Query: "$64,000 quesiton"

[sagehen]

>   I've received the following query from a colleague:
>
>    'Is there a generally accepted origin for the phrase "$64,000 question"?'
>
>   All I know is that the phrase was originally "That's the $64 question,"
>and IIRC, it got raised to "64,000 question" as the title of a TV quiz
>show in the late 1950's.  Also, IIRC, that's the one which Charles Van
>Doren appeared on.
>
>   Would anyone have anything to add (or correct) here?  Any help would be
>much appreciated.
>
>Gerald Cohen
> ~~~~~~~~~~~
I remember the radio program "The 64-dollarQuestion" sponsored IIRC by
Eversharp pencils.  It differed from the other popular quiz program of the
time, "Information, Please" in having ostensibly ordinary citizens as
participants.  I daresay they were well-screened ahead of time, but I don't
think the fact -- if it was a fact  ---  was advertised.  The contestant
was presented with a series of questions  one at a time with $2, $4, $8,
&c., riding on the correct answer to each in turn.  The big payoff, $64,
meant a lot in those days.

 "Information, Please" had a regular panel:  Franklin P. Adams, Oscar
Levant, Clifton Fadiman (presiding) & two others whose names have slipped
into (my) limbo.
AM

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