Queen for a Day

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For other uses, see Queen for a Day (disambiguation).
Queen for a Day
Created by Edward Kranyak
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Production
Running time 30 minutes (later increased to 45)
Broadcast
Original channel Mutual
NBC
ABC
Original run (on radio 1945-1957)
May 1947 – October 2, 1964
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Queen for a Day was an American radio and television show. It helped usher in American broadcast listeners' and viewers' fascination with big prize giveaway shows when it was born on radio (1945–1957), before moving to television (1947–1964; 1969–1970) and, between the two versions, making it a forerunner of "reality television". The show became popular enough that NBC increased its running time from 30 to 45 minutes.

Jack Bailey hosted both the original radio show and the original daytime television version, first for Mutual, then NBC, and finally ABC. Using the classic "applause meter" as did many game or hit-parade style shows of the time, Queen for a Day contestants told why they would like the honour—and the twist of it was that the contestant had to talk publicly about the recent hard times she had been through.

It was something of an inverted Horatio Alger syndrome: instead of boy or girl making good, strictly speaking, the lure of Queen for a Day was woman making rock bottom (or close enough to it; the tearjerking factor was always part of the show's appeal) in order to have a one-in-four chance at best of making good, or at least a little less burdened, for at least one day in her life. The more harsh the circumstances that led a contestant to want to appear, the likelier the studio audience was to ring the applause meter's highest level. And, to the full accompaniment of "Pomp and Circumstance", the winner would be draped in a red velvet robe and a shimmering crown, and she would be festooned with a dozen long-stemmed roses, trips, a fully-paid night on the town with her husband or her escort, and other prizes. "Make every woman a queen, for every single day!" would be Bailey's trademark signoff.

Some critics accused the show of exploiting rather than enhancing the women who competed and the audience (in studio and at home) who watched. Dick Curtis hosted a short-lived attempt to revive the show in 1969.

[edit] Trivia & pop culture references

  • Within one year of its original arrival, Queen for a Day was the target of a parody on The Fred Allen Show. Tying it to the humorist's longtime running-gag "feud" with fellow comic titan Jack Benny, calling the segment "King for a Day", Allen set it up for Benny (in his trademark skinflint character) to sneak his way onto the "show" as a contestant, answer a single trivia question, and win a passel of goof prizes, including a professional pressers' iron that gave Allen the excuse to catch Benny, literally, with his pants down. Allen ordered assistants to start undressing Benny so his suit could be pressed right there, with Benny bellowing, "Allen, you haven't seen the end of me!" and Allen rejoining, without missing a beat, "It won't be long now!"
  • The 1951 movie Queen for a Day was based on the show and featured Jack Bailey playing himself.
  • In a 1961 episode of the animated TV series Top Cat, the title character concocts a hard-luck story to win the prize on a "King for a Day" show.
  • George Carlin parodied the show with "Queenie for a Day" on the "Daytime Television" segment of his debut album, Take-Offs and Put-Ons in 1967. In his version, the winning contestant tells an increasingly tragic tale of hospitalization and homelessness, yet in the end, all she requests as a prize is a set of golf clubs.
  • In an 1980 episode of Happy Days, Marion Cunningham appears on a fictional Queen for a Day-like show (Dreams Can Come True) to win funds for her son and his fiancée to get married, but she feels so sorry for the other two competitors that she turns over all her winnings to them.

[edit] See also