(playful upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Geoffrey Baer, and this is "The Great Chicago Quiz Show."

Coming up, contestants from all over Chicagoland (contestant laughing) show us what they know.

- D. - And you are correct.

- Oh, my God.

Okay.

- Or don't know about the city and suburbs.

(buzzer drones) How far are you leaning?

- Pretty far, it feels like.

- I'm gonna blame my parents if I get this one wrong.

- Tonight, we serve up Chicago by the slice.

Actually, a lot of slices.

We chase down a runaway baby buggy and we go shopping for mysteries at the mall.

All that and more in a minute.

But first, as we do each week, we start with a pop quiz just for you at home.

Okay, so this one is about Chicago's annual confab of conspicuous consumption, Taste of Chicago.

Here's the question.

(bell dings) At the 2019 Taste, how many slices of pizza did Connie's and Giordano's serve up combined?

Was it 260, 2,600, 26,000, or 260,000?

Chew on that.

(drum roll resounds) I'll have the answer next on "The Great Chicago Quiz Show."

(playful upbeat music) The rules of this game show are simple: Have fun, and no matter how loudly you shout the correct answer at the screen, I can't hear you.

But go ahead and shout anyway.

We'll kick off the competition in a moment, but first, the answer to our pop quiz.

(bell dings) How many slices of pizza did Connie's and Giordano's serve up combined at the 2019 Taste of Chicago?

The correct number?

26,000.

(bell chimes) If you round up.

To be precise, 25,700, according to the City of Chicago.

The Taste and Grant Park, well, they go together like Robinson's Ribs and Eli's Cheesecake.

But did you know that the very first Taste of Chicago took place somewhere else?

I wonder if our first contestants know where.

Introducing the first round.

And now here's somebody who works in a museum, but you don't have to wait in line to see his artwork because it's out on the street.

Gilberto Sandoval.

- Hi, Geoffrey.

How's it going?

- Does anybody ever tell you you look like Rick Bayless?

- No, but I'll take it.

- (chuckles) I think you do.

Now you are wearing an IIT sweatshirt there, I think, right?

- I'm an alum, yeah.

- So you're an engineer?

- Yeah.

Well, I studied computers and psychology, (chuckles), believe it or not.

- Hello, Nicole Steeves.

- Hi.

- You were on "Jeopardy?"

- I was, and it went pretty well.

- What's pretty well?

- Pretty well is coming in second place to someone who went on to be the champion for the whole season.

- I'm a little intimidated here.

I mean, you know, I got to live up to Alex Trebek?

Well, we'll dedicate this episode to Alex Trebek.

All right, I'm going to give you some multiple-choice questions here.

- Oh, good.

- This is about Taste of Chicago.

We just learned a fun fact earlier in the show about Taste of Chicago.

The Taste of Chicago has been held in Grant Park since it's second year, which was 1981.

But where was the first Taste of Chicago held?

Was it A, on North Michigan Avenue, north of the river, B, at Navy Pier, C, at Daley Plaza, or D, in the Soldier Field parking lot?

- Phew, I have no idea.

But I'm gonna go with the Soldier Field parking lot.

- And why do you think that?

- I, instinctively, as a Bears fan want to cook and eat there.

So hopefully, the rest of the city does too.

- It's a perfectly good theory.

(buzzer drones) Oh, but it's wrong.

(Geoffrey and Gilberto laughing) - Picturing Christkindlmarket on Daley Plaza, it's a great place for people to gather and eat and talk.

Michigan Avenue, north of the river, is another place with the kind of plazas, like in front of the Wrigley Building.

I feel a little more strongly about Daley Plaza now.

And I think- - No.

(buzzer drones) Oh, so close.

- Okay, but my reasoning was solid though, right?

- Your reasoning was really solid.

I can see why you were on "Jeopardy."

- I believe that was A, Michigan Avenue.

(bell chimes) - You are correct.

You got that very quickly.

- I worked at 520 North Michigan and it was right downstairs.

(Geoffrey laughs) - You just love Chicago history, don't you?

- One of the things I do is I write science fiction, and my most celebrated novel is a time travel novel.

The son of a slave develops the time machine, but he can't build it because the technology doesn't exist.

