In the 1950s, it was not unusual for executives of Max Hess’ Hess Brothers Department Store to get a phone call any hour of the day or night from their boss. But for Kenneth Hoffer, a lowly buyer in the store’s men’s department, it was like a bolt of lightning when his phone rang with a call from Hess sometime between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. on August 2, 1955.
The first voice was that of Max “Maggie” Levine, the store’s peppy public relations head.
“Mr. Hoffer,” he said in his trademark punchy style, “Mr. Hess has something he would like to say to you.”
As Hoffer was later to tell a Congressional committee, Hess was direct and blunt.
“Hoffer, you are going to go on the $64,000 Question. You are going the entire way to the $64,000 Question and then you are going to lose.”
“I am?” said Hoffer
“You are,” Hess replied.
“Do you know what the consolation prize is?” asked Hess.
“I have heard it’s a Cadillac,” Hoffer said.
“Do you know what a Cadillac is worth in money?” said his boss.
“I believe it’s worth $4,000,” Hoffer replied.
“Well, that $4,000 is yours if you appear on the $64,000 Question,” Hoffer recalled Hess saying.
No one had to explain to Hoffer what the “$64,000 Question” was. The hottest game show on television, its audience sat riveted to the screen as the drama of two ordinary contestants had a shot at what in the 1950s was a huge pot of money.
Hoffer, who watched the show regularly, was not totally surprised to have Hess single him out for this opportunity. A former YMCA secretary with an in depth knowledge of the Bible, he had put in an application to be on the show and hoped to be asked questions in that category.
Hoffer was not the only one to get a call from Hess that night.
Furniture buyer David Gottlieb heard from his boss, letting him know that he was calling Hoffer. He told Gottlieb that having an ordinary guy like Hoffer on the air would be a great way to “plug” the store to a national audience. If he had to pay money to have Hoffer get a slot on the show, it would be worth the publicity.
What Hess was stepping into was that footnote to America’s cultural history known as the Quiz Show Scandals.
Quiz shows had been around on radio for years. But television took them to a higher level. It was an open secret that influence in the form of cash was used to get people on the air.
This became public in 1959 when Charles Van Doren, a contestant on one program, was shown to have been coached and provided with answers by the show’s producers. It was done to draw viewers to the show and to turn it into a “horse-race,” getting the public to root for Van Doren. None of this was illegal but many thought it was unethical.
But all that was still in the future in 1955. The morning after the fateful phone call, Hoffer, Levine and Gottlieb drove to New York. Here they began the process of trying to get Hoffer on the $64,000 Question.
They went to a public relations man, asking what they had to do to get Hoffer on the program. The publicist said Hess was crazy to think anybody could guarantee getting Hoffer all the way to the $64,000 Question.
On a return visit, Gottlieb went to another public relations firm, offering between $1,000 and $2,000 to get Hoffer on the quiz show. The PR man sniffed that the sum was way too small. After a series of phone conversations, Gottlieb later testified, Hess agreed to pay $10,000 to the publicists: $5,000 on the day Hoffer appeared, and $5,000 after his appearance.
August 9, 1955 was Hoffer’s day in the sun. Unfortunately the category that day was baseball, not the Bible.
Hoffer knew little about baseball and flubbed on the third question, unable to recall that New York Yankee fans’ nickname for player Tommy Henrich was Old Reliable. That erased the $512 in winnings Hoffer had accumulated at that point. Still, he managed to mention twice on the air that he was “employed by Hess’s Department store in Allentown.”
When Hoffer returned to his job at Hess’s he hoped to hear more about what he saw as his promised $4,000. For whatever reason, perhaps because he never made it to the $64,000 Question, Hess figured the agreement was off.
Over a year later, when Hoffer brought the subject up, Hess expressed annoyance. Later during the Christmas season, Hess fired Hoffer, calling him a crook for making a mistake of $3.00 on a personal purchase of Christmas lights. Hoffer moved to Reading and went to work for a small department store there.
No more would probably have been heard of the issue if the Van Doren scandal had not led to televised Congressional hearings.
On October 26, 1959, Hess was confronted in his store by a congressional investigator named James Kelly with a subpoena. Furious, he told the man to “drop dead” and suggested he tear up the subpoena before having him thrown out of the store. But a few days later Hess agreed to testify.
Hollywood stars were fearful, reported gossip columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, that Hess would “spill the beans” over some of the favors he had done over the years.
But Hess simply answered the questions presented to him, claiming he had never promised Hoffer $4,000 and that he had no idea where the money he had paid had gone but he had just been told this was just the way things were done. Hess got a verbal pat on the back for being forthright from the committee’s chairman, and more free publicity for the store then he could ever have paid for.
from 69News:Home http://ift.tt/1Hnqofi
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire