(upbeat music) - I'm Geoffrey Baer.

Tonight, we find out what rock band got into a whole L of a lot of trouble.

We learn what alphabet starts with the letter "K." And as an added incentive, we give you something to chew on.

All that and much more, but first, a Pop Quiz just for you at home!

(bell rings) - Gangster Al Capone made Chicago infamous during the Roaring 20s, but he was not born in Chicago.

Where was Al Capone born?

A, Naples, Italy.

B, Brooklyn, New York.

C, Hayward, Wisconsin.

D, Miami, Florida.

The answer is... - Next, on The Great Chicago Quiz Show!

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to the Great Chicago Quiz Show.

I'm Geoffrey Baer.

I've spent decades writing and hosting WTTW programs about Chicago's rich history, architecture and culture.

Now let's see if any of you have been paying attention.

- And Chicago TikTok historian, Shermann "Dilla" Thomas is here.

Hi Dilla!

- Hey peace, Geoffrey.

What's going on everybody?

- All right, before we welcome our first contestants, the answer to tonight's pop quiz.

I asked, where was Al Capone born?

Well his father was from Naples, and he did have homes near Hayward, Wisconsin and in Miami, where he died in 1947.

But he was born in Brooklyn in 1899.

He came to Chicago at the invitation of mobster Johnny Torrio in 1919.

And the rest is infamy.

Alright, on with the show!

Let's meet tonight's first round of contestants.

Chicago's impresario of Latino comedy and entertainment, Mike Oquendo, aka Mikey O. Hello Mike.

- Hello Geoffrey, how are you?

- And she is the best person ever to ask for directions.

Transportation librarian Rachel Cole.

Hello Rachel.

- Hi, I'm so happy to be here.

Thank you for having me.

- And finally a trusted journalist who moonlights as a Chicago Alderman, or maybe it's the other way around, Justin Kaufmann.

Hello Justin.

- Hey Geoffrey, how are you buddy?

- Now Justin, we know that you're a journalist, you write for Axios.

I've been on your radio shows on WBEZ and WGN But could I possibly have an audience with Alderman Bus?

- You might remember me, I ran unsuccessfully to replace Mayor Daley.

(crowd laughs) - Firstly, I'm gonna miss you.

Who might gonna go, X out in the middle of the night the commuter airport with the X's along Meigs Field?

That was me and him.

- Oh, hello, how you doing everybody?

I'm Alderman Ed Bus in the 53rd ward and I'm glad to be here on the, on the... What is this?

- It's a quiz show, but a lotta your constituents are watching.

- Where is the 53rd ward?

- The 53rd ward used to be the entire north side of the city of Chicago, and it's been redistricted, and redistricted.

Now you know the corner of Elston, Fullerton, and Damon?

- Right there... - Okay.

- That little triangle where the Chik-fil-a's at?

- Okay, yeah.

- That's the 53rd.

Here's the slogan, "Vote for Ed Bus.

Keep it like it was."

Absolutely.

All right, well listen Alderman Bus, we gotta move on.

But is Justin there?

Could we talk to Justin again?

- The dweeby guy.

Let me get the dweeby guy.

- Let's check on him.

- Hey, I'm back.

- There you are.

- All right, great.

- I feel like we're doing Sybil here or something.

All right Justin, the categories are Red October, Beginnings, or In Transit.

And be careful, one of these categories is a lightning round.

Justin, which one do you want?

- I'll take Red October.

Let's see what that's about.

Red October, all right, here we go.

On the same day as the Chicago fire, October 8, 1871, there was a much more deadly fire where?

Was it, A, a meat packing plant in Atlanta.

B, a small logging town in Wisconsin.

C, a street market in Calcutta, India or D, a coal mine in Siberia?

Do you know?

- It's not gonna be the coal mine although that sounds like a fun fire.

It was Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and it happened, I think right before the Chicago fire and got totally overlooked.

- That is right, you are correct.

Yes, it was in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and it was a terrible, terrible tragic fire.

It claimed four times as many lives as the Chicago fire, 1,200 people.

Burned more than a million acres.

And one of the really ironic things about this fire is that the forest and the logging town were owned by Chicago's first mayor, William B. Ogden.

