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STORYTELLING
IS ALIVE AND WELL IN THE
OZARKS
by James F. "Jim" Barrett
All of you older folk remember what it was
like to go to Grandpa and Grandma's house,
I'm sure. In those days, you'll recall,
grandchildren instinctively loved and were
taught to respect older people, like us.
Visiting our parent's parent's house
wasn't a drag for us, it was a joy.
Because, after the conversation was done
and the family meal was eaten, Grandpa or
Grandma took us out on the porch, or we
sat by the fire, or we went down on the
creek bank - and we heard stories! Stories
that were exciting, or scary. Stories of
grand heroes or very bad villains. Family
stories, stories that made us wonder, made
us ask questions, or taught us a lesson,
the better to conduct our young lives. In
any event, they were stories that we
loved, learned from, filled us with
excitement - and we wanted to hear them
over and over again.
"Do
we all enjoy stories these days," you may
be asking? "No one listens to old people
tell tales anymore, do they?" And I say to
you: Do we watch television? Do we rent
and buy videos? Do we pay to go to movies?
Do we pay to go to seminars and
conferences? Do we pay to send our
children and our grandchildren to school?
Of course we do, we all do, and will
continue to do so until the end. "But,"
you ask, "these aren't stories like
Grandpa and Grandma told, are they?" In
slightly different clothes, suitable to
slightly different times, yes, they surely
are. In school, our children and
grandchildren hear all sorts of stories.
How to behave, how to do math, how to
speak and write English, why chemicals
react as they do and who discovered all
that nonsense. They hear tales concerning
how to play sports for enjoyment and to
shine as a winner. They learn how to
succeed at economics, stay healthy and be
wise, with history telling them why they
should. Yes, much of it IS dry statistics,
but a lot of it is wrapped around age old
school tales that have worked well for
many and many a generation.
We
pay to watch or read television, movies,
magazines, pocket books, hardbacks, rental
videos, magazines, newspapers and on and
on. Yes, my friends, they are all telling
us stories, teaching us lessons based on
historical learning, entertaining us,
scaring us, making us fall in love, making
us hate the villains, leading us into new
ways of thinking. Even all of the singers
and songwriters live and thrive by telling
stories in song that people want to hear
over and over again. Speechwriters try
very hard to deliver their candidate's
story to the public. Ad writers for
television and radio work day and night to
make their sponsor's story interesting and
ringing true. Sign companies have only
seconds to get their story message across
to drivers. They are the Reader's Digest
of advertising storytellers. Even we
journalists tell stories, hidden beneath
and wrapped within current news. It's how
we sell newspapers and supposedly factual
magazines.
Think
about it, folks, almost everything you
learn from others, or try to convey to
others, is somehow wrapped in a story-line
to make it interesting, acceptable and to
cause folks' memory to accept and retain
the information. Though, quite sadly, the
Grandpa and Grandma story telling days are
pretty much a thing of the past, we still
listen to, look at and learn from lots and
lots of stories every day. Most of which,
in one way or another, we are called upon
to pay for. Yes, reader friends, it is
quite common to pay for stories
today.
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A local venue that
promises a great meal and a
lively discussion of local lore
and ledgend, is The Wilderness
Road Dinner Theater, staring The
Message Tree's own contributing
writer, Jim
Barrett.
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When
I was young I knew of, and sometimes
listened to, old men down on the county
square who would sit in the shade,
whittle, spit, snap their suspenders with
their gnarly old thumbs and say, "I
'member back when..." And now, folks, I AM
one of those old men with suspenders,
gnarly thumbs and all, telling stories
about "back when." I've had over 800
articles published across the nation,
mostly historical, but all of them telling
a story, one way or another. I've been on
television, on radio, in countless
magazines and newspapers, always telling
stories, trying to make folk see and love
what I have spent most of my life learning
and loving. I've had one in particular of
my story-telling articles published over a
million times - in slick back books and in
trade journals. And I wouldn't have given
a dime for its chances of being published
more than once. But there's no accounting
for people's choices of the stories they
want to hear, over and over and over
again. I'm constantly looking for ways to
make all these historical stories equally
as acceptable and entertaining.
So,
dear reader friends, we're adding yet
another facet to our story telling
endeavors. We've opened a little dinner
theater at my stepson, Randy Thamm's, new
restaurant, RT's Family Restaurant, in the
old Hillbilly Bowl, in Kimberling City,
Missouri. The Bowl and the original
Restaurant were opened in 1963 by Randy's
grandfather and his great grandfather,
along with the rest of the Sherer family
of the time. Now, forty years later, Randy
has it back and it's better and more
interesting than ever. I helped put it all
together for him, then I tended bar and
glad-handed folks most nights for him to
help get things going. But my Wilderness
Road Dinner Theater has become a reality
and is slowly growing in public
acceptance. In it, I and many other
like-minded folk, try to make history come
alive for you. We sing the old songs, we
tell the old stories, we scare you, share
a tear with you, entertain you and
hopefully educate you a bit about the
Mid-Ozarks Region of America's Western
Frontier. And you always get one of
Randy's wonderful meals tossed in for good
measure! All for a very nominal price,
compared to the far more glitzy theaters
in our neighboring Branson area.
"But,"
you're probably saying, "Branson has the
'names,' whereas you, Jim, are only a
journalist storyteller. And your friends
are not well known 'names' or stars, are
they? And I say to you: How about Billy
Dees, who wrote most of Roy Orbison's hit
songs, including Pretty Woman? How about
Arkansas Joe Clark, who's records are a
hit in 18 foreign countries? How about the
James Brothers and their infamous gang?
How about Bonnie and Clyde? How about the
Bald Knobbers, who became internationally
known as the most infamous vigilantes in
history? How about the Civil War and the
countless men and women of the Ozarks who
fought it? How about - well, you get the
picture. And, yes, these people are all at
our dinner theater - some in person, some
skillfully portrayed by others, some
recreations, some only in tales and songs
that bring them alive onstage.
But,
ghost or otherwise, they'll all be there,
at one time or another for your enjoyment.
So, come join with us for an evening of
story telling and remembering "back when."
We'll do our best to fill your bellies
with good food, your hearts with pleasure
and your minds with living memories of our
Ozarks Mountains. All on a family's
budget.
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About
The
Author........
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Jim Barrett has been
researching and writing
about Ozarks history for
more than forty years,
and is a frequent
contributor to The
Message Tree.
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Jim is also the
President of the
Wilderness Road Of The
Ozarks Association. He
has appeared numerous
times over the years,
speaking before groups
and organizations in
costume and character,
portraying early day
Ozarks pioneer, Joe
Philibert. Through his
colorful presentations
as Philibert, Jim has
enriched the
appreciation of local
history and culture of
his audiences. You can
now enjoy Jim's
monologues as he is
appearing each Thursday
night at the Wilderness
Road Diner Theater in
RT's restaurant in
Kimberling City,
Missouri.
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