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You Bet Your Life
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A comedy Game Show that ran on both radio (1947–60) and television (1950–61), You Bet Your Life was hosted by Groucho Marx, who established a solo career after the break-up of the Marx Brothers.The idea for the show came from a guest spot Groucho did on Bob Hope's radio show. While waiting to come on stage, Groucho got so impatient waiting in the cold room that he furiously upstaged Hope with a stream of adlibbed wisecracks that Hope could barely keep up with.note Bob Hope has always been notorious among comedians for being completely reliant on his writers for jokes, although at least he was a step above "joke-stealers" like Milton Berle. The radio show's producer, John Guedel, later asked Groucho if he could do an improv show like that on command. Groucho confidently confirmed it, but initially balked at the idea of hosting a quiz show until the producer assured him that the real action would be conversations with the contestants. As it happened, Groucho just had a radio show cancelled and was concerned that his career was in trouble, so he agreed to try it out and never regretted that choice.At the start of each show, the audience was informed of the night's Secret Word. If any contestant happened to say it while they were on the air, they won an extra $100. If the word was said, a stuffed duck with Groucho's signature glasses, bow tie, and cigar dropped from the ceiling with the $100 attached.The quiz consisted of question-and-answer rounds in which contestants bet all or part of an initial purse on their ability to answer the questions in a chosen category. The questions weren't really that difficult, and the two members of a team were allowed to collaborate. The format itself changed over the years, though: 1947-53: Couples began with $20 and could risk any part of it on questions. Four were asked, with a maximum payout of $320. 1953-54: While the starting value was dropped, couples now answered questions ranging from $10-$100 in $10 increments. The more a question was worth, the harder it was, with no penalty for a wrong answer and a maximum payout of $320 ($100-$90-$80-$70). 1954-56: Around March 1954, the starting point returned (now $100) and wrong answers now halved the bankroll; as a result of the starting point, the maximum payout became $440 and the minimum was $6.25. Probably the most recognizable format.During the above period, teams that won a very negligible amount were asked an obvious-answer question for $25, such as "Who is buried in Grant's Tomb?" Amusingly, they got the money even if they were wrong! 1956-59: The goal was now to give four consecutive right answers for $1,000. Two consecutive wrong answers ended the game. Probably as a result, the show went to using just two couples. A score display was added to Groucho's podium by April 1957. Under this format, the game could theoretically never end if the contestants keep giving wrong and right answers in alternance — such an incident did happen at least once, on the October 24, 1957 episode. 1959-61: Returned to the "four questions" structure, but now being chosen from a tray with slots marked "$100", "$200", and "$300" (as before, with appropriate difficulty). While the maximum payout was $1,200, only $500 was needed to win; as was the case from 1953-54, there was no penalty for wrong answers.But none of this was really the point of the show — it was really about Groucho interacting with interesting people while getting off whatever zingers he could.Syndicated revivals starred Buddy Hackett (1980-81) and Bill Cosby (1992-93). There were also three unsold pilots with Richard Dawson (of Family Feud fame) in 1988 for NBC (the last two both produced by Carsey Werner). These had varying rules as well. Another revival for syndication debuted on September 13, 2021; Jay Leno hosts this time out, with Kevin Eubanks also returning from his tenure of The Tonight Show as his bandleader and sidekick (it, initially, also featured comedy segments carried over from his past shows, such as Headlines, but this was dropped relatively quickly). It was renewed for a second season that December—a milestone both previous revivals failed to cross. Despite originally being renewed for a third season in February 2023, the writers' strike came along a few months later, leading to its cancellation in August. 1980-81: Single players were given a choice of categories, then asked four true/false questions. The first was worth $25, the next three doubled the money. The player then got the option to go for triple or lose half on one last question, meaning the maximum payout was $1,200. In this version, the Secret Word was worth $100 to all players regardless of who said it. 1988 Pilot: Each couple answered three questions worth $100, $150, or $200. Then another couple followed suit. Both couples then answered questions worth $200, $300, or $400. High score wins, with a maximum payout of $2,000. 1992-93: In a case of full circle, restored the betting format from the first few years of the original. The couple started with $750 and could bet on four questions, for a maximum of $6,000. The Secret Word was worth $500; once it's guessed, a new Secret Word takes its place. 2021-23: The couple is asked four questions worth $250, $500, $750, & $1,000, and can either keep their winnings or elect to try for a Double or Nothing question, for a maximum of $5,000. Unusually, the decision to play for the fifth question is an individual one; it's possible for one member of the team to stop and take their share while the other elects to try and double theirs. All questions come from the same category; in season 1 it was pre-selected for the team, in season 2 they had a choice between two categories, once of which hid an additional Bonus Question worth $1,000. The Secret Word was worth $500. Money won through the Secret Word and/or Bonus Question is theirs to keep regardless of how well they do otherwise. Two couples play per show, and each one gets their own Secret Word. | |
