To Tell the Truth

To Tell the Truth was a game show where three people who claim to be someone are questioned by a panel of celebrities. One of them is the real person while the other two are just impostors. The panelists take turns questioning the people about their subject and then try to guess which of the three people is the truth teller.

Gameplay
To start, three contestants all of whom claim to be the same person introduced themselves (most of the time the contestants are of the same sex, on rare occasions there would be a mixture of both sexes), then the host read the sworn affidavit of the real person. After the affidavit was read and when the challengers went over to their desk, the panelists one by one asked a series of questions to the challengers based on the affidavit in some way for an unmentioned amount of time. The impostors were allowed to lie, but the real person was game bound to tell the truth (hence the name of the show). Once one panelist's time was up, another panelist started questioning. Once the entire panel's time was up, they started to vote for whoever was the real person. Each panelist showed his/her vote, and regardless of whoever they voted for, the appropriate panelist's vote for the appropriate contestant was signified by an "X" (in most versions the Xs appeared in lights, but in the 90s version only, the Xs were on flip cards). Once all the votes were cast, the real person then revealed himself/herself by standing up by virtue of the host saying "Will the real (insert person's name) please stand up?". After the real person revealed himself/herself, the impostors told everyone their real names & occupations; then there was a brief chat (sometimes a stunt) to the real person. For each incorrect vote, the team of challengers won some money.

Panelist's Disqualification
Sometimes, a panelist would recognize or actually know one of the challengers, not necessarily the real person. If and when that happened, the panelist can disqualify himself/herself (later renamed recusal) causing an automatic wrong vote and giving the challengers money for that vote.

Audience Vote
In two of the versions (one of them being the original and the other the one in 2000) as well as the 50s pilot, the audience got in on the fun by making a vote themselves. The challenger with the majority vote got that vote. In case of a two-way or three-way tie, it worked the same as the panelist's disqualification; for that vote was considered wrong and the challengers picked up the incorrect vote value.

Payoffs
Here are the payoffs for the incorrect votes according to the version:
 * Pilot - Each incorrect vote was worth $300 meaning a complete stump won $1,500.
 * CBS Nighttime Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $250 meaning that a complete stump was worth $1,000 (raised to $1,250 in 1967). If the entire panel chose the same challenger and was correct, the challengers still won $150.
 * CBS Daytime Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $100 meaning that a complete stump was worth $400. When the audience vote was instituted in the original CBS daytime version, the maximum prize was raised to $500. If all of the votes were correct, the challengers split $75.
 * 1969-1978 Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $50 while a complete stump was worth $500.
 * 1980-1981 Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $100 while a complete stump was worth $500.
 * 1990-1991 Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $500 with a guarantee of $1,000. So therefore zero, one, or two incorrect votes won the team $1,000, three incorrect votes was worth $1,500. But if the panel was stumped, then the team of challengers won $3,000. The pilot did not guarantee $1,000 per game.
 * 2000-2002 Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $1,000 meaning that a complete stump was worth $5,000. In earlier weeks, the grand prize for stumping the panel was $10,000.

One on One
On two versions after two regular games of To Tell the Truth were played, one special game was played called "One on One". There were two versions of "One on One" on both versions.

1980 Version
Impostors from both games played the "One on One" game. In this game, an interesting fact about one of the impostors was revealed to the panel for the first time. Each panelist asked a series of questions to the impostor across from them. After 20 seconds of questioning, each panelist decided if the impostor across from each one had the fact or not. When all said & done, the impostor with the fact stood up, and each incorrect vote was worth $100 with a complete stump paying off $500.

1990 Version
In this version, a member of the studio audience faced a brand new contestant who told two stories (which appeared in single words to the home viewers), one of them being the truth. All the audience member had to do was spot the true story. To help out, the panel will each ask a single question about each story. When the cross-examination was done, the audience member made his/her decision as to which is the true story afterwhich the contestant revealed the true story by saying "To tell the truth... (insert correct story)". A correct decision won the audience member $500, but an incorrect decision won the contestant $1,000 (except on the pilot).

