The 64,000 Dollar Question
Encyclopedia
The $64,000 Question is an American game show broadcast from 1955-1958, which became embroiled in the scandals involving TV quiz shows of the day. The $64,000 Challenge (1956–1958) was its popular spin-off
show.
(radio's first quiz program) and Uncle Jim's Question Bee
(the second radio quiz show). Take It or Leave It ran from April 21, 1940 to July 27, 1947. It was first hosted by Bob Hawk
(1940–41), followed by Phil Baker (1941–47). In 1947, the series switched to NBC, hosted at various times by Baker, Garry Moore
(1947–49), Eddie Cantor
(1949–50) and Jack Paar
(beginning June 11, 1950). On September 10, 1950, Take It or Leave It changed its title to The $64 Question. Paar continued as host, followed by Baker (March–December 1951) and Paar (back on December 1951). The series continued on NBC Radio until June 1, 1952.
On both Take It or Leave It and The $64 Question, contestants were asked questions devised by the series' writer-researcher Edith Oliver. She attempted to make each question slightly more difficult than the preceding one. After answering a question correctly, the contestant had the choice to "take" the prize for that question or "leave it" in favor of a chance at the next question. The first question was worth one dollar, and the value doubled for each successive question, up to the seventh and final question worth $64
.
During the 1940s, "That's the $64 question" became a common catchphrase for a particularly difficult question or problem. In addition to the common phrase "Take it or leave it", the show also popularized another phrase, widely spoken in the 1940s as a taunt but now mostly forgotten (except in Warner Bros. cartoons
). Chanted in unison by the entire audience when someone chose to risk their winnings by going for the $64 prize, it was vocalized with a rising inflection: "You'll be sorrr-REEEE!"
The huge popularity of the radio program inspired a 20th Century Fox
feature film, Take It or Leave It, about a man who needs $1,000 to pay his wife's obstetrician. When he is chosen as a contestant on the radio quiz show, the prize money is increased beyond the usual $64. His category choice, "Scenes from Famous Movies" leads to a parade of clips from 27 Fox movies. Released July 12, 1944, the film did not get high marks when reviewed in The New York Times:
and the television series Stop the Music
. Cowan had difficulty locating sponsorship for The $64,000 Question. Cosmetics giant Helena Rubenstein, which eventually did become a familiar television advertiser, rejected the idea, reportedly because its wealthy founding namesake did not own a television set at the time and had no idea of the medium's advertising potential. The Chrysler Corporation turned down the chance to launch the show because the automaker reportedly feared sponsoring a big-money quiz show would outrage company workers whose wages they were trying not to inflate. A vacuum cleaner company also said no to Cowan, reportedly because the concept would be too glamorous for its product.
Finally, Cowan convinced Revlon
. The key: Revlon founder and chieftain Charles Revson
knew top competitor Hazel Bishop
had fattened its sales through sponsoring the popular This Is Your Life
, and he wanted a piece of that action if he could have it. According to Fire and Ice (1976), Andrew Tobias
' biography of Revson, Revlon first signed a deal to sponsor Cowan's brainchild for 13 weeks with the right to withdraw when they expired.
The $64,000 Question premiered June 7, 1955 on CBS-TV, sponsored by cosmetics maker Revlon and originating from the start live from CBS-TV Studio 52 in New York (later the disco-theater Studio 54
). The first contestant on the show was Thelma Farrell Bennett, a housewife from Trenton, New Jersey
who failed to make it to the first plateau but won a 1955 Cadillac convertible.
To increase the show's drama and suspense, it was decided to use an actor rather than a broadcaster as the host. Television and film actor Hal March
, familiar to TV viewers as a supporting regular on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
and My Friend Irma, found instant fame as the quiz show's host, and Lynn Dollar stood nearby as his assistant. Author and TV panelist Dr. Bergen Evans
was the show's expert authority, and actress Wendy Barrie
did the "Living Lipstick" commercials. (Coincidentally, in 1978, Evans and Barrie died within 72 hours of each other.) To capitalize on the initial television success, the show was also simulcast for two months on CBS Radio where it was heard from October 4, 1955 to November 29, 1955.
"isolation booth
", where they could hear nothing but the host's words. As long as the contestant kept answering correctly, they could stay on the show until they had won $64,000. The first contestant to win the top prize money, on September 13, 1955, was Richard S. McCutchen, a Marine whose subject was cooking
. McCutchen became an instant celebrity, with people stopping him in the street to ask for his autograph.
himself did not want to be disturbed while the show was on and that the nation's crime rate, movie theater, and restaurant patronage dropped dramatically when the show aired. It earned the #1 rating spot
for the 1955–56 season, holding the distinction of being the only television show to knock I Love Lucy
out of the #1 spot. Among its imitators or inspirations were The Big Surprise
, Tic-Tac-Dough
, and Twenty-One.
and Lorillard Tobacco Company
's Kent
cigarettes), hosted through August 26 by future children's television star Sonny Fox
and then, for the remainder of the show's life, Ralph Story
.
It pitted contestants against winners of at least $8,000 on The $64,000 Question in a new, continuing game where they could win another $64,000. The players took turns answering questions from the same category starting at the $1,000 level. If they each answered a question correctly, the next level would be twice that of the previous level. Each of the higher money levels involved both players answering the same question while each standing in their own isolation booth. If, at any given level, a player answered correctly with the other player missing a question, the winning player may stop or continue playing, but would be guaranteed the same amount at which he or she defeated his or her opponent.
In time, the sister show came to include various celebrities, including bandleader Xavier Cugat
and former child star Patty Duke
, as well as former Question champions.
. The longest enduring of these newly made celebrities was psychologist Joyce Brothers
. Answering questions about boxing
, she became, after McCutcheon, the second top winner, and went on to a career providing psychological advice in newspaper columns and TV shows for the next four decades. Another winner, Pennsylvania typist Catherine Kreitzer, read Shakespeare on The Ed Sullivan Show
. TV Guide
kept a running tally of the money won on the show, which hit $1 million by the end of November 1956.
