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High Low


Packager: Barry and Enright Productions
Airing History: 7/4/57 - 9/19/57
Host: Jack Barry
Announcer: Don Pardo
Executive Producer: Robert Noah
Producer: Al Freedman
Director: Charles Dubin
Music Director: Paul Taubman
Taped at NBC Studio 6A, New York
Source of above information: Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows Vol. 3



In the wake of their success with Twenty-One and Tic Tac Dough, Barry & Enright brought to the NBC airwaves one of their lesser known quizzers, High Low. As with other Barry / Enright creations on the air at the time, Jack Barry hosted this summer replacement series which pitted one contestant against a panel of three celebrities.


Burl Ives, Arlene Dahl, and John Van Doren are on the panel tonight competing against...

Terry Curtis, back for her 6th week with a total of $76,000. Unfortunately, Mrs. Curtis informs Jack and the nation that while running errands the previous day, she lost her handbag with the check in it! Jack reassures her and everyone that another check will be issued. Whew!

The Game:

Jack poses a question with multiple answers to the booth-confined contestant and the panel. Each panel member then locks in how many correct answers he / she could supply.


How many of president Truman's cabinet members can they name? Burl Ives bids 9, Arlene Dahl bids 8, and scholarly John Van Doren bids 12.

In his/her first appearance, the contestant is given $500 of betting money and indicated whether he / she wanted to double it by matching the "low" celebrity's undisclosed bid or play for TRIPLE by matching the "high" bidding celebrity's disclosed bid. After a contestant indicates his/her choice, the isolation booth is turned off and the challenged celebrity must complete their given bid.

Contestant Terry Curtis is informed that high is 12. She opts to attempt to go for triple and match John Van Doren's bid of 12.

A successful contestant returns the next week to possibly double or triple his/her winnings. The contestant may continue doing so for up to 5 appearances, and should a player return for a 6th week, like Ms.Terry Curtis here, he/she is given $500 of new betting money and must commence another cycle of doubling / tripling.

John Van Doren successfully completes his bid of 12 and Mrs. Curtis successfully matches that bid, winning another $1500! Jack totals her winnings to $77,500. She wound up being the highest money winner of the series (source: Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows)

A contestant who fails to answer the question correctly left with 10% of his/her original winnings.
The minimum and maximum amounts of a 5-day champion were as follows:

1st Appearance - $1,000 (Low), $1,500 (High)
2nd Appearance - $2,000 (Low), $4,500 (High)
3rd Appearance - $4,000 (Low), $13,500 (High)
4th Appearance - $8,000 (Low), $40,500 (High)
5th Appearance - $16,000 (Low), $121,500 (High)

I don't have airdate information on this episode right now unfortunately. I am inclined to believe that, like Twenty-One, any remaining episodes would exist in the vault of NBC. Therefore, Sony would not have this in its library.
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