Notable Panelists
Kitty Carlisle-Hart

Peggy Cass

Orson Bean

Tom Poston

Bill Cullen

Gene Rayburn

Joe Garagola

Soupy Sales

Ron Masak

David Niven Jr.

Vicki Lawrence

Cindy Adams

Morton Downey Jr.

Betty White

Sarah Purcell

Tom Villard

Mother Love

Dana Hill

Meshach Taylor

Paula Poundstone

Kim Coles

Brooke Burns

Dave Coulier

Brad Sherwood

Greg Proops

Kermit the Frog

Melody Thomas Scott

Cindy Margolis

Michael Burger

Johnny Carson

Notable Contestants

 * Berry Gordy Jr. - Founder of the famed Detroit record company "Motown".
 * Bill Anderson - Country singer and host of The Better Sex & Fandango.
 * Ted Geisel aka Dr. Seuss - Famous writer of children's books including The Cat in the Hat.
 * Alex Haley - Author of the book "Roots".
 * Sissy Biggers - The television personality who went on to host the cooking game show Ready... Set... Cook!.
 * Ally Sheedy - Prior to her work in the successful film The Breakfast Club, she wrote a kids book called She Was Nice to Mice. A daughter of the show's staff was one of the impostors in that game.
 * Frank Abagnale Jr. - The famous con artist who's game appeared in the movie "Catch Me if you Can" which was about Frank's life story.
 * Jack Mercer - The voice of Popeye the Sailor Man
 * Orville Redenbacher - The famous popcorn maker & entrepreneur. He stumped the panel in his appearance.
 * Carroll Spinney - Better known as "Sesame Street's" Big Bird.
 * Rosa Parks - The lady who would not give up her seat during segregation times.
 * Gene Roddenberry - The creator of "Star Trek"
 * Larry King - The future host of his CNN primetime talk show.
 * Mary Kay Ash - Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics
 * John McLaughlin - Future host of "The McLaughlin Group"
 * Chuck Jones - Famous cartoon animator and director
 * William Hanna - Co-Founder of Hanna-Barbera Productions
 * Vicki McCarty - Playboy nude centerfold and a fill-in hostess of Wheel of Fortune before Vanna White.
 * Thom McKee - Tic Tac Dough's big time champion.
 * Dawn Miller - One of the two imposters who posed as a gilted/homeless bride. She was previously the first ever contestant & champion on CBS' Child's Play. She helped stumped the panel and collected $1,000 (her share of $3,000).
 * Randy West - Game show contestant turned announcer. He was one of the impostors who posed as the Scandal Tours founder. He helped stumped the panel and collected $1,000 (his share of $3,000).
 * Josh Pais - Actor who portrayed Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He was a One on One contestant who also posed as a laid off chauffeur for Donald Trump; he appeared on the 1990 premiere.
 * Sherri Lynn Stoner - Cartoon voiceover & writer; at the time she came on the show, she was the body model for Ariel, the Little Mermaid.
 * Hank Ketchum - The creator of the comic strip "Dennis the Menace". He was a One on One contestant who also posed as Johnny Marks, composer for the song "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"; he appropriately appeared on the Christmas 1990 episode. Previously, he was a challenger in May of 1962.
 * Paul Alter - The show's director who was also a One on One contestant; he posed as the writer for Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York". He appeared in the 90s version's last episode. He managed to stump the audience member playing that day, but he couldn't keep the $1,000 all to himself. Instead, he donated half to charity, and gave the other half to that audience member. You could say it was a 50/50 tie.
 * Mikki Padilla - The dealer for GSN's Catch 21. She was one of the impostors.
 * Willie Aames - A former child star best known for starring in Charles in Charge & Eight is Enough, whom at the time of his appearance portrayed Bibleman. At one time, he was hosting a revival of The Krypton Factor.
 * Yvonne Craig - TV's Batgirl; She came in her Batgirl attire and so did the two impostors. One of them was Melody Thomas Scott of The Young and the Restless.

