Scranton, Pennsylvania

Scranton is a city located in Lackawanna County in Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 76,415 (2003 estimate: 74,320). It is the county seat of Lackawanna County{{GR|6}}. After Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie and Reading, Scranton is Pennsylvania's sixth most populous city.

References by Media and the Arts

• In 2005, the NBC adaptation of the hit BBC show 'The Office' premiered. The fictional company Dunder-Mifflin portrayed in the show is set in Scranton.
• In 2001, the Disney television show, Lizzie Mcguire, mentions Scranton during a cartoon scene.
• In 1999, the anime series Big O showed Scranton as a city famous for an electricity-generating sea serpent residing in a nearby body of water.
• In 1996, the movie 'Kingpin' had the lead character, Roy (played by Woody Harrelson), living in Scranton.
• In 1992, the movie 'School Ties' had the lead character 'David Green' (portrayed by Brendan Fraser) living in Scranton at the beginning of the film.
• On March 20, 1990, Gloria Estefan ,while touring in support of her Cuts Both Ways tour, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, was critically injured when a tractor trailer crashed into her tour bus, breaking her back.
• In 1990, the movie 'Home Alone' had Kevin's (played by Macauley Caulkin) mom, Kate (played by Catherine O'hara) stuck in the Scranton Airport (Avoca International) due to a snowstorm, while trying desperately to get home. She eventually gets help from the leader of a Polka band named Gus Polinski. (played by John Candy) He drives Kate all the way to Chicago in the band van.
• The 1973 Pulitzer prize and Tony Award winning play 'That Championship Season' by Jason Miller was based on the fictional lives of members of a Scranton basketball team that had won the state championship in 1957. The play was ultimately made into a movie in 1982.
• On March 26, 1965, a truck carrying bananas crashed after coming down a two-mile downhill road (Moosic Street) that leads into the downtown area. This incident would lead to the Harry Chapin song "30,000 Pounds of Bananas".
• In James Blish's 1957 novel 'They Shall Have Stars,' the protagonist is captured by a press gang and forced to board the flying city of Scranton as it departs to wander in space, mining minerals and renting out its services.
• In 1855, George Inness painted the "Lackawanna Valley", an early portait of Scranton at a major DL&W junction; this painting now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.