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The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of an ostensibly fair competition. The quiz show scandals were driven by a variety of reasons. Some of those reasons included the drive for financial gain, the willingness of contestants to "play along" with the assistance, and the lack of current regulations prohibiting the rigging of game shows.〔Venanzi, Katie (1997), "An Examination of Television Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950s", found at http://www.honors.umd.edu/HONR269J/projects/venanzi.html (30 November 2013 ).〕 ''The $64,000 Question'' became the first big-money television quiz show during the 1950s, and the most publicized quiz scandals surrounded that program in addition to ''Twenty One'' and ''Dotto''.〔Venanzi, Katie (1997), "An Examination of Television Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950s", found at http://www.honors.umd.edu/HONR269J/projects/venanzi.html (30 November 2013 ).〕 In 1956, the Jack Barry-hosted game show ''Twenty One'' featured a contestant, Herb Stempel, coached by producer Dan Enright to allow his opponent to win the game. The matter was brought into focus in 1958 when Enright was revealed to have rigged the show; this revelation caused networks to cancel their entire lineups of quiz shows. Charles Van Doren was another contestant on ''Twenty One'' who eventually came forth with revelations about how he was persuaded to accept specific answers during his time on the show.〔Gross, L. S. (2013). ''Electronic media: An introduction''. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.〕 These elements of the scandal were portrayed in the 1994 movie ''Quiz Show''. As a result, many contestants' reputations were tarnished. In 1960, the United States Congress amended the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the fixing of quiz shows. As a result of that action, many networks canceled their existing quiz shows and replaced them with a higher number of public service programs.〔Gross, L. S. (2013). ''Electronic media: An introduction''. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.〕 Most networks also imposed a winnings limit on their existing and future game shows, which would eventually be removed by inflation and the rise of the million-dollar jackpot game shows starting in 1999. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''Federal Communications Commission v. American Broadcasting Co., Inc.'' 347 U.S. 284, that quiz shows were not a form of gambling; this paved the way for their introduction to television. The prizes of these new shows were unprecedented. ==Revelation== Herb Stempel was a contestant on ''Twenty One'' who was coached by the show's producer Dan Enright. While Stempel was in the midst of his winning streak, both of the $64,000 quiz shows were in the top-ten rated programs but ''Twenty One'' did not have the same popularity. Enright and his partner Albert Freedman were searching for a new champion to replace Stempel to boost ratings. They soon found what they were looking for in Charles Lincoln Van Doren. Charles Van Doren was an English teacher at Columbia University when a friend suggested he try out for a quiz show. Skeptical at first, Van Doren decided to try out for the quiz show ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' because of the possible money a contestant could win. Enright, who produced both ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' and ''Twenty One'', saw Van Doren's tryout and was familiar with his prestigious family background that included multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and highly respected professors at Columbia University. As a result, Enright felt that Van Doren would be the perfect contestant to be the new face of ''Twenty One''.〔Anderson, Kent. Television Fraud: The History and Implications of the Quiz Show Scandals. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1978. Print.〕 As part of their plan, the producers of ''Twenty One'' arranged the first Van Doren-Stempel face-off to end in three ties. This strategy paid off as millions of viewers tuned in the next week to watch. Although the manipulation of the contestants on ''Twenty One'' helped the producers maintain viewer interest and ratings, the producers had not anticipated the extent of Stempel's resentment at being required to lose the contest against Van Doren.〔Anderson, K. (1978). Television fraud: The history and implications of the quiz show scandals. Westport and London: Greenwood Press.〕 After achieving winnings of $69,500, Stempel's scripted loss to the more popular Van Doren occurred on 5 December 1956. One of the questions Stempel answered incorrectly involved the winner of the 1955 Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. (The correct answer was ''Marty'', one of Stempel's favorite movies; as instructed by Enright, Stempel gave the incorrect answer ''On the Waterfront'', winner of Best Picture the previous year.) After his preordained loss, Stempel spoke out against the operation, claiming that he deliberately lost the match against Van Doren on orders from Enright. Initially Stempel was dismissed as a sore loser, but in August 1958 some evidence came to light that bolstered his credibility. Ed Hilgemeyer, a contestant on ''Dotto'', announced that he had found a notebook containing the very answers contestant Marie Winn was delivering on stage (the daytime and nighttime versions of the show were both cancelled on August 15, 1958). The final stroke, however, came from ''Twenty One'' contestant James Snodgrass, who was found to have sent registered letters to himself containing the advance answers. Such evidence was considered irrefutable. It eventually emerged that the September 12, 1956 debut of ''Twenty One'' had gone so badly that sponsor Geritol called producers Enright and Jack Barry the following day and demanded changes. Under pressure, Enright and Freedman decided to rig the show. Jack Barry, co-owner of Barry-Enright Productions and the show's host, was not involved in the actual rigging, but later helped in the cover-up. By October 1958, the story was widely known and the quiz shows' Nielsen ratings plunged. The networks denied any knowledge and canceled the now-suspicious shows. The American public's reactions were quick and powerful when the quiz show fraud became public: between 87% and 95% knew about the scandals as measured by industry-sponsored polls.〔Boddy,W.(1990).Fifties Television: The Industry and Its Critics.Urbana,IL: University of Illinois Press.〕 Meanwhile, New York prosecutor Joseph Stone convened a grand jury to investigate the charges. Many of the coached contestants, who had become celebrities due to their quiz-show success, were so afraid of the social repercussions that they were unwilling to confess to having been coached, even to the point of perjuring themselves to avoid backlash. The judge sealed the grand jury report for unknown reasons. The 86th United States Congress, by then in its first session, quickly saw the political opportunity the scandals offered; in October 1959, the House Committee on Legislative Oversight, under Representative Oren Harris's chairmanship, began to hold hearings investigating the scandal. Patty Duke, then a child actress who had competed on ''The $64,000 Challenge'' (a companion show to ''The $64,000 Question''), testified to having been coached, as did Stempel, Snodgrass and Hilgemeyer. It was confirmed on November 2 when Van Doren said to the Committee in a nationally-televised session that "I was involved, deeply involved, in a deception. The fact that I too was very much deceived cannot keep me from being the principal victim of that deception, because I was its principal symbol." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1950s quiz show scandals」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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