I've Got a Secret
Encyclopedia
I've Got a Secret is a panel game
show produced by Mark Goodson
and Bill Todman
for CBS
television
. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman
and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?
. Instead of celebrity
panelists trying to determine a contestant's occupation, the panel tries to determine a contestant's "secret": something that is unusual, amazing, embarrassing, or humorous about that person.
The original version of I've Got a Secret premiered on June 19, 1952 and ran until April 3, 1967. This version began broadcasting in black and white and switched to a color format in 1966, by which time virtually all commercial network programs were being shown in color.
The show was revived for the 1972–1973 season in once-a-week syndication and again from June 15 to July 6, 1976, for a Summer run. Another production ran on the Oxygen cable channel in a daily version, with original episodes airing from 2000 through 2003. GSN
ran a revival from April 17, 2006 to June 9, 2006 with an all-gay
panel. In October 2006, GSN opted not to renew the show for a second season, although reruns remained on its schedule for some time afterward.
. After several months of an ever-changing panel, game show host Bill Cullen
, acerbic comedian Henry Morgan
, TV hostess Faye Emerson
, and actress Jayne Meadows
became the four regular panelists. In 1958, Emerson left the show to star in a play and was replaced by actress Betsy Palmer
. The following year, Meadows relocated to the West Coast
and was replaced by former Miss America
Bess Myerson
. At various times, guest hosts substituted for Moore, including panelists Morgan and Palmer, among others. Additionally, other comedians and celebrities appeared as guests on the panel when others were away.
Moore left the show after the 1963–64 season, after his comedy program The Garry Moore Show
was canceled. Moore chose to retire from television to travel the world with his wife. Moore was replaced by Steve Allen on September 21, 1964. Allen also hosted the show during the 1972−73 revival. Former panelist Bill Cullen hosted the show for its brief 1976 CBS summer run. The panelists on this revival were Richard Dawson, Henry Morgan, New York-based entertainment critic Pat Collins
, and Elaine Joyce
.
The version seen on Oxygen
was hosted by Stephanie Miller
until August 2001. Regular panelists on this version included Jim J. Bullock, Jason Kravits
, Amy Yasbeck
, and Teri Garr
.
The GSN version was hosted by Bil Dwyer
and, unlike the earlier versions, featured a permanent panel that appeared on each episode, consisting of Billy Bean
, Frank DeCaro
, Jermaine Taylor, and Suzanne Westenhoefer
.
where the panel tried to determine a contestant's "secret". The concept of a "secret" was fairly wide reaching. Secrets were always intended to be unusual, amazing, embarrassing or humorous. They commonly included such types as something which happened to a person, owning something, or an occupation, hobby, achievement or skill.
One or more contestants would enter. The host would introduce the contestant or ask their name and hometown. He would then ask them to "whisper your secret to me, and we'll show it to the folks at home." The contestant would then ostensibly whisper their secret to the host, while the audience and viewers were shown the secret via text overlay on the screen. Then the host would give the panel a clue, for example, "the secret concerns something that happened to [Contestant's Name]." The host would then select a panelist to begin questioning.
When the show debuted, each panelist had 15 seconds of questioning at a time, running through the panel twice, in order. Each segment of questioning which passed without the panelist guessing the secret won the contestant $10, for a top prize of $80. In mid-1954, the format changed to only once around the panel, with a $20 prize for each panelist stumped. The time limit was no longer fixed, and the buzzer which ended questioning was instead at the discretion of the production staff. This was due, in part, to the program airing live, and sometimes requiring to lengthen or shorten the time allowed for questioning in order to keep the show running on time. Increasingly later in the run, the panelists were sometimes buzzed out when they were getting too close to the secret, were suspected to be about to get it, or simply at a point that would get a laugh; this was precipitated in part by the fact that, like What's My Line, the top payoff never increased with inflation, and the money eventually became somewhat secondary to the gameplay, with the cash awards not even mentioned at all by the end of the series. Similarly, the panelist chosen to question first eventually became a strategy by the producers. When a secret fell within an area that a panelist was knowledgeable on (most commonly Cullen with mechanical, scientific or sports secrets), they would often be chosen first, to give them no preceding clues during their questioning. On occasion when a secret referenced a panelist, the order was usually chosen to put them last.
