TV Guide (August 27, 1955)

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In publishing circles they tell of a shrewd operator who studied the best-seller lists and decided the most consistent money-makers were books about Lincoln, doctors and dogs. So he sat down and wrote a book called “Lincoln’s Doctor’s Dog.” This gentleman would have been a fine candidate for producer of a TV show called You Bet Your Life. With his formula he’d have a head start in producing six new straight men each week for Groucho Marx. Health, dogs and the Great Emanci¬ pator are three of the subjects in which Groucho’s TV-radio audience of 40,000,000 has expressed untiring interest in the eight years (counting radio) he has been on the air. But ◄ That's Groucho's favorite con¬ testant-daughter Melinda—be¬ hind a comic mask of Papa. ◄ Groucho likes them, so pretty girls—like beauty contest runner-up Jean Moor¬ head—are frequent guests on his sho>v. money, sex, babies and food also are sure-fire. “Ideally,” says Bemie Smith, co¬ director of the John Guedel produc¬ tion and talent scout for Groucho, “we are looking for a sexy relative of Abraham Lincoln’s who made a lot of money raising dogs and now spends it trying to improve her health by eating baby food.” No one fulfilling this ideal has turned up among the 1800 contestants who have paired off opposite Groucho, but school teachers, says Smith, have come closest. “We’ve had more teachers on the program than any other occupation. For one thing, a lot of them are good looking, and we always have at least one pretty girl on the show. We try to put her on first in order to wake Groucho up. Also, school teachers know a lot about Lincoln; some have babies; most have pets—and nearly all have budgets.” Actors, on the other hand, make the poorest contestants. “Modest, warm, outgoing personalities are best,” Smith has found. “Show people, we’ve learned, are always ‘on’. It takes the play away from Groucho, and he’s the one that people want to see perform. Newspapermen are lousy, too. They’re smart, but introverts, and extroverts seem to work out best. Auctioneers are extroverts, but they don’t come off too well, I suppose because auc¬ tioneers are basically actors.” By now, the road to Groucho’s jack¬ pot—which twice has amounted to $6000—is pretty well traveled. San¬ skrit songwriters, lady mountain climbers, champion hog callers and other citizens of distinction flock, year round, to the Guedel office in Los Angeles, Cal. From continued 5