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You Bet Your Life
Format	Quiz show
Created by	John Guedel
Starring	Groucho Marx George Fenneman
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	429
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	October 5, 1950 – June 29, 1961

You Bet Your Life is an American radio and television quiz show. The first and most famous version was hosted by Groucho Marx, of Marx Brothers fame, with the unflappable announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on radio in 1947, then made the transition to the NBC television network in 1950. The television version was changed very little from the radio version. It was filmed before a studio audience, then slightly edited for television broadcast. In 1960 it was renamed The Groucho Show and ran a further year. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Image File history File links Ybylife. ... Quiz Show is a 1994 film which tells the true story of the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s. ... “Groucho” redirects here. ... George Watt Fenneman (November 10, 1919 - May 29, 1997) was a radio and television announcer. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... For other uses, see 5th October (Serbia). ... Year 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Quiz Show is a 1994 film which tells the true story of the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s. ... “Groucho” redirects here. ... This article is about the comedian siblings. ... George Watt Fenneman (November 10, 1919 - May 29, 1997) was a radio and television announcer. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... See also: 1949 in television, other events of 1950, 1951 in television and the list of years in television. // Events February 12 - European Broadcasting Union (EBU) inaugurated. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... See also: 1959 in television, other events of 1960, 1961 in television and the list of years in television. For the American network television schedule, please see 1960-61 American network television schedule. ...

Show format

Groucho would be introduced to the music of "Hooray for Captain Spaulding", his signature song introduced in the 1928 Broadway musical Animal Crackers. Fenneman would say, "Here he is, the one, the ONLY..." and the audience would finish with a thunderous "GROUCHO!" In the early years Groucho would feign surprise: "Oh that's ME, Groucho Marx!" For other uses, see Captain Spaulding (disambiguation). ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Musical theater (or theatre) is a form of theater combining music, songs, dance, and spoken dialogue. ... Animal Crackers is a 1930 comedy film, and one of the Marx Brothers most beloved and oft-quoted movies. ...

The secret word

Much of the tension of the show revolved around whether any of the contestants, in pre-contest conversation with Groucho, would say the "secret word", a common word seemingly selected at random and revealed to the audience at the show's outset. If a contestant uttered the word, a toy duck made to resemble Groucho with a mustache, eyeglasses and with a cigar in its bill, would descend from the ceiling to bring the contestant-pair $100. A cartoon of a duck with a cigar was also used in the show's opening title sequence. In one special episode, Groucho's brother, Harpo came down instead of the duck. Marx would sometimes slyly direct their conversation in such a way as to encourage the secret word to come up. Subfamilies Dendrocygninae Oxyurinae Anatinae Aythyinae Merginae Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. ... Glasses, spectacles, or eyeglasses are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes, sometimes for purely aesthetic reasons but normally for vision correction or eye protection. ... For other uses, see Cigar (disambiguation). ... This article is about Harpo Marx, brother of Groucho et al. ...

The contestants were paired individuals, usually of the opposite sex. Sometimes celebrities would be paired with "ordinary" people, and it was not uncommon for the contestants to have some sort of newsworthiness about them. For example, one episode aired soon after the end of the Korean War featured Janet Wang, a Korean-American contestant who had been a prisoner of war. Combatants United Nations:  Republic of Korea,  Australia,  Belgium,  Luxembourg,  Canada,  Colombia,  Ethiopia,  France,  Greece,  Luxembourg,  Netherlands,  New Zealand,  Philippines,  South Africa,  Thailand,  Turkey,  United Kingdom,  United States Medical staff:  Denmark,  Australia,  Italy,  Norway,  Sweden Communist states:  Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,  Peoples Republic of China,  Soviet Union Commanders... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. ...

In the contest itself, contestants would choose among available categories and then try to answer a series of questions dealing with the chosen category. One popular category involved attempting to name a United States state after being given a number of cities and towns within the state.

