A few weeks ago, the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma, announced it was working with Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions in nearby Tulsa to produce a three-minute film about the link between Oklahoma movie star and humorist Will Rogers and Route 66.
“Route 66: The Mother Road” author Michael Wallis and Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry, great-granddaughter of Rogers, were working with the film crew.
Kirkpatrick & Kinslow released a teaser video about the project. The full version is set to be released about August.
Will Rogers-Route 66 Adventure – Press/Publicity Reel from Kirkpatrick&Kinslow Productions on Vimeo.
Kirkpatrick & Kinslow explained in an email the purpose of the upcoming film, titled the “Will Rogers-Route 66 Experience”:
The Experience is designed for people to start their Route 66 journey in Oklahoma at Will Rogers’ birthplace in Oologah then in Claremore for a visit to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum. Route 66 was named the “Will Rogers Highway” in the early 50s. Once travelers have left Claremore and made stops along Rt. 66, they can then visit the Will Rogers Ranch outside Los Angeles.
The Will Rogers Memorial Museum said last year it would include the promotion of Route 66, aka the Will Rogers Memorial Highway, in 2015. Rogers helped promote U.S. 66, including during the Bunion Derby continental footrace in 1928, until he died in an airplane crash in Alaska in 1935. References to Route 66 as the Will Rogers Highway began shortly after his death. A monument dedicating the Will Rogers Highway also sits in Santa Monica, California, near the Santa Monica Pier.
On a semi-related note, Kirkpatrick & Kinslow also released a publicity reel for “Boomtown,” a documentary about the history of Tulsa:
Boomtown: An American Journey – Press/Publicity Reel from Kirkpatrick&Kinslow Productions on Vimeo.
As I’ve said before, Ken Burns could to do a multipart series about Tulsa because its history is so rich.
(Image of the Will Rogers Highway marker along Route 66 in Texola, Oklahoma, by Jimmy Emerson, DVM, via Flickr)