Following the revelation of a guest's secret, either by guessing or by the host's revelation once the game was over, the host typically either interviewed the contestant about their secret, or, if applicable, the contestant did some kind of demonstration of their secret. These demonstrations sometimes included the host, and occasionally one or more of the panelists.
A number of notable people appeared with secrets including Col Harland Sanders ("I started my restaurant with my first Social Security check"), Philo T. Farnsworth ("I invented electronic television"), Pete Best
("I used to be one of The Beatles"), and an elderly man Samuel J. Seymour
who was the last surviving eye witness to Abraham Lincoln
's assassination (he was five years old at the time), Bobby Fischer
("I am the US chess champion").
An increasingly common activity for the guest was to challenge the panel in some sort of alternate game. Eventually, this became the primary use of the guest segment, and the pretense of having the panel guess the guest's secret was dropped. The guest would simply come out with a challenge for the panel; sometimes ostensibly related to the guest or their current project, but other times not related to the guest at all. Several of these challenges predated future game shows which used the same concepts, such as a game in which Woody Allen
challenged the panel to guess words based on definitions written by children, which became the basis for Child's Play
, and a pair of segments with Peter Falk
and Soupy Sales
in which the panel had to identify celebrities based on a series of photos starting with infancy and progressing older. which featured in the format of the show Face the Music
.
Often, secrets would involve Henry Morgan in some manner. Since Morgan put forth a 'lovable sourpuss' type of attitude, he attracted a certain "let's see how we can 'get' Henry this time" playfulness from the writers. Sometimes he would be sent on week long trips (often starting as soon as the live broadcast ended) which would be filmed and highlights shown the following week. Some of these trips included being sent to England to buy a proper English Christmas meal from a famous English restaurant while dressed in a stereotypical English derby and morning coat outfit, spending a week at Roy Rogers' dude ranch as a hired hand, and going on an African safari (after the secret was revealed Morgan got his passport photo taken and shots given to him by a nurse on stage as Moore told him about his trip). Other Henry secrets included him being invited to be a background spear holder in an opera at the Met, him playing the dead body in a murder mystery Broadway play, a Christmas episode in which Morgan is dressed up to play Santa for disadvantaged kids, and a Halloween episode in which Arnold Stang
came on stage in a traditional bedsheet ghost costume with the secret "This costume was made from Henry Morgan's bedsheet". After the game Moore said "Don't worry Henry, we promise to put these back where we found them", at which point the center stage curtain rose to reveal (what is assumed to be) Morgan's bed.
s over straight ties
. Until the later years of the series, both Moore, and members of the panel smoked cigarettes on the air, with Moore doing so right up until his last episode. The panel was introduced at the start of each episode by the host, usually with a series of descriptive puns.
Only yes-or-no questions were supposed to be asked by the panel, but the format was often relaxed, and other questions slipped through. Unlike on What's My Line?, the host often offered hints and suggestions when the panel was off in the wrong direction, or when an answer might be misleading. Unlike on What's My Line?, the panelists were not allowed to formally confer with each other, though later in the series, there was no chastising of the panelists for whispering ideas to each other.
The series began in black-and-white, and only in 1966 switched regularly to color, though like most programs of this era, existing records are in black and white. The series was sponsored for most of its run, with the opening of the show featuring a promotion for whichever company was the sponsor, signage on the set, and commercials being included during the show. Some sponsors provided samples of their wares for each contestant, in addition to their
winnings. Late in the series' run, sponsorship was discontinued.
The series itself had a cameo in the 1959 film It Happened to Jane
, in which the title character appears as a contestant on the show. Moore and the entire panel played themselves in the fictional episode of the show.
A home game of I've Got A Secret was released in 1956 by the Lowell Toy Manufacturing Corporation of New York.
An Australian version of the show was produced and aired in Brisbane
on QTQ Channel 9 from 1967 until 1973. It was hosted by newsreader
Don Secombe, and like its American inspiration, featured regular celebrity panelists including Ron Cadee, Babette Stevens and Joy Chambers
(future wife of Australian game show impresario Reg Grundy
) .
hosted this version and the show's set resembled an upscale city apartment.
s, such as when host Bil Dwyer
was introduced as "the straight man
to the panel".
films. However, the premiere episode, which featured a drastically different set-up, is presumed to be lost.
