Well, you didn't really ask for it, but you're gonna get it anyway!
Time for another journey down the dusty trail of TV history on this Weird Wednesday in The Dungeon!
"Television's Greatest All Time Request Show!"
And I believe it's true. I know one thing, I sure looked forward to watching it when I was a kid!
Lot of puns and lots of funs!
The host of the show from 1951 to 1958 was actor Art Baker. Art's last appearance on the silver screen was as a mortician in "The Wild Angels."
And all brought to you courtesy of Skippy Peanut Butter, creamy and crunchy!
"You Ask For It" was just what the name implies. Viewers would mail in questions, and the show would try and give answers. The first question on this particular show was what was faster, an Abacus, also known as a Chinese adding machine dating back centurues, or a modern electric adding machine!
These were the equations presented to the contestants!
The modern adding machine that looks antique by today's standards won the contest by a mere six seconds!
The next question posed was if the show would expose the faker spiritualist mediums that were bilking the public out of 125 million dollars a year!
The old "switcheroo" like with this blackboard was one of several things exposed!
Another was this horn-like device that could make the medium's disguised voice sound like it was coming from different parts of the room!
Life used to be so simple!!
The next question was "I have heard of calypso singers and dancers from Tinidad who can make up a song or a dance about any subject at all, but I'm never seen them, are there any in this country?"
So out come Calypso Joe and Coco-Te, who the host says introduced American theatre to Calypso!
Coco-Te sings a song with lyrics like "Oh, the atom bomb make big explosion, let's hope it's not for world destruction, we've got to have peace and harmony, so our children have peace and prosperity!"
Believe it or not, but it is total coincidence that Tabonga just wrote up a calypso movie!
"If you like peanuts, you'll love Skippy!"
Virginia Hull from Salt Lake City sent in the last question for this show, and it's a good one!
"My husband says that wrestlers are just big gorillas with a lot of muscles and no brains, but I just think he's just plain jealous and I tell him so, but I'm asking to see one of my favorites do something on your show that takes brains outside of the ring"
So for this segment, they bring out one of the most famous wrestlers of all time, Gorgeous George to do some card tricks, and he's pretty good!
Years ago I read that in the 50's, Gorgeous George was the main reason that people bought TV sets!
That's how popular or unpopular, however you want to look at it, that he was!
You can find lots of episodes like this one on the always cool Internet Archive,
and there are also episodes that have Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. on them, and it's all free!
You can't lose!!
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