''Quiz Kids'' is a radio and TV series originally broadcast in the 1940s and 1950s. Created by Chicago public relations and advertising man

Louis G. Cowan Louis G. Cowan (December 12, 1909 – November 18, 1976) was a president of the CBS broadcasting network in the United States and a creator of quiz shows (including '' Quiz Kids'' radio program, '' Stop the Music'', and ''The $64,000 Question'' f ...

, and originally sponsored by

Alka-Seltzer Alka-Seltzer is an effervescent antacid and pain reliever first marketed by the Dr. Miles Medicine Company of Elkhart, Indiana, United States. Alka-Seltzer contains three active ingredients: aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) (ASA), sodium bicarbo ...

, the series was first broadcast on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

from Chicago, June 28, 1940, airing as a summer replacement show for '' Alec Templeton Time''. It continued on radio for the next 13 years. On television, the show was seen on NBC and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

from July 6, 1949 to July 5, 1953, with Joe Kelly as quizmaster, and again from January 12 to September 27, 1956, with

Clifton Fadiman Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality. He began his work with the radio, and switched to television later in his career. Background Born in Br ...

as host. The premise of the original show involved Kelly asking questions sent in by listeners and researched by Eliza Hickok and Rachel Stevenson. Kelly often said that he was not an intellectual, and that he could not have answered any of the questions without knowing the answer from his flash card. Yet he was remarkably kind and affable, and put even novice young contestants at ease immediately. The answers were supplied by a panel of five children, chosen for their high IQs, strong academic interests, and appealing personalities, as well as such qualities as poise, quickness, and sense of humor. One of the first Quiz Kids was seven-year-old nature expert Gerard Darrow. For the initial premiere panel he was joined by Mary Ann Anderson, Joan Bishop, George Van Dyke Tiers and Charles Schwartz. Other Quiz Kids of the 1940s included: Joan Alizier, Lois Jean Ashbeck, Jack Beckman, Claude Brenner, Geraldine Hamburg, Mary Clare McHugh, David Nasatir, Sally Ann Wilhelm, Ruth Duskin, war refugee Gunther Hollander,

Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...

, and math experts Joel Kupperman and Richard Williams. Panelists rotated, with the three top scorers each week joined by two others the following week; they were no longer eligible to participate once they reached the age of 16.

New York and Chicago

In 1949–50 the program was expanded to New York, where a series of competitions determined the panelists. Students from the New York City area were chosen from questionnaires distributed to elementary schools, and were "interviewed" in panels where questions simulating those sent in by listeners were used. Those chosen from the interviews competed weekly for Quiz Kid of the month, with the two weekly winners from each show going on to the monthly "finals". Monthly winners later competed against each other on another panel, from which the overall winner was chosen. There were also parallel shows hosted by Durward Kirby, involving some of the same panelists. The shows hosted by Kirby were sponsored by The Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn, and thus were called ''The Savings Bank Quiz Kids''. Norman Lane, age nine, was the winner of the monthly competitions and went on the air in Chicago in one show with the Chicago group. Malcolm Mitchell, age 12, won the three competitions on the parallel series of shows, with Lane second each time, and was selected by the producers to be on several shows with the Chicago Quiz Kid group at NBC Studios in New York. These notably included one where the Kids defeated a group of university professors from New York in "general knowledge" topics. Mitchell, later a medical professor at Yale, had the special talent of "perfect pitch" (able to identify musical notes and chords with certainty), which made for interesting radio moments aside from answering straight questions. A television program, now in

The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York with a branch office in Los Angeles, dedicated to ...

in New York and Los Angeles, was filmed in 1950 with

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

as guest host and featured the Chicago Quiz Kids. The popularity of the television series never approached that of the radio programs, which first aired on Wednesday evenings and later on Sundays and had a devoted following of both adults and children. ''The Quiz Kids'' not only spawned a host of quiz shows starring both extraordinary and ordinary people, but also gave rise to the now more-popular term "Whiz Kids," first applied to the 1950

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

" Whiz Kids", and later to several cabinet members in the Kennedy Administration. One of the notable ex-Quiz Kids is the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

-winning biologist James D. Watson. Others included actor and dialect coach Robert Easton, legendary Hollywood acting coach

Roy London Roy London (March 3, 1943 – August 8, 1993) was an American actor, acting coach and teacher. Early life London was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. A math prodigy at age five, London was on the radio show, ...

, producer

Harve Bennett Harve Bennett (born Harve Bennett Fischman; August 17, 1930 – February 25, 2015) was an American television and film producer and screenwriter. Early years Bennett was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois in 1930, the son of Kathryn (n ...

, poet Marilyn Hacker, Mayo Clinic Chief of Staff Richard Sedlack, and actress

Vanessa Brown Vanessa Brown (born Smylla Brind, March 24, 1928 – May 21, 1999) was an Austrian-born American actress who worked in radio, film, theater, and television. Early life Born in Vienna, Austria, to Jewish parents (Nah Brind, a language teacher, a ...

Later versions

''Quiz Kids'' has been revived six times since the original television series: * '' The New Quiz Kids'' aired in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

from 1978 to 1979 on

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after C ...

, hosted by Terry David Mulligan. * In 1978,

Jim McKrell James MacKrell (October 12, 1937) is a retired American television personality, best known for emceeing television game shows such as '' Celebrity Sweepstakes'' and '' The Game Game''. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Published variations ...

hosted a weekly syndicated edition also titled ''The New Quiz Kids'', which taped in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and ran for half a season. * A later American revival aired from October 12, 1981 to December 15, 1982 on CBS Cable, hosted by

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning '' All in the Fami ...

. * '' The Quiz Kids Challenge'', which featured a panel of three kids playing against three adults, aired in daily syndication from September 10 to December 28, 1990.

Jonathan Prince Jonathan Alexander Prince (born August 16, 1958) is an American actor, director, screenwriter and movie producer. Career Prince embarked on an acting career following graduation from Harvard University. His played Leo in the 1981 CBS series ''M ...

hosted this version while Johnny Gilbert served as announcer. * ''Bay Area Quiz Kids'' is a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

-area high school quiz bowl, aired on

KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the c ...

. *CBS owned-and-operated station KNXT/KCBS-TV in Los Angeles produced their own version, titled ''Kidquiz'', hosted by station weathercaster Maclovio Perez. This version aired for eight years (1984–1992) on the station, usually prior to the start of CBS' Saturday morning programming.

In Australia

An Australian radio program, after the American model, was first aired on Australian commercial radio in 1948. In 1952

John Dease Conly John Paget Dease (26 May 1906 – 1 February 1979) was a prominent Australian radio presenter and quiz show host at 2GB, Sydney, and through it, the Macquarie Radio Network from 1935 until at least 1969. He was born in Bhamo, Upper Burma, ...

began hosting ''Quiz Kids'' on

Radio 2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total radio r ...

, that ran every Sunday evening until 14 October 1962 (with an abortive attempt in 1956–57 to run concurrently on

ATN-7 ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the first four licences (two in Sydney, ...

and

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

weekly from 9 June 1957 to 10 November 1957) and transferred to ABC TV in March 1964.

References

* *

External links

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''The Quiz Kids'' (12/24/48)
{{Italic title 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs American radio game shows American children's game shows 1940s American children's game shows 1950s American children's game shows Student quiz television series Seven Network original programming Nine Network original programming 1957 Australian television series debuts 1957 Australian television series endings Black-and-white Australian television shows 1940s Australian game shows 1950s Australian game shows 1960s Australian game shows Television series based on radio series 1964 Australian television series debuts 1968 Australian television series endings NBC radio programs ABC radio programs