Hall of Great Western Performers after the break.
Coen brothers’ “True Grit” wins Western Heritage Award from National Cowboy Museum
"True Grit"
America’s premier Western museum, the Oklahoma City-based National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, is celebrating its golden anniversary with the announcement of its Western Heritage Award winners. The awards honor works in literature, music, film, and television reflecting the significant stories of the American West. The 50th Anniversary of the Western Heritage Awards will be celebrated at a black-tie banquet April 16.
Each honoree receives a Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback. Awards presented in 2011 are for works completed in 2010. Qualified professionals outside the museum staff judge all categories.
Joel and Ethan Coen’s big-screen re-adaptation of “True Grit” has won the Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Theatrical Motion Picture. The second film version of Charles Portis’ 1968 novel was nominated for 10 Oscars, including best picture, though it didn’t emerge victorious at the Academy Awards.
The Western Heritage Awards are open to the public and reservations can be secured by calling (405) 478-2250, Ext. 219. Ticket prices for April 15′s Jingle-Jangle Mingle are $40 for nonmembers and $30 for museum members. The Western Heritage Awards banquet ticket prices are $175 for nonmembers and $145 for members. For more information, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.com.
Read the complete list of 2011 Western Heritage Awards winners after the break.
Video: Ryan Merriman talks acting jobs, charity efforts
Choctaw-born and bred actor Ryan Merriman sat down last week with NewsOK video host Angi Bruss to chat about his role in the hot TV series “Pretty Little Liars,” his indie film roles in “Cheesecake Casserole” and “The 5th Quarter” and his charity work in Oklahoma.
Ryan was in town not only to visit family and friends but also to help raise money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation, an affiliate of Children’s Miracle Network. He made a special appearance last Friday at Cuppies and Joes, where the shop was selling cupcakes he created with proceeds going to the foundation, and hosted the foundation’s Roundup Shindig on Saturday night. To read my interview with Ryan, click here.
It was a big weekend in the OKC metro for the Children’s Miracle Network. Teen music sensation Greyson Chance took a break from his tour with Miranda Cosgrove to play a pair of hometown shows at Edmond Santa Fe High School. The shows were benefits for the Children’s Miracle Network as part of Double Wolf Dare Week, the school’s annual charity campaign.
Greyson’s shows and meet-and-greet raised $40,000. To read more, click here.
-BAM
Photo gallery: Oklahoma musicians participate in Gov. Mary Fallin’s inauguration festivities
Gov. Mary Fallin and her husband Wade Christensen dance while actor/singer Christian Kane, who hails from Norman, performs during Fallin's inaugural ball Monday at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman)
Mary Fallin officially became the 27th governor of Oklahoma when she was sworn in Monday afternoon outside the state Capitol. She becomes the state’s first female governor and the fourth Republican to hold the office.
Several Oklahoman music stars participated in the festivities surrounding Fallin’s inauguration. Our intrepid photographers from The Oklahoman captured many of them singing at various events:
Norman country superstar Toby Keith performs his hit "American Soldier" during Mary Fallin's inauguration Monday outside the state Capitol. Fallin paid tribute to those serving in the military as she was sworn in. (Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman)
Christian Kane performs at the inaugural ball for Gov. Mary Fallin at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. (Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman)
Lawton-born singer/songwriter/pianist Leon Russell performs Monday night at Fallin's inaugural ball at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. (Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman)
Barnsdall native Anita Bryant sings the National Anthem at Gov. Mary Fallin's inaugural ball Monday night at the National Cowboy Museum. (Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman)
Edmond singer/songwriter/pianist Greyson Chance, 13, performs at Fallin's "Fun for Families" event last Saturday at Science Museum Oklahoma. (Photo by Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman)
Greyson charms the audience at Fallin's "Fun for Families" event last Saturday at Science Museum Oklahoma. (Photo by Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman)
Karlee Wright, an Edmond North High School student, sings at Fallin's "Fun for Families" event at Science Museum Oklahoma. Wright won the 2010 OK City Star singing contest. (Photo by Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman)
- BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Jan. 11, 2011: See “American Indian Printmakers” at National Cowboy Museum
Fritz Scholder's (Luiseno) "Indian with a Tomahawk"
See “American Indian Printmakers,” the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s first exhibition focusing solely on the printmaking aspect of American Indian fine art.
Featuring more than 50 original prints from the museum’s prestigious Arthur and Shifra Silberman collection of American Indian Art, “American Indian Printmakers” includes etchings, silkscreens, lithographs and woodblocks.
