YOU BET YOUR LIFE

You Bet Your Life was one of daddy's favorites. It had an eleven year run of greater than 400 episodes.

Most likely we all remember the duck dropping out of the stage curtains above when someone said the secret word and received $100 for saying it.

The idea of the show was to pick a category and spin the wheel for the amount of money the person, generally a man and a women pitted against each other, wanted to bet.

The days of You Bet Your Life at our household were all hosted by Groucho Marx. Old Trunks wasn't much of a fan of any of the Marx Brothers but then, what child got to pick the television show they wanted to watch in prime time anyway?

We were lucky to watch American Bandstand and Mickey Mouse Club after school and before supper! As I think about it, Daddy didn't pick very often either. Mother liked drama and Bishop Sheen, daddy liked westerns and comedies. The problem was daddy slept on the sofa--we called it a davenport--and since he was sleeping, mother changed to what she liked!

Either way, the television was turned off promptly at 10 PM, the lights were turned off and everyone went to bed. Amazingly, as a child, before television, we went to bed early and when we could stay up and watch Gunsmoke or The Hit Parade, it was hard to stay awake.

My question is: If there was no child like television programing after 8 PM, would children go to sleep earlier? Or do children stay up later because parents both work and the family eats late and if the children went to bed at eight, parents would: A: Not see them B: Would be chewing their food and brushing their teeth at the same time? You bet your life!

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