At first, each couple started with $20. They were asked four questions in their given category. For each question, they bet up to all of their money. According to co-director Robert Dwan in his book, As Long As They're Laughing, producer John Guedel changed this because too many couples were betting--and losing--all their money. He changed the format to having couples start with $100, then pick four questions worth from $10 to $100. A correct answer added the value of the question; an incorrect answer cut the previous grand total in half, so that a couple that answered the $70, $80, $90, and $100 questions would end up with $440; missing all four questions would reduce their total to $6.25 (augmented to $25 with a question such as 'Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?').

Later, this was changed to couples answering questions either until they got 2 consecutive questions in a row wrong or answered 4 consecutive questions correctly for a prize of $1000. Toward the end (1959-61), contestants picked four questions worth $100, $200, or $300; they could win up to $1200 but needed only $500 to qualify for the jackpot question. The two contestants worked together ("Remember, only one answer between you."). If the couple bet all of their money at any point and lost (or if they ended up below $25), they were asked a consolation question for $25. Consolation questions were made easy, in hopes that no one would miss them, although some people did. The questions were in the style of "Who was buried in Grant's tomb?" "When did the War of 1812 start?" "How long do you cook a three-minute egg?" and "What color is an orange?" In addition to the quiz prizes was the famous secret-word duck. Eventually, the prize was $100 for saying the secret word. The famous "secret-word duck" was replaced from time to time with a wooden Indian figure. Modern replica The cigar store Indian or wooden Indian is an old advertisement figure made to represent cigar shops, much like barber poles advertise barber shops or the three gold balls of the pawn shop. ...

In all formats, a final question was asked for a jackpot amount for the couple who had gotten the highest total amount during the game.

In the early years (1947-56), the prize for the jackpot question started at $1000, with $500 added each week until someone correctly answered the question.

With the coming of the big-money quizzes, contestants faced a wheel with numbers from one to ten; one contestant picked a number for $10,000; later on, they picke another number for $5000. The wheel was spun; if either number came up, a correct answer to the question augmented the couple's total to that amount of money, otherwise the question was worth a total of $2000. From 1956-59, contestants risked half their $1000 won in the quiz on a shot at the wheel, one of the two players in a couple could keep their half of the money while the other risked their half; from 1959-61 they risked nothing. Groucho always reminded contestants that "I'll give you fifteen seconds to decide on a single answer. Think carefully and please, no help from the audience." Then a bit of "Captain Spaulding" was used as "think" music.

The play of the game, however, was secondary to the interplay between Groucho, the contestants, and occasionally Fenneman. The program was hugely successful and was rerun into the 1970s, and later in syndication as The Best of Groucho. As such, it was the first game show to have its reruns syndicated. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ...

The radio program was sponsored by Elgin American watches and compacts. Early seasons of the television show were sponsored by Chrysler, with advertisements for DeSoto automobiles incorporated into the opening credits and the show itself. Each show would end with Groucho sticking his head through a hole in the DeSoto logo and say "When you go into your DeSoto dealer tomorrow, tell them Groucho sent you." The Chrysler Corporation was a United States-based automobile manufacturer that existed independently from 1925–1998. ... DeSoto Logo, used in the 1950s The DeSoto (sometimes De Soto) was a brand of automobile based in the United States, marketed by the Chrysler Corporation from 1928 to 1961. ...

Since most of the series was filmed, many episodes have survived and have been available in television syndication for years. A number of episodes have also been released to DVD. The pilot episode for the TV version which was originally by CBS is also intact. In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... Size comparison: A 12 cm Sony DVD+RW and a 19 cm Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. ... This article is about the broadcast network. ...

Seven months after You Bet Your Life ended its 11-season run at NBC, Groucho had another game show in prime-time. It was titled Tell It to Groucho which aired on CBS during the winter and spring months of 1962. This article is about the broadcast network. ... See also: 1961 in television, other events of 1962, 1963 in television and the list of years in television. For the American network television schedule, please see 1962-63 American network television schedule. ...

