Meet the Quiz Kids
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“Kids” who have made their mark on entertainment history in unique
and extraordinary ways.
Let’s start things off with Quiz Kids, the
Chicago-based question-and-answer show that was a sensation on both radio and
TV. It was the brainchild of Louis Cowan, who would go on to have an even bigger
hit with TV’s game show pioneer The $64,000 Question and the ultimately
doomed $64,000 Challenge. Quiz Kids started on NBC in 1940, moving
to the Blue Network, then back to NBC and finally to CBS throughout its
run.
The show worked like this: a panel of brilliant youngsters, aged
4-16, would field questions submitted by listeners. And not just any questions.
Difficult questions. For example, “How many seconds are in a
year?”, which was answered in less than a minute by 6-year old Joel
Kupperman (he even added a leap year in as an afterthought). Joel was one of
several kids on the show whose IQ soared over 200 – and one of many who was
reading, adding and subtracting at the age when most kids are still toddling.
Under the guidance of quizmaster Joe Kelly, these kids amazed audiences
of all ages with their quick-wit and undeniable charm. And for each week the
children were on the show, they not only dazzled and delighted listeners all
over the country, but they also received a $100 savings bond (a far cry from
today’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire standard).
Naturally, many
of the Quiz Kids grew up to hold some very prestigious jobs and to make
unquestionably valuable contributions to society. Poet Louis Edward Sissman,
computer innovator Alan Kay, movie director Robert Easton and TV producer Harve
Fischman were all featured on Quiz Kids. There was also James D. Watson,
who grew up to receive the 1962 Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery
of the double-helical structure of the DNA molecule – a prize he shared with
Francis Crick. Another Kid, Ruth Duskin, actually grew up to write a
fascinating book on her quiz show experience and the lives that followed her
fellow Kids – entitled Whatever Happened to the Quiz Kids: The Perils
and Profits of Growing Up Gifted. And as for little Joel? He grew up to be a
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut.
Sponsored by
Alka-Seltzer, Quiz Kids ultimately made its way onto television in 1949,
where it ran until 1953. It was briefly revived, with Clifton Fadiman hosting,
in 1956.
There are plenty of Quiz Kids collectibles that can still
be found today, including board games, question and answer books, postcards,
pinbacks, paper dolls…even a fiction book that featured the tykes using their
brainpower to solve a mystery. No kidding!
artoon
characters, Snap, Crackle and Pop, are here, armed with spoons and a carton of
milk, ready to dig into one of America’s favorite breakfast treats.
Orange-hato wreak hilarious havoc on all your other Head Knockers!<br><br></div>
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<t> in
1932; actor/director <b>Charles Grodin</b> in 1935; rocker <b>Iggy Pop</b> in
1947; Broadway star <b>Patti LuPone</b> in 1949; <i>Who’s the Boss </i>actor
<b>Tony Danza</b> in 1951; and <i>Hudson Hawk </i>actress <b>Andie MacDowell</b>
in 1958.<br><br>Our birthdays for <b>April 22</b> include Spanish Queen
<b>Isabella I</b>, who funded the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the
New World, in 1451; English novelist <b>Henry Fielding</b> in 1707; German
philosopher <b>Immanuel Kant</b> in 1724; pioneer nuclear physicist <b>J. Robert
Oppenheimer</b> in 1904; actor <b>Eddie Albert</b> in 1908; violin virtuoso
<b>Yehudi Menuhin</b> in 1916; jazz bass player <b>Charles Mingus </b>in 1922;
<i>The Facts of Life </i>actress <