HERB, BOBBY & FLORENCE VanDEVENTER, HERB POLESIE AND GUEST ALDO RAY
The Family That Plays Together…
Mutual’s Twenty Questions was a family game in the truest sense of the term.
It was brought to Network Radio on February 2, 1946 by WOR/Mutual newsman Fred VanDeventer and played every Saturday night for the next eight seasons by VanDeventer, his wife Florence, (Rinard), their teenage son Bobby ,(McGuire), and sometimes their college age daughter, Nancy. The show’s producer, Herb Polesie, and a celebrity guest filled out the weekly panel. (1) An episode from its early days, March 30, 1946, is posted.
Twenty Questions was an old parlor game of deduction. Its object was to identify an object - which could be anything or anyone - within 20 questions answered “yes” or “no” by the show’s host, Mutual sportscaster Bill Slater. (2) The only clue given panelists who rotated their questions was whether the mystery subject was animal, vegetable, mineral or a combination of the elements. Slater's general knowledge was often tested by having to answer panelists' questions such as, "Is it located north of the Mason-Dixon Line," or, "Was she born before 1800?"
Listeners nominated subjects to be identified for prizes - pocket cigarette lighters from sponsor Ronson Lighters. Silver plated table lighters were awarded to those which stumped the panel - which was seldom. (3) In one episode they identified “Lincoln, Nebraska” in nine questions, “Jimmy Valentine” in 13, “A Dentist’s Chair” in 14, “The Ice Cream In Pie Ala Mode” in 15, but missed “Pete” in ‘Oh, For Pete’s Sake’. The panel became so sharp that it could sometimes identify the subject in five or six questions. Teen Bobby once identified "Brooklyn" without a question - he simply guessed it when the studio audience reacted loudly to a placard naming the subject when it was placed in front of them but out of sight to the panel.
One of the funnier shows from this period, May 24, 1947, is posted with guest Lulu McConnell from another Polesie-produced panel show, It Pays To Be Ignorant.
Twenty Questions suffered the ratings dilemma of most Mutual programs. It never achieved a season's Top 50, never scoring above 71st or a 7.9 rating. (4) Nevertheless, its fan base grew to the point that up to 20,000 letters a week were received from listeners with subject nominations for the show and looking for free lighters. Two episodes from its 7.9 season, 1948-49, are posted: September 18, 1948 and January 15, 1949.
Sponsor Ronson saw such a sales surge with Twenty Questions that it simulcast the show on WOR-TV/New York City beginning on November 2, 1949, then doubled-down on November 26th by adding a second simulcast of the Mutual radio show on NBC-TV. The three-way broadcast lasted through Christmas Eve to bolster Ronson's holiday sales.
Twenty Questions was ideal for television at the time - it was a simple, low budget game requiring little production. (5) The show wasn't off television very long. It was back on WOR-TV's Friday night schedule on March 10, 1950, with an edition separate from the Mutual radio shows. Then, its Friday night video version turned up on ABC-TV for the 1950-51 season. Twenty Questions hadn't left television for a week in the summer of 1951 when DuMont picked it up for its Friday night schedule at 8:00 and kept it there until 1954 when it bounced back to ABC-TV for an encore season on Tuesday nights.
But for fans of Network Radio's Golden Age, Twenty Questions will always remain one of Mutual's gems before it left the air on March 27, 1954. The VanDeventer family and Polesie displayed quick wit and humor reminiscent of Information Please, yet the game and subject matter were within the grasp of average listeners whose response kept Twenty Questions a fixture on Mutual’s Saturday night schedule for eight years.
(1) Bobby was replaced when he left for college by Johnny McPhee and Dick Harrison, (John Bebee). He returned to the panel upon graduation from Duke in 1954.
(2) Slater was replaced as moderator in 1953 by Jay Jackson.
(3) Before Ronson's sponsorship one-year subscriptions to Pageant Magazine were awarded for subjects used and "lifetime" subscriptions were the prize for stumpers.
(4) Twenty Questions biggest competition during this period was Gene Autry's Melody Ranch on CBS which routinely doubled its ratings.
(5) In this regard Twenty Questions was much like the Goodson-Todman game shows, What's My Line, I've Got A Secret, To Tell The Truth, etc.
