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98-485: Born into a Welsh family in Scranton, Pennsylvania , United States, Morgan was encouraged to express himself musically from the age of seven. His father, a coal mine foreman, was a former musician who played drums in a local band in his spare time. Morgan's mother had been a pianist in a vaudeville act. Morgan began to study piano and worked in the mines to earn money to help support his family and pay for his lessons. At

196-672: A federal court building for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania . The city is conventionally divided into nine districts: North Scranton, Southside, Westside, Eastside/Hill Section, Central City, Minooka, West Mountain, East Mountain, and Green Ridge, though these areas do not have legal status. The city is the geographic and cultural center of the Lackawanna River valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as

294-458: A steam railroad that entered Scranton in 1863. During this short period of time, the city rapidly transformed from a small, agrarian-based village of people with New England roots to a multicultural, industrial-based city. From 1860 to 1900, the city's population increased more than tenfold. Most new immigrants, such as the Irish, Italians, and south Germans and Polish, were Catholic, a contrast to

392-552: A cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine. After graduation, he formed Rudy Vallée and the Connecticut Yankees, having named himself after saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft . With this band (formed in 1928), which included two violins, two saxophones, a piano, a banjo, and drums, he began singing as a member of a trio and as a soloist. He had a thin, wavering tenor voice and seemed more at home singing sweet ballads than jazz songs. But his singing, saxophone playing, and

490-403: A gathering of old friends... Rudy is grimly serious about rehearsal. He sometimes has his band spend a quarter-hour going over one short passage that doesn't satisfy him. On those occasions his temper wears thin..." In a heated dispute with producer George White on the set of the 1934 film George White's Scandals , White struck Vallée in the jaw. Dorothy Brooks wrote in 1936, "Other stars on

588-714: A man who disliked Vallée's music, said, "Rudy Vallee is reaping the harvest of a seed that is seldom sown this day and age: LOVE. The good-looking little son-of-a-gun really and honestly LOVES his audience and his art. He LOVES to please listeners—LOVES it more than he does his name in the big lights, his mug in the papers. He loved all those unseen women as passionately as a voice can love, long before they began to purr and to caress him with two-cent stamps." Vallée made his first commercial recordings in 1928 for Columbia 's low-priced labels Harmony , Velvet Tone , and Diva . He signed with RCA Victor in February 1929 and remained with

686-602: A megaphone, a device he had used when leading the Yale football band. A caricature of him singing this way was depicted in the Betty Boop cartoon Poor Cinderella (1934). Another caricature is in Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee , which parodies him, Bing Crosby, and Russ Columbo . In the words of a magazine writer in 1929, At the microphone he is truly a romantic figure. Faultlessly attired in evening dress, he pours softly into

784-408: A memoir titled My Vagabond Lover . NBC announcer George Ansbro wrote in his memoirs that Vallée "had quite a temper and a very foul mouth... almost always the butt of his nastiness was the orchestra... his outbursts were mean-spirited, and he didn't care who overheard". However, Alton Cook wrote, "Vallée may be fuming at his orchestra, but a Vallée hour rehearsal never quite loses its air of being

882-524: A port on the lake, the company could receive iron ore shipped from the Mesabi Range in Minnesota , which was being newly mined. Scranton forged ahead as the capital of the anthracite coal industry. Attracting the thousands of workers needed to mine coal, the city developed new neighborhoods dominated by Italian and Eastern European immigrants, who brought their foods, cultures and religions. Many of

980-547: A program built around guest entertainers." While at Brunswick, Morgan met Rudy Vallee , who was impressed with his ability. Vallee insisted he form an orchestra of his own. He then invited Morgan to appear as a guest on his popular Fleishman Yeast radio show. Vallee was instrumental in getting Morgan his first engagement in New York City, along with his own orchestra, at the Biltmore Hotel . This first engagement

1078-557: A renewed interest in the city's buildings and history. Some historic properties have been renovated and marketed as tourist attractions. The Steamtown National Historic Site captures the area's once-prominent position in the railroad industry. The former DL&W train station was restored as the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel . The Electric City Trolley Museum was created next to the DL&;W yards that

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1176-625: A single. Morgan had another TV program on CBS in 1956 with Helen O'Connell as the featured singer. In 1958, Morgan's nineteen-piece band had been reduced to eleven men, with his sons Jack Morgan on trombone and David Morgan on guitar. In 1965, he was booked for an eight-week engagement at the Top o' the Strip at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. The engagement lasted until 1977. In 1969, Morgan died at