Celebrity Guests as Impostors in Disguise
Sometimes, the team of challengers would be in disguise, and one or two of them would be celebrity guests. Here are a few examples.


 * Wally Bruner - The first host of the new What's My Line?.
 * Rip Taylor & Christopher Hewitt - They both dressed up as Santa Claus. The subject was the founder of the Ho-Ho Hotline.
 * Melody Thomas Scott - Star of CBS' long-running daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless; she was one of the impostor Batgirls in the game in which Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig was the subject.
 * Tom Poston - Regular 60s TTTT panelist
 * Bill Todman
 * Mrs. Bud Collyer - 50s-60s version
 * George Lindsey - "Goober" from Andy Griffith.
 * Cicely Tyson
 * Henry Morgan
 * Mark Goodson

Music
1956 - "Peter Pan" by Dolf van der Linden

1962 - Bob Cobert

1969 - Score Productions

1980 - Score Productions

1990 - Score Productions

1990 Unused Vocal - Score Productions & Take 6

2000 - Gary Stockdale

2000 Vamp Main - "Cyber Moonlighting" by Gary Stockdale

Lyrics
The 1969 and unused 1990 versions' themes had lyrics.

It's a lie, lie

You're telling a lie

I never know why you don't know how

To tell the truth, truth, truth, truth

You don't know how to tell the truth, yeah!

I'm a fool, fool

I've been such a fool

I'm blowing my cool for you right now

To tell the truth, truth, truth, truth...

You say you went home early last night

The book you read's out of sight

And that's why you took your phone off the hook

And never did get my call.

It's a lie, lie

I should say goodbye

But I'm gonna try to teach you how

To tell the truth, truth, truth, truth

You don't know how to tell the truth!

Repeat verse 1 and 2

repeat

You don't know how to tell the truth...

Lowell
A board game based on the original 1956 version was manufactured by Lowell in 1957.

Uproar
A single-player online game based on the short-lived 2000 version was once released by Uproar.com; However, as of September 30, 2006 the website has be temporarily shut down, offering no game show based online games of any kind.



GSN/Game Show Network
A live interactive version of Truth where you can play along while watching the show was once available thru GSN's very own website.

Bally
A video slot machine based on the syndicated 1969 era was released to american casinos nationwide by Bally Gaming Systems in 2002. (NOTE: on the slot machine glass you'll notice that their's a small 2000-2002 logo on the right side of the marquee seen below of this page.)

International Versions
Countries That previously had their versions of To Tell The Truth includes:
 * Australia: as Tell The Truth originally, it aired on the Nine Network from 1959-1965, hosted by George Foster followed by Mike Williamson. Then a revival of the series aired on Network Ten, hosted by Earle Bailey from 1971-1972.
 * Canada: as To Tell the Truth (english-language only) airing on CTV from 1962-1964, hosted by Don Cameron.
 * Germany: as Sag Die Wahrheit (Tell The Truth) originally hosted by Hans Sachs followed by Wolf Mittler, then Guido Baumann followed by Hans Stotz, then Bernd Stephen followed by Ruben Gerd Bauer, and finally Michael Antwerpes. originally it aired on ARD from 1959-1971 then on Bayerisches Fernsehen from 1986-1995. and finally on SWR since 2003.
 * Italy: as La verita (The Truth) hosted by Marco Balestri, originally aired on Canale 5 from 1990-1991 then on Rete 4 from 1991-1995.
 * Netherlands: as Wie van de drie (Which of the Three) originally hosted by Nand Baert from 1963-1967 followed by Pim Jacobs from 1967-1968. next, Emmik Herman hosted the series from 1971-1982 followed by Flip van der Shale in 1983, then Fred Oster in 1985 followed by Caroline Christensen in 1991. Then Rob van Hulst in 1994 followed by Jos Kuijer in 1995. Joop Braakhekke hosted the series in 1997 and finally Rob Brandsteder since 2010. The original network that ran this version of Truth was AVRO for three times from 1963 to 1983, then in 1985 for a brief period. its third and final run was from 1994-1997. RTL4 ran then version for a brief period in 1991. Currently, Oproep MAX runs their version since 2010.
 * Ukraine: as Samozvantsi (Impostors) hosted by Anton Lirnyk, it aired on ICTV from 2011-2012.
 * United Kingdom: as Tell The Truth hosted by MacDonald Hobley then with David Jacobs, Shaw Taylor, Graeme Garden and finally Fred Dinenage. The original network that ran this version was ITV from 1957-1959 and again from 1989-1990, followed by Channel 4 from 1983-1985.