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| You Bet Your Life / int_1608297f | type |
Secret Word | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_1608297f | comment |
Secret Word: Some show tension revolved around whether a contestant would say the "secret word", a common word revealed to the audience at the show's outset. If a contestant said the word, a toy duck resembling Groucho with a mustache and eyeglasses, and with a cigar in its bill, descended from the ceiling to bring a $100 bill. Groucho sometimes slyly directed conversation to encourage the secret word to come up. The December 22, 1955 show had a Genre Savvy contestant attempting to win the bonus by rattling off a bunch of words that were commonly used as the "secret word". It didn't work and Groucho replied with a couple of jokes on Hungarians (the contestant was Hungarian). The Leno version seems to do everything in its power to ensure the Secret Word is said; not only does Jay try to lead contestants into saying it, but most of them seem to be tailored to the contestants. In the debut, one of the contestants was a Ms. Pac-Man champion, and the Secret Word just happened to be "Man".*Funnily enough, she didn't say the word in her contestant interview, but she still won the $500 by going "aw, man!" after a wrong answer. | |
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Genre Savvy | |
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The December 22, 1955 show had a Genre Savvy contestant attempting to win the bonus by rattling off a bunch of words that were commonly used as the "secret word". It didn't work and Groucho replied with a couple of jokes on Hungarians (the contestant was Hungarian). | |
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Sound-to-Screen Adaptation | |
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Sound-to-Screen Adaptation: After a test film was produced on December 5, 1949†which was simply a film recording of the usual radio show and was never intended to be aired on TV, although the episode did air on radio on December 28, the screen edition debuted on October 4, 1950 when Groucho jumped ship from CBS (which produced the test film) to NBC. The show was simulcast on TV and radio until June 10, 1960. Notably, the TV pilot was the last episode with original sponsor Elgin-American†whose commercials were read by a certain Myron Wallace, who later changed his first name to Mike; DeSoto took over on the next episode (January 11, 1950†Two of the contestants were Mr. and Mrs. Story, stars of the infamous "cigar" legend) and remained for most of the decade. | |
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| You Bet Your Life / int_43273c71 | type |
LongRunner | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_43273c71 | comment |
Long Runner: The Marx era lasted 14 years, and the television version is one of the few primetime games to last a decade. | |
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Carried by the Host | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_4631a57d | comment |
Carried by the Host: It wasn't so much a Game Show as it was Groucho flexing his interviewing skills, which is why he took the job in the first place. | |
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Progressive Jackpot | |
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Progressive Jackpot: The jackpot question for the first nine years. The highest it ever got was $6,000. | |
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Animated Credits Opening | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_4eddbc06 | comment |
Animated Credits Opening: Several, but most notably the one with a cartoon Groucho and three others singing the praises of the 1955 "new DeSoto". | |
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Early-Installment Weirdness | |
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Early-Installment Weirdness: The unaired 1949 test film, due to being basically a point-and-shoot of the radio show, has a lot of differences with the later TV show. Groucho is dressed rather casually, with no jacket or tie. Fenneman wears glasses and announces the secret word at the top of the show and several times during. The set is very sparse, with only a curtain, a music stand behind which Groucho sits and a few microphones. The contestants have rather large name tags. The score is kept on a crude handwritten scoreboard. The Secret Word prize is a 16mm movie projector and the contestants are given Elgin-American cigarette cases, pearls and compacts note (usually a cigarette case for him and pearls for her, though a male contestant duo got pearls and a compact to give to their wives) before the quiz. The cameras are left running on Groucho and the contestants during the commercials. | |
