Who Said That?

Who Said That? is a 1948–55 NBC game show that ran on radio and television, in which a panel of celebrities attempted to determine the speaker of a quotation from recent news reports.

Who Said That?
GenreGame show
Presented byRobert Trout
Walter Kiernan
John Charles Daly
John Cameron Swayze
H. V. Kaltenborn
Boris Karloff
Peggy Ann Garner
Deems Taylor
Frank Conniff
Dagmar
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons7 (3 partial seasons)
Production
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time23-25 minutes
Release
Original networkNBC/ABC
Picture formatBlack and white
Audio formatMonaural
Original releaseOctober 1, 1948 (1948-10-01) (radio), December 9, 1948 (1948-12-09) (TV) –
July 26, 1955 (1955-07-26)

Broadcast history

Who Said That? was first proposed and edited by Fred W. Friendly, later of CBS News,[1] although other sources credit NBC news announcer John Cameron Swayze with the program concept,[2] and credit Friendly with "introducing" the program,[3] and co-producing it with his first wife, Dorothy Greene.[4]

The series premiered in October 1948 as an NBC Radio program, and on television two months later. Swayze was a regular panelist, and became known as the "anchor man."[5] CBS news correspondent Robert Trout served as the emcee until February 18, 1951, when the series ended for 14 months. Walter Kiernan took over as the second television emcee during an interrupted schedule from April 5 to 26, 1952, and April 13, 1953, to July 5, 1954. John Charles Daly, long-time host of What's My Line? on CBS, was the emcee for the final shortened season of the series, February 2 to July 26, 1955, when it aired on ABC. Recurring panelists included Morey Amsterdam, Al Capp, June Lockhart,[1] Kitty Carlisle, Bennett Cerf, Oscar Levant, and columnists Bob Considine and Earl Wilson.[6]

Sometimes, the source of the quotation was featured in silhouette delivering his own quotation. A home viewer who submitted a quotation used on the program won a prize, determined by the extent to which the panelists had erred in determining the source of the quotations.[1]

Panelists and guest stars

For a time, journalist H. V. Kaltenborn and the actor Boris Karloff were also panelists.Other Who Said That? panelists included Groucho Marx,[7] Frank Conniff, Deems Taylor, Peggy Ann Garner, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, and Dagmar.

Time slot

During much of its television run, Who Said That? aired in the last half-hour of prime time, at 10:30 pm on Mondays. From 1953 to 1954, it followed the anthology series Robert Montgomery Presents and aired opposite the CBS live drama, Studio One.[8]

British version

A British version of the show aired on BBC-tv from 26 July 1955 to 19 September 1958. Its hosts included Alan Melville, Lionel Hale, and Gilbert Harding.

References
  1. Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). "Who Said That?". The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows - 1946-Present (Ninth ed.). p. 1513. ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  2. "The Pendergast Years". pendergastkc.org. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  3. "Fred W. Friendly, CBS Executive and Pioneer in TV News Coverage, Dies at 82". nytimes.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  4. "Fred Friendly, Pioneering Television Journalist, Dies". latimes.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  5. "If Cronkite Wasn't TV's First Anchorman, Who Was?". futurity.com. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  6. Alex McNeil, Total Television, p. 911
  7. "Who Said That" broadcast of 10 May 1955
  8. McNeil, Total Television, Network television schedule, appendix
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