125 years later, a black IIT student finds the plans and decides to go visit Bronzeville in the year 1919, but he gets mixed up in the Red Summer riots.

- I'm very excited to have you on the show.

Like, a true- - Thank you.

- Fellow Chicago history geek.

All right, question number two.

(bell dings) Chicago has had many police chiefs over its two centuries.

Police Chief Francis O'Neill in the early 1900s is famous for something besides being the city's top cop.

What was it?

A, he invented the billy club, B, he collected and published traditional Irish music, C, he created his own brand of beer, O'Neill's Finest Stout, that was popular before Prohibition put that out of business.

Or D, for patenting the slow cooker, which he used to make his fabled corned beef and cabbage plate served at his restaurant Chief O'Neil's.

- I feel good about the corned beef.

(buzzer drones) - Oh!

No (chuckles).

(Nicole laughs) - Can we go with the billy club then?

A?

(buzzer drones) - Oh, I'm sorry.

No (chuckles).

He did not invent the billy club.

He actually has a much more uplifting and peaceful claim to fame.

- I'm gonna with the with the Irish music preservation.

(bell chimes) - And you are correct.

Yes, Chief O'Neill actually hired Irish musicians to be Chicago policemen, so that he could collect and preserve their music.

And it's thought that he really did save traditional Irish music from being lost forever.

- Fantastic.

Fantastic.

- So what does it mean that your artwork is out on the street?

- I was very fortunate enough to be a part of a couple of mural projects in the past.

I think a lot of people share the same objective that I do, but through working in the arts, through working in various institutions, hopefully, that helps us spread stories and spread information and educate people as much as possible.

- How am I doing compared to Alex?

- You know, you have to talk more.

(Nicole laughs) - I have to talk more?

- You do.

- I'm gonna excerpt that clip, "You have to talk more," and I'm gonna just play that over and over for my wife.

Every time.

(Nicole laughs) All right, question number three.

Twinkies.

You ever had a Twinkie?

- I would never lie to you.

I've had many.

- (chuckles) Okay.

- Hundreds of them.

- Hundreds of them.

(bell dings) - When Twinkies were invented in 1930 at a baking company in the western suburbs of Chicago, they were filled with banana cream.

Why was the filling later switched to vanilla cream?

A, banana cream tended to spoil quickly.

You know, all those brown spots on bananas?

B, the company wanted to export them to the Soviet Union, where bananas were considered a capitalist luxury.

C, there was just a banana shortage during WWII.

So they switched.

Or D, the new company president hated bananas.

- Oh, my gosh.

- These are tough.

- I don't think it's B.

- Yeah, not the socialist thing.

- I'm leaning towards C. - How far are you leaning?

- Pretty far, it feels like.

(bell chimes) - Good.

It's correct.

(Paul laughs) - Oh, my God.

Okay.

- There absolutely was a banana shortage in WWII, and here's the story.

(upbeat music) Back before WWII, the ovens at the Continental Baking Company in suburban River Forest churned out shortcakes day and night but only when strawberries were in season.

The rest of the year, the shortcake pans sat idle.

So plant manager, James Dewar, got to thinking.

"If we filled the little cakes with banana cream, "we could sell them year round."

Not only to Dewar come up with the idea of the Twinkie, he dreamed up the name after seeing a billboard for Twinkle Toe Shoes.

The banana supply dwindled in WWII, partly because banana boats were requisitioned for the war effort.

So the company switched to vanilla filling and never looked back.

Continental Baking became part of Hostess Foods.

And James Dewar was named vice president.

He proudly ate three Twinkies every day and lived to be 88.

Guess what?

You're not done yet.

We've got a lightning round for you.

(lightning cracking) By the way, your son, you know... People submit audition tapes, and you've got the kid in the stroller, chain link fence, White Sox Park behind you.

How could we resist, you know, a father and a son?

- I appreciate it.

I'm glad it worked.

- Now he's two and a half.

Like, have you ever taken him to a Sox game?

- Yeah, he made it to I believe it was nine games his first year back... (Geoffrey and Paul laughing) - What?

- He was even on jumbotron once.

We were doing the thing where you have to figure out where the pizza is in the slice.

And he was in my back, oblivious to it all.

