The Answer Man

Last updated
The offices of The Answer Man were across the street from the New York Public Library, a source for many of the answers. New York Public Library May 2011.JPG
The offices of The Answer Man were across the street from the New York Public Library, a source for many of the answers.

The Answer Man is a United States 15-minute radio program that aired from 1937 to 1956 on the Mutual Broadcasting System and also in syndication. [1] It was broadcast late Sunday evening on some stations. During the 1940s, the program was sponsored by Trommer's White Label Beer. The Answer Man was Albert Carlyle Mitchell, who was born May 31, 1893, in Elsberry, Missouri. The series was created by Mitchell and Bruce Chapman. [1] [2]

Contents

Questions submitted by listeners were answered on the air by Mitchell, and those who sent questions not used in the program were given answers by mail. The program's offices were located across the street from the New York Public Library, which helps to explain how Chapman and his staff (along with 40 helpers) [1] were able to deal with a constant flow of nearly a million [1] questions a year. They also kept their own specialized library of several thousands of volumes, and they created a card index of 20,000 authorities who could be consulted when all research avenues failed. The show was carefully scripted, yet it created the illusion that Mitchell was answering spontaneously. Many listeners believed that he was a genius with total recall of all information.

Mitchell would often close an episode with a short poem that was relevant to a previous question and which provided a thoughtful and tranquil conclusion for the listener.

Q&A

On New York's WOR, the program was heard twice a day from 1937 to 1952. Questions and answers covered every conceivable topic, from stain removal to legal advice. Typical questions:

  • How tall was Jesus?
  • What makes bubble gum bubble?
  • Is it true that only the male cricket chirps?

According to an article printed in the 1940s, there were two questions that the Answer Man was unable to answer:

  • How many buffalo would it take to fill Grand Canyon?
  • Do birds dream?

The series was sometimes developed for individual markets, such as local versions in France, Germany, Greece, Holland and Poland, with Radio Luxembourg also broadcasting the concept in Europe. In Los Angeles, Joe Mansfield was the Answer Man. [1]

The spin-off quiz book, Here's the Answer by Albert Mitchell, was published by Miles-Emmett in 1946. [2] Distributed by Dodd, Mead & Company, this book featured more than 2000 questions and answers, grouped by subject.

Mitchell died October 4, 1954[ citation needed ]

Satires

The series was satirized on television by Ernie Kovacs and Steve Allen. The Kovacs lampoon was a feature titled The Question Man. In Steve Allen's parody, the answers were given first, followed by the question: A: "Rank and file." Q: "What does it take to get out of an Army prison?"

See also

Listen to

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Kovacs</span> American comedian, actor, and writer (1919–1962)

Ernest Edward Kovacs was an American comedian, actor, and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Allen</span> American comedian, actor, and musician (1921–2000)

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and first host of The Tonight Show, which was the first late-night television talk show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Allen</span> American sports announcer (1913–1996)

Mel Allen was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Allen was arguably the most prominent member of his profession, his voice familiar to millions. Years after his death, he is still promoted as having been "The Voice of the Yankees."

3AK is the call sign of SEN 1116, and the earlier on-air name of a former Melbourne talk-back radio and music station, which, in 2003, leased its licence to sports network SEN 1116. A number of unusual events and precedents throughout the station's history make its story of unusual interest. These events include :

Twenty questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. It originated in the United States and was played widely in the 19th century. It escalated in popularity during the late 1940s, when it became the format for a successful weekly radio quiz program.

<i>You Bet Your Life</i> American radio and television comedy quiz game show

You Bet Your Life is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and sidekick George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio on October 27, 1947, moved to CBS Radio debuting October 5, 1949, and went to NBC-TV and NBC Radio on October 4, 1950. Because of its simple format, it was possible to broadcast the show on both radio and television but not simultaneously. Many of the laughs on the television show were evoked by Groucho's facial reactions and other visual gimmicks. So the two versions were slightly different. The last episode in a radio format aired on June 10, 1960. The series continued on television for another year, recording the last season, beginning on September 22, 1960, with a new title, The Groucho Show.