GSN concluded its most recent airing of I've Got A Secrets run on July 13, 2008 at 3:30 AM (ET), paired with What's My Line? at 3:00. However, they began their run in mid-2007 with episodes from late 1961 or early 1962. A good portion of the series is unlikely to be aired, due to the show's longtime sponsorship by Winston
cigarettes, which remains an existing brand. It is unclear whether this is mandated legally, or simply a choice by GSN; it is worth noting that GSN had aired many Winston-sponsored episodes in previous years. In addition, the network skipped several episodes through its run which are known to have been skipped in previous runs of the show; this may mean that other episodes are lost or in bad enough condition for GSN not to air them. For a brief period of time in December of 2009 and 2010, GSN aired episodes of the series from the Moore and Allen CBS runs.
All subsequent revivals of Secret exist in their entirety, except for the 1976 run, whose status is currently unknown. The premiere episode exists among private collectors, and the finale is available in audio. GSN has occasionally aired single episodes from the 1972–1973 season, the latest being an episode featuring Bob Barker
as the celebrity guest, to commemorate his retirement from The Price Is Right
in mid-2007. GSN also occasionally adds reruns of its 2006 revival to the regular schedule.
(this theme can be heard on the album Classic TV Game Show Themes; however, the theme on the CD was credited to Norman Paris).
The second theme, used from 1961–1962, was an upbeat arrangement of the "Theme from A Summer Place
", by Max Steiner.
The third theme was used from 1962 to 1967. It was an upbeat, spritely march featuring piccolo
and xylophone
, composed by the show's musical director Norman Paris and played by a live studio combo. It quoted a familiar melody widely associated with schoolyard taunts, to which the words "I've got a secret!" might be sung by children in a teasing manner.
In addition to being used as a tag for his entrance on CBS episodes he hosted, Steve Allen's composition "This Could Be the Start of Something
" was used as the opening theme in 1972 arranged by Edd Kalehoff
for Score Productions
. The closing theme to the 1972 version was also written by Kalehoff. The theme from the 1976 version with Bill Cullen was used one year later on the ABC game show Second Chance
. A remix of that theme was also used in the Australian version of Family Feud
.
Tim Mosher and Stoker are credited with the 2000 theme, while Alan Ett and Scott Liggett contributed an up jazz theme for Bil Dwyer's 2006 version of the show for GSN.
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
show produced by Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
and Bill Todman
Bill Todman
William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...
for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman
Allan Sherman was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer , became the fastest-selling record album up to that time...
and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?
What's My Line?
What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
. Instead of celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
panelists trying to determine a contestant's occupation, the panel tries to determine a contestant's "secret": something that is unusual, amazing, embarrassing, or humorous about that person.
The original version of I've Got a Secret premiered on June 19, 1952 and ran until April 3, 1967. This version began broadcasting in black and white and switched to a color format in 1966, by which time virtually all commercial network programs were being shown in color.
The show was revived for the 1972–1973 season in once-a-week syndication and again from June 15 to July 6, 1976, for a Summer run. Another production ran on the Oxygen cable channel in a daily version, with original episodes airing from 2000 through 2003. GSN
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
ran a revival from April 17, 2006 to June 9, 2006 with an all-gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
panel. In October 2006, GSN opted not to renew the show for a second season, although reruns remained on its schedule for some time afterward.
Hosts and panelists
The show was originally hosted by radio and television personality Garry MooreGarry Moore
Garry Moore was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television...
. After several months of an ever-changing panel, game show host Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen
William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...
, acerbic comedian Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan (comedian)
Henry Morgan was an American humorist. He is remembered best in two modern media: radio, on which he first became familiar as a barbed but often self-deprecating satirist, and on television, where he was a regular and cantankerous panelist for the game show I've Got a Secret...
, TV hostess Faye Emerson
Faye Emerson
Faye Margaret Emerson was an American film actress and television interviewer, known as "The First Lady of Television". She acted in many Warner Brothers films beginning in 1941...
