The "Walking Man" contest questions

[shimp scrampi]

I know that this was on Ralph Edwards' Truth or Consequences, and that it was quite a big deal, and provided some fodder for Jack's shows for awhile afterward - but I know very little about the contest.

In Milt Josefsberg's book he mentions also that a couple of columnists "spoiled" Jack's identity several weeks before the public got it.

SO - what clues were given as to the "Walking Man"'s identity? I'm having trouble figuring out anything that would be unique to Jack and not be an immediate tip-off.

AND - why did no one get it sooner? Did you have to be called by the show and then guess, or was it simply a write-in contest (i.e., how did the contest work)?

[haverpopper]

I thought I heard somewhere (on one of the shows? on one of the interviews?) that the moment the clue that the walking man played the fiddle was given, everyone knew who it was. That's all I know!

[bboswell]

From what I've heard, the clues were hard to decipher. You were supposed to guess who he was by the sound of his footsteps and a different clue each week.
I don't know what the clues were for Jack, but the first contest of this kind on Truth or Consequences was to find out who "Mr Hush" was. The answer was Jack Dempsey, and one of the clues was:

"Hickory Dickory Dock, the clock struck ten. Lights out. Goodnight."

Certainly not as simple as saying, in Jack Benny's case, "He has blue eyes", or "He drives a Maxwell."

(This info is from "The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio" by John Dunning)

[bboswell]

Hey! I finally found the clues!

There seem to be only 3 or 4 "Truth or Consequences" shows circulating, and two of them are the "Miss Hush" contest, which was one of the precursors to the "walking man" contest. After listening to the shows, I heard how the contest worked:
Each week they gave a clue. In the Miss Hush contest, it was the same clue each week. (In MH (Miss Hush's) case it was: "Second for Santa Claus, first for me, thirteen for wreath, seven for tree. Bring me an auto, a book and a ball, and I'll say 'Merry Christmas' in spring, not in fall." the answer?? Martha Graham!)
Each week, they would have a "contest within a contest" (In MH it was "We should all contribute to the March of Dimes because...") and then the top three of the writing contest would be chosen.
Of these three winners, the person who wrote the "best" answer would get a phone call. (If the person wasn't home, too bad!) If they were able to guess who MH was, they won all the prizes. If they didn't guess, Ralph Edwards told everyone their wrong guess, and then moved on to the person who wrote in the "second-best" March of Dimes answer, and lastly the "third-best." The prize jackpot increased by three new prizes each week. These were HUGE prizes.. Cars, appliances, jewelry, clothing, etc...

So, the hints were impossible to guess, the winners had to have been selected as one of the top three answers to the "pre-contest," AND had to be home listening to the show when Ralph Edwards called them!

Here is an article from TIME magazine around the "Walking Man" contest period that tells the actual clues for the "Walking Man" contest...

..................................................................
Who is the Walking Man? Lots of radio listeners thought that they knew, but nobody had even come close to guessing right—on the air. The point of the contest was to identify the mysterious man who walked past the mike each week, but said not a word.

By last week the Walking Man had broken some sort of record by passing up Miss Hush and strolling into his tenth week on Ralph Edwards' Truth or Consequences (Sat. 8:30 p.m., NBC). The prizes had piled up to $22,500 worth of Cadillacs, home-freeze units, trips to Sun Valley. The American Heart Association was wallowing in contributions from would-be contestants (last week they topped a million dollars), and the mail was terrific: 114,000 letters in one day last week.

The likeliest clues were the Walking Man's hollow, echoing footfalls (they sounded as though they might be coming from a vault), and the jingle:

Bing bong bell, It's ten and only one can tell. The master of the metropolis Fits his name quite well.

The other clues weren't much help: the strains of Annie Laurie and Auld Lang Syne; a neighing, galloping horse (Eddie Cantor was a wrong guess); cat yowls; a horn tootling.

Columnists and rocking-chair dopesters were certain they had it. Some of the "sure things": Sir Harry Lauder, George Gallup, Mayor O'Dwyer, Jack Benny, Gene Tunney, All-America Fullback Doak Walker.

...

[shimp scrampi]

Nice research bboswell!

I don't get how ANY of those clues relate to Jack! Auld Lang Syne? Tootling horns? That also explains the Josefsberg claim that Jack's identity was already "spoiled" - he neglected to mention that the columnists had a bunch of other guesses out there as well.

[LLeff]

Rock on, bboswell! I learned something new today, but...

Bing bong bell, It's ten and only one can tell. The master of the metropolis Fits his name quite well.

