R.I.P.: Ralph Edwards, 1913-2005

[Joseph_Gallant]

Pioneer radio and TV personality/producer Ralph Edwards is dead at the age of 92.

He created the idea of audience-participation shows with "Truth Or Consequences", which he created, produced, and also served as the original host. The show began on radio in 1940, moved to TV as a regular series in 1950 (although there has been a telecast of a "T Or C" episode in 1941 as an experiment), and had an off-and-on run (far more on than off) of nearly fifty years.

The best known "T Or C" host was Bob Barker, who did the TV version from 1956-74 (1956-65 on NBC, after that in first-run syndication). Jack Bailey, Steve Dunne, (and much later) Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson also hosted the TV version.

Edwards also created and was the original host of "This Is Your Life", on which a different person would be a surprise honoree each week and be told his or her life story. Ironically, Edwards' company (which his son Gary now runs) is planning to bring "TIYL" back in 2006, with Regis Philbin as the new host.

Another of Edwards' successes as a producer was "Name That Tune", the most successful music-oriented game show in history. There were many other attempts to launch game shows around music, but only "Tune" was a long-term success. It had a successful prime-time run in the 1950's and ran many years in fist-run syndication during the 1970's and 1980's. The best-known hosts of "Tune" were George DeWitt (in the 1950's) and Tom Kennedy (in the 1970's and 1980's).

Although he didn't create it, Edwards was also the original co-producer (along with Stu Billett) of "People's Court", which became the first of the modern TV courtroom shows in 1981.

Although some people produced many more shows than Ralph Edwards did, those shows he did produce often had extremely long runs and were the first in their genres. He was a true trailblazer in television program production.

This is an MSNBC news story on Ralph Edwards.

 

[bpatrick]

>
>
> Another of Edwards' successes as a producer was "Name That
> Tune", the most successful music-oriented game show in
> history. There were many other attempts to launch game shows
> around music, but only "Tune" was a long-term success. It
> had a successful prime-time run in the 1950's and ran many
> years in fist-run syndication during the 1970's and 1980's.
> The best-known hosts of "Tune" were George DeWitt (in the
> 1950's) and Tom Kennedy (in the 1970's and 1980's).

Edwards did not produce the 1950s version of "Name That Tune";
Harry Salter did. Edwards bought the rights to the show in
the early '70s and reworked the format, creating the many
games (such as Bid-A-Note) that were used on the '70s version.
>
> Although he didn't create it, Edwards was also the original
> co-producer (along with Stu Billett) of "People's Court",
> which became the first of the modern TV courtroom shows in
> 1981.
>
> Edwards also created and produced "Place The Face" (1953-55),
"It Could Be You" (1956-61), and "Cross-Wits" (1975-80, 1986-87,
although he did not produce the second version of "Cross-Wits").
>
A few months ago, at a game-show convention, Edwards was honored,
along with Tom Kennedy, Jack Narz, and (posthumously) Bill Cullen,
for their contributions to the genre. Bob Barker accepted the
award for Edwards, who was too weak to attend. (Ann Cullen
accepted the award for her late husband.) Look for this at
Steve Beverly's website (just type in Steve Beverly, since I
don't know the exact web address).<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by bpatrick on 11/16/05 08:58 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

B. Patrick:

Thanks for the information on the 1950's version of "Name That Tune".

Steve Beverly's website on TV Game Shows can be found at http://www.tvgameshows.net. At this writing (November 16th), the homepage of Beverly's website has a detailed retrospective of Edwards' career.

 

[CrankyYankee]

For a New England connection: The New York Times obit on Mr. Edwards includes...

"He was also credited with helping to start the Jimmy Fund, named after a pseudonymous young cancer patient for whom the charity was created in 1948."


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/arts/television/17edwards.html

(Free registration may be required to access the above link.)
<P ID="signature">______________
"What's That?" "French Horns!"

</P>

 

[bpatrick]

> For a New England connection: The New York Times obit on Mr.
> Edwards includes...
>
> "He was also credited with helping to start the Jimmy Fund,
> named after a pseudonymous young cancer patient for whom the
> charity was created in 1948."
>
>
>
http> ://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/arts/television/17edwards.html
>
>
> (Free registration may be required to access the above
> link.)
>
Ralph Edwards was one of those rare broadcasters who feel
they should do something useful with their airtime. During
World War II, no radio show did as much for the war effort
than Truth Or Consequences. Various T or C stunts raised
a half-billion dollars from the sale of war bonds; listeners
were asked to send the mother of a Marine a penny, then she
had to count each one (she got 330,000 pennies--$3,300--and
the pennies were donated to the government's copper drive,
while Edwards presented her with a check for $3,300). The
audience sent books to a soldier, who had to go through each
one looking for a $100 bill and the text of Churchill's
"blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech; the books were turned
over to the Victory Book Campaign to be sent to troops overseas.

After the war, Edwards raised $1.5 million to start the
American Heart Association through his Mr. Hush, Miss Hush,
and The Walking Man contests. Listeners sent in a contribution
along with their name, address, and phone number; if Edwards
called and the listener could identify the mystery celebrity,
he or she could win a showcase of prizes totaling in the
neighborhood of $25,000 (1948 dollars, and as Groucho Marx
would say, "That's a nice neighborhood to be in.") The
broadcast on which Mrs. Florence Hubbard, a checker in a
Chicago department store, identified Jack Benny as The Walking
Man, has been preserved (I have it).

Edwards also helped raise money for the March of Dimes.

He was also responsible for raising $700,000 for the
Piney Woods School in Mississippi after its founder,
Laurence C. Jones, was the subject of a This Is Your Life
telecast.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I was reminded of another humanitarian deed Ralph Edwards did.

In 1958, he taped an episode of "This Is Your Life" in Honolulu, and the surprise honoree in that episode was a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack who also saved many other lives that day.

Edwards suggested that there should be a memorial at Pearl Harbor to commemorate those who were killed during the attack. He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars that became "seed money" to build the Battleship Arizona Memorial.

If my memory serves me correct (please correct me if I'm wrong), the U.S.S. Arizona memorial was dedicated by President John F. Kennedy on December 7th, 1961 (the 20th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack).