Robert Q. Lewis
Encyclopedia
Robert Q. Lewis was an American
radio
and television
personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle, by saying, "and this is Robert Q. Lewis." He subsequently decided to retain the initial, telling interviewers that it stood for "Quizzical".
Lewis is perhaps best known for his game show participation, having been the first host of The Name's the Same
, and regularly appearing on other Goodson
-Todman
panel shows. He also hosted and appeared on a multitude of television shows of the 1940s through the 1970s. His most distinguishing feature was his horn-rimmed glasses
, to the point that the title card for his second Robert Q. Lewis Show featured a pair of such glasses as a logo, and they were mentioned in the title of his lecture. As a frequent guest panelist on What's My Line?
, Lewis's blindfold featured a sketched pair of glasses.
on April 25, 1920. His parents were Jewish immigrants. He began working toward his future profession at age ten, setting up a microphone and record player at home as the family's disk jockey.
in 1938, where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity. He left to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1942 and became a radio operator in the Signal Corps.
After the war, he became an announcer and disc jockey
. Among those who served as writers on Lewis's radio programs were playwright Neil Simon
, author and dramatist Paddy Chayevsky, and radio comedy legend Goodman Ace
, who headed a CBS team of comedy writers, including Simon, that acted largely as "script doctors" for existing shows in need of fixing. Ace was frustrated over CBS's revamp of the show he assembled for Lewis, The Little Show: "I give them a good, tight, fifteen-minute comedy show," Ace told Time
, "and what do they do? Expand it to half an hour and throw in an orchestra and an audience. Who the hell said a comedy show had to be half an hour, Marcon? Ida Cantor?"
Future talk-show host and producer Merv Griffin
often sang on Lewis's show. Lewis began appearing on television, but he continued on radio, first for the CBS and later as a disc jockey in Los Angeles. One of his radio series, Robert Q.'s Waxworks, was devoted to old records, setting the pattern that later radio personalities like Dr. Demento
would follow.
's Sunday night television lineup from July 16, 1950 to January 7, 1951. At the same time he also hosted CBS
's TV talent-search variety program The Show Goes On
from January 19, 1950 to February 16, 1952. He also had two daytime TV variety shows on CBS
. The first, Robert Q's Matinee was a 45-minute daily show, which lasted 14 weeks, from October 16, 1950 to January 19, 1951. The second, more successful Robert Q. Lewis Show ran on CBS-TV from January 11, 1954 to May 25, 1956.
Lewis was often recruited to fill in for performers who were ill or otherwise unable to perform. He frequently sat in for Arthur Godfrey
, and often performed and recorded with Godfrey's regular company of entertainers. Jackie Gleason
invited "Robert Q. Lewis and His Gang" to take over his American Scene Magazine time slot while he was away. These emergency replacements became part of Lewis's comic monologue; he'd tell of how he phoned his mother to watch him on CBS, only to hear her say, "Oh? Who's sick?"
Robert Q. became a fixture on TV game and quiz shows in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952 he settled into his most enduring game show role as host of ABC
's The Name's the Same
. In 1954, Lewis gave up the show to devote more time to his variety program; several times during his tenure, contestants appeared on the show bearing the name Robert Q. Lewis. He also hosted the short-lived original version of Make Me Laugh
in 1958. He substituted for, and ultimately replaced, Merv Griffin
as host of Play Your Hunch
in 1962. In 1964, he hosted the short-lived game show Get the Message
on ABC
.
Lewis was also a frequent participant on the panel show What's My Line?
, making 40 appearances on the show. He first appeared as a panelist in 1951, about a year into the show's run. His most regular run on the show was alternating weeks with comedian Fred Allen
following the departure of regular panelist Steve Allen
, beginning in 1954 through early 1955; Fred Allen ultimately took the spot on the panel on a regular basis for approximately a year until his death. Lewis continued to make regular guest appearances on the panel right up to the show's final year in 1967. He also made one appearance as the show's "Mystery Guest" in 1955. He was also a guest panelist/player on a number of Goodson-Todman shows, including To Tell The Truth
, Get The Message
, Hollywood Squares
, and both the original version, and the 1970s version of Match Game
.
tunes on his radio and TV shows, and in his very popular nightclub act. From the 1940s he sang for Columbia Records
, MGM Records
, and Coral Records
. He scored his biggest hit in 1951 with the dialect novelty song, "Where's-a Your House?", an answer record to the Rosemary Clooney
hit "Come On-a My House
". In 1967, Lewis recorded I'm Just Wild About Vaudeville for Atco
—this collection of circa-1930 songs has Lewis cleverly imitating different singing styles of the day.
Later in his career, Lewis acted in a few movies, notably An Affair to Remember
(1957), Good Neighbor Sam
(1964), Ski Party
(1965), Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
(1972), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
(1967) and the TV movie The Law (1974), in which he played a dinner speaker at a lawyers' convention. He also performed on a number of TV shows, appearing on Branded and Bewitched
.