The exhibition highlights works by artists such as Earl Biss, Benjamin Buffalo, T.C. Cannon, Grey Cohoe, Woody Crumbo, Harry Fonseca, R.C. Gorman, Jean Lamarr, Kevin Red Star, Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Jose Rey Toledo. These prints reveal diverse experiences in a wide range of styles and subjects, reflecting the artists’ connections with the contemporary art scene in America as well as their Native American heritage.
“American Indian Printmakers” is on display through May 8, 2011.
For more information, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
Michael Martin Murphey playing Cowboy Christmas Ball tonight at National Cowboy Museum
Michael Martin Murphey
A version of this story appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Ball celebrates Christmas the cowboy way
For nearly two decades, Michael Martin Murphey has been celebrating Christmas the cowboy way.
The singer-songwriter is keeping the tradition of an old-fashioned country holiday with his popular Cowboy Christmas Ball, which he will bring tonight to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum for the 16th year.
“It’s always been my favorite time of year. I’ve lived on a ranch now for a long, long time in one place or another. To be out on a ranch at Christmastime, I don’t know, you just feel closer to the real story of Christmas. Christmas is a pastoral story,” Murphey said in a recent phone interview.
“People raise their eyebrows and say ‘Cowboy Christmas; what’s that got to do with Christmas?’ …Well, you know, Christmas has really been urbanized. For one thing, (There’s) Jesus being born in a manger with farm animals around, and shepherds being the first people to get the news. The angels didn’t come to the politicians and the media first; they didn’t alert the media, they alerted the cowboys of that day.”
Murphey modeled his Cowboy Christmas Ball, now in its 18th year of touring the Southwest, on a 125-year-old tradition started in Anson, Texas. In 1885, an Anson couple got married at Christmastime and invited all the ranching families. to celebrate. Famed East Coast journalist Larry Chittenden was in town and wrote a poem about the event.
It was published in the London Times, The New York Times and many other newspapers. The dance soon became world-famous, and people began coming from thousands of miles away to take part in the Cowboy Christmas Ball, making it an annual tradition.
A Texas native, Murphey still plays the Anson ball every year and helped the Oklahoma City museum base the local event on the original.
“Next to playing Anson, it’s the most important one we do because that’s the whole point of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is to preserve and perpetuate Western tradition. And the Cowboy Christmas Ball tradition is a time-honored, real tradition that’s over 100 years old. It’s an antique,” he said.
“To me, it’s the roots of country music. The music that was played at those all balls back in the 1880s and the cowboy music that was popular back then … it’s still popular. And people that don’t believe that, I can prove it: I’ve sold over a million copies of ‘Cowboy Songs, Volume 1,’ and I’m up to ‘Cowboy Songs, Volume 5.’”
Since making his first “Cowboy Songs” in 1990, Murphey has become a champion of traditional Western music, and he stays busy recording cowboy compositions. He has released three albums this year alone.
The concert CD “Lone Cowboy: Live & Solo” features Murphey accompanied by just his acoustic guitar as he plays some of his best-known works, such as “Carolina in the Pines,” “Cherokee Fiddle” and the title track. “Buckaroo Blue Grass II: Riding Song” is the follow-up to his 2009 Grammy-nominated album “Buckaroo Blue Grass.”
And “Acoustic Christmas Carols: Cowboy Christmas II,” the sequel to his 1991 seasonal album, consists of his folksy, around-the-campfire renditions of holiday classics like “Joy to the World,” “We Three Kings” and “Silent Night.” Folks can expect to hear some of the selections at tonight’s ball.
“I saw the Christmas carols as folk songs that you could play with a guitar or with a piano in your living room at home. The one element that I added was a pipe organ in St. James Episcopal Church in Taos (N.M.), which is an early 1900s pipe organ that doesn’t have any electronics in it. (It’s) the original acoustic sound of the organ,” he said.
Getting that authentic acoustic organ sound required some creative strategy from Murphey and son Ryan, who often produces his albums.
“We had to lay down what we did to a quick track and have her (the organist) play to it because there’s a delay to the organ,” he said. “Organists have to be trained if they’re playing the old organ to hit the keyboard in such a way that they know that what comes out is coming out with sometimes a quarter of second or a half a second delay. It became actually pretty complicated to make the album. …
“My whole purpose was to do a really simple project, but to coordinate an original pipe organ with a guitar and a hammer dulcimer ended up being a big challenge. But we pulled it off.”
