Queen For A Day (1945)

[Dover]

Actually it's before my time, but I have heard alot about it, and have been thinking about it lately.

Picture:

Here's a blurb I found about it:

Plot Summary for
Queen for a Day (1951)
The film was based on the popular daytime Mutual Broadcasting Company radio program that originated from New York on April 30, 1945 as "Queen For Today" and moved to Hollywood a few months later as "Queen For A Day", with Jack Bailey, former vaudeville music man and World's Fair barker, as the emcee host. The five-times-a-week, thirty minute doses spun over to television and lasted into the 70's. Bailey, in pre-airing interviews with audience members, would select 3-4 contestants who would pour out their (mostly pitiful) hearts explaining why they deserved to be Queen For A Day, and the audience selected the winner.

The American public loved the format. Ordinary people wrote to the show asking for something that would make their lives a little easier. Usually it was a housewife asking for a new washing machine. It was something with which the audience could identify. As justification for being selected as the recipient of their heart's desire, they would describe their lives and try to show that they were worthy. There is a film about this show with the same title, Queen For A Day. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043947/

It reminds me of current shows such as Extreme Home Makeover and the huge giveaways by the wealthiest people such as Oprah's car giveaways or talk shows exploiting the lower classes and their pathetic stories. All these shows, in their apparent benevolence, reinforce the class gap, create the desire for things beyond one's means ("happiness"?) which feeds consumerism and shines a warm glow over the wealthier classes and their accoutrements.

Other reality shows seem to do the opposite and reward the most manipulative, underhanded types for their "success" in undermining, lying to, backstabbing, overcoming their fear of eating worms, etc. better than their fellow players. Even those who purport to play the game without these "tools for success" ultimately fail. As my neighbor complained to me the other day... her daughter was hooked on the show Big Brother and she complained bitterly to her mother about who had won. When her mother quizzed her about it, the daughter revealed that the guy who won had called the woman whom he was in the winner's circle with (and with whom he had a "romantic liason" during the show), a whore. And it came out that they were simply using each other and considered it, "just business, not personal". In fact, that is the theme of many "reality shows". Just business. And indeed, in the corporate culture at least, it is. Any means to an end that gets the desired result.

Both types of shows do have one thing in common. They both perpetuate greed, desire and consumerism. And they exploit people's weaknesses, fears and hardships.

Sometimes even when ya win, ya lose.

Here's info from Wikepedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_for_a_Day

[lpbk2713]

1. I used to watch the TV version in the mid 50's

Jean Cagney (Jimmy's sister) was a regular sidekick.

[calico1]

2. It was still running in the 60's.

I remember watching it as a kid. And also "the millionaire" in which a millionare would give $1,000,000 to someone who needed it.

[liberaldemocrat7]

7. John Beresford Tipton

I watched these shows as a child in the late 1950's.

Queen for a day looked very much like a soap opera to me, to see who would win the prizes.

I enjoyed watching the millionaire and seeing people who won the million have trouble in their lives after they got the money.

[kskiska]

12. A million dollars was a fantastic dream back then

It was impossible to imagine how it could be spent in one lifetime. The stories were tilted heavily toward showing that money could mess up your life and you'd have been better off without it. There were very few stories where people actually benefited by becoming wealthy.

The chosen recipients were sworn not to disclose how they received the money or how much, otherwise it would be forfeited.

[jmowreader]

17. The media still does that shit

Except now they don't have to come up with the money themselves.

Every once in a while you'll see a show on something like TLC about lottery winners. Almost invariably, the money ruined the person's life. Look at Jack Whittaker, the guy who won the Powerball on Christmas 2002. You hear about him a lot because he let the money fuck up his life and he makes a perfect object lesson for "you don't REALLY want to win all that money, do you? Of course not."

I'll be fair here: most of the people who win big jackpots do let the money ruin their lives. Some people can handle big money, but you NEVER hear about those people.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I remember the "Queen for a Day" TV show (I'm old).

I was just a little kid, but I remember watching it and thinking how sad it was that only one of the ladies on the show could get the new washing machine. As I recall, each of the contestants would tell her sad story to the audience, and then the audience would "vote" by applauding to decide which of them "deserved" the prize the most.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. I thought the applause meter was cool

What do you know when you're 4 years old?

[AnneD]

13. Hey...

I'm not so old and I remember it. The sob stories folks would tell for a Maytag washer and dryer. I liked Divorce Court (Mom just thought I was asleep)too, but my fav was Jack LaLane. Also enjoyed the Art Linkletter Show.

[calico1]

16. I watched Jack LaLane and I remember

developing a callous on the back of my neck doing shoulder stands! :rofl:
My mom would look at my neck and ask me what the heck I did. Then I told her I was just doing exercise! Of course, it would have helped if our floors had carpeting, which they didn't. :)

[Suich]

4. I used to watch it all the time!

My next door neighbor auditioned for it but didn't get on.

:hi:

[mcscajun]

5. I remember watching it as a child.

I loathe and oppose all the "reality" TV shows (Survivor, Fear Factor, etc.) that prey upon the baser parts of human nature and exploit the pitiful, while giving the home viewer their little thrills. I won't watch them; I know all I need to know about them. Queen for a Day was my schoolroom.

[Dover]

6. Everyone who watched it seems to have fond memories...

Now I AM depressed...although cheering for the "underdog" does seem to be a big emotional high for most of us.

Here are some other remembrances by viewers that I found online:

http://www.jumptheshark.com/q/queen_for_a_day.htm

[Dover]

8. I've watched Home Makeover a few times, and was sickened by

the "crews" obligatory tears (magnified by camera closeups) when viewing the tape of the chosen family that would recieve their aid. Emotional manipulation of the worst kind. It exploits our natural inclination for compassion. But even compassion can be generated by our egos, a way to separate ourselves from others by playing the rescuer to another's "victim".

[gumby]

9. Good observations on 'our' media.

Manipulative in many forms. But always projecting and reinforcing the 'ideals' of the ruling class. Even the 'news.'

A huge shock to me was many years ago when 'our' media started airing those 'cop' reality shows.

I think it's called 'indoctrination' or 'mind control' or something like that.

[kskiska]

11. I watched it regularly

Typical stories would be a widow whose son delivered newspapers to help the family out, but the bike was stolen. Or another who figured she could make some desperately needed money as a seamstress if she only had a sewing machine.

Jeanne Cagney would model a Wittnauer watch and hold up the Spiegel Catalog from which the winner could choose prizes.

Jack Bailey was really over the top. An audience applause meter would determine the lucky woman. The winner would be enrobed in an ermine cape and crown, and presented with a bouquet of roses as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Another show in this genre was "Strike It Rich", with host Warren Hull. There was a segment with a "Heartline Call," where a heartrending request letter would be read to the audience, while the handwritten "letter" was scrolled on the TV screen.

[Generic Other]

14. It was that eras version of Jerry Springer

Only the goal was to wring tears from audiences. The who is more pathetic award. And the prize was always a maytag washer which made the poor housewife wail in fits of ecstasy.

[nini]

15. My mom tried to get on that show

she needed a new washer and couldn't afford it. She was raising 6 kids by herself and was desperate.

I definitely remmeber that show.

[RebelOne]

18. I went to a live show in Miami Beach in the '50s.

The lady who won had been in a Nazi concentration camp and her desire was to have the tattoo removed from her arm.