Mystery Mine

29mm, br

About this token:

• Richard writes: I grew up with Kimi the daughter of Wilson Hurst and lived in the same neighborhood, I too new all of the people involved in The Foreman Scotty Show Danny Williams,Wilson Hurst,and Steve Powell.My uncle owned all the rides and concessions out at the Lincoln Park Zoo,and would have social gatherings where these guys would attend for the Zoo. I remember when at one of these functions that they came up with the concept of the "Golden Zoo Key " which became a standard on the show.I was first on the Foreman Scotty Show on August 23,1960 and sat on "Woody" as it was my birthday. Going back to Kimi Hurst I was totally ,madly in love with her in the Fourth grade at North Highland, and I remember all the times that her father would come to our class dressed as Cannon Ball McCoy.One day we had the whole cast come to our class. I too have the tokens, Zoo key ,and a Golden Horseshoe. I also remember I believe 1964-65 was the year the mine was put out at the fair grounds.
• April 2006 - one of these tokens for on eBay for $15.49 + $1 shipping (4 bids from 3 different bidders)
• Tulsa TV Memories has some pictures and information about Foreman Scotty, see also a letter from Foreman Scotty to new members of the Circle 4 Wrangler's Club.
• Mike writes: I grew up in Oklahoma City and Moore, when I lived there from 1960 -1968. I really loved the Foreman Scotty show, and was on the show twice. Once with my Cub Scout Den, where I was singled out by Foreman Scotty for having so many gold and silver arrowheads on my Cub Scout uniform. A photograph was taken of the children at the studion for the show that day, and was kept as an historical artifact by the Oklahoma History Commission.

  I called Mr. Powell (Foreman Scotty) a few years back, I don't remember when it was exactly, but it must have been several years before he died, and we talked for a few minutes. He was very nice and gracious. He invited me to come out to his house if I ever got back to town, and I told him that I would. I asked him about his gun, because I was so fascinated about it when I was a kid. He said that he had two revolvers that he used on the show. The first one that he had was an old Colt Peacemaker, .41 Colt caliber, 5.5 inch barrel, nickle plated with stag grips. Most of the time he only wore that gun. He repeated a story to me that I first heard when I was about 7, starting with the question, "Do you know why Colt made this gun in .41 caliber ?" He followed up with an explanation that it was to allow a cowboy to only have to have one kind of ammunition for his pistol, rifle and derringer. I enjoyed talking to him and hearing that story again, although it was not strictly correct, as the Derringer was a .41 Remingtom rimfire, and no rifles were made to fire the .41 Colt cartridge that I knew about. The old cowboys did use .44/40, .38/40 and .32/20 revolvers and rifles, and interchanged those cartridges, though. Any way, it was a good talk and a good time.

  "Foreman Scotty" also told me that he also had another Colt Peacemaker. It was a newer .357 Magnum that was also 5.5 inch barrel, nickle plated and with stag grips. Sometimes, if he was going to have a really "big adventure on the show", he would take off the one-gun holster and put on the two-gun holster. That seemed so cool to me back then. I figured that he carried and made public appearances with the .41 Colt most of the time, because the cartridge was relatively uncommon, and if something happened and somehow a kid managed to get his gun, or something, there was very little chance that he would have any real cartridges that would fit in the gun and fire. I think that when he fired a gun on the show, he was probably using the .357 loaded with .38 blanks. I offered to buy his guns, but he politely said "No, those are for my boys." I understood and left it at that.

  I recall that on one show, Foreman Scotty was going on a secret mission for the Government. He came in, and the Government man handed him another revolver, and asked him to carry it on the mission. It was explained that the Government had a gunsmith to specially make a revolver for Foreman Scotty to carry that exactly like his personal revolver, but it had no markings of any kind and no serial number, so it could never be traced back to the Government or Foreman Scotty.

  I also recalled that he also carried an Army M1 .30 carbine on some of the shows. It seems like he had a jeep in some of the shows. I also recall that on one show, he was sent on a secret mission by the Government, and he has an Army M14 rifle for that show. I always wondered where that gun came from. He must have been crawling around the hills on Britton road for that episode, I think. He didn't seems to remember any of that stuff, but I still remember it vividly.

  Anyway, after I was grown, I got a gun like Foreman Scotty's. When we visited on the phone, I told him that I had always wanted to be able to go shooting with Foreman Scotty. He very graciously agreed that we would do it, if I ever got back to Oklahoma City. It was on my list of things to do, but due to personal circumstances, I never made it. I thought that it was so nice of him to offer to do that for me. I wish that I would have taken the time to do it before he was gone.

