Second quiz jogs memories of past columns
Did You Know? Last week I offered a quiz based on my past “Did You Know” articles.
Here’s another quiz.
1. What world-renowned composer and orchestra leader played to a full house at the Penn Theatre in downtown Uniontown in October of 1920?
A) John Philip Sousa
B) Cab Calloway
C) Wolfgang Mozart
D) Arthur Fiedler
E) None of the Above
2. Thirty-one years later, in October of 1951, Uniontown Mayor Watson Sembower gave a famous “ape” the key to the city. Who was it?
A) Johnny Weismuller
B) Buster Crabbe
C) Roddy McDowell
D) King Kong
E) Faye Wray
3. Another major film star, who’d originally gained his fame as an Olympic champion, showed off his championship form in Uniontown in 1925?
A) Johnny Weismuller
B) Buster Crabbe
C) Roddy McDowell
D) King Kong
E) John Woodruff
4. What was Fayette County’s “biggest” contribution to winning WWII?
A) John Philip Sousa
B) U.S.S. George C. Marshall
C) U.S.S. Brownsville
D) The Fayette Bomber
E) U.S.S. Uniontown
5. This is exactly 47 years ago to the day when the father of a Nobel Peace Prize recipient visited Uniontown. What was his name?
A) David Duke, Sr.
B) Martin Luther King, Sr.
C) Medgar Evers, Sr.
D) Barack Obama, Sr.
E) Jackie Einstein
THE ANSWERS
1. John Philip Sousa. The following day, the Uniontown Morning Herald reported that it had been “an evening to be long remembered in the history of musical events in the city.”
Most notable about Sousa’s concert was that “The Star Spangled Banner” was played at the end (not at the beginning) of the night’s performance.
2. Roddy McDowell. The future star of four “Planet of the Apes” movies, and 14 episodes of the 1974 “Planet of the Apes” television series, came to Uniontown as part of an event known as “Movietime USA.”
McDowell and several lesser-known stars were given a parade and dinner at Uniontown’s White Swan Hotel.
3. Johnny Weismuller. He’d later star in 12 Tarzan and 16 Jungle Jim movies, but in 1925 Weismuller he joined Uniontown’s Olympian – Paul Wyatt – at the YMCA for an exhibition.
Weismuller and Wyatt were teammates and became friends while they were on the 1924 USA Olympic swimming team.
Wyatt won a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke, while Weismuller won three gold medals and a bronze medal that year.
Weismuller and Wyatt were teamed together again at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.
Wyatt won a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke, while Weismuller won two gold medals that year.
One of their teammates, Clarence “Buster” Crabbe, also won a bronze medal. He’d later gain his fame while starring in hundreds of movies and as television’s Captain Gallant.
4. The U.S.S. Uniontown. The Tacoma-class frigate named for Uniontown was first commissioned on Oct. 6, 1944, as a convoy escort.
It was taken on three trans-Atlantic missions before the German’s surrendered in May of 1945.
5. Martin Luther King, Sr.
On July 26th, 1963 Martin Luther King, Sr. spoke on the nation’s racial strife at Mount Rose Church in Uniontown on Grant Street.
He told the congregation at the church, “We have come a long, long way, but we have a long, long way to go.”
He also had some strong words regarding the name Uniontown, and its hiring practices.
“How can you say the name “Union,” when you haven’t one Negro teacher in the school system?” he asked.
Despite his fiery speech, the following day he appeared in a picture on the front page of the Morning Herald beside Uniontown Mayor Watson Sembower.
That was just one month before his son gave the famous “I Have a Dream Speech” on the Washington Mall.
Edward A. Owens can be reached by e-mail at freedoms@bellatlantic.net
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