There was a parody of this show on the Jack Benny Show, in which Jack pretends to be someone else to get on Groucho's show, and continually blabs in an effort to say the secret word ("telephone"). He gets it by accident when he says he can "tell a phony". However, he is unable to answer the final question, which ironically is about Jack Benny, simply because it asks his real age, which Jack would never give voluntarily. This episode, after its original screening, could only be watched at Groucho's home on film, and even then only if you were invited to see it. After Groucho's death the film eventually appeared in the Unknown Marx Brothers documentary on DVD. Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 in Chicago, Illinois – December 26, 1974 in Beverly Hills, California), born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor. ...

Contestants

The program staff was always on the lookout for contestants with unusual occupations or lifestyles. These usually gave Groucho enough material for a lively, funny interview session. The interviews were sometimes so memorable that the contestants became celebrities: "nature boy" health advocate Robert Bootzin; hapless Mexican laborer Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales and his offhandedly comic remarks; a witty housewife named Phyllis Diller; author Ray Bradbury; blues singer and pianist Gladys Bentley; strongman Paul Anderson. John Barbour and Ronnie Schell appeared as contestants while working on the fringes of the entertainment industry. Robert Gypsy Boots Bootzin (August 19, 1914 - August 8, 2004) was an American fitness pioneer. ... Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales (born December 21, 1926 - died February 6, 2006) was a Hispanic actor best known for his appearances in a number of John Wayne movies. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American literary, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer best known for The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 book which has been described both as a short story collection and a novel, and his 1953 dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, is widely considered... Gladys Bentley (12 August 1907-18 January 1960) was a famous butch lesbian African-American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For the 19th-century U.S. senator from Virginia see John Strode Barbour Jr. ... Ronnie Schell is a U.S. actor and stand-up comedian. ...

A courtly Southern gentleman, Harlan Sanders, talked about his "finger-lickin'" recipe for fried chicken, which he parlayed into the very successful "Kentucky Fried Chicken" chain of restaurants. An exotic guest purporting to be a wealthy nobleman was really a young writer named Bill Blatty; Groucho saw through the disguise ("You're no more a prince than I am"). William Peter Blatty won $5,000 and used the leave of absence the money afforded him to write The Exorcist. No one in the audience knew who contestant Daws Butler was until he began speaking in Huckleberry Hound's voice; he and his partner went on to win the top prize of $10,000. This stylized likeness of the Colonel serves as its logo and mascot of his restaurant chain. ... KFC (full name Kentucky Fried Chicken) is a division of Yum! Brands, Inc. ... William Peter Blatty (born January 7, 1928) is an American writer. ... The Exorcist is a horror novel written by William Peter Blatty first published in 1971. ... Daws Butler in 1976. ... Huckleberry Hound Huckleberry Huck Hound is a fictional cartoon character created by Hanna-Barbera, and the star of the late 1950s animated series The Huckleberry Hound Show, Hanna-Barberas second series made for television after The Ruff & Reddy Show. ...

Arthur Godfrey's mother Kathryn was a contestant and held her own with Groucho. Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his 11-year-old daughter Candice Bergen teamed up with Groucho and his daughter Melinda to win $1000 for the Girl Scouts. George Fenneman got to play quizmaster for this segment. General Omar Bradley was teamed with an army private, and Groucho goaded the private into telling Bradley everything that was wrong with the army. Professional wrestler Wild Red Berry admitted that the outcomes of matches were determined in advance, but that the injuries were real; he revealed a long list of injuries he'd sustained in his career. In this CBS publicity photo of Arthur Godfrey Time, vocalist Patti Clayton is seen at the far right and Godfrey sits in the foreground. ... Candice Patricia Bergen (born May 9, 1946) is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning American actress and former fashion model, primarily for her roles in sitcoms and television. ... Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army of the United States Army. ... This article is about the wrestler. ...