(Paul laughs) - All right, so I'm going to ask you a bunch of questions.

It's real easy.

Just give me true or false.

All right, here we go.

The Chicago river flows backwards.

- Yeah, true.

- True, of course.

The John Hancock building was originally supposed to be two shorter buildings?

- False.

(buzzer drones) - Actually true.

Chicago's first Chinatown was clustered around Union Station.

- True.

(buzzer drones) - Seems like it would be true.

Railroads.

It's false.

It was actually in what is now the Loop.

At the Chicago World's Fair of 1933, one of the attractions was an actual display of premature babies in incubators.

- Oh.

True.

(bell chimes) - True, weirdly enough.

Buckingham Fountain is modeled on a fountain at Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles, but it is twice as large.

- True?

(bell chimes) - Sure, it's Chicago.

The Maxwell Street Market gave birth to, helped to give birth, to electrified Chicago Blues.

- True.

(bell chimes) - Absolutely true.

The Roman goddess statue atop the Chicago Board of Trade has a face modeled on Hollywood starlet Hedy Lamarr.

- False, there's no face.

(bell dings) - That's right (chuckles).

Good for you.

May Day, as a worldwide celebration of worker's rights, originated in Chicago.

- True.

- True, yes.

Time's up.

(Paul laughs) You got six right.

Congratulations.

- Oh.

Okay.

- Give our best to Nate.

- I will do that.

This was a lot of fun.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

- How you doing?

- I'm well, how are you?

Good to meet you over the internet.

- You feel ready for this?

- I'm just a little nervous is all.

(Geoffrey chuckles) - And now the second round.

(contestant laughs) You sound really ready.

- I am.

- I'm a little nervous, but I'm excited to be here.

- I'm really nervous too.

So we're okay.

(Jackie chuckles) No, we're not going to let you fail.

Even if you fail, it doesn't matter.

We're going to have fun.

Oh, wait a minute.

I remember you.

(Bill laughs) It's Bill from Bridgeport.

You a fan of U of I?

- A lot of my money went there.

- Now we did another quiz show many years ago.

Who became mayor- I was asking who became mayor after Harold Washington died.

And of course, the answer that I was thinking of was Eugene Sawyer, but you said?

(timer ticking) - Ooh, that was David Orr.

- No, Eugene, oh, David Orr.

(bell chimes) That's right.

That was very good.

Your family knows you as a pontificator.

- They do.

- Is that another word for windbag?

- I could tell you what they really call, but no.

(Geoffrey laughs) I believe know-it-all would cover it.

- But you sort of are.

- I don't know, we'll find out in a little bit here out there when seeing your questions.

- All right, we've got three multiple-choice questions for you.

- Whoo.

Okay, good.

Multiple choice is helpful.

Okay.

- Right.

You can always guess.

All right, here we go.

(bell dings) Which movie filmed in Chicago included a famous scene of an unattended baby carriage rolling down the grand staircase at Union Station?

Was it A, "The Fugitive," B, "The Untouchables," C, "Adventures in Babysitting," or D, "The Dark Knight?"

- Oh, wow.

- Unforgettable scene if you ever saw the movie.

Otherwise, you have to guess.

- Yeah.

I'm going to have to guess.

- Seems like it's so obvious that I shouldn't guess it, but I'm gonna guess "Adventures in Babysitting."

(buzzer drones) - Oh.

No (chuckles).

- I'm gonna say B. I'm not sure.

- That would be Kevin Costner's "Untouchables."

(bell chimes) - And you are right.

He doesn't drop a beat.

(tense music) Yes, it's the scene where Elliot Ness is chasing down Al Capone's accountant at Union Station.

Brian De Palma was the filmmaker.

So as you can expect, that scene gets a little bloody.

(carriage thuds) (gun blasts) Krista Dutt, you actually teach people how to get where they're going without modern technology?

- Yeah, I had a job where folks would come and live in Chicago for a year and work at a non-profit for free.

And so part of my job was to teach them how to get around so that they could get to work.

And then the test after 10 days was to blindfold them, put them in a van, and drop each one off at a separate place.

And no one ever got lost.

So.

- Wow, you must've been (chuckles) a really good teacher.

(Geoffrey and Krista laughing) All right, here's your next question.

