- Up next on Keystone Stories, it came from PA. (Light music) Welcome to Keystone Stories.

Pennsylvanians have created countless innovations and inventions across our history.

In fact, right here at Penn State, a group of educators met in 1952 to discuss how television could be used as a valuable educational resource.

This meeting led to a non-commercial educational programming service.

What we now know as public broadcasting, this is just one of the many ideas that has roots in Pennsylvania.

One of the earliest ideas that came from Pennsylvania happened before Pennsylvania was even well, Pennsylvania.

Independence.

The forming of these United States began with the first and second continental congresses in Philadelphia in the late 1700's.

And of course, one of the gentlemen who signed the Declaration of Independence was Benjamin Franklin.

- He also was an inventor.

He was one of the great inventors of the 18th century actually.

He strikes me as somebody who just never stopped thinking and wondering and asking questions.

Of course, we probably all know about his experiments with lightning, flying the kite with the key on it.

I like the idea that Ben Franklin created hand paddles for swimming.

I think that's pretty neat.

He thought it would enable him to swim faster in the water.

I am a big fan of the harmonica which is Ben Franklin's musical invention.

Ben Franklin was in Europe and he saw somebody making music by rubbing the tops of glasses that were filled with different levels of liquid.

And he thought this was such a beautiful sound that he came home and he decided to invent something that would allow an instrument like that to be played in the most efficient way possible.

And Mozart created music specifically for Ben Franklin's harmonica.

- Our next stop is the State Museum of Pennsylvania located in Harrisburg.

If this were an actual trip we would be taking the Pennsylvania turnpike which was the first limited access highway in the United States and is known as America's first super highway.

♪ Pennsylvania Turnpike ♪ - The Pennsylvania Turnpike was sort of a reaction to that ridge of mountains that goes across the state.

They used tunnels that had originally been bored for a railroad line and used them to make a highway that was much more efficient and much easier to drive because instead of struggling over the mountains, now you went through them.

- PA's mountains also inspired another invention, the Conestoga wagon.

The Conestoga is the 18 wheeler of its day.

It's the freight hauler because of the mountain range that runs through the middle of the state and the up and down that was required to traverse the roads, the wagon master would want a wagon where the load would remain centered.

And so you see along the bottom of the wagon that it is a bowed shape, meaning that all of the load will go back toward the center no matter whether the wagon is going uphill or going downhill.

Oil industry comes from the 1850s, 1859.

Edwin Drake bored the first successful oil well in Pennsylvania and it was the first in the country.

- We're standing in the middle of the icons exhibit which is a fantastic exhibit, a real good overview of Pennsylvania so a lot of Pennsylvania firsts and those stories that are linked intrinsically with Pennsylvania.

Things like coal and iron and steel but also things like the slinky and the cheese steak.

If you wanna come in, like, just find out a little bit up more about Pennsylvania and why it's so important and interesting and exciting.

Icons is the exhibit to visit here at the State Museum.

- The glass case is an example of innovation in a number of ways.

Not that necessarily things that were invented.

Food products, beef exists or or bread exists and cheese exists.

Put it all together in the right way though.

And you get a cheese steak.

And it's something that obviously particularly Philadelphia is known for.

- The cheese steak isn't the only culinary creation that came from Pennsylvania.

(upbeat music) Our next stop is Holidaysburg where they specialize in a different kind of traveling ♪ Who walks the stair without care ♪ ♪ And makes the happiest sound?

♪ - The Slinky was invented in Philadelphia by Richard James.

He was a engineer developing equipment for the Navy for pressing equipment to hold computer equipment still while they were firing the guns, he was inventing the spring and was sitting on his books.

He bumped the books and the spring actually took a tumble off of the books and it stepped into the next book.

And then the spring walked to the next book and it walked to the next book.

And then that's how the Slinky was invented.

- Richard and his wife Betty, knew they had something.

So they manufactured 500 to be sold at Gable's Store in Philadelphia.

- And they sold out in about 90 minutes, first 500 of 'em.

And that's how he took off.

Next up they, they started producing them and mass producing 'em for other customers.

They were selling 'em across the couple different stores and locations, and it just took off from there.

Sometime in the 50's, Betty took over the company and she moved it here to the Bellwood area and she opened up there and she moved it here in 1964.

And it's been here ever since.

Betty sold the company in 1998, Poof took over in 1999 and ran the company.

It's been sold a couple times within that.

And now we're owned by Just Play Products.

We have seven machines, five of 'em which we run your regular Slinkies on.

The other three we use for custom Slinkies.

The wire gets put on here.

There's 1,600 pounds on a spool which is 3,200 Slinkies per spool.

We get about 20,000 shipped.

