You Bet Your Life #55-12 Pancho Gonzalez, top-ranked pro tennis player ('Name', Dec 15, 1955)

In the quiz segment for couple #2, they miss a question whose answer was the Marx Brothers' "A Night at the Opera", guessing instead "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". Groucho looks none too pleased by *that*!
Interestingly, in the radio version of this episode, the kid from couple #1, Ben Zeppa, sings "You Gotta Have Heart" from "Damn Yankees", but the TV version here omits it entirely (and this is not due to syndication editing-- this episode comes from an uncut 16mm source film. Note the bumpers that read "Commercial Here").
COUPLE #1: Ben Zeppa, 13 year-old kid / Sylvia Thompson, member of the Tip-Top club (for tall people)
COUPLE #2: Pearl Money, from the South / Robert McLeod, Scotsman
COUPLE #3: Pancho Gonzalez, top ranking tennis player (en.wikipedia.or...) / Binnie Dick, pancake racer. Groucho is quite surprised by the coincidence of both Binnie Dick and Ben Zeppa being from Liberal, Kansas.
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Episode identification and basic description based on "Tell 'em Groucho Sent You", © 1997 by Mark Petty. Used by permission.

[@keithnaylor1981]

Could watch this show forever, and listen to more Groucho reminiscing.

[@erinruth1101]

When I was a child in the 60’s, my parents watched You Bet Your Life reruns. I didn’t understand the humor and didn’t see what the big deal was....but now I love the show...Groucho and George were a great team!

[@martinjones5965]

3m36s - very special to hear Groucho's story about this early days traveling with his family including his Mother.

[@bobkurtz2816]

Benn Joe Zeppa went to Richmond High (CA) the year after I graduated from adjoining Berkeley High. I saw him as a singer at various rock'n'roll shows in the East Bay Area. He had several local hits and his Topsy Turvy broke out nationally. Most today, including yours truly think his best recording is a cover of Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" recorded in 1956 when he was 13. Some credit Benn with being one of the first Rockabilly artists, and I won't argue. I have some slight contact with Benn over the years, as we had a friend in common. Nearly 60 years later and on youtube his talent can't be mistaken.

[@yankeeland1]

✝️

[@519djw6]

If Benn Zeppa was 13 years old in 1955, he'd be in his late '70's today. Do you still have any contact with him?

[@bobkurtz2816]

@@519djw6 I'm 80 now and have not had any contract with him/anyone and my previous contact is gone also. He was a great singer, but a lousy runner (Cross Country) which is how I met him first

[@sananto6896]

Pancho Gonzalez and Groucho Marx, pretty cool stuff. An anglo die-hard tennis player in Texas, named his kid Pancho, after Gonzalez. The kid won the high school tennis singles state championship multiple years.

[@suchidog]

I lived a couple of doors down from Pancho on Arlington Avenue...I played with his 6 boys and he also raised Boxer Dogs....he also raced jalopy's at Ascot Park on the side...we left Arlington Avenue location in 1956....

[@joeambrose3260]

I call BS. Pancho had 7 boys and 6 boxers

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@joeambrose3260 All you do is 'Call BS', in every comment section on KZbin! *it is you who are full of BS, you miserable jackass!*

[@voxtango1916]

@@joeambrose3260 So, only six of the boys actually boxed~?

[@MrMenefrego1]

Groucho: *"How long after that did you nail him?"* I guess that phrase didn't have quite the same meaning in the '50's as it does today. 👀

[@bettymcfattypants291]

Lol! I was thinking the same thing.

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@bettymcfattypants291 😂

[@fredkruse9444]

Running 415 yards in 1:05 while flipping a pancake is darned impressive.

[@keithnaylor1981]

Let’s move forward 2 years: After a lousy Christmas Day where the Christmas Tree lights wouldn’t come on, the crackers wouldn’t bang, the paper hats didn’t fit, the brandy on the Christmas pudding wouldn’t light, the Turkey ran off, must have been well undercooked, and Santa got stuck in the chimney, I knew there was only one person to bring some Christmas cheer - thank you Groucho!

[@sitarnut]

"The thing to do is disintegrate him with a Ray Gun." Dang, I love Groucho.... witty guy. I was just playing with my Buck Rogers Ray Gun... happy memories from 1951.

[@MrMenefrego1]

I'll give you a new BMW for that Buck Rogers Ray Gun!

[@m42037]

Also listen close in the beginning..6-7.. then the music starts 🤔

[@SuperWinterborn]

The Scotsman could really sing! I bet he was a good bartender too. ;)

[@m42037]

Jay Leno's remaking this show in September, let's hope he don't ruin it and pay respect to the great Groucho!!

