The Pennsylvania Game
(Mis)spelling Pittsburgh, Olympic dreams & a World’s Fair debut
Season 7 Episode 2 | 28m 14sVideo has Closed Captions
Do you know how Pittsburgh got its H? Play the Pennsylvania Game.
Do you know how Pittsburgh got its H? 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 Promotional offers are no longer valid.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
(Mis)spelling Pittsburgh, Olympic dreams & a World’s Fair debut
Season 7 Episode 2 | 28m 14sVideo has Closed Captions
Do you know how Pittsburgh got its H? 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 Promotional offers are no longer valid.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 sponsorshipANNOUNCER: 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians chose this for themselves and their loved ones.
What is it?
And why is Pittsburgh the only city in Pennsylvania spelled with a final gh?
Find out as we all play The Pennsylvania Game.
[theme music] The Pennsylvania Game is made possible in part by Uni-Marts, Inc., with stores in Pennsylvania, New York, new Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.
Serving you with courtesy and convenience every day of the year.
Uni-Marts, more than a convenience store.
[theme music] Now let's get the game started.
Here's the woman who has all the answers-- although she doesn't have a clue-- the host of The Pennsylvania Game, Lynn Cullen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All the answers, indeed they're right here.
I've got the questions too.
Oh, no look at this panel.
I know these people.
This is going to be trouble.
They're cards, cutups, and comics.
Let's meet them.
Scott Bruce is a comedian and actor, a native of State College.
He is president of the Professional Comedians Association.
He does stand up at nightclubs around the country.
Does opening acts for major concerts and celebrities.
Please welcome Scott Bruce.
Hi, Scott.
Hi, kids.
[laughs] LYNN CULLEN: And next, yeah, Sally Kalson.
She is a staff writer at the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
She writes an award-winning weekly column of social satire and personal observation.
Her feature stories and profiles have won numerous awards.
I'm not even going to go into it all.
We wouldn't have time for the show.
Please welcome Sally Kalson.
[applause] Oh, boy.
This next one's trouble too.
Oh, boy.
Jerry Zolten, an assistant professor of speech communications and American studies at Penn State.
He's also a rhythm and blues performer and entrepreneur, a fanatic collector of phonograph records, and anything that can be stored or piled in drawers and closets.
Please welcome Jerry Zolten.
Hey.
My heavens, I'm exhausted already and all I've done is introduce you.
SCOTT BRUCE: But you did it so well, though.
I did it so well.
Well, let's see how well you do.
Here we go.
Question one.
ANNOUNCER: The late 1980s, 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians chose this for themselves and their loved ones.
Was it-- A, bottled water; B, Prudential Life Insurance; C, a living will; or D, cremation.
LYNN CULLEN: Oh, my, my, my.
In the late '80s, 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians chose this for themselves and for their loved ones-- bottled water, life insurance, living will, or cremation.
[laughs] Why am I laughing?
I don't know.
Scott Bruce, did you lock yourselves in there?
You're past the point of no return.
Scott, what'd you choose?
Well, because I myself have lost my own will to live, I went with the living will.
LYNN CULLEN: A living will.
Yes I believe that's what 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians would choose.
Well I'm glad you chose it.
Sally.
I chose bottled water because if they didn't, they should.
[laughs] OK. Oh, my.
Well, you want to say my name first?
LYNN CULLEN: Jerry.
Thank you.
I was tempted to go with D, the cremation because this is the dairy state.
But I-- LYNN CULLEN: Oh.
I'm sorry.
I went with the bottled water, though, because I agree with Sally.
LYNN CULLEN: OK.
So we have two bottled waters and a living will.
Oh, boy.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is D, cremation.
In 1989, 1 in 10 Pennsylvanians chose cremation over traditional burial for themselves or their loved ones.
In 1970, the rate was only 2%.
And according to the Cremation Society of Pennsylvania, which is based in Harrisburg, the rate of cremation in the commonwealth is expected to rise to 25% by the year 2000.
Pennsylvania currently ranks 12th in the nation for the number of cremations performed.
The top three states respectively are California, Florida, and New York.
An upbeat topic to get us going.
[laughs] Philadelphia county is the highest cremation rate in the state of Pennsylvania.
In case you wanted to know any more about cremation in Pennsylvania, hey here's another hot one for you.