  I have many great memories of growing up in Oklahoma City. The first or second year that I lived there, my baseball team, the Longdellow Lynx, was runner up in the City baseball championship. Everything seemed so good back then. When I talked to Steve Powell about my memories, and especially how much I loved the Foreman Scotty show, he responded that he was glad that I had good memories of those times, but the shows probably weren't as good as I remembered them to be. He said that they didn't record any of the shows back then, except I think one show that is saved in the State Historical society section of early Oklahoma television. I contacted them and, as I recall, at that time they didn't have that available to buy, but they were working on it, so it may be available by now.

  Anyway, Foreman Scotty was a really nice man. He was my hero when I was little, and I am sure that many others felt the same. I am sorry to hear that he is gone. I do wish that somehow they could have recorded the adventure segments of the show for us to have and enjoy now.

  And yes, to whoever asked, I remember the "Widow Weep". I think that she was played by Danny Williams. As I recall, she was always after Willie, and wanted to get married to him. That is why he took off and you never saw them on screen together.

  What a great town to grow up in. I finally did get back for a visit with my son, and visited a couple of the houses where I lived (1613 N.E. 47th Street in OKC, 137 Oakside Drive in Moore, and 2800 N.W. 45th Street in OKC. It really brought back a lot of good memories. I was able to locate my old best friend David Towe, who is now a successful insurance man in Lawton. I always wondered whatever happened to Francine Riddle, the (then) 13 year old girl that I sat next to in the afternoon art class at Taft Jr. High School in OKC (I graduated from HS in 1973). When I moved away in 1968, it broke my heart to move away from her. Oh well, she is probably a really beautiful grandmother by now. But it would be nice to say "hi" again.

  The 1960s in OKC, those were the days. We will never have times like those again. I have one of the tokens, I think that I got mine at the Oklahoma State Fair.