1274-503: A straight line in Northeastern Pennsylvania's urban core act culturally and logistically as one continuous city, so while Scranton is a mid-sized city, the larger Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area contains half a million residents in roughly 300 square miles (780 km ). Scranton is the cultural and economic center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a region of the state with over 1.3 million residents. Scranton hosts

1372-580: A teenager. The popularity of the saxophone and an unexpected reply from his idol Rudy Wiedoeft prompted Vallée to perfect his technique. He paid Columbia Records to make four "personal records", which he used for audition purposes with a number of bands. From 1924 to 1925, he played with the Savoy Havana Band at the Savoy Hotel in London, where band members discouraged his attempts to become

1470-536: A television production company formed in the early days of national TV broadcasts. The company was incorporated on April 3, 1948. Vallée made 16mm film shorts for television, including These Foolish Things and Under a Campus Moon , in which he appeared himself. Ed Wynn , Pinky Lee , Buddy Lester and Cyril Smith also appeared in Vallee-Video productions. Comedy sequences in the productions featured dubbed-in laughter . In 1949, Vallee-Video produced one of

1568-549: A vocal quartet that was starting out and would become famous as the Ames Brothers . The Decca recording of "Dogface Soldier", released to coincide with the film version of To Hell and Back , based on the best-selling novel by Audie Murphy , sold over 300,000 copies. In 1950, Russ Morgan hosted In the Morgan Manner on ABC television. In 1953, Russ Morgan And His Orchester released " The Tennessee Wig-Walk " as

1666-676: A vocalist. He returned to the United States, briefly attending the University of Maine . While at the University of Maine, he initiated into Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity on December 5, 1921. He transferred to Yale University in 1924, from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 1927. As a Yale student he led the football band and was the lead saxophonist in the Yale Collegians with Peter Arno , who became

1764-644: Is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania , United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census , Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Wyoming Valley metropolitan area, which has a population of 562,037 as of 2020. It is the sixth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. The contiguous network of five cities and more than 40 boroughs all built in

1862-492: Is at or below 0 °F (−18 °C). Precipitation is generally slightly greater during late spring and summer, while winter is generally the driest. On average, each month sees 10 to 13 days of precipitation, and the mean annual total is 38.72 inches (983 mm). Snowfall is variable, with some winters bringing light snow and others bringing numerous snowstorms. For the 1991–2020 period, snowfall has averaged 45.1 inches (115 cm) per year, with January accounting for most of

1960-478: Is located 56 miles (90 km) north of Allentown , 104 miles (167 km) north-northwest of Philadelphia , and 99 miles (159 km) west-northwest of New York City . In 1778, during the colonial era , Isaac Tripp, the area's first known white settler, built his home here; it still stands in North Scranton, formerly a separate town known as Providence. More settlers from Connecticut Colony came to

2058-721: Is possessed of a violent, vicious, and ungovernable temper, and given to the use of blasphemy and the use of intemperate, vile, and vituperative language, particularly when applied to [her]". She accused him of committing adultery with three women, including actress Alice Faye . Vallée denied the allegations and charged infidelity on her part. The judge found him "not guilty of any misconduct or maltreatment of Webb which detrimentally affected her health, physical or medical condition." He married Jane Greer on December 2, 1943 in Hollywood, but they separated after three months and divorced on July 27, 1944. His fourth and final wife Eleanor wrote

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2156-567: The Great Railroad Strike , attracted workers from the steel industry and mining as well, and developed as the Scranton General Strike . Four rioters were killed during unrest during the strike, after the mayor mustered a militia. With violence suppressed by militia and federal troops, workers finally returned to their jobs, not able to gain any economic relief. William Walker Scranton , from the prominent family,

2254-723: The Knights of Labor as mayor of Scranton. After that, he became national leader of the KoL, a predominately Catholic organization that had a peak membership of 700,000 circa 1880. While the Catholic Church had prohibited membership in secret organizations since the mid-18th century, by the late 1880s with the influence of Archbishop James Gibbons of Baltimore, Maryland , it supported the Knights of Labor as representing workingmen and union organizing. The landmark Coal strike of 1902

2352-1148: The Montage Mountain ski resort , the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins , AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins ; the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders , AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees , PNC Field , and the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain concert venue. On September 22, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant , which produces 155mm artillery shells that Ukraine's military uses. Scranton's total area of 25.4 square miles (66 km ) includes 25.2 square miles (65 km ) of land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km ) of water, according to

2450-530: The New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W). As the vast rail network spread above ground, an even larger network of railways served the rapidly expanding system of coal veins underground. Miners, who in the early years were typically Welsh and Irish, were hired as cheaply as possible by the coal barons. The workers endured low pay, long hours and unsafe working conditions. Children as young as eight or nine worked 14-hour days separating slate from coal in