(bell dings) Jerry "The Iceman" Butler was on the Cook County Board from 1985 to 2018, but he had an earlier claim to fame.

What was Jerry "The Iceman" Butler's earlier claim to fame?

A, he was an All-Star White Sox outfielder in the mid-1970s, B, he was the second Air Force test pilot to break the sound barrier after Chuck Yeager, C, he was a Tony Award-winning Broadway actor, Or D, he was the lead singer of an R&B group in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?

- Wow.

Okay.

I'm gonna do great here.

(Geoffrey laughs) On to a great start.

Let's think.

- I'm going to have to guess.

I'm going to go with A.

- A, he was an All-Star White Sox outfielder.

(buzzer drones) No, I'm sorry.

That's not correct.

- Well, I'm trying to think of sort of the personality of a commissioner and what their sort of approach to life would be.

- Oh, that's good.

Of course, it could be completely the opposite of a politician.

- So I'm gonna do the one that I think would be the coolest, and that's D. - Lead singer in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

(bell chimes) - You are correct.

- Oh, I won the lottery just now.

(Geoffrey laughs) That was amazing.

- Jerry Butler was in The Impressions with Curtis Mayfield.

- Oh, wow.

I wish I would've known that.

- Well, you can, you know...

It's the internet age.

So you can just like listen to any of that music.

- Google it.

(Jackie chuckles) - Jackie Serrato, you're editor-in-chief of the "South Side Weekly?"

- That's right.

It's based in Woodlawn and it's a volunteer newsroom.

- You didn't like set out to be a journalist in your life, did you?

- No, I didn't.

I actually didn't go to journalism school.

It wasn't part of my life plan really.

But when I came back from college after obtaining my Bachelor's degree, I realized that there was this need for better representation of the Mexican community.

Soon, we started having conversations that needed to be had about, you know, gang violence, about gentrification, about labor abuses in the Mexican community, and a lot of very difficult issues that we just needed to organize around.

- Fantastic.

- Thank you very much.

- Third question.

- You know where Ford City Mall is?

Have you ever been there?

- Oh, many times.

- Oh, okay.

Cool.

So it's right out there by Midway.

The building that now houses Ford City Mall near Midway Airport was originally built as what?

The world's largest vocational school founded by Henry Ford.

That's A.

B, the Tucker Automobile Factory, C, a WWII bomber engine factory, or D, the Tootsie Roll factory?

- Wow, you've got me on another trick type question there, Geoffrey.

- So I grew up at 64th and St. Louis, not far away from Ford City Mall.

I can't believe that I don't know this 'cause it just seems like the kind of lore that I would have heard growing up, but I don't.

I'm going to blame my parents if I get this one wrong.

- Absolutely.

- Mom and dad, I see you.

(Geoffrey chuckles) - It's the Tucker factory.

(buzzer drones) - Ooh.

No.

- The Tootsie Roll factory?

(buzzer drones) - Oh, I'm afraid not.

- It was a bomber factory (bell dings) during the Second World War, but afterwards, Tucker bought it from the military and built his cars in there.

- Cannot fool this guy.

(Bill laughs) - You know, I just know that that area used to be very industrial.

- Well, interestingly, B, C and D are all factories, and all three of those are ultimately true.

- Wow.

- And by the way, here's the story.

(grungy guitar music) The factory was called Dodge Chicago.

It made 18,000 engines urgently needed during WWII for the highly-advanced B-29 Superfortress to fly missions in the Pacific.

(electronic guitar music) Brilliant industrial architect Albert Kahn had fast-tracked the completion of the six million-square foot factory.

Kahn made his name decades earlier, designing the Detroit factory for Henry Ford's first assembly line.

After the war, Preston Tucker converted Dodge Chicago to a plant for his futuristic car, but built only 51 Tuckers before going bankrupt.

Later, Ford Motor Company built engines here.

That's why the mall that occupies about half of the old factory is called Ford City.

Today, the other half is still a factory, but not for cars.

It produces 64 million Tootsie Rolls every day.

(paper fluttering) All right, here is somebody who has spent the pandemic traveling all over the world without leaving the Chicago area.

Lynn Gilbertsen, how is that possible?

