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VAN REVEALS SOME SECRETS OF THE ANIMAL, VEGETABLE OR MINERAL GAME T WENTY Questions, a TV panel show well calculated to awe the average parlor game player, is glow¬ ingly described in a press release as “America’s Mental Shower Bath,” a refreshing, fun-packed program. Wel-1-1-1, it’s not really. But the old animal, vegetable, mineral pas¬ time does have a pretty rabid follow¬ ing. Certainly the mail pull is spec¬ tacular. Some 15,000,000 pieces, dated and catalogued by subject, are a kind of monument to the Fred Van De¬ venter family, Twenty Questions’ sole owners—and its best players. The Princeton, N.J., Van Deven¬ ters (Mr. & Mrs. and children Bobby and Nancy), all aficionados of this mind-honing sport, used to play it anywhere, on a drive in the country, at parties, on the way to work, at the dinner table. “During the depression,” relates Van, “we couldn’t afford things like the movies for the kids, so we often whiled away an evening play¬ ing Twenty Questions. It was “ani¬ mal, vegetable, mineral” then—and there was no limit on the questions.” Originally Van Deventer was the only member of the family on the air. Early in the series, however, Florence was called to sub for a “missing” panelist, and did so brilliantly she landed a leading role on the show. Son Bobby, then 15, made it almost a family affair when the sponsor wanted a child whiz. Eventually the panel was rounded out with Herb Polesie, a good na- tured actor and producer who still supplies more laughs than correct answers. Urbane Bill Slater, a guy who couldn’t resist a good pun, handled the panel from the modera¬ tor’s perch. (The Van Deventers, in¬ cidentally, don’t wear the family tie- 10