The Pennsylvania Game
Theme songs, James Buchanan & rock and roll
Season 5 Episode 1 | 27m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Do you know this famous Johnstown DJ? Play the Pennsylvania Game.
Do you know this famous Johnstown DJ? Play the Pennsylvania Game. 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 Promotional offers are no longer valid.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
Theme songs, James Buchanan & rock and roll
Season 5 Episode 1 | 27m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Do you know this famous Johnstown DJ? Play the Pennsylvania Game. 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 Promotional offers are no longer valid.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- [Announcer] Philadelphia was carefully planned by William Penn.
Roosevelt Boulevard is 25 miles long, the longest street in Pennsylvania.
The longest straight street in our state is only half that long.
Do you know what is the longest straight street in Pennsylvania?
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.
(twinkling music) And by the Pennsylvania Public Television Network.
(moving rock music) Now let's get the game started.
Here's the host of "The Pennsylvania Game," Lynn Hines.
(audience and contestants applauding and cheering) - Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Welcome to "The Pennsylvania Game."
We've got some good questions, I think that will stump you, a few of you.
We've got a good audience.
Let me welcome some older citizens and some younger citizens.
Mrs. Jacovitz and Mrs. Lane's classes from the Bellwood-Antis School District, and along with a group from Susque-View in Lock Haven.
Let's welcome yourselves here.
(audience applauding) Nice audience.
Great panel too.
He's an author and he is a teacher, and he is a Pennsylvania Game player.
Let's welcome Bernie Asbell.
(audience cheering and applauding) Special guest today, the Publisher and Editor of "Pennsylvania Magazine" Mr. Al Holliday.
(audience cheering and applauding) And we have a broadcast journalist, another regular panelist on "The Pennsylvania Game," Lynn Cullen.
(audience cheering and applauding) She'll never be invited back.
She got more applause than I did.
There are long streets and there are straight streets, but which is the longest straight street?
That's the question.
- [Announcer] Philadelphia's Roosevelt Boulevard is 25 miles long, the longest street in Pennsylvania.
The longest straight street is only half that length.
What is the longest straight street in Pennsylvania?
Is it A, Broad Street in Philadelphia?
B, Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh.
C, Front Street in Harrisburg, or D, Twenty-Sixth Street in Erie?
- All right, just for a change, Bernie, let's start with you this time.
What's the longest straight street in Pennsylvania?
- I can't imagine a 12 and a half mile straight street in this hilly state.
- [Lynn Hines] It's almost 13 miles as a matter of fact.
- Almost 13, well, it can't be in Philadelphia.
It certainly isn't in Pittsburgh.
Erie is at the lake, it's flat, and Twenty-Sixth Street is the one.
So we go with Twenty-Sixth Street in Erie, D. - [Lynn Hines] D, you're going with Erie.
- [Bernie] Got it.
- [Lynn] I sort of thought you might, Al Holliday.
Do you know the answer to this one?
- We just did a major feature on Erie, and I've studied the map carefully, and it is flat, and it's the only place it could possibly be.
- [Lynn Hines] So you're going with Bernie.
Have they convinced you, Ms. Cullen?
- Oh, what do I look like, an idiot?
(all laughing) - [Lynn Hines] Stand on your own two feet, Ms. Cullen.
Stand on your own two feet.
They could both be bluffing as far as you know.
- You're trying to make me fall off the straight and narrow.
- I want you to make your own choice.
- I know it isn't Penn Avenue.
- [Lynn Hines] That's pretty long and pretty straight, though.
- Yeah, I take it to work every day in Pittsburgh.
And there's this one place where there's a statue of Abraham Lincoln, and it, (tweaks mouth) moves like that.
- [Lynn] Yeah, Wilkinsburg, right there in Wilkinsburg.
- That's right, so it's not Penn.
And I would think these two gentlemen have used some good deduction powers.
- [Lynn Hines] You're going along with them?
- Yeah, I think it's gotta be in Erie.
- [Lynn Hines] Put Your D up there.
I'm gonna tell you that.I'm sort of sorry you did that, 'cause I sort of hoped you'd make your own guess.
Is it in Erie, or not?
- [Announcer] The answer is A, Broad street in Philadelphia.
William Penn himself worked out the plan for Philadelphia with wide straight streets.
That is how Broad Street looked in 1850 as the colonial Athens of America was growing into a modern city.
Today stretching some 12 miles, Broad Street is the longest straight street in Pennsylvania.
- It's not an Erie, it's in Philadelphia.
And I tried to tell her to stand on her own.
- I'm changing my vote.
- Yeah, sure, you guys make up great answers, you really do.
Let's go to Pittsburgh for the next question.
This is a little bit before you got to Pittsburgh, Lynn Cullen, but a man named Leo Robin lived in Pittsburgh.
- [Announcer] Leo Robin was a native of Pittsburgh, who went to New York to show fellow Pittsburgher, George F. Kaufman his plays.
Kaufman advised him to write lyrics for songs, and he did.
Which of these well known theme songs did Leo Robin not write?
Was it A, "Love in Bloom" B, "Thanks For The Memories" C, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" or D, "The Tonight Show Theme."
- It's an amazing story, I think.
Leo Robin, George F. Kaufman had what.
40 plays on Broadway?
One of the most successful playwright of all times, lived in Squirrel Hill and went to New York.
And Leo Robin grew up and followed him, and he showed George F. Kaufman his plays, and Kaufman said, "Do you write songs?
Go do that."
Leo Robin actually wrote three of these great theme songs, only one he did not write, which is kind of amazing to me.
Which one Al Holliday did Leo Robin not write?
- I would say based on the contemporary Tonight Show Theme factor.
The others are historical.
We've seen them on movies over a number of years.
I would tend to think unless D has been adapted from a different tune, D has to be it.
It's the newest.
- [Lynn Hines] You're gonna stick with D, okay.
Ms. Cullen, "Love in Bloom" of course, is a theme song of whom?
- I never heard of it in my life.
- [Lynn Hines] Oh, you've heard it.
♪ Can it be the breeze that fills the trees ♪ ♪ With rare and raging perfume ♪ - [Lynn Hines] Someone named Jack Benny.
- [Al] Jack Benny, that's right.
- Oh.
- [Lynn Hines] And "Thanks for the Memories"- - Well I, yeah - Is of course- - Is Bob Hope.
- And "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" - Is a lie.
Is a lie, which is why it's not true.
Men get dogs, and women, girls, girls, women, girls get diamonds, which is phooey.
I'd rather have a dog.
So I'm doing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" 'cause I like 'em.
- [Bernie] It's a protest vote with this kid.
- All right, Bernie.
- From A, B and D are very sentimental, gorgeous songs, and this is sort of a (clicking tongue).
- [Lynn Hines] Isn't it amazing that Leo Robin wrote three of these, whatever three he wrote, it's an amazing thing.
Which is the right answer?
- [Announcer] The answer is D, "The Tonight Show Theme."
That was written by Paul Anka.
- Yeah, "The Tonight Show Theme" was written by Paul Anka, but Leo Robin wrote Jack Benny's theme, Bob Hope's theme, and Carol Channing's theme.
And that I think that's quite an achievement for him.
Wrote a lot of other stuff too, of course.
Let's chat a little bit with our panel.
Al Holliday, you founded "Pennsylvania Magazine."
We've given away so many Pennsylvania Magazines, thanks to you, that I thought would be nice for folks to meet you.
- Well, I'm glad to be here and have a chance to chat with your audience.
- How old is "Pennsylvania Magazine?"
- Young, we started it in 1981.
We're in our ninth year.
We have just published our 40th Edition.
We are now every other month, we hope to go monthly one of these days.
We have 40,000 circulation, 150,000 readers across the state.
Literate people know what "Pennsylvania Magazine" is.