During the 1960s, Lewis became a familiar face on the live-theater circuit, starring in road-company versions of Broadway hits, including Bells Are Ringing
and The Odd Couple
. He continued to make sporadic acting appearances until a few years before his death.
, leaving no immediate survivors.
A collection of Robert Q. Lewis's personal papers, notes, and scripts, covering roughly the years 1940 until 1960, now resides at Thousand Oaks Library in Thousand Oaks, California
. He is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
in Los Angeles, California
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio
Radio programming
Radio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....
and television
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle, by saying, "and this is Robert Q. Lewis." He subsequently decided to retain the initial, telling interviewers that it stood for "Quizzical".
Lewis is perhaps best known for his game show participation, having been the first host of The Name's the Same
The Name's the Same
The Name's the Same is an American game show that was produced by Goodson-Todman for the ABC television network from December 5, 1951 to August 31, 1954, followed by a run from October 25, 1954 to October 7, 1955....
, and regularly appearing on other Goodson
Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
-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:...
panel shows. He also hosted and appeared on a multitude of television shows of the 1940s through the 1970s. His most distinguishing feature was his horn-rimmed glasses
Horn-rimmed glasses
Horn-rimmed glasses are a type of eyeglasses. Originally made out of either horn or tortoise shell, for most of their history they have actually been constructed out of thick plastics designed to imitate those materials...
, to the point that the title card for his second Robert Q. Lewis Show featured a pair of such glasses as a logo, and they were mentioned in the title of his lecture. As a frequent guest panelist on 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....
, Lewis's blindfold featured a sketched pair of glasses.
Biography
Lewis was born as Robert Goldberg in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on April 25, 1920. His parents were Jewish immigrants. He began working toward his future profession at age ten, setting up a microphone and record player at home as the family's disk jockey.
Radio
Lewis made his radio debut in 1931, at age 11, on a local radio show, "Dr. Posner's Kiddie Hour". He enrolled in the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1938, where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity. He left to enlist in the U.S. Army in 1942 and became a radio operator in the Signal Corps.
After the war, he became an announcer and disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
. Among those who served as writers on Lewis's radio programs were playwright Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
, author and dramatist Paddy Chayevsky, and radio comedy legend Goodman Ace
Goodman Ace
Goodman Ace , born Goodman Aiskowitz, was an American humourist, working as a radio writer and comedian, a television writer, and a magazine columnist....
, who headed a CBS team of comedy writers, including Simon, that acted largely as "script doctors" for existing shows in need of fixing. Ace was frustrated over CBS's revamp of the show he assembled for Lewis, The Little Show: "I give them a good, tight, fifteen-minute comedy show," Ace told Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, "and what do they do? Expand it to half an hour and throw in an orchestra and an audience. Who the hell said a comedy show had to be half an hour, Marcon? Ida Cantor?"
Future talk-show host and producer Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
often sang on Lewis's show. Lewis began appearing on television, but he continued on radio, first for the CBS and later as a disc jockey in Los Angeles. One of his radio series, Robert Q.'s Waxworks, was devoted to old records, setting the pattern that later radio personalities like Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
would follow.
Television
Lewis was an early arrival on network television, presiding over more than one series at a time. The Robert Q. Lewis Show had a six-month run on CBSCBS
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...
's Sunday night television lineup from July 16, 1950 to January 7, 1951. At the same time he also hosted 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...
's TV talent-search variety program The Show Goes On
The Show Goes On (television)
The Show Goes On was a television variety show that aired in the United States on CBS from January 19, 1950 – January 16, 1952. The television program was the first starring role for the host Robert Q. Lewis...
from January 19, 1950 to February 16, 1952. He also had two daytime TV variety shows on 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...
. The first, Robert Q's Matinee was a 45-minute daily show, which lasted 14 weeks, from October 16, 1950 to January 19, 1951. The second, more successful Robert Q. Lewis Show ran on CBS-TV from January 11, 1954 to May 25, 1956.
Lewis was often recruited to fill in for performers who were ill or otherwise unable to perform. He frequently sat in for Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
, and often performed and recorded with Godfrey's regular company of entertainers. Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason
Jackie Gleason was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The...
invited "Robert Q. Lewis and His Gang" to take over his American Scene Magazine time slot while he was away. These emergency replacements became part of Lewis's comic monologue; he'd tell of how he phoned his mother to watch him on CBS, only to hear her say, "Oh? Who's sick?"
Robert Q. became a fixture on TV game and quiz shows in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1952 he settled into his most enduring game show role as host of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's The Name's the Same
The Name's the Same
The Name's the Same is an American game show that was produced by Goodson-Todman for the ABC television network from December 5, 1951 to August 31, 1954, followed by a run from October 25, 1954 to October 7, 1955....
