Saturday, February 26, 2011

Object of the Day: Beat the Clock, circa 1950

Beat the Clock was a popular television game show on CBS from 1950-1958 and on ABC from 1958-1961. In recent years, the show has been resurrected several times in updated versions. The show’s original host was Bud Collyer assisted by a most-silent model named Roxanne. Contestants on the show were challenged to complete simple physical feats (called “problems”) before sixty seconds ran out. The time was kept on a giant clock which featured the name of the show’s sponsor. For much of the run, Beat the Clock was sponsored by Sylvania.


As was often the case (and still is), game shows usually produced a home version on the form of a board game. Here’s the Beat the Clock home version from between 1950-1953. The box features photos of Collyer and Roxanne as well as a prominent reference to Sylvania. I’ve never played the game, but it has a lot of complicated little pieces which would allow the home user to recreate some of the stunts seen on the show.

If you’ve not seen Beat the Clock, enjoy this clip from an early broadcast of the program.






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