- Well, it takes a lot of Google searches and a lot of creativity, but we started this sort of family field trip project in August, where we tried to find places in Chicago that felt like they were somewhere else.

Both of our kids, we have a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, and they learn how to travel and respect cultures and appreciate them.

So we've visited a total, I think, the count is at 22 different countries since August.

And it's been like the bright spot of an otherwise long year.

- I am in awe of this.

You really do your homework.

- Well, thank you.

- Well, we're not going to let you go yet because we've got a lightning round for you.

(lightning cracking) List as many area Interstate Expressways as you can by name, not by number.

When I say go, you got 30 seconds.

Ready, set, go.

(bell dings) - Dan Ryan, Kennedy, (bell chiming) the Eisenhower, the Edens, (bell chiming) the Tuskegee Airmen Expressway.

That's where 57 curves.

- Wow.

- The Jane Addam Tollway.

(bell chimes) - One that goes out to O'Hare?

- The Elgin O'Hare Expressway.

(bell chimes) - Good.

Okay, that's time's up.

You did fantastic.

The rest of them are the Bishop Ford, the Borman, Kingery, the Skyway, Reagan, Stevenson, and the Tri-State.

- My grandma's going to be disappointed.

The Skyway.

We used to take the Skyway all the time with my grandma.

- Sorry, grandma.

(Geoffrey laughs) (playful upbeat music) (paper fluttering) Here's somebody who was born in Milwaukee, has a podcast about Milwaukee, lives in Milwaukee.

Wendy Bright, did they not tell you this is a show about Chicago?

(Wendy laughs) - Where am I?

(laughs) (Geoffrey chuckles faintly) It's the third round.

What kind of things have you done that to share your knowledge and love of Chicago?

- I had my own tour business.

I gave tours on the river.

And just to see how everybody's faces light up when they see our beautiful city.

- And just to be clear, when you say our beautiful city, you are talking about Chicago, right?

(Wendy laughs) Tom Lembo, it says right on your name tag there that you are a Saint.

What are the Saints?

- Hello.

We're a not-for-profit.

And our main purpose is to support the huge Chicago theater industry.

- All right, listen, Tom, I've got a few questions for you about Chicago history.

So you're a huge arts and theater fan.

Are you a big sports fan?

- No.

- Not at all.

This first question is about sports.

(Geoffrey chuckles) - Okay, try me.

- All right.

(bell dings) The Chicago Bulls have retired four jersey numbers in their 55-year franchise history.

Only four.

Bob Love, #10, Michael Jordan, #23, Scotty Pippen, #33, and which other number?

A, Norm Van Lier, #2.

B, Jerry Sloan, #4.

C, Horace Grant, #54.

Or D, Dennis Rodman, #91.

- I imagine it was Dennis Rodman.

- Dennis Rodman.

(bell drones) - Oh, no.

You know, a lot of people have been guessing Dennis Rodman because he was such a showman, right?

- I'm gonna guess Jerry Sloan.

(bell chimes) - Yes.

That is correct.

(Rita laughs) The late, great Jerry Sloan.

Very legendary Bull and coach.

Okay, here we go.

Rita Alvarez, you are a SciFinder.

What is a SciFinder?

- So I volunteer at the Museum of Science and Industry, and part of what I do, I make suggestions as to what exhibits they might want to see.

Sometimes they'll say, "I have a ten-year-old with me.

"What do you suggest for a ten-year-old?"

Well, the baby chicks are in the genetics area.

And so I'll usually direct them there.

- So the chickens, after they performed their hatching, they retired to a pleasant happily ever?

We hope it's happily ever after.

(Rita laughs) I don't know if they sell chicken nuggets in the (chuckles) cafeteria there.

(Rita laughs) All right, we'll stop talking about that.

All right, here's your second question.

- When novelist Sandra Cisneros was a child, her family bought their first home on North Campbell Street in Humboldt Park.

Cisneros based her breakthrough novel on that street, but changed the name of the street.

What did she change it to?

A, Mango Street, B, Magnolia Street, C, Division Street, or D, Street of Dreams?

- I'm gonna guess D. - Street of Dreams.

That does sound like kind of a poetic name, but yeah, you can already tell, not right.

(buzzer drones) - Magnolia?

