Youtube has a number of episodes of 1950s game shows

[moon_custafer]

...like I’ve Got a Secret, or What’s My Line? Sometimes I’ll watch one, usually because one of the guests or panelists is someone from that time period who interests me.

The other day I watched the first bit from this episode  of To Tell the Truth, in which they bring on three women all claiming to be a fashion designer named Micol Fontana, whose face, I guess, was not as well-known as her name or designs; the panelists had to cross-examine them and try to determine which one was the real Fontana.

 I found it interesting how the different panelists took different lines of questioning, based, I suppose, on what topics *they* knew would allow them to easily identify answers as true or false  – one kept asking questions about Gina Lollobrigida, who the real Micol Fontana would have known as a client; two panelists who were both women tried cross-examining the guests on fashion, presumably hoping to trip up the fakes; and Walter Slezak, being both an actor and European, tried questions about the director of The Barefoot Contessa (for which the real Fontana had recently designed the costumes) and the local geography of Rome.

As it happened, all the panelists got it right; but when asked to explain their rationale, they kept shrugging and saying “well #1 just looks the way I imagine the real Micol Fontana would look.” One of them also mentioned that he’d noticed before the questioning, when everyone had first entered the studio, he’d noticed Fontana had been acting “like a hostess,” directing and placing the other two women.

It struck me then that this game, and to an extent the other shows I mentioned, was about reading body language and sounding people out – sort of like Battleship played with social skills. That probably makes it sound creepier than it was. I think it was also significant that the panel was evenly divided between men and women.  It was a game I’d be useless at myself, but I can admire the talent in others; and I don’t know if any modern game shows are anything like – maybe some of the “reality” shows,  although they tend to be longer, and more dependent on editing.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

Wow, that is so interesting -- the objective factors must have weighed in, but from their subjective perspective?

[sovay]

nd Walter Slezak, being both an actor and European, tried questions about the director of The Barefoot Contessa (for which the real Fontana had recently designed the costumes) and the local geography of Rome.

That's excellent.

[moon_custafer]

I forgot to mention the show was hosted by Bud Collier, who I knew only as the voice of Clark Kent/Superman on radio and in various cartoons.