, and actress Jayne Meadows
Jayne Meadows
-Early life:Jayne Meadows was born as Jayne Cotter in Wu-ch'ang, in Heilongjiang, China, to Episcopal missionary parents, the Rev. Francis James Meadows Cotter and his wife, the former Ida Miller Taylor, who had married in 1915. Meadows is the older sister of the late actress Audrey Meadows. She...
became the four regular panelists. In 1958, Emerson left the show to star in a play and was replaced by actress Betsy Palmer
Betsy Palmer
Betsy Palmer is an American actress, best known as a regular panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing Pamela Voorhees in the notorious slasher film Friday the 13th.-Life and career:...
. The following year, Meadows relocated to the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
and was replaced by former Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
Bess Myerson
Bess Myerson
Bess Myerson became the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America pageant in 1945. She appeared on various television shows in the 1950s and 1960s...
. At various times, guest hosts substituted for Moore, including panelists Morgan and Palmer, among others. Additionally, other comedians and celebrities appeared as guests on the panel when others were away.
Moore left the show after the 1963–64 season, after his comedy program The Garry Moore Show
The Garry Moore Show
The Garry Moore Show is the name for several separate American variety series on the CBS television network in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio performer, Garry Moore, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Don Adams, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Don...
was canceled. Moore chose to retire from television to travel the world with his wife. Moore was replaced by Steve Allen on September 21, 1964. Allen also hosted the show during the 1972−73 revival. Former panelist Bill Cullen hosted the show for its brief 1976 CBS summer run. The panelists on this revival were Richard Dawson, Henry Morgan, New York-based entertainment critic Pat Collins
Pat Collins (film critic)
Pat Collins is a film critic and three-time Emmy winner for WWOR-TV. Collins was an entertainment editor and film critic for Good Morning America, The CBS Morning News and from 1972-1977, hosted the Pat Collins Show which she won two Emmys on WCBS-TV....
, and Elaine Joyce
Elaine Joyce
Elaine Joyce is an American actress.Joyce was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She made her film debut in 1961 as an extra in West Side Story and made uncredited appearances in several musical films, including The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie, and Funny Girl before being cast in Such Good Friends in 1971...
.
The version seen on Oxygen
Oxygen (TV channel)
Oxygen is an American cable television specialty channel with television programming marketed towards women, with a format similar to Lifetime.- History :...
was hosted by Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Catherine Miller is an American comedienne and host of The Stephanie Miller Show, a progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles and syndicated nationally by Dial Global. Talkers magazine ranked her as the 24th most important radio talk show host in America for 2010.-Early...
until August 2001. Regular panelists on this version included Jim J. Bullock, Jason Kravits
Jason Kravits
Jason Kravits is an American actor. His film credits include The Stepford Wives and Sweet November. Kravits has served more often as a television guest star. He can be seen in episodes of shows such as Friends; Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Yes, Dear; and Gilmore Girls...
, Amy Yasbeck
Amy Yasbeck
Amy Marie Yasbeck is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Casey Chapel Davenport on the sitcom Wings from 1994-1997.-Early life:...
, and Teri Garr
Teri Garr
-Early life:Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1947. Her father, Eddie Garr , was a vaudeville performer, comedian and actor whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama Tobacco Road...
.
The GSN version was hosted by Bil Dwyer
Bil Dwyer
William Michael "Bil" Dwyer is an American stand-up comedian and game show host. Television shows he has hosted include GSN's Extreme Dodgeball, I've Got A Secret and The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time, the PAX TV game show Dirty Rotten Cheater, and the FSN game show, Ultimate Fan...
and, unlike the earlier versions, featured a permanent panel that appeared on each episode, consisting of Billy Bean
Billy Bean
William Daro "Billy" Bean is a former Major League Baseball player who made news in 1999 when he made his homosexuality public.-Career:...
, Frank DeCaro
Frank DeCaro
Frank DeCaro is an American writer, performer and radio show host.The New York-born DeCaro is the author of The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes From More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen , Unmistakably Mackie: The Fashion and Fantasy of Bob Mackie , and A Boy Named Phyllis: A...