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| You Bet Your Life / int_565ce678 | type |
Game Show Appearance | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_565ce678 | comment |
Game Show Appearance: The Jack Benny Program once had Benny appear on You Bet Your Life, but was confronted with the jackpot question of (paraphrasing) "Jack Benny has always claimed to be 39 years old, but what is his real age?" In Living Color! did a Cosby-era spoof titled "You Bet Your Career", with has-been stars competing for a walk-on role in current sitcoms. | |
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| You Bet Your Life / int_68d43ebc | type |
Game Show Host | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_68d43ebc | comment |
Game Show Host: Groucho Marx is the best known, the show single-handedly giving his career a shot in the arm. | |
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Think Music | |
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Think Music: An instrumental version of "Hurray for Captain Spaulding" would play as the contestants thought over their answer for the jackpot question. | |
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Transatlantic Equivalent | |
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Transatlantic Equivalent: A British revival titled Groucho aired on Rediffusion for 11 weeks in 1965. Keith Fordyce acted as what the credits called "compere", that is, the announcer/straight man role Fenneman assumed on the original show. | |
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Straight Man | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_83b464fb | comment |
Straight Man: Announcer/sidekick George Fenneman, whom Groucho called "the female Margaret Dumont". Kevin Eubanks fills this role on the Leno version. | |
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The Announcer | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_95496a1d | comment |
The Announcer: George Fenneman, Groucho's Straight Man who occasionally landed a few jokes of his own. | |
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Studio Audience | |
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Studio Audience | |
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Mascot | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_a966fdee | comment |
Mascot: The Secret Word Duck, called Julius during the Marx era and Leonard during Hackett's (Leonard was Hackett's real first name and Julius was Marx's). The Cosby version featured a black goose in a Temple University sweatshirt, who physically dropped from the ceiling and appeared in animated form in the show's graphics & commercials. Averted by the Leno version, unless you want to count the blue truck that used to drive across the screen when the Secret Word is revealed and/or guessed. (Maybe they picked it because truck rhymes with duck?) | |
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Embarrassing Middle Name | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_aa9fcfed | comment |
Embarrassing Middle Name: George Fenneman's middle name is Watt. Naturally, Groucho had some fun with it: | |
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Red Scare | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_ac1e30d8 | comment |
Red Scare: The musical director from 1948 to 1953, Jerry Fielding, lost his job when he was called before the HUAC to testify and he pleaded the fifth. (He later claimed that he was called because the HUAC wanted him to denounce Groucho Marx as a communist.) DeSoto-Plymouth put pressure on Groucho to fire him; he later said that bowing to sponsor pressure was one of the greatest regrets of his life. | |
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Deadpan Snarker | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_ae3d6438 | comment |
Deadpan Snarker: Groucho, of course. | |
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Loophole Abuse | |
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Loophole Abuse: When satirical author Richard Armour appeared on the show in 1957, Groucho introduced the contestants and uttered the show's famous catchphrase "Say the secret word and win $100." Armour said "the secret word", and the duck dropped down, and the band played the music which normally occurred when the secret word was actually uttered. Announcer George Fenneman took Armour aside and told him, "I have a notice from the producers that we will allow you to do what you just did, but nobody else had better try this." It is unknown whether or not Groucho actually handed or paid out the cash to Armour and his partner. | |
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Take That! | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_b53077b3 | comment |
As a response to big money quiz shows like The $64,000 Question, Groucho briefly increased the Secret Word bonus during the 1955-56 season... to $101. | |
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Double Unlock | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_b53d88da | comment |
Double Unlock: The Bonus Question in the Leno version, which requires picking the right category and answering the right question to even try for it. | |
