- Down You Go
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Down You Go Format Game show Presented by Bergen Evans (1951-1956)
Bill Cullen (1956)Country of origin United States Language(s) English Production Camera setup Multi-camera Running time 22-24 minutes Broadcast Original channel DuMont (1951-1955)
CBS (1955)
ABC (1955-1956)
NBC (1956)Picture format Black-and-white Audio format Monaural Original run May 30, 1951 – September 8, 1956 Down You Go is an American television game show originally broadcast on the DuMont Television Network. The Emmy Award-nominated series ran from 1951–1956 as a prime time series hosted by Dr. Bergen Evans. The program aired in eleven different timeslots during its five-year run.
Down You Go is one of the few series — along with The Arthur Murray Party, Pantomime Quiz, and The Original Amateur Hour — shown on all four major television networks of the Golden Age of Television: ABC, NBC, CBS, and DuMont.[1]
Contents
Gameplay
Down You Go was similar to the game "Hangman", with a group of four celebrity panelists who were asked to guess a word or phrase submitted by a home viewer. The phrase "down you go" came about when a panelist would be eliminated from play for making an incorrect guess, which would be signified by the eliminated panelist pulling a handle to switch their name to "DOWN YOU GO".[2]
Among the regular panelists were comedian Fran Allison, journalist Phyllis Cerf, editor Francis Coughlin, actress Patricia Cutts, actress Carmelita Pope, actor Boris Karloff, author Jean Kerr, and athlete Phil Rizzuto.
Broadcast history
The series debuted on May 30, 1951 on DuMont.[2] Down You Go aired on Wednesday nights from 9 to 9:30 until July, when it moved to Thursdays. The program was moved to Friday at the start of the 1952–1953 television season. During the Summer of 1952, it aired on Fridays at 8; in October 1952, it would be moved back to a 10:30 time slot. The series was shuffled around DuMont's schedule (Wednesdays at 9:30, then 10, and finally Fridays at 10:30) until May 20, 1955.[1]
Down You Go has been described as "one of the wittiest, most intelligent panel shows on television".[1] The popular series was nominated for an Emmy in 1953, in the category Best Audience Participation, Quiz, or Panel Program.[3]
When the struggling DuMont network cancelled Down You Go along with most of its other series during the Summer of 1955, rival network CBS briefly picked up the series for the Summer. Host Bergen Evans and some of the panelists stayed for the new CBS version, which aired from June 11 to September 3, 1955. After twelve days, Down You Go returned to network television, this time on ABC, where it aired until June 4, 1956.
When NBC began airing the program on June 16, making Down You Go one of only four programs to air on all four "Golden Age" television networks (the other three being The Arthur Murray Party, The Original Amateur Hour, and Pantomime Quiz).[4] This version was more comedy-oriented, with new host Bill Cullen and the celebrity panel of Jayne Mansfield, Jimmy Nelson, Hildy Parks, and Arthur Treacher. The series ended on September 8, 1956.[2]
British version
The BBC aired their own version from January 1, 1953 to 1954, hosted originally by Marcus Dick and then by Roy Rich beginning in April 1953.[5] Notably, Evans-era regular Patricia Cutts was a regular on the British version as well.
No episodes are known to have survived.
Episode status
The series is believed to have been destroyed as per network practices of the era, with the DuMont version destroyed in 1958 (many kinescopes were wiped to recover the silver content) and/or the 1970s (three trucks dumped the remaining DuMont archive into Upper New York Bay).
One episode is known to exist from the 1955 CBS run, although nothing is said during the show to directly support this; only a brief promo for The Loretta Young Show, airing the following night "on another network", hints at the network of origin. This episode is held by the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, and also circulates among collectors.
See also
- List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
References
- ^ a b c Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.
- ^ a b c McNeil, Alex (1980). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
- ^ "Advanced Primetime Awards Search". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2005. http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
- ^ Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). p 1045 New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.
- ^ UK Game Shows: "Down You Go"
Bibliography
- David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
- Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1
External links
- Down You Go at the Internet Movie Database
- DuMont historical website
- The Adenoidal Moderator (Time, April 28, 1952)
Categories:- American game shows
- DuMont Television Network shows
- CBS network shows
- American Broadcasting Company network shows
- NBC network shows
- 1950s American television series
- 1951 television series debuts
- 1956 television series endings
- Black-and-white television programs
- English-language television series
- Panel games
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