Information Please

by Martin Grams Jr.

Information Please, the popular radio quiz program that played experts for fall guys, was capital, dependable, adult radio fun for more than a decade (1938 1952). The fast-cracking experts John Kieran, omniscient sports columnist for the New York Times; Franklin Pierce Adams, New York Post columnist; Oscar Levant, composer, pianist, gag-stacked Broadwayfarer were acknowledged by listeners as the most knowing of know-it-alls. Master of Ceremonies Clifton Fadiman was famous for beating the experts to the pun while he picked the questions submitted each week by listeners. Information Please spawned a short-lived series of film shorts (1940-1943), a summer-run television program (1952), at least two card games, and the long-running Information Please Almanac. This book -Documentary on the making of the broadcasts, and background production. --Sponsor and Cast contracts are reprinted. --Day-by-day information about the 1945 Information Please European Tour. -Chapter documenting the history of the 18 RKO Information Please Shorts (1939-1942). -Chapter documenting the short-lived 1952 television series. -Chapter documenting the radio program's involvement with the Information Please Almanac. -A complete episode guide listing each and every radio broadcast, television broadcast and movie short.

Genres: Nonfiction

246 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Martin Grams is an author and old-time radio enthusiast whose more than twenty books on the subject have qualified him as an expert. He is generous and helpful to his fans and colleagues and his name can often be found in the credits of books dedicated to radio and early television.

While he is one of the younger fans of old-time radio, Martin does not like to talk about his youth, as it proved a hindrance to him when he tried to get his first book published. Determined, Grams decided to self-publish his book about Suspense and has done so several times subsequently.

In addition to writing and researching, Martin and his wife Michelle run the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Hunt Valley, Maryland.

Reviews

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grams gives an overview of the Old Time Radio quiz program called Information Please, which ran from 1938-1951. It is obvious he listened to many episodes of the show. There are plentiful examples of questions and humorous answers to them from the program, but his research is sometimes light when it comes to the background of the show. There are lots of stats but few fun stories about the relationships between Fadiman, Levant, Kieran and Adams. He references a theatrical shorts series but doesn’t give any background about what that is, how it came to be, etc. until much later in the reading.

This serves as a nice reference book for each episode. There are appendices with the stars’ contracts and interesting fan letters and questions submitted by celebrities.