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You Bet Your Life

  • TV Series
  • 1950–1961
  • 30m
IMDb RATING
8.5/10
810
YOUR RATING
Groucho Marx in You Bet Your Life (1950)
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10 Photos
ComedyFamilyGame ShowTalk Show

Groucho Marx hosts a quiz show which features a series of competitive questions and a great deal of humourous conversation.Groucho Marx hosts a quiz show which features a series of competitive questions and a great deal of humourous conversation.Groucho Marx hosts a quiz show which features a series of competitive questions and a great deal of humourous conversation.

  • Stars
    • Groucho Marx
    • George Fenneman
    • Melinda Marx
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.5/10
    810
    YOUR RATING
    • Stars
      • Groucho Marx
      • George Fenneman
      • Melinda Marx
    • 17User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 7 Primetime Emmys
      • 7 nominations total

    Episodes215

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    Videos1

    You Bet Your Life-The Lost Episodes
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    You Bet Your Life-The Lost Episodes

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    Top cast99+

    Edit
    Groucho Marx
    Groucho Marx
    • Self - Host…
    • 1950–1961
    George Fenneman
    George Fenneman
    • Self - Announcer…
    • 1950–1961
    Melinda Marx
    Melinda Marx
    • Self - Groucho's Daughter…
    • 1955–1961
    Tuulikki Woods
    • Self - Finnish Housewife
    • 1960
    Joe Gold
    Joe Gold
    • Self - Most Perfect Man 1956
    • 1959
    Betina Consolo
    • Self - Elderly Husband Hunter
    • 1957
    Chico Marx
    Chico Marx
    • Self - Prom Commercial…
    • 1957
    Harpo Marx
    Harpo Marx
    • Self - Prom Commercial…
    • 1957–1961
    Marilyn Burtis
    • Self - Assistant…
    • 1954–1956
    Rowena Hiemstra
    • Self - Dancer…
    • 1958–1959
    Reg Lewis
    Reg Lewis
    • Self - Mr. Universe 1957
    • 1959
    Traian Boyer
    • Self - Hypnotist
    • 1960
    Carl Doss
    • Self - Adoptive Father of 12
    • 1954
    Sam Rifken
    • Self
    • 1960
    Helen Doss
    • Self - Adoptive Mother of 12
    • 1954
    Harry Ruby
    Harry Ruby
    • Himself_Guest…
    Prince Monolulu
    • Self - Horse Racing Tipster
    • 1957
    John Charles Thomas
    John Charles Thomas
    • Self - Operatic Baritone
    • 1957
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews17

    8.5810
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    Featured reviews

    Sargebri

    Priceless Game Show

    This is one of the funniest game shows ever. I remember when this was shown late nights on KTLA 5 on weeknights and whenever I had a chance I would watch it. Groucho Marx was not only one of the funniest hosts on television, he also was one of the brightest. I especially loved the banter he would engaged in with the contestants before he would start the game. This not only provided the show with its sense of humor, but it also put the contestants at ease before the game began. One of these days I hope Game Show Network would bring this back on television. This show is a timeless classic.
    Weasel100

    The Best

    You know, when Groucho was in the movies with his brothers, he was funny. He had some great one-liners which will be remembered from that period. But his consistent ability to come up with brilliant repartee on the set of "You Bet Your Life" before a live studio audience has to be seen (and heard) to be believed.

    I only recently became aware that episodes on "You Bet Your Life" are available on the internet through places like eBay, so I have taken full advantage of that and have purchased quite a number of discs and boxed sets of the programs which my wife and I have since been watching with very great enjoyment. So, for those of you who would like to see episodes of this classic, they are no further away than where are are right now (on the internet).

    Even the De Soto/Plymouth commercials from the time are enjoyable; promoting cars that may by modern standards be difficult to drive in a straight line - sorry to any De Soto fans out there. Nonetheless, they are a great accompaniment to this great series of programs.

    By the way, about the programs, the game show was never intended to be the major part of the entertainment. It was Groucho who was the star not the contestants or the cars that the show so heavily promoted.

    My summary, these programs are absolute classics and I feel very fortunate to have been able to buy some of them because some group of people had the foresight to see that it would be better to get them out on DVD than to lose them all together in a film vault somewhere.

    10 out of 10 from me.

    JMV
    9quitwastingmytime

    Before My Time, But Still Timeless

    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.
    9hfan77

    An Early TV Game Show Classic

    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!
    8redryan64

    The Secret Word is "Classic", YOU BET YOUR LIFE had plenty of Fun, Sincereity, Groucho and The Duck Flying Down to Pay Off!

    Like all of the local TV Channels, our home town Chicago CBS Affiliate, WBBM Channel 2 had gone out and gotten what was the then 'best available' package of older movies. In their case, it was the whole kit and kapoodle of the MGM back library, or at least the better part of it.

    They were immediately put to good use, as Channel 2 immediately launched feature films in some very strategic spots. First off, they inaugurated the Saturday Night 10:30 to Midnight(time approximate)slot with the top films that they had under the Umbrella Heading of "THE BEST OF MGM!"* The weekday nightly film, which started at either 10:30 or 11:00 entitled, "THE LATE SHOW." Logically, if there was a Late Show, then there had to be a daily afternoon film and it was called, (Are you ready for this one?)"THE EARLY SHOW!", in the 4:30 to 6:00 slot.

