You Asked For It

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You Asked For It was a popular human-interest show that aired between 1950 and 1959. For the first few months, it was named The Art Baker Show, after the series creator and host, Art Baker. In April of 1951, the show's title was changed to You Asked For It. It was originally on the DuMont Network between December 1950 and December 1951, when it moved to ABC, where it remained until the end of the run in September, 1959. The show was sponsored by Skippy Peanut Butter.

On the show, viewers were asked to send some postcards describing something that they wanted to see on television. Such as the reenactment of William Tell shooting an apple off his son's head. In this reenactment Stan Overby, 1950 US National Archery Champion, shot an apple off his assistant's head on national television. Short film clips were also presented, with the selection based upon viewer requests. As a consequence, many of the clips were presented multiple times, Some of the more popular clips were:

A tour of the bizarre Winchester Mystery House
The collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Art Baker hosted the show, until early 1958, when Jack Smith took over for the remaining 20 months.

Thirteen years after ABC cancelled the show, an all-new version of You Asked For It began to air in syndication, and was also hosted by Jack Smith. In 1981, another syndicated version of the classic 1950s program went on the air as The New You Asked For It, with impressionist Rich Little as the host. Jack Smith was also one of the narrators in this one (voicing the clips from the older versions) and co-host Jayne Kennedy helped Little with the narration on the newer stories. The most recent incarnation ran from 1981 until the summer of 1983.