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video icon What In The World?, 1952, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

What in the World? is a 1951 to 1965 television quiz show hosted by Dr. Froelich Rainey in which the scholar-contestants tried to identify artifacts. [1] The objects were primarily archaeological in nature, but also consisted of fossils, ethnographic items and more. [2] [3] It premiered on October 7, 1951 on CBS. The first, [4] and one of the most successful shows [5]: 21  of its type, it confounded critics by running for 15 years and influenced successors such as the BBC's Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? and others. [4] The music of the opening and closing were taken from Ottorino Respighi's " Fountains of Rome" featuring the dissonant beginning of the Fontana de Tritone section. The music accompanying the beginning of each segment, with the artifact to be discussed emerging mysteriously from a cloud of smoke, was taken from a variety of sources, usually 20th century compositions such as Stravinsky's " The Rite of Spring" or Debussy's " Syrinx" (solo flute). [6]

What in the World? won a Peabody Award in 1951. [7]

Cast

The host, Dr. Froelich Rainey, was a museum archaeologist and director of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. [2] [3] He was accompanied by a panel of three consisting of Dr. Carlton Coon and Dr. Cammann along with a guest star each week. The announcer and hidden voice was Barry Cassell of WCAU TV Philadelphia. [8]

Origin

The show was filmed and produced in Pennsylvania by Charles Vanda Productions and WCAU Philadelphia, with the first episode airing on October 7, 1951. [8] It ran through most of the 1950s on CBS and was picked up by educational (public) television and continued into the 1960s. [9]

Modern Offspring

In 2010, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology had multidisciplinary artist Pablo Helguera create and install a 'What in the World' interactive exhibition at the museum. [9] In addition to the exhibition the museum website offered guests a chance to participate in a modern-day form of the quiz show by featuring a picture of an object or objects and having viewers submit their guesses as to what it is through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. [9]

References

  1. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp.  458-459. ISBN  978-0823083152. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b Halpern, Paul (2015). "On the Air". Distillations. 1 (2). Chemical Heritage Foundation: 44. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b Lambert, Bruce (October 14, 1992). "Froelich Rainey, 85, A Museum Director And an Archeologist". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b Irving, John (15 October 1992). "Obituary: Froelich Rainey". The Independent. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  5. ^ LaFollette, Marcel Chotkowski (2013). Science on American television : a history. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press. ISBN  978-0-226-92199-0.
  6. ^ University of Pennsylvania Museum of Art and Archeology and WCAU-TV: Archived films of six broadcasts from 1952 - 1956 at Archive.org. Retrieved 7 December 2016
  7. ^ https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/what-in-the-world/
  8. ^ a b McKillop, J.E. ""What in the World?"". IMDb. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
  9. ^ a b c University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. "What in the World?". University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Retrieved 28 November 2012.

External links

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