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Victoria's Secret Compartment | |
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Victoria's Secret Compartment: At least one female contestant (on the February 25, 1960 episode) stuffed the $50 Secret Word prize down her cleavage: | |
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LOL, 69 | |
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LOL, 69: In season 2 of the Leno version, the Bingo ball that rolls across the screen when they reveal the Bingo Blitz Secret Word is O-69. | |
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Pilot | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_c3943bf3 | comment |
Pilot: In The '80s, a pilot was shot with Richard Dawson as host, but it was not picked up. | |
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Helium Speech | |
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Helium Speech: George Fenneman was roped into inhaling helium by Groucho on the December 26, 1957 episode. Naturally, Hilarity Ensues. | |
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Self-Deprecation | |
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Self-Deprecation: Often used by Groucho in response to his introduction. | |
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Audience Game | |
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Audience Game: Many episodes of the Leno version end with one person being plucked from the audience and asked a single question. Getting it right wins a small prize, getting it wrong doesn't. Jay does all he can to try and steer the contestant to the right answer, so losers are extremely rare. | |
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Broadcast Live | |
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Broadcast Live: The earliest game show to avert this; each episode was prerecorded and then edited to remove the duller parts and too risqué jokes (some of which were collected into "stag reels" shown at sponsors' conventions), leaving only the best (broadcast-safe) stuff. The reason the radio show debuted on ABC was because CBS and NBC still had rules prohibiting broadcast of prerecorded material on their networks while ABC had recently relaxed their rules to allow Bing Crosby to prerecord his radio show. CBS and NBC eventually dropped those rules as well, allowing them to air the show on their networks. | |
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That Came Out Wrong | |
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That Came Out Wrong: Groucho never ever let a unintentional double entendre by a contestant slip by without comment. Because of this, the audience developed an almost Pavlovian response, and would begin laughing whenever Groucho paused, often interpreting something racy he himself hadn't spotted. | |
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Bonus Round | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_d3435454 | comment |
Bonus Round: The jackpot question, which had several payouts depending on the era. 1947-56: Played by the highest-scoring couple (in the event of a tie, the couples wrote down their answers and gave them to Groucho, with a correct answer getting a share of the pot). Began at $1,000, increasing by $500 each week until won. 1956-57?: Doubled the money to $2,000, although only if a winning couple elected to risk half their $1,000. From this point onward, it was very possible for half of a couple to leave (in which case all amounts were halved), and even for the bonus game to not be used at all. 1957?-59: The winning couple picked a number and spun a 10-space wheel. If the number was landed on, they played for an augmentation to $10,000; otherwise, the same $2,000. 1959-61: Same as above, except the other half of the couple chose a second number for $5,000. 1980-81: No question here, the winning player simply stops a device that sends out plastic eggs, each containing a bonus prize. 1988 Pilot: The winning couple had thirty seconds to answer five true/false questions. Each player selected an answer. When time was up, the answers were revealed. They got $200 every time they both selected the correct answer; getting all five won $5,000. 1992-93: The couple that had won the most money was asked one last question. If they answered correctly, they chose one of three envelopes; two of these doubled their winnings, while the third awarded an additional $10,000. Averted in the 2021 version; after a couple answers their questions, that's all there is for them. | |
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Bonus Space | |
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Bonus Space: The Secret Word, which awarded $100 if uttered. When that happened, a toy duck came down on a wire with the money. Once, Harpo Marx came down with the money instead! During the last few years of the show, the money was given out by a Lovely Assistant instead of the duck. As a response to big money quiz shows like The $64,000 Question, Groucho briefly increased the Secret Word bonus during the 1955-56 season... to $101. Season 2 of the Leno version adds the "Bonus Question", which awards $1,000 that's theirs to keep no matter what. To get it, you not only have to pick the one category (out of two) that has it, you have to get the question it's attached to right to even try for it. The Bonus Question is somehow related to the regular question it's attached to. | |
