@relfyh: "21 November 2005
Ralph Edwards, broadcaster: born Merino, Colorado 13 June 
1913; married 1939 Barbara Jean Sheldon (died 1993; one son, 
two daughters); died Los Angeles 16 November 2005.
Ralph Edwards was among the first broadcasters to realise 
the financial importance of a television franchise for a 
popular idea. Every time Eamonn Andrews or Michael Aspel 
surprised a subject with the "big red book"on This Is Your 
Life, the credits had to acknowledge Edwards's role as 
creator and licensee.
He came up with the idea for This Is Your Life for US radio 
in 1948 with the purpose of telling the life story of some 
notable citizen. The television version, which began in 
1952, was based more on celebrity and the subjects included 
Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe and Laurel and Hardy.
In 1955 Eamonn Andrews, the host of What's My Line?, was 
booked to host the UK edition, but the press leaked that the 
first subject would be the footballer Stanley Matthews. When 
the day of the first show came, Andrews assumed that 
Matthews would still be the subject, and he was stunned to 
see instead Ralph Edwards, who then hosted an edition on 
Andrews's life. Andrews burst into tears at the sight of his 
mother, soon a common occurrence as relatives or friends 
returned from abroad for surprise appearances.
Later editions were filmed in advance with the subjects 
often leaked to the newspapers, but the early live shows 
offered the possibility of the subjects turning the 
programme down, as happened with the footballer Danny 
Blanchflower and the writer Richard Gordon.
Although the US This Is Your Life finished in 1960 and was 
regarded as a cultural artefact, the UK version ran on the 
BBC until 1964, returning on ITV five years later and then 
running through on both ITV and BBC until 2003, with a new 
series now planned.
Ralph Edwards was born in Merino, Colorado in 1913 and began 
broadcasting when he was only 15 as an announcer on a radio 
station in Oakland, California. After graduating from the 
University of California at Berkeley, he moved to New York 
and became a staff kgarrett@example.net.
In 1940 he created a radio quiz show based on a childhood 
game in which contestants had to undergo a forfeit for a 
wrong answer. Truth or Consequences became a top-rated 
radio, and then television, show. In 1950, in an outstanding 
publicity stunt, Edwards persuaded the town of Hot Springs, 
New Mexico to change its name to Truth or Consequences in 
exchange for the programme being broadcast from there. It 
never reverted to its original name.
In the Eighties, Edwards had further success with The 
People's Court, which turned a retired judge into a 
celebrity. In 1995, he was inducted into the Radio Hall of 
Fame and six years later received a Lifetime Achievement 
Award at the Emmys, which also acknowledged his considerable 
work for charities.
Spencer Leigh"
    @bob: "On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:03:10 -0500, "Hyfler/Rosner" <email_address>
magnanimously proffered:
<quote>
I wonder if those early shows were preserved and will ever be made
available again? I'd love to see the Laurel and Hardy TIYL + others. 
"It's not that I'm afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Woody Allen
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Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <<url>
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