<i>Lux Radio Theatre</i> American radio anthology series

Lux Radio Theatre, sometimes spelled Lux Radio Theater, a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) ; CBS Radio network (1935–54), and NBC Radio (1954–55). Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences. The series became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years and continued on television as the Lux Video Theatre through most of the 1950s. The primary sponsor of the show was Unilever through its Lux Soap brand.

<i>Mr. and Mrs. North</i> Fictional American amateur detectives created by Frances and Richard Lockridge

Mr. and Mrs. North are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple was featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television series.

Information Please is an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938, to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called "information" and later called "directory assistance".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blue Network</span> American radio network (1927–1945)

The Blue Network was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.

<i>Quiz Kids</i> Radio and television series

Quiz Kids is a radio and TV series originally broadcast in the 1940s and 1950s. Created by Chicago public relations and advertising man Louis G. Cowan, and originally sponsored by Alka-Seltzer, the series was first broadcast on NBC from Chicago, June 28, 1940, airing as a summer replacement show for Alec Templeton Time. It continued on radio for the next 13 years. On television, the show was seen on NBC and CBS from July 6, 1949, to July 5, 1953, with Joe Kelly as quizmaster, and again from January 12 to September 27, 1956, with Clifton Fadiman as host.

<i>Monitor</i> (radio program) Radio show

Monitor was an American weekend radio program broadcast live and nationwide on the NBC Radio Network from June 12, 1955, until January 26, 1975. It began originally on Saturday morning at 8am and continued through the weekend until 12 midnight on Sunday. After the first few months, the full weekend broadcast was shortened when the midnight-to-dawn hours were dropped since few NBC stations carried it.

The Brains Trust was an informational BBC radio and later television programme popular in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 1950s, on which a panel of experts tried to answer questions sent in by the audience.

<i>Americas Town Meeting of the Air</i> Public affairs discussion broadcast on radio

America's Town Meeting of the Air was a public affairs discussion broadcast on radio from May 30, 1935, to July 1, 1956, mainly on the NBC Blue Network and its successor, ABC Radio. One of radio's first talk shows, it began as a six-week experiment, and NBC itself did not expect much from it.

<i>The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen</i> 1933–1937 American radio serial

The Air Adventures of Jimmie Allen is an American radio adventure serial broadcast from 1933 until 1937. The 15-minute syndicated program was created by writers Robert M. Burtt and Wilfred G. Moore, both of whom were from Kansas City, Missouri.

KIT is an AM radio station broadcasting a news/talk format to the Yakima, Washington, United States, area. The station is licensed to Townsquare License, LLC and owned by Townsquare Media. The station features programming from Fox News Radio, Compass Media Networks and Premiere Networks, and Salem Radio Network. The transmitter and broadcast tower are located in southern Yakima along West Washington Avenue near the railroad tracks. The self-supporting tower is 63 m (207 ft) tall.

The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network airs the live performances on Saturday afternoons while the Met is in season, typically beginning the first Saturday in December, and totaling just over 20 weekly performances through early May. The Met broadcasts are the longest-running continuous classical music program in radio history, and the series has won several Peabody Awards for excellence in broadcasting.

Ken Roberts was an American radio and television announcer known for his work during the Golden Age of Radio and for his work announcing the daytime television soap operas The Secret Storm, Texas and Love of Life, each for a two-decade span.

Don Winslow of the Navy was an American old-time radio juvenile adventure serial. It was broadcast on the Blue Network from October 19, 1937, until May 26, 1939, and was revived for a second run from October 5, 1942, until January 1, 1943.

<i>Twenty Questions</i> (American game show) American TV series or program

Twenty Questions, based on the guessing game Twenty questions, started as a radio quiz show in 1946. The television series ran on NBC in 1949, on ABC from 1950 to 1951 and on the DuMont Television Network from 1951 to 1954.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 37. ISBN   978-0-19-507678-3 . Retrieved 2019-10-25.
  2. 1 2 "NOW YOU can be Your Own "ANSWER MAN" (advertisement)". Boys' Life . 37 (4): 42. April 1947. Retrieved 2019-10-25.