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Audience Participation | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_dd91f8d8 | comment |
Audience Participation: The audience always introduced Groucho. | |
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Expy | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_e5421161 | comment |
Expy: The show's "host talks with regular people under the pretense of a game show" format was duplicated by other shows: Songs for Sale (CBS, 1950-52) was ostensibly meant to showcase amateur songs by having them performed by professional musicians (including future stars Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney), but in fact seemed more interested in having the host (Jan Murray in 1950-51, then Steve Allen) make fun of the songwriters, who were picked more for their quirky personalities than their songwriting abilities. Two for the Money (NBC, 1952-53 — CBS, 1953-57) with Herb Shriner, a carbon copy from Goodson and Todman. Judge for Yourself (NBC, 1953-54), another one from Goodson and Todman, had host Fred Allen interact with contestants amidst a rather complicated format that was revamped in the middle of the run. note The first format was a talent show/game show mix where three acts were featured and judged on by a panel of showbiz professionals and three contestants. If a contestant ranked the acts in the same order as the pros, they would win $1,000; if two or all the contestants managed it, they split the money. The second format dumped the talent acts in favor of "future hit" songs and switched the celebrity panel for an applause meter. Do You Trust Your Wife? (CBS, 1956-57 — ABC, 1957-63), which was initially hosted by ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. When the show switched networks and moved from prime time to daytime, he was replaced by Johnny Carson; the title changed to Who Do You Trust? a year later. When Carson was selected to host The Tonight Show in March 1962, he still had six months left on his contract with producer Don Fedderson; the talk show went through a series of guest hosts while Carson waited out the end of his obligation. When he finally left in September, he was replaced with Woody Woodbury, who lasted barely over a year before the show was canceled. Charge Account (NBC, 1960-62) with Jan Murray, which was eventually renamed after the host and even dumped the game show part to become a straight talk show near the end of its short run. | |
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Aside Glance | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_e8e3807 | comment |
Aside Glance: Groucho would do this any time a comment could remotely be considered funny or racy, always triggering laughter. It reached the point of a Pavlovian response, later on he would frequently do one over nothing or a completely innocuous statement, just to "trick" the audience into laughing. | |
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Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_ed6c3220 | comment |
Forgotten Theme Tune Lyrics: "Hurray for Captain Spaulding!" from Animal Crackers, which was used as the main theme and as the Think Music for the jackpot question. | |
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Product Placement | |
| You Bet Your Life / int_f511ea9b | comment |
Product Placement: As was typical practice of the time, the sponsor's logo would show up in the background behind the contestants or in front of Groucho's desk. During the last few seasons, these logos would be overlaid on the picture during the network broadcast instead of being built into the set, so the episodes as filmed would not need awkward cropping to remove the sponsor logos for syndicated reruns. The Leno version's Secret Words are sponsored. The words in season 1 were sponsored by CarGurus, and its graphics were accompanied by a blue truck driving across the screen. The sponsor for season 2 is Playtika, an Israeli mobile game maker. The Secret Word graphics are themed after whichever game they want to promote in that episode; the two games featured this way were Bingo Blitz and Slotomania. | |
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You Bet Your Life |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Big Word Shout / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Carried by the Host / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Consolation Prize / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Game Show / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Game Show Appearance / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Harpo Does Something Funny / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
LOL, 69 / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Progressive Jackpot / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Real Song Theme Tune / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Secret Word / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Sound-to-Screen Adaptation / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
Syndication Title / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
"Where? Where?" / int_1655acc8 | |
| You Bet Your Life | hasFeature |
You Answered Your Own Question / int_1655acc8 |
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