• Bob writes: The token was from the Channel 4 display set up at the OPUBCO (Oklahoma Publishing Company) pavilion at the State Fair of Oklahoma sometime around 1964-68. The "Mystery Mine" was set up as an attraction for the kids. The Mystery Mine was from the set of an afternoon cartoon show in Oklahoma City called "Foreman Scotty & The Circle 4 Ranch".
• Steve writes: I starting watching both Scotty and 3D Danny in 1955 or 56.. not sure. I was on the circle 4 ranch show and was so fascinated that the 3D Danny set was right next to Scotty's. It created my interest in broadcasting and now to this day I work for ABC Good Morning America and love my work because it all go started watching my favorite show on WKY.
• Pat writes: Like so many of the other postings, I too grew up in OKC and watched Foreman Scotty. He was my hero. I was on the show twice and the second time a photo was taken of the set with Foreman Scotty and all the kids. We were told that this photo was to be part of the WKY exhibit at the State Fair. A few weeks later my parents received a letter along with a color print of the photo. (wish I could find it) The letter explained that one of my parents needed to sign a release which was also included and return it to the station which my parents did. The next State Fair featured a new exhibit at the WKY building. I remember walking down this long corridor and a black wall which had a television shapped cut out to look through. One for each local tv show broadcast from the WKY studios. This was so well done. It appeared the photos had beem mass produced as they needed several so as to cut each section out and paste up to create a three dimensional look. Foreman Scotty was of course in the fore ground, then the first row the second and so on. The kids sitting on Woody were a separate cut out as was each row of kids. It was fantastic! And yes, there I was second or third row as I remember. That exhibit stayed just like that for several years. I can't count the number of times friends told me they had seen my photo in this exhibit... YEARS LATER! I can also remember meeting Foreman Scotty at the fair several years eariler. I was about five or six. I was awestruck. Couldn't say a word frozen there with my white jeans and beige cowboy hat. In those days the ratings and numbers game I'm sure was quite different and local stations would produce kids shows along with other locally produced TV. I too remember Ho Ho, Ida B, Pokey Puppet, which was Mr. Bill, Don Wallace ( I still use his famous line..."Good luck, good hunting and good fishing") since I now live in Wichita Falls Texas, no one knows what I', talking about. Does anyone out there remember the Widow Weap? Or "Homer" in the hay loft getting peanut butter on the film. This was a line Foreman Scotty used to explain live tv screw-ups. Television was in it's infancy. I can remember coming home from school and waiting for TV to sign on. It wasn't on 24-7 and there was no cable or trillions channels.
• Charles writes: I grew up in OKC and always watched Foreman Scotty. I noticed that Cannonball’s daughter wrote a message to this list, and says that Scotty’s wife, Mary Apostle, was here kindergarten teacher. Well, she was mine, too – at Nichols Hills Elementary School. I forget the year. But it was the same year Scotty and she married. One day I came to school, and with all the other children waited for the door to the classroom to be opened. It never was. We waited and waited, until finally the other kindergarten teacher came out and told us that “Miss Apostle” was never coming back: she had just married Foreman Scotty! I was amazed, and traumatized. Just kidding. But I do remember it quite vividly. What ever became of Scotty and Miss Apostle?
• Will writes: I just found your web site. I grew up watching Foreman Scotty and 3-D Danny in Enid, OK in the 50's and 60's and really enjoyed reading about them. (Thanks, Carl. I never knew until now that the kids were yelling "Nix-O-Billy".) My favorite Foreman Scotty memory occurred during a show in the early 60's. He was talking to the kids in the audience and some boys at the top of the bleacher seats where the kids sat were making a loud commotion. Foreman Scotty turned to them and said "Hey, what are you guys giggling about?" One of them replied, "Luther farted!" The live show went immediately to a commercial, and when they returned, the incident was not mentioned. But later that evening at the end of the Channel 4 news, the newscaster signed off with the line "Good night, Luther, wherever you are."
• Mark writes: Though it has been forty years, my memories of the token and its origin are still clear. It was premiered at the Oklahoma State Fair in 1964 and used on the Foreman Scotty Show thereafter. Foreman Scotty came on at 4:30 every weekday afternoon, and featured live interviews with children plus a 7-minute prerecorded adventure segment. The adventures starred Foreman Scotty and ranch hands Willie and Cannonball. They would get into predicaments at the ranch, plus they would take forays through the "mysterious cave" that allowed them to travel through time to different periods in history. The cave walls were covered with a gray "time element" that served as an indicator they were traveling to a different era as they walked past. But in September, 1964, they were back at the Circle 4 Ranch. Foreman Scotty was entrusted with the responsibility of producing tokens to be handed out at the upcoming state fair. The original tokens were supposed to be blank on one side, and imprinted with the "gold mine of good viewing" statement shown on right-side illustration on the web site. In the meantime, Willie discovers gold in an abandoned mine near the ranch. Being an old prospector, he sets up a smelting operation. Willie then borrows the coin press from the ranch and decides to add a second side to the design. He creates the Circle-4 logo shown on the left. Now, this is quite a feat for a character who is supposed to be 90 years old and illiterate. Willie bags his gold coins and places them near the door of the ranch bunkhouse. Now, on the other side of the door, Foreman Scotty had placed bags of the tokens that were blank on one side. Foreman Scotty does not know about Willie's gold. It came time to take the tokens to the state fair, and on his way out the door, Foreman Scotty picks up Willie's real gold coins. Willie wants to claim his riches, so he hops the bus with the remaining bags of coins. When he gets down the road and discovers the coins are worthless, he gets into trouble and has to call Foreman Scotty. Willie confesses to the gold operation and the crew goes into the mine, only to discover a piece of concrete foundation in the ceiling. It turns out the mine wound its way underground to the OPUBCO Building at the Oklahoma State Fair grounds. With this new discovery, WKY-TV and OPUBCO open up the "Mystery Mine" exhibit at the Oklahoma State Fair. Now, isn't it amazing how much effort and preparation went into local children's television programming in the sixties? Are there any recordings of the adventure segments out there?
• Greg writes: I remember the tokens very well. Kids that went through the "Circle 4 Mystery Mine" at the Sate Fair (now the OPUBCO Pavilion) got them. My brother and I found several boxes of them outside the exit door once and helped ourselves. We used to have pocketfuls of them, but threw them out several years ago. Great reading about all of the old memories. They just don't have kids shows like that anymore. Too bad.