The American Experience (PBS) episode probing the scandal noted, "All the big winners became instant celebrities and household names. For the first time, America's heroes were intellectuals or experts–jockey Billy Pearson on art, Marine Captain McCutcheon on cooking–every subject from the Bible to baseball. Not only had the contestants become rich overnight, but they were also treated to a whirlwind of publicity tours, awards, endorsements and meetings with dignitaries. Traveler Gino Prato, whose category was opera, was brought to Italy for a special performance at la Scala and honored by an audience with the Pope. After winning $64,000, spelling whiz Gloria Lockerman, an African American
, became a guest speaker at the 1956 Democratic National Convention
. She also appeared as a guest on NBC
's The Martha Raye Show
where she was warmly greeted by Martha Raye
and fellow guest Tallulah Bankhead
. Baseball expert Myrtle Power was made a sports commentator on CBS. Eleven-year-old stock market expert Lenny Ross
was asked to open up the New York Stock Exchange. And with only an eighth-grade education, supply clerk Teddy Nadler, an expert on everything, won more money than any other contestant. It was a new kind of hero in America, a common person with the uncommon gift of knowledge."
" (Benny Goodman), "Tawny" (Woody Herman), "One O'Clock Jump" (Harry James), "How Hi the Fi" (Buck Clayton), "I'm Comin', Virginia" (Eddie Condon), "A Fine Romance" (Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond), "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" (Duke Ellington) and "Ain't Misbehavin'" (Louis Armstrong).
Other musical tie-ins included the 1955 song, "The $64,000 Question (Do You Love Me)", recorded by Bobby Tuggle (Checker 823), Jackie Brooks (Decca 29684) and the Burton Sisters (RCA Victor 47-6265). "Love Is the $64,000 Question" (1956), which used the show's theme music by Norman F. Leyden with added Fred Ebb
lyrics, was recorded by Hal March (Columbia 40684), Karen Chandler (Decca 29881), Jim Lowe (Dot 15456) and Tony Travis (RCA Victor 47-6476).
When the show was revived in 1976 as The $128,000 Question, its theme music and cues were performed (albeit with a new disco-style arrangement for the theme) by Charles Randolph Grean
, who released a three-and-a-half minute single, "The $128,000 Question" (the show's music and cues as an instrumental), with the B-side ("Sentimentale") on the Ranwood label (45rpm release R-1064). For the show's second season, Grean's music package was re-recorded by Guido Basso.
There were numerous parodies of the program, including Bob and Ray
's The 64-Cent Question. The Jack Benny Program
featured Hal March as a contestant in an October 20, 1957 spoof with Benny asking the questions. As a gag, Benny actually appeared as a contestant on The $64,000 Question, but insisted on walking away with $64 after answering the first question. Hal March finally gave him $64 out of his own pocket.
At the height of its popularity, The $64,000 Question was referenced in the scripts of other CBS shows, usually but not exclusively through punch lines that included references to "the isolation booth" or "reaching the first plateau." Typical of these was spoken by The Honeymooners
Ed Norton (Art Carney
), who identified three times in a man's life when he wants to be alone, with the third being "when he's in the isolation booth of The $64,000 Question." At least three other Honeymooners episodes referenced Question: In A Woman's Work Is Never Done Ralph proposes to Alice that he go on the show because he's an expert in the "Aggravation" category. In Hello, Mom Norton tells Ralph that his mother-in-law's category on the show would be "Nasty". In The Worry Wart, Ralph advises Alice to become a contestant because she's an expert in the "Everything" category.
Another episode of The Honeymooners, delivered one of the best known Question references – a parody of the show itself, in one of the so-called "Original 39" episodes of the timeless situation comedy. In that episode, blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden becomes a contestant on the fictitious $99,000 Answer. Regarded as one of the Golden Age of Television
's best quiz show parodies, the Honeymooners episode depicted Kramden spending a week intensively studying popular songs, only to blow the first question on the subject when he returned to play on the show. The host of the fictitious $99,000 Answer was one Herb Norris, played by former Twenty Questions
emcee and future Tic-Tac-Dough
host Jay Jackson
.
The show has been referenced on other game shows. On the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal
, an episode aired January 15, 2007, in which the banker's offer was $64,000. Host Howie Mandel
said, "This is the $64,000 question."
Philip K. Dick
used the show's fabricated reality as a springboard to develop an entire science fiction novel, Time Out of Joint
.
championship of Charles Van Doren
, Question and Challenge were yanked off the air within three months of the quiz show scandal's eruption. Challenge went first on September 14, 1958 with Question – once the emperor of Tuesday-night television – taking its Sunday-night timeslot after a three-month hiatus until it was killed on November 9.
, and then Twenty-One, were found to have been rigged and were promptly canceled. Then one Challenge contestant, the Rev. Charles Jackson, told the federal grand jury probing the quiz shows that he received answers during his screening for his appearance. That prompted Challenges sponsor, the Lorillard Tobacco Company
(Kent, Old Gold cigarettes), to drop the show.
The $64,000 Question had the opposite problem: sponsor Revlon
– possibly under pressure from its chieftain, Charles Revson, who has been credited with expressing the desire for famous faces that prompted Challenges expansion to include celebrities - often tried to interfere with the production of Question, including and especially trying to bump contestants it simply disliked, no matter whether the audience liked them. Revson's brother, Martin, was assigned to oversee Question–including heavy discussions of feedback the show received. The would-be bumpees included Joyce Brothers herself, who managed to outwit the question writers and Revlon long enough to win the maximum prize.
According to producer Joe Cates in a PBS documentary on the scandals, he used an IBM sorting machine to give the illusion that the questions were randomly selected – in fact, all of the cards were identical. Since all of the buttons were on one line, they were mostly for show.
