[Mrs. Tom English, Mrs. Sarah Marshall and Mrs. Ann Gouger], all
from Cotulla, Texas: “We are a slingshot team”
The three
elderly women face off against the female panelists, which turns out to be not
much of a contest as neither Betsy nor Bess have the slightest idea what they
are doing.
Bentley Hahn from Springfield, Virginia: “I invented the ZIP code
for the U.S. Post Office”
Taken for
granted today, the Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) was introduced nationwide on
July 1, and took time, and a major marketing campaign, to be embraced by the
public. Similarly, the now-common
two-letter state postal abbreviations would be introduced on October 1. Today, the postal service recognizes
inspector Robert Moon for coming up with the idea that became ZIP codes back in
1944. Hahn refined the original plan and
increased the digits to five from Moon’s three.
The “plus four” extension, still not commonly used by the general public
even today, would be added in 1983.
Special guest George Hamilton believes
that, despite eleven films to his credit, no one over the age of 25 would
recognize him. He puts that theory to
the test. An unknown young actor is
introduced to the panel as Hamilton, the secret being that he’s just pretending
to be Hamilton. A bit that Garry admits
might not work plays beautifully, as no one on the panel recognizes the
subterfuge. Henry in particular admires the lack of ego that allowed Hamilton
to even try the stunt. Later, the panel hears bits from three actual singles and tried to identify which of the three is the current #1 song in the country. “Be My Baby” (1963) by The Ronettes is the number one hit, while the imposters are "The Martian Hop" by The Ran-Dells and "Don't Envy Me" by Hamilton himself! Hamilton's song, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, had not yet been released. They're also tasked with separating a real teen dance craze (The Bird) from a fake one (The
Hopscotch). Hamilton has just completed
filming The Victors (1963) and Act One (1963), neither of which has yet
been released. Both would improve his
profile considerably, despite being box office disappointments.
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