You Bet Your Life

I've seen only the first episode, but it's clear that every single show is priceless. Groucho is absolutely brilliant, self-confident, mischievous and avuncular. There is no one like him. The contestants are also fascinating. This show is fresh, spontaneous, relaxed. It's a shame that it isn't being rerun. It has both entertainment and documentary value.

I was born years after the series ended, only discovered this recently. Outside of Steve Harvey, I can't think of any game show host anywhere as close to being as funny and quick witted, and done entirely off the cuff, as Groucho. I've even taken to looking up his old appearances on Dick Cavett and elsewhere.

He is easily as funny on this show as in the classic Marx Brothers films of the 30s. The game show itself was almost irrelevant. It was just an excuse to hear one of the funniest men of the century.

Each week the show had some pretty interesting guests. Old time actors, unusual families. On one show a cowboy star challenged Marx to a staged boxing match, doing a stunt fall though the man was perhaps in his 60s.

Marx seemed to especially enjoy having immigrants as guests, asking them their backgrounds. One of the most remarkable was a Pakistani engineering student, wearing a turban and discussing his Muslim faith, praised by Groucho as "a great ambassador for his people." Keep in mind this was in the 1950s, over a half century before a certain president demonized Muslims and immigrants.

The world is a brighter and more joyful place for you having been in it, Mr. Marx.

I remember watching You Bet Your Life aka The Best of Groucho in the mid 70s and I thought it was an early TV game show classic. Before it's long TV run, it began in the late 40s on radio. The show was also very funny, thanks to the quips and one-liners from host Groucho Marx. The quiz portion was incidental to the interviews from Groucho. Not only could contestants win money on the quiz they can also win if someone says the secret word, enable a stuffed duck to come down from the ceiling. The duck was used because Groucho didn't want sirens blaring in his ear when someone said the word. The secret word was later used on the hit kids show Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Also sharing in the fun was George Fenneman, announcer, straight man and scorekeeper. In an episode where Groucho, Edgar Bergen, and their daughters Melinda and Candice teamed up to win money for the Girl Scouts, Fenneman became the quiz master for that segment.

The most memorable contestant on the show was Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, a poor, illiterate Hispanic father who brought the house down since he was very funny. He later when on to roles in several movies. Phyllis Diller made her national TV debut on You Bet Your Life and in a later episode, Groucho's brother Harpo made a cameo appearance.

Fortunately, contestants never left the show broke. If they didn't do well in the quiz, Groucho would ask a question such as "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" or one I remember "In what city is the London Times published?"

Despite the several format changes to the quiz segment, You Bet Your life was a very funny show, thanks to the one, the only GROUCHO!

Groucho sat behind a high desk or lectern, talking to his announcer, the contestants, and the audience, raising his eyebrows or grinning slyly to make or emphasize a joke. He often fiddled with his ever-present cigar. I can't remember if he actually smoked the cigar on the show, but it would not surprise me if he did, as smoking was pervasive in those days.

"You Bet Your Life" was probably shot on a theater stage, as I remember curtains behind the performers. The announcer/straight man George Fenneman, stood nearby (left side of TV screen), his dark hair lying tight against his scalp, perhaps slicked down with Brylcreem or something similar. (To see Fenneman in a dramatic role, watch the original version of the movie "The Thing.") When this show aired on TV in the 1950s, I was in grade school so the verbal humor, aimed at adults, usually went over my head. From a kid's perspective the best part of the show was the institution of the "secret word," announced to the audience (but not the contestants) before contestants appeared on the stage. If a contestant uttered the secret word during the show, he or she would win extra money. Groucho mentioned this concept when introducing the guests at the start of their appearance ("Say the secret word and win $100.") If a contestant said the secret word, it was acknowledged with the appearance of a puppet-type duck that was lowered from above on a string or wire. The duck's mouth held an envelope containing the money and its face was modeled after Groucho's: mustache, thick eyebrows, and (I think) a cigar in its mouth. Great fun!

This was the first show I saw on the new invention called television. I was eight or nine years old. My family followed the tomato harvest and found jobs at a Brooks Ketchup factory in Shirley, Indiana. That would have been the summer and fall of 1951 or 1952. While driving to find work we stopped at a country store to ask directions. It was getting dark. The owner who waited on us lived in back. His wife was watching "You Bet Your Life" on TV. I had heard of the new invention but had never seen one. I was already a fan of the show because my dad and I listened to it on radio on a regular basis. The owner saw me eying the TV through the open door. "Go back and watch it," he invited me. And so I did for just a few minutes. It encouraged us to save our pennies and get our own set in 1953.

Groucho was a comic genius who was a master of one liners and clever repartee. The most famous joke about the woman with the big family who told Groucho she loved her husband and Groucho replying, "I love my cigar too but I take it out of my mouth once in a while," never aired in Arkansas (KARK, NBC, Channel 4, in Little Rock) because of censorship. But Groucho's retort made the rounds and everyone knew about it.

I was too young to know the Marx Brothers, though later I was able to enjoy their classic movies. So when Groucho had a brother on his show I would see him for the first time. I vividly remember one program when Harpo was guest and he almost outdid Groucho. Chico too nearly stole the show from Groucho the night he was on. I remember Groucho would have his daughter on from time to time. She was about my age. I don't know what ever happened to her. As I recall she was not shy and had talent.

The "secret word" was a popular gimmick for the program. At first a young lady in abbreviated attire would come out when someone said the word, which the audience knew but the contestants did not. It took me a while to get used to the duck coming down which replaced the girl, even though as I remember she still appeared now and then.

George Fenneman was not only an elegant announcer but did well as straight man for Groucho. He was a quiet, unassuming person, very likable, who sometimes would have a clever comeback line when Groucho tried to embarrass him. He also announced for the popular "Dragnet" series and had a part in the horror classic "The Thing from Another World."

As Groucho stated, "No one goes away broke." There was a consolation price for the guests who lost if they answered a trick question, usually, "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" although some did miss it. Groucho would keep asking silly questions until they got their money. Truly, no one ever went away broke.