TFTP Kids: "Quiz Kids" from NBC (1951)

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"Quiz Kids" was a renowned program that aired on both radio and TV throughout the 1940s and 1950s and gave inspiration to a generation or two of youngsters. Several children ranging in age from 12 to 16 formed a panel to which the moderator asked challenging questions sent in by viewers/listeners based on various areas of knowledge. The child panelists were regulars who rotated on and off of the panel for extended periods of time, thus fostering viewer/listener identification and familiarity. This is why many of the questions asked seem to hint at familiarity with the particular child on the part of the letter writer asking the question.

"Quiz Kids" was on radio on NBC from 1940 to 1953 and on TV on NBC and CBS simultaneously from 1949 to 1953, returning for a brief run in 1956. For most of this time, the program was sponsored by Alka Seltzer, thus the commercials for that product included here. The producer of the show was Louis G. Cowan, who would go on to produce the massively popular "$64,000 Question" on CBS in the mid-1950s, success that he would then parlay into the presidency of CBS for a short time before stepping down amid the quiz scandals of the late-1950s. At the time of this "Quiz Kids" episode in 1951, the show's host was Joe Kelly; "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie" host Fran Allison is subbing for him in this episode, which she addresses in a statement near the end of the episode.

"Quiz Kids" had a long-lasting influence on television, inspiring every high-school quiz challenge program that has appeared since, mainly by local stations drawing on children in their local area. Quite a few national versions or extensions of the program were tried over the years as well, and the program even was the inspiration for the quiz program and related characters in the Paul Thomas Anderson film "Magnolia".