I decided to look up Joplin on Wikipedia and couldn't believe what I found:
Joplin is mentioned in the script of The Music Man and in the lyrics of the song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66".
In the 1962 film "Lonely Are the Brave" starring Walter Matthau and Kirk Douglas, Joplin is the starting point for the truck (driven by Carroll O'Connor) that hits Jack Burns (Douglas) and his horse in the end.
In the early 1960s, Joplin was referenced in at least one episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show (flashback episode #6, November 6, 1961 that shows Rob and Laura falling in love while Rob was stationed at Camp Crowder near Neosho, Missouri)
The Beverly Hillbillies (indicated to be a big town to the Clampetts and friends).
Joplin was mentioned in the TV series "The Fugitive" and in the western movie "The Long Riders", a movie about the James/Younger gang.
Joplin was the hometown that actor Steve Guttenberg was hitchhiking to in the 1983 movie "The Day After" which attempted to demonstrate the results of a Nuclear War between the US and Russia.
Joplin was also referenced as a trucking distribution center in the 1980s movie The Secret of My Succe$s starring Michael J. Fox.
Joplin was the setting of a Saturday Night Live skit called "Joplin Alive! Podcast" (Season 31: Matt Dillon host).
Chic Young claimed the characters of his comic strip Blondie live in the suburbs of Joplin[17].
[edit]
