Quiz Craze: America's Infatuation with Game Shows

(Hardback)

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Description

For more than 50 years, the quiz show has thrived on American television and radio. From "Pot o' Gold" and "The $64,000 Question" to "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy", quiz and game programmes have entertained and informed millions of Americans, promoted and sold untold quantities of products, generated fortunes for their creators and producers, and spawned a vast array of spin-off products. In this volume, Thomas DeLong offers an in-depth history of quiz and game formats. He describes how mass communications transformed the old parlour guessing games into enormously popular features on radio and television and examines their impact on American society and the consumer marketplace. DeLong also explores their decline in the wake of the quiz scandal inquiry of the late 1950s and their subsequent revival as new shows with modest stakes on daytime TV that began to build up a loyal following. "Quiz Craze" is enhanced by the recollections, insights, and anecdotes of many who brought the quiz show genre to listeners and viewers. Producers, directors, gamemakers, writers, emcees, panelists, announcers, musicians, engineers, advertisers, and publicists have added their first-hand observations on the inner workings and widespread influence of quiz show programming. Former contestants and their families offered reminiscences from shows such as "To Tell the Truth", "What's My Line", "Name That Tune", and many others. DeLong also draws on the resources of key organizations in the broadcast field, archival records, and published media reports to demonstrate the extraordinary popularity of the game show format.

Reviews

"Probably the most thorough, complete, and accurate compilation of game show history ever printed. Educational, enlightening, and entertaining."-Wink Martindale Martindale Enterprises
DeLong . . . has produced an encyclopedic volume of nostalgia for both old and young. In just 320 pages, the birth of radio and television is almost palpable; the discovery of talents such as Bill Cullen and Allen Ludden, visible; the news of scandals and fixes, disheartening.-Booklist
Mr. DeLong is an affectionate chronicler of an entertainment form that shows no sign of wearing out, and these pages contain treats for both the collector of nostaglia and the pursuer of trivia.-The New York Times Book Review
This history of radio and TV quiz shows is an enjoyable and informative look at a truly American media phenomenon. . .-Library Journal
"Mr. DeLong is an affectionate chronicler of an entertainment form that shows no sign of wearing out, and these pages contain treats for both the collector of nostaglia and the pursuer of trivia."-The New York Times Book Review
"This history of radio and TV quiz shows is an enjoyable and informative look at a truly American media phenomenon. . ."-Library Journal
"DeLong . . . has produced an encyclopedic volume of nostalgia for both old and young. In just 320 pages, the birth of radio and television is almost palpable; the discovery of talents such as Bill Cullen and Allen Ludden, visible; the news of scandals and fixes, disheartening."-Booklist

Author Bio

Thomas A. DeLong is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Westport School of Music, Westport, Connecticut. He also authored The Mighty Music Box: The Golden Age of Musical Radio PS: Paul Whiteman, King of Jazz d The Telephone Hour: A Retrospective.