, Jermaine Taylor, and Suzanne Westenhoefer
Suzanne Westenhoefer
Suzanne Westenhoefer is an out lesbian stand-up comedian. She starred as a panelist on GSN's 2006 remake of I've Got a Secret, which featured a panel of gay celebrities who had to guess the various guests' 'secrets' through a series of timed questions...
.
Game play
Each typical episode featured two regular contestant rounds, followed by a celebrity guest round, occasionally followed by an additional regular round.Standard rounds
Each round was a guessing gameGuessing game
A guessing game is a game in which the object is to guess some kind of information, such as a word, a phrase, a title, or the location of an object.Many of the games are played co-operatively...
where the panel tried to determine a contestant's "secret". The concept of a "secret" was fairly wide reaching. Secrets were always intended to be unusual, amazing, embarrassing or humorous. They commonly included such types as something which happened to a person, owning something, or an occupation, hobby, achievement or skill.
One or more contestants would enter. The host would introduce the contestant or ask their name and hometown. He would then ask them to "whisper your secret to me, and we'll show it to the folks at home." The contestant would then ostensibly whisper their secret to the host, while the audience and viewers were shown the secret via text overlay on the screen. Then the host would give the panel a clue, for example, "the secret concerns something that happened to [Contestant's Name]." The host would then select a panelist to begin questioning.
When the show debuted, each panelist had 15 seconds of questioning at a time, running through the panel twice, in order. Each segment of questioning which passed without the panelist guessing the secret won the contestant $10, for a top prize of $80. In mid-1954, the format changed to only once around the panel, with a $20 prize for each panelist stumped. The time limit was no longer fixed, and the buzzer which ended questioning was instead at the discretion of the production staff. This was due, in part, to the program airing live, and sometimes requiring to lengthen or shorten the time allowed for questioning in order to keep the show running on time. Increasingly later in the run, the panelists were sometimes buzzed out when they were getting too close to the secret, were suspected to be about to get it, or simply at a point that would get a laugh; this was precipitated in part by the fact that, like What's My Line, the top payoff never increased with inflation, and the money eventually became somewhat secondary to the gameplay, with the cash awards not even mentioned at all by the end of the series. Similarly, the panelist chosen to question first eventually became a strategy by the producers. When a secret fell within an area that a panelist was knowledgeable on (most commonly Cullen with mechanical, scientific or sports secrets), they would often be chosen first, to give them no preceding clues during their questioning. On occasion when a secret referenced a panelist, the order was usually chosen to put them last.
Following the revelation of a guest's secret, either by guessing or by the host's revelation once the game was over, the host typically either interviewed the contestant about their secret, or, if applicable, the contestant did some kind of demonstration of their secret. These demonstrations sometimes included the host, and occasionally one or more of the panelists.
A number of notable people appeared with secrets including Col Harland Sanders ("I started my restaurant with my first Social Security check"), Philo T. Farnsworth ("I invented electronic television"), Pete Best
Pete Best
Pete Best is a British musician, best known as the original drummer in The Beatles. He was born in the city of Madras, British India...
("I used to be one of The Beatles"), and an elderly man Samuel J. Seymour
Samuel J. Seymour
Samuel James Seymour was the last surviving person who had been present in Ford's Theater the night of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. He was from Maryland and lived in Arlington, Virginia in his later years.At age five, Seymour's godmother, Mrs. George S....
who was the last surviving eye witness to Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's assassination (he was five years old at the time), Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
("I am the US chess champion").
Guest rounds
On each typical episode, a celebrity guest came on the show with a secret. The celebrity usually opened the episode by coming out from the behind the curtain and saying "my name is [Name] and I've Got a Secret!", though sometimes they would say "and this is I've Got a Secret!". Early in the show's run, the celebrities would indeed have a secret. These would sometimes be actual personal secrets similar to the other contestants. Other times the secret would be about something they were there to do. The guest segment frequently was a guise for a demonstration of some new technology or product, which the guest usually interacted with in some way, which was their secret.An increasingly common activity for the guest was to challenge the panel in some sort of alternate game. Eventually, this became the primary use of the guest segment, and the pretense of having the panel guess the guest's secret was dropped. The guest would simply come out with a challenge for the panel; sometimes ostensibly related to the guest or their current project, but other times not related to the guest at all. Several of these challenges predated future game shows which used the same concepts, such as a game in which Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
challenged the panel to guess words based on definitions written by children, which became the basis for Child's Play
Child's Play (game show)
Child's Play is an American television game show in which adult contestants tried to guess words based on definitions given by children. The Mark Goodson-produced series debuted on CBS from September 20, 1982 at 10:30 AM Eastern/9:30 AM Central...
