The Pennsylvania Game
Cowboys, Waynesburg & the Zambelli Bros
Season 3 Episode 2 | 27m 44sVideo has Closed Captions
Do you know this famous cowboy? Play the Pennsylvania Game.
Do you know this famous cowboy? Test your knowledge of Pennsylvania trivia alongside three panelists. This program is from WPSU’s archives: Information impacting answers may have changed since its original airing. Promotional offers are no longer valid.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
The Pennsylvania Game is a local public television program presented by WPSU
The Pennsylvania Game
Cowboys, Waynesburg & the Zambelli Bros
Season 3 Episode 2 | 27m 44sVideo has Closed Captions
Do you know this famous cowboy? Test your knowledge of Pennsylvania trivia alongside three panelists. This program is from WPSU’s archives: Information impacting answers may have changed since its original airing. Promotional offers are no longer valid.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch The Pennsylvania Game
The Pennsylvania Game is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(bright music) - [Announcer] Baseball has been a popular sport in Pennsylvania for over a century.
In addition to its two Major League teams, our Commonwealth has three Minor League Baseball teams.
Do you know the names of the three Pennsylvania towns that have Minor League teams?
You're invited to play "The Pennsylvania Game."
Test your knowledge of the Commonwealth's people, places, and products.
"The Pennsylvania Game" is made possible in part by Uni-Marts Incorporated with stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Serving you with courtesy and convenience every day of the year.
(bright music) Now, let's get the game started.
Here's the host of the Pennsylvania game, Lynn Hinds.
- Thank you, thank you very much, thank you.
Thank you very much, thank you.
Hello to you at home and to our audience in the studio.
We want you to play along with our panel and see if you can get more questions right than the best on our panel.
And we have some challenging questions and a challenging panel.
He's a man who's been known as Mr. Pennsylvania Game and loves to play games, Bernie Asbell.
Let's say hi to Bernie.
(audience clapping) She is a broadcast journalist, and she's from the eastern part of the state, Eastern Pennsylvania to be exact, Chris Novak.
(audience clapping) And from State College, another broadcast journalist, a gentleman named Kevin Nelson.
(audience clapping) A man who's favorite sport, as a matter of fact, is baseball.
I've heard you say that many times.
- Right, yeah.
- Kevin, or words to that effect, as they say.
- I was in the game once.
- A question just for you, Minor League Baseball teams, let's watch.
- [Announcer] Minor League Baseball is making a comeback in Pennsylvania.
(bright music) Two teams took the field in 1987 to make a total of three Minor League teams in the state.
Which of these is not one of our Minor League teams?
Is it A. Harrisburg Senators, B. Williamsport Bills, C. Reading Phillies, or D. Bethlehem Braves?
- Now I know I don't need to tell you, Bernie, but for Kevin's benefit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are the two Major League teams, Kevin, but which are Minor League teams?
And our question is, "Which one of these is not a legitimate team?"
The others are.
- You're asking me?
- [Lynn] I'm asking you first, Bernie.
- Well, the Harrisburg Senators have to exist, 'cause the name is so right.
- [Lynn] Because it's the state capital and all that.
- It's the state capital and all that, yeah.
Bethlehem, I think Bethlehem is too near to Philadelphia to have a Minor League team.
- [Lynn] Do you?
- Yeah.
I'm gonna take, I'm gonna try, I have to learn my alphabet all over again.
I forget it each week.
- So your criterion is you have to be far away from anything in order to have a Minor League team.
Chris Novak, what do you think, which one is not legitimate?
- Sports is not one of my best subjects, however, I'm pretty sure that the Reading Phillies, there is a team in Reading.
I'm from near Bethlehem, and I do not believe there's a Minor League team in Bethlehem.
Plus, they told me to always pick the same answer as Bernie, so... (everyone laughs) - [Lynn] Kevin told you that.
- I think I'm D also.