2548-591: The Reader's Digest article in November 1964. Vallée maintained an estate at Kezar Lake . Vallée died of cancer at his Los Angeles estate known as Silvertip on July 3, 1986 while watching the televised centennial ceremonies of the restored Statue of Liberty . His wife Eleanor said that his last words were: "I wish we could be there; you know how I love a party." Vallée was married four times. During his divorce from his first wife Fay Webb, she alleged that "Vallée

2646-521: The Scranton General Strike of 1877. This was in part due to the larger Great Railroad Strike , in which railroad workers began to organize and participate in walkouts after wage cuts in Martinsburg, West Virginia . The national economy had lagged since the Panic of 1873, and workers in many industries struggled with low wages and intermittent work. In Scranton, mineworkers followed the railroad men off

2744-693: The US Navy in Portland, Maine to fight in World War I , but authorities discovered he was only 15 and had given the false birth date of July 28, 1899. He was discharged at the Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island on May 17, 1917, after 41 days of active service. After playing drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in bands around New England as

2842-833: The United Mine Workers . The sub-surface mining weakened whole neighborhoods, however, damaging homes, schools, and businesses when the land collapsed. In 1913 the state passed the Davis Act to establish the Bureau of Surface Support in Scranton. Because of the difficulty in dealing with the coal companies, citizens organized the Scranton Surface Protection Association, chartered by the Court of Common Pleas on November 24, 1913 "to protect

2940-826: The United States Census Bureau . Scranton is drained by the Lackawanna River . Center City is about 750 feet (229 m) above sea level, although the hilly city's inhabited portions range about from 650 to 1,400 feet (200 to 430 m). The city is flanked by mountains to the east and west whose elevations range from 1,900 to 2,100 feet (580 to 640 m). Scranton has a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfa ), with four distinct seasons. Summers have occasional heat waves bringing temperatures well above 90 °F (32 °C), while winters can have cold snaps bringing temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C). The monthly daily average temperature in January,

3038-436: The breakers . Often, the workers were forced to use company-provided housing and purchase food and other goods from stores owned by the coal companies. With hundreds of thousands of immigrants arriving in the industrial cities, mine owners did not have to search for labor and workers struggled to keep their positions. Later miners came from Italy and eastern Europe, which people fled because of poverty and lack of jobs. Business

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3136-519: The 40-piece band to great success. In 1944, he was placed on the inactive list and returned to radio. According to George P. Oslin , Vallée on July 28, 1933, was the recipient of the first singing telegram . A fan telegraphed birthday greetings, and Oslin had the operator sing " Happy Birthday to You ". In 1929, Vallée began hosting The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour , a popular radio show with guests such as Fay Wray and Richard Cromwell in dramatic skits. Vallée continued hosting radio shows such as

3234-635: The Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles; Claremont Hotel , Berkeley, California; Edgewater Beach Hotel , Chicago; Aragon and Trianon, Chicago; Strand, Chicago; the Statler Hotel , New York; Orpheum , Los Angeles; and the Palladium in Hollywood. In 1949, Morgan had four songs on the charts. They were "So Tired", " Cruising Down the River ", "Sunflower" and " Forever and Ever ". On the latter he used

3332-698: The Erie Railroad in Great Bend, Pennsylvania . Thus they could transport manufactured rails from the Lackawanna Valley to New York and the Midwest. They also invested in coal mining operations in the city to fuel their steel operations, and to market it to businesses. In 1856, they expanded the railroad eastward as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), in order to tap into

3430-773: The Four") , and in Belgium as Tevieren Te Parijs. Vallée performed on Broadway as J.B. Biggley in the 1961 musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and reprised the role in the 1967 film version . He appeared in the 1960s Batman television series as the villain Lord Marmaduke Ffogg and in 1971 as a vindictive surgeon in the Night Gallery episode "Marmalade Wine". From 1948 to 1952, Vallée owned Vallee-Video,

3528-695: The Freddy Martin Orchestra in 1934 as a pianist but worked chiefly as a trombonist and arranger with the band. While with Martin's orchestra, he was music director at Brunswick in New York, where he met Shirley Gray, whom he married in 1939. He hosted The Russ Morgan Show on the Mutual Broadcasting System beginning in September 1949. Originating from San Francisco, the show featured Morgan "as master of ceremonies of