[@jimmiedee2315]

Listen to Benn Zeppa with The Four Jacks perform "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Ben Zeppa and The Four Jacks - Why Do Fools Fall In Love - "Budget" Doo Wop

[@MrMenefrego1]

Why?

[@robertklose2140]

The boy looks like what Jimmy Cagney would look like at his age.

[@martinjones5965]

18m40s - comparing times by international phone would have been expensive ... you would expect that with the Internet available every city would be pancake racing now ... it's only a matter of time. I'm sure this will engender world peace.

[@aileenrivera6498]

Interesting and funny show

[@davidcouch6514]

Chuck Conners sister from Tennessee.

[@MrMenefrego1]

👀

[@crispincain5373]

The Pancake Race is real and still going strong after all these years!

[@loissimmons6558]

In their search for unusual couples, whoever made the selections frequently paired men and women where the women where considerably taller than the men, even taking the wearing of heels into account. If I recall, there was another female contestant besides Sylvia who was a member of the Tip-Top club. (And no, I;m not including the pairing of Sylvia with a boy instead of an adult male.) Obviously there are tall women and short men in the world, but it seems to me they were paired more often than would happen by random selection (a very unscientific observation to be sure).

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

Oh, yes, absolutely, the producers were looking for contrasts in the pairings a lot of the time. YBYL had quite a few members of the "tiptoppers" club on over the years. Some of these are radio-only episodes.

[@MrMenefrego1]

@@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476 I saw an interview with George Fenneman many years ago in which he explained this very subject; he said that the 'YBYL' staff purposely paired the most horizontally opposed people that they possibly could in order to make the show as controversial and as interesting as possible without getting themselves into too much trouble. They sure succeeded too!

[@voxtango1916]

@@MrMenefrego1 Well, before miscegenation, this was clearly a way to show diversity.

[@loissimmons6558]

I missed the part where Ben says that he is from Liberal, Kansas and Groucho's surprise at that. Perhaps that was only on the radio version as well?

[@grouchomarx-youbetyourlife7476]

Very possible, yes. A bit sloppy in the editing if so-- there aren't any other examples I can even think of where the editors messed up this way. Without having the time to rewatch the TV version now, I can assure you that the radio episode did have the earlier reference to Liberal, Kansas, with one caveat: This is one of the very, very, very few episodes we have available in unedited, prebroadcast form, and I never really listen to the broadcast versions for the 20 or so shows we have the full original hour-long recordings. So I can say definitely that the reference was heard in the **unedited** audio from the radio version, but possibly the same error was made in editing the **broadcast** radio version! (I only remember this so clearly because of notes I made on these shows as I was listening to them.)

[@davido8056]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5K1nJqYgJhnmqM

[@James-cd7uu]

Poncho is cool.

[@KidMillions]

Groucho's hairpiece looks quite good here... Probably the worst was in At the Circus, very effeminate curls.

[@Yowza78]

And we hate anything that's feminine, on a man or not! Right?

[@martinjones5965]

15m10s - orchestra asleep

[@poetcomic1]

Pablo went on to make movies and his grandson, a superb actor was nominated for an Academy Award playing Perry in the movie Capote.

[@henningandersen9027]

12.46 is he ironic? He usuallly welcomes children-rich families, though.

[@deltabilly1]

Y’all search the web for the unedited radio shows they did. This one is a lot longer and funnier.

[@therrienmichael08]

I haven't heard the radio shows yet.

[@Yowza78]

Wow, her husband topped off her bush.

[@charleswinokoor6023]

I’m a big Bet Your Life fan, but Groucho’s interruptions and corny quips could be tiring.

[@MrMenefrego1]

they sure can, especially if you're on the receiving end.

[@therrienmichael08]

Can't get a word in edge wise.

[@erinruth1101]

That’s how Groucho worked. It’s part of the gag.

[@palmerpalmer7743]

BILL COSBY LOVES GROUCHOS GENIUS AS A COMIC, BUT I THINK HE WAS MORE AMOURED BY HIS LOVE OF BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRLS AND HIS UNABASED WOMANIZING , HE HAS NO CONTROL OVER. Sorry CAMILE

[@palmerpalmer7743]

+Donald Palmer SORRY FOR MIS SPELLS

[@christinadavis2132]

The tenuous outrigger continuously murder because kenya jointly squeeze worth a inquisitive message. previous, squealing raincoat