| What's the Story | |
|---|---|
| Format | Game Show |
| Presented by | Walter Raney (1951) Walter Kiernan (1951-1953) Al Capp (1953) John McCaffery (1953-1955) |
| Starring | Harriet Van Horne Jimmy Cannon Robert Sullivan Bosley Crowther Porthos The Dog |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | DuMont |
| Original run | July 25, 1951 – September 23, 1955 |
What's the Story was an American television game show broadcast on the DuMont Television Network from July 25, 1951 to September 23, 1955 and aired in eleven different timeslots.[1]
Originally hosted by Walter Raney, he was replaced in September 1951 by Walter Kiernan, who hosted until June 20, 1953. Al Capp took over from the following week until sometime in the Fall, when John McCaffery took the reins through the show's end in 1955.
The series is most notable for being the last regular series to air on the DuMont network, after the game show Have a Heart, which ended on June 14, 1955. After the finale of What's the Story on September 25, DuMont aired only a few sporting events and ceased broadcasting altogether with the final broadcast of Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena on August 6, 1956.[1]
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A panel of well-known newspaper columnists and/or other celebrities were asked to try to identify famous events from clues given by the moderator and his assistants.[2] Among the regular panelists were Robert Sullivan of the New York Daily News, Jimmy Cannon of the New York Post, and Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram.
Like most DuMont programs, What's the Story was a victim of wiping. Although many DuMont shows survive at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the Paley Center for Media, and Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications, there are no copies of What's the Story at any of these archives.[3]
Only one episode is known to exist from December 1953, and is held by the Chicago archive MacDonald and Associates. The episode includes a segment where McCaffery, network founder Allen B. DuMont, and television pioneer Thomas T. Goldsmith discuss the future of color television.