What the %&#*@(#@ does that mean? I would have guessed Superman based on that. And let's take a look at the others...

+ the strains of Annie Laurie

Yeah, I'd probably go with Harry Lauder as well.

+ and Auld Lang Syne;

Um...Guy Lombardo. (And what DO these have to do with Jack?)

+ a neighing, galloping horse (Eddie Cantor was a wrong guess);

Buck Benny, I suppose.

+ cat yowls;

Jack's violin strings sounding like they're back in the cat?

+ a horn tootling.

The Maxwell, maybe?

Criminey, ***I*** wouldn't have guessed Jack based on those clues. Good grief...

[bboswell]

Rock on, bboswell! I learned something new today, but...

Bing bong bell, It's ten and only one can tell. The master of the metropolis Fits his name quite well.

What the %&#*@(#@ does that mean? I would have guessed Superman based on that. And let's take a look at the others...

+ the strains of Annie Laurie

Yeah, I'd probably go with Harry Lauder as well.

+ and Auld Lang Syne;

Um...Guy Lombardo. (And what DO these have to do with Jack?)

+ a neighing, galloping horse (Eddie Cantor was a wrong guess);

Buck Benny, I suppose.

+ cat yowls;

Jack's violin strings sounding like they're back in the cat?

+ a horn tootling.

The Maxwell, maybe?

Criminey, ***I*** wouldn't have guessed Jack based on those clues. Good grief...

Hmmm...
Bing bong bell... Could that be the NBC chimes... or had Jack switched to CBS by then? (March '48 )

It's TEN and only one can tell...
Jack's show was on at 7:00pm, right? That would have been "TEN" on the East coast, where Truth or Consequences was broadcast.
As far as "Only One can tell" Maybe "One" being the first day of the week, Sunday, when you would hear Jack's show?

The Cat and Horse... That's great, LL... I didn't think of Buck Benny. Perhaps the horse could be either Buck Benny or the horse hair of the violin bow. That would work well with the catgut too.

Maybe the strains of Annie Laurie and Auld Lang Signe could refer to his popularity in the UK and Ireland? Or was that just before his successful trip to Europe?

the first line in "Annie Laurie" is: "Maxwellton's braes are Bonnie"... His Maxwell?? (That may be a stretch!)

But... Master of the Metropolis? (Master of NYC? LA? London? Waukegan??? ) And "Fits his name quite well?" I cannot even guess.

Horn Tooting: Maybe it's "The Horn Blows at Midnight"

[shimp scrampi]

bboswell, you're nailing this one down! I am impressed with the research and the interpretation of the clues!

I have no idea what the metropolis is all about, but "fits the name" - this is a stretch - "Jack" is slang for money, or alternately "lifting a heavy object" such as a tire jack? Benny rhyming with "penny" makes a vague, impressionistic kind of sense.

[River Phoenix]

When I read it I thought immediately of NBC's chimes too. A lot of the theories for the other clues really aren't that plausible.

[LLeff]

Bing bong bell... Could that be the NBC chimes... or had Jack switched to CBS by then? (March '48 )

No, he was still on NBC at that time.

It's TEN and only one can tell...
Jack's show was on at 7:00pm, right? That would have been "TEN" on the East coast, where Truth or Consequences was broadcast.

Well, the clue for Mr. Hush was "The clock struck ten, lights out, goodnight." (At least that makes more sense, because he could knock out someone.) But I have a feeling, just a suspicion, that it may have been more of a reference to ToC's time.

Horn Tooting: Maybe it's "The Horn Blows at Midnight"

Aha! I think you've stumbled on something there.

You know, I've really got to hand it to the woman who guessed this. If we "experts" and "devotees" have so much trouble analyzing the connection of the clues when we already know the answer, I can't imagine how someone would make the leap not knowing the answer.

[Andy Klein]

Master of the metropolis?

Perhaps Rochester, N.Y., could be considered a metropolis.

[bboswell]

Master of the metropolis?

Perhaps Rochester, N.Y., could be considered a metropolis.

Nice!

[shimp scrampi]

You know, I've really got to hand it to the woman who guessed this. If we "experts" and "devotees" have so much trouble analyzing the connection of the clues when we already know the answer, I can't imagine how someone would make the leap not knowing the answer.

Lonely, loaded, and sharp as a tack, that one!

As for being the "master" of Rochester - I sincerely hope that isn't what they were going for...

[Andy Klein]

Welcome to the 1940s!

[shimp scrampi]

Welcome to the 1940s!

Right, not the 1840s! This would be a little after emancipation...