It was revealed during Congressional investigations into the quiz show scandal that Revlon was as determined to keep the show appealing - even if it meant manipulating the results – as the producer of Twenty-One (albeit also under sponsor pressure) had been. Unlike Twenty-One and Dotto, where contestants got the answers in advance, Revlon was reportedly far more subtle: they may have depended less on asking questions on the air that a contestant had already heard in pre-air screenings than on switching the questions kept secure in a bank vault at the last minute, to make sure a contestant the sponsor liked would be suited according to his or her chosen expertise.
The most prominent victim may have been the man who launched the franchise in the first place. Louis Cowan, made CBS Television president as a result of Questions fast success, was forced out of the network as the quiz scandal ramped up, even though it was NBC
's and not CBS' quiz shows bearing the brunt of the scandal – and even though CBS itself, with a little help from sponsor Colgate-Palmolive
, had moved fast in cancelling the popular Dotto
at almost the moment it was confirmed that that show had been rigged. Cowan had never been suspected of taking part in any attempt to rig either Question or Challenge; later CBS historians suggested his reputation as an administrative bottleneck may have had as much to do with his firing as his tie to the tainted shows. Cowan may have been a textbook sacrificial lamb, in a bid to preempt any further scandal while the network scrambled to recover, and while president Frank Stanton
accepted complete responsibility for any wrongdoing committed under his watch.
(1959-1961) and the short-lived ABC
quiz 100 Grand
(1963), the networks stayed away from awarding five-figure cash jackpots until the premiere of The $10,000 Pyramid
in 1973. The disappearance of the quiz shows gave rise to television's next big phenomenon–Westerns
.
None of the people who were directly involved in rigging any of the quiz shows faced any penalty more severe than suspended sentences for perjury before the federal grand jury that probed the scandal, even if many hosts and producers found themselves frozen out of television for many years. One Question contestant, Doll Goostree, sued both CBS and the producers in a bid to recoup $4,000 she said she might have won if her match of Question hadn't been rigged. Neither Goostree nor any other quiz contestant who similarly sued won their cases.
(1949–1951), Cowan also created Down You Go
(1951–1956) and the short-lived Ask Me Another (1952). Cowan briefly served as CBS
Television Network president before leaving in the wake of the quiz show scandals. He later joined the faculty of the Columbia University
school of journalism. He and his wife Polly were killed in an apartment fire in New York City in 1976. Lou Cowan's son Geoffrey later produced brief revivals of Quiz Kids in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and is currently dean of the University of Southern California
Annenberg School for Communication.
in 1969, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in 1970, four months short of his 50th birthday.
. Fox hosted Way Out Games (1976-1977), a Saturday-morning series for CBS, then later spent a year (1977-1978) running children's programming for NBC and eventually became a chairman of the board for Population Communications International, a nonprofit dedicated to "technical assistance, research and training consultation to governments, NGOs and foundations on a wide range of social marketing and communications initiatives", for which he is still an honorary chairman. Fox has also been a board chairman for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
, which ran for two years. The first season was hosted by Mike Darrow and produced at the Ed Sullivan Theater
in New York City, while the second was produced at Global Television Network
in Don Mills
near Toronto
, Canada and hosted by Alex Trebek
.
In 1999, television producer Michael Davies
attempted to revive Question as The $640,000 Question for ABC
, before abandoning that project in favor of producing an American version of the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
. Millionaire has a very similar format to The $64,000 Question – 15 questions (now 14) in which the contestant's money roughly doubles with each correct question until reaching the top prize. However, the questions in Millionaire are of a broader variety than Questions one-category line of questioning and have a different category for each question, and Millionaire offers three chances for help (called "lifelines"), which were not present in Question.
In 2000, responding to the success of Millionaire, CBS
bought the rights to the property in a reported effort to produce another revival attempt, The $1,064,000 Question, to be hosted by sportscaster
Greg Gumbel
. Because of format issues similar to those encountered by Davies for ABC
, this version was never broadcast.
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
show.
Broadcast history
- Take It or Leave It — CBSCBSCBS 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...
Radio; April 21, 1940 – July 27, 1947; Sunday 10:00-10:30 PM. - The $64 Question — NBCNBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
Radio; September 10, 1950 – June 1, 1952; Sunday 10:00-10:30 PM (1950–51) and Sunday 9:30-10:00 PM (1951–52). - The $64,000 Question — CBS television; June 7, 1955 – June 24, 1958 (Tuesday 10:00-10:30 PM); September 14 – November 9, 1958 (Sunday 10:00-10:30 PM). Simulcast on CBS Radio from October 4 - November 29, 1955.
- The $64,000 Challenge — CBS television; April 8, 1956 – September 14, 1958; Sunday 10:00-10:30 PM.
- The $128,000 QuestionThe $128,000 QuestionThe $128,000 Question was an American game show which aired from 1976-1978 in weekly syndication. This revival of The $64,000 Question was produced by Cinelar and distributed by Viacom Enterprises....
— Syndicated weekly television, September 18, 1976 – September 1978.
Take It or Leave It
The $64,000 Question had its roots in the CBS radio quiz show, Take It or Leave It, which followed in the wake of the pioneering Professor QuizProfessor Quiz
Professor Quiz was radio's first true quiz program, broadcast with many different sponsors from 1936 to 1948 on CBS and ABC. The program featured Professor Quiz, his wife Betty and his son, Professor Quiz Jr...
(radio's first quiz program) and Uncle Jim's Question Bee
Uncle Jim's Question Bee
Uncle Jim's Question Bee was a radio quiz program, hosted by Jim McWilliams, which began on the Blue Network in 1936 and continued until 1941....
(the second radio quiz show). Take It or Leave It ran from April 21, 1940 to July 27, 1947. It was first hosted by Bob Hawk
Bob Hawk
Bob Hawk was an American radio quizmaster and comic whose early work in radio set the standard for the "man in the street” interviews. Camel cigarettes sponsored several of his radio programs, including The Bob Hawk Show, a popular quiz show of the late 1940s and early 1950s.His programs included:*...
(1940–41), followed by Phil Baker (1941–47). In 1947, the series switched to NBC, hosted at various times by Baker, Garry Moore
Garry Moore
Garry Moore was an American entertainer, game show host and comedian best known for his work in television...
