Charles Van Doren

Okay, he cheated. As anyone who lived through that era, saw the 1994 Robert Redford movie "Quiz Show," has read any blog postings or obituaries—especially today's obituary of Mr. Charles Van Doren— knows, Chuck was given the answers to questions he'd be asked. Often.

Charles Van Doren was first seen as the Kryptonite to get rid of the reigning champion Herb Stempel, the Jewish postal worker from Queens who was not really telegenic, kept winning, and had a face better suited for radio. The producers had had enough of Herb. The ratings were "plateauing."

So, they got Herb to take a dive, answer a softball question incorrectly about an Academy Award winning movie, and let Mr. Van Doren dethrone him after three nail-biting tie games. The ratings were goosed, and stayed high.

Charles Van Doren, was far better looking, had a literary blue blood pedigree, and was seen as the man who would be king. His reign ran for 14 weeks, from November 26,  1956 to March 11, 1957, winning $128,000, a sum pointed out today in Robert D. McFadden's obituary that would be a $1 million in 2019. Nice work if you can get it.

Yes, Van Doren cheated, regretted it, and suffered for it the rest of what became a long life. Not to defend the cheating, but consider what Van Doren had to memorize: the answer to questions that could be longer than a freight train rolling through Reno. Consider an example given in the obituary.

"The Black Sea is connected to the Aegean Sea via two straits and a smaller sea. Name
(1) the two straits...
(2) the smaller sea...
and
(3) the four countries that border the Black Sea."

Alex Trebek would need four 'Jeopardy' cards to get that setup out. No one asks questions like that anymore.

We will probably never really know if Mr. Van Doren knew the answer without being told the answer, but he had to at least be ready to know the answer to a question that he knew was coming. A complex question. Would you be able to memorize beforehand the answer to that three-part question?

The two straits...Bosporus and the Dardanelles...
The smaller sea... Marmara...
The four countries that border the Black Sea...Russia, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Would you be able to name all of Henry VIII's wives and what became of them after they were dear Henry's wife?

That is something like being asked to name Elizabeth Taylor's husbands. (Hint, Richard Burton is like Grover Cleveland; he had two non-consecutive terms.)

Could you remember the answer to the question of what are the four Balearic Islands?

And it wasn't just one planted question in the round. There were several. That's a lot of obscure stuff to remember.

And so it went, until Herb Stempel blew the lid off the charade and it became common knowledge that the show was rigged.

As for my young self, I was disappointed the show was revealed to be a hoax. I also used to get mixed up and thought Charles Van Doren looked like Van Cliburn, the concert pianist.

But let's not judge Mr. Van Doren too harshly. Time has softened his deception. Let's give him credit for memorizing the answers. After all, going into the booth, would you pretend to struggle, sweat, blink, wipe your brow, and still be able to haltingly name Santa's eight reindeer, or name the Seven Dwarfs, even knowing the question was coming? I didn't think so.

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