349     August 26, 1959
Bill, Bess, Johnny Carson, Betsy

Mrs. Lillian Barmakian and Mr. Vahan Barmakian from Arlington, Massachusetts: “We’re not married to each other…I’m married to his identical twin brother…I’m married to her identical twin sister” 
Wacky matrimony. Lillian is married to Diran.  Vahan is married to Sylvia.  The Barmakian brothers, orphaned as teenagers, took their father’s small Boston area jewelry shop and built it into one of the largest jewelry dealerships on the east coast.  The two families, which eventually included a total of seven children between them, all lived together in the same house. (Also see E71 )     

Bill Rankin from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “I made the longest parachute jump in history” 
Lt. Col. Rankin is a Marine Corps pilot, and a WWII and Korean War veteran.  On July 26, flying at 47,000 feet (almost nine miles above the earth), the engine went out on his plane during a storm, and he ejected without wearing a pressurized suit.  Frostbite and decompression were immediate.  That, plus the buffeting he received from the ongoing storm, turned what would have been about a three minute descent into a harrowing 40 minute return to earth.  Rankin would write about his experience in The Man Who Rode Thunder (Prentice-Hall 1960).    

Special Guest Rocky Graziano turns the tables on the quizmasters of the panel.  All four have quizzing experience.  Even Betsy substituted for two weeks on Bess’ The Big Payoff.  Graziano has questions each of them have asked to other contestants, and quizzes the respective panelists with the same material.  He even plays a pricing game with the panel in a nod to Bill’s current show The Price Is Right.  The former boxer is about to start work as an actor in a new syndicated television series.  The crime drama Miami Undercover, primarily shot on location, would air for a single season in 1961. 

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