You Bet Your Life

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You Bet Your Life was one of the most popular quiz shows in North America in the 1950s . The show was moderated by Groucho Marx and his assistant George Fenneman , who played Groucho's key word as a serious counterpart. It ran from 1947 to 1956 on the radio and from 1950 to 1961 on television. In 1960 her name was changed to "The Groucho Show". The show has been nominated for an Emmy five times .

The concept

The show lived less from the actual knowledge quiz, in which two pairs of candidates competed against each other, than from Groucho's unique pun and his spontaneous, often unplanned reactions. In the first part of the show, Groucho asked his candidates about their lives and tried to elicit as many laughs from the audience as possible during the conversation. Usually his candidates were simple people from the street. Occasionally, however, there were also a few more prominent contemporaries who often donated their winnings to a charitable cause. Among his prominent guests were u. a. Ray Bradbury , William Peter Blatty (who used his $ 10,000 winnings to write the novel The Exorcist ), Tallulah Bankhead , Phyllis Diller , Edith Head and once his brothers Chico and Harpo and Groucho's daughter Miriam.

The show

The show always opened with the theme song Hooray for Captain Spaulding from the Marx Brothers film Animal Crackers . The show's producers wanted Groucho to appear with a painted mustache, as in his films. But after leaving the film business in 1946, Groucho wanted to change his image and has always had a real beard ever since. Groucho never waived his mandatory cigar during the show either.

In the actual quiz, the participants had to answer questions from a specific area of ​​knowledge and were able to increase their winnings with each correct answer. The Secret Word brought an additional profit . The secret word was always a conventional everyday term such as “house” or “car”. If any of the contestants happened to say the secret word while talking to Groucho, the team won an additional $ 50. When the secret word was mentioned, a fabric duck floated from the studio ceiling and brought the candidates their money winnings. The duck wore glasses, a mustache and had a cigar in its beak - Groucho's image.

In the early years, the TV show was sponsored by the Plymouth auto company ; Advertising for the DeSoto brand was incorporated into the show.

Successor formats

The planned follow-up show What Do You Want? did not get beyond the production of the pilot episode. In 1962, Groucho went on air again with Tell It to Groucho in a similar format. This show only survived five months this time. In later years the show was reissued several times, including a. with presenters Buddy Hackett (1980), Richard Dawson (1988) and Bill Cosby (1992).

Awards

  • Peabody Award 1948
  • Emmy nomination 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956
  • Induction into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988

CD

The CD Groucho on Radio contains a 30-minute excerpt from the show from November 30, 1950 (Label: Radiola / Radio Yesteryear).

Web links

source

  1. ↑ Guardian Article