- Doctor IQ
"Doctor IQ" was an American
radio andtelevision game show . The radio version aired from 1939 to 1950 on the NBC and ABC networks. James McClain played the host, known as "Doctor IQ". He was aided in his hosting duties by Lew Valentine.The television show ran on ABC in two separate runs, from 1953 to 1954 and again from 1958 to 1959. Three different men played "Doctor IQ." The best known was
Tom Kennedy , who went on to become one of the top game show hosts in the country; he hosted "Doctor IQ" during its second run. Jay Owen and James McClain were hosts during the show's first run.Art Fleming , better known as the first host of "Jeopardy! ," was an assistant.Game play
The basic premise of the game was very simple. Assistants would wander the theater, looking for audience members to play the game. When the assistant found someone willing to play, he or she would tell the "doctor," "I have a gentleman in the balcony, Doctor!" or something similar. The host would then say, depending on the difficulty of the question: "Two (more or less) silver dollars and a box of Mars Bars (the show's sponsor)if you can answer this!" Then he would pose a general-knowledge question to the contestant. A correct answer would win the stated dollar amount and candy in the first part of the game, and $20 in the second part; incorrect answers would result in a $1 consolation prize. All prizes were paid in silver dollars, as noted by the host.
Wisdom Wheel
At some point during the show, a
jingle would play, and the contestant wold get a chance to spin the "Wisdom Wheel," which would contain prize amounts from $1 to $100, each of which corresponded to a question whose difficulty increased with the prize amount.Lady in the Balcony
The only game feature that carried over from week to week was "The Lady in the Balcony." A female contestant in the theater balcony would be chosen, and would be asked a series of five questions. She would be allowed five incorrect answers. If she had any misses still available after five questions, she would return the following week to face five more questions with the remaining misses in play. If she was able to survive four weeks without incorrectly answering five questions, she won a
jackpot prize.Home Game
A home viewer was also selected each week to play the game via
telephone .Recording location
The radio version of "Doctor IQ" did not have a set studio. Instead, it traveled from city to city and was recorded in large concert halls and theaters. Therefore, the audience was typically composed of residents from the surrounding area.
In contrast, the television version did not adopt this format. The first run of the television show was broadcast from the Elysee Theater in
New York City , while the second run was broadcast from Studio D of the ABC Television Center inLos Angeles .External links
*InternetArchiveOTR|id=Dr.IQ|title=Doctor IQ
*InternetArchiveOTR|id=Dr.IQ_Jr|title=Doctor IQ Junior
*imdb title|id=0135089|name=Doctor IQ
* [http://www.geocities.com/rebich_josh/doctoriq.html History of Doctor IQ]
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