- [Lynn] Kevin, what do you say, Kev?
- Could I just pick one that I'm sure I know that the Reading Phillies exist, and I'm reasonably sure I exist, and then after that it gets a little fuzzy.
It's probably Bethlehem, but I just can't imagine Harrisburg Senators getting enough done to complete a season, so... - There you go.
We have two D's and an A.
What did you pick at home and what is the right answer?
- [Announcer] The answer is D, the Bethlehem Braves.
But the other three are quite real; Reading's Little Phils have been around for over 20 years.
Associated with the Philadelphia Phillies, they play in Reading's Municipal Stadium.
Joining them, the Harrisburg Senators play in the state capitol.
The Senator's are associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
When the Williamsport Bills took the field in 1987, it marked the return of professional baseball after a 10 year absence.
The Bills, associated with the Cleveland Indians, play their baseball in Williamsport's Bowman Field.
- Minor League Baseball is a lot of fun.
You can do things in the minor leagues that you can't do in the majors.
In fact, the Williamsport Bills had a catcher that took a potato out of his pocket and threw it out in the left field, and when the runner tried to score, he tagged him out.
That was a kind of an interesting thing you won't see in the major leagues.
- I wonder, those Williamsport Bills, are they successful despite the fact that Williamsport's the little league capital of the world, or because it's the baseball capital?
- I don't think the baseball league is necessarily in competition with the Minor League Baseball.
- [Bernie] Probably well, makes it a very baseball-conscious town.
- I wanna tell you that the next question was sent in by somebody named Chester something, from Johnstown, and I can't tell you his last name 'cause he's a sixth generation descendant of the man the question's about.
- [Announcer] His picture was on the $10 gold note in the early 1900s because he was the nation's First Treasurer.
(lively organ music) Is his name A. Alexander Hamilton, B. Robert Morris, C. Michael Hillegas, or D. Timothy Pickering?
- Or another way to ask this, was this question sent in by Chester Hamilton, Chester Morris, Chester Hillegas, or Chester Pickering?
And Chris, we're gonna start with you this time.
The first treasurer of our nation.
Which one was it?
- I'm afraid, I don't know the first treasurer.
Alexander Hamilton sounds familiar to me, so I will not pick that.
I suppose I'll pick Michael Hillegas.
- Okay, you're going with most unfamiliar is probably the one.
- [Chris] That's right.
- Kevin, what principles are you operating?
- Was that his picture that we saw, or you're just trying to throw us off?
- [Lynn] I believe that was exactly his picture.
- Boy, that looked like Alexander Hamilton to me.
- [Lynn] Of course, all those guys with, you know, with that hair looked a lot alike.
Yes, Bernie, what do you say?
- Yeah, Hamilton was the money man of the revolution.
He was the money man.
I believe he was the First Secretary of the Treasury.
- Okay, so we have a couple of votes for Alexander Hamilton or Chester Hamilton, and one vote for Michael Hillegas.
Let's see who's right on this one.
- [Announcer] The answer is C, Michael Hillegas.
Hillegas used his personal wealth to help finance the revolution and was treasurer until 1788.
Michael Hillegas is buried beside his good friend Benjamin Franklin.
(lively organ music) - See I told you, Ben Franklin would show up on today's program.
He always shows up.
He did so much.
Chester Hillegas of Johnstown is a sixth generation descendant of the First Treasurer of the United States, Michael Hillegas.
And I wanna say that because you sent it in Chester, the Pennsylvania Game and WPSX and the Pennsylvania Magazine are happy to present you with a year's subscription to Pennsylvania Magazine.
And you'll enjoy that I think.
Let's talk with our panel a little bit.
Bernie, how's it going lately?
We haven't talked for a little while here.
Things going right well with you?
- Yeah, going right well, going right well.
- Has Queen Isabella sailed yet?
He's been writing a book on Queen Isabella, I think, since I met you.
