Memories of 1950s Television - 'You Bet Your Life' Starring Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx had to be either the most popular or a very close second all time favorite Marx brothers. He certainly had outrageous humor and mannerisms on his side. Each week, this program offered two people the chance to win money by answering questions that Groucho would ask and the winner would go to a bonus round where they could win even more money. At the beginning of the show, there also was announced a secret word where a contestant would win more money if the word was said during the show by one of them. If the word was spoken a Groucho duck with a mustache, eyeglasses and a cigar in his mouth would come down signaling that the word was said. In the later years of the program, sometimes a pretty girl or even another celebrity would come down on a swing to award the contestant the money. I truly believe it was more of a comedy show than a quiz show because Groucho's wit shone through and once in a while he met his match with a contestant who had a sense of humor just like his!

Groucho Marx was born Julius Henry Marx in 1890 and lived to be 86 years old. He was married and divorced three times. He had two children by his first wife and a daughter Melinda Marx by his second wife. Melinda did appear on his show a few times. He had to leave school when he was 12 years old to help support the family but never lost his love of reading and learning. After traveling the vaudeville circuit with his brothers, they bombed several times. After one show; they started clowning around as brothers would do and the audience loved their kind of comedy. That was the beginning of several movies as a wisecracking conglomeration of fools. If you are a fan of the Marx Brothers movies, as I am, you know how much these movies mean to us.

Unfortunately, his death went almost unnoticed because he died just three days after the death of Elvis Presley. But his persona has lived on with memorable performances on Broadway played by Frank Ferrante who portrayed him for over two decades in "An Evening with Groucho," Hawkeye Pierce enjoyed spoofing him in M.A.S.H. whenever Captain Spalding arrived on the scene (from a part Groucho played in Animal Crackers), many years of commercials for Vlasic pickles had a cartoon of a stork with the voice of Groucho, Queen had two albums in the 70's with the same names as two of his movies; "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races." Fortunately for fans, his movies live on with even many theaters showing midnight performances and Marx Brothers movie marathons.

Sources:
http://www.crazyabouttv.com/youbetyourlife.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groucho_marx#Legacy