GAME SHOWS
DO YOU TRUST YOUR WIFE?
& CELEBRITY GAME
(approx 60 min)
DO YOU TRUST YOUR WIFE?: Edgar Bergen tries to pull a Groucho Marx. This game show was similar to You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx in format, questions, and even the camera shots and use of music--except that the contestants were married couples, and instead of bantering with his announcer (Ed "You're In Good Hand With All-State" Reimers), Bergen clowned around with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. The first show features several couples drawn from the ranks of ordinary citizens, but the second includes Betty Grable and her husband Harry James as contestants. Strangely enough, the contestants on Do You Trust Your Wife were more knowledgable than those on You Bet Your Life, and the questions were tougher. Edgar Bergen was later succeeded by Johnny Carson, and the show was renamed Who Do You Trust in 1958. Sponsors include L&M Cigarettes, with Angie Dickinson featured in one commercial, and Frigidaire with former Miss America Bess Meyerson presenting the company's new models for 1956.
THE CELEBRITY GAME
(approx 30 min)
with Bert Parks, Michael Landon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gypsy Rose Lee, Paul Lynde, Abby Dalton, Jan Murray
Produced by Heater and Quigley Productions, this star-studded game show strongly resembled the production company's long-running hit THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, with six celebrities (Michael Landon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jan Murray, Abby Dalton, Paul Lynde--who became one of the most popular celebrity guests on THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES--and Gypsy Rose Lee) giving answers to questions posed by the host (Bert Parks), while two contestants try to correctly predict the celebrities' answers for points. This color edition of the show is very fast moving, and the participants all seem to be having fun, although the prizes for the contestants seem a little on the cheap side today, with answers racking up sums of $50 and $25.
TED MACK'S ORIGINAL AMATEUR HOUR & TO TELL THE TRUTH
(approx 60 min)
TED MACK'S ORIGINAL AMATEUR HOUR: A 1968-vintage show from Miami Beach, FL, hosted by Mack and sponsored by Geritol. The contestants include the eight-member Betty Custiss Dancers ("Cabaret"), singing furniture salesman Dick Bell ("Sunrise, Sunset"), an acrobatic quartet called Three Hits and a Miss ("Lara's Theme"), accordionist George Siat, singer Brenda Wesner, tap dancer Sharon Denton ("Sweet Georgia Brown"), musical saw player Lewis Newell ("Londonderry Air"), a Brady Bunch-type quartet called The Mod Bods ("When Love Comes Knocking At Your Door"), and the baton twirling duo the Quincy Twirlers. But the REAL fun comes from the original commercials, which are all here, including Geritol (natch), Nikoban (the anti-cigarette remedy of its day), Sominex (animated, with the genie), Aqua-Velva (with a real hot looking actress saying "There's something about an Aqua-Velva Man...."), Serutan natural laxative (spell it backwards), Williams' Lectric Shave before-shave lotion, Johnson's Foot Soap (soak away foot miseries), and Polident Tablets.
TO TELL THE TRUTH: A mid-1950's show, with Betsy Palmer (FRIDAY THE 13th), Don Ameche, Kitty Carlisle, and Hy Gardner (TV and movie personality, and N.Y. Herald Tribune gossip columnist) as panelists, trying to identify which of three men is the owner of an upstate-N.Y. nightclub that is half over the border with New Jersey and owner of one of the smallest television stations in the world; which of three men is a champion ski-jumper; and which of three women is a teacher-turned-cave explorer. But the commercials here are nearly as entertaining as the show, including early spots for Williams' Lectric-Shave, Sominex, and Geritol, plugged by announcer Bud Colyer (the original SUPERMAN from radio).
QUICK ON THE DRAW
(approx. 30 min.)
This is a rare and unaired kid's quiz-type show starring Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, and was directed by my favorite director, Gilbert Cates, one-time President of the Director's Guild and the man who gave me my start in the film business! (And therefore a favorite tape among the BIOGRAPH staff!)
TO TELL THE TRUTH & BINGO AT HOME
(approx. 60 min.) With panelists Hy Gardner and Don Ameche, Bud Collier hosts this classic TO TELL THE TRUTH game show on New Year's Eve 1957.
Monty Hall hosts this Dumont clip of BINGO AT HOME.