- [Bernie] Since 1492.
- Since 1492.
So it's not out yet.
- No, not out yet.
- Watch this space for a further announcement.
Chris Novak is a radio journalist at WEST in Easton, also works on WLVA, the FM side.
And WEST has been in Easton for, gosh... - Well, we're on our 52nd anniversary now.
Same format.
- [Lynn] So it's really an institution.
- That's right, it's very community- oriented.
- [Lynn] You do morning radio, don't you?
- That's correct.
- Morning news, that's correct.
- What time do you get up?
- I get up at 2:30.
- [Lynn] At 2:30 in the morning.
- I get up overnight.
- Now your news is probably really good, 'cause next to you sits Kevin Nelson from WPSX TV here in State College, who also does morning news, and doesn't get up until 5:30 did you tell me?
- Well, I get to sleep in compared to her.
- [Lynn] That's right.
(audience laughing) - [Chris] He gets up late.
- She beats me up every morning.
- [Lynn] That's why she sounds informed in the morning, Kevin.
Have you ever thought about that?
- No.
- Well, don't.
How anybody gets up that early in the morning and thinks, is beyond me.
Did you ever hear of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania?
It's in Greene County down in the southwestern corner.
They have a special day there.
- [Announcer] This is Waynesburg in Greene County, where they've marked a special day since 1875.
(country and western music) Each July 29th, Waynesburg celebrates a day they call: A.
Goose Day, B.
Fishing Day, C. Coal Day, or D. Rain Day.
- Now it's Chris's first time with us.
I explained earlier, Chris, that sometimes our panelists make up authoritative answers when they haven't the foggiest notion.
And I wanna warn you that Kevin Nelson is one that sometimes does that.
Kevin, what day do they have down in Waynesburg since 1875?
- I think Goose Day is a fine idea, (audience laughing) but I know this one, so here's one of those authoritative answers.
It's actually Rain Day.
- I see, okay.
There you are.
Bernie, were you convinced by that authority?
- I wish Kevin hadn't said that, 'cause I was gonna say Rain Day.
- [Kevin] I can take it back.
- I was was gonna say Rain Day because I know that Chris was thinking Rain Day, and they told me to always take the answer that Chris is thinking.
- [Lynn] I see.
Chris, what were you thinking?
- I was thinking that I'm not too sure what this is.
I guess, just to be different, and because Kevin makes up answers sometimes, I'll take Coal Day.
- Okay.
I will tell you as a matter of fact that in Greene County, they're sitting on more coal than anybody's got almost anywhere.
But what's the right answer?
- [Announcer] The answer is D, Rain Day.
General Nathaniel Greene, after whom the county is named, stands atop the courthouse, where he's been rained on 94 times on July 29th in the past 112 years.
Rain Day in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.
- So on that July 29th, it has rained 94 times outta the past 112 years.
That's why they call it Rain Day.
It always rains on that day in July, for some reason, in Waynesburg, and gets their coal all wet.
Well, let's take a look at the score, and it's very, very close.
Bernie and Chris are tied with two right a piece.
Let's hear it.
Anybody's game.
Applause for the panel.
(audience clapping) They need encouragement.
They need help, is what they need.
No, but that'll help 'em.
This is a Mystery Pennsylvanian clue.
We have a famous Mystery Pennsylvanian, and we'll give you three clues throughout the course of the show, and see if you can get it right on the first clue, and if not, then on the second clue.
And here's the very first clue.
He was so popular, that a radio program based on his character, continued ten years after he died in 1940.
Our character died in 1940.
He was so popular, that a radio serial that I used to listen to when I was a very small boy, continued for ten years after his death.
And that's the first clue, which may be all that you need.
Looking at the panel, I can see that probably we'll have to get to clue number two before you're gonna guess that.
But jot down your answers if you have them.
And we'll get to something else.
We're gonna get to something else, which is sort of contemporary times.
