Beat the Clock

...............To Beat The Clock!"

WEEKLY DOSE OF humorous situations created by obstructing otherwise simple tasks with silly complications. We don't know how else we could describe it!

HAVING VETERAN RADIO Actor Bud Collyer (he voiced the Man of Steel on THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN Radio Show) as the Host/MC, this mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production was a very popular series for over a decade; first ob CBS and later on ABC. There were no pretensions of its being High Art or PBS pseudo classy stuff. Fun of the participating contestants and the amusement of the viewers were paramount.

AFTER COMPLETING THE assigned task(s) within the allotted time limit, the in-studio folks chosen to compete would receive whatever prizes for which they were eligible. A typical stunt would be introduced by MC Mr. Collyer with something like this:

"Yes, Mr. Schultz, all you have to do is carry six eggs one at a

time up this ladder and put them in that bucket. You have 45

seconds to do. Ha, ha, ha, ha! But we didn't tell you that you

have to wear a pair of roller skates and be blindfolded!"

WELL, WE DO exaggerate, but you get the picture!

OVER THE YEARS we know that the show had many $ponsor$; but for some inexplicable reason we remember that Sylvania Light Bulbs was one of their early commercial advertisers.

IT IS TRULY strange how we can remember things like this, yet we cannot recall what our spouses told us this morning! Isn't tat right, Schultz?

Whatever happened to Dolores Rosedale? Is she still alive? If so, she would in her late seventies. I've come across more than one site that identifies her with Roxanne Arlen--so the IMDb is not alone in this. I'm not certain how the confusion started, unless Ms. Arlen (who died today, Feb. 22) herself did some game shows. The two women are the same physical types (curvacious blondes), but it is quite obvious, from the pictures of the two at a Roxanne-dedicated website, that they are different people. It's curious that someone who was once so famous could slip so completely into oblivion. You'd think that some TV historian would be scrambling after her story.

This is truly one of the classic game shows from the golden era of television. This show is definitely better than shows like "Fear Factor" and "Dog Eat Dog", which to me take the premise of "Beat the Clock" to a rather unwatchable extreme. At least the contestants of BTC didn't humiliate themselves or put themselves in great danger as they tried to win prizes every week. You really could tell that even if they lost on the show that they still had fun and really had a good time and it was for the whole family. The other two shows just seem like they take pride in trying to sicken as many people as they possibly can and they also seem to take great pride in humiliating people and putting them in all sorts of dangerous situations. Hopefully, a new generation can see why "Beat the Clock" was so beloved and then question why such garbage as the other two shows are still on the air.

A truly wonderful 50's era show. In addition to Sylvania, this show was also sponsored by Fresh deodorant makers and also by Hazel Bishop, a cosmetics line manufacturer. When the husband/wife teams won the jackpot prize, Sylvania gave away TV sets as prizes while Fresh gave away a wide variety of things such as washer/dryers, refrigerators, or Air Conditionors. The stunts always had an element of humor to them and at times did seem rather difficult, but more often than not teams were able to complete them. There was also a super bonus round which was attempted after the $200 clock had been beaten. This involved a very difficult stunt. For every unsuccessful attempt, $1,000 was added to the prize bonus. The most difficult stunt that I saw had the husband wearing a football helmet with a small plate turned upside down attached to the top of the helmet. The husband then had to balance a wooden dowel attached to a fishing pole on top of the plate. This stunt reached the mid $60 thousands figure before it was successfully completed.

Roxanne Arlen was not on this show.It was Delores (Roxanne) Rosedale that was the co-star.In the early 50s she was a major league star...and among the most glamorous females on TV.Many people remember Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield,but the actress with real style,real quality and real honor was Roxanne Rosedale.Her run on Beat the Clock (1950-1955) made her a regular television attraction for untold how many guys.From what I read she left the show to get married and have a child.I guess after that she became a full time mom and wife and ducked the Hollywood scene.Roxanne even had a Roxanne doll back in her Beat the Clock days.It sorta didn't look a whole lot like her,but she handed them to girls that appeared on the show with their parents.The dolls had a camera with strap that went around the dolls neck,much like the real Roxanne did on the show when a contestant would get covered in some gloppy mess,she would dart out from offstage with camera at the ready to take a snap of the laughable scene.Of course using the Sylvania blue dot for sure shot flash bulb the sponsor was hawking.Wonder if there ever was any film in that camera....and if so,where are those shots today? There very much needs to be a DVD of seasons of Beat the Clock offered for sale,the 3-4 episodes (Kinescope versions)that are now commercially available are surely not enough for BTC and Roxanne fans everywhere. *******Update*********** Roxanne fans....we need to straighten the Roxanne tale out....Seemingly every site has Roxanne Arlen in the place of Dolores Rosedale.....We know she was married in 1954 to Tom Roddy from New York,and we know she had a daughter "Anne" in 1955 after her Beat the Clock stint was over.She was dismissed from Beat the Clock,supposibly asking for more money.She later blamed it on Bud Collyer for her dismissal,him being jealous of her and all (false).She was in a 15 second beach scene in "the Seven Year Itch",and was on many magazine covers.She wanted to be a serious actress and a wife more than anything else on earth.She got 50% of her wish by 1954.There's what we know people.....Keep the Roxanne Rosedale spirit alive.....lets set her career straight...and find out what happened to the biggest thing on TV in the 50s.....