ULTRA RARE! ‘You Bet Your Life’ Pilot Show!

Although the TV show aired on NBC from 1950 – 1961, it was a CBS radio show when this very casual demo was shot. Notice Groucho is wearing a sport shirt and techs are adjusting the mics like it was only radio. Here is a bit of background on the show and some very interesting production notes.

During a radio appearance with Bob Hope in March 1947, Marx ad-libbed most of his performance, which gave the shows producer an idea. John Guedel, the Hope program’s producer, formed an idea for a quiz show and approached Marx about the subject. After initial reluctance by Marx, Guedel was able to convince him to host the program after Marx realized the quiz would be only a backdrop for his contestant interviews and the storm of ad-libbing that they would elicit by trying to get them to ‘say the secret word’. Guedel also convinced Marx to invest in 50% of the show, in part by saying that he was “untouchable” at ad-libbing, but not at following a script.

A year before ‘I Love Lucy’ started with three film cameras on the set, Groucho was shooting with eight! Eight 35mm cameras were used, duplicated in pairs, in four locations. While one set of cameras shot the program with 10-minute reels, the other set were re-loaded and put into action as the reels ran out. Reportedly, the reason why this show was prerecorded for broadcast was because the network was afraid that Groucho Marx’s ad-libs would run afoul of the censors. In reality, the main reason was to condense the interviews to fit the allotted time with the most entertaining material. All the shows were done in front of studio audiences and those sessions were usually from 35 to 40 minutes long for them.

Although the popular impression is that Groucho Marx entirely improvised his jokes, in reality the show also had gag writers who interviewed the contestants beforehand and prepared questions and comments for Groucho to use in addition to his own improvisations. To feed them to him subtly, a Tele-Score bowling alley projector, located stage left and out of camera range, was used…ever notice him ‘looking off into space’? He was probably looking at the Tele-Score screen.

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