Little trivia treasures continue to turn up on Game Show Network's Black and White Overnight. The other morn, they aired an I've Got A Secret from 1959 that I recall seeing when it first aired. I would have been seven at the time but my little feat of recollection is nothing compared to one of the guests on that broadcast. His name was Jack Chambers and his secret was that he'd memorized that day's edition of The New York Herald-Tribune. Before the show, he'd absorbed all the news stories and, after his secret was revealed, the panel grilled him on random articles. He couldn't recite pieces verbatim but he had almost all the details. There was, for instance, a news story about a boating accident that had claimed a dozen lives and he was able to recall the names and ages of the victims. He'd also memorized the crossword puzzle.
I remember Mr. Chambers from a brief period when he had a unique show on one of the local TV stations in L.A. Basically, each day, he'd memorize that morning's Los Angeles Times and viewers could call up and quiz him on anything in the paper. Usually, it was restricted to news stories and the crossword puzzle but, some mornings, he'd announce he'd had a little extra time so he'd also memorized the sports section or all the recipes…and I vividly recall one day when he included the comic strip page and someone made him quote the dialogue in Moon Mullins.
The show was only on for a few weeks, as I recall. I guess once viewers saw that he could do it, they lost interest. I suspect if they did it today, everyone would figure it was a trick; that the guy was reading it off the TelePrompter or something.