3626-492: The Goldkette Orchestra were former associates. The band included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Chauncey Morehouse , Joe Venuti , Eddie Lang , Bix Beiderbecke , and Fuzzy Farrar. Morgan's first records were made for OKeh in mid 1930 for Parlophone and Odeon , usually under the name "Russell Brown and his Orchestra". During the early 1930s, Morgan joined the group of anonymous studio groups recording pop tunes for

3724-600: The Hill and Green Ridge sections of the city. The industrial workers, who tended to be later immigrants from Ireland and southern and eastern Europe, were predominately Catholic. With a flood of immigrants in the market, they suffered poor working conditions and wages. In 1902, the dwindling local iron ore supply, labor issues, and an aging plant cost the city the industry on which it was founded. The Lackawanna Steel Company and many of its workers were moved to Lackawanna, New York , developed on Lake Erie just south of Buffalo . With

3822-598: The Laurel Line ceased passenger service. The Scranton Transit Company, whose trolleys had given the city its nickname, transferred all operations to buses as the 1954 holiday season approached; by the end of 1971, it ceased all operations. The city was left without any public transportation system for almost a year until the Lackawanna County government formed COLTS , which began operations in late 1972 with 1950s-era GM busses from New Jersey. Scranton had been

3920-654: The New York City metropolitan market. This railroad, with its hub in Scranton, was Scranton's largest employer for almost one hundred years. The Pennsylvania Coal Company built a gravity railroad in the 1850s through the city for the purpose of transporting coal. The gravity railroad was replaced by a steam railroad built in 1886 by the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad (later absorbed by the Erie Railroad). The Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal Company, which had its own gravity railroad from Carbondale to Honesdale , built

4018-711: The Royal Gelatin Hour, Vallee Varieties, and The Rudy Vallee Show through the 1930s and 1940s. When Vallée took his contractual vacations from his national radio show in 1937, he insisted his sponsor hire Louis Armstrong as his substitute. This was the first instance of an African-American hosting a national radio program. Vallée wrote the introduction for Armstrong's 1936 book Swing That Music . In 1929, Vallée made his first feature film, The Vagabond Lover , for RKO Radio . His first films were made to cash in on his singing popularity. While his initial performances were rather wooden, his acting greatly improved in

Russ Morgan - Misplaced Pages Continue

4116-613: The Steamtown NHS occupies. Since the mid-1980s the Scranton Cultural Center has operated the architecturally significant Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral, designed by Raymond Hood , as the region's performing arts center. The Houdini Museum was opened in Scranton in 1990 by nationally known magician Dorothy Dietrich . According to The Guardian , the city was close to bankruptcy in July 2012, with

4214-496: The age of 14, Morgan earned money as a pianist in a theater in Scranton. He purchased a trombone and learned to play it. In 1921, he played trombone with the Scranton Sirens, which became popular in Pennsylvania during the 1920s. Besides Morgan, several of its members became famous, including Jimmy Dorsey on saxophone and clarinet, Billy Lustig on violin, and Tommy Dorsey on trombone, taking Morgan's place when Morgan left

4312-616: The age of 65 in Las Vegas. Morgan's son Jack took over the leadership of the band. Morgan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to recording. Russ Morgan's work has been sampled frequently in The Caretaker's works such as Everywhere at the End of Time and An Empty Bliss Beyond This World . The most sampled piece from Russ Morgan is "Goodnight My Beautiful". Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton

4410-403: The air have their troubles, their disagreements, and yet you don't read about their ending in black eyes. Only Rudy Vallee seems to figure in endings of this kind." In an interview with Brooks, Vallée claimed he found fighting "savage and stupid" and "the wrong way to try to solve problems, because it never solves them." When asked why he fought, he replied, "I just lost my temper. I'll admit I have

4508-581: The area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries following the end of the American Revolutionary War , since their state claimed the area as part of their colonial charter. They gradually established mills and other small businesses in a village that became known as Slocum Hollow. People in the village during this time carried the traits and accent of their New England settlers, which were somewhat different from most of Pennsylvania. Some area settlers from Connecticut participated in what

4606-436: The authorizing process. Scranton was designated by the state legislature as the county seat of the newly formed county, which was also established as a separate judicial district, with state judges moving over from Luzerne County after courts were organized in October 1878. This was the last county in the state to be organized. Creation of the new county, which enabled both more local control and political patronage, helped begin

4704-531: The band. In 1922, Morgan moved to New York. Three years later, at the age of twenty-one, he wrote arrangements for John Philip Sousa and Victor Herbert . He then joined Paul Specht 's orchestra and toured throughout Europe with the orchestra. Colleagues of Morgan in Specht's orchestra included Arthur Schutt , Don Lindley, Chauncey Morehouse , Orville Knapp , Paul Whiteman , Charlie Spivak , and Artie Shaw . After returning from Europe, Jean Goldkette invited Morgan to Detroit to lead his band. Some members of

