User:Daniel Benfield/Name's the Same Video Archive

ABC Primetime: December 5, 1951 - August 31, 1954/October 18, 1954 - October 7, 1955

The Name's the Same was a long-running Goodson-Todman panel game where all the contestants, barring a weekly celebrity guest, had the same name as a well-known person (such as Bill Cullen), place (such as Paris France), or thing (such as A. Maid).

The celebrity guest pretended to be someone else they'd like to be (with the panel having to guess who the person was and the guest answering as that person), though this later changed to something they'd like to do (usually something that could be done onstage, with the panel blindfolded if so).

The other wrinkle was that the cash prizes were paid from the panelists' checkbooks as penalty for not winning the game, which they would hand off as the player/celeb exited the stage.

A huge thanks to Matt Ottinger (via Internet Archive) for much of the below placement.

LEGAL STUFF SO I DON'T GET SUED: I'm only linking to these videos, none of which were uploaded by me, for the purposes of research and as a public record. Footage ©1951-55 Goodson-Todman Productions/FremantleMedia and associated entities.

1951-52
Unfortunately, nothing seems to exist of the show's first seven months. The available episodes begin at August 6, 1952, supported by Buzzr's airings of the series which began with said episode (labeled "52_0001").

As of August 6, 1952, the following was true of the series:
 * The show aired Wednesdays at 7:30 PM.
 * The sponsors were Swanson and Johnson's Wax, alternating from week to week.
 * The logo was a card with "the Name's The Same" on it, shot at an angle.
 * The theme was "Shooting Star", by Sidney Torch.
 * The panel consisted of Abe Burrows, Joan Alexander, and Bill Cullen.

Sometime between October 1 and December 2, the logo was altered to have "THE NAME'S THE SAME" over a vertically-scrolling list of signatures. The previous logo remained on Robert's podium through the end of his tenure, though.


 * September 10, 1952 (Morey Amsterdam, Joan Alexander, BILL CULLEN; Players: Lolly Pops, Eddie Bracken, A. Stocking {Special Guest: Eddie Bracken}; taped from GSN, "Bracken" game only)

Logo changes to all-caps style against a scrolling list of signatures (began by 12/2/52)

Show moves to Tuesdays at 10:30 PM (began 12/2/52)

1953
On September 18, the format used for the celebrity game is altered to "Secret Wish", where the panel has to figure out what the guest would like to see, do, etc.

'''"I'd Like To Be..." replaced by "Secret Wish" (began 9/18/53)'''

Clorets replaces Johnson's Wax as alternating sponsor (began 12/1/53)

1954
The panel expands to four members on February 9, which also results in the cash awards dropping from $25 per stumped panelist to $20 each.

The fact each game now has a maximum of 40 questions (previously 30) results in the panel running out of them less often and Robert calling time more often.

Panel expands to four members, top prize increased to $80 (began 2/9/54)

Chicken of the Sea replaces Clorets as alternating sponsor (began 6/1/54)

Season 4 (1954-55)
The show now aired Mondays at 7:30 PM, with just one sponsor (Ralston). The set was redone to use the company's "checkerboard" pattern, most notably replacing the center-stage portion with a much larger curtain, and the intro background was replaced with a pan down a short animation of Ralston's headquarters in Missouri; the "THE NAME'S THE SAME" logo itself was altered a bit, but generally looked about the same as it did before.

Dennis James
