You Bet Your Life, conceived by John Guedel and hosted by comedian Groucho Marx, debuted over ABC’s airwaves on October 27th, 1947.
Three couples were brought onstage to be interviewed and quizzed by Groucho. Each couple was given twenty dollars and told to bet as much as they dared risk on four questions from a category of their choosing. The money would double with each successive step. Couples could win three-hundred twenty dollars, go broke on the first question, or finish anywhere in between.
The couple with the largest money total got a chance at the jackpot question, worth at least one-thousand dollars. There was also a “secret word” each week, with bonus money to be divided if someone said the word while the show was on the air.
Although 1947 was radio’s highest-rated season, the quiz show aired against NBC’s Mr. District Attorney on Wednesdays at 9:30. At season’s end You Bet Your Life only pulled a rating of thirteen.
Groucho felt uncomfortable trying to be funny on a live radio show. Guedel’s answer was to record the show, which allowed Groucho to relax. The program could then be edited for time later. The idea worked. The show moved to CBS in 1949. You Bet Your Life became Network Radio’s top-rated quiz show, finishing the season in eleventh place overall.
The show eventually signed a sponsorship contract with DeSoto-Plymouth of Chrysler for four million dollars over ten years. It also moved the show to NBC Radio and TV beginning on October 4th, 1950.
The program remained a top-ten hit into 1954. That March it was airing on radio Wednesday evenings at 9PM. The March 10th episode’s secret word was “street.”
You Bet Your Life aired on NBC radio until September 19th, 1956. The original TV series ran until 1961.
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