(1947–49), Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor
Eddie Cantor was an American "illustrated song" performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter...
(1949–50) and Jack Paar
Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962...
(beginning June 11, 1950). On September 10, 1950, Take It or Leave It changed its title to The $64 Question. Paar continued as host, followed by Baker (March–December 1951) and Paar (back on December 1951). The series continued on NBC Radio until June 1, 1952.
On both Take It or Leave It and The $64 Question, contestants were asked questions devised by the series' writer-researcher Edith Oliver. She attempted to make each question slightly more difficult than the preceding one. After answering a question correctly, the contestant had the choice to "take" the prize for that question or "leave it" in favor of a chance at the next question. The first question was worth one dollar, and the value doubled for each successive question, up to the seventh and final question worth $64
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
.
During the 1940s, "That's the $64 question" became a common catchphrase for a particularly difficult question or problem. In addition to the common phrase "Take it or leave it", the show also popularized another phrase, widely spoken in the 1940s as a taunt but now mostly forgotten (except in Warner Bros. cartoons
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
). Chanted in unison by the entire audience when someone chose to risk their winnings by going for the $64 prize, it was vocalized with a rising inflection: "You'll be sorrr-REEEE!"
The huge popularity of the radio program inspired a 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
feature film, Take It or Leave It, about a man who needs $1,000 to pay his wife's obstetrician. When he is chosen as a contestant on the radio quiz show, the prize money is increased beyond the usual $64. His category choice, "Scenes from Famous Movies" leads to a parade of clips from 27 Fox movies. Released July 12, 1944, the film did not get high marks when reviewed in The New York Times:
The $64,000 Question
The $64,000 Question was created by Louis G. Cowan, formerly known for radio's Quiz KidsQuiz Kids
Quiz Kids, a popular radio-TV series of the 1940s and 1950s, was created by Chicago public relations and advertising man Louis G. Cowan . Originally sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, the series was first broadcast on NBC from Chicago, June 28, 1940, airing as a summer replacement show for Alec Templeton...
and the television series Stop the Music
Stop the Music (TV series)
Stop the Music is a prime time television game show that aired for an hour on Thursday evenings on ABC from May 5, 1949 to April 24, 1952, and again for a half-hour from September 7, 1954, to June 14, 1956. It had also been broadcast on radio from 1948 to 1949.The series hosts were Bert Parks and...
. Cowan had difficulty locating sponsorship for The $64,000 Question. Cosmetics giant Helena Rubenstein, which eventually did become a familiar television advertiser, rejected the idea, reportedly because its wealthy founding namesake did not own a television set at the time and had no idea of the medium's advertising potential. The Chrysler Corporation turned down the chance to launch the show because the automaker reportedly feared sponsoring a big-money quiz show would outrage company workers whose wages they were trying not to inflate. A vacuum cleaner company also said no to Cowan, reportedly because the concept would be too glamorous for its product.
Finally, Cowan convinced Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
. The key: Revlon founder and chieftain Charles Revson
Charles Revson
Charles Haskell Revson was a pioneering cosmetics industry executive who created and managed Revlon through five decades.-Early age:...
knew top competitor Hazel Bishop
Hazel Bishop
Hazel Gladys Bishop was a chemist and the founder of the cosmetics company Hazel Bishop, Inc. She is also the inventor of the first long lasting lipstick.-Early life:...
had fattened its sales through sponsoring the popular This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
, and he wanted a piece of that action if he could have it. According to Fire and Ice (1976), Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias is an American journalist, author, and columnist. His main body of work is on investment, but he has also written on politics, insurance, and other topics. Since 1999, he has been the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee.-Biography:Tobias graduated from Harvard College in...
' biography of Revson, Revlon first signed a deal to sponsor Cowan's brainchild for 13 weeks with the right to withdraw when they expired.
The $64,000 Question premiered June 7, 1955 on CBS-TV, sponsored by cosmetics maker Revlon and originating from the start live from CBS-TV Studio 52 in New York (later the disco-theater Studio 54
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
). The first contestant on the show was Thelma Farrell Bennett, a housewife from Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
who failed to make it to the first plateau but won a 1955 Cadillac convertible.
To increase the show's drama and suspense, it was decided to use an actor rather than a broadcaster as the host. Television and film actor Hal March
Hal March
Hal March was a Jewish-American comedian and actor.-Early career:March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March." He also partnered with actor/comic Tom d'Andrea in the early...
, familiar to TV viewers as a supporting regular on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
and My Friend Irma, found instant fame as the quiz show's host, and Lynn Dollar stood nearby as his assistant. Author and TV panelist Dr. Bergen Evans
Bergen Evans
Bergen Baldwin Evans was an American lexicographer, a Rhodes Scholar, a Harvard College graduate, a Northwestern University professor of English, and a television host...
was the show's expert authority, and actress Wendy Barrie
Wendy Barrie
Wendy Barrie was a British actress who worked in British and American films.-Early life:Marguerite Wendy Jenkins was born in Hong Kong to British parents...
did the "Living Lipstick" commercials. (Coincidentally, in 1978, Evans and Barrie died within 72 hours of each other.) To capitalize on the initial television success, the show was also simulcast for two months on CBS Radio where it was heard from October 4, 1955 to November 29, 1955.
Gameplay
Contestants first chose a subject category (such as "Boxing", "Lincoln" or "Jazz") from the Category Board. Although this board was a large part of the set, it was seen only briefly, evidently to conceal the fact that categories were sometimes hastily added to match a new contestant's subject. The contestant would then be asked questions only in the chosen category, earning money which doubled ($64, $128, $256 to $512, then $1,000, $2,000, $4,000, $8,000, $16,000, $32,000 to $64,000) as the questions became more difficult. At the $4,000 level, a contestant would return each week for only one question per week. They could quit at any time and retire with their money, but until they won $512, if they got a question wrong, they were eliminated without winning anything. Missing a question worth $1,000-$8,000 left the player with $512. Once the contestant won $8,000, if they missed a question they received a consolation prize of a new Cadillac. Starting with the $8,000 question, they were placed in the RevlonRevlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
"isolation booth
Isolation booth
An isolation booth is a device used to prevent a person or people from seeing or hearing certain events. On game shows, the isolation booth might be used to prevent contestants from hearing the other player's answers , from hearing...