[music playing] One of the most successful creations to debut at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago was something invented by a Pittsburgh bridge engineer.
What was his invention?
A, an automatic clothes washer; B, the Ferris wheel; C, the hot dog; or D, binoculars.
LYNN CULLEN: What do that bridge engineer from Pittsburgh invent that ended up at the Chicago World's Fair?
Clothes washer, a Ferris wheel, a hot dog, or binoculars.
I see you Sally Carlson.
You look smug to me.
I feel smug and I know I'll be sorry, but I think I know this one, and I do think it was the Ferris wheel.
LYNN CULLEN: The Ferris wheel.
Jerry Zolten saying I know.
I wanted to say the Ferris wheel because a bridge expert, it makes sense.
But I went with A, an automatic clothes washer because I remember driving across the Westinghouse bridge a lot and-- you know what I'm saying?
You with me?
Well, I'm trying to figure out.
Yeah, I think so, Jerry.
Aha.
I like Jerry's logic.
That was nice.
I like that.
I want to go Ferris wheel because it sounded like fun.
That all I have.
[laughs] I have no clue, no guess.
I'm going with the Ferris wheel.
LYNN CULLEN: The Ferris wheel, well, let's see if your guess proves to be a propitious one.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is B, the Ferris wheel.
The age of 33, Pittsburgh bridge engineer George Ferris used his skills to construct a big revolving wheel for people to ride on.
His gigantic amusement device was 26 stories high.
It was equipped with 36 cars, each of which could hold 60 people.
Today, most Ferris wheels are made by the Eli Bridge Company of Chicago.
Although the firm hasn't built a bridge in years, many of the same structural considerations, such as analyzing tension and compression also apply to building a Ferris wheel.
Gee, 36 cars with 60 people in each car.
Quick arithmetic-- 2,160 people on that Ferris wheel.
JERRY ZOLTEN: That's a heck of a ride.
SCOTT BRUCE: There were washing machines.
They had washing machines on the Ferris wheel.
Yeah, right, I bet they had laundromats.
They had anything you wanted.
Hot dogs, you could buy.
So, Scott-- Yes, Lynn.
LYNN CULLEN: --yes.
Gee, I have so many things I want to ask you, but I don't have time to ask you everything I want to ask you.
But you were just saying that, well, you open up for a lot of things.
You warmed up the audience for Saturday Night Live?
Yes, I did.
Oh, this was a while back.
I did warm up for Saturday Night Live.
And the guest host that day was--?
Ringo Starr.
Ooh, what's he like?
Um-- rich.
[laughter] Much richer than I am.
LYNN CULLEN: Yeah, rich.
He was a very delightful man.
He and his wife, Barbara Bach, were there.
And he was quite a nice guy.
He didn't try to sell me an Oldsmobile or anything.
It was great.
LYNN CULLEN: That's neat, wow.
Sally.
Sally, I mean, I said you've got all these honors and stuff.
But I happen to know that you're soon being honored in Toronto by the International Reading Association for a story you did called, "Can a book"-- "Can a book stop a bullet?"
LYNN CULLEN: Sounds like serious stuff.
Yeah, it's about an inner-city literacy program in Pittsburgh.
And the story was juxtaposing the children's stories with the stories of these children's lives.
LYNN CULLEN: The reality of those.
The reality of their lives.
Sounds good.
Well, congratulations for that.
SALLY KALSON: Thank you.
Jerry, I hear you found some phonograph record-- all this collecting you do.
And this phonograph record proved to be quite a find.
The world's only-known copy.
It was not a Barry Manilow piece.
[laughter] I found a record by Bumble Bee Slim-- LYNN CULLEN: Oh!
--who was an important blues singer from the '30s and has been dead since at least then.
But I've got the only known copy in the world.
And so you got it for a song.
Well, I don't want to talk about that part.
And then it's worth money.
So I got it locally.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, worth lots of money.
It's not so much that it's worth money.
It's just that-- LYNN CULLEN: It's just a treasure.
--it's his first recording, yes.
LYNN CULLEN: Bumble Bee Slim, ladies and gentlemen.
That's right.
Could be the makings of another Pennsylvania Game question.
But come to think of it, here is one.
ANNOUNCER: All Pennsylvania burgs-- Harrisburg, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg-- end in G. Why is Pittsburgh the only city spelled with a "gh?"