. In 1954, Lewis gave up the show to devote more time to his variety program; several times during his tenure, contestants appeared on the show bearing the name Robert Q. Lewis. He also hosted the short-lived original version of Make Me Laugh
Make Me Laugh
Make Me Laugh was an American game show in which contestants watched three stand-up comedians performing their acts, one at a time, earning one dollar for every second that they could make it through without laughing. Each comedian got sixty seconds to try to crack the contestant up...
in 1958. He substituted for, and ultimately replaced, Merv Griffin
Merv Griffin
Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
as host of Play Your Hunch
Play Your Hunch
Play Your Hunch was an American game show first hosted by Merv Griffin from 1958 to 1962, and was then hosted by Robert Q. Lewis until 1963. The announcers for the show were, respectively, Johnny Olson, Wayne Howell and Roger Tuttle...
in 1962. In 1964, he hosted the short-lived game show Get the Message
Get the Message (game show)
Get the Message was a television game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. It aired on ABC's daytime schedule for nine months in 1964, with its last airing on Christmas Day....
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
.
Lewis was also a frequent participant on the 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....
, making 40 appearances on the show. He first appeared as a panelist in 1951, about a year into the show's run. His most regular run on the show was alternating weeks with comedian Fred Allen
Fred Allen
Fred Allen was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and fellow comedian Jack Benny, but it...
following the departure of regular panelist Steve Allen
Steve Allen
Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...
, beginning in 1954 through early 1955; Fred Allen ultimately took the spot on the panel on a regular basis for approximately a year until his death. Lewis continued to make regular guest appearances on the panel right up to the show's final year in 1967. He also made one appearance as the show's "Mystery Guest" in 1955. He was also a guest panelist/player on a number of Goodson-Todman shows, including To Tell The Truth
To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth is an American television panel game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired in various forms since 1956 both on networks and in syndication...
, Get The Message
Get the Message (game show)
Get the Message was a television game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. It aired on ABC's daytime schedule for nine months in 1964, with its last airing on Christmas Day....
, Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
, and both the original version, and the 1970s version of Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
.
Records
Robert Q. Lewis was always an enthusiast of vintage music. He frequently revived old Tin Pan AlleyTin Pan Alley
Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...
tunes on his radio and TV shows, and in his very popular nightclub act. From the 1940s he sang for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
, and Coral Records
Coral Records
Coral Records was a Decca Records subsidiary formed in 1949. It recorded pop artists McGuire Sisters and Teresa Brewer, as well as rock and roller Buddy Holly....
. He scored his biggest hit in 1951 with the dialect novelty song, "Where's-a Your House?", an answer record to the Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
hit "Come On-a My House
Come on-a My House
"Come on-a My House" is a song performed by Rosemary Clooney on her album Come On-A My House, released on June 6, 1951. The song was written by Ross Bagdasarian and noted Armenian American writer William Saroyan in the summer of 1939 but did not become a hit until the release of Clooney's recording...
". In 1967, Lewis recorded I'm Just Wild About Vaudeville for Atco
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
—this collection of circa-1930 songs has Lewis cleverly imitating different singing styles of the day.
Movies, TV, and theater
Lewis's fondness for show-business nostalgia was well known within the industry, and in 1949 he was hired to narrate the "lighter side" segment of the feature-length March of Time documentary film The Golden Twenties. Robert Q. was just too busy to pursue a movie career at the time; his hectic radio, TV, and nightclub schedule didn't permit it.Later in his career, Lewis acted in a few movies, notably An Affair to Remember
An Affair to Remember
An Affair to Remember is a 1957 film starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and directed by Leo McCarey. It was distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation....
(1957), Good Neighbor Sam
Good Neighbor Sam
Good Neighbor Sam is a 1964 American comedy movie co-written and directed by David Swift and starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider.It was based on the novel by Jack Finney. The screenplay was the motion picture debut of James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, who had written many American...
(1964), Ski Party
Ski Party
Ski Party is a B-movie, directed by Alan Rafkin, and released in 1965 by American International Pictures. Ski Party is part of the 1960s Beach Party film genre, with a change of setting from the beach to the slopes - although the final scene places everyone back at the beach...
(1965), Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (film)
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* is Woody Allen's fourth film, consisting of a series of short sequences loosely inspired by Dr. David Reuben's book of the same name....
(1972), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
(1967) and the TV movie The Law (1974), in which he played a dinner speaker at a lawyers' convention. He also performed on a number of TV shows, appearing on Branded and Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
.
During the 1960s, Lewis became a familiar face on the live-theater circuit, starring in road-company versions of Broadway hits, including Bells Are Ringing
Bells Are Ringing (musical)
Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The main character was based on Mary Printz, who worked for Green's answering...
and The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
. He continued to make sporadic acting appearances until a few years before his death.
Personal life
Lewis was a long-time smoker, and was frequently seen smoking cigarettes on the air in the early days of television, such as while hosting The Name's the Same. In that era, smoking was not uncommon on panel shows. Lewis died December 11, 1991 of emphysemaEmphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
, leaving no immediate survivors.
A collection of Robert Q. Lewis's personal papers, notes, and scripts, covering roughly the years 1940 until 1960, now resides at Thousand Oaks Library in Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks, California
Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak....
. He is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Mount Sinai Memorial Parks and Mortuaries refers to two Jewish cemeteries in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area. The original cemetery is located at 5950 Forest Lawn Drive in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. The cemetery was originally established in 1953 by the neighboring Forest...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.