And it's a question that is kind of interesting.
- [Announcer] Where does Pennsylvania rank among the fifty states, in having it's citizens attend college, according to the 1980 census?
Is Pennsylvania A. first, B. fifth, C. twenty-fifth, or D. last?
(gentle music) - Okay.
According to the 1980 census of people that go to grade school and high school in Pennsylvania, how many of them go through college?
That's the question.
And are we first among the fifty states?
Are we fifth, twenty-fifth, or dead last?
And Bernie Asbell, you're an educator, take an educated guest at this one if you don't know the answer.
- We're not first.
- [Lynn] We're not first, he says.
- We're not last.
- [Lynn] We're not last, he says.
- That leaves two, doesn't it?
- [Lynn] Fifth or twenty-fifth.
Sure does.
- I would say twenty-fifth because our state does not support higher education as much as it ought to, and that probably makes us twenty-fifth.
- Okay, I'll agree with those sentiments.
Not necessarily the answer.
C is the answer he says.
Chris, what do you say?
- I agree that we're not first and we're not last.
- [Lynn] Put a C up.
- So that leaves... - [Lynn] Okay, so you got it down to B and C. - That leaves me choosing, I'll say twenty-fifth also.
- Okay, Kevin, you can eliminate fifth and twenty-fifth, and you'll be all alone with two choices if you want to.
- That's true.
Just because they said first and last isn't true, doesn't mean I have to go along with that.
- [Lynn] That's right, doesn't mean that at all.
- Twenty-fifth just sounds a little too low, so I'll go with fifth.
- [Lynn] You're going with, we're fifth in the nation.
- I could use one about, now.
- I see, an education or a fifth?
Let's see, what is the answer?
(audience laughing) - [Announcer] The answer is D, last.
In 1980, about 24% of Pennsylvanians age 25 or over had attended college.
The national average was 33%.
A survey by the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities found that the most important factor in determining whether or not students go to college, was their parents' attitudes and preferences about the value of a college education.
(gentle music) - According to the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities, based on the 1980 census of the kids that graduate from high school, we are the worst at getting them through through college.
And again, the most important thing is if your mom and dad think college is important, you tend to go and if not, so there's a word to moms and dads out there.
- That is the most surprising answer I've seen in all the questions I've seen in the Pennsylvania Game.
- [Lynn] You're a hard man to surprise.
- That's right.
- [Chris] Maybe it'll be better in 1990.
- The next question is about a very famous name.
If you happen to know that famous name, why, you got it made.
Here it is.
- [Announcer] George Zambelli of New Castle, Lawrence County, followed in his father's footsteps, as did his two brothers.
The Zambelli brothers are world-famous for their A. trapeze act, B. race cars, C. fireworks, or D. ice machine?
(lively music) - Now I just love those choices.
The Zambelli brothers of New Castle, which is in the western part of the state out there in Lawrence County, what are they famous for?
And I believe Chris Novak, you get to start on this one.
- I'll guess trapeze act, just because the Zambello brothers sounds like a trapeze.
- [Lynn] If that's not the right answer, it should be.
Kevin.
- I think the ice machine's the Zamboni, not the Zambelli.
- [Lynn] Well, maybe they don't spell well.
- That could be, I kinda have a short fuse myself, but I'm gonna go with fireworks.
- Yeah, okay.
We have a trapeze act and we have a fireworks.
What do we have from you Bernie?
- Well, I really come at this one backwards.
The ice machine we've just eliminated, fireworks is a family on Long Island, the most famous family.
The Trapeze Act is another, it's like Zambelli, but it's another family of Italian extraction.
So I have to... everybody knows Van Zambelli, he's a great race car driver.
- How many times have you seen the Zambelli brothers with their cars, race across that finish line to the checkered flag?
What is the right answer on this one?
- [Announcer] The answer is C. They're fireworks.
