1 9 6 0 – 1 9 6 2 (USA)
30/25 minute episodes
This NBC gameshow (broadcast from Rockefeller Plaza in New York) began with two contestants selecting the prizes they wanted as part of their “charge account” for the game. Each contestant then received their own bingo-style grid of four squares down and across and decided where to place 16 different scrambled letters as host Jan Murray announced them.
The object was to make as many three and four-letter words as possible.
Morgan Schmitter, professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, kept score and judged the veracity of the answers, with correct three-letter words earning $10 each and four-letter words earning $25 each for the player’s account.
Unlike most game shows, even the loser could “buy” the prizes they had specified at the start of the game, using the money they raised in the game (the winner got the chance to play another game).
Between game segments, Maureen Arthur served as a combination model, singer, comedienne, and impersonator of Marilyn Monroe.
The show was also known by its subtitle, Charge Account.
Host
Jan Murray
Regulars
Morgan Schmitter
Maureen Arthur
Milton DeLugg and his Orchestra