, and a pair of segments with Peter Falk
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk was an American actor, best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo...
and Soupy Sales
Soupy Sales
Soupy Sales was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his...
in which the panel had to identify celebrities based on a series of photos starting with infancy and progressing older. which featured in the format of the show Face the Music
Face The Music (game show)
Face the Music was an American television game show that aired in syndication from January 14, 1980 to September 1981. The show tested contestants' knowledge of popular music songs, and association of song titles with famous people, places and things....
.
Often, secrets would involve Henry Morgan in some manner. Since Morgan put forth a 'lovable sourpuss' type of attitude, he attracted a certain "let's see how we can 'get' Henry this time" playfulness from the writers. Sometimes he would be sent on week long trips (often starting as soon as the live broadcast ended) which would be filmed and highlights shown the following week. Some of these trips included being sent to England to buy a proper English Christmas meal from a famous English restaurant while dressed in a stereotypical English derby and morning coat outfit, spending a week at Roy Rogers' dude ranch as a hired hand, and going on an African safari (after the secret was revealed Morgan got his passport photo taken and shots given to him by a nurse on stage as Moore told him about his trip). Other Henry secrets included him being invited to be a background spear holder in an opera at the Met, him playing the dead body in a murder mystery Broadway play, a Christmas episode in which Morgan is dressed up to play Santa for disadvantaged kids, and a Halloween episode in which Arnold Stang
Arnold Stang
Arnold Stang was an American comic actor who played a small and bespectacled, yet brash and knowing big-city type.-Career:...
came on stage in a traditional bedsheet ghost costume with the secret "This costume was made from Henry Morgan's bedsheet". After the game Moore said "Don't worry Henry, we promise to put these back where we found them", at which point the center stage curtain rose to reveal (what is assumed to be) Morgan's bed.
History and style
I've Got a Secret was more informal than sister show What's My Line? in most respects. The panel and host were generally on a first-name basis. As noted, the formal time limit on questioning was removed early in the show's run, and time limits were set more for entertainment. The men on the panel always wore normal suits or even sport jackets, though both Morgan and Moore sometimes chose bow tieBow tie
The bow tie is a type of men's necktie. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar in a symmetrical manner such that the two opposite ends form loops. Ready-tied bow ties are available, in which the distinctive bow is sewn into shape and the band around the neck incorporates a clip....
s over straight ties
Necktie
A necktie is a long piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck or shoulders, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat. Variants include the ascot tie, bow tie, bolo tie, and the clip-on tie. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are descended from the cravat. Neck...
. Until the later years of the series, both Moore, and members of the panel smoked cigarettes on the air, with Moore doing so right up until his last episode. The panel was introduced at the start of each episode by the host, usually with a series of descriptive puns.
Only yes-or-no questions were supposed to be asked by the panel, but the format was often relaxed, and other questions slipped through. Unlike on What's My Line?, the host often offered hints and suggestions when the panel was off in the wrong direction, or when an answer might be misleading. Unlike on What's My Line?, the panelists were not allowed to formally confer with each other, though later in the series, there was no chastising of the panelists for whispering ideas to each other.
The series began in black-and-white, and only in 1966 switched regularly to color, though like most programs of this era, existing records are in black and white. The series was sponsored for most of its run, with the opening of the show featuring a promotion for whichever company was the sponsor, signage on the set, and commercials being included during the show. Some sponsors provided samples of their wares for each contestant, in addition to their
winnings. Late in the series' run, sponsorship was discontinued.