Is it because, A, Pittsburgh won special dispensation from the law requiring all US towns ending in "-burg" to drop the final H; B, of a typographical error on Pittsburgh's original charter; C, it was named after William Pitt, whose mother's maiden name was Burgher; or D, Pittsburgh was originally chartered as a borough, or "burgh."
LYNN CULLEN: Well, the audience found some of those possibilities amusing.
Did Pittsburgh win special dispensation?
Was it a typographical error?
A typographical error?
Was-- [laughs] I can't even repeat these.
Have you figured this out, guys?
Log in.
Je-- Sally, Jerry Zolten.
Well, so far I've had a pretty losing record, and I thought I'd try to maintain it through this answer, as well.
I'm going with C. [ding] I just feel that it had to be somebody's last name.
Oh, sure.
Had to be-- "Burgher."
I went with C, as well.
However, I was wondering about this A deal.
Was that, like, a special dispensation from the pope or something?
Is the pope going around allowing H's now?
I think that's pretty interesting.
LYNN CULLEN: No, I believe it was a special dispensation actually, in all seriousness, from the post office.
SCOTT BRUCE: Oh, the post office.
Yes.
SCOTT BRUCE: I'll go with the C. I believe.
Sally?
Well, I chose B, even though I am a native Pittsburgher-- actually because I'm a native Pittsburger, because I know, sort of, the level of government operations intimately.
And-- LYNN CULLEN: But, Sally-- --having gotten many, many typographical errors in the mail from my city.
LYNN CULLEN: Yeah, but, Sally!
What?
LYNN CULLEN: A typographical error on Pittsburgh's original charter?
How old is Pittsburgh?
Were their typewriters then?
Think about that.
Think about that.
And then let's look at the answer.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is A. Pittsburgh was first named in 1758 in honor of William Pitt, the first earl of Chatham, and was originally spelled with a final H. But in 1890, the US board of geographic names decreed that all cities and boroughs dropped the final H from their names.
The ruling outraged Pittsburghers, who immediately took legal action.
While the city and state never actually conformed to the ruling, because the charter granted by the legislature included the H, some newspapers and other publications did comply for a while.
Then, in 1911, after 11 years of protest, the US board reconsidered and granted Pittsburgh's special dispensation from the law.
Today, Pittsburgh is one of only a few US burgs spelled with a final "gh."
LYNN CULLEN: And that's the truth.
As shocking and strange as that may be, that's the truth.
And you can still see, like, some cornerstones on Pittsburgh buildings with just the G. And you can date them then.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, look at this.
I'm looking at the score.
Scott, you have 1.
Sally, you have 1.
That's O-N-E. W-O-N?
LYNN CULLEN: No, O-N-E. And, Jerry, well, forget about it.
We don't want to talk about it.
Win or lose.
LYNN CULLEN: Yeah.
[applause] Got a perfect score.
SCOTT BRUCE: That's right.
LYNN CULLEN: OK, listen up, guys.
Here's your first clue for the Mystery Pennsylvanian.
Guess it on this one, you get three points.
He was born in East Pittsburgh in 1937.
At the age of 23, he joined the Los Angeles police department and retired 14 years later.
[thoughtful tune] Well, don't look at me like that.
He was born in East Pittsburgh in '37.
At 23, he joined the LAPD, and he retired 14 years later from Los Angeles Police Department.
Sally's got that look on her face again.
But it always portends ill. LYNN CULLEN: It does.
OK, everybody's writing.
They might know this one.
Scribble, scribble, scribble.
And while you're scribbling-- while you're scribbling-- how's about taking a look at our next question?
ANNOUNCER: What social fraternity came to Pennsylvania in 1921 and quickly gained hundreds of thousands of members?
Was it, A, the Knights of Columbus, B, the Masons, C, the Elks, or D, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?
LYNN CULLEN: Gee, I don't think of them as a social fraternity, do you?
1921, it came to Pennsylvania and quickly gained hundreds of thousands of members.
So a very popular group it was.
Knights of Columbus, Masons, Elks, or the KKK?
OK, log in.
JERRY ZOLTEN: Oh, gosh.
And where are we going here?
Scott?
Well, I know that the KKK was a little bit earlier than that when it started, I believe anyway.
I know it started earlier than that.
I think it came to Pennsylvania earlier, unfortunately.
I'm going to go with the Elks because I know we've had those around for a long time.
