The United States Information Service, precursor to the United States Information Agency, had this movie produced as part of its mission during the Cold War to present a sympathetic image of the United States to the world. It is not surprising that Tulsa was selected at that time to be a featured city. We were representative of life in middle America, and we were economically important because of the petroleum industry. It seems unlikely today that Tulsa would be chosen as the subject of a film of this type.

When the USSR produced films of this kind about their country we called them “propaganda", but the films we produced about our own country were "informational."

The film does not have a date, but by the automobiles on the streets my guess is that it was made in 1949 or 1950.

The film was made so that the language soundtrack could easily be substituted, and given its global purpose we have to assume that multiple language versions of it were produced. We have so far only found this English version.

A couple of things in the film might catch your attention. There is only one small group of African-Americans that we see in the film. The other thing that caught my attention is the reference in the film to the decline in oil production in Oklahoma and efforts that were already underway to diversify the Tulsa economy. This may have been accurate, but probably was not information supplied by the Chamber of Commerce.

It is also worth noting that the company that made the film was located in New York City and we are getting a New York version of the Tulsa story. Nevertheless the film does accurately give us the flavor of the period. This makes the movie historically valuable.

There are scenes of a family at home in the movie. They have mostly moved on now; this film was made 70 years ago. The house still stands, however, and is located in Maple Ridge. You may observe that there is a step leading to the house that is cracked and needs repair. You will be relieved to know that, at some point since the filming, the repair was made. We don't know how long it took them to get around to fixing it, but the steps are now in good condition. If you drive down 18th Street between Cincinnati and Peoria and look down the side streets you will find the house. You can go there and inspect the repair yourself.

Eagle eyes will discover an error in the map of Tulsa at the beginning part of the movie. See if you can spot it!