The series itself had a cameo in the 1959 film It Happened to Jane
It Happened to Jane
It Happened to Jane is a 1959 romantic comedy film starring Doris Day, Jack Lemmon, and Ernie Kovacs directed by Richard Quine and written by Norman Katkov and Max Wilk.The film was co-produced by Quine and star Day's husband at the time, Martin Melcher....
, in which the title character appears as a contestant on the show. Moore and the entire panel played themselves in the fictional episode of the show.
A home game of I've Got A Secret was released in 1956 by the Lowell Toy Manufacturing Corporation of New York.
An Australian version of the show was produced and aired in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
on QTQ Channel 9 from 1967 until 1973. It was hosted by newsreader
Newsreader
Newsreader can refer to:* Newsreader , a computer program for reading Usenet newsgroups* News presenter, a person that presents a news show on television, radio or the Internet...
Don Secombe, and like its American inspiration, featured regular celebrity panelists including Ron Cadee, Babette Stevens and Joy Chambers
Joy Chambers
Joy Chambers is an Australian actress and author. She is best known for such television soap opera roles as Rita Merrick in The Restless Years, Dr Robyn Porter in The Young Doctors, and Rosemary Daniels in Neighbours. Chambers has played Rosemary since 1986. Rosemary is the only character who has...
(future wife of Australian game show impresario Reg Grundy
Reg Grundy
Reginald Roy "Reg" Grundy, AC, OBE is one of the most successful Australian entrepreneurs, and media and television moguls of his generation.He was the only child born to Roy Grundy and Lillian Lees...
) .
1970s revivals
The format of the 1970s revivals were essentially unchanged from the original series, though celebrity secrets, rather than challenges to the panel (whose members changed weekly), did return. Richard Dawson served as a regular panelist on both versions in the 70's, and Henry Morgan appeared as a panelist a few times as well.Oxygen revival
On the Oxygen revival, the contestant earned $200 for each stumped panelist, and stumping the entire panel earned a total of $1,000 for the challenger. Stephanie MillerStephanie Miller
Stephanie Catherine Miller is an American comedienne and host of The Stephanie Miller Show, a progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles and syndicated nationally by Dial Global. Talkers magazine ranked her as the 24th most important radio talk show host in America for 2010.-Early...
hosted this version and the show's set resembled an upscale city apartment.
GSN revival
On GSN's revival, each panelist had 40 seconds for questioning, with one conference allowed. Stumping the entire panel won the contestant $1,000 and "dinner for 2 in Beverly Hills." The fine print at the end of the show disclosed that contestants were also paid an appearance fee. Losing contestants also received some unspecified parting gifts. Several minor show business professionals demonstrated their performances on the show, including piano juggler Dan Menendez. Another element in the revival was that all the panelists were openly gay, but their "secret" was generally only referenced in double entendreDouble entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
s, such as when host Bil Dwyer
Bil Dwyer
William Michael "Bil" Dwyer is an American stand-up comedian and game show host. Television shows he has hosted include GSN's Extreme Dodgeball, I've Got A Secret and The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time, the PAX TV game show Dirty Rotten Cheater, and the FSN game show, Ultimate Fan...
was introduced as "the straight man
Straight man
Straight man may refer to:* Straight Man, a novel by Richard Russo* A member of a double act who plays a stooge, feed, or comic foil in theatrical comedy...
to the panel".
Episode status
As with What's My Line?, early episodes from the original series' first season in 1952 appear to have been lost. From late 1952 until the 1967 cancellation, most episodes appear to exist as a digital transfer of the original black-and-white kinescopeKinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
films. However, the premiere episode, which featured a drastically different set-up, is presumed to be lost.
GSN concluded its most recent airing of I've Got A Secrets run on July 13, 2008 at 3:30 AM (ET), paired with What's My Line? at 3:00. However, they began their run in mid-2007 with episodes from late 1961 or early 1962. A good portion of the series is unlikely to be aired, due to the show's longtime sponsorship by Winston
Winston (cigarette)
Winston cigarettes are manufactured by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company or its newer incarnation as RJR Nabisco and/or its affiliates.The brand was introduced in 1954, and became the best-selling brand of cigarettes in the United States...
cigarettes, which remains an existing brand. It is unclear whether this is mandated legally, or simply a choice by GSN; it is worth noting that GSN had aired many Winston-sponsored episodes in previous years. In addition, the network skipped several episodes through its run which are known to have been skipped in previous runs of the show; this may mean that other episodes are lost or in bad enough condition for GSN not to air them. For a brief period of time in December of 2009 and 2010, GSN aired episodes of the series from the Moore and Allen CBS runs.