- There are many toys produced at the plant in Holidaysburg but the Slinky is the heart of this company.

With an average annual production of more than 6 million Slinkies a year.

- It's a great feeling to have a company living in your hometown, which I grew up here that is worldwide known.

I mean, a lot of people don't know what a Slinky is.

And when they come here and they see her on TV, they come and they see it.

They're amazed that it's made right here in Holidaysburg, Pennsylvania.

- This next PA creation comes from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

- Hi, my name is Scott Folman and 40 years ago I invented this.

- In 1982, this computer science professor created what has become a vital part of modern day communications.

- In those days we had just had upper and lower case letters, numbers and a few punctuation marks.

I couldn't send you a picture or a video.

And you know, being nerds, we had silly discussions late at night.

So, you know people would say something meant to be sarcastic.

Somebody wouldn't get the joke and burst into flames.

And we needed a way, an efficient way of saying, I'm just kidding.

You know, don't take this seriously.

It's a crazy thing to be slightly famous for but it's fun to be a little bit famous for something.

So, you know, compared to the emoji, the original smiley face with just the punctuation is cool.

This is just pure essence of smiles.

So I think that's pretty universal.

I think that's a good thing.

- Our final stop is the Hines History Center, also in Pittsburgh.

- Here at the Hines History Center.

You're gonna learn all about Western Pennsylvania history over the last 20,000 years but we concentrate on the last 250 years.

- In 1940, the US War Department requested that a new vehicle be designed to replace the horse on the battlefield.

The company that was awarded the contract was the Bantam Car Company, located in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The vehicle was the Jeep.

- That little four wheel drive vehicle changed the battlefield and it changed the world.

Every SUV on the road today owes its heritage to that little Jeep.

We have on exhibit on loan from the Smithsonian Institution the oldest Jeep on planet Earth.

It's the prototype built in Butler, Pennsylvania in 1940.

As you walk through our innovation exhibit you'll find a replica of the Ferris Wheel.

It was invented by George Ferris, a Pittsburgh engineer in 1893 for the World's Fair in Chicago.

In 1905, John Harris invented the Nickelodeon the first purpose-built movie theater in the world.

It was in downtown Pittsburgh.

In 1920 KDKA came online, the first commercial radio station in the world.

- This concludes our broadcast day.

- Although the idea of kindness did not come from Pennsylvania, Fred Rogers, the man who embodies it, did - Here in Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

In the Special collections Gallery we have the actual props and sets from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

These are not things created by our curators.

These are the actual sets.

So in 1968, Fred and his team used paper mache and bailing wire, and there's some chewing gum on the back.

So these things, creating these sets which they figured would have to last for a year, maybe two, well, 35 years later they were still using those sets from the 1960s.

Pittsburgh is a city of neighborhoods.

There are 90 designated neighborhoods in Pittsburgh so it was all together natural for Fred Rogers who grew up here to talk about neighborhoods.

He felt like each neighborhood was a home base for a community and so he created his own safe home base in Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

♪ Please won't you be my neighbor?

♪ - Hi neighbor.

- The stories of neighborhoods and communities across our region have been featured on Our Town for more than 20 years.

These next two pieces come from that series and feature holidays that originated in the Commonwealth.

- Hi, I'm Jeff Fisher.

I'm here to talk about Memorial Day, a day in town.

A little bit about the Boalsburg Village Conservancy.

Why Memorial Day here in Boalsburg?

You know where Memorial Day was founded?

It was founded in Boalsburg.

Three ladies putting flowers on the grave.

In fact, there's a statue to them.

I can't go how far back but I think we did our 38th race this year so I know we've been doing it for over 37 years.

Four years ago, someone said, "Do you wanna help with Memorial Day?"

And I said, "Sure".

Next thing I knew, I'm in charge of Memorial Day and when I say I'm in charge I just make sure everything goes.

I've got great volunteers and a good notebook.

I was very fortunate to follow Margie Tennis' leadership.

She set the whole thing up.

She first did the vendors, and we've turned it into not only the the day in town but we've turned it into a Memorial Day weekend.

We start on our Thursday with our fire company.

Then we have the parade on Saturday.

The weekend ends on Monday when we have 270 vendors, we close the streets on Church and Main.

We have May Pole dance on Memorial Day.

The music's outstanding.

2018 Memorial Day, we estimate we had over 10,000 people.

And then the day ends with what is the most important thing about Memorial Day when we walk to the cemetery at 6 o'clock to honor all those veterans who have served and who are now serving.

They've been doing the walk in town for over a hundred years, and we actually started at the town diamond and walk to the cemetery.

We have the Quilt of Honor people who last year we gave two Quilts of Honor.

