"I've Got a Secret" - Woman plays a Christmas Carol on a 50s era computer

One of the reasons I like IGaS and the 70s color "What's My Line?" are episodes in which things and ideas which we now take for granted are presented as new and exciting. Other IGaS episodes like this introduce microwave ovens and Krazy Glue, WML? episodes amaze panelists like Alan Alda over things like Pong style video games, ATMs and paperback book sized calculators.

In this clip, a woman creates the first digital computer (better known to you and me as an electronic brain :) ) midi file shown on TV. For those too young to remember it first hand (like myself) the second theme was the ad jingle for sponser Winston, perhaps the most well known today for the infamous Flintstones clip of the same. IGaS managed to sneak this into many secrets, a number of which made it through to GSN, until they decided to ban all Winston episodes for fears that all the 10 year olds watching a 50 year old black and white gameshow at 4 in the morning would be influenced to smoke.

To stay within YouTube's time limit I snipped out the guest bit at the beginning. For those interested, it was Meredith Willson.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• I've
• Got
• Secret
• game
• show
• 50s
• computer
• Garry
• Moore
• Bill
• Cullen
• Henry
• Morgan
• Bess
• Myerson
• Betsy
• Palmer
• midi
• mp3
• Winston
• cigarette
• Christmas

[mmmrazor]

@TheRAH14 Yup. Was operated on for throat cancer at 61, but -- correction -- died of emphysema at 78. Was also an alcoholic, recovering in later years. Moore was directed to smoke on camera to please the sponsor, as were many tv personalities of the era. Publicly did not bitch about it -- Henry Morgan did and was fired by the tobacco company -- Moore in fact talked them into rehiring him.

Check these videos out:

watch?v=dYJKIglouz4

watch?v=3HmX6F8e88g

[TheRAH14]

@mmmrazor Did he really? When did he say that? Not that I am doubting you, it's just that he virtually disappeared from "public" life after the 1970s so I would be interested to know if he said this in an interview or something.

[mmmrazor]

Garry Moore was paid handsomely to smoke Winstons constantly on camera. Toward the end of his life he mentioned regretfully how they caused his terminal throat cancer.

[Hotobu]

Heh, I love how he struggles to pronounce di-gi-tal com-pu-ter.

[swampzoid]

its so primitive to us now but then it was amazing. 

[sbutler0727]

Absolutely fascinating!! That's for posting this. It is nice to see old technology.  It is nice to see technology that actually works. Unlike today's technology which does not work --- cough!! cough!!

[fiftiesflashback1953]

WOW, that whole computer could fit into a wrist watch now...you've come a long way, baby...but in retrospect, I don't know if the trip has been worth it.

[AerialTheShamen]

Great. It sounds like a cross between a keypad phone and a melody greeting card. Perhaps this was the world first polyphonic (dual voice?) squarewave/ chip tune ever. (I only worry that the hering didn't taste that computer too well. Its not a smokehouse!)

Have you seen the IBM computer with speech synthesizer singing 'Daisy Bell'?

watch?v=41U78QP8nBk