So on the same day Ogden lost everything in Chicago, and then he also lost everything in this forest in Wisconsin.

- Wow.

- Wow.

- Very good Justin.

let's move on, hello Rachel.

- Oh hi.

- You are a transportation librarian?

What is a transportation library?

Is that like the book mobile or something?

- Well that would be fun, but no.

It's Northwestern University's transportation library.

We are one of the largest transportation research collections in the US and one of the largest in the world really with collections on all modes of transportation.

So rail, highway, aviation, pedestrian transportation, which is my favorite way of getting around.

Sorry honey, can you scoot a little bit?

- Hey Elliot, how you doing?

What is that on your shirt, what is that?

- A Amtrak.

- Do you like trains?

I am a total train geek.

- Yes.

- So do you think you'll be a transportation librarian someday when you grow up.

- No.

- Why not?

Doesn't that sound fascinating, being a transportation librarian when you're six years old?

- Every boy's dream, right honey?

- Astronaut, fire fighter, or transportation librarian.

It was really a toss up between those three for me growing up.

(Elliot and Rachel laughs) - Thank you for joining us Elliot.

I gotta move on and ask your mom a question now.

- Good job buddy.

- So Rachel, you have two choices left.

Do you want Beginnings or In Transit?

- Let's go with In Transit.

- Really?

And why would you like to go with In Transit?

(Rachel laughs) - Rachel, this is the lightning round.

(thunder strikes) - Because you're a transit professional, I'm gonna be mean and only give you 30 seconds because... - Oh no.

- You should be able to get this.

Are you ready?

- Yes, I'm ready.

Let's do it.

In 30 seconds, please name all eight colors used to mark the CTA L lines, go.

- Okay, blue, red, yellow, purple, brown, orange, pink.

- There's one more.

- Okay, wait, what did I leave out?

- Green.

- Yes, Very good.

- Record time.

Congratulations, Rachel, very well done.

- Thank you.

- All right, we're moving on, and I'd like to now welcome Mike Oquendo.

So you used to go to comedy acts, you looked around and you didn't see people who looked like you either in the audience or on the stage, right?

- That's correct.

I remember my sister Lydia brought home an album.

It was Freddie Prince live at Mr. Kelly's.

I'm 13 years old, and I listen to this album, and I heard all about the Puerto Rican experience on this album.

And as I got older I would go to comedy shows and there wasn't anybody like me on stage telling stories locally.

- You guys ready for a great show, Chicago?

(audience applauds) - And that was really my mission.

My mission was to create this home for Latino comedy.

What's cool about that, years later our audiences are receptive to all comedy, the diversity of Chicago in our audience today is exactly what I dreamed about 20 years ago when I started this.

So it's pretty cool.

- All right Mike, there is one category left.

and it is Beginnings.

Are you ready?

- I am.

- The rock band Chicago was named what before a threatened lawsuit forced them to shorten their name?

Was it, A, Chicago Board of Trade.

B, Chicago Symphony.

C, Chicago Transit Authority, or D, Taste of Chicago?

- Chicago Transit Authority.

- You're comfortable with that?

- Well, I am comfortable with that.

- You are correct.

- And you know Why that's always stuck with me?

Because of the original demon dogs on the ground floor of the Fullerton L stop.

- Yep.

- You're absolutely right.

Demon dogs, which was, used to be under the L at Fullerton was owned by Peter Chivareli.

Who was the band's manager Alderman Bus, do you know what else Peter Chivareli did?

- Yeah, he had a big Chicago job, didn't he?

He was the head of sanitation for the 43rd ward.

(Geoffrey laughs) - Ah, that's why he got that deal.

Contestants, you have done so well that we are going to give you a team question then you discuss amongst yourselves and you give me one answer.

- All right, here we go.

Throughout Chicago there are alphabet towns where all the streets begin with the same letter.

Which of the following is not the name of a street in North Lawndale's K Town?

Is it, A, Kedzie, B, Karlov, C, Kildare, or D, Keystone.

- I know that, Kildare and I know that the Karlov, both of those are Chicago west side streets.

