Poncan Theatre presents ‘High Stakes, the Life & Times of E.W. Marland’

“High Stakes: The Life and Times of E.W. Marland,” will return to The Poncan Theatre March 25 and 26.

The film about Ponca City’s most famous resident debuted at The Poncan in May 2016. It tells the unusual story of the Marland family.

“The people of Ponca City are very protective of the Marlands, and they wanted to make sure that if that story was told, it was told correctly,” said David Keathly, director of the Marland Mansion.

For a brief period in history, E.W. Marland controlled 10 percent of the world’s oil supply, oversaw a company with name recognition nationwide, and left his hometown Ponca City with a “Palace on the Prairie” that to this day remains a popular visitor destination.

The film will show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 25, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 26. Tickets are $10 per person.

The documentary was filmed by Scott Swearingen and Steve Herrin Products and was funded by a grant of $100,000 from the Marland Estate Foundation. Oklahoma author Michael Wallis is the narrator for the film.

The Marland Estate maintains the rights to the film and everything auxiliary to it, Keathly said. Copies of the CDs of the film are sold at the Mansion gift shop.

Several scenes in the movie were shot locally and include local residents. Vintage cars were loaned by J.D. Hanks and Mayor Homer Nicholson.

Filming also took place outside of Ponca City, he said.

The City of Bartlesville allowed the filmmakers to film at the Nellie Johnstone No. 1 – Oklahoma’s first commercial oil well. They recreated Marland’s first oil strike with darkened water pumped to appear as oil, Keathly said.

Rod Bodick played E.W. Marland Jayne Detten and Leisha Combes portrayed Lydie Marland at different life stages.

Keathly said several boys from 7 to 9 year old played marbles as E.W. and his friends at that age.

Even college students from the University of Tulsa were included in the film, recreating a poker scene representing Marland as a young man.

Two late scenes were recreated at a 1960s run-down motel. This was where the late C.D. Northcutt met Lydie on the motel steps after she contacted him, wanting to come home to Ponca City. Another scene shot late in the production shows Lydie driving away from Lydie’s Cottage in a 1950s-era Buick convertible, Keathly said.