Back in this message, I told how in 1968, I helped a friend fish hundreds of 16mm film reels out of dumpsters outside CBS Television City in Hollywood. They were old TV shows that the network was tossing away — episodes of Amos & Andy, General Electric Theater, The Jack Benny Program, an obscure Allan Funt show called Tell it to the Camera and many more. One of the canisters was the show that is our video link for today…and for all I know, this video was transferred from the same print that my pal Mike and I rescued. (Mike kept them all and I have no idea what he did with them, except that I'm pretty sure one Jack Benny episode that is out on home video was transferred from one of those prints.)
Groucho Marx's popular radio show, You Bet Your Life, debuted in 1947. Late in '49, producer John Guedel was attempting to sell a TV version of it and so they hauled cameras into the studio and filmed a couple of episodes. This was partly so the television folks could see how much more entertaining Groucho could be when you could see him and partly to help make decisions on how to stage the show for the new medium. This video is one of those filmings. It's dated December 28, 1949 and I'm not sure if that's when it was filmed or if it's when the radio edition was broadcast. That date was a Wednesday and the show aired on Wednesdays but it sometimes also filmed on Wednesdays. The TV version went on the air October 5, 1950 and lasted until June 29, 1961.
Groucho did both versions — the radio version and the TV version — via what they then called the "transcription" method. This was at his insistence. He refused to do either program the way most others of that kind were done, which was live. Supposedly, he was deathly afraid of saying something off-color or of the show, which was supposed to rely heavily on his ad-libbing ability, just plain being dull. So they'd record (or for TV, film) a full hour and then edit it down to a half-hour. They also decided not to bet their lives (or anything) on his improvisational prowess. Comedy writers were hired — credited as Production Associates or under other titles — and they gave Groucho a pile of quips and jokes to use at his discretion. On radio, he had them on the desk in front of him, and you can see him refer to the pages throughout this video. On TV, the ad-libs were projected on an off-camera screen that Mr. Marx could see.
The great thing about this video is that it gives us a chance to see how the radio show was done. This includes all the departures and rambling that Groucho and his announcer George Fenneman were free to do because they knew it would all be heavily edited. You may not want to watch all 54 minutes and 30 seconds of this but you might enjoy a few minutes…