- I can tell you I've read all but two issues and there are two back issues that are out of print.
I've not read those, but I've read all the others, and it is a fine magazine.
- Thank you.
- And we appreciate your letting us give away Pennsylvania Magazines to people who send in questions.
And we've given lots of 'em away- - We're glad to do it.
- Ad a couple more tonight to give away.
With you Ms Cullen, are things going, if you'll pardon my syntax.
- Well, yes that was rather strange.
- [Lynn Hines] (chuckling) Yes, it was.
- Things are going rather strangely for me.
- [Lynn Hines] Are they really?
(chuckling) - That's right, yes.
- [Lynn Hines] You're doing well on radio, still doing television?
- I love doing talk radio and that, yeah.
Babbel babble, babble, it's wonderful.
- We love to have you back for "The Pennsylvania Game" to give some competition to Bernie Asbell.
(Bernie and Lynn laughing) How is it, well, let's not talk about the score yet.
Let's do another question, all right?
Altoona is of course known as a railroad town, but Altoona is known for some other things too.
- [Announcer] Altoona is primarily known as a railroad town, but its enthusiasm for sports is also widely known.
In fact, Altoona was at one time the host town to a major league baseball team.
Was this team the A, Altoona Nationals, of the Old National League, 1876.
B, the Altoona Pride of the Union Association, 1884.
C, Altoona Engineers of the Players League, 1890.
Or D, the Allegheny Express of the Federal League, 1914.
- Now, I can't remember the answer, so I can't encourage you on any of them.
But I will tell you, these were all legitimate leagues back before the American and National League finally combined into two.
They were all legitimate Major League leagues.
- [Al] Major leagues.
- Yeah, yeah, at one time, I think so.
- Really?
- Well, they had a lot of baseball back in the 1800's and early 1900's, before they collapsed.
Yeah, the Federal League in 1914 I know was, and they've tried to since to form new leagues, like the World, wasn't their a World Baseball league or something?
But which was Altoona?
You of course, would know this, Ms. Cullen, of course.
(laughing) I don't know how.
Take a guess.
- When did Abner Doubleday invent the game for heaven's sake?
- [Lynn Hinds] 1782.
- [Lynn Cullen] No, it wasn't.
- [Lynn Hinds] No, I'm not sure when.
- [Lynn Cullen] No, but this seems strange.
- [Lynn Hinds] Well, Doubleday was a general in the Civil War, you see.
So he was quite old in 1860.
I mean, he was old enough to be a general anyway.
- Although some people say he didn't invent the game.
- Well, he invented the modern day game, I think, or at least.
- I'm just gonna, obviously, I'm going to have to guess.
I admit it.
So I'll go with the team that I think has the best name.
- [Lynn Hinds] That is what?
(audience laughs) - The Allegheny Express the Federal League.
That's a D. - [Lynn Hinds] Sure, and if it's a railroad town, the Allegheny Express would be, you know, Allegheny Mountains, sure.
Bernie, some logic there.
- Well, depending on how you define a major league, the National League was always the first of major leagues and was always a major league.
And therefore, I'll go with the Altoona Nationals.
- [Lynn Hinds] The Nationals of the National League.
- Which I even remember, I remember their World Series.
- [Lynn Hinds] From 1876.
- Sure.
- [Lynn Hinds] Al.
(audience laughs) - I'm not a great baseball historian.
I've never come across Altoona referenced in the National League, in the histories that I've seen.
These were company towns, and company teams.
And Railroad Engineers makes a lot of sense to me.
So number C has to be it.
- Similar logic to Ms. Cullen.
Yeah, Altoona was a swingin' town at one time, and had some good stuff going for it.
But what baseball team?
- [Announcer] The answer is B, the Altoona Pride.
(audience laughs and applauds) The Prides played in the Union Association from April 30th to May 31st, 1884, when they became the Kansas City Unions.
Their tenure may have set a record for the shortest lived major league baseball team ever.
