Shocked

Google News turned up a mostly uninteresting combo of TV criticism and political rant, which did have an odd game show connection.

The author is Jeff Simon. (No, I've never heard of him, either, but he's never heard of me so we're even.) In the midst of his cynical maunderings, he recalls a bit of childhood history.

When I was a kid way back in the middle of another century, my mother took my brother and I to see New York for the first time and somehow managed to score tickets to the game show Strike It Rich, starring the less-than-immortal Warren Hull. It was his job to solicit the grim life stories of people seeking the show's money. I was shocked at the applause signs and the number of times we were commanded to work for our free seats.

Somehow I doubt that he was all that shocked, but this is a quibble. Warren Hull may not have been immortal - not too many people are, including cynical TV critics - but a bit of his work on Strike It Rich survives on YouTube. It's a delicious bit of '50s daytime TV, complete with cheesy organ music, harsh lighting, and overpowering product placement (see the screenshot for Fab.)

You might call the show a slightly classier version of Queen for a Day. Wikipedia tells me that Strike It Rich lasted a surprisingly long time and spawned a couple of revival attempts. (The 1986-87 Joe Garagiola show of the same name was a completely different format.) YouTube hasn't forgotten about it, anyway.

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