You Bet Your Life #55-28 Henry McLemore, newspaper columnist (Secret word 'Book', Apr 5, 1956)

NOTE: Only two couples competed in this episode due to running out of time.
COUPLE #1: Jeanne Wilkinson / Nicco Romanos
COUPLE #2: Henry McLemore, newspaper columnist / Shirley Spencer
-----------------------------------
Click here to subscribe to the YBYL channel, where you'll find well over a hundred complete episodes you can't find anywhere else, as well as some rare Burns and Allen material that doesn't really belong there:
/ @grouchomarx-youbetyou...
New Facebook group for You Bet Your Life! If you've already been sucked into the Facebook vortex, you might as well check it out, right? www.facebook.c...
----------------------------------
Episode identification and basic description based on "Tell 'em Groucho Sent You", © 1997 by Mark Petty. Used by permission.

[@yannschonfeld5847]

Jeanne Wilkinson was very sweet in her mini massage and Nico Romanos, the Russo-Greek was halarious in his general attitude. A strong personality and enjoyable to listen to. Thank you for this upload. The background being of course, Groucho's great wit, without which, the contestants would only wilt, a good many of them.

[@jimmiedee2315]

Here's some trivia regarding Nicco Romanos, which I recently posted at IMDb: Rented to James Dean a log cabin house at 14611 Sutton Street, in Sherman Oaks, California, for $250 a month, plus utilities. Was maitre d' at the famed Villa Capri, James Dean's favorite restaurant. Visited James Dean about 6 hours prior to Dean's death.

[@moonlanding-69]

Jeanne b.1938....hope she had a great life. I want her kind of caring attitude.

[@moonlanding-69]

@@jimmiedee2315 that address is now a mansion.

[@tarrakieran2057]

It is awesome the way everyone dressed and presented themselves. I love watching old game shows. Very different than todays shows.

[@maryperez1235]

There were people of all ages and races on this show. Your comment is ignorant.

[@keymaninmusic]

Racist idiot.

[@buckroo8424]

TheJanka51 no it’s not! You have a problem? Go to watch something else!

[@indetif839]

People were more formal, in dress , back then. Men wore hats and suits on the street until the mid-50s. Personally, I prefer a more relaxed dress.

[@RRW1982]

@@indetif839 Aside from matters of attire or race, You Bet Your Life was unlike any other program on TV. The fact that the central gimmick was the potential for winning money, there were aspects of the show that had much more real significance. In the year 2000, Robert Dwan (who directed or produced every episode, from its first radio broadcast to its last TV show in 1961) wrote a book. It should accompany anyone's watching these reruns. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy and consider all these have to offer. Thank you for posting these programs. It actually _was_ a ground-breaking network show for including a mix of races, including the orchestra.

[@barbecuecity138]

Thank you for sharing thi, I enjoyed it! Groucho was truly one of the greatest, wittiest comic that ever lived.

[@CamhiRichard]

Has anybody noticed that in just about all of these episodes, when a contestant says something funny, and the audience is cracking up, Groucho hardly even smiles. He just stares at the audience and waits for them to quiet down so he can deliver the next zinger. I can't ever remember seeing him actually laughing.

[@keymaninmusic]

The show is all scripted. Groucho knows what they are going to say.

[@keithnaylor1981]

When I tell people the best, funniest, and most entertaining TV show I watch is over 65 years old they don’t believe me!

[@iamseekingtheway]

Watching this in Macon Georgia for the first time, 67 years after it aired.

[@jhbluestar]

wow that young student nurse was beautiful!

[@JJTownley_Classical-Composer]

She's about 84 now if she's even alive. That's astonishing to me. Wonder what ever happened to her. I wish there had been someone who kept track of all these guests and could tell us what happened to them.

[@1tigerbee]

Thank you for all your time and effort in posting these precious glimpses into the world that was. They are fantastic! Warts and all!! :)

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

My pleasure to share these great shows, which have been unavailable for far too long. Glad you're enjoying them!

[@MrMenefrego1]

Henry McLemore was a genius! Do yourselves a favor and read some of his writing, well worth your time. SO FUNNY!

[@arttrombley7385]

The Russian guy was hilarious. Lol

[@Metro_Dash]

Io

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

Oh my! Shirley is adorable!!! She is very secure of herself on live TV.

[@jessewolf7649]

If she had been the role model for young gals over the past 20 years instead of say, the Kardashians or the Hadids, they and we would be in a better place.

[@franklinnorth7708]

I was born at St. Vincents, same week as Jeff Bridges, so we were roomies way back when

[@BeingRomans829ed]

7:30 I think Groucho met his match with this Russian dude! 8-)

[@truthntelling]

The contestant Nicco Romanos was very spontaneous with his funny banter, and when at 06:26 Groucho asks what he does for a living, Nicco answers "I do nothing, I'm available." which must have given the producers the idea to hire him! You'll see him in a few later episodes where he comes down in the swing as the "duck" with the secret word. See him in episode #57-10 at about the 6;04 minute mark. This didn't last long, adding one more job to his claim "Every job I get they fire me!" It was the wrong format to add him as a side-kick, the duck visit being too short and awkward. He did not appear to have material prepared, so he came off as agitated and out-of-place with his comments. It's a loss. There is plenty in this show that was scripted, and they should have given him material to get a quick laugh with every dunk of his swing. He was truly hung-out to dry!

[@SaxonC]

It’s amazing how well spoken and polite and well dressed people on tv were. Even the audiences were were well dressed. If you love Groucho, check out his appearances on the old TV game show “What’s My Line?” He was a mystery guest and a guest panelist as well. Hilarious

[@LaurenceMily-ik9lk]

EXCELLENT ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@robertstrugnell7842]

the 13 year old is soooo cute and speaks with a mature mind

[@evelyncagle2455]

I love to see men in suits and ties and women in hats and gloves.