(buzzer drones) - Oh, no.

I'm sorry.

- I'm going to go with A, Mango Street.

- "House on Mango Street."

(bell chimes) - And that is correct.

- Yes (laughs).

- I read one source that said she had to change it from Campbell because she thought it sounded too much like soup.

I don't know if that's true or not.

All right.

They say it takes two to tango.

So it's a good thing We have Wallach Ochart with us.

Because Wallach, you have taught media people how to dance, is that correct?

- Well, right out of college, I worked downtown for a ballroom studio, and it was called Arthur Murray.

And we partnered with several celebrities to raise funds for breast cancer.

And I got the opportunity to perform with Sandra Torres.

She's a local reporter here, and I'm really happy to have done that.

- Like, you are not like a lifelong dancer?

- Not at all.

I was extremely shy.

I'm a only child.

And I developed some social anxiety.

But growing up, I was determined to defeat that.

And so it all really started with dancing.

- That is amazing.

- Well, thank you.

- I got one last question for you.

- Yeah, let's do it.

(bell dings) - During the heyday of Chicago's Black Metropolis in Bronzeville, the entertainment district along South State Street had a nickname.

What was it?

Was it called A, The Stroll, B, The Strip, C, The Stretch, or D, The Scene?

- Ooh.

- You can give me your thought process here if you've got one.

(Geoffrey chuckles) - I'm thinking people really dressed up to the nines.

- Absolutely.

- I think it was The Strip.

- The Strip.

- And like, that would be Las Vegas.

(buzzer drones) (Wendy sighs deeply) (Geoffrey laughs) - I'm just guessing.

The Scene?

(buzzer drones) - Oh, that's a good guess, but it's not right (chuckles).

It was a scene.

- People are out and showing off their best.

So I'm going to go with The Stroll.

- The Stroll.

(bell chimes) - And you are correct.

(Rita laughs) - You know your Chicago.

(Wallach laughs) It was called The Stroll, and it has quite a history.

And here it is.

(paper fluttering) (cheery jazzy music) If you held up a trumpet at 35th and State, it would play itself.

That was the feeling in the early 1900s when The Stroll, a two-mile stretch of South State Street, was alive with clubs.

Folks dressed to the nines to hear jazz legends, like Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton.

The Great Migration had brought half a million African Americans to Chicago from the south, and racism confined them to a narrow strip of the South Side.

So they built the Black Metropolis here, with black-owned stores, banks, insurance firms, cosmetic companies, and newspapers.

Eventually, 47th Street eclipsed The Stroll with white-owned venues, like the Regal and Savoy.

The Stroll was bulldozed in the 1950s by the Illinois Institute of Technology to build its modernist campus.

Today, Bronzeville is recovering from a period of disinvestment and drawing inspiration from beloved memories of The Stroll.

(paper fluttering) All right, it's almost time to go, but before we do, we always let our contestants turn the tables on me with the "Contestant's Revenge."

("Toccata and Fugue in D Minor") We have brought back Steve Bellinger.

Welcome back, Steve.

Oh, you've got a sinister smile on your face.

(Steve laughs) - Ah, you know it.

- Oh, I don't know.

We'll see.

- Okay.

(bell dings) Magnetic wire recording was invented in 1898 by a Dutch engineer.

What Chicago organization helped to develop it and make it even more affordable in the late '40s and early '50s.

- Wow.

Magnet, so this is the precursor to tape recording?

- Exactly.

- Like these wire recorders.

- Exactly.

- Electronic.

So it would be an electronics corporation in Chicago.

I know that Shure is in the Chicago area.

Like, this is a Shure microphone here on my tie.

All right, I'm gonna say Shure.

(buzzer drones) - Ah, no.

- Oh, wait.

- It was- - Illinois Institute of Technology.

- It was the Armour Institute, which became the IIT.

You're exactly right.

- Oh, I should have gotten that.

- I was afraid it was going to be too obvious.

- Oh, it's right there (chuckles) on your shirt.

(Steve laughing) Oh, Lord.

I can't believe I didn't get that.

We already talked about how he was like this big IIT guy.

Well, thanks to all of our contestants.

Make sure you tune in again next time for "The Great Chicago Quiz Show."

(playful upbeat music)