", where they could hear nothing but the host's words. As long as the contestant kept answering correctly, they could stay on the show until they had won $64,000. The first contestant to win the top prize money, on September 13, 1955, was Richard S. McCutchen, a Marine whose subject was cooking
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...
. McCutchen became an instant celebrity, with people stopping him in the street to ask for his autograph.
Triumph
Almost immediately, The $64,000 Question beat every other program on Tuesday nights in ratings. Broadcast historian Robert Metz, in CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye, claimed U.S. President Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
himself did not want to be disturbed while the show was on and that the nation's crime rate, movie theater, and restaurant patronage dropped dramatically when the show aired. It earned the #1 rating spot
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
for the 1955–56 season, holding the distinction of being the only television show to knock I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
out of the #1 spot. Among its imitators or inspirations were The Big Surprise
The Big Surprise
The Big Surprise is a television quiz show broadcast in the United States by NBC from October 8, 1955 to June 9, 1956 and from September 18, 1956 to April 2, 1957. It was hastily created by NBC in response to the overwhelming ratings success of The $64,000 Question, which had premiered on CBS in...
, Tic-Tac-Dough
Tic-Tac-Dough
Tic-Tac-Dough is an American television game show based on the pen-and-paper game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, X or O, on the board. Three versions were produced: the initial 1956–59 run on NBC, a 1978–1986 run initially on...
, and Twenty-One.
The $64,000 Challenge
Not only did Charles Revson not exercise his withdrawal right, but he wanted another way to take advantage of Questions swollen audience. April 8, 1956 saw the debut of The $64,000 Challenge (initially co-sponsored by RevlonRevlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
and Lorillard Tobacco Company
Lorillard Tobacco Company
Lorillard Tobacco Company is an American tobacco company marketing cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. Lorillard is a member of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.- History :...
's Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
cigarettes), hosted through August 26 by future children's television star Sonny Fox
Sonny Fox
Irwin "Sonny" Fox is an American television host, executive and broadcasting consultant, who was the fourth full-time host of the children's television program, Wonderama.-Biography:...
and then, for the remainder of the show's life, Ralph Story
Ralph Story
Ralph Story, originally Ralph Bernard Snyder was an American television and radio personality. He was best remembered as the host of The $64,000 Challenge, a spin off of the game show The $64,000 Question, from 1956 until 1958.-Biography:Story was born Ralph Bernard Snyder in Kalamazoo, Michigan...
.
It pitted contestants against winners of at least $8,000 on The $64,000 Question in a new, continuing game where they could win another $64,000. The players took turns answering questions from the same category starting at the $1,000 level. If they each answered a question correctly, the next level would be twice that of the previous level. Each of the higher money levels involved both players answering the same question while each standing in their own isolation booth. If, at any given level, a player answered correctly with the other player missing a question, the winning player may stop or continue playing, but would be guaranteed the same amount at which he or she defeated his or her opponent.
In time, the sister show came to include various celebrities, including bandleader Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
and former child star Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, as well as former Question champions.
Everyday celebrities
Question contestants sometimes became celebrities themselves for a short while, including 11-year-old Robert Strom (who won $192,000) and Teddy Nadler ($252,000 across both shows), the two biggest winners in the show's history. Other such newly made celebrities included Italian-born Bronx shoemaker Gino Prato, who won $64,000 for his encyclopedic knowledge of operaOpera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. The longest enduring of these newly made celebrities was psychologist Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers
Joyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...
. Answering questions about boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, she became, after McCutcheon, the second top winner, and went on to a career providing psychological advice in newspaper columns and TV shows for the next four decades. Another winner, Pennsylvania typist Catherine Kreitzer, read Shakespeare on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
. TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
kept a running tally of the money won on the show, which hit $1 million by the end of November 1956.
The American Experience (PBS) episode probing the scandal noted, "All the big winners became instant celebrities and household names. For the first time, America's heroes were intellectuals or experts–jockey Billy Pearson on art, Marine Captain McCutcheon on cooking–every subject from the Bible to baseball. Not only had the contestants become rich overnight, but they were also treated to a whirlwind of publicity tours, awards, endorsements and meetings with dignitaries. Traveler Gino Prato, whose category was opera, was brought to Italy for a special performance at la Scala and honored by an audience with the Pope. After winning $64,000, spelling whiz Gloria Lockerman, an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, became a guest speaker at the 1956 Democratic National Convention
1956 Democratic National Convention
The 1956 National Convention of the Democratic Party nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for President and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for Vice President. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois August 13–17 1956. Unsuccessful...
. She also appeared as a guest on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show is an hour-long comedy/variety show which aired live on NBC from January 23, 1954, to May 29, 1956. The series was hosted by the late Martha Raye, a Montana native, who often called herself "The Big Mouth." Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by...
where she was warmly greeted by Martha Raye
Martha Raye
Martha Raye was an American comic actress and standards singer who performed in movies, and later on television....
and fellow guest Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
. Baseball expert Myrtle Power was made a sports commentator on CBS. Eleven-year-old stock market expert Lenny Ross
Leonard Ross
Leonard Ross was an American teacher, lawyer, and government official who was famous for his celebrity as a television game show contestant. He committed suicide in the pool of a California motel.-Game shows:...
was asked to open up the New York Stock Exchange. And with only an eighth-grade education, supply clerk Teddy Nadler, an expert on everything, won more money than any other contestant. It was a new kind of hero in America, a common person with the uncommon gift of knowledge."