Other contestants were established names from entertainment, literature, and sports: Ernie Kovacs, Hoot Gibson, Ray Corrigan, John Charles Thomas, Max Shulman, Joe Louis, Bob Mathias, Johnny Weissmuller, Sam Coslow, Harry Ruby, Liberace, Don Drysdale, and Frankie Avalon, among many others. Even Groucho's brother Harpo Marx showed up to promote his just-published autobiography. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hoot Gibson (August 6, 1892 - August 23, 1962) was a rodeo champion and a pioneer cowboy film actor, director and producer. ... Ray Crash Corrigan (14 February 1902 - 10 August 1976) was an American actor most famous for appearing in B-Western movies. ... John Charles Thomas was an American baritone known for his exuberant singing style and powerful voice. ... Max Shulman (March 14, 1919 – August 28, 1988) was an American writer who was popular in the third quarter of the 20th century. ... Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981), best known as Joe Louis and nicknamed The Brown Bomber, a native of Lexington, Alabama, is regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions of all time. ... Robert Bruce Mathias (November 17, 1930 - September 2, 2006) was an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and United States Congressman. ... Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan in Tarzan and His Mate. ... Sam Coslow (December 27, 1902 - April 2, 1982) was an American songwriter, singer and film producer. ... Harry Ruby (October 29, 1895 – February 23, 1974) was an American songwriter and screenwriter. ... Wladziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987), better known by only his last name Liberace (LIB-ber-RAH-chee), was an American entertainer. ... Donald Scott Drysdale (July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. ... Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American actor and teen idol in the 1950s and early 1960s. ... This article is about Harpo Marx, brother of Groucho et al. ...

The cigar incident

One often-told story recounts the appearance of a woman contestant, Mrs. Story, who mentioned she had nineteen children. Groucho asked, "Why so many children?" The woman said, "Well, I just love my husband." Groucho replied, "I like a good cigar, but I take it out once in a while." The story goes that the remark was judged too risqué to be aired at the time, and was edited out before the radio broadcast, but the audio of the audience reaction was used by NBC for many years whenever bring-down-the house laughter was called for in laugh tracks. No copy is thought to survive.^[1] This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The story has taken on the trappings of an urban legend over the years. Both Groucho and Fenneman denied the incident ever took place. Groucho was interviewed for Esquire magazine in 1972 and said "I never said that." Hector Arce, Groucho's ghost writer for his autobiography The Secret Word Is Groucho inserted the claim that it happened, but Arce compiled the 1976 book from many sources, not solely Groucho himself. He probably was unaware Groucho had gone on record denying the claim a few years previously.^[2] An urban legend or urban myth is similar to a modern folklore consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them. ... August 2005 issue of Esquire Esquire is a mens magazine by the Hearst Corporation. ... This article is about a ghostwriter, the type of writer. ...

Later incarnations of the show

1980 Buddy Hackett version

In 1980, Buddy Hackett hosted a similar show with the same title which failed to run a single full season. The show was produced by Hill-Eubanks Productions, and syndicated by MCA. This is a list of television-related events in 1980. ... Buddy Hackett (August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003) was an American comedian and actor. ... MCA can stand for: Maximum credible accident MCA (rapper) - A rapper in the group, The Beastie Boys Micro Channel architecture - a type of computer bus Music Corporation of America - a music booking company and record label. ...

Three individual contestants appeared on the show, one at a time, to be interviewed by Hackett, and then played a True or False quiz of five questions in a particular category. The first correct answer to a question earned $25, and the amount would double with each subsequent correct answer. After the fifth question, the contestant could opt to try to correctly answer a sixth question. If correct, his/her earnings were tripled; incorrect, the earnings were cut in half. Maximum winnings were $1200.

The secret word was still worth $100.

The contestant with the most money won, came back on stage at the end of the show, to meet "Leonard," the prize duck, where they would stop a rotating device, causing a plastic egg to drop out, which concealed the name of a nice bonus prize to go with their cash winnings.

Original YBYL announcer George Fenneman appeared one time as a guest, and played the game for a member of the audience.

1988 Richard Dawson Pilot

Richard Dawson hosted a pilot for a potential revival in 1988, but NBC declined to pick up the show. Richard Dawson (born November 20, 1932) is a British-born American actor, comedian, game show panelist and host. ... A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. ... This is a list of television-related events in 1988. ...

