Groucho Marx Hosts You Bet Your Life with Funny Contestant Albert Hall

A picture of Groucho Marx is shown at the top of my first post. Groucho is one of my all time favorites. Well known for his movies, Groucho was also the first host of the television series You Bet Your Life. His good natured sarcasm, sense of timing and razor sharp wit made the show a hit.

You Bet Your Life first ran on NBC radio from 1947 to 1949, then made the transition to the NBC television network in 1950. The television show ran until 1960, was renamed The Groucho Show, and ran one more year. Early seasons of the television show were sponsored by Chrysler, advertising Desoto automobiles.

One of my favorite episodes features a contestant that even Groucho finds bizarre. The contestant's name is Albert Hall. Mr. Hall steals the show with his hilarious body mannerisms which he seems to enjoy directing at Groucho.

This is something you have to see to appreciate, so here is a segment with Mr. Hall.



You can watch the first segment of the show here and the second segment here.

Enjoy

About The Golden Days of Movies and Television

Call them what you will: classic movies, vintage movies or just old movies. Whichever you choose, I'm a fan. I love these movies for their old school cinema style which I find to be direct and absent of exaggerated special effects.

I'm tempted to say that I like them because they portray a time of innocence. However, I don't think there has been a period in the history of mankind that was truly innocent.

What I can say is that these movies portray a more innocent time. A time long before America was stained by the assassinations of first President, then Robert Kennedy, long before so many young men courageously lost their lives in Vietnam and long before Oklahoma City and 911.

Yes, I can say that the thirties, forties and fifties were more innocent. And films of those decades are primarily the ones that this blog is about.

Many of them fall in the B movie category. I think B movies are great. You see the early works of a lot of then unknown stars in B movies. These movies also served as actor training. Some of those actors went on to make big box office releases. I think of B movies as the minor league of baseball.

There is also something about black and white movies that I find appealing. It may be the mood or maybe it's just a fondness for the early days of television that I enjoyed growing up. Whatever it is, I think that black and white and also sepia tinted films delivers a unique viewing experience.

Hey, you can watch color anytime.

I want to have fun with this blog. I encourage your comments and want this blog to be highly interactive. There are a lot of great movies to talk about and lots of wonderful memories to share. You may have seen some of the movies we'll talk about at your local drive inn. Remember those? Not quite high fidelity, were they? Remember burning those mosquito coils and not minding?

Yes, we have plenty to talk about.

I have movies up on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/hwy61visitor

I'll post thumbnails and links to my YouTube channel. One YouTube channel though, doesn't even scratch the service. What I really want is to find out what movies you like and why. That's where the fun is, finding out what other people like and having lively conversations.

Thanks for visiting.