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Information Please

Information Please was an American radio quiz show, created by Dan Golenpaul, which aired on NBC from May 17, 1938 to April 22, 1951. The title was the contemporary phrase used to request from telephone operators what was then called information but is now called directory assistance. The series was moderated by Clifton Fadiman. A panel of experts would attempt to answer questions submitted by listeners. For the first few shows, a listener was paid two dollars for a question that was used, and five dollars more if the experts could not answer it correctly. When the show got its first sponsor (Canada Dry), the total amounts were increased to five and ten dollars respectively. A complete Encyclopædia Britannica was later added to the prize for questions that stumped the panel. The amounts went up to ten and twenty-five dollars when Lucky Strike took over sponsorship of the program.

Harry Overstreet, Marcus Dufield

John Erskine, Bernard Jaffe, Marcus Duffield

Marc Connolly

Oscar Levant

Carmen Show

Oscar Levant

Quincy Howe, George S Kaufman

Thomas Craven, Ben Hect

Oscar Levant, John Gunther

Moss Hart, Quincy Howe, George Kaufman

Alton Cook, Alice Dever Miller

Percy Waxman

Ben Hect

Ben Bernie, Bernard Jaffe

Percy Waxman

Basil Rathbone, Sigmund Spaeth

Dorothy Thompson, William Bonnell

Lillian Gish

Gene Tunney

Lillian Gish

Oswald Jacoby

John Gunther

Kathleen Norris

William Lyon Phelps, Yale Professor

Cornelia Otis Skinner, Erwin Edgar

Alxender Wolcott

General Hugh Johnson

Gilbert Seldes, Elizabeth Hoare

University of Michigan Student - Myron Wallace

Russel Crause, Frank Sullivan

Moe Berg

John Gunther

Rex Stout, Moss Hart

Deems Taylor, Marc Duffield

HV Kaltenborn

Arthur Crock, Alice Roosevelt Longworth

John P Marquand

Bernard Jaffe, Clarence Buddington Kellen

Stanley Walker

Helen Wills Moody

Gracie Allen, John Gunther

Wilber Cross

Lillian Gish, Marc Duffield

Elliot Roosevelt

Clarence B Kellen, William Peavey

Maury Maverick

Russel Krause, James Kiernan

H Napier Moore

Rex Stout, Wilford Funk

Raymond Graham Swing

Alice Marble, Bernard Jaffe

P Cal Simms

Rex Stout, Carl Van Doren

Dean C Mildred Thompson of Vasser College

Christopher Morley, John T Flynn

Moe Berg

Deems Taylor, Louis Untermeyer

Carl Sandberg

Christopher Morley, Marcus Jacques

James Farley

Moe Berg, JP MacElvoy

Deems Taylor, Henry Pringle

Walter B Pitkin

Christopher Morley, Albert Spaulding

Sir Cedric Hardwick

Carl Van Doren, Gloria Stewart

Walter Wanger

Christopher Morley, James Roosevelt

Henry Beedle Hough

Jan Struther, John Gunther

Otto Tallicious

Alva Johnson, Marc Connolly

Clair Boothe

Jan Struther, Louis Bromfield

Louis Hacker

Deems Taylor, Herbert Bayard Swope of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel

