A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from August 22, 2007
“If you don’t have an oil well, get one!” (Eddie Chiles of Western Company)

“If you don’t have an oil well, get one!” is a saying that has appeared on bumper stickers. The saying began with Eddie Chiles and his Western Company (an oil services company) advertisements that appeared on television in the 1970s.
   
 
Wikipedia: Eddie Chiles
Harrell Edmonds “Eddie” Chiles (May 11, 1910 – August 22, 1993) was the founder of the The Western Company of North America and an owner of the Texas Rangers. He was also the paternal uncle of actress Lois Chiles.
 
Born in Itasca, Texas, Chiles worked at oil fields in his early life. In 1934, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Petroleum Engineering.
 
After working at Reed Roller Bit Company in Houston, he created the Western Company of North America, which grew to become a major oil services firm, primarily in acidizing, fracturing and cementing. The Western Company also operated an offshore drilling company, run by Mr. Chiles’ brother, during the 1970s.
 
Chiles bought the baseball team Texas Rangers in 1980 and served as chairman of the club until 1989 when he sold the team to group of investors, including the future President of the United States George W. Bush.
 
As an advocate for a smaller and less intrusive federal government, Chiles was also known for his 1970s radio commercial with the trademark line, “I’m Eddie Chiles, and I’m mad!” A popular bumper sticker which read “I’m mad too Eddie.” Western also featured television commercials telling viewers “If you don’t have an oil well, get one—you’ll love doing business with Western!”   
   
Google Books
Funny Money
by Mark Singer
New York: Knopf
1985
Pg. 21:
Automobile bumpers in Texas and Oklahoma and Louisiana started bearing stickers that said, “Let the Yankee bastards freeze in the dark” and “If you don’t have an oil well, get one.”
       
Google Books
Five Shades of Shadow
by Tracy Daugherty
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press
2003
Pg. 181:
I recall a local television commercial when I was a kid in these parts. A pretty young woman smiled at the camera and said, “If you don’t have an oil well, get one!”
     
Google Books 
Seasons in Hell
by Mike Shropshire
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press
2005
Pg. 232:
By now, Brad Corbett had sold the team to yet another Fort Worth character, Eddie Chiles, who was famous, among other things, for the advertising slogan of his energy-supply business: “If you don’t have an oil well, git one!”
         
17 August 1969, Dallas Morning News, section D (classifieds), pg. 16:
“IF YOU DON’T HAVE AN OIL WELL…GET ONE!
YOU’LL LOVE DOING BUSINESS WITH WESTERN”
(...)
FABRICATION TECHNICIANS
MECHANICAL TECHNICIAN
SR. LAB TECHNICIANS
JR. LAB TECHNICIANS
UTILITY
(...)
THE WESTERN COMPANY
Research Division
2201 N. Waterview Pkwy.
Ruchardson, Texas
 
21 June 1978, Galveston (TX) Daily News, pg. B1, col. 1:
IF YOU DON’T HAVE an oil well, get one and if you don’t have a championship team, buy one.
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark IF YOU DON’T HAVE AN OIL WELL, GET ONE!
Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 040. US 106. G & S: Acidizing, Fracturing and Cementing Wells. FIRST USE: 19670000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19670000
(CANCELLED) IC 042. US 100. G & S: Oil Well Drilling for Others. FIRST USE: 19690000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19690000
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 73345867
Filing Date January 15, 1982
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Published for Opposition May 1, 1984
Registration Number 1287306
Registration Date July 24, 1984
Owner (REGISTRANT) Western Company of North America, The CORPORATION DELAWARE P.O. Box 186 Ft. Worth TEXAS 76101
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Attorney of Record Charles S. Cotropia
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR).
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
Cancellation Date May 1, 2005

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Texas (Lone Star State Dictionary) • Wednesday, August 22, 2007 • Permalink


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