Not sure on Keystone, but I wonder if it's Kedzie because that's too far east.

- Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing.

I was thinking 3200 Kedzie was too far east.

- Mikey, you're pretty convinced that they're right too?

I'm pretty convinced because we go Kedzie, Sawyer, Spalding, Homan.

- Nailed it, Mikey's right.

- You are correct, it is Kedzie.

- That was a group effort.

Yes, so Kedzie is a mile outside of K Town between Pulaski and Cicero is where all the north south streets begin with the letter K. And I'm gonna name every single one of them for you right now in one breath.

(Geoffrey breathes in heavily) - Keystone, Karlov, Kedvale, Keeler, Kenneth, Kilborn, Kildare, Kolin, Kirkland, Kolemar, Komensky, Kostner, Kilpatrick, Kenton, Knox, silent K, and Keating.

- Amazing.

- Good job.

- [Geoffrey] If you like alliteration, you'll love Chicago's north-south streets west of Pulaski.

And the K-streets are only the start.

Continuing west, the street names are grouped in alphabetical order in one mile increments.

From LaCrosse to Luna.

Major to Mulligan.

Natchez to Neva.

Oconto to Osage.

And Pacific to the westernmost alphabet street, Pontiac.

But why do they start with K?

Well in 1889 Chicago annexed more than a hundred square miles of surrounding suburbs with lots of duplicate street names resulting in misdirected mail and lost visitors.

The Bureau of Maps proposed the alphabetical renaming scheme starting at the Indiana border with the letter A.

But the plan was rejected for the first eleven miles where street names were already well established.

So in 1913 the system started eleven miles from the border with the eleventh letter of the alphabet, K. (upbeat music) - And we are back for more with this second round featuring a media strategist who sees better communication as the key to a better world, Kimberley Rudd.

- Hi, Geoffrey.

- And a Kiwi who heard the siren song of Chicago comedy and moved here from halfway around the world.

You know him as a WFMT Radio host.

Hello Robbie Ellis!

- Hello, Geoffrey.

Good to be here.

- And a prolific TV producer who has Mr. T's cell phone number, but pity the fool, who asks her for it?

Hello, Michael Weber.

- Hi, how are you?

- You got to tell us the story.

How did you end up with Mr. T's cell phone number?

- I was at a Bulls game and Benny the Bull came up to me and asked me if I wanted to meet Mr. T. and he was lovely and just the sweetest gentleman.

Now trying to think of a TV show for some of my favorite celebrities.

So we came up with, "I Pity The Tool" that aired on the DIY network.

- Wait, wait, wait, wait, a second.

I... what's the name of that, again?

- I Pity The Tool.

- I Pity The Tool.

I'm Mr. T and I'm coming for your house.

- What is his role in home improvement?

Does he just bash?

- There's a lot of bashing but he's actually very handy.

He has a little bit of a background in construction, so he was able to demolish people's house, put them back together and just had a lot of fun.

- All right, the categories for round two are the second city, school spirit, and what could possibly go wrong?

One of those questions will be turned over to Dilla!

Alright Michael, pick one of those categories.

- What could possibly go wrong?

That seems appropriate.

- You have picked that Dilla question!

Dilla, what is Michael's question?

- In What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The question is: Roswell B. Mason was praised for his decisive actions as mayor during the Chicago Fire of 1871.

But years earlier he made a disastrous decision.

What was it?

A, he hired his cousin as city manager who stole $50,000 in city funds and vanished.

B, he built an unauthorized railroad crossing that resulted in a deadly train wreck.

C, he pardoned a convicted horse thief who then ran for mayor against Mason and won.

or D, he led a reckless charge as a union army captain in the Civil War.

- I'm gonna go with B.

- Why did you feel like you didn't wanna go with the other ones?

- I just feel like, an unauthorized railroad crossing is pretty high stakes, and so that would not be a good thing.

- Michael, you are, correct!

- Yay!

( Michael laughs) - In 1853 Roswell Mason was Chief Engineer for the Illinois Central railroad.

Railroad safety and regulation was still a new thing when Roswell constructed a set of tracks illegally across the tracks of another railroad.

