You Asked For It

You Asked For It

"You Asked For It" is a popular human-interest show created and hosted by Art Baker. The program originally aired on American television between1950 and 1959. Later versions of the series were seen in 1972, 1981 and 2000.

On the show, viewers were asked to send in postcards describing something that they wanted to see on television, such as the reenactment of William Tell shooting an apple off his son's head. (1950 US national archery champion Stan Overby performed the feat, shooting an apple off his assistant's head.) The show was originally broadcast live, so some of the riskier propositions took on added elements of danger and suspense. A segment where animal trainer and stuntman, Reed Parham wrestled a huge, deadly anaconda, for example, nearly became disastrous until assistants interceded with guns drawn, visibly unnerving host Art Baker.

Baker was fond of granting requests to see show-business personalities, and seemed genuinely pleased to chat with them. He reunited the Our Gang troupe of the 1920s (Johnny Downs, Joe Cobb, etc.), and staged encore performances by singers Gloria Jean, Nick Lucas, and Arthur Lee Simpkins; comedians Buster Keaton, Eddie Gribbon, and El Brendel and his wife Flo Bert, European musical entertainer Yonelli; horror star Bela Lugosi, and cowboy bullwhip artist Whip Wilson, among many others. Short film clips were also presented, with the selection based upon viewer requests. As a consequence, many of the clips were presented multiple times, Some of the more popular clips included a tour of the bizarre Winchester Mystery House and the collapse of Galloping Gertie, the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

The program was named "The Art Baker Show", after the series creator and host; in April 1951, the show's title was changed to "You Asked For It". Originally airing on the cash-strapped DuMont Network from December 1950 to December 1951, it moved to ABC, where it remained until the end of its original run in September 1959. The show was sponsored by Skippy peanut butter and Studebaker Automobiles.

Art Baker hosted the show, until early 1958, when Jack Smith took over for the remaining twenty months.

Later versions

After ABC cancelled the original show in 1959, various revivals have aired in the decades since:

*An all-new version of "You Asked For It" began to air in syndication in 1972, and was also hosted by Jack Smith.
*In 1981, another syndicated version went on the air as "The New You Asked For It", with impressionist Rich Little as the host and Jayne Kennedy as co-host. Jack Smith served as a narrator on this version, voicing the clips from the older shows. This incarnation until the summer of 1983.

*In spring of 2000, a short-lived version, hosted by comedian Phil Morris, aired on NBC.

In popular culture

In the "Happy Days" episode "Fearless Fonzarelli" (aired September 30, 1975), Fonzie (Henry Winkler) jumps his motorcycle over fourteen garbage cans. The feat attracts the cameras of the fictional (though thinly-veiled) "You Wanted To See It", with the real Jack Smith playing himself.

A parody of the show called "You're Asking For It" made an appearance in Bugs Bunny cartoon Wideo Wabbit.

External links

*imdb title|id=0042170|title=You Asked for It


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • You asked for it! — exclam. Here it comes, and you deserve it! □ So you want the full treatment? You asked for it! □ So, you wanted to hear both sides of the record? You asked for it! …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • You asked for it, you got it — You asked for it, you got it, abrégé YAFIYGI est une expression informatique anglaise signifiant Vous l’avez demandé, vous l’obtenez. Il s agit du processus de création des documents TeX : on obtient ce qu’on demande, un texte bien présenté… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • you couldn't have asked for anything more — (you) couldn t have asked for (anything) more this is the best thing of its type you can imagine. My career has been terrific. I couldn t have asked for more. Our daughter s babysitter turned out to be wonderful we couldn t have asked for… …   New idioms dictionary

  • you couldn't have asked for more — (you) couldn t have asked for (anything) more this is the best thing of its type you can imagine. My career has been terrific. I couldn t have asked for more. Our daughter s babysitter turned out to be wonderful we couldn t have asked for… …   New idioms dictionary

  • couldn't have asked for anything more — (you) couldn t have asked for (anything) more this is the best thing of its type you can imagine. My career has been terrific. I couldn t have asked for more. Our daughter s babysitter turned out to be wonderful we couldn t have asked for… …   New idioms dictionary

  • couldn't have asked for more — (you) couldn t have asked for (anything) more this is the best thing of its type you can imagine. My career has been terrific. I couldn t have asked for more. Our daughter s babysitter turned out to be wonderful we couldn t have asked for… …   New idioms dictionary

  • If You Asked Me To — Infobox Single Name = If You Asked Me To Artist = Patti LaBelle from Album = Be Yourself B side = Released = Start date|1989|6|12 Format = CD single, cassette single, 7 vinyl single Recorded = Genre = R B/soul/pop Length = 3:58 Label = MCA Writer …   Wikipedia

  • What You Waiting For? — Infobox Single Name = What You Waiting For? Artist = Gwen Stefani from Album = Love. Angel. Music. Baby. B side = Released = flagicon|USASeptember 28, 2004 flagicon|Europe November 15, 2004 Format = 12 single, digital download Recorded = Home… …   Wikipedia

  • (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits and Obsessions — Infobox Book name = (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits and Obsessions image caption = Cover Art author = Steve Almond illustrator = cover artist = country = flagicon|USA USA language = English series = subject = genre = Essays publisher =… …   Wikipedia

  • You Don't Know Jack (video game series) — For other uses, see You Don t Know Jack (disambiguation). You Don t Know Jack Developer(s) Berkeley Systems, Jellyvision …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”