[@coronapapi]

Pfff. Fenneman. Totally the handsomest host.

[@aileenrivera6498]

Great show people back then dressed proper and spoke without cursing. Those were the good times.

[@mariangelasp1168]

Yes, they were very classy, and poised, not trashy, like you see now

[@martinjones5965]

Henry McLemore is the closest I've been to a Groucho humour cone.

[@henningandersen9027]

...as a chaperone! By Groucho you can take my LOL literally!

[@firdausHITMAN]

The nurse seems like such a sweet young woman. The gentleman from Greece looks like he got a job with the duck, if you know what I mean.

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

Not quite. . . ?

[@firdausHITMAN]

Groucho Marx - You Bet Your Life In later episodes he comes down instead of the duck if the contestants guess the secret word which then leads to some funny banter with Groucho. One can see he is quite humorous, plus has good chemistry with Groucho and being jobless they probably gave him one. I am just speculating and rambling... I thought you would be the first to know!

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

Really? I'd have to check into that. I just remember, in a general sense, that they often substituted other surprises for the secret word duck in later years, but I would never be able to remember which episodes had which substitutions without having kept notes on it, which I never did. :)

[@HansDelbruck53]

AFLAC?

[@PimpLenin]

Hey, you're right about this....that is the same guy who was the duck for a couple of episodes. I was wondering what that was always about...seemed like an angry Ivan as the duck.

[@garyranieri3856]

what was the name of the nurse that was the answer to the final big money question?

[@B.H.56]

Edith Cavell

[@martinjones5965]

4m32s G "Did you meet her in mid-air" well that joke was mid-air as it went over his head :)

[@rodniki14]

No tattoos, obesity, obscenities. Just polite, well dressed people.

[@kattrakee]

Groucho !!!!!! 😁

[@Papageno2006]

In Jan 1942, Henry mclemore called for the internment of Japanese after peArl harbor

[@ziparis]

Watching a number of these videos, it's evident that despite all the wisecracks, there's this inescapable quality of pain/ loneliness beneath the surface of Groucho.

[@mariangelasp1168]

Good observation. That is very possible, it was said, he was pushed into show business.

[@louisep5178]

I don't think so he had a lovely family and great wealth and was adored by fans. It was towards the end of his Iife when vulnerable I think he allegedly suffered from spousal abuse which is very sad.

[@carldavis1407]

You want me to rub it, Groucho? I sure do :-)

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

Rub what?

[@mehboobkm2018]

I heard "what was author Schopenhauer's profession.." I would have answered writer right away! 🤪🤪🤪 thought Groucho was playing a joke to give the contestants some money like he did on some occasions. .

[@GeorgeSwift-qj1ik]

And they tried to remake this with Jay Leno. What a mistake!

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

They also tried with Bill Cosby. Just leave it alone. No one can match Groucho.

[@loissimmons6558]

A picture of Shirley Spencer being crowned Miss Young America 1956 by one of my all-time favorite actors, Robert Wagner, with Zsa Zsa Gabor looking on. Since poise was one of the categories, I can't think of any tougher test in that category for a 13-year old than being that close to a very handsome young actor. (Now that he's a handsome mature actor, I'm going to miss him on NCIS ... and I'm a bit older than 13 ... by a half century!) www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/thirteen-year-old-shirley-spencer-of-indianapolis-ind-beams-news-photo/515456238#thirteen-year-old-shirley-spencer-of-indianapolis-ind-beams-happily-picture-id515456238 This episode featured two of the most delightful young women ever to appear on YBYL. I hope their lives have/had been as sweet as they were on the show. Unless one of their family members finds them on here, it doesn't appear that there will be much more that we will know about them.

[@evelynbanker2090]

Lois Simmons i

[@519DJW]

This sweet young girl, Shirley Spencer, was only 15 in 1956, so she's probably still around. Does anyone know her, and does she have any anecdotes to tell about appearing on this show?

[@SOffenbach]

www.legacy.com/obituaries/indystar/obituary.aspx?pid=158502660

[@stonesinmyblood27]

Sheldon Offenbach wrong person

[@LyleFrancisDelp]

Jeane Wilkinson……rowr!!!!!!

[@henningandersen9027]

14.40 next to WHAT?

[@bls7504]

clover

[@henningandersen9027]

Cezanne....was he a cook or something? Good grief!

[@therrienmichael08]

Paul Cezanne: Artist 🎨

[@christopherkloe6442]

Great show, but i couldn't enjoy it as much as would have if not for the tainted past of Mr.Mclemore. I like it when a good comedian uses old jokes like the uses of manx in combination with thaks.

[@truthntelling]

We can't know what Henry McLemore really felt about the Japanese, despite his words in print. Why would he come on a popular TV show with huge audience to make the incriminating statement “I hate to make these confessions about a columnist, but there are times that a columnist just has to dream up things…” Was it a confession or a self-deprecating way to out the powers behind the press that force newsmen ("just has to") with wide-circulation to voice in print whatever propaganda the pirates in control want spread. Don't forget the media is a tool not the truth. Here he is disassociating himself from his articles with emphatic point 'I don't always say what I mean'. He meant for us to hear this. Please take a look at this great article on boxing, showing Henry "to dream up things", which includes Henry's words in print about the Japanese as perhaps reason why his legacy has been erased. Let's not be quick to judge who appeared to be quick to judge! www.boxing.com/oh_henry_a_tale_of_two_columns.html

[@evelynbanker2090]

V