One of Deane’s early clients was Sipes Grocery. The art that follows comes from a 1965 employee booklet defining employee expectations. It is not Deane’s usual style but I am including it because he may likely have at least collaborated.
In 1972-1973, Deane was commissioned to add art to serial menus sponsored by Sipes Grocery. The menus were titled Girl on the Go! and were 1/4 size page ads located in the Women’s section of the Tulsa World Sunday newspaper. It began on March 5, 1972 and ended November 25, 1973. Ninety-one weeks! The first 52 were compiled into a booklet titled Girl on the Go. It sold for 50 cents a copy. Kay has a copy of the booklet. The slideshow below is some of the art I found for the newspaper series and booklet. Most were on whiteboard that still had pencil marks indicating how much the art should be reduced to fit into the ad. You may not be able to see it because I took the liberty of adding a bit of tint. The whiteboard was looking a bit worn.
The image below was for a Christmas ad. Go to the blog and scroll down to read more about which family members posed for this ad.
Deena also modeled for Sipes ads. Read about it here (scroll down to February 2, 1975.)
All the art above was for a one page Sipes ad, November 5, 1970. The page measured 22 3/4″ x 15″. What does your newspaper measure today?
This full-size ad still measures the same size but is dated January 19, 1975, p72 in the Tulsa Daily World.
Look at those prices!
Here is a snipped version I retrieved from newspapers.com.
This brochure is advertising the new Sipes grocery store. Jill lived in the apartments nearby July 1987 so the store opened some years before that date. Below is the opened brochure, three panels long!
By the end of 1990, the paper size reduced to 21 1/2″ x 12 3/4″.
First set, 12/19/90 – 12/25/90
12/26/90 – 1/1/91
1/2/91 – 1/8/91
Mike Samara opened the Celebrity Club in Tulsa at a location, which was then “way out east” at 31st and Yale Avenue, in 1963. Besides the Celebrity Club, Samara owned or had an interest in the Hilton Ivana Inn, Big Mike’s Hamburgers, Utica 21 Club, and Sleepy Hollow Restaurant on Lewis, among others. He was also part of the team that brought the first Burger King fast food restaurant to Tulsa. The ad was found online in ‘images’. It is from a page from a Tulsa Speedway News program.
And now, introducing TACT
Deane designed their programs, ads, posters, and postcards as well as making many paintings of favorite scenes.
The actors …
The programs, posters, postcards, and ads …
The paintings . . . Many of the images came from slides taken by Deane in the late-70s. But kudos to Shana and Kelsey for rescuing some paintings from the fire’s rubble. It is easy to tell the ones that have yet to be restored! Picture 1 is from The Taming of the Shrew. The two below it are from As You Like It. The others are all Love for Love. Kay reports, “I remember that the background of the Taming of the Shrew painting was made up of the gold wrappers on candy bars that Anne was selling for school or maybe Rainbow (Masonic youth organization for girls). Probably the only time our parents bought a lot of that candy! I think one of the actors or the director got the actual painting.” Note, I don’t I have a copy of that painting, but it looked like the program cover.
Below, 1977 – 1978 season
“Tulsa State Fair Set in October.” From The Tulsalite magazine, October 1981 p. 8-9
1984
Philbrook hosted many of these, and oftentimes, the entertainment was TACT’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
July 11 – 14, 17 – 20, 1985. H.M.S. Pinafore production as part of Shakespeare Festival. This is a large double-fold tri-fold mailing.
When companies need to send their employees to a destination sales meeting. . .
Another holiday for Metallic-Braden Builders!
Here are some of Tulsa’s wild and crazy guys! July 12, 1986 three sportscasters duked it out with a Skate-Off. KTEW’s Jerry Webber, KOTV’s Ken Broo, and KTUL’s Chris Lincoln. If you were in Tulsa in the ’80s can you pick out who is who? Plus, KRMG’s John Erling, KRAV’s Johnny Rivers, and KELI’s John Lee Hooker and Eli.
I don’t know who are on the ends (radio personalities are elusive)! Second from left, Erling, Lincoln, Broo, Webber.
Letterhead for Bartlesville Community Center, designed after 1982
Deane made two posters for Tulsa’s First Greenwood Blues and Heritage Festival. I snipped a portion of a letter he wrote to his mother in June 1990 that relates to the blue poster below.
He is wrong about which “teenth” the anniversary refers to (should’ve written 19th). But, I did see a resource that stated Georgia ratified the 13th amendment in December 1865 which effectively ceased the institution of slavery. Deane’s signature is written in white in the bottom right corner.
A school friend of Deane’s searching for his high school buddies wrote to Louise sometime after Deane had passed away, and wondered if he ever kept up his comic book-style talent. Yes! I found two comics from his working years. The first slideshow appears to feature actor Doug McClure. It is titled Wrangler to the Rescue and looks to be from late 1980s.
The second slideshow, titled The Gunslinger, was produced by Willie George Ministries of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1992.
Keeping with the cowboy theme, Kay found a postcard image that was sold on ebay March 2025. It may be from the 90s.
Below, this comic may give the impression Deane goofs off a lot!
Not really a comic, but it does feature comical characters.
Below, I’m not sure who commissioned Deane to make these VHS covers in 1994. The ministry leaders have addresses from several places: World Harvest Church, Ohio; Living Word Ministries, MI; Straight Gate Church, MI; T.D. Jakes Ministries, WV.
This collage, painted for St. Francis Hospital, was publically displayed from mid 1980s to about 2014 when the hospital began an extensive renovation. It was up a ramp in the hallway next to the chapel and was taken down. I regret not getting a better quality photo before the renovation.
Deane was commissioned to create art for the Catholic Foundation of Eastern Oklahoma engagement calendars of 1987 and 1988. Pope John Paul II was probably the most important person Deane ever had to draw. And yes, most likely drawn from a photograph.
The following images are loosely based in the entertainment category. . .
This ad is from December 1973. Deane’s sister-in-law and her husband owned SEVCO. Deane may have created these images for them. He made a large collage that went in their 36th and Peoria storefront window around 1972, but it blew out in the 1974 tornado. I have a video, but the quality is poor.
Another way to get around!
I do not know what this image is really advertising. My research led me to Central States Railroad Services, LLC in which “The company was established to provide an array of track services for the private and public sectors in the Midwest. (Their) services include railroad track installation, track rehabilitation, track maintenance, track inspection and track removal.”
There are many trains bearing “Central”, but I could not find a “Central States.”
Did you know ZEBCO is an acronym for something not even closely related to fishing?
“Since its incorporation in 1932, the Zero Hour Bomb Company had become well known for manufacturing dependable electric timer bombs for fracturing geologic formations. It had designed and patented technologies for shooting wells to increase oil and natural gas production. . . post World War II demand for its electrically triggered devices had declined. ” The “cannot backlash” reel was invented by R.D. Hull to help administer these timer bombs down wells, but also made an excellent fishing reel.
This ad is for the Brunswick Corporation. Brunswick Corp. has a much longer history, beginning in 1845, making carriages and billiard tables. They acquired ZEBCO at one point but now ZEBCO’s parent company is Rather Outdoors.
When I think of Brunswick, I think of bowling! The restoration of this 1988 poster was featured in a June 2025 blog.
Adding on to the leisure theme, how about making life comfortable! First, heating then cooling.
Tulsa World article, November 1, 1986
Not long after this the telephone directory people decided phone book covers should show just the city skyline. Boring!!
Note: The arched window was the entrance to the Gilcrease Museum. The original museum was leveled. The new museum is located in the same place and will open in 2026.
IngrahamTulsaArtist 