4802-419: The city population had swelled beyond 140,000 due to growth in the mining and silk textile industries. World War II created a great demand for energy, which led to the highest production from mining in the area since World War I. After World War II , coal lost favor to oil and natural gas as a heating fuel, largely because the latter types were more convenient to use. While some U.S. cities prospered in

4900-409: The city was 83.1% White , 5.9% African American , 0.1% Native American , 4.7% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 4.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race make up 14.8% of the population. Rudy Vallee Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée , was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He

4998-422: The city. Rev. David Spencer, a local Baptist minister, later proclaimed Scranton as the "Electric City". The city's industrial production and population peaked during the 1930s and 1940s, caused by demand for coal and textiles, especially during World War II . But while the national economy boomed after the war, demand for the region's coal declined as other forms of energy became more popular, which also harmed

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5096-421: The coal companies to continue their operations. "The case of Penman v. Jones came out differently. The Lackawanna Iron & Coal Co. had leased coal lands to the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Co., an allied interest, which passed the leases on to the Scranton Coal Co. Areas of central Scranton, the Hill Section, South Side, Pine Brook, Green Ridge and Hyde Park were affected by their mining activities. Mr. Penman

5194-403: The coldest month, is 28.0 °F (−2.2 °C), while the same figure in July, the warmest month, is 73.7 °F (23.2 °C). Extremes in temperatures have ranged from 101 °F (38 °C) down to −21 °F (−29 °C) on January 21, 1994; there is an average of 15 days of 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs, 39 days where the high fails to rise above freezing, and 3 days where the minimum

5292-475: The comic strip Hawkshaw the Detective . However, Byrd died in August 1952, bringing the Dick Tracy production to a halt, and spelling the end for Vallee-Video. Vallée was a Republican who strongly supported Richard Nixon 's 1968 presidential campaign , saying: "Every chance I get I sound off for Nixon. I'm advocating that Reader's Digest reprint 'Cuba, Castro and JFK,' a very brilliant article. I also send in checks from time to time." Nixon had written

5390-412: The company merged with Regal, Cameo, Banner, and the U.S. branch of Pathé (makers of Pathé and Perfect ) to become the American Record Corporation . By 1938, the Scranton company was also pressing records for Brunswick , Melotone , and Vocalion . In 1946, the company was acquired by Capitol Records , which continued to produce phonograph records through the end of the vinyl era. By the mid-1930s,

5488-456: The company through 1931, leaving after a heated dispute with executives over song selections. He then recorded for the short-lived Hit of the Week label which sold rather poor quality records laminated onto a cardboard base. In August 1932, he signed with Columbia and remained with the label through 1933. Vallée returned to RCA Victor in June 1933; his records were initially issued on Victor's low-priced Bluebird label until November 1933, when he

5586-438: The construction of loft-style apartments in older, architecturally significant buildings have attracted young professionals and artists. Many are individuals who grew up in Scranton, moved to big cities after high school and college, and decided to return to the area. Many buildings around the city that were once empty are currently being restored. Some of the newly renovated buildings are already being used. Attractions include

5684-574: The days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio; the microphones, in this case, promoted direct access to "a vulnerable and sensuous interior," or in other words, "a conjured intimacy". Vallée was one of the first celebrity radio vocalists. Flappers pursued him wherever he went. His live appearances were usually sold out. Contrary to popular belief, he did not have screaming girls at his appearances. However, his voice still failed to project in venues without microphones and amplification, so he often sang through

5782-460: The dime store labels, which included Banner , Melotone , Oriole , Perfect , Romeo , Conqueror , and Vocalion . For a short time in 1934, Morgan arranged for Fletcher Henderson 's Orchestra. In 1935, he played trombone with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band when they recorded four sides for Vocalion. On September 12, 1935, Morgan, playing piano and Joe Venuti on violin recorded two sides for Brunswick : "Red Velvet" and "Black Satin". Most of

5880-451: The early 1930s, Morgan was in an automobile accident that almost ended his career. After several months in the hospital, he started again in New York City as an arranger for the George White Scandals, the Cotton Club Revue, and the Capitol Theatre . When not arranging for the Broadway shows, Morgan worked as a pianist or trombonist with orchestras led by Phil Spitalny , Eddie Gilligan, Ted Fio Rito , and Freddy Martin . Russ Morgan joined

