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Chronological (more or
less) by Bill's participation as host:
Contrary to several sources, Bill was not the first host of this series. It was, however, the first series he hosted. Ward Wilson was the original host, and Bill was the show's announcer. When Wilson had to step down about six months into the show's run, Bill was made a temporary master of ceremonies. He did so well the job was made permanent, and he was on his way to a career of hosting games. He later relinquished hosting duties for this program to Bud Collyer. At least three episodes survive, all hosted by Bill. Bill would later host the television version of Winner Take All. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
On Catch Me If You Can, a "climber" answered questions to move up rungs of a ladder. A second contestant, the "challenger", could eliminate the climber by challenging his answer and providing the correct one. The challenger then became the climber, and a new challenger was introduced. Any player who reached the top rung of the ladder reached the Golden Door and the opportunity to unravel a mystery sentence for a merchandise jackpot. When Chrysler's DeSoto became sponsor of the show, the title, time slot and rules were all changed, making Bill just about the only constant (see Hit the Jackpot).
This show was originally known as Catch Me If You Can, and had different rules. When Chrysler's DeSoto became sponsor of the show, they changed the title to Hit the Jackpot and changed the format. Listeners who submitted postcards were contacted at random and given a chance to guess a mystery phrase to win a valuable jackpot of prizes. Prizes included trips, furniture and a new DeSoto, and could be worth as much as $25,000, a huge payoff for early radio. Mark Goodson and Bill Todman produced the series. BEAT THE CLOCK
The format of Bill's 1949 show is very similar to a listing we found for a 1948 Goodson-Todman radio show called Time's A Wastin'. Bud Collyer, who would go on to host the TV version of Beat the Clock, hosted this earlier series which ran from October 6 to December 29 and also featured contestants answering questions in a race against the clock. QUICK AS A
FLASH
Clues were sometimes simply read by the host (originally Ken Roberts, replaced in 1947 by Win Elliot). Sometimes, though, Ray Bloch's orchestra performed musical clues, and once in each show (during the fifth "race") a fully dramatized short mystery play provided the clues. These plays featured stars of popular detective series, performing as their well known characters. The tiny newsmagazine Quick published a weekly news quiz called Quick as a Flash. It's unknown how much the two had in common, though the magazine quiz page did mention the date and time of the radio show. Even in the era of big money radio jackpots running into the tens of thousands of dollars, Quick as a Flash was always played for meager prizes, relying on the musical and dramatic entertainment for its popularity. Parts of two Quick As A Flash episodes survive today. One is a ten minute excerpt from a 1948 game hosted by Ken Roberts. The other is the first fifteen minutes of one of Bill's episodes from May 23, 1951. Both feature Bret Morrison as The Shadow. Bill also hosted the 1953 pilot for the streamlined television version of this series, but did not host the brief series that followed. His pilot episode survives today (with guest stars Boris Karloff and Wendy Barrie) but the series itself appears to be lost. STRIKE IT RICH
Strike It Rich was a long-running success on radio and television. Described as a charity show masked as a quiz, it featured downtrodden contestants answering a series of questions for a cash payoff, or for a much needed prize. Even if the players failed, donations were called in on the "heartline", making sure no one went home broke. Warren Hull is the host most closely
associated with both the radio and television versions. He took over the
radio show in 1948, and is the only regular host reference books list from
that point on. Still, a July 4, 1951 Variety article names this program
as one of Bill's credits at the time. Our best guess is that Bill
filled in for a while around the time Hull was preparing to take the show
to television (the TV debut was May, 1951). Hull used many guest
hosts on the TV version (maybe even Bill?) so turning over the radio reins
wouldn't have been out of character.
Bill and Arlene Francis were co-hosts
for this game show with variety elements. Phil
Chavin, a fan in Sweden who gave us the dates above, is very eager
to hear from anyone with more details about the show (as are we, of course).
He's trying to confirm a memory he has that Bill and Arlene sang Anything
You Can Do (I Can Do Better) on every broadcast, possibly as an opening
number or perhaps introducing some battle-of-the-sexes competition. That
would be interesting, since Bill rarely did any singing, even when hosting
music games. Sponsors included Toni, Prom and White Rain (all products
of Gillette).
Walk A Mile began life as a summer repacement for The Bob Hawk Show, another quizzer also sponsored by Camel Cigarettes. Hawk's show dated all the way back to 1942, when it was called Thanks to the Yanks and rewarded servicemen. In 1945, the show was renamed for its popular host, and that's when it instituted its popular "Lemac" game. A contestant would be asked five questions in a category, and each answer would begin with one of the letters L-E-M-A-C. ("Camel" backwards, of course.) Anyone who answered all five correctly would be crowned a Lemac, and all Lemacs returned at the end of the show to attempt a difficult five-part final question for a jackpot prize. The simpler format of Walk A Mile took advantage of the sponsor's famous advertising slogan, "I'd walk a mile for a Camel." Each contestant was asked four questions, every question representing a quarter-mile advance. If the contestant answered all four questions correctly, he "walked" the full mile and won $250. A jackpot question at the end paid $500, and the money in the jackpot carried over to the following week if the question went unanswered. The unusual scheduling of Walk A Mile had it bouncing between the CBS and NBC networks, and over its two and a half year run it had three hosts. Win Elliot hosted the first summer season in 1952. When the show resurfaced on NBC that fall, John Henry Faulk was the host. Bill replaced Faulk on April 8, 1953 and stayed with the show until the end of its run. During its summer run on CBS in 1953, some sources even referred to the series as The Bill Cullen Show. Bob Hawk did not return in the fall of 1953, but Walk A Mile moved back to NBC anyway, where it stayed for another year or so. No tapes of Walk A Mile are
known to exist, and only one episode of The Bob Hawk Show survives.
Vocalists Jill Corey and Jack Haskell provided the music for Bill's version, along with Ray Bloch and his Orchestra. Guest performers included Richard Hayman, The Mills Brothers and even Irving Berlin, who made a surprise appearance in one episode and actually performed. Legendary CBS announcer Bern Bennett was the show's voice and the man who actually shouted "Stop the Music!" when a lucky audience member was contacted. Happy Felton replaced Bill at some
point in the series' brief revival. (Bill was featured at least through
October 19, and perhaps much later.) The series was originally an
hour long, but eventually expanded to the odd length of 75 minutes.
At least five episodes of Bill's series survive today, even more than the
better-known Bert Parks original.
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WINNER
TAKE ALL
This
complicated early game show had a long, healthy run. Six contestants
selected from the studio audience competed. The game was played in
six rounds, dubbed "races" and given names associated with popular racecourses
(i.e. "The Belmont") Contestants heard clues to a topic and pressed
their buzzers to stop the clues and attempt to answer. (The flashing lights
also associated with the buzzers were lost on the radio audience.)
A wrong answer eliminated a player from that "race" and the clues continued
for the remaining players.
The
original version of this series, hosted by Bert Parks, was a huge hit built
around a simple idea. As the orchestra played, phone calls were placed
at random to anyone in the country. Listeners who answered their
phones and named the familiar song being played won a small prize and the
chance to identify a more difficult tune for an ever-increasing jackpot
that could reach $30,000. Bill's 1954 revival was similar, but with
smaller payouts.