Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1948)

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Later on, things began to pick up for the Vanderventers. They moved to Detroit and it was there that Van started his radio newscasting. After a few years, Van was transferred to the New York studios of MBS. The Vanderventers started to play semi-educational games at meal times when Nancy and Bobby were both very young. They found it to be a painless way to keep the children well informed as well as to divert them while they ate their spinach. Even today they enjoy these home practice sessions. It keeps them in trim, and although they do not stress it, there is a certain amount of competition among members of the family to see who can get most answers. THE radio program Twenty Questions as they worked it out is a kind of reverse quiz in which the panel of experts asks the master of ceremonies any number up to twenty questions, to which he answers "yes" or "no." From these answers they have to deduce the subject they are seeking. Here in their exact words is the way in which the five-man panel ferreted out the subject "The Slingshot with which David killed the Giant Goliath." After the studio and listening audiences had been secretly informed of the topic by a placard to the studio and an off-stage microphone to the home listeners, the questions and answers began. Bob: Is it wearing apparel? Master of Ceremonies Bill Slater: No. Florence: Is it manufactured? Bill: Yes, you might say that. Herb: Is it connected with the circus? Bill: No. Guest, Clown Emmet Kelly: Is it an article of clothing? Bill: No it is not. You already asked whether it was wearing apparel. Van: Is it used by man? Bill: Yes. Florence: Is it edible? Bill: No. Bobby: Is it something connected with the past? Bill: Yes. Van: Is it famous for the person with whom it is connected? Bill: Yes. Florence: Was this person with whom it is connected a man? Bill: Yes. Van: Was this man connected with the government? Bill: No. Herb: Was he in mythology? Bill: No. Bobby: Was he an ancient character? Bill: Yes, very. Florence: Was he biblical? Bill: Yes. Now you're really on the right track. Florence: Was he in the Old Testament? Bill: Yes. Bobby: Was it David's slingshot. Bill: Yes. You got it! At the beginning, Van was the only member of the family scheduled for the show. At the last minute, one of the scheduled participants wired that she would not be able to attend the audition. Florence pitched in, and has been there ever since, under her maiden name of Florence Rinard. Bobby Vanderventer, then thirteen, took an audition, and like his mother, clicked immediately. He, too, changed his name, and used that of his maternal grandmother on the air. As Bobby McGuire he has scored some wonderful answers and holds the all time record for the show by guessing the category, "Brooklyn Dodgers" on the very first question. It seems that when the placard reading "Brooklyn Dodgers" was shown to the studio audience they let out such a roar of laughter that Bobby, a baseball fan himself, took his striking guess. Outside of the Vanderventers, the only other permanent member of the panel is Herb Polesie, radio and motion picture producer. Herb is a quick man with a spontaneous joke and has continually delighted audiences with his dry wit and unexpected answers. For Herb, Twenty Questions is a family program too. Although Herb's mother-in-law has never been heard on the air, she is a minor celebrity. Invariably when a tricky topic is under discussion, Herb asks: "Is it something I would give to my mother-in-law?" Bill Slater, the tall, white-haired quiz-master of Twenty Questions, is known affectionately off the air as the "Colonel." He studied at West Point and his checkered career has ranged from that of a radio sports announcer to headmaster of a select Long Island boys' school. Bill also has his family in on the proceedings. His attractive wife prepares all his notes, and does the library research on the subjects the program covers. IT is very important for Bill to be scrupulously accurate in his answers to the panel. One wrong or even semicorrect reply might throw them completely off the track, and though he is one of the best ad-libbers in radio, Bill is often on the spot on Twenty Questions. For example, when he was asked if the subject "The Spike on the Devil's Tail" was human he answered after a little hesitation . . . "well, not quite human." Bill likes to avoid any confusing answers for two reasons. If he leads them astray, the Vanderventers and Herb will rush up to him after the broadcast and lay the blame for missing a topic right in his lap. Then after he has quieted their incensed feelings, he spends the rest of the week reading hundreds of letters from equally angry listeners who accuse him of doing the panel an injustice. It is pretty certain that the audience at home and in the studio is pulling one hundred percent for the panel. However, in the studio the roars of approval at a good guess and the roars of disapproval at a bad one are likely to sound very much alike to the harried panel members. After long experience they have learned to ignore the sounds from the audience and concentrate. From an all-around standpoint, concentration is the most important thing on the program. Since the program started, two and one-half years ago, the categories have become progressively more difficult. The early subjects were fairly simple items such as "Truman's Piano," "The Atom Bomb," or "Joe DiMaggio's Bat." Now however the subjects are more com