His son Brennan handles the video effects for the Cowboy Christmas Ball Tour. While the visuals and song selections change from year to year, the old-fashioned spirit of the event remains the same.
“People want the tradition. We’ve created our own tradition now, and there are certain songs they want to hear,” he said.
“We gotta do the Schottische, we gotta do the Cotton Eye Joe, we gotta do the waltzes, the old-fashioned waltzes. … People come and it’s new to them every year because they really don’t get that any other time of the year. So they anticipate it for a whole year that it’s coming, because there aren’t any other dances around that present this music the way we do.
“We present it with all acoustic instruments, and we go out of our way to find the old-time tunes to play at the dances. Now, we have new material and contemporary songs that we throw in there, too, but it’s really important at the Cowboy Christmas Ball that the fiddler gets out there and unrolls some of these traditional dances.”
In the spirit of Christmas and the original Anson event, the ball is intended to bring families together.
“I set it up that way, and believe me, it’s taken nearly 20 years to get it to take, because people couldn’t relate to a dance without a full bar and a lot of rowdiness going on and it kind of being a honky-tonk thing. The thing about country music is, they have a hard time thinking of it outside that context,” he said.
But we’re not a honky-tonk dance, and 3-year-olds can come with their parents and enjoy this dance. And parents don’t have to worry. …
“We want to do something for the families, and this is the chance for the kids to get involved. And we just love that. “We just love seeing a great-grandparent dancing with a great-grandchild at our dance.”
GOING ON
Michael Martin Murphey’s Cowboy Christmas Ball
When: 7 tonight.
Where: National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63.
Information: 478-2250 or www.nationalcowboymuseum.org.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Oct. 11, 2010
T.C. (Tommy Wayne) Cannon (1946-1978; Caddo-Kiowa-Choctaw) "His Hair Flows Like a River," 1978 woodcut on paper
See “American Indian Printmakers,” the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s first exhibition focusing solely on the printmaking aspect of American Indian fine art.
Featuring more than 50 original prints from the museum’s prestigious Arthur and Shifra Silberman collection of American Indian Art, “American Indian Printmakers” includes etchings, silkscreens, lithographs and woodblocks.
The exhibition highlights works by artists such as Earl Biss, Benjamin Buffalo, T.C. Cannon, Grey Cohoe, Woody Crumbo, Harry Fonseca, R.C. Gorman, Jean Lamarr, Kevin Red Star, Fritz Scholder, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Jose Rey Toledo. These prints reveal diverse experiences in a wide range of styles and subjects, reflecting the artists’ connections with the contemporary art scene in America as well as their Native American heritage.
“American Indian Printmakers” is on display through May 8, 2011.
For more information, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.com.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on Sept. 27, 2010
Floral-stamped leather coach trunk by John Willemsma with filigreed sterling silver by Scott Hardy
Today’s featured event:
See examples of remarkably crafted saddles, bits and spurs at the Annual Traditional Cowboy Arts Association Exhibition and Sale at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63.
The annual show, which will run through Jan. 2, offers examples of remarkable saddlemaking, bit and spur making, silversmithing and rawhide braiding and other traditional cowboy crafts by 20 talented gear makers from the United States, Canada and Argentina. The educational focus of this year’s show is leather work.
Last year’s show showcased 56 pieces from 20 artists. Their efforts were rewarded as collectors’ sales totaled $438,890. Clearly much has been accomplished with the Western gear industry in the last decade. There is great optimism that these trades are on the upswing, encouraging a new generation of talented men and women to spend years devoted to the handmade crafts many observers expected to disappear. The 2010 exhibition consists of more than 50 pieces.
Don Reeves, the National Cowboy Museum’s McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture, said in a news release, “The TCAA Exhibition and Sale truly meets the expectations of a sophisticated Western clientele familiar with good working gear and fine craftsmanship. The public has the opportunity to view an extraordinary exhibition and purchase works by master cowboy gear makers.”
This prestigious event attracts buyers from across the country interested in purchasing authentic objects that range in value from several hundred dollars to $50,000. While cowboy gear is still in great demand on working ranches throughout America, pieces of this quality are seldom attained without long waiting periods.
TCAA is unique in that it stresses the active perpetuation of time-honored Western crafts as both a vital art form and a priceless historical resource.
For more information, go to www.nationalcowboymuseum.org.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