- Well, so it was only a month.
It was a team, what the heck?
You see what logic does on this game.
They all use logic and they all got it wrong.
The score, a very mild applause for Al Holliday with one correct so far.
Al, high score.
(audience applauding) Three clues for our Mystery Pennsylvanian.
We'll give you the first clue now, two more clues later.
See if you can get it, and just write it line one there if you get it.
Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 1922, his radio career would take him to New York as king of the disc jockeys.
He was born in Johnstown in 1922.
His radio career would take him to New York as king of the disc jockeys.
Think about that panel, mull it over in your minds.
I hear some squeaking, which means that's writing going on.
Who panel, while you're mulling that was Pennsylvania's only President.
- [Lynn Cullen] Buchanan.
- Buchanan, she's learned things from "The Pennsylvania Game."
Well, James Buchanan, our only president, had a habit of giving things away as a momento.
The question is, what?
- [Announcer] James Buchanan, the only president from Pennsylvania, was proud of his state, and often gave people he admired a product made in Pennsylvania.
Did President Buchanan give people A, cigar, B, package of pretzels.
C, bottle of wine, or D, box of chocolate?
- Ruth Frank Hauser, we're glad to give her, courtesy of Al Holland here a year subscription to "Pennsylvania Magazine."
Ruth Frank Hauser of New Holland for sending this in.
Gave them a product that was a representative of the state, or made in the state.
But what did he give them?
Bernie, cigar, pretzels, wine, or chocolate?
- Remember when Reagan used to give out those jelly beans?
- [Lynn Hinds] Yeah.
- He emptied out Buchanan's- - [Lynn Hinds] No, no, no, no, no, not that one.
- What, emptied out Buchanan's pretzel jar, and he put the- - [Lynn Hinds] I see the jelly beans are in the pretzel jar.
- They are.
Al, what did the President Buchanan give out?
- Lancaster County and many counties in the state were big on cigar production, in that era, which we're dealing with 1850's.
Cigarettes were not available - Just before the Civil War.
- - At that time, pretzels weren't that popular as a retail item, I believe.
And of course, chocolate had not been invented to its present degree, so it obviously has to be A.
- [Lynn Hinds] Okay, he's going with a cigar.
Now, he was very authoritative before Ms. Cullen.
- Good heavens, you mean I'm supposed to buy the fact that he knows about the retail value of pretzels in 1876?
- [Lynn Hinds] You followed him one more time once before, and it was down the primroses path.
What are you gonna do this time?
- [Bernie] how do I cancel my subscription, Al?
- Why didn't you?
Well, I don't think, you know, they were into sort of, I think abstinence in Buchanan's time.
They wouldn't be doing wine and cigars.
- [Al] Abstinence, what do you give them?
- Abstinence makes- - Abstinence has nothing to do - The heart grow fonder.
- With either of them.
(all laughing) - I don't suppose they're making chocolates in Hershey at that point, were they?
- I don't know.
- Oh, nope.
- Not quite.
- If you wanna know the truth, I was just, I'm not copying Bernie.
I thought Pennsylvania pretzels.
It just sort of sounds good.
- Yeah, it does, but is it the right answer?
What was President Buchanan always handin' out to folks, anyway?
- [Announcer] The answer is A, a cigar.
The Demuth Tobacco Shop opened in Buchanan's hometown Lancaster in 1770.
And today, the momento filled store is the oldest tobacco shop in the nation.
In 1840, tobacco is raised in nearly every part of the state.
By 1920, Lancaster County produced 90% of the state's total.
Lancaster County's broadleaf tobacco is used exclusively for cigars.
Raising tobacco is labor intensive.
Suits the hardworking culture of the Amish and Mennonites who grow tobacco, even though their religion prohibits their using it.
- That's striking, in Lancaster County, there are those large farms raising tobacco and nobody's allowed to use it.
Or many of the farmers, because of their religion.