Copyright © 2017, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
Mutual’s Twenty Questions was a family game in the truest sense of the term.
It was brought to Network Radio on February 2, 1946 by WOR/Mutual newsman Fred VanDeventer and played every Saturday night for the next eight seasons by VanDeventer, his wife Florence, (Rinard), their teenage son Bobby ,(McGuire), and sometimes their college age daughter, Nancy. The show’s producer, Herb Polesie, and a celebrity guest filled out the weekly panel. (1) An episode from its early days, March 30, 1946, is posted.
Twenty Questions was an old parlor game of deduction. Its object was to identify an object - which could be anything or anyone - within 20 questions answered “yes” or “no” by the show’s host, Mutual sportscaster Bill Slater. (2) The only clue given panelists who rotated their questions was whether the mystery subject was animal, vegetable, mineral or a combination of the elements. Slater's general knowledge was often tested by having to answer panelists' questions such as, "Is it located north of the Mason-Dixon Line," or, "Was she born before 1800?"
Listeners nominated subjects to be identified for prizes - pocket cigarette lighters from sponsor Ronson Lighters. Silver plated table lighters were awarded to those which stumped the panel - which was seldom. (3) In one episode they identified “Lincoln, Nebraska” in nine questions, “Jimmy Valentine” in 13, “A Dentist’s Chair” in 14, “The Ice Cream In Pie Ala Mode” in 15, but missed “Pete” in ‘Oh, For Pete’s Sake’. The panel became so sharp that it could sometimes identify the subject in five or six questions. Teen Bobby once identified "Brooklyn" without a question - he simply guessed it when the studio audience reacted loudly to a placard naming the subject when it was placed in front of them but out of sight to the panel.
One of the funnier shows from this period, May 24, 1947, is posted with guest Lulu McConnell from another Polesie-produced panel show, It Pays To Be Ignorant.
Twenty Questions suffered the ratings dilemma of most Mutual programs. It never achieved a season's Top 50, never scoring above 71st or a 7.9 rating. (4) Nevertheless, its fan base grew to the point that up to 20,000 letters a week were received from listeners with subject nominations for the show and looking for free lighters. Two episodes from its 7.9 season, 1948-49, are posted: September 18, 1948 and January 15, 1949.
Sponsor Ronson saw such a sales surge with Twenty Questions that it simulcast the show on WOR-TV/New York City beginning on November 2, 1949, then doubled-down on November 26th by adding a second simulcast of the Mutual radio show on NBC-TV. The three-way broadcast lasted through Christmas Eve to bolster Ronson's holiday sales.
Twenty Questions was ideal for television at the time - it was a simple, low budget game requiring little production. (5) The show wasn't off television very long. It was back on WOR-TV's Friday night schedule on March 10, 1950, with an edition separate from the Mutual radio shows. Then, its Friday night video version turned up on ABC-TV for the 1950-51 season. Twenty Questions hadn't left television for a week in the summer of 1951 when DuMont picked it up for its Friday night schedule at 8:00 and kept it there until 1954 when it bounced back to ABC-TV for an encore season on Tuesday nights.
But for fans of Network Radio's Golden Age, Twenty Questions will always remain one of Mutual's gems before it left the air on March 27, 1954. The VanDeventer family and Polesie displayed quick wit and humor reminiscent of Information Please, yet the game and subject matter were within the grasp of average listeners whose response kept Twenty Questions a fixture on Mutual’s Saturday night schedule for eight years.
(1) Bobby was replaced when he left for college by Johnny McPhee and Dick Harrison, (John Bebee). He returned to the panel upon graduation from Duke in 1954.
(2) Slater was replaced as moderator in 1953 by Jay Jackson.
(3) Before Ronson's sponsorship one-year subscriptions to Pageant Magazine were awarded for subjects used and "lifetime" subscriptions were the prize for stumpers.
(4) Twenty Questions biggest competition during this period was Gene Autry's Melody Ranch on CBS which routinely doubled its ratings.
(5) In this regard Twenty Questions was much like the Goodson-Todman game shows, What's My Line, I've Got A Secret, To Tell The Truth, etc.
Copyright © 2017, Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
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