There's an elk season, isn't there?
No?
Sally?
I picked the Masons, B, because I like their hats.
I like those hats, too.
I think they're pretty neat.
Jerry?
I went with the Klan because I find a lot of Klan stuff in my searches from about the '20s.
So I'm going with the Klan.
LYNN CULLEN: OK, and this is a guy who does rummage around a bit.
Comes across Klan stuff from the '20s.
Let's see.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is D, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
In the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan became very popular and mainstream in the commonwealth as it did throughout the Northern and Southern United States.
The Klan saw itself as a social fraternity of patriotic American Christians.
The ugly reality was that the Klan at the time was fundamentally opposed to foreign immigrants, Catholics, and restricted its membership to white Anglo-Saxon Protestants only.
Oh, gosh, I'm sitting here looking at this fact.
In 1925, there was a national KKK march in Washington, DC.
It took the Pennsylvania contingent one and a half hours to pass the reviewing stand.
It was the largest contingent marching down Pennsylvania Avenue.
That's part of our history we'd just as soon forget.
So let's move on.
ANNOUNCER: At the age of 42, Bob Rodale, of Rodale Press in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, was a member of the 1972 US Olympic Team.
Was he, A, a nutrition consultant, B, the public relations coordinator, C, an endurance trainer, or D, a competitor in the trap and skeet shooting event?
LYNN CULLEN: Gee, whiz.
I went to the Olympics.
I was a nutritionist.
[laughs] And a PR coordinator, endurance trainer, or a competitor in trap and skeet?
1972 US Olympics Team-- he was 42 years old at the time.
Sally, what'd you choose?
I picked public relations coordinator only because I know what he does for a living now, and it would seem to have prepared him for Rodale Press.
LYNN CULLEN: Oh, you know this guy?
Oh, no, we said he was-- [laughs] excuse me.
[snorts] Moving on, Jerry?
I thought he was involved in nutrition, although he might have been a competitor shooting fruits and vegetables at the Olympics.
But I went with A. LYNN CULLEN: You went with nutrition?
I did.
LYNN CULLEN: OK. You guys are surprising me.
Scott?
I think at 42 you can still shoot trap.
LYNN CULLEN: Yeah.
I went with shooting.
LYNN CULLEN: OK, got D. OK, nutrition, PR, and shooting trap and skeet.
I never understood trap and skeet, but let's-- [chuckles] let's get the answer.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is D. Bob Rodale was a member of the 1972 US Olympic Trap and Skeet Shooting Team.
In fact, Rodale, who was chairman of the board of Rodale Press, wrote a regular column for Outdoor Life Magazine about shooting trap and skeet.
But he and his father, the legendary JI Rodale, who founded Rodale Press, were best known as pioneers of proper eating habits to maintain good health.
Sadly, it was Bob's pursuit of health and fitness and his spirit of adventure that led him to his untimely death in 1990.
A trip to Russia to share his knowledge about organic farming ended in a fatal car accident.
He was only 60 years old.
OK, interested in the score, folks?
Are we being competitive?
SALLY KALSON: Not really.
Not really?
Well, you say that because you're losing.
It's a close game, a close game.
Scott, you've got 2.
And these other two have 1.
[applause] Second clue-- Mystery Pennsylvanian.
Throughout his years on the beat, he kept notes for future use as a writer.
OK, this is our Mystery Pennsylvanian.
Born in East Pittsburgh in 1937.
At the age of 23, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department and retired just 14 years later.
Throughout his years on the beat, though, he kept notes for future use as a writer.
[chuckles] OK. Can you handle another question?
Even if you say no, I'm going to give you another question.
So here's another question.
ANNOUNCER: Every year since 1981, folks have gathered in South Central Pennsylvania to take part in an unusual New Year's Day event.
Is it, A, a birthday party for people born on New Year's Day; B, the annual meeting of Hangovers Unlimited; C, the annual Polar Bear Plunge; or D, a psychics convention?
LYNN CULLEN: New Year's Day, what do these guys do?
'81.
[chuckles] Ah, mhm, mhm.
Polar bears, hangovers, where am I going here?
Jerry?
Jerry, what did you pick?
Well, I could do the psychic's joke, and they'd know when it was without advertising and all that.
But I went with C, the annual Polar Bear Plunge.
LYNN CULLEN: Polar Bear Plunge.