Merchandising and parodies
One category on the Revlon Category Board was "Jazz", and within months of the premiere Columbia Records issued a 1955 album of various jazz artists under the tie-in title $64,000 Jazz (CL 777, also EP B-777), with the following tracks: "The Shrike" (Pete Rugolo), "Perdido" (J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding), "Laura" (Erroll Garner), "Honeysuckle RoseHoneysuckle Rose (song)
"Honeysuckle Rose" is a 1928 song composed by Fats Waller, whose lyrics were written by Andy Razaf. Fats Waller's 1934 recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999....
" (Benny Goodman), "Tawny" (Woody Herman), "One O'Clock Jump" (Harry James), "How Hi the Fi" (Buck Clayton), "I'm Comin', Virginia" (Eddie Condon), "A Fine Romance" (Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond), "I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart" (Duke Ellington) and "Ain't Misbehavin'" (Louis Armstrong).
Other musical tie-ins included the 1955 song, "The $64,000 Question (Do You Love Me)", recorded by Bobby Tuggle (Checker 823), Jackie Brooks (Decca 29684) and the Burton Sisters (RCA Victor 47-6265). "Love Is the $64,000 Question" (1956), which used the show's theme music by Norman F. Leyden with added Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera....
lyrics, was recorded by Hal March (Columbia 40684), Karen Chandler (Decca 29881), Jim Lowe (Dot 15456) and Tony Travis (RCA Victor 47-6476).
When the show was revived in 1976 as The $128,000 Question, its theme music and cues were performed (albeit with a new disco-style arrangement for the theme) by Charles Randolph Grean
Charles Randolph Grean
Charles Randolph Grean was an American producer and composer.-Professional life:Grean's first work was as a copyist in several big bands, including Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Charlie Spivak...
, who released a three-and-a-half minute single, "The $128,000 Question" (the show's music and cues as an instrumental), with the B-side ("Sentimentale") on the Ranwood label (45rpm release R-1064). For the show's second season, Grean's music package was re-recorded by Guido Basso.
There were numerous parodies of the program, including Bob and Ray
Bob and Ray
Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were an American comedy team whose career spanned five decades. Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as...
's The 64-Cent Question. The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.-Cast:*Jack Benny - Himself...
featured Hal March as a contestant in an October 20, 1957 spoof with Benny asking the questions. As a gag, Benny actually appeared as a contestant on The $64,000 Question, but insisted on walking away with $64 after answering the first question. Hal March finally gave him $64 out of his own pocket.
At the height of its popularity, The $64,000 Question was referenced in the scripts of other CBS shows, usually but not exclusively through punch lines that included references to "the isolation booth" or "reaching the first plateau." Typical of these was spoken by The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy television show, based on a recurring 1951–'55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network's Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network's The Jackie Gleason Show hosted by Jackie Gleason, and filmed before a live...
Ed Norton (Art Carney
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....
), who identified three times in a man's life when he wants to be alone, with the third being "when he's in the isolation booth of The $64,000 Question." At least three other Honeymooners episodes referenced Question: In A Woman's Work Is Never Done Ralph proposes to Alice that he go on the show because he's an expert in the "Aggravation" category. In Hello, Mom Norton tells Ralph that his mother-in-law's category on the show would be "Nasty". In The Worry Wart, Ralph advises Alice to become a contestant because she's an expert in the "Everything" category.
Another episode of The Honeymooners, delivered one of the best known Question references – a parody of the show itself, in one of the so-called "Original 39" episodes of the timeless situation comedy. In that episode, blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden becomes a contestant on the fictitious $99,000 Answer. Regarded as one of the Golden Age of Television
Golden Age of Television
The Golden Age of Television in the United States began sometime in the late 1940s and extended to the late 1950s or early 1960s.-Evolutions of drama on television:...
's best quiz show parodies, the Honeymooners episode depicted Kramden spending a week intensively studying popular songs, only to blow the first question on the subject when he returned to play on the show. The host of the fictitious $99,000 Answer was one Herb Norris, played by former Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. It originated in the United States and escalated in popularity during the late 1940s when it became the format for a successful weekly radio quiz program....
emcee and future Tic-Tac-Dough
Tic-Tac-Dough
Tic-Tac-Dough is an American television game show based on the pen-and-paper game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, X or O, on the board. Three versions were produced: the initial 1956–59 run on NBC, a 1978–1986 run initially on...
host Jay Jackson
Jay Jackson
Jay Jackson was an American radio and television quiz show host and announcer more familiar for a one-off, fictitious host he played on a legendary situation comedy than he was during his time as a real radio and television performer.Jackson was the master of ceremonies of the panel quiz show...
.
The show has been referenced on other game shows. On the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal
Deal or No Deal is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which was the Dutch Miljoenenjacht produced by Dutch producer Endemol. It is played with up to 26 cases with certain sums of money...
, an episode aired January 15, 2007, in which the banker's offer was $64,000. Host Howie Mandel
Howie Mandel
Howard Michael "Howie" Mandel is a Canadian stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role on...
said, "This is the $64,000 question."
Philip K. Dick
Philip K. Dick
Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...
used the show's fabricated reality as a springboard to develop an entire science fiction novel, Time Out of Joint
Time out of Joint
Time Out of Joint is a novel by Philip K. Dick, first published in novel form in the United States in 1959. An abridged version was also serialised in the British science fiction magazine New Worlds Science Fiction in several installments from December 1959 to February 1960, under the title...
.
Cancellation
Three years after it exploded into a nation's consciousness, Question and Challenge were dead. Having faded in popularity as it was, in the wake of the hugely popular Twenty-OneTwenty One (game show)
Twenty One is an American game show which aired in the late 1950s. While it included the most popular contestant of the quiz show era, it became notorious for being a rigged quiz show which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of United States Senate investigations...
championship of Charles Van Doren
Charles Van Doren
Charles Lincoln Van Doren is an American intellectual, writer, and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s...
, Question and Challenge were yanked off the air within three months of the quiz show scandal's eruption. Challenge went first on September 14, 1958 with Question – once the emperor of Tuesday-night television – taking its Sunday-night timeslot after a three-month hiatus until it was killed on November 9.
Scandal
The relatively new but phenomenally popular DottoDotto
Dotto is an American television quiz show which aired on CBS from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the...
