The 88-minute film “Route 66: The Mother Road” which starred bestselling author Michael Wallis and his wife Suzanne in 1994, recently was uploaded to the Internet Archive for everyone to enjoy.
The out-of-print film often also was titled “A Journey Down Route 66.” A few copies on VHS or even DVD could be found on eBay.
The New Zealand-based Vista Group, a film logistics company, quietly uploaded the film to the Internet Archive in September.
Wallis was fresh off his book, “Route 66: The Mother Road” (Amazon link), entering the bestseller list at the time the film was made. The book helped ignite Route 66’s renaissance, which continues to this day.
The film offers a glimpse from nearly 30 years ago of long-lost Route 66 landmarks such as the Coral Court Motel in St. Louis, the Will Rogers Court motel in Tulsa and the Big 8 Motel in El Reno, Oklahoma.
A few other people shown in the film also are gone, including Pappy Litch in Galena, Kansas, and Lillian Redman of Tucumcari, New Mexico.
Yet some properties, such as the Blue Whale of Catoosa, Oklahoma, and the Old Chain of Rock Bridge in St. Louis, were moribund at the time until preservationists freshened them up. And Pop Hicks restaurant in Clinton, Oklahoma, are scheduled to be revived.
(Screen-capture image of Michael Wallis from “Route 66: The Mother Road” film at the Front Street Bridge in Galena, Kansas)
Thanks for posting this, glad I was able to help bring this to light.