• Bruce writes: I don't have any new info on the mystery mine token itself, but I hope you'll let me add these memories to the discussion. My friends and I remember Foreman Scotty, Cannonball, and Willie very fondly. I remember how when Scotty was going around interviewing the kids at random in the "official" children-only audience, he would sometimes spot an eyelash getting into somebody's little eye. He would carefully pull it out, hold it between his forefinger and thumb, and play a little game where he asked the child if the lash was going to stick to his finger or his thumb. I think he asked them to make a wish. If they guessed right about which it stuck to when he opened his fingers, the wish would of course come true. Also, remember the "Hay Loft"? The kids' parents were off camera in the "Hay Loft", and from time to time some very little kid would get scared and be sitting there crying or about to cry. At that point Scotty would very gently reassure the child and direct them back to his/her parents over in the Hay Loft. He seemed good with kids and it's good to hear that he stood up for the kids when "Willie" acted like a jerk once. To Kimi, if she's reading this, I'd like to say bless you and thanks to your dad for helping to make a lot of kids happy, and adults happy with some unique fond memories. That was such a fun show. I think everybody else in the country probably has memories of a children's show hosted by a clown or a dinosaur or something, but only in Oklahoma did we get to have a show hosted by a ranch foreman, a hillbilly, and a prospector.
• Gary writes: I grew up in Oklahoma City, during the fifties and sixties, and I do recall the token, vaguely. Someone mentioned the Circle 4 Mystery Mine, at the state fairgrounds. I remember going there one year, with my little brother and sister, just to see Steve Powell (Foreman Scotty), and found no one there. I remember being heartbroken that he wasn't there - just a cardboard cut-out with his lifesize picture on it. I was on the Foreman Scotty Show, when I was about seven, and I recall being fascinated with the way the cameramen supplied marching footsteps and other sounds during a part of the daily "drama" or sketch. I also remember, on the way into the studio, seeing Jack Ogle standing in a glass sound-proof booth doing voice-overs. The booth formed part of the corridor wall, so people coming into the studio could view the on-air talent in action. I remember gawking at Ogle, and that he looked back at me and grinned, all without missing a beat.
• Kimi writes: Hi - I cried when I read about the token. You see, my dad was Cannonball McCoy in OKC (deceased 2 years ago). My brother (also deceased) was called Beebe and I was Little Cannonball. Wilson Hurst played Cannonball McCoy. Steve Powell (Foreman Scotty) and his wife (Mary Apostle, my kindergarten teacher) used to come over and ride motorcycles (huge BMW) with my dad and mom. I had it made through grade school. We used to go to WKY and play in the prop room, it was a memory full of excitement. I was so proud of my daddy. He was the best father a girl could have. Now that he is gone I treasure those memories and all the things he taught me. I also have the golden horseshoe with my name engraved on it that I got on the "Foreman Scotty and the Circle 4 Ranch" on my birthday. Thanks for remembering my dad and the great guys on the show.
• Carl writes: Cannonball was played by Wilson Hurst, not Don Wallace or Wakefield Holly. Wilson Hurst lived across the street from us. And what about Nix-o-billy and the Golden Horseshoe and 3 D Danny, huh?
  BTW, "Nix-o-Billy" is what all of the kids visiting Foreman Scotty's show that day would shout to make the Magic Lasso appear. With the Magic Lasso on the screen the camera would zoom around the faces of the kids and whoever it landed on got a Golden Horseshoe. Winning the Golden Horseshoe made my future wife a real celebrity at school. There was also a wooden horse named "Woody" that any birthday kids got to sit on during the show. 3-D Danny already has his own webpage. http://www.dddynamo.com/
• Leslie writes: If this is the token given on the Foreman Scotty show (it was still on into the sixties), then it was called the Lucky Penny. A number was drawn and the kids in the audience were counted off and the lucky winner was the kid sitting in that seat. I remember because when I was about 8 or 9 (1968-69), my girl scout troop went to see the show. A girl standing in line in front of me wanted to trade spaces so she could sit next to her friend. So, I let her, and as a result, I was the lucky winner of the Lucky Penny that day. I have absolutely no idea where mine is now, but I remember that day vividly!
• Ken writes: The observation was made that the adventures of Foreman Scotty seemed half ad-libbed. This is absolutely true I was acquainted with Steve Powell (Foreman Scotty) during the eighties, when he handled the television advertising for my business. I asked him about what I had always considered Scotty's favorite line: "There's got to be a logical explanation for this." He said: "Did I really say that a lot? I must have been stalling for time. We never rehearsed anything, and we weren't always sure where we were going with anything. If I used to say 'There's got to be a logical explanation for this,' I'm sure I was trying to figure out what to do next" He also told me about his decision to no longer wear a gun after the assassination of President Kennedy. He said it just didn't feel right, anymore. The good Foreman never shot his way out of trouble. He thought his way out.
• dragon writes: I've still got one of the tokens. Part of the "Mystery Mine" story one year was that some of the supposed "golden" coins were really gold. Those had a blank back, nothing on them. I don't know if they were really gold or not, but they were supposed to be "special".
• Terry and Ben write: We grew up in OKC and Enid, respectively, in the 50's and can definitively identify the token you display as the souvenir that was distributed each year at the State Fair of Oklahoma at the WKY's Circle 4 Mystery Mine. The exhibit was located in the green corrugated Daily Oklahoman building that feature the blacklight-studded mine and a 2 or 3 story "tower" that you could walk up to view your festive surroundings. We do have a slight correction though about the person Ed describes as playing Cannonball McCoy. It was actually Wakefield Holly and not Don Wallace.
• Frank writes: This token is from a TV show on WKY channel 4 in Oklahoma City. It was called "The Foreman Scotty Show," with this token you could ride a wooden horse. It was a cowboy show that was on in the 1950's. The station is now called, KFOR Channel 4 in Oklahma City.
• Al writes: I grew up in OKC, and watched Forman Scotty during the late fifties all thru 60's, and to 1972 when this local Kids show went off the air. Forman Scotty was a Forman of "The Circle Four Ranch" on channel 4 Okla City. OK. He had kids on the show each day, and had a wooden birthday horse called "Woody".....Now in OKC's historical museum of broadcasting. Also Danny Williams who goes back to 1950 on WKY TV (now KFOR), in OKC had a kid's show called "3-DDD Danny"(50's), a spaceman kid's show, before Forman Scotty. You can see Danny who is still "on the air" on KOMA radio here in OKC. See his great tribute page on the web. You can see his pic as "Xiavier T Willerd" on that site. That was Forman Scotty's sidekick as played by Williams. Go to google.com and "search" for KOMA radio, or put in "3 D Danny".
• Ed writes: How I remember this I don't know...Cannonball's full name was "Cannonball" McCoy, played by another WKY disc jockey, Don Wallace. Wallace had an outdoor type show called Wallace Wildlife, during the 60's also. I watched Foreman Scotty til I was in high school. I thought it was hilarious because alot of the "adventures" seemd to be half adlib. My sister even got to ride Woody the b'day horse. Wonderful memories.
• Someone wrote to me: The gentleman that played foreman Scotty died a couple of years ago. The show also ran into the middle sixties. The Mystery Mine is where many of the show's capers occurred. It also featured two side kicks, Willie (played by local radio personality Danny Williams) and Cannonball. The wooden horse, that the coin would let you ride was named Woody. I grew up in OKC and have very found memories of this afternoon show.
• Someone wrote to me: The full name of Willie, Foreman Scotty's primary sidekick, was Xavier T. Willard.
• kb writes: I grew up in oklahoma too, in clinton oklahoma. I remember foreman scotty very well. i think his real name was steve powell. yes, he died maybe four or five years ago. after he folded the circle-4 ranch he was in the advertising business.
  
