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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for March 11

A cheating contestant exited a game show and Johnny Appleseed died on this day in pop culture history.

March 15, 2020

2–3 minutes

1957: Cheating Contestant Exits Game Show

In 2004, Ken Jennings won 74 consecutive games of the TV game show Jeopardy. During that time, ratings for the show grew and grew with audiences wondering just how long he could last. But back in 1956, Herbert Stempel’s long winning streak on Twenty-One had the opposite effect. Of course, when Jennings won, he actually knew the answers. That was not the case for Stempel.

After what was considered a boring, dismal failure during the show’s initial episode where neither contestant was able to answer the questions correctly, Dan Enright, the show’s producer, decided it was time to rig the show. From then on, the contestants were given the answers to the questions in advance and were coached like an actor would be.

At first, his appearances were ratings gold for NBC, but after a while, the ratings began to decline, and it was decided that Stempel had to go. That’s when Charles Van Doren walked in (a man who didn’t even own a TV set) competed against Stempel and won to Stempel’s surprise.

Like Stempel, Doren was coached and had his own 14-week winning streak on the show, His last appearance on the show was on this day in 1957 when he was “defeated” by Vivienne Nearing. But eventually, Stempel became a whistleblower admitting that he his appearance on the show had been rigged and on November 2, 1959, Doren, after hiding for about a month, publicly admitted that he too was part of a cheating scandal which changed how TV game shows have been produced ever since. (Image: Wikimedia)

1845: Johnny Appleseed Dies

John “Johnny Appleseed” Chapman was both a promoter of apples and the gospel. He introduced apple trees by planting nurseries of apples to those living in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. It is said that he would tell stories to children and spread the New Church gospel to adults in exchange for a floor to sleep on. He was a lover of Native Americans and stated that he “traveled more than 4,000 miles about this country, and I have never met with one single insolent Native American.” Chapman was born on September 26, 1774 and died on this day in 1845.