Fireworks and the name Zambelli have been associated since Antonio Zambelli moved from Naples, Italy, to New Castle, Pennsylvania, over 65 years ago.
George and his brothers, Joseph and Lewis, have presented fireworks displays from Britain to Bolivia.
Today, Zambelli International is the world's largest and oldest manufacturer and exhibitor of fireworks.
(fireworks cracking) - They do fireworks, they did the Statue of Liberty fireworks, they do 'em all over the world.
I mean they're very, very famous for their fireworks.
And anytime you see it, Zambelli, and thanks to the Zambelli people for some very nice footage on that.
Kevin, you just tied up the score.
Everybody has two right.
Kevin and Chris and Bernie together.
Let's encourage 'em again, and maybe one of them will pull ahead.
(audience clapping) Time now for mystery clue number two.
Boy, I make that sound exciting, don't I?
Second clue.
Quite a successful rodeo performer, his movies made Fox Studios a success.
We're narrowing it down a little bit.
He was quite a successful rodeo, or rodeo if you prefer, and it was his movies that first made Fox Studios a success.
Now the clue number one, you'll remember, was radio program continued 10 years after he died, and he died in 1940.
While the panelists are thinking, let me tell you that if you have a suggestion for a Mystery Pennsylvanian, or for a question, or just wanna write to us with a suggestion or a comment, Pennsylvania Game Wagner Annex University Park, PA 16802.
That's our address.
We'll be glad to hear from you.
Okay, I heard some scribbling, which means that maybe there are some guesses going down.
Let's guess about this next.
Oh, they love geography questions.
Here's a geography question guys.
- [Announcer] The last of Pennsylvania's sixty-seven counties was created in 1878.
That county was either Lackawanna County in the Northeast, Greene County in the Southwest, Erie County in the Northwest, or Center County in the middle of the state.
Which one was Pennsylvania's last county?
A. Lackawanna, B. Greene, C. Erie, or D. Center?
(soft music) - Okay, Kevin.
We got a county in the Northeast, in the Southwest, in the Northwest, and also in the center of the state.
Which one?
- Could I see the map again?
- [Lynn] No, you can't.
Last county.
- Couldn't be center because that's right in the center.
It would've had to have been first.
And Lackawanna is no, not Erie, would be Greene then.
- [Lynn] Greene County, he picks.
- Named for Lauren Greene wasn't it?
- Named for Lauren Greene.
There you go.
And Nathaniel I believe, was Greene's name.
Yes, go ahead Bernie.
- It took him a long... they couldn't find it.
It was right there in the dead center, and they couldn't find it.
- [Lynn] That's right.
Chris, we have a B and a D, what do you have?
- Just to be different, I'll say C, Erie.
- You're saying Erie County.
Okay, Greene, Erie and Center were picked.
Nobody, nobody thought it was Lackawanna.
Of course, Lackawanna's so far east they're sure to have founded that one first, I suppose.
Let's take a look and see.
- [Announcer] The answer is A, Lackawanna County.
Lackawanna County's creation in 1878 gave Pennsylvania our present sixty-seven counties.
Greene County was created in 1796, while Erie County and Center County were both born in 1800.
(soft music) - Isn't that the most amazing thing you ever heard?
That's why I picked the question, 'cause who would've thought that Lackawanna County, way in the east, would've been the last county, but it was.
This next question, is one of my all-time favorites.
I gotta tell you, it's absolutely true, and it's the most amazing question, or one of them, that we've had.
- [Announcer] In 1864, General George Meade gave his approval to a plan to end the siege of Petersburg, Virginia.
(marching military music) The plan had been passed along by General Ambrose Burnside, who got the idea from Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pleasants, Commander of the 48th Pennsylvania, mostly men from Schuylkill County.
Their plan was to: A. dig a tunnel under the Confederates, B. build towers for sharpshooters, C. drop bombs from hot air balloons, or D. use a locomotive as a battering ram.