, and then Twenty-One, were found to have been rigged and were promptly canceled. Then one Challenge contestant, the Rev. Charles Jackson, told the federal grand jury probing the quiz shows that he received answers during his screening for his appearance. That prompted Challenges sponsor, the Lorillard Tobacco Company
Lorillard Tobacco Company
Lorillard Tobacco Company is an American tobacco company marketing cigarettes under the brand names Newport, Maverick, Old Gold, Kent, True, Satin, and Max. Lorillard is a member of the National Black Chamber of Commerce.- History :...
(Kent, Old Gold cigarettes), to drop the show.
The $64,000 Question had the opposite problem: sponsor Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
– possibly under pressure from its chieftain, Charles Revson, who has been credited with expressing the desire for famous faces that prompted Challenges expansion to include celebrities - often tried to interfere with the production of Question, including and especially trying to bump contestants it simply disliked, no matter whether the audience liked them. Revson's brother, Martin, was assigned to oversee Question–including heavy discussions of feedback the show received. The would-be bumpees included Joyce Brothers herself, who managed to outwit the question writers and Revlon long enough to win the maximum prize.
According to producer Joe Cates in a PBS documentary on the scandals, he used an IBM sorting machine to give the illusion that the questions were randomly selected – in fact, all of the cards were identical. Since all of the buttons were on one line, they were mostly for show.
It was revealed during Congressional investigations into the quiz show scandal that Revlon was as determined to keep the show appealing - even if it meant manipulating the results – as the producer of Twenty-One (albeit also under sponsor pressure) had been. Unlike Twenty-One and Dotto, where contestants got the answers in advance, Revlon was reportedly far more subtle: they may have depended less on asking questions on the air that a contestant had already heard in pre-air screenings than on switching the questions kept secure in a bank vault at the last minute, to make sure a contestant the sponsor liked would be suited according to his or her chosen expertise.
The most prominent victim may have been the man who launched the franchise in the first place. Louis Cowan, made CBS Television president as a result of Questions fast success, was forced out of the network as the quiz scandal ramped up, even though it was NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's and not CBS' quiz shows bearing the brunt of the scandal – and even though CBS itself, with a little help from sponsor Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
, had moved fast in cancelling the popular Dotto
Dotto
Dotto is an American television quiz show which aired on CBS from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the...
at almost the moment it was confirmed that that show had been rigged. Cowan had never been suspected of taking part in any attempt to rig either Question or Challenge; later CBS historians suggested his reputation as an administrative bottleneck may have had as much to do with his firing as his tie to the tainted shows. Cowan may have been a textbook sacrificial lamb, in a bid to preempt any further scandal while the network scrambled to recover, and while president Frank Stanton
Frank Stanton
Frank Nicholas Stanton was an American broadcasting executive who served as the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971 and then vice chairman until 1973. He also served as the chairman of the Rand Corporation from 1961 until 1967.Along with William S. Paley, Stanton is credited with the...
accepted complete responsibility for any wrongdoing committed under his watch.
Aftermath
By the end of 1959, all first generation big-money quizzes were gone with single-sponsorship television following and a federal law against fixing television game shows (an amendment to the 1960 Communications Act) coming. Except for the skill-based Jackpot BowlingJackpot Bowling
Jackpot Bowling is a professional bowling show on NBC from January 9, 1959 to June 24, 1960 and again from September 19, 1960 to March 13, 1961....
(1959-1961) and the short-lived 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...
quiz 100 Grand
100 Grand (game show)
100 Grand was an American game show hosted by Jack Clark, with Bill Wendell announcing. The series ran for three episodes, weekly on Sunday nights from September 15 to 29, 1963 on the highly-touted "New ABC" as the network's attempt to bring back high-stakes game shows after the quiz show scandals...
(1963), the networks stayed away from awarding five-figure cash jackpots until the premiere of The $10,000 Pyramid
Pyramid (game show)
Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
in 1973. The disappearance of the quiz shows gave rise to television's next big phenomenon–Westerns
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
.
None of the people who were directly involved in rigging any of the quiz shows faced any penalty more severe than suspended sentences for perjury before the federal grand jury that probed the scandal, even if many hosts and producers found themselves frozen out of television for many years. One Question contestant, Doll Goostree, sued both CBS and the producers in a bid to recoup $4,000 she said she might have won if her match of Question hadn't been rigged. Neither Goostree nor any other quiz contestant who similarly sued won their cases.
- Louis Cowan – In addition to
Quiz Kids
Quiz Kids, a popular radio-TV series of the 1940s and 1950s, was created by Chicago public relations and advertising man Louis G. Cowan . Originally sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, the series was first broadcast on NBC from Chicago, June 28, 1940, airing as a summer replacement show for Alec Templeton...
(1949–1951), Cowan also created Down You Go
Down You Go
Down You Go is an American television game show originally broadcast on the DuMont Television Network. The Emmy Award-nominated series ran from 1951–1956 as a prime time series hosted by Dr. Bergen Evans...
(1951–1956) and the short-lived Ask Me Another (1952). Cowan briefly served as 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 Network president before leaving in the wake of the quiz show scandals. He later joined the faculty of the Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
school of journalism. He and his wife Polly were killed in an apartment fire in New York City in 1976. Lou Cowan's son Geoffrey later produced brief revivals of Quiz Kids in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and is currently dean of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
Annenberg School for Communication.
- Hal March – The former comic actor who became an overnight star on
It's Your Bet
It's Your Bet is an American game show which aired in syndication from 1969-1973. The series was a revised version of the NBC game I'll Bet, which aired in 1965 and was a Ralph Andrews production.-Hosts:...
in 1969, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in 1970, four months short of his 50th birthday.
- Irwin "Sonny" Fox – The first
Wonderama
Wonderama was a long-running children's television program that appeared on the Metromedia-owned stations from 1955 to 1986, with WNEW-TV in New York City being its originating station....