5978-418: The first cartoon shows on television, Tele-Comics . Vallee-Video's breakthrough in 1952 would have been a 15-minute television show based on the Dick Tracy comic strip starring Vallée's friend Ralph Byrd , who played the character in four successful Dick Tracy theatrical serials from 1937 to 1941. Vallée sold the show as a pilot to NBC . Vallée and Byrd also worked on a proposed radio show based on

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6076-436: The former grounds of the Lackawanna Steel Company, and operations started in 1903. Beginning in 1907, Scrantonians could also ride trolley cars to the northern suburbs of Clarks Summit and Dalton . They could travel to Lake Winola and Montrose using the Northern Electric Railroad. After the 1920s, no new trolley lines were built, but bus operations were started and expanded to meet service needs. In 1934, Scranton Railways

6174-449: The hub of its operations until the Erie Lackawanna merger, after which it no longer served in this capacity. This was another severe blow to the local labor market. The NYO&W Railroad, which depended heavily on its Scranton branch for freight traffic, was abandoned in 1957. Mine subsidence was a spreading problem in the city as pillar supports in abandoned mines began to fail; cave-ins sometimes consumed entire blocks of homes. The area

6272-440: The immigrants joined the Democratic Party. Their national churches and neighborhoods were part of the history of the city. Several Catholic and Orthodox churches were founded and built during this period. A substantial Jewish community was also established, with most members coming from the Russian Empire and eastern Europe. Working conditions for miners were improved by the efforts of labor leaders such as John Mitchell , who led

6370-423: The innovative arrangements he wrote for his band attracted attention from a rapidly increasing number of listeners, especially from young women. In 1928 he started performing on the radio, first at New York station WABC, leading his Yale Collegians Orchestra, and then on WEAF and the NBC Red Network beginning in February 1929. He became one of the first crooners . Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in

6468-538: The job, as did others. A protest of 5,000 strikers ended in violence, with a total of four men killed, and 20 to 50 injured, including the mayor. He had established a militia, but called for help from the governor and state militia. Governor John Hartranft eventually brought in federal troops to quell the strike. The workers gained nothing in wages, but began to organize more purposefully into labor unions that could wield more power. The nation's first successful, continuously operating electrified streetcar (trolley) system

6566-405: The largest of the former anthracite coal mining communities in a contiguous quilt-work that also includes Wilkes-Barre , Nanticoke , Pittston , and Carbondale . Scranton was incorporated on February 14, 1856, as a borough in Luzerne County and as a city on April 23, 1866. It became a major industrial city and a center of mining and railroads; it attracted thousands of new immigrants. It

6664-466: The last mine operations in Lackawanna County (which were in what is now McDade Park , and another on the Scranton/ Dickson City line) were closed. During the 1960s and 1970s, the silk and other textile industries shrank as jobs were moved to the South or overseas. In 1962, businessman Alex Grass opened his first "Thrif D Discount Center" drugstore on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton. The 17-by-75-foot (5 by 23 m) store, an immediate success,

6762-406: The late 1930s and 1940s, and by the time he began working with Preston Sturges in the 1940s, he had become a successful comedic supporting player. He appeared opposite Claudette Colbert in Sturges's classic 1942 screwball comedy The Palm Beach Story . Other films in which he appeared include I Remember Mama , Unfaithfully Yours and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer . In 1955, Vallée

6860-404: The latter 1930s. His last hit record was a reissue of " As Time Goes By ", popularized in the 1942 film Casablanca . Due to the 1942-44 AFM recording ban , RCA Victor reissued the version he had recorded in 1931. During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard to help direct the 11th district Coast Guard band as a chief petty officer . He was promoted to lieutenant and led

6958-462: The lives and property of the citizens of the City of Scranton and the streets of said city from injury, loss and damage caused by mining and mine caves." In 1915 and 1917, the city and Commonwealth sought injunctions to prevent coal companies from undermining city streets but lost their cases. North Main Avenue and Boulevard Avenue, "both entitled to surface support, caved in as a result" of court decisions that went against civil authorities and allowed

7056-615: The majority-Protestant early settlers of colonial descent. National, ethnic, religious and class differences were wrapped into political affiliations, with many new immigrants joining the Democratic Party , and, for a time in the late 1870s, the Greenbacker-Labor Party . In 1856, the borough of Scranton was officially incorporated. It was incorporated as a city of 35,000 in 1866 in Luzerne County, when

7154-584: The post-war boom, the fortunes and population of Scranton (and the rest of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties) began to diminish. Coal production and rail traffic declined rapidly throughout the 1950s, causing a loss of jobs. In 1954, Worthington Scranton and his wife, Marion Margery Scranton , contributed one million dollars to establish the Scranton Foundation (now the Scranton Area Community Foundation ), which

