History Of Television -- TV Game Shows of the 1940s

Game shows began on television as early as 1941 on the CBS Network. The first decade of network broadcasts produced the following shows:

CBS Television Quiz. 1941 - 1942

This was the first regular game show on television, from July 2 1941 through July 1, 1942. It was hosted by Gil Fates and Frances Buss.

High school students have done parody episodes using Legos and Lego Figures and posted them on YouTube.

Face to Face. 1946 - 1947

Hosted by Eddie and Bill Dunn and the mysterious Sugar (a woman), the object of the show was for an artist to draw a person's portrait form only verbal clues given by a panel.

Eddie Dunn was the interviewer that helped bring out clues by questioning participants who could see the person sitting for the portrait, while Bill Dunn was the sketch artist, who could not see the person.

The person being drawn was usually in another room or on the stage, separated from the artist by a curtain, similar to The Wizard of Oz. At the end of the show, a comparison was made of the sketch and the portrait sitter.

Break the Bank. 1948 - 1957

Hosts: Jack Barry, Joe Farago, Bert Parks (also hosted the Mss America Pageant for decades), Gene Rayburn, Tom Kennedy, Bud Collier.

Changing Networks with Break the Bank:

• ABC: 1948 - 1949, 1954 - 1956; New version in 1976 only.

• NBC: 1949 - 1952, 1956 - 1957

• CBS: 1952 - 1953

ABC's 1976 Edition of Break the Bank was a Big Hit but ABC Cancelled It.

In this show, 2 men and 2 women competed with a giant grid of 20 boxes. Across the top were seated 5 celebrities and along the side, 4 more to make a coordinate field of human star points. The 20 boxes were full of questions like this:

$100, $200/ or 300 in a box-: Each question was asked to the two stars on top and to the side of the box. After several joke answers, one star gave the real answer, while the other gave a false-but-possible answer. The contestant had to say which was true in order to win the money attached to the question. There were also Wild boxes, Blank boxes, and a "Money Bags" extra cash decision option.

Players won by amassing three correct answers and if they acquired 3 Money Bags, they BROKE THE BANK to receive cash or prizes of $5,000 (which could buy a car back then). The jackpot prize could increase to $20,000. People loved the show and the sponsors' products, but ABC cancelled it to increase soap operas from half an hour to 45 minutes.

You Bet Your Life. December, 1949 - 1961; Live and Taped

• Groucho Marx, his cigar, George Fenneman, and the Duck with the Magic Word.
• Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmys but never won.

This show was the graduation of Grouch Marx's radio program of the same name to television. You can view part of the pilot show below.

Sets of two contestants would come out on stage and Groucho would have an unscripted humorous conversation with them. After that, players chose question categories from which to win money.

The Duck (with mustache and cigar) would come down from the ceiling when the Magic Word was said, indicating an additional prize of $100.

Celebrities would sometimes compete on the show and they included such people as a teenaged Candice Bergen, Crash Corrigan, and Jack Benny (in disguise), as well as Harpo and Chico Marx.

One contestant was on three times in a row, From Finland, Tuulikki Woods impressed Groucho and he had both her and her husband back on to win sizable amounts of money.

Below are the Pilot Episode from 1949 and a few clips from other episodes.