Okay, let's move on right away and say to Steve Riley of Altoona from WPSX, we'll get your subscription of "Pennsylvania Magazine" thanks to Al Holliday.
- [Announcer] York County, Pennsylvania is home to many popular tourists and recreational attractions, including the Gates House, the Indian Steps Museum, and the Hanover Shoe Farm.
Another popular spot for visitors is the Rodney C. Gott Museum, the only museum of its kind in the world.
Is the Gott Museum A, a motorcycle museum, B, a trumpet museum, C, a farm equipment museum, or D, a comic book museum?
- So the question is, what have they got at the Gott museum in York?
And York does have some beautiful things to visit, but what is in the Rodney C. Gott Museum?
Al Holliday.
- I'm tempted to say number one, motorcycles.
Although, I was struck by the fact that it's also the weightlifting producing capital of the world.
But I'm gonna stay with A, motorcycle museum.
I recall driving by that very establishment recently.
- [Lynn Hinds] Okay, Cullen, there you go again.
- Yeah, looking at the score, I seem to be here only for comic relief.
So I'm going with B, a comic book museum.
- I believe, if I'm not mistaken, there is a museum of each of these in the state of Pennsylvania.
Or there is a museum at least of each of these.
I think three at least are in Pennsylvania.
Bernie, go ahead.
It's not a silly answer, is what I'm saying.
- Should I be interesting or right?
- [Lynn Hinds] I don't care, be right if you want to.
- Well, I have to go with the comic book too, because that's the most interesting answer.
- We have two comic books and a motorcycle.
Nobody picked the trumpet, which is, I think, the most interesting one.
Can you imagine it?
Well, what's the answer?
- [Announcer] The answer is A, a motorcycle museum.
(audience applauding) It's official name is the Rodney C. Gott Harley-Davidson Museum, named after the former chairman of the board of AMF, Harley Davidson's, one-time parent company.
Among the prized motorcycles housed in the museum is the very first Harley-Davidson, made in 1903, and the WLA military model, which became famous in World War II.
- See what happens if you read "Pennsylvania Magazine."
Al Holliday's ahead by a score of three right.
Let's hear it for Al, he's doing all right.
(audience applauding) But Bernie and Lynn are just starting to warm up.
Clue number two to our Mystery Pennsylvanian.
In Cleveland, Ohio, his Moondog show introduced listeners to a new kind of music.
In Cleveland, Ohio, his Moondog show introduced listeners to a new kind of music.
First clue was born in Johnstown, 1922, Radio career, took him to New York as king of the DJs.
They're thinking over there, I can see the puzzled Look.
If you think of a question you'd like to suggest to us or just wanna write to us, our address is Pennsylvania Game, Wagner Annex, University Park, PA 16802.
Think panel, think.
There'll be one more clue, and that will give it to you.
Great musicians, this is a dynamite question.
- [Announcer] Four African-American musicians are among the best that America has seen.
Which of these four was not born in Western Pennsylvania?
Was it A, Lena Horne?
B, Errol Garner, C, Earl Fatha-Hines, or D, Billy Eckstine?
- Now Ms. Cullen, from Western Pennsylvania, this is your turn to start, and confuse the two gentlemen.
- Yeah, but I got a streak going here, Lynn.
I got goose egg, goose egg, goose egg, and I wanna keep it up.
I believe Errol Garner and Billy Eckstine, or Stine are from Pittsburgh.
Earl Hines, I'm not so, Lena Horne, no.
I'll go with A, Lena Horne.
- Okay, we're going with Lena Horne, the only female in that group.
- I believe Lena Horne is Southern.
- [Lynn Hinds] Do ya'?
- Mm hmm.
- [Lynn Hinds] How much do you wanna bet on that?
No, nevermind, go ahead Al.
- Okay, Errol Garner played at my high school when I was in high school at at Northwestern in Detroit.
- [Lynn Hinds] Is that right?
- And I believe he is the one born, not in Pennsylvania.
- Errol Garner was not born in Pennsylvania, okay.