7252-399: The radio's delicate ear a stream of mellifluous melody. He appears to be coaxing, pleading and at the same time adoring the invisible one to whom his song is attuned. Vallée had his share of detractors as well as fans when his popularity was at its height. Radio Revue, a radio fan magazine , held a contest in which people wrote letters explaining his success. The winning letter, written by

7350-586: The rail industry. Foreseeing the decline, city leaders formulated the Scranton Plan in 1945 to diversify the local economy beyond coal, but the city's economy continued to decline. The Knox Mine disaster of 1959 essentially ended coal mining in the region. Scranton's population dropped by over 67,000, from its peak of 143,433 in the 1930 census , to 76,089 in the 2010 census , but had rebounded slightly by 2020. The city now has large health care, academic, tourism, railroad, and manufacturing sectors. Scranton

7448-483: The seasonal total; on average, the first and last dates of measurable (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) snowfall are November 14 and March 31, respectively, with snow in October and April a rare occurrence. The hardiness zone is mostly 6b with 7a from downtown downriver and 6a up on Montage Mountain . [1] As of the 2020 census , there were 76,328 people and 31,039 households residing in the city. The racial makeup of

7546-678: The significance of these negotiations, the statue and the Courthouse were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. John Mitchell is buried in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton." At the 1900 United States census , the population of Scranton was about 102,026, making it the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and 38th-largest U.S. city at the time. At the turn of the 20th century, wealthy businessmen and industrialists built impressive Victorian mansions in

7644-467: The songs were written by Morgan and Venuti. Morgan's biggest success came when he was offered the position of musical director for Detroit radio station WXYZ . His show, Music in the Morgan Manner , became one of the most popular radio shows. At one time during his radio run, he was directing nine commercial programs. While in Detroit, he did arranging for the Detroit 102 piece Symphony Orchestra . In

7742-653: The south, the industries that precipitated the city's early rapid growth were iron and steel . In the 1840s, brothers Selden T. and George W. Scranton , who had worked at Oxford Furnace in Oxford, New Jersey, founded what became Lackawanna Iron & Coal, later developing as the Lackawanna Steel Company . It initially started producing iron nails, but that venture failed due to low-quality iron. The Erie Railroad 's construction in New York State

7840-411: The surrounding boroughs of Hyde Park (now part of the city's West Side) and Providence (now part of North Scranton) were merged with Scranton. Twelve years later in 1878, the state passed a law enabling creation of new counties where a county's population surpassed 150,000, as did Luzerne's. The law appeared to enable the creation of Lackawanna County , and there was considerable political agitation around

7938-403: The wages of all municipal officials, including the mayor and fire chief, being cut to $ 7.25/hour. Financial consultant Gary Lewis, who lived in Scranton, was quoted as estimating that "on 5 July the city had just $ 5,000 cash in hand." Since the revitalization began, many coffee shops, restaurants, and bars have opened in the downtown. The low cost of living , pedestrian-friendly downtown, and

8036-511: Was back on the standard Victor label. He remained with RCA Victor until signing with ARC in 1936. ARC issued his records on the Perfect , Melotone , Conqueror and Romeo labels until 1937, when he again returned to RCA Victor. With his group the Connecticut Yankees, Vallée's best-known recordings include " The Stein Song " (a.k.a. University of Maine school song) in 1929 and "Vieni, Vieni" in

8134-481: Was booming at the end of the 19th century. The tonnage of coal mined increased virtually every year, as did the steel manufactured by the Lackawanna Steel Company. At one point the company had the largest steel plant in the United States, and it was still the second largest producer at the turn of the 20th century. By 1900, the city had a population of more than 100,000. In the late 1890s, Scranton

8232-556: Was called by anthracite miners across the region and led by the United Mine Workers under John Mitchell . The strike was settled by a compromise brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt . A statue of John Mitchell was installed in his honor on the grounds of the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton, "the site of the Coal Strike of 1902 negotiations in which President Roosevelt participated. Because of

8330-515: Was delayed by its having to acquire iron rails as imports from England. The Scrantons' firm decided to switch its focus to producing T-rails for the Erie; the company soon became a major producer of rails for the rapidly expanding railroads. In 1851, the Scrantons built the Lackawanna and Western Railroad (L&W) northward, with recent Irish immigrants supplying most of the labor, to meet

