407     November 2, 1960
Bill, Betsy, Henry, Bess

As a resolution to last week’s cliffhanger involving Henry and a buzzsaw, the show attempts an illusion which Garry says was designed for them by The Amazing Randi, a popular magician and escapologist who would later become a well-known investigator and debunker of people claiming to have actual supernatural abilities.  Randi would appear on the show in 1965 ( E591 ).  The bit does not go off exactly as planned, but no harm befalls Henry.   

Kenneth Shields, Julius Metivier, Fred Weigel, Robert Talbot: “We’re all losers in a Bill Cullen look-alike contest” and Mr. X: “I won the contest” 
Vincent Griski won the summer contest, and with it a trip for two to Paris.  The contest was part of Bill’s morning radio series originally named Pulse but later known as The Bill Cullen Show (1955-1961).  As morning radio increasingly moved to DJs spinning records with only light chatter in between, Bill’s show in New York remained an ambitious mix of talk, features, contests, news and, yes, some records all the way to the end.   At this point in his career, Bill was doing this three-hour daily radio show, a daily version of The Price Is Right a weekly prime-time version of Price, and of course, Secret.   


Special Guest Gisele MacKenzie: “I’m going to play a violin duet tonight…with a chimpanzee” 
MacKenzie performs with Kokomo Jr, accompanied by Norman Paris and his quartet.  Kokomo Jr was a popular TV figure for a brief time.  He replaced J Fred Muggs as the animal mascot on the Today Show in 1957, and also in that year he was made an honorary citizen of Kokomo, Indiana.   MacKenzie was a popular TV figure as well.  Her busy schedule has her appearing on Jack Benny’s show on October 30 (her violin duet with Benny on “Getting to Know You” is classic), and on the Bell Telephone Hour November 11.

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