All subsequent revivals of Secret exist in their entirety, except for the 1976 run, whose status is currently unknown. The premiere episode exists among private collectors, and the finale is available in audio. GSN has occasionally aired single episodes from the 1972–1973 season, the latest being an episode featuring Bob Barker
Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...
as the celebrity guest, to commemorate his retirement from The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right
The Price Is Right is a television game show franchise originally produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman, and created by Bob Stewart, and is currently produced and owned by FremantleMedia. The franchise centers on television game shows, but also includes merchandise such as video games, printed...
in mid-2007. GSN also occasionally adds reruns of its 2006 revival to the regular schedule.
Nielsen ratings
Between 1952 and 1967, I've Got a Secret ranked in the top 30 television shows for ten out of fifteen seasons., peaking at #5 during the 1957–1958 season.Theme music
The first theme used on the show from 1952 to 1961 was "Plink, Plank, Plunk!", by Leroy AndersonLeroy Anderson
Leroy Anderson was an American composer of short, light concert pieces, many of which were introduced by the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Arthur Fiedler...
(this theme can be heard on the album Classic TV Game Show Themes; however, the theme on the CD was credited to Norman Paris).
The second theme, used from 1961–1962, was an upbeat arrangement of the "Theme from A Summer Place
Theme from A Summer Place
The "Theme from A Summer Place" is a song with lyrics by Mack Discant and music by Max Steiner, written for the 1959 film, A Summer Place, which starred Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue. It was recorded for the film by Hugo Winterhalter...
", by Max Steiner.
The third theme was used from 1962 to 1967. It was an upbeat, spritely march featuring piccolo
Piccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
and xylophone
Xylophone
The xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
, composed by the show's musical director Norman Paris and played by a live studio combo. It quoted a familiar melody widely associated with schoolyard taunts, to which the words "I've got a secret!" might be sung by children in a teasing manner.
In addition to being used as a tag for his entrance on CBS episodes he hosted, Steve Allen's composition "This Could Be the Start of Something
This Could Be the Start of Something
"This Could Be the Start of Something" is a popular song by Steve Allen, published in 1956....
" was used as the opening theme in 1972 arranged by Edd Kalehoff
Edd Kalehoff
Edward Woodley "Edd" Kalehoff is a music composer who specializes in compositions for television.-Notable pieces:Composer of about 1,000 pieces, mainly for television, his credits include the majority of cues used on The Price is Right as well as the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare, a music...
for Score Productions
Score Productions
Score Productions is an American musical production company specializing in background music and themes for television programs. Started in 1963 by music producer Robert A...
. The closing theme to the 1972 version was also written by Kalehoff. The theme from the 1976 version with Bill Cullen was used one year later on the ABC game show Second Chance
Second Chance (game show)
Second Chance is an American game show that ran from March 7 to July 15, 1977 on ABC. Jim Peck hosted, with Jay Stewart and Jack Clark serving as announcers....
. A remix of that theme was also used in the Australian version of Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
.
Tim Mosher and Stoker are credited with the 2000 theme, while Alan Ett and Scott Liggett contributed an up jazz theme for Bil Dwyer's 2006 version of the show for GSN.
External links
- I've Got a Secret—profile of the show from the Museum of Radio and TV
- Goodson-Todman Big 4 Guide—an episode guide to all of the major Goodson-Todman panel shows, including IGAS.
- Oxygen's I've Got a Secret—website for the 2001 version of IGAS, hosted by Stephanie Miller.
- Eleven minute interview with Betsy Palmer, panelist on I've Got a Secret for 10 years (1957–1967).
- http://www.colepalen.com/IveGotASecret.htmlAviation preservationist Cole PalenCole PalenCole Palen was the founder of the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, a "living" museum of vintage aircraft from 1900-1937 located in Rhinebeck, New York...
's appearance on I've Got A Secret] in April 1965