    Well, it was the reason for this extended intro and seemingly unrelated couple o' paragraphs,that we both labored under. Of these 3 Marx Brothers, the first 2 were an Italian immigramt/Italian Impersonator, Chico with all his double talk routines, imitation Italian accent and malapropism; and brother, Harpo, mute on the screen but capable of generating as much laughter as any 2 lesser funny men.

    And with them, was a young, energetic monologist, who used heavy greasepaint to feign bushy eyebrows and heavily mustachioed face. It was sort of shocking to a 5th Grader, but this young bespectacled and cigar smoking' guy looked like a younger version of a favourite TV Comedian of ours, Groucho Marx! What a shock to find-out that t'is was the very same fellow! You see, to a 'Baby-boomer' a film like this one, A DAY AT THE RACES(1935), was looked upon as a prequel to NBC TV's YOU BET YOUR LIFE!

    Most of any folks of about 60 years got their first view of a middle-aged, sharp witted, fast on the draw, quick on the come back, Groucho. We learned of their movies at MGM later. Still later, we discovered 4 Marx Brothers when their five Paramount Pictures were also sold to television.

    But as for our Groucho, he was the MC of this non spectacular quiz format half hour. The format of the game varied as little from season to season, as various ways of gaining about the same end were given tryouts over the 11 seasons. (That's eleven (11) years, not counting the show's Genisis on NBC Radio.) As Groucho's straight man and foil, Announcer George Fenneman, was present for all of the TV segments. George was the perennial "Good Sport" American Citizen. Whatever the craze or stunt, Groucho had George do it. Where something odd called for a 'volunteer' to act as a tester, Mr. Marx always 'volunteered' George. Whenever a lovely, young and eligible Lady would appear, you could be sure Groucho would try to act as 'Matchmaker'. All the time, never a mention of George's being happily married with children, already! There was some rumor that Fenneman did not like his Boss, and that Groucho mistreated him. In later years, George dispelled such as strictly bunk! In some latter day interviews for television special(THE UNKNOWN MARX BROS., I think), Mr. Fenneman proved him to be a true fan of the Marxes when growing up. He made mention of seeing the on-stage material try-outs that the Brothers did for their first MGM Pictures He saw them over and over again, never guessing that he'd work with Groucho one day.

    The featured contestants were mainly just common folk, selected from the studio audience. They would have their time talk with and get interviewed by Groucho. Groucho would have benefit of summaries of each person's occupation, interests and peculiarities. The banter would back and forth, and everybody took their turn on the carpet.

    As it was a filmed rather than live presentation(no video tape in use until 1958), naturally, it was edited. The crews reportedly filmed about an hour and left in the best to fill out this half-hour. This wasn't cheating, as Groucho was as fast with the barb as anyone and being TV, everything had to be sharply timed, split second precision and "humming" like a fine Swiss watch with jeweled movement.

    In addition to the 'common folk', a large number of celebrities from the Worlds of Hollywood, the Sports Page and others of the Famous and Infamous, made regular appearances teamed with the regular folks. As just a sampling we remember*** seeing such luminaries as Boxing Legend- Mickey Walker, Action/Western Star-Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Singer-Bobby Van, The Champ(Himself)-Joe Louis,USC Football Twins Marlin McKeever and brother(?), the 'Dixie Derrick', World's Strongest Man-Paul Anderson (fresh from victory at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics), Mr. Universe-Reg Lewis, Pro Wrestlers "Wild" Red Berry and 600 lb.'Haystacks' Calhoun, Pacific Coast League(later American League)Umpire-Emmett Ashford. Character Comedian, Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez,with a little radio experience got 'discovered while a contestant on YOU BET YOUR LIFE!

    Groucho never forgot the family either, as Harpo made an "unscheduled" appearance in order to hawk his 1961 autobiography, HARPO SPEAKS! Chico and Harpo were also seen in commercials for Prom Home Permanent.

    As for commercial identification their with the program was a pair of now defunct cars from the Chrysler Corporation, who acted as the footer of bills for several seasons. We could count on the ending of each show to include Groucho's popping out of a port-hole, imparting his wisdom with, "....and be sure to stop in and see your local DeSoto/Plymouth Dealer! And when you do, tell him Groucho sent you!", ending it with a couple of rapid eyebrow raises!

    And through all seasons, all shows, Groucho Marx proved himself to be a most intelligent, well (self)educated and decent of a man. He always seemed to be rooting for the contestants to win.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      Author William Peter Blatty once won $10,000 on this show. When Groucho Marx asked what he planned to do with the money, he said he planned to take some time off to "work on a novel." The result was the novel "The Exorcist", published in 1971 and adapted as L'Exorciste (1973) two years later.
    • Quotes

      Groucho: Why do you have so many children?

      Female Contestant: Well, I love my husband very much.

      Groucho: Hey, I enjoy a good cigar, but I take it out of my mouth once in a while.

    • Connections
      Edited into The Groucho Marx Collector's Classic (1985)
    • Soundtracks
      Hooray for Captain Spaulding
      Music and Lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby

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    FAQ14

    • How many seasons does You Bet Your Life have?Powered by Alexa

    Details

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    • Release date
      • October 5, 1950 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Betcha Life
    • Filming locations
      • NBC Studio D, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • FilmCraft Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      30 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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