. Fox hosted Way Out Games (1976-1977), a Saturday-morning series for CBS, then later spent a year (1977-1978) running children's programming for NBC and eventually became a chairman of the board for Population Communications International, a nonprofit dedicated to "technical assistance, research and training consultation to governments, NGOs and foundations on a wide range of social marketing and communications initiatives", for which he is still an honorary chairman. Fox has also been a board chairman for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
- Patty Duke – A child star (thanks to her film portrayal of Helen KellerHelen KellerHelen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
) when she appeared on Challenge, she eventually testified to Congressional investigators - and broke to tears when she admitted she'd been coached to speak falsely, an incident Sonny Fox described when interviewed for the PBS program reviewing the quiz scandals. Duke survived to become a television star (The Patty Duke ShowThe Patty Duke ShowThe Patty Duke Show is an American sitcom which ran on ABC from September 18, 1963, until May 4, 1966, with reruns airing through August 31, 1966. The show was created as a vehicle for rising star Patty Duke...
) in the early-to-mid-'60s, before moving on to more film and television work (including a memorable role in Valley of the DollsValley of the Dolls (film)The soundtrack was released in 1967. Dionne Warwick sang the title track; however, her version is not on the soundtrack. Warwick was signed to Scepter Records at the time and could not contractually appear...
), becoming an activist in the Screen Actors GuildScreen Actors GuildThe Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
, writing two memoirs (Call Me Anna and A Brilliant Madness) describing her troubled child acting career and her lifelong battle with manic depression, and becoming an advocate for better protection and benefits for child actors.
- Charles Revson – Inspired by cosmetics competitor Hazel BishopHazel BishopHazel Gladys Bishop was a chemist and the founder of the cosmetics company Hazel Bishop, Inc. She is also the inventor of the first long lasting lipstick.-Early life:...
(whose sponsoring of This Is Your LifeThis Is Your LifeThis Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
provided big sales to Bishop) to think about television sponsorship in the first place, Revson was never investigated in his own right for his role in the quiz show scandals despite testifying (as did his brother, Martin) before Congress when the scandals broke in earnest. The cosmetics empire he founded, however, continued its success – and continued to sponsor television programming – for many years after the scandals faded away. Known as a hard-driving, hard-driven perfectionist whose overbearing manner usually alienated even his closest business partners, Revson's success left him a billionaire when he died in 1975. His charitable foundation has since given over $145 Million in grants to schools, hospitals, and service organizations in various Jewish communities.
- Dr. Joyce BrothersJoyce BrothersJoyce Brothers is an American psychologist, television personality and advice columnist, publishing a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960.-Personal life:...
– Only the second contestant to win the show's big prize (after expertly thwarting numerous attempts to bump her from the show because Martin Revson was said to have disliked her and doubted her credibility as a boxing expert), Brothers has enjoyed the most enduring fame and media success among anyone who rose to prominence by way of Question. Her championship as a boxing expert led to an invitation to become a commentator for CBS' telecast of a championship boxing match between Sugar Ray RobinsonSugar Ray RobinsonSugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...
and Carmen BasilioCarmen BasilioCarmine Basilio better known in the boxing world as Carmen Basilio, is an American former professional boxer who was a two weight world boxing champion...
. By August 1958, Brothers was given her own television program, first locally in New York and then in national syndication. Making numerous television and radio appearances as a psychologist, not to mention numerous television comedy roles, Brothers has also written a long-running syndicated advice column in newspapers and magazines. She is still considered, arguably, the first media psychologist and has been licensed by New York as a psychologist since 1958.
- Ralph Story – He became the much-loved host of Ralph Story's Los Angeles (1964–1970), still considered the highest-rated, best-loved local show in Los Angeles television history. Story has also hosted A.M. Los Angeles and was the narrator for the ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe 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...
series Alias Smith and Jones in 1972–1973. He died on September 26, 2006 at the age of 86.
Revivals
Selected PBS outlets showed surviving kinescopes of the original Question in Summer 1976, as a run-up to a new version of the show called The $128,000 QuestionThe $128,000 Question
The $128,000 Question was an American game show which aired from 1976-1978 in weekly syndication. This revival of The $64,000 Question was produced by Cinelar and distributed by Viacom Enterprises....
, which ran for two years. The first season was hosted by Mike Darrow and produced at the Ed Sullivan Theater
Ed Sullivan Theater
The Ed Sullivan Theater, located at 1697-1699 Broadway between West 53rd and West 54th, in Manhattan, is a venerable radio and television studio in New York City...
in New York City, while the second was produced at Global Television Network
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
in Don Mills
Don Mills
Don Mills is a mixed-use neighbourhood in the North York district of Toronto, Canada. It was developed to be a self-supporting "new town" and was at the time located outside of Toronto proper. Consisting of residential, commercial and industrial sub-districts, it was planned and developed by...
near Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada and hosted by Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
.
In 1999, television producer Michael Davies
Michael Davies
Michael Davies may refer to:* Michael Davies , Traditionalist Catholic writer* Michael Davies , Clerk of the Parliaments 1997-2003* Michael Davies , cricketer...
attempted to revive Question as The $640,000 Question for 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...
, before abandoning that project in favor of producing an American version of the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
. Millionaire has a very similar format to The $64,000 Question – 15 questions (now 14) in which the contestant's money roughly doubles with each correct question until reaching the top prize. However, the questions in Millionaire are of a broader variety than Questions one-category line of questioning and have a different category for each question, and Millionaire offers three chances for help (called "lifelines"), which were not present in Question.
In 2000, responding to the success of Millionaire, 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...
bought the rights to the property in a reported effort to produce another revival attempt, The $1,064,000 Question, to be hosted by sportscaster
Sportscaster
In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
Greg Gumbel
Greg Gumbel
Greg Gumbel is an American television sportscaster. He is best known for his various assignments on the CBS network...
. Because of format issues similar to those encountered by Davies for 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...
, this version was never broadcast.
Sources
- Tim's TV Showcase
- The Museum of Broadcast Communications
- Fifties Web: Quiz Shows
- American Experience: The Quiz Show Scandal