Two teams of two unrelated players came out one team at a time and were asked three questions, either $100, $150 or $200. Later, both teams came out and played four questions each at either $200, $300 or $400. The team with the most money at the end of this round went onto a bonus game. The secret word was around, but since it was never guessed, it's unknown whether the duck survived for this pilot, or of its value.

In the bonus game, sidekick Steve Carlson read questions with either true or false answers. The players locked in their answers over a 30 second period. If the players match on 5 answers and their matched answer is correct, the team won $5000. If they don't reach five, they earn $200 per correct match.

1992 Bill Cosby version

Marx had suggested to Bill Cosby that he could do the show, when Cosby was still a struggling young comic. Marx died in 1977, but it was not until 1992 that Cosby pursued his suggestion and taped a season of the program for the syndication market. Carsey-Werner syndicated the series, the first show they distributed themselves (all product at that point went through what is now CBS Television Distribution). William Henry Bill Cosby, Jr. ... This is a list of television-related events in 1992. ... In the television industry (as in radio), syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast programs to multiple stations, without going through a broadcast network. ... Carsey-Werner Productions (in some incarnations, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Productions) is an independent production company founded in 1981 by former ABC writer/producer duo Marcey Carsey and Tom Werner (co-owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise). ... CBS Television Distribution is a United States and Global television distribution company, a merger of the television distribution arms of CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount International Television and King World. ...

The game

In this version three couples competed, each one played the game individually. When each one came out, they usually spend some time talking with Cosby. When the interview was done, the game began. Each couple started at $750, and host Cosby gave a category & asked three questions under that category. Before each question, the couple in play made a bet based on how much they know about the category. A correct answer adds the wager, but an incorrect answer deducts the wager. The Secret Word in this version was worth $500. Maximum winnings, therefore, were $6500 (including the Secret Word).

The $10,000 bonus game

The couple with the most money goes on to play for $10,000 in cash. In this game, the winning couple got to answer one last question on any given subject. An incorrect answer ends the game, but a correct answer won a choice of three envelopes (which are all attached to the blackbird, this version's duck who wore a Temple University [Cosby's alma mater] sweater). Two of the envelopes had the bird's head on it, choosing one of them doubles the couple's money (up to $12,000); while only one adds $10,000 to the winning couple's total, for total winnings of $16,500. For the private Christian university in Tennessee, see Tennessee Temple University. ... Alma mater is Latin for nourishing mother. It was used in ancient Rome as a title for the mother goddess, and in Medieval Christianity for the Virgin Mary. ...

The show's results were so unsatisfactory that most of the stations who initially bought it soon either stopped showing it entirely or moved it to a time slot in the middle of the night, and it was canceled after one season. Bill Cosby won a Kid's Choice Award while he was doing the show. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Trivia

• The "easy" consolation prize question "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" actually is quite tricky. First, since Grant's Tomb is above ground, no one is technically "buried" in it at all. Secondly, it contains the sarcophagi of both President Grant and his wife, who presumably would both have to be mentioned for an accurate answer.

Grants Tomb, circa 1909 Grants tomb 2004 Grants Tomb is a mausoleum containing the bodies of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), an American Civil War General and the 18th President of the United States, and his wife, Julia Dent Grant (1826-1902). ... Ulysses Simpson Grant (April 27, 1822 – July 23, 1885) was an American Civil War General and the 18th (1869–1877) President of the United States. ...

References

1. ^ Adams, Cecil (1986-07-25). Did Groucho Marx utter a famous double entendre ad lib on the air?. The Straight Dope. Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
2. ^ The Secret Words. Snopes. Snopes.com (2007-01-06). Retrieved on 2007-04-05.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st Century. ... is the 95th day of the year (96th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Groucho's YBYL radio shows are available on archive.org
• Clips from the TV show in Windows and Real Media formats (Public Domain)
• YouTube clip of the Bill Cosby Version
• You Bet Your Life (1950) at the Internet Movie Database
• You Bet Your Life (1992) at the Internet Movie Database