So they say that, okay, two of 'em picked Lena Horne, and two picked Erroll Garner.
Which one did you pick, was not from Western Pennsylvania?
The other three are.
- [Announcer] The answer is A, Lena Horne.
(audience applauding) Although she was married in Pittsburgh, and gave birth to her first two children there, Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn.
Errol Garner, who never learned to read music, was born in Pittsburgh, as was Billy Eckstine, who sang with a band of Earl Fatha Hines, who was born in Duquesne.
- Yeah, dynamite, yeah Lena Horne was born in Brooklyn, but she lived in Pittsburgh long enough to have her two children there.
She lived on Webb Avenue, Webster Avenue.
There was a real story behind all that, which I don't have time to tell you.
I will go south of Pittsburgh now, down toward Uniontown in Washington to a monument that's there.
- [Announcer] These modern day pioneers celebrated the early settlers who drove wagons pulled by horses or mules across the First National Road from Cumberland, Maryland through Pennsylvania to new land in Ohio and beyond.
Even with this reenactment, it's hard to imagine the hardships they faced.
But there is a monument that commemorates these sturdy people along Route 40, just east of Scenery Hill.
Is the monument called A, O Pioneers, B, covered Wagon Days, C, Homesteaders, or D, Madonna of the Trail?
- Well, it's a right large monument, Bernie, but what's it called is the question.
O Pioneers, Covered Wagon Days, Homesteaders, or Madonna of the Trail.
Right there along Route 40.
- Right there, along Route 40.
If I named it, I would call it Madonna of the Trail.
- Would you?
- It has such a nice rhythm to it.
- Al Holliday, what would you name it?
- There are about, I think 13 of these along that trail.
It's Madonna of the Trail.
- Okay, we've got two authoritative answers, Ms. Cullen.
- Yeah well before she became a material girl, my understanding is- (all laughing) She did go through in a Conestoga wagon.
- Her parents were from Pittsburgh before they moved to Detroit where she was born, I believe.
What's that monument called?
It's on the right, if you're going west out Route 40, what is it called, okay?
- [Announcer] The answer is D, Madonna of the Trail.
(audience applauding) The National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected 12 of these monuments to the pioneer mothers of covered wagon days.
This is the only one in Pennsylvania.
The statue is 10 feet high, weighs five tons, and rests on a base that is six feet high, with a 12 ton base.
It stands proudly along Route 40, our country's first national road.
- Yeah, they talk about the brave forefathers who were the pioneers.
The mothers had, I think, probably a harder life than the fathers.
Let's go up toward the other end of the state in Luzerne County for the next question.
Here it is.
- [Announcer] His father started doing it as a hobby, but Edgar Patience perfected it as an art.
This native of Luzerne County has been called America's Most Unusual Sculptor.
Is Edgar Patience unusual because his medium is, A, coal, B, hair, C, pine cones, or D, limestone?
- Well, what is his medium each more unusual than the next, I guess.
Al Holliday it's your turn to start.
- It's got to be A, because that's where he was.
Limestone was south, and hair and pine cones aren't really receptive to that.
- Okay.
(laughing) Ms. Cullen.
- Hey, he's something- - Great logic.
- Isn't he, yeah.
- Great logic, yeah.
- Yeah, I gotta agree with it.
Coal seems to be the most sensible answer for Mr. Patience to have- - [Al] And it can't be the right one.
- Fiddled with.
- Here, I kind of like, go ahead, Bernie.
From the Broadway Show.
- I don't have any reason to say coal except instinct, and I was gonna say it before Al said it.
- Instinct, I see - That's right.
- They all say that Edgar Patience's medium is coal.
He's got some unusual stuff, I'll tell you that.
- [Announcer] The answer is A, coal.
(audience applauding) Harry Patience began carving anthracite coal as a coal miner's hobby.
But his son, Edgar Patience, has won an international reputation for his coal art.
Queens and First Ladies have worn his jewelry.