Trivia
The short-lived Saturday Morning cartoon series titled Will the Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down (originally airing on ABC from 1970 until 1972) is a semi-reference to the show's catchphrase, "Will the real (insert contestants name) please stand up?".

Veteran Truth panelists Kitty Carlisle and Peggy Cass were also panelists on the short-lived AMC game show called The Movie Masters hosted by Gene Rayburn (of Match Game fame) from 1989 until 1990.

The 2000-2002 version of To Tell The Truth was the 1st game show where John O'Hurley and Burton Richardson both worked together on as both host and announcer respectively. Four years later, they worked together again in the 2006-2010 version of Family Feud.

In the rap song The Real Slim Shady by Eminem from 2000 while singing the refrain, he's asking "So Won't the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?" in a semi-reference to the show's catchphrase, "Will the real (insert contestant's name) please stand up?". In addition, The song is "appropriately" spoofed in promos for the O'Hurley era of the show.

Beginning in February 2010, Direct TV started a series of commercials spoofing To Tell the Truth (mainly based on the 1973-1978 era) featuring Alex Trebek (who hosted the actual show in 1991) as the host. A closely sounding instrumental variation of the 1969-1978 theme music was used. The four "panelists" (who were not celebrities unlike the actual show) were guessing who was "telling the truth" among the three contestants representing DirecTV, the cable company and DirecTV's rival, Dish Network. Although the "panelists" are clearly sitting. At the end, the "panelists" always chose DirecTV as the winner. (NOTE: The commercials are not entirely true to the show, as the contestants are shown standing up [the commercial open shows they are not sitting]).

The O'Hurley version was the last version that featured long-time panelists Kitty Carlisle before her untimely death in 2007.

In 2015, ABC has ordered a revival for a new version of To Tell the Truth with actor/comedian Anthony Anderson as host. The gameplay will basically be the same, except for this: the celebrity who's terrible at spotting the real person gets punished.

Videos
The DirecTV To Tell the Truth Commercials

Inventors
Mark Goodson & Bill Todman

Additional Page
To Tell the Truth/Quotes & Catchphrases

Taglines
"This is Bud Collyer speaking for (insert sponsor here) and reminding you to tell the truth.” - Bud Collyer (1956-1968)

"We'll see ya next time on To Tell the Truth. You have a lovely day (sometimes he would add "Cheerio, America!)." - Gordon Elliott (1990)

"Would you like to play more? Go to uproar.com." - John O'Hurley (2000-2001)

Links
A TTTT site focusing on all versions of the show

To Tell the Truth @ Pearson Television's Official Website (via Internet Archive)

FremantleMedia North America & Jeff Gaspin To Revive 'To Tell the Truth'

FremantleMedia looking to revive 'To Tell the Truth'

Classic Celebrity Panel Game Show Coming Back

Chris Lambert's TTTT Page

Rules for To Tell the Truth

Official website for the 2000-2002 revival (via the Internet Archive)