We're looking to take care of veterans and what's amazing to me about Memorial Day, for those who live in this town, the Tuesday after Memorial Day, you never knew that Memorial Day was here.

That's how the good the Boy Scouts do cleaning it up, making our town look like it's supposed to look.

Boalsburg Village Conservancy was founded to make sure the history stays in Boalsburg.

I think Memorial Day is important to Boalsburg because it brings people to our town.

There's been people that have never been here before.

There's people who have never seen the Bull Mansion, never seen the Christopher Columbus Chapel.

There's close to 150 veterans buried in the cemetery from World War II, from the War of 1812, the Revolutionary War.

It's important to bring people to Boalsburg so they can learn about our history.

We want people to come to Boalsburg and enjoy the town and just have fun and remember those people who served.

- My name is Mike Johnston.

I'm the Vice President of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and I'm here to tell you about the history of Groundhog Day.

The legend really comes from German settlers who settled this part of Pennsylvania in the mid 1800's.

And the legend states that if the sun shines on Candlemas Day, there'll be two winters in the year.

And the legend is, of course, that if Phil comes out of his borough and sees his shadow, he's frightened by it and he's driven back into his borough for six more weeks.

If he comes out and there is no shadow then he's prepared to come out at any time to enjoy the early spring.

The easiest way to describe the Inner Circle, we are the board of Directors of the Groundhog Club.

All right.

We have one job and that is to protect and perpetuate the legend of Punxsutawney Phil.

We're responsible for Phil and we are responsible for Groundhog Day.

He has a full regimen of people who take care of him.

- We're gonna take you in behind the scenes on feeding and caring for the groundhogs.

So follow us.

A lot of people ask us what Phil actually eats and their basic food is rabbit food made from alfalfa.

But we spice it up a little bit with, first of all, with some trail mix with dried fruit and nuts.

We add some celery.

We also add in some carrots and tonight they're gonna have granola bars.

And so there is Phil's dinner.

At this moment, Phil and Phyllis, I believe, are both resting comfortably.

Yes, they are, but we also have a viewing window which is right off the children's section of our library.

And that's a nice feature to have.

- We hope that you can come back on February 2nd and join us here in Punxsutawney on Groundhog Day.

But as you can see, for John and I every day is Groundhog Day.

- Groundhog Day obviously is a very unique holiday.

Not too many people have fun at three o'clock in the morning standing on frozen ground, listening to music, and a bunch of guys dancing around on top of a stump.

It's a little bizarre.

But you know, we think it's a lot of fun.

Anybody that lives in a small town will tell you that the best part of living in a small town is the people.

Punxsutawney is no different.

But I think the best thing about living here without question is the people.

- Now it's time to have some fun and test your knowledge of people that came from Pennsylvania.

This next segment includes questions from the Pennsylvania game.

This quiz show was produced by WPSX in the 80's and 90's.

- Here is our mystery Pennsylvanian clue number one.

There'll be three clues through the course of the show.

Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania in 1934 which was a real good year to be born in.

Her first appearance was at age four when she sang at a political rally for Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Clue number two oh for the mystery Pennsylvanian.

She didn't make her grade school Glee club because they said her voice was too loud.

I didn't make it for a little different reason, but they that voice would be heard from Lascala to the Met.

She sang with Sutherland Sills and Pavarotti.

Perhaps her most famous role was as Carmen obviously we're after a diva.

Does anybody know the answer, Ms. Collins?

- I've got Roberta Peters.

I don't know if that's right.

- Roberta Peters?

- I didn't put any answer yet.

- Okay.

- I'll go along with Roberta Peters 'cause she said so.

I don't claim it as an answer.

- From Bradford, Pennsylvania.

Born in 1934, a very, very famous singer Family nicknamed her Jackie when she was born in Bradford in 1934.

But the name of Marilyn Horn was to become famous in opera houses across Europe and in America.

Marilyn Horn made her debut at age four singing, Believe Me of All Those Endearing Young Charms at a political rally for FDR.

She didn't make her grade school Glee Club because they said she sang too loudly.

But the voice of Marilyn Horn was heard loud and clear at Lascala, Covent Garden and at the Met.

She won first place on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and dubbed the songs for Dorothy Dandridge in the movie Carmen Jones.

Perhaps her most famous opera role was as lead in Carmen, Marilyn Horn, a famous Pennsylvanian.

- Indeed she was a famous and the dubbing the songs in the movies is, there's so many voices that we hear.

Singers who don't get to be as famous as Marilyn Horn.

We just do some marvelous, marvelous work.

But opera singers are from Pennsylvania too.

We were talking about how many famous people.

- She's so wonderful.

You know, when when Leonard Bernstein recorded West Side Story for the first time on its 25th, he used her in that final song.