Perhaps his most noted work is the 4,000 pound altar in the Chapel of King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
- It is remarkable, and it is beautiful.
Let's Mystery Pennsylvanian, we gotta get the right answer.
He coined the term for America's most popular music of the 50's and 60's.
He was convicted of payola and died penniless in 1965.
It's hard to pull a name out, but you're all gonna kick yourself when you hear this.
Born in Johnstown, 1922, King of the DJs, Moondog Show in Cleveland, new kind of music.
And he coined the term for America's most popular music, of the 50's, 60's.
Cullen.
- I don't have the slightest idea, and the only one I can even think of, and I think I spelled it wrong, is Al Freed, I don't.
- [Lynn Hinds] Okay, Al Holliday.
- I'll have to agree with her, it's her answer.
- My answer is wrong, I said Wolfman Jack.
And it's the- - Boogie with the Wolfman.
This man coined the term rock and roll.
- [Bernie] It was Al.
- [Announcer] Alan Freed was the man who first called the new music, rock and roll.
Born in Johnstown in 1922, Alan Freed played classical music on a radio station in New Castle.
Then moved to Akron, Ohio as a sports announcer.
He became a disc jockey in Cleveland where he hosted the Moondog Show playing rhythm and blues music, then called Race Records.
Alan Freed called it, rock and roll.
His success took him to New York as king of the DJs.
But the payola scandal ruined his career.
And he died in 1965, a broken man.
Alan Freed, a famous Pennsylvanian.
- Alan Freed started playing classical music in Sharon Pennsylvania, believe it or not.
Went over to Akron, Ohio, which is my hometown.
And was a sports announcer.
And you don't think of Alan Freed, who was Mr. Rock and Roll as all this.
And one day a disc jockey didn't show up, and he said, could I fill in?
And they said, yeah.
And a station in Cleveland heard him, and hired him.
And he bought what was called then race records because the white population did not listen to black music.
And he started playing it.
And all the kids went bananas.
And he went to New York and said, "Hey, this is called rock and roll."
And you know, he got into trouble.
He really, I think, was the scapegoat for the payola of the 1960's.
And it's a real tragedy that he did die penniless in 1965.
But Al Freed of Johnstown, Pennsylvania is indeed a famous Pennsylvanian.
I'm proud of you, Ms. Cullen, for coming up with that name.
- Well, thank you.
I sort of came from behind.
I didn't completely embarrass myself.
- Yeah, it's a real close story.
Al Holliday, still the winner with five right, but you all were right there behind him with three right each.
- [Lynn Cullen] But he copied my last answer.
- [Lynn Cullen] Yes, he did.
- Yes, I did, I copied the last one, I did it.
I told her.
- So we'll take one off and he still wins, four to three instead of five.
Where did you get the name Alan Freed?
Is it Just in the back recesses of your mind.
- You know, he is the only disc jockey whose name I could remember from way back when.
But I thought for sure he was a born and bred New Yorker.
I mean, I think of New York when I think of Alan Freed.
- Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
- Huh.
- We forget that Al Holliday.
- That's right.
- And you print this out in "Pennsylvania Magazine" over and over again, though, some of the most famous folks around came from Pennsylvania.
- You can start listing from now until- - Don't start.
- Its' a while, but time.
- We got him for future shows.
- We'll do it later.
- [Lynn Hinds] But indeed that is right.
- That's right, and especially entertainers.
Politicians, no, entertainers, yes.
- Yeah, isn't that why?
- [Bernie] You know Al brought a secret weapon tonight.
- Did he really?
- [Bernie] Knowledge.
- Knowledge.
(all laughing) Said it once before, that you add a strange dimension of the show, information.
Al Holliday, thank you for being here.
Continued success with "Pennsylvania Magazine."
See you next time when we all gather right back here to play once again, "The Pennsylvania Game."
See you then.
(audience applauding) (mellow music) - [Announcer] "The Pennsylvania Game" has been 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.
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