John Mason Brown

Christopher Morley

Fred Allen

Warden Louis E Law, Deems Taylor

Leon Henderson

Elmer Rice, Jan Struther

Professor Ernest Albert Puton

Louis Bromfield, Herbert Marshall

Walter Edmonds

Deems Taylor, Vincent Sheehan

Judge James C Wallace, Kenneth Simpson

Owen Davis

Boris Karloff, Warden Lewis E Laws

Alexander Wolcott, Sj Perleman

Jan Struther, Sir Wilmot Lewis

Deems Taylor, Dr Henry Noble McCracken

Jo Davidson

John O'Hara, Deems Taylor

Christopher Morley, Elmer F Slavin

Claude Wickard

Roland Young, Deems Taylor

Elsa Lanchester

John Gunther, Lymon Bryson

Philip Merrivale

Rex Stout, Henry Curran - Chief Magistrate

Paul Lukas

Donald Ogden Stuart

Gene Tunney

Frank Sullivan, Dick Maney

Third Anniversary Show

Cornelia Otis Skinner, Jan Struther

Sally Benson

William Tilden

Judge James Wallace, Governor Alfred E Smith

Alfred Hitchcock

John Gunther, Walter Durante

Mary Boland

Lyman Bryson, Dr Henry Noble McCracken

Larry Macphale

Deems Taylor, Russel Krause

Deems Taylor

Louis Bromfield, Margarite Leach

Stephen Vincent Bonet

Sir Thomas Beecham, Jan Struther

Lefty Gomez, Mayor Fiorellio Laguardia

Cs Forester, Russell Krause

Groucho Marx

Douglas Miller

Cornelia Otis Skinner

Drew Person, Robert Allen

Edna Ferber, Deems Taylor

Dr George N Shuster

Jan Struther, Joseph E Davies

John Gunther

Paul Galico, Russell Krause

Alexander Wolcott, Deems Taylor

Ruth Hussey, Christopher Morley

Boris Karloff, John Carradine

Emil Ludwig

Julian Huxley, Jan Struther

John Carradine, Sir Thomas Beecham

Wallace R Dual

Grantland Rice

Margaret Webster, Richard Manney

Roland Young, Deems Taylor

Wallace R Dual

Cornelia Otis Skinner, Christopher Morley

Hi Philips, Deems Taylor

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr

Paul Gallico, Arthur Garfield Hayes

Ned Sparks, Russell Krause

Dr Mildred McCaulfie

Leon Henderson, Raymond Clapper

Quincy Howe

Cs Forrester, Jan Struther

Alva Johnson

Orson Welles, Christopher Morley

Leon Henderson

Robert St John, Deems Taylor

Gregory Ratoff

Carl Sandburg, Christopher Morley

Hanson W Baldwin

Louie Bromfield

Leon Henderson, Wilma Lord Henderson

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr, Governor Leverett Saltenstahl

William L Shirer, Christopher Morley

Ilka Chase

James Wallace, Leon Henderson

Gregory Ratoff

Will Rogers, Jr

Charles Coburn, Deems Taylor

Alfred Hitchcock

Emily Kimbrough, Cornelia Otis Skinner

Jan Struther

Fred Allen

Will Rogers, Jr

Gregory Ratoff

Jan Struther

Colonel Carlos Romules

Cornelia Otis Skinner, Jan Struther

Wendel Wilkie

Ford Frick, Grantland Rice

Leon Henderson

George V Denny, Jr

Boris Karloff, Jan Struther

Ethel Barrymore, Richard Manney

Sir Thomas Beecham

Marsha Davenport, Deems Taylor

George Saunders

Dr C Mildred Thompson, Christopher Morley

Walter Youst

Jan Struther

Marsha Davenport, Deems Taylor

Clair Booth Luce

James W Fullbright

Red Barber, Bill Stern

Donald Colruth Seedy, Dr William Beedy

Marsha Davenport

Richard Lockridge, John Mason Brown

Bette Smith

Senator Lester Hill, Senator Joseph Ball

Gregory Ratoff

Russell Krause, Moss Hart

Arturo Rubenstein

Louis Brown, Sinclair Lewis

Quincy Howe, Dr Ts Choong

Jesse Stewart, Oscar Levant

Leon Henderson, Jan Struther

Louis Bromfield

Christopher Morley, Rep John F Coffee

John P Marquand

Elizabeth Janeway, Deems Taylor

Franchot Tone

Senator Alban Barcley, Senator Theodore Green

Alexander Knox, Jan Struther

Arturo Rubenstein, Louis Brown

Christopher Morley, Will Durant

Fred Allen, James Wallace

Jan Struther, Russell Krause

Clifton Webb, Moss Hart

Faith Baldwin, Fred Allen

John Gunther, Gregory Ratoff

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