- Okay, guys from Schulykill County, Pennsylvania, had this plan, and they went through all those guys, including Burnside, who had sideburns out to here.
Bernie, which one did they want to do?
Dig a tunnel, build a tower, drop bombs from hot air balloons, or use a locomotive and ram through?
- Oh, I love D. I just love D. - Chris, what do you know about Schuylkill County?
Anything, I suppose?
- I suppose I'll choose the towers.
- Okay, they like to build towers in Schuylkill County.
Kevin, what do you think they like to do?
- As much as it would be fun to drop bombs from hot air balloons, - [Lynn] Yeah, it would be.
- Schuykill, right?
- [Lynn] Yeah.
- That's coal country, I hope, or I'm really going down in flames, but I think dig a tunnel under the Confederates, 'cause they were used to tunneling for their coal.
- Dig a tunnel and then come outta that tunnel, and go, nah, na na na na, Confederate.
- [Kevin] Ask them why they wanted to do that.
- Let's look at the answer.
- [Announcer] The answer is A, dig a tunnel under the Confederates.
Henry Pleasants was a mining engineer, and many of his soldiers were coal miners from the Anthracite Region.
They dug a tunnel 500 feet to get under the Confederate position.
The explosion they set off with four tons of gunpowder left a crater, 170 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet deep.
The plan failed only because of massive confusion after the blast.
That failure meant nine more months of killing, before Union troops marched into Petersburg and the Confederates surrendered at Appomattox.
- Question comes from Alex Nisbet, by the way, and the Pennsylvania Game WPSX and the Pennsylvania Magazine will give Alex a free year subscription to Pennsylvania Magazine.
This would've ended the war, the Civil War, a year early, because they tunneled under exactly the munitions dump of the Confederates.
And the Confederates were of course blocking the whole siege of Petersburg, lasted almost a year, and when they blew that thing, the troops rushed in and all the troops could do was say, "My goodness, we've never seen a crater this large in our lives."
And by that time, the Confederates were able to rally and stop them.
If you go down that way, there is a Crater National Park, and you can stop and see that big hole is still there.
And Pennsylvania coal miners from Schuylkill County, Kevin, you were exactly right, were the ones that blew that hole.
Quite a question, quite a feat that they did.
The next question, about a person who's a personal hero of mine, I'll tell you that much.
Okay, here we go.
- [Announcer] She was born Elizabeth Cochran in 1867 at Cochran's Mills, Armstrong County.
When she went to school in Indiana, Pennsylvania, they called her Pink.
When she went to work for a Pittsburgh newspaper, they gave her a pen name from the popular Stephen Foster song.
Was that name: A. Susie Q, B.
Sweet Lorraine, C. Georgia Brown, or D. Nelly Bly.
(soft music) - Gonna thank Mildred Kennedy from State College for sending that too, and Mildred, you'll be getting a free subscription to Pennsylvania Magazine from them, and from WPSX for sending it in.
This woman did so much for not only for journalism, but for the place of women in journalism in the 1800s and early 1900s.
What was her pen name?
And we get to start appropriately enough, Chris, with you, on this one.
- I wish I knew this one because it is about women in journalism, and it would make me look good.
I suppose I'll choose Nelly Bly.
- [Lynn] Nelly Bly.
Okay, she thinks the popular Stephen Foster song was Nelly Bly.
Kevin, what do you think it was?
- I agree.
I can't find D now, but I agree.
There we go.
- [Lynn] You know a lot of things, but can't find your letters.
Okay, Bernie, what do you say?
Which is the right answer?
- Well 'cause my policy is always to disagree with my colleagues, I choose D. - Nelly Bly.
They all say, oh my darling Nelly, Sweet Georgia Brown, sweet Lorraine.
Susie Q is the one I thought was the nicest one.
Whether either all right or all wrong, let's take a look.
- [Announcer] The answer is D, Nelly Bly.
