God bless, Gary! Thank you for all that you've done and are still doing to protect this channel for all of the fans of WML and your hard work over the years. :)
"Two for the money" was one of my favorites on GSN"s Black and White Sunday Night. Herb Shriner playing "Silent Night" on his harmonica on his Christmas show was a show stopper. It was beautiful.
This same year, Fred shot a pilot called Take Your Choice. The shoe salesman here was also on that program and was the winner. The banter exchanged between Fred and he is almost verbatim on both shows.
I LOVE Fred Allen. I think I know where Letterman got his schtick....these TV recordings are Gold.anyway, I listen to his radio show files on an mp3 player.
You had to be really old-school to wear steel-ribbed corsets in 1954 when most women were wearing elastic girdles. My mother was like most women who only wore a girdle when she was going to dress up, unlike the sitcom idea of them in that era looking like a fashion plate while doing housework. (Of course in a lot of sitcoms and movies they had a maid. I guess maids were common among scriptwriters in Hollywood, unlike in the suburbs.) I'm not sure all the contestants understood the game.
Two contestants answered questions that had more than one answer in rounds of three for a set amount of money. The first question would start at $5 for every correct answer given, the value would be increased by the amount of answers given (i.e. if the contestants got 7 correct answers for $5 each the next round the answers would be worth $35). If any contestant got a question wrong or answered out of turn or repeated an answer the round immediately ended.
My .... you're quite obsessed with Mr. Gorshin's death, aren't you? I believe that he was in his late 70's and that his death was respiratory-related. However, you might try referencing Wikipedia.org for more info.
Gorshin's final live appearance was a Memphis performance of Say Goodnight, Gracie, in which he portrayed George Burns. He finished the performance and boarded a plane for Los Angeles on April 25, 2005. After experiencing severe breathing difficulty during the flight, the crew administered emergency oxygen. An ambulance met the plane upon landing and transported him to a Burbank hospital, where he died on May 17, 2005, at age 72 from lung cancer, complicated by emphysema and pneumonia.[13] Gorshin had been a heavy smoker for most of his adult life, consuming up to five packs of cigarettes a day. Adam West once claimed that "Frank could reduce a cigarette to ash with one draw." When he did nightclub performances or live shows, audiences were warned not to attend if they disliked smoking, as he often smoked onstage.
I can see why this show didn't last. First of all there was a lot of talk compared to the actual amount of game play. Of course, with the amount of money they could potentially give away, I could see why. The judging left a lot to be desired. Of the three incorrect answers given during the game play, the judge only caught one. Yes, Fred Allen was funny. And I understand he wasn't the regular host. But he comes across somewhat nervous and hyperkinetic. It doesn't seem to me that he does much to put the contestants' minds at ease. That isn't important on What's My Line? where the contestants just have to answer yes or no to questions about themselves. On this game, the contestants have to think quickly on their feet. That's more difficult to do with a fidgety, stuttering host.
It lasted five years. The money needs to be multiplied by at least 9 to get today's values. Fred wasn't the usual host. This was modeled on You Bet Your Life so the unusual contestants were half the show and the prices weren't the point of appearing on it. Maybe you should watch some with Herb Shriner before you pass judgement.
+K Kr To be fair, most of my criticism was leveled at Allen and Dr. Gross. Unlike "You Bet Your Life" (which I love), "Two For The Money" opens and closes the show with monologues by the host. Groucho did all of his banter with either the contestants or George Fenneman. I like that better. To be fair in response to your comment, I watched an episode hosted by Shriner and also one by Sam Levenson (my mom's favorite). I wasn't impressed by Shriner. He was looking straight down more than half the time when he delivered his opening monologue and his banter with the guests was only fair: one big laugh and one or two chuckles. The rest kind of fell flat. I admit that it might not be the right style of humor to tickle my funny bone. I thought Levenson did a better job. His opening monologue wasn't as long. (He did have a tendency to dart around a bit too fast to make eye contact with all the areas of the studio audience.) I think he did a better job interacting with the contestants than Allen or Shriner. As far as the game play itself, it's okay, but nothing special. Like Groucho on "You Bet Your Life", to make it work you need someone with a flair for banter with the contestants. If you had someone that excelled in that area (Art Linkletter, perhaps), you could skip the monologue and spend more time between host and contestants. The amount of money won was irrelevant in my evaluation. But I continue to have a problem with the judging done by Dr. Gross. I'm surprised that the lawyers in the NBC (one season) or CBS (remainder of the show) Standards and Practices Department didn't pull the plug on him and get someone better. (For example, he allowed Rufus King, an American politician who died in 1827, to count as a correct answer for U.S. Civil War generals.)
