I certainly watched too much TV in the 50’s. I still watch too much TV. Back then everything was in black and white of course. “Truth or Consequences” with its host young Bob Barker was a favorite of mine. He was always smiling, always polite and the show could be funny when contestants had to pay the consequences.
“You Bet Your Life” with Groucho Marx was a family favorite. Nobody was funnier than Groucho. Even as a little kid I knew Groucho was a funny man. For some reason, Groucho reminded me of our family doctor, who also had a mustache and glasses. I guess that was enough to make them seem like they were related. I never confused the two men, its just that they reminded me of each other. On Groucho’s show, contestants were teamed together with strangers and played for prizes up to a couple hundred dollars. We would always wait with anticipation to see if anyone would say the secret word that would make the weird looking bird drop from the rafters and give the contestants some extra cash.
Art Linkletter’s “House Party” was fun to watch. The show was geared towards women I believe, but the best part for me was when he would interview the kids from the audience. He would have about six kids sitting on chairs and one by one ask them their names, what school they attended, what was their favorite color, what did their parents tell them not to say…. He was slick. Sooner or later one of the kids would say something that would make the audience roar with laughter and we at home would laugh as well. I especially liked the big long microphone he used when he talked to people.
Another favorite was “Queen For A Day”, a title that may take on a completely different meaning today than what was intended by the original. On “Queen For A Day” the host would call down women from the audience, they would tell a sad story about their life situation and whoever had the saddest story would become “Queen For A Day” and win washers and dryers, or refrigerators, or whatever the show’s producers thought she should win. She’d get a robe and a crown and everyone was crying and that was the show.
All of these shows had something in common that my five or six year old brain caught onto right away. On every show the host would ask a contestant their name and put this object in front of them while they answered. Then they would return the object to their face and ask another question, and send the object back in the face of the contestant. I noticed this and was fascinated that this long object could make people tell you all kinds of things.
One day, I was outside behind the house and noticed this old, old washing machine sitting there. It was round, had two large rubber cylinders resting horizontally on the top of it, and on one side was a long handle. This is pretty much what it looked like: http://www.jamd.com/image/g/3239465. Somehow, I managed to get the handle off (the washer didn’t work anyway) and my career as a TV game show host began.
Anyone who got close enough to me became a contestant, and I would very deftly do what all hosts did – ask them their name. Then with every bit of professionalism I could muster I would thrust the “namer” in front of them so they could respond. That’s right, the namer. All TV hosts had a namer that would make people tell them their names. Now I had one and no one could refuse. To my surprise, most people didn’t really want to be a contestant on my imaginary game show, so my career as a host was rather abruptly ended and the washing machine handle eventually found its way into the trash. Years later I learned that namers were called microphones and I started wondering who Mike was.