  danny williams (xavier t. willard) is still on koma radio every morning with some youngsters called "the breakfast flakes."
  
  my favorite thing is when they would pump the state fair up every year. they had a painted mine you could walk through. if you'll remember, it was a time tunnel into the distant past (the pharoah played by danny williams with a wash cloth on his head).
  
  my favorite was to skip the show through the week then on saturday morning they would have all the "adventure segments" back to back. also bob jenny, the rattle snake expert would be on--the original crocodile hunter. (not to mention "stoney" mr. stoneman the shoe guy for either red goose shows or rothchilds or both; on easter red goose shoes would give you a special egg with every pair of shoes). (which brings to mind "miss jane" who taught bible stories on sunday morning, but that's a different story).
  
  my mother was a teacher in burns flat. once scotty and xavier t. came for a kids event. danny williams got very nasty with a kid that turned out to be retarded or something. afterwards, in the dressing room, my mother's school principal overheard foreman scotty tell danny that if he ever got crappy with another child he was going to kick his overpaid butt around the block. pretty funny, in retrospect.
  
  i still think about these guys, believe me, and also hoho the clown from channel five whom i met in person and was a super great guy. I often wonder now exactly where the circle-4 was located. i'm not sure, but I think it must have been up by hefner road, near britton. I think the time travel cave was accidentally covered up by some road construction--now, if we could find that we could go back to the late fifties, early sixties and see those guys again. we could also buy stock in wal-mart.

Know anything about this token? Please let me know!

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