The historic Circle Cinema in Tulsa will host a rare and free screening of John Paget’s film “Route 66: An American Odyssey” with a question-and-answer session with the filmmaker and the film’s narrator and host, Michael Wallis.
A reception will be held in the venue’s lobby at 6 p.m. Nov. 11, with the screening at 7 p.m. and the Q&A to follow afterward. Nov. 11 also is widely acknowledged as the birth date of U.S. 66 in 1926.
The event will include an exclusive first look at Paget’s in-production “Route 66: The Main Street of America,” which will be released before Route 66’s centennial in 2026. The documentary is designated as an Official U.S. Route 66 Centennial Project.
More details from the Circle Cinema:
About the film: See the heartfelt history of Route 66, from the building of the road to today’s renaissance. Featuring rare historical footage. From the most spectacular stretches of open highway in America to the unforgettable wigwam motels, dazzling neon, and genuine road cafes, you’ll rediscover the thrills, laughs and sheer kicks of cruising America’s Main Street – Route 66. This critically acclaimed film proves the adventure is still out there, waiting, right around the bend! The film runs 55min.
About John Paget: John Paget is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with deep roots on Route 66. In 1994, he strapped a TV camera to the hood of a 1969 cotillion white convertible Cadillac Coupe de Ville and hit the road. Destination: Route 66. It was the first of multiple cross-country trips on the Mother Road, during which John directed, shot, and edited “Route 66: An American Odyssey” and “Route 66: Return to the Road” with Martin Milner – documentary films that rank as the pinnacle among devoted Route 66 historians and advocates. While researching, producing and promoting these films, John traveled the length of Route 66 a dozen times. And he met and worked with the road’s most iconic legends – singer Bobby Troup (1918-1999), TV-star Martin Milner (1931-2015) and Seligman barber Angel Delgadillo (considered the father of Historic Route 66) and best-selling author Michael Wallis (“Route 66: The Mother Road”).
About Michael Wallis: Best-selling author and award-winning reporter, Michael Wallis is a historian and biographer of the American West with an international reputation as a speaker and voice talent. It has been said, “reading a Michael Wallis book is like dancing to a romantic ballad. He offers his hand and gently guides you across the floor, swaying to the song of the American West.” Wallis has published numerous books, including “Route 66: The Mother Road,” “Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride” and “The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate.” Wallis has been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize and was a nominee for the National Book Award. Wallis was inducted into the Writers Hall of Fame of America, the Oklahoma Professional Writer’s Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Route 66 Hall of Fame. He received the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Lynn Riggs Award and the first John Steinbeck Award.
Paget’s “Route 66: An American Odyssey,” released in 1994, practically was the first film made after Route 66 began its revival following the publication of Wallis’ best-selling book, “Route 66: The Mother Road.”
Paget also directed “Route 66: Return to the Road with Martin Milner” a few years later. He now is the founder and creative director of First + Main Films.
For more information about First+Main Films and “Route 66: The Main Street of America,” go to www.MainStreetofAmerica.com.
The Circle Cinema, which opened in 1928, sits on the 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa at 10 S. Lewis Ave. It remains Tulsa’s only nonprofit moviehouse, specializing in independent films, local movies and other special programming.
(Poster for the “Route 66: An American Odyssey” film screening at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa)