| You are in: |
FiftiesWeb  TV |
| Index | CARS | TV | Games | Pop History | Music | Fads Fashions Slang |
Burma Shave | Celebrity Deaths | Elvis | TV Westerns |
|
aThe Fifties Web - Your Retro 50s, 60s and 70s
Source
|
| Classic TV Index of All Shows Classic TV on VHS & DVD GAMES SHOWS $64,000 Question I've Got a Secret Queen for a Day Price is Right This is Your Life To Tell The Truth Twenty One What's My Line  TV's Greatest Game Shows From the 50s and 60s |
NOW ON DVD! This Is Your Life: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 Queen For A Day QUIZ SHOWSA naively trusting public of the Fifties fell in love with television game shows. Some of the games were played for laughs and some for prizes and some for big money. Some survive today in contemporary form. The Price is Right wasn't born with Bob Barker at the helm. It was Bill Cullen in 1956.On Sunday nights everything came to stop while America watched The $64,000 Question. At their peak, there were 22 game shows on the air. By 1958 no one was laughing. That naive trust had been replaced by a suspicious cynicism that is with us yet. Why? Because many of the shows were rigged. The "winners" Americans had rooted for had been supplied with the answers in advance. The scandal prompted Congressional hearings. Although there were no laws prohibiting the "fixing" of game shows, both the networks and their sponsors acknowledged the public's distaste and kept game shows off the air for quite some time. Here are some original game shows... |
|
 Classic TV Game Show Themes - CD External Links TV Guide's $64,000 Question Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
1955 - 1968 30 minutes Black and White Hal March, host One of the game shows rightly swept into the Quiz Show scandals. Why? Because producers and sponsors tampered with the results. Contestants entered an isolation booth and "struggled" to answer the most arcane questions in their personally chosen category. Unbeknownst to the viewers and (some of the players) the producers had already provided answers to the more charismatic contestants. If a contestant was likeable, the viewer was more apt to tune in next week to follow their progress. Interestingly, one contestant preselected by the producers to fail actually succeeded in going all the way to the big prize. Her name - Dr. Joyce Brothers. The subject - prize fighting. Needing the money, she studied for three months before the show and was unstoppable. Read about it HERE. |
 The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows - BOOK |
 Winning on the Wheel: An Unofficial Guide to Getting on & Winning at Wheel of Fortune - BOOK External Links TV Guide's I've Got a Secret Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Mark Goodson - Bill Todman Production 1952 - 1967 30 minutes Black and White 1952-1966 Garry Moore, host Panelists included Bill Cullen, Jayne Meadows, Henry Morgan, Gary Moore, Kitty Carlisle and Betsy Palmer This show was played strictly for laughs. |
 Bill Cullen, Gary Moore, Henry Morgan Jayne Meadows, Betsey Palmer |
| External Links TV Guide's Queen for a Day Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
NOW ON DVD! Queen For A Day The 7 known surviving episodes 30 minutes Black and White Jack Bailey, host Some poor bedraggled woman would tell her tale of woe and, if hers was the most pathetic story, she got prizes. Just what some woman who supposedly just lost her home in a fire needed - a refrigerator. This show was strange. |
 |
| External Links TV Guide's Price is Right Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
30 minutes 1956 - 1965 Black and White/Color Bill Cullen, host Don Pardo, Announcer Toni Wallace, June Fergusen, Models Before the venerable Bob Barker took the reins, Bill Cullen hosted the Price is Right. Popular and sought after as a host and panelist, Cullen was a regular on a couple of networks at the same time. Between radio and TV he has been on 25 game shows. No scandal has ever been associated with Bill Cullen. |
![[BILL CULLEN]](cullen.jpg) Bill Cullen |
 This Is Your Life: The Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 3 disc set!Celebs: Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, Lou Costello, Bette Davis, Jayne Mansfield, Roy Rogers, Johnny Cash, Milton Berle, Betty White, Bobby Darin, Dick Clark, Carpenters, Shirley Jones, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price External Links TV Guide's This is Your Life Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
1952-1961 30 minutes Black and White Ralph Edwards, host This was like a surprise party for the guests, who'd be reunited with people from their pasts. The guest was lured to the show under a pretext and then Edwards would exclaim, "This is Your Life!" Sometimes the honoree was a famous person and other times a worthy one. Celebs appearing as guests or honorees included Bob Hope, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Bette Davis and Jack Benny. Most took it in good humor. Except Lowell Thomas, who flatly refused - on camera and live - to participate. Never let a smile pass his lips. |
![[RALPH EDWARDS AND PANEL]](life.jpg) |
Mark Goodson - Bill Todman Production 1956-1968 30 minutes Black and White/Color Bud Collyer, host Panelists included Kitty Carlisle, Orson Bean, Polly Bergen, Tom Poston, Peggy Cass, Bill Cullen, and Don Ameche |
 Polly Bergen, Kitty Carlisle, Tom Poston |
|
| External Links TV Guide's To Tell The Truth Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Each contestant claimed to be the same person and panelists had to guess which one was telling the truth. The phony claimants could lie but the actual person had "to tell the truth" when questioned. At the conclusion of the show, Collyer would say, "would the real ________ please stand up." | |
External Links TV Guide's Twenty One Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More. |
Albert Freedman Producer 1956-1958 30 minutes Black and White Jack Barry, host Robert Redford directed movie about Twenty One QUIZ SHOW on DVD |
 Charles Van Doren |
|
| Twenty-One broke the game show scandals
wide open. Contestants were placed in isolation booths, given a category and
asked how many points they wished to risk. Producer Freedman approached a young attractive English instructor at Columbia University, Charles Van Doren, about becoming a player on Twenty-One. Assistance would be provided to augment the "entertainment value" of the show. As Van Doren kept winning, his popularity grew until he became a recognized celebrity. His acting ability didn't suffer either as America watched him "agonize" over each question. Ultimately, he won $129,000 - a hefty sum at any time, but a huge amount in the 50's. One opponent, Herbert Stempel, didn't like being passed over for greatness by the producers. Bitter, he talked to investigators about Twenty-One and the practice of supplying some players with answers. Van Doren, now a broken and humiliated man, gave one last public performance - testifying before the Congress about his complicity in the deception. |
|||
Mark Goodson - Bill Todman Production 30 minutes 1950 - 1967 Black and White 1950- 1966 John Daly, host Panelists included Arlene Francis, Steve Allen, Bennett Cerf, Fred Allen, Tony Randall and Dorothy Kilgallen. |
 Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf |
|
| Watch Episodes From Game Show Classics - Featuring Six Timeless Shows 
|
A panel of four celebrities tried to guess
the occupation of the guest by asking a series of yes or no questions. The
guest got $5 for each "no" answer. Panelists were blindfolded for the weekly mystery guest who was a celebrity. Some famous folks who dropped by: Warren Beatty, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Ty Cobb,Walt Disney, Ronald Reagan, Alfred Hitchock and Elizabeth Taylor. |
|
| FIFTIES INDEX |
CARS | Music | TV | Games | Pop History | Fads, Fashions, Slang |
Burma Shave | Celebrity Deaths | Elvis | TV Westerns |