PUT IT IN WRITING & ON THE LINE
(approx. 60 min.) "PUT IT IN WRITING" with Sandy Becker is a rare pilot episode for a show devoted to analyzing people's handwriting. This tape is a scream: guest panelist Virginia Graham knows nothing about handwriting analysis, but she is there anyway. What is interesting is that the actors the panelists are talking with are not the actual performers, but are stand-ins merely playing the role for this test episode, which you might notice when they are talking with a fake Eli Wallach. (circa 1957)
"ON THE LINE" is a rare find. Host Alan Saber conducts a strange drawing contest. What is most memorable, however, is a very young Jonathan Winters on the panel in this circa 1954 show.
Please take note that when they started the Kinescope, they would run some footage to test the camera. This tape has footage of the cast standing around waiting to get started.
TIC-TAC-DOUGH & PLAY YOUR HUNCH
(approx 60 min) The quiz show scandals of the 1950's have reignited interest in this whole area of programming, and these shows represent two different types.
TIC-TAC-DOUGH: This plays like a prototype for JEOPARDY and THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, features reasonably tough questions asked of people who don't seem to be all that unusual, although at least one question ("Who played the Cowardly Lion in the movie THE WIZARD OF OZ?) that seems like a giveaway today would have been a lot harder for most people to answer back then--the picture was a lot less well known and omnipresent than it is today and the fact that any ordinary adult answered it correctly is impressive.
PLAY YOUR HUNCH: Hosted by Merv Griffin and features stunts and games, rather than questions. This installment includes special guest Kaye Ballard, then a regular on the PERRY COMO SHOW, who uses her skills as an artist to participate in the show.
THE $64,000 QUESTION & THE $64,000 CHALLENGE
(approx 60 min)
THE $64,000 QUESTION: The original quiz show model, upon which whole episodes of THE HONEYMOONERS--among other comedies--were built. This first-anniversary installment of QUESTION ("Where knowledge is king, and the rewards king-sized"), features a reunion of past winners, including Dr. Joyce Brothers (boxing expert), Billy Pierson (art expert), and Gloria Lockerman (spelling champion), as well as new rounds of questions featuring a husband-and-wife team of Sherlock Holmes specialists and a professional whaling man from Greenland. Commercials for Revlon products include Snow Peach lipstick in the Futurama case and "Clean and Clear." Sonny Fox hosts $64,000 CHALLENGE, but he seems somewhat ill at ease and unable to keep the events moving. History champion Floyd Yoemans is challenged by ex-champ Steve Froelich, and spelling whiz Gloria Lockerman faces challenger Andy Douglas. But the real treat is watching art history expert Billy Pierson go up against actor Vincent Price, but be warned that the show ends before they've gotten very far. Commercials include Kent cigarettes, with the Kent jingle.
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(approx 60 min)
DO YOU TRUST YOUR WIFE?: Edgar Bergen tries to pull a Groucho Marx. This game show was similar to You Bet Your Life starring Groucho Marx in format, questions, and even the camera shots and use of music--except that the contestants were married couples, and instead of bantering with his announcer (Ed "You're In Good Hand With All-State" Reimers), Bergen clowned around with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. The first show features several couples drawn from the ranks of ordinary citizens, but the second includes Betty Grable and her husband Harry James as contestants. Strangely enough, the contestants on Do You Trust Your Wife were more knowledgable than those on You Bet Your Life, and the questions were tougher. Edgar Bergen was later succeeded by Johnny Carson, and the show was renamed Who Do You Trust in 1958. Sponsors include L&M Cigarettes, with Angie Dickinson featured in one commercial, and Frigidaire with former Miss America Bess Meyerson presenting the company's new models for 1956.
(approx 30 min)
with Bert Parks, Michael Landon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Gypsy Rose Lee, Paul Lynde, Abby Dalton, Jan Murray Produced by Heater and Quigley Productions, this star-studded game show strongly resembled the production company's long-running hit THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, with six celebrities (Michael Landon, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jan Murray, Abby Dalton, Paul Lynde--who became one of the most popular celebrity guests on THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES--and Gypsy Rose Lee) giving answers to questions posed by the host (Bert Parks), while two contestants try to correctly predict the celebrities' answers for points. This color edition of the show is very fast moving, and the participants all seem to be having fun, although the prizes for the contestants seem a little on the cheap side today, with answers racking up sums of $50 and $25.
(approx 60 min)
TED MACK'S ORIGINAL AMATEUR HOUR: A 1968-vintage show from Miami Beach, FL, hosted by Mack and sponsored by Geritol. The contestants include the eight-member Betty Custiss Dancers ("Cabaret"), singing furniture salesman Dick Bell ("Sunrise, Sunset"), an acrobatic quartet called Three Hits and a Miss ("Lara's Theme"), accordionist George Siat, singer Brenda Wesner, tap dancer Sharon Denton ("Sweet Georgia Brown"), musical saw player Lewis Newell ("Londonderry Air"), a Brady Bunch-type quartet called The Mod Bods ("When Love Comes Knocking At Your Door"), and the baton twirling duo the Quincy Twirlers. But the REAL fun comes from the original commercials, which are all here, including Geritol (natch), Nikoban (the anti-cigarette remedy of its day), Sominex (animated, with the genie), Aqua-Velva (with a real hot looking actress saying "There's something about an Aqua-Velva Man...."), Serutan natural laxative (spell it backwards), Williams' Lectric Shave before-shave lotion, Johnson's Foot Soap (soak away foot miseries), and Polident Tablets.
(approx. 30 min.)
This is a rare and unaired kid's quiz-type show starring Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney, and was directed by my favorite director, Gilbert Cates, one-time President of the Director's Guild and the man who gave me my start in the film business! (And therefore a favorite tape among the BIOGRAPH staff!)
(approx. 60 min.) With panelists Hy Gardner and Don Ameche, Bud Collier hosts this classic TO TELL THE TRUTH game show on New Year's Eve 1957. Monty Hall hosts this Dumont clip of BINGO AT HOME.
(approx. 60 min.) "PUT IT IN WRITING" with Sandy Becker is a rare pilot episode for a show devoted to analyzing people's handwriting. This tape is a scream: guest panelist Virginia Graham knows nothing about handwriting analysis, but she is there anyway. What is interesting is that the actors the panelists are talking with are not the actual performers, but are stand-ins merely playing the role for this test episode, which you might notice when they are talking with a fake Eli Wallach. (circa 1957) "ON THE LINE" is a rare find. Host Alan Saber conducts a strange drawing contest. What is most memorable, however, is a very young Jonathan Winters on the panel in this circa 1954 show. Please take note that when they started the Kinescope, they would run some footage to test the camera. This tape has footage of the cast standing around waiting to get started.
(approx 60 min) The quiz show scandals of the 1950's have reignited interest in this whole area of programming, and these shows represent two different types.
TIC-TAC-DOUGH: This plays like a prototype for JEOPARDY and THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, features reasonably tough questions asked of people who don't seem to be all that unusual, although at least one question ("Who played the Cowardly Lion in the movie THE WIZARD OF OZ?) that seems like a giveaway today would have been a lot harder for most people to answer back then--the picture was a lot less well known and omnipresent than it is today and the fact that any ordinary adult answered it correctly is impressive.
PLAY YOUR HUNCH: Hosted by Merv Griffin and features stunts and games, rather than questions. This installment includes special guest Kaye Ballard, then a regular on the PERRY COMO SHOW, who uses her skills as an artist to participate in the show.
(approx 60 min)
THE $64,000 QUESTION: The original quiz show model, upon which whole episodes of THE HONEYMOONERS--among other comedies--were built. This first-anniversary installment of QUESTION ("Where knowledge is king, and the rewards king-sized"), features a reunion of past winners, including Dr. Joyce Brothers (boxing expert), Billy Pierson (art expert), and Gloria Lockerman (spelling champion), as well as new rounds of questions featuring a husband-and-wife team of Sherlock Holmes specialists and a professional whaling man from Greenland. Commercials for Revlon products include Snow Peach lipstick in the Futurama case and "Clean and Clear." Sonny Fox hosts $64,000 CHALLENGE, but he seems somewhat ill at ease and unable to keep the events moving. History champion Floyd Yoemans is challenged by ex-champ Steve Froelich, and spelling whiz Gloria Lockerman faces challenger Andy Douglas. But the real treat is watching art history expert Billy Pierson go up against actor Vincent Price, but be warned that the show ends before they've gotten very far. Commercials include Kent cigarettes, with the Kent jingle.