I figured the way this show has been going and all the fun we've had with cremation and Klu Klux Klan and all, I went with hangovers.
[laughter] LYNN CULLEN: OK. Sally?
I went with the Polar Bear Plunge because I am familiar with this event.
LYNN CULLEN: Oh, I thought you were going to say 'because I take part.'
Oh, no.
LYNN CULLEN: Oh, my, my, my.
Let's plunge in and get the answer.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is C, the annual Polar Bear Plunge.
On New Year's Day, some 300 thick-skinned Pennsylvanians gathered on the shores of the Willow Springs Park lake for the annual Polar Bear Plunge.
The event originated in Mount Gretna in 1981 and over the years has had swimmers hacking through ice to reach the frigid waters.
Most last only about 10 seconds in the icy lake.
But some hardcore polar bears have been known to enjoy a frosty 15-minute soak.
LYNN CULLEN: Oh, man, enjoy a 15-minute soak?
I think that makes them masochists, not polar bears.
Yow-wee.
OK, I think this game is pretty, pretty tight.
In fact, let's get another question and see if someone can pull away.
ANNOUNCER: In 1871, Al Reach, a second baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics Baseball Team, made his debut in the major leagues.
What was so significant about his career?
A, he was the first baseball player to play more than 10 seasons; B, he was baseball's first paid player; C, he was the first baseball player to wear protective headgear; or D, he had the highest career batting average of his time.
LYNN CULLEN: OK, reach into your gray matter and try to figure out which is true of Al Reach.
What was so significant about his career in baseball?
Scott?
I reached way down inside and guessed-- LYNN CULLEN: And guessed-- --because I don't have a clue.
LYNN CULLEN: --what?
So I went with headgear.
LYNN CULLEN: Headgear?
Sure, why not?
LYNN CULLEN: First player to wear protective headgear.
Yeah, he might have got hurt.
LYNN CULLEN: Why not?
I have no good answer for that.
Sally?
I picked the same one.
I picked C because I have no idea.
LYNN CULLEN: And if you have no idea, you go to protective headgear.
Well, I've had a lot of B's this time.
So I went on to C. LYNN CULLEN: OK, well, that's good.
Jerry?
I went along-- I think the same guy who did the Ferris wheel came up with the headgear.
So I went with C. LYNN CULLEN: You all did-- really?
C, C, C-- protective headgear.
Wow, it's a weird bunch, what can I say?
Let's get the right answer, OK?
ANNOUNCER: The answer is B.
He was baseball's first professional player.
In the mid 1800s, baseball was an exclusively amateur sport.
Players were not paid.
But that changed when Al Reach was offered $25 a week, $1,000 a year, to play for the Philadelphia Athletics, making him baseball's first professional player.
Reach stayed with the Athletics for five seasons.
In 1883, he became president and co-owner of the national league's Philadelphia Phillies, a position he held for 19 years.
He also founded the AJ Reach Sporting Goods Company, which, in 1889, was bought out by Spalding, the sporting goods giant.
Yeah, Al was no slouch.
His knack for getting paid continued throughout his long life.
He died a multi-millionaire in Atlantic City in 1928.
He was 87 years old.
SALLY KALSON: But was he cremated?
[laughter] All right, enough from you, Ms. Kalson.
Hey, here's another hardball question, but this one about politics.
ANNOUNCER: She was the first woman in Pennsylvania to be elected to a statewide office and the first woman in the state to win the nomination of a major party to run for the US senate.
Who was she?
A, Lynn Yeakel, B, Barbara Hafer, C, Genevieve Blatt, or D, Claire Booth Luce?
LYNN CULLEN: First woman in Pennsylvania to be elected to a statewide office, first woman in the state to win the nomination of a major party to run for US senate.
Who was she?
Lynn Yeakel, Barbara Hafer, Genevieve Blatt, or Claire Booth Luce?
I always want to say Luce Booth when I say-- I don't know why.
It's not nice of me.
SALLY KALSON: Can you read the question again?
She was the first woman in Pennsylvania to be elected to a statewide office and the first woman in the state to win the nomination of a major party for US senate.
Who was she?
Sally?
I want to know who she was.
Are you asking me?
LYNN CULLEN: I'm asking you specifically.
OK.
I'm only picking Genevieve Blatt because of process of elimination.
LYNN CULLEN: Uh-huh.