8428-541: Was established in the city in 1886, inspiring the nickname "The Electric City". In 1896, the city's various streetcar companies were consolidated into the Scranton Railway Company , which ran trolleys until 1954. By 1890, three other railroads had built lines to tap into the rich supply of coal in and around the city, including the Erie Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and finally

8526-645: Was featured in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes , co-starring Jane Russell , Alan Young , and Jeanne Crain . The production was filmed on location in Paris. The film was based on the Anita Loos novel that was a sequel to her acclaimed Gentlemen Prefer Blondes . Gentlemen Marry Brunettes was popular throughout Europe at the time and was released in France as A Paris Pour les Quatre ("Paris for

8624-632: Was home to a series of early International League baseball teams. Scranton has had a notable labor history; various coal worker unions struggled throughout the coal-mining era to improve working conditions, raise wages, and guarantee fair treatment for workers. The Panic of 1873 and other economic difficulties caused a national recession and loss of business. As the economy contracted, the railroad companies reduced wages of workers in most classes (while sometimes reserving raises for their top management). A major strike of railroad workers in August 1877, part of

8722-534: Was indicative of the audience's reaction to Morgan's appearances. He started with a four-week contract. The contract was extended, and Morgan remained at the hotel for two years. During the next few years, he was music director for the Rinso-Lifebuoy Show on NBC for thirty-nine weeks and the Philip Morris radio series on NBC and CBS for two years. Russ Morgan's band had regular engagements at

8820-589: Was known as the Pennamite Wars , where settlers competed for control of the territory which had been included in royal colonial land grants to both states. The claim between Connecticut and Pennsylvania was settled by negotiation with the federal government 's involvement after the Revolutionary War. Though anthracite coal was being mined in Carbondale to the north and Wilkes-Barre to

8918-609: Was launched to support charitable and educational organizations in the city of Scranton. The Knox Mine Disaster of January 1959 virtually ended the mining industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The waters of the Susquehanna River flooded the mines. The DL&W Railroad, nearly bankrupted by the drop in coal traffic and the effects of Hurricane Diane , merged in 1960 with the Erie Railroad. Demand for public transportation also declined as new highways were built by federal subsidies and people purchased automobiles. In 1952,

9016-478: Was left scarred by abandoned coal mining structures, strip mines, and massive culm dumps , some of which caught fire and burned for many years until they were extinguished through government efforts. In 1970, the Secretary of Mines for Pennsylvania suggested that so many underground voids had been left by mining underneath Scranton that it would be "more economical" to abandon the city than make them safe. In 1973,

9114-572: Was re-incorporated as the Scranton Transit Company, reflecting that shift in transportation modes. Starting in the early 1920s, the Scranton Button Company (founded in 1885 and a major maker of shellac buttons) became one of the primary makers of phonograph records. They pressed records for Emerson (whom they bought in 1924), as well as Regal , Cameo , Romeo , Banner , Domino , Conqueror . In July 1929,

9212-607: Was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York City to national popularity as a " crooner ". Vallėe was born in Island Pond, Vermont on July 28, 1901, the son of Catherine Lynch and Charles Alphonse Vallée. His maternal grandparents were English and Irish, while his paternal grandparents were French Canadians from Quebec . He grew up in Westbrook, Maine . On March 29, 1917, he enlisted in

9310-539: Was the private property owner in the case. The coal operators were defeated in this case." The public transportation system began to expand beyond the trolley lines pioneered by predecessors of the Scranton Railways system. The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad , commonly referred to as the Laurel Line, was built as an interurban passenger and freight carrier to Wilkes-Barre . Its Scranton station, offices, powerhouse and maintenance facility were built on

9408-461: Was the progenitor of the Rite Aid national drugstore chain. During the 1970s and 1980s, many downtown storefronts and theaters became vacant. Suburban development followed the highways and suburban shopping malls became the dominant venues for shopping and entertainment. Since the mid-1980s, the city has emphasized revitalization. Local government and much of the community at large have adopted

9506-512: Was the site of the Scranton general strike in 1877. The city was designated as the county seat when Lackawanna County was established in 1878, and a judicial district was authorized in July 1879. The city's nickname "Electric City" began when electric lights were introduced in 1880 at the Dickson Manufacturing Company . Six years later, the United States' first streetcars powered only by electricity began operating in

9604-474: Was then general manager of Lackawanna Iron and Coal. He later founded Scranton Steel Company. The labor issues and growth of industry in Scranton contributed to Lackawanna County being established by the state legislature in 1878, with territory taken from Luzerne County. Scranton was designated as the county seat. This strengthened its local government. The unions failed to gain higher wages that year, but in 1878 they elected labor leader Terence V. Powderly of

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