"You Bet Your Life" (Pilot - 1949)

Reposted is another rarity from my archives. You Bet Your Life was an American radio and television quiz show. The first and most famous version was hosted by Groucho Marx, of Marx Brothers fame, with the unflappable announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on radio in 1947, then made the transition to TV. The television version was changed very little from the radio version. It was filmed before a studio audience, then slightly edited for television broadcast. In 1960 it was renamed The Groucho Show and ran another year. This pilot was made for CBS. You can see stagehands adjusting the microphones during the broadcast. Groucho himself doesn't bother to dress up for his debut!
Previous Views: 25, 985
Recorded: December 5, 1949

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Kerry
• Decker
• Groucho
• Marx
• You
• Bet
• Your
• Life
• pilot
• TV
• television
• 1949

[KKD1247]

Some of my videos, after being online for 2 years, suddenly have no audio & with no explanation or help from YouTube. So I've been re-posting them in recent months. I've Deleted the original silent version. It kills me as my original post had over 25,000 hits - and i'm starting from scratch again.

[TheTubePortal]

My father was only 3-1/2 months old when this episode was filmed. Amazing.

[fromthesidelines]

This "pilot" was actually an unedited hour-long recording session [December 5, 1949] that was edited into a half-hour radio show broadcast on December 28, 1949. The network wanted to see how Groucho would look on TV, so video cameras (under the supervision of Ralph Levy) were present [with several title cards], and this was "kinnied", so various executives could determine how best to present the show on TV.....

[fromthesidelines]

...however, NBC bought the show from producer John Guedel, and moved it to their network that fall, continuing the radio show and adding a filmed TV version of the same episodes {each edited and tailored for both mediums}. Groucho usually wore "casual clothing" during the early radio seasons; when the TV show began, he started wearing suits- often the same one so that parts of different episodes could be inserted when necessary.

[WarioBarker88]

Ah, fabulous...

This is not to be confused with the unedited, hour-long "Head" episode (the Secret Word here is "Name") which was not filmed on video.

[osallent]

Mr. Decker, thank you for posting this historic gem. The Marx brothers were an incredibly talented bunch, especially Groucho!

I am glad I subscribed to your channel. It's been worth it.

[GlockNinja]

Never knew he had a television show. Wow, Great video.

[joebradio]

I guess the duck would have come in handy for the Green Bay packer who was hurt and missed work ...

[joebradio]

wow ! Groucho before the duck drop !!

[whizbang47]

"Were they all high?" I love Groucho. Glad you made the effort to put this back up for us. Thanks, Kerry.

[Breanavp]

Thanks for re-posting!