As a result, a deadly crash occurred, causing 18 people to lose their lives.

The accident happened on what is now 75th & South Chicago.

The crash was such a big deal that the state legislature passed a law requiring that all trains to come to a complete stop before crossing that intersection.

Since trains now had to stop there, developer Paul Cornell bought the land to build a subdivision he named Grand Crossing.

The name stuck, and we now refer to the community area as Greater Grand Crossing.

- All right.

- Robbie Ellis, you heard about the comedy scene in Chicago, halfway around the world in Auckland, New Zealand, were that well known?

- Yeah, yes, Chicago's reputation for comedy is very well known, especially in improv circles.

I visited Chicago a couple of years before I moved and I thought, "Yeah, I can make a go of it here.

This works for me."

♪ I chatted with a lovely lady by the name of Lauren ♪ ♪ We met up in a north side bar ♪ ♪ She liked that I was foreign ♪ ♪ We got on well, some spark was there ♪ ♪ She seemed like a good sort ♪ ♪ It's at that point she asked me ♪ ♪ Robbie have you tried Malort?

♪ - So, you instantly become a Chicagoan when you take a shot of Malört, and you even speak with the Chicago accent.

♪ Then, holy crap, my accent's weird ♪ - It starts with my New Zealand accent, I take a shot of Malört and I go into Chicago.

♪ A shot o' Malört, hey!

♪ ♪ Puts Chicago inta you ♪ ♪ With da Bears and da Bulls and da Hawks ♪ ♪ And eider da Cubs or da Sox ♪ ♪ Daaa CPL, da CPS, da CTA ♪ ♪ A shot o' Malört will make everything okay ♪ ♪ Hey hey!

♪ - There you go.

Robbie, would you like second city or school spirit?

I'll go for second city.

And this has nothing to do with Second City, but it does have to do with the second city.

So here we go.

According to the 2020 census, the population of Chicago rose by 2% to 2,746,000.

And of course we retain our title as the most populous city in Illinois.

Which city is number two, the second most populous city in Illinois?

Is it A, Aurora.

B, Evanston.

C, Rockford.

Or, D, Springfield?

- I know it's one of the suburbs.

I know it's not somewhere down state.

And I think that the second most popular city in Illinois is Aurora.

- Rockford and Springfield maybe we consider them suburbs, but they aren't.

But Evanston is also a suburb, but you're gonna go with Aurora?

- I'm pretty confident that Aurora is bigger than Evanston, yeah.

- Well, you're right.

- AYYYY - Just so ya know Aurora's number two, right?

Their population about 180,000.

Rockford is number five in Illinois at about 148,000.

Springfield is way down at number seven, with 114,000.

And my town, Evanston, where I live, is number 14 in Illinois with only 78,000.

Robbie Ellis, brilliant job.

- Thank you.

- Time for Kimberley.

- Hello, Kimberley.

- Hello.

- It sounds like you do a lot of public relations for social good, right?

- Correct, our strategies are to bring forward the stories of people in Chicago, all people in Chicago, but in particular communities that are lived in by black and brown people to help highlight the inequities that have existed in the city, but are also to write those inequities.

- What do you do to help them?

What's your role in that?

- We do things like run their social media, build their website, produce videos, we write speeches and op-ed pieces, any form of communication for organizations that are important components of our city running and being more equitable.

So some of our clients include organizations like Elevated Chicago, which is working on building up communities with assets around transit.

- That's great.

Well, all right.

Thank you very much for all of that, but We need to move on with the final question.

There's only one category left and it is school spirit.

Are you ready?

- I am ready.

- All right, here we go.

The University of Illinois Chicago bulldozed parts of Little Italy to build their Circle Campus on the near west side in 1965.

But, before that, the school was located where?

A, the Sprawling Central manufacturing district complex along Pershing Road, in McKinley Park.

B, the fifth floor of City Hall.

C, Navy Pier.

Or, D, the Merchandise Mart.

- Okay, so I have been on the fifth floor of City Hall.

It was not there.

- So what is there on the fifth floor of City Hall?

- The fifth floor is filled with many offices with many important people who lead our city, including the mayor.

It could have been on 39th street where CPS was later located, but I'm gonna go with Navy Pier.

Please, let me be right because Robbie and Michael were right.

I'd hate to ruin the trend here.

- We got a perfect score, a streak.

You are correct.

- Yes.

- It was Navy Pier from 1946 to 1965.

They needed a big open space that was being used a lot for all the returning veterans on the GI Bill.

Then when it moved, mayor Richard J. Daley was in his urban renewal mode, and he was looking to basically bulldoze neighborhoods.

At that time, there was a lot of opposition in Little Italy but neighborhood versus Richard J. Daley, we know how that turned out.

You all three did so well that we are going to now give you a team question.

And I want you to discuss amongst yourselves and come up with one answer to that question.

Are you ready?

- Yeah, let's do it.

- Yes.

- Okay, here we go.

William Wrigley Jr. never intended to get into the chewing gum business.

He started out offering free packs of gum as an added incentive to boost his sales of what?

A, firearms.

B, shoes.

C, scouring soap.

or D, baking powder - Hmm.

- Wrigley shoes, they don't sound comfortable.

- Buy some Wrigley, scouring soap, or buy some Wrigley baking powder.

Yeah, does it, which works better in an old timey voice?

- I like soap, Wrigley soap.

- And Michael, because you get gum stuck on things and then you gotta scour it to get it off.

- Aha, yeah.

- Are you ready to give an answer?

- Yes.

- We're happy with scouring soap.

- You've done so well.

Every one of these questions you've answered right except this one.

It is baking powder.

I did throw scouring soap in there in case there were any people who did know the story because actually scouring soap is part of the story.

And here it is.

William Wrigley Jr. was a born salesman, but it took him three tries to find his niche.

He came to Chicago in 1891 to sell scouring soap and offered customers a free can of baking powder with every purchase.

When the baking powder proved more popular, he ditched the soap and gave away sticks of gum as an incentive.

You guessed it.

The gum was more popular.

But what really turned gum into gold was Wrigley's genius as a promoter.

He debuted Juicy Fruit at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893.

He plastered the country with billboards, posters and newspaper ads.

He mailed a free sample to every single address in America's phone books.

But there was one venture he claimed never made him a nickel, the Cubs.

He said he bought them for the love of the game.

But come on.

The team has had several owners since Wrigley, but whose name is on their ballpark to this very day?

And every week we bring back one contestant as our Geek of the Week.

So, Michael, congratulations, you are our Geek of the Week.

- I'm so excited, I've never been a geek.

- Trust me, it's great.

I been one all my life.

All right, are you ready?

- Ready.

- Gargantuan 1930s, Chicago Bear, Bronko Nagurski, supposedly; A, played without a helmet because his head was too big.

B, cracked the brick wall at Wrigley Field at the end of a long touchdown run.

C, loved knitting in his spare time.

Or, D, terrified would be tacklers with his signature threat, "Out my way or else..." - Wow, okay, so... - Have you ever heard of Bronko Nagurski?

- Never.

- Okay, that's a good start.

- It's a great start.

But apparently this was a large man.

- True.

- Based on his nickname.

- And I don't know what insurance was like in the 1930s.

So, I mean, I'm not sure that he would be allowed to play without a helmet.

So, I'm gonna go with B, the brick wall.

- And that does so but it's actually true.

- Oh, wow, thank you, yay.

- Or it's supposedly true.

The Bears played at Wrigley field from 1921 to 1970 And there isn't much room past the end zone.

It's just that brick wall at Wrigley Field.

And he ran head long into it.

Supposedly after he got back, uh, to the sidelines, he said to the coach, "That last guy hit me really hard."

(Michael laughs) - And that is it for this week.

Thanks to Mike Oquendo.

Thanks to Rachel Cole and Elliot.

Thank you Justin Kaufmann and Alderman Bus.

Kimberley Rudd, Robbie Ellis, Michael Weber.

All of you will receive a set of 100 great Chicago quiz cards, so you can host your own trivia night.

And thanks to you for playing along at home.

I'm Geoffrey Bear.

Study up, and we'll see you next time on The Great Chicago Quiz Show.