As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.
October 27, 1954
Disneyland, Walt Disney's first television series, premieres on
ABC.
The one-hour show, introduced by Tinkerbell, presented a rotating
selection of cartoons, dramas, movies, and other entertainment. The show ran
for 34 years under various names, including Walt Disney Presents and The
Wonderful World of Disney. The program was the longest-running prime-time
series on network TV.
November
2, 1959
Charles
Van Doren, a game show contestant on the NBC-TV program Twenty-One
admitted that he had been given questions and answers in advance.
One month after the hearings began, Van Doren
emerged from hiding and confessed before the committee that he had been
complicit in the fraud. On November 2, 1959, he admitted to the House Subcommittee on
Legislative Oversight, a United States Congress subcommittee,
chaired by Arkansas Democrat Oren Harris,
that he had been given questions and answers in advance of the show.
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. There may be a kind of justice in that. I don’t know. I do
know, and I can say it proudly to this committee, that since Friday, October
16, when I finally came to a full understanding of what I had done and of what
I must do, I have taken a number of steps toward trying to make up for it. I
have a long way to go. I have deceived my friends, and I had millions of them.
Whatever their feeling for me now, my affection for them is stronger today than
ever before. I am making this statement because of them. I hope my being here
will serve them well and lastingly.
I asked (co-producer
Albert Freedman) to let me go on (Twenty One) honestly, without
receiving help. He said that was impossible. He told me that I would not have a
chance to defeat Stempel because he was too knowledgeable. He also told me that
the show was merely entertainment and that giving help to quiz contests was a
common practice and merely a part of show business. This of course was not
true, but perhaps I wanted to believe him. He also stressed the fact that by
appearing on a nationally televised program I would be doing a great service to
the intellectual life, to teachers and to education in general, by increasing
public respect for the work of the mind through my performances. In fact, I
think I have done a disservice to all of them. I deeply regret this, since I
believe nothing is of more vital importance to our civilization than education.
To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".
Stay Tuned
Tony Figueroa
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