Here’s a review of this week’s questions:
- Who is the media mogul, born in Cincinnati, who started television networks CNN and TBS?
- What is the name of the baseball movie, filmed in Cincinnati, that presents the story of the notorious “Black Sox” scandal of 1919?
- What Cincinnati museum was opened by Tod Swormstedt in 2005?
And here are the answers:
- Ted Turner. Born in Cincinnati in 1938, Robert Edward “Ted” Turner is known around the world as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, sportsman and environmentalist. After his family relocated to Savannah, GA, Turner adopted the mannerisms of a Southern gentleman and eventually earned the nickname “Mouth of the South” because of his penchant for controversial statements. He attended Brown University but never graduated, receiving an honorary degree in 1989. Turner launched TBS in Atlanta in 1967 and CNN in 1980. In 1994, he introduced Turner Classic Movies, after a merger with New Line Cinemas. Ted Turner has been married and divorced three times, most notably to actress Jane Fonda, from 1991-2001.
- “Eight Men Out.” Director John Sayles filmed his baseball epic, “Eight Men Out” in locations throughout Cincinnati, Louisville, and Indianapolis. The film tells the story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox, a team that allegedly “threw” the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Filming started in 1987 and the movie was released in September of 1988. It starred John Cusack, Charlie Sheen and Michael Rooker, all actors with baseball-playing experience, as White Sox players. The on-field scenes were all shot at Indianapolis’ now-abandoned Bush Stadium, while Cincinnati’s Over-The-Rhine neighborhood was used for Chicago street scenes.
- American Sign Museum. As its website states, “The American Sign Museum is dedicated to the art and history of commercial signs and sign making.” Supported by the Ohio Arts Council, the museum is the brainchild of Cincinnati native Tod Swormstedt, whose family owns a magazine called “Sign of the Times,” dedicated to the sign industry since 1906. The museum is housed in the Essex Studios building and features four indoor areas comprised of three main sections: a history timeline of the sign industry, told through the evolution of three-dimensional letters; “Signs on Main Street,” which is a life-size sampling of vintage storefronts that serve as backdrops for displaying vintage signs and sign-related objects; and a sign gallery of free-standing and hanging/projecting signs arranged by historical era.