Dr. Edward O. Thorp from Las Cruces, New Mexico is a mathematician
with a winning strategy on how to play blackjack: “I’m going to teach my system
to Henry Morgan,” and Garry adds: “We’re going to send him to the Caribbean to
try it out”
Thorp’s
research into probability theory led to his development of a virtually
foolproof winning system which overcomes the house advantage through card
counting and a series of small, strategic bets.
Casinos changed their method for shuffling cards because of Thorp’s
work, and also became more vigilant about recognizing card counters. Thorp had other, less publicized systems for
winning at backgammon, baccarat and even roulette. He is the author of the best-seller Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the
Game of Twenty-One (Random House 1962)
Robert Phillips from Warrenville, New Jersey has 24 potatoes
hidden under a box: “I use them as a battery to play my radio”
Last month, 13-year-old Robert won a
special 7th Grade Prize at the New Jersey Science Fair at Rutgers. Acids in the potato react with zinc and
copper plates to produce voltage.
Robert’s mother told him about seeing a jack o-lantern powered by a
grapefruit in an earlier episode of I’ve
Got a Secret (
E457
). He
experimented with various fruits and vegetables, and got the best results from
his spuds.
Special guest Ed Begley brings early recordings
of famous historical voices for the panel to identify. They include Rudolph Valentino (singing!),
Guglielmo Marconi, Theodore Roosevelt, Admiral Robert Peary and Florence
Nightingale. The recordings come from
the collection of G Robert Vincent, the curator of the newly created National
Voice Library at Michigan State University.
Vincent is seated in the audience.
Today, the voice library at MSU bears Vincent’s name. Begley is an Oscar-winning actor (for 1962's Sweet Bird of Youth) and is, of course, the father of actor Ed Begley Jr. He is about to be seen in the film
version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964).
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