Queen For A Day (sympathy contest, hosted by Jack Bailey)

     (Version #1:;
        Local Los Angeles TV, 1948 - 1956;
        NBC Daytime, 1956 - 60;
        ABC Daytime, 1960 - 64;

      Version #2:;
        Syndicated, 1970 with host Dick Curtis)

    [derived from a radio show originally called "Queen For Today"
     which began on Mutual in 1945 and continued until 1957; It was
     not really a quiz show, since there were no questions or stunts;
     it was just a relating of the sob stories of women who had many
     hardships; then the audience "voted" using an applause meter, 
     which was really a volume unit indicator, or "VU Meter" as to
     which woman was most deserving of help. Presumably the others
     went away with token gifts...Only the woman crowned "Queen For
     A Day" got help, and it was piled on her -- many prizes, and of
     course something to help her most vexing problem. It was truly
     a maudlin manifestation of early media culture -- a kind of
     emotional gladiator spectacle, with the crowd turning thumbs
     up or down at the end...

     The radio show had been simulcast on local television in Los
     Angeles before it was picked up by NBC as a network program;

     During the heydey of the radio program's popularity, a rather 
     amazing movie called "Queen For A Day" was produced; this was
     in 1951 -- five years before the TV show aired on NBC and may
     have played a role in promoting it for network TV; it recreated
     the radio broadcast featuring Jack Bailey "from the Don Lee
     studios in Hollywood" (Don Lee was the West Coast network
     which merged with Mutual); the movie distributed by United
     Artists used an artificial premise of three women who appear
     as contestants on the famous radio show; it followed their
     fictional lives before/after they appear on the show; The movie 
     was also known as "Horsie" for the name of one of the segments; 
     and has been released on video as "Three American Stories"; a
     couple of the minor characters in this large cast were played 
     by actors who went on to play roles in television, including
     Darren McGavin and Leonard Nimoy; the film was scored by 
     venerable Hugo W. Friedhofer;

     The first TV version was produced by Raymond R. Morgan who also
     produced the radio show. When Jack Bailey died of a heart attack
     in 1964 the first version of the series ended; Six years later
     Metromedia picked up the rights and attempted to syndicate a 
     revival with Dick Curtis as host]


Open Theme 1: "Queen For A Day"

     Composers: Art Kassel (ASCAP) and
                Jim Morgan (ASCAP)

     Original Publishers: Charles K. Harris Music Pub. Co. Inc. (ASCAP)
     
     1999 Publishers: Charles K. Harris Music Publishing Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
                      c/o Peer Music, of
                      New York, NY
     
    [as "Queen For A Day"]:
     Published Copyright Date: Oct.  1, 1948; Ep 30 799.
     Published Renewal   Date: Oct. 29, 1975; R 616 743.
     
     Recordings: 


Open Theme 2: "Queen For A Day"

     Composer: Irving Miller (ASCAP) 

     1978 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the 1978 ASCAP
                      Index of Performed Compositions]

     1999 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the ASCAP database]
     
     Copyright Date:
     Renewal   Date:

     Recordings: 


Open Theme 3: Trio [section], from "Pomp and Circumstance, Military March in D (Opus 39, No. 1)"

    [The end of the radio/TV show was the crowning of the "Queen"
     for that day, and an enumeration of all her prizes, hence the
     use of the ceremonial coronation march for which this had
     been used in Britain historically. This piece was used as the
     closing music during the "coronation" of the "Queen For A Day";
     
     Sometimes it was also used for the opening of the show, as heard
     on some rare kinescope episodes circulating now on DVD]
     
     Composer: Sir Edward Elgar (British PRS/ASCAP)

     Original Publisher: Boosey & Company, of London, England and
                         New York, NY;
                         later known as Boosey & Hawkes (ASCAP)
                         
     1999 Publisher: now in the Public Domain
     
     Composition Date: 1901
     
     U.S. Copyright Date: October 25, 1901;
     
     Recordings:  


Open Theme 4 (on ABC): "Hey, Look Me Over" from the 1960 Broadway Musical "Wildcat"

    [From some rare kinescope episodes circulating now on DVD,
     the opening music used for certain episodes broadcast from the
     Moulin Rouge night club in Hollywood was this rollicking jolly 
     Broadway show tune from a musical starring Lucille Ball -- to 
     open several "Queen For A Day" shows; Obviously such shows had
     to have aired AFTER 1960 when the Broadway musical "Wildcat"
     first appeared when "Queen For A Day" moved to ABC-TV.
     
     Also: certain shows opened with music that pointed up their
     special theme topic -- for example, a "circus day" show used 
     the trio melody from "The Billboard March" by John F. Kloor --
     a popular circus calliope tune; 
     
     Another show that featured an opening in the manner of the
     beginning of the "Jackie Gleason Show" -- when it was called
     "American Scene Magazine" -- had fashion models dressed in 
     furs, and used Gleason's Theme Song "Melancholy Serenade"]
     
     Composer: music by Cy Coleman (ASCAP), and
               lyric by Carolyn Leigh (ASCAP)

     1976 Publishers: Edwin H. Morris & Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
                         
     2005 Publishers: Carwin Music Inc. (ASCAP)
                         div. of EMI U Catalog Inc.
                         c/o EMI Music Publishing, Inc.
                         New York, NY; and
                      Notable Music Co., Inc. (ASCAP)
                         div. of WB Music Corp.
                         c/o Warner-Chappell Music, Inc.
                         Los Angeles, CA
     
     Copyright Date: Oct. 31, 1960; EP 145 885.
     Renewal Date:   Jan.  7, 1988; RE-370-555.
     
     Recordings: 


Close Theme: Trio [section], from "Pomp And Circumstance, Military March in D (Opus 39, No. 1)"

    [The end of the radio/TV show was the crowning of the "Queen"
     for that day, and an enumeration of all her prizes, hence the
     use of the ceremonial coronation march for which this had
     been used in Britain historically.

     Although the original publication identified this as a "Quick
     March in D", it is only the first section which is in a quick
     tempo, and in the key of D Major. The familiar trio section 
     is in G Major and is in a slower, stately tempo. This melody 
     is familiar to all who have attended any graduation ceremony
     (or seen a British coronation on TV.)

     This was the first of four "Pomp and Circumstance Marches"
     composed by Elgar, who was later knighted. By its association
     with coronations and graduations, it has become the best known
     of the four. (The others have their charms too, especially the
     final Pomp and Circumstance March, No. 4.)

     Two sets of words were set to the trio section melody in 1902
     the year following its composition and publication. The
     first set of words were by Arthur Christopher Benson titled
     "The Coronation Ode". The second more familiar set of words
     were written later the same year by Benson, and entitled the
     "Land Of Hope And Glory".]

     Composer: Sir Edward Elgar (British PRS/ASCAP)

     Original Publisher: Boosey & Company, of London, England and
                         New York, NY;
                         later known as Boosey & Hawkes (ASCAP)
                         
     1999 Publisher: now in the Public Domain
     
     Composition Date: 1901
     
     U.S. Copyright Date: October 25, 1901;
     
     Recordings: 



Return to the 1950s TV Series Title Page


Copyright 1960 - 2018 by The Media Management Group. All Rights Reserved