As Nelly Bly, she exposed many social ills, and helped open a male-dominated journalism for women.
Nelly Bly gained international fame with a trip around the world in just 72 days, beating the time of Jules Verne's character, Phileas Fogg, who went around the world in 80 days.
When Nelly Bly died in 1922, the New York Journal called her the best reporter in America.
- The gal from near Pittsburgh who just did all right.
Actually went around the world in under 80 days, back in those days.
And the amazing thing about her is that after she was through with her early journalism career, she married a millionaire.
Which is not a bad thing to do later on in your life.
Last clue, before I give the score, here's the last clue for our Mystery Pennsylvanian.
He was the model for the movie "Cowboys," from Gene Autry to John Wayne.
Clue number one was the radio show continued after his death in 1940.
Successful rodeo performer, his success made Fox Studio successful.
Last clue, he was the model for the later movie "Cowboys," all the way from Gene Autry to John Wayne.
Now the score on this is Kevin ahead by only one.
Kevin has four and Chris and Bernie each have three, so this could determine the winner.
All right, hold your breath.
Here we go.
Kevin, you go first on this one.
- And I think he also invented the Mixmaster, was Tom Mix.
- [Lynn] Tom Mix, you say.
Okay, cowboy Tom Mix.
Chris, what do you have on this?
- I have an empty slate.
- [Lynn] Empty slate, and Bernie.
Tom Mix on clue number two.
- Ooh.
- Okay.
What does that say?
I have no idea what that says.
Or even whether you're either one right or not.
It could have been William S. Hart for all I know.
Or Cowboy Bob or, let's take a look here.
- [Announcer] Born in Mix Run, Cameron County, Pennsylvania, Tom Mix was Hollywood's leading western hero for over twenty-five years.
(cheerful music) Tom Mix made over 350 movies from 1910 to 1935.
His success made Fox Studios a major company.
From a successful rodeo performer, Tom Mix went into movies, doing his own stunts.
Riding Tony the Wonder Horse, Mix was shot, trampled, suffered numerous broken bones, and several times came near death.
Tom Mix was so popular that the radio serial based on him, continued for a decade after he was killed in an auto accident in 1940, at age 60.
At his peak, Tom Mix earned a million dollars a year.
Tom Mix was a model for all the cowboy heroes that followed, from Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, to John Wayne.
Tom Mix, a famous, Pennsylvanian.
- Great cowboy he was.
And if you ever go over around DuBois, Pennsylvania, you'd better know the name Tom Mix, 'cause over there they are proud of that native son.
He was as big a star as anybody you can imagine today.
He really was.
We all saw Hopalong Cassidy movies on TV for years and years, why did we never see Tom Mix movies on TV?
That's kind of a lucky strike extra question there.
What do you think?
- So the timing of it wasn't right.
- There was a tragic fire, a fire in the Hollywood warehouse, and hundreds of his films were lost and they had no copies.
You see, it was before the days of copying videotape and stuff.
If it hadn't been for that, Tom Mix would probably be more famous than Hopalong Cassidy even, 'cause he made you know, more movies and better movies than... Don't tell Hoppy I said that, but he really did.
And what a magnificent, magnificent Pennsylvanian he was.
It was a close game panel, you did right.
Kevin managed to hang on and win by one.
But Chris and Bernie were both right there, one behind.
What do you think, Chris, this is your first time.
- I enjoyed myself.
- We enjoyed having you here.
You all did really, really well.
And we invite you to come back, and we'll invite all you to come back too next week, same time, same place, as we all gather one more time to challenge your knowledge of Pennsylvania's people, places, and products, as we all gather right here to have some fun and learn some things as we play the Pennsylvania Game.
Thanks for joining us and come back.
(audience clapping) (bright music) - [Announcer] The Pennsylvania Game has been made possible in part by Uni-Mart's Incorporated, with stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.
Serving you with courtesy and convenience, every day of the year.
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