Even though she is not in the presentation she just has that big wonderful voice.

That song, There's a Time For Us.

- Oh yeah.

- Oh, the one where, where I sob.

- That's the one.

- Yes, that's the one.

- That's the one.

That's the one.

What a marvelous voice she had and how proud we are of all these famous people who are from Pennsylvania.

She was too loud to sing in her Glee Club.

My teacher suggested that I had a solo part once and she suggested I say my words rather than sing them.

Hope you enjoyed the Pennsylvania game.

We'll see you next time.

Thanks for playing.

Now we have a mystery Pennsylvanian for you and we're going to give you three clues throughout the course of the show.

And here is the first clue.

He started as an amateur magician and accordionist.

He made his acting debut in a Boy Scout play.

That's all I'm gonna tell you on the first clue.

He made a Broadway comeback of sorts in the 1970s.

It was a role he did in a 1950 movie in which he shared top billing with a large animal.

That's the second clue.

Clue number three, when he won an Oscar in 1940 it went on display in his dad's hardware store.

Now, I don't know what, how more obvious I can be than that.

Lynn Collins, your turn first, who is our mystery Pennsylvanian?

- I got him on the first one.

- Who'd you think it was?

- Jimmy Stewart.

- Jimmy Stewart.

Oh, Jimmy.

Jimmy Stewart or - James Stewart - or James Stewart.

Bernie?

- I drew a blank.

I'm still thinking of Margaret Max's Philadelphia lawyer who got her off.

- I see.

And let's see if Steve and Lynn are correct.

- Jimmy Stewart of Indiana, Pennsylvania took his place among Hollywood's greats when he won an Oscar in 1940 for the Philadelphia Story.

But he's appeared in many endearing films such as Harvey.

Jimmy Stewart's shy, awkward manner is far different from the typical leading man but few can equal his accomplishments in a variety of roles.

When Jimmy Stewart received the State's Distinguished Artist Award in 1980 he expressed his pride in being a Pennsylvanian.

- It's a great privilege for me to be back here.

The awards, of course, you know the Hollywood, I've been on a sort of an award kick since as long as I can remember.

But I don't know this award and this the everything that has to do with this award has a very great special significance to me and I'm very proud to be here to receive this.

And also it's a wonderful privilege and and a pleasure for me to be back in Pennsylvania.

- That makes Miss Collin the winner, I believe.

And let's hear from our panel.

See you next time.

(fun music) - Hi, I'm Gail O'Donnell.

I'm going to tell you today about Clearfield Cheese.

The Clearfield Cheese Company in Curwensville, Pennsylvania is primarily known for inventing the individually wrapped cheese slices.

The individually wrapped slices were invented by Arnold Nawrock in 1956.

- I started in 1974.

I worked a slice machine.

I worked in the packaging room.

I ran the cookers, I did the slice cookers, the five pound cookers and the ribbon cookers.

I ran the grinders for all three of those processes.

Because of that process of wrapping the slices, we became the second largest cheese name in the world only second to Kraft.

Since we were so large, a new facility was built on Cooper Road so we could handle more customers.

During that period we were owned by Hood.

They primarily had ice cream factories and they tried to run processed cheese the way they ran their ice cream.

And unfortunately, it didn't work.

The company eventually closed.

It was great to work at the cheese plant.

It was a nice place.

We were all friends.

Everybody get along good.

We all cried when it closed.

I love Curwensville Clearfield area.

It's just a a real homey area.

You know everybody, you can walk down the street and say hello to people that you've known all your life.

It's just a really nice, friendly little town.

My kids are here.

My grandchildren are here.

It's just where my family's at and I love it.

- Our final story features a famous female who you may not have known came from Pennsylvania.

- During World War II, Pennsylvania was the arsenal of democracy.

Factories and mills went seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

But most of the mill workers were in uniform.

Women took their places.

The Westinghouse Company hired Jay Howard Miller an artist to come up with a poster to spur wartime production.

He came up with a woman.

He didn't have a name for her but she was a Westinghouse woman war worker.

She was making a muscle with a balloon over her head saying, we can do it.

Well, that poster came out the same week that a popular song hit the radio ♪ All the day long, whether rain or shine ♪ ♪ She's a part of the assembly line ♪ ♪ She's making history working for victory ♪ ♪ Rosie the Riveter.

♪ Well, the people of America heard that song, saw that poster and said, that's Rosie the Riveter.

Miller didn't name her.

The people of America did.

It was serendipitous that the two converged.

Today, wherever you go around the world if you show someone that poster of Rosie the Riveter and ask, who is it?

They'll tell you, that's Rosie.

- Thanks for joining us.

See you next time on Keystone Stories.