OK, understandable.
Mhm.
LYNN CULLEN: I can understand.
Why are you shaking your head all the time, Jerry?
I have no clue.
I have a very uneducated guess-- A, Lynn Yeakel.
LYNN CULLEN: Lynn Yeakel, OK. Mhm, it is uneducated.
[laughter] Scott?
Well, we're surrounding it because I'm in the same boat.
I went with Barbara, B. LYNN CULLEN: Oh, Barbara Hafer.
OK, well, that is slightly less uneducated than Jerry.
Let's get the right answer.
ANNOUNCER: The answer is C, Genevieve Blatt.
Blatt made history in 1954 when she was elected to the Office of Secretary of Internal Affairs, the first statewide office to be held by a woman.
She was also the first woman in Pennsylvania to secure the nomination of a major party to run for US senate.
In 1964, she entered a tight race against republican incumbent Hugh Scott and was narrowly defeated.
In 1972, she was appointed judge on Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg, where she served for 22 years.
She became well known for the landmark opinion she wrote in 1975 that ordered the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association to open all sports, including football and wrestling, to girls.
LYNN CULLEN: Last chance-- Mystery Pennsylvanian.
This best-selling author was also a network television consultant, credited with helping to make TV police stories more realistic.
They are scribbling away.
Born in East Pittsburgh.
23, he joined the LAPD, retired 14 years later, kept notes throughout his career on the police force so he could use it as a writer later, became a best-selling author, network consultant.
I think maybe they know this one.
Let's see what you wrote.
Well, I didn't start off real good on this one.
I went with Joe Friday-- the Los Angeles police thing.
But then I think I wised up, and I went to Joseph Wambaugh.
LYNN CULLEN: Joseph Wambaugh, Joseph Wambaugh, OK.
I misspelled it on the middle one.
Do you like that?
Yes, you did.
But you got it right on the third, finally.
Spelling doesn't count if we can tell what you meant.
Sally?
Well, I got Joseph Wambaugh all three times.
And I want to point out that he did get a special dispensation from the pope to keep the H on the end of his name.
[laughter] Oh!
I felt more and more certain as I went along, as you can see from the writing.
LYNN CULLEN: Oh, you went from a Wambaugh to a wombat.
Oh, yeah, well, there was a brief moment of it.
LYNN CULLEN: And then back to a Wambaugh.
Well, the "ugh" is in there.
You don't suppose, by any chance, our Mystery Pennsylvanian is Joseph Wambaugh, do you?
ANNOUNCER: Joseph Wambaugh was born in Pittsburgh in 1937, the only child of an East Pittsburgh policeman.
Like most great writers, he wrote about a subject that was familiar to him.
Critics say that no one writes more realistically about the psychological violence suffered by the cop on the urban beat than he did.
Wambaugh had intended to become an English teacher, but he joined the LA police department in 1960 instead.
He wrote his first two books at night after working his normal beat.
His third novel, The Onion Field, about the grisly execution of a policeman, was written during a six-month leave of absence.
After retiring from police work in 1974, Wambaugh wrote his biggest-selling novel, The Choirboys.
Wambaugh's books have had combined sales worldwide of more than 15 million copies-- Joseph Wambaugh, a famous Pennsylvanian.
Indeed, famous.
And our panelists did know him.
Sally, you knew a little more than the two gents on either side because you won by one point, and we congratulate you.
[applause] Way to go, Sal.
LYNN CULLEN: Yeah, this is the first time she played it.
You guys have played it before.
And, Sally, we're going to give you a Penn State Creamery gift pack, compliments of Penn State Creamery-- surprising, huh-- on the University Park Campus.
Thank you.
I knew you'd be a great panel, and you were, in fact, a great panel.
And you were a great audience, but I knew that.
You had it written all over you.
And you, well, most of all, you, thank you for joining us.
And do it again, will you, when we play The Pennsylvania Game.
[applause] ANNOUNCER: The Pennsylvania Game is made possible in part by Uni-Marts, Inc., with stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, serving you with courtesy and convenience every day of the year.
Uni-Marts-- more than a convenience store.
WOMAN: Meals and lodging for contestants of The Pennsylvania Game provided by The Nittany Lion Inn, located on Penn State's University Park Campus.
[music playing]
Support for PBS provided by:
The Pennsylvania Game is a local public television program presented by WPSU