Queen For A Day

When you think of game shows, you may think of contestants competing for money and prizes through a series of trivia questions, card games, word puzzles and other game like challenges. However, from 1945-1957, a different breed of game show took place. You could say that it is a pre curser to the modern day "reality TV show".

Queen For A Day, which ran from 1945 as a radio then later as a television game show until 1957, help ushered in  what is called, the "big giveaway" game shows. It was very unique in the fact that it featured four ladies who have had their share of hard luck. Each of the ladies would be interviewed in front of a studio audience by host Jack Baily and they would each tell about their struggles publicly. The winner was determined by how terrible her circumstances were and by the amount of applause she would receive by the audience. After the winner was announced, the tune Pomp And Circumstance would play, she would be draped in a sable trimmed velvet robe, given a crown, placed on a red velvet throne and given a dozen roses. Often the winner would break down in sobs while the list of prizes won were announced. At the end of each episode, Jack Baily would sign off with, "This is Jack Bailey, wishing we could make every woman a queen, for every single day!"

Queen For A Day was so popular, that NBC increased it's run time from 30 minutes to 45 minutes to sell more commercials. Despite it's popularity, it was not always looked upon with fondness by some. Television writer Mark Evanier dubbed it as "one of the most ghastly shows ever produced" because it was tasteless and demeaning to women, demeaning to anyone who watched it, cheap, insulting and utterly degrading to the human spirit."

Other shows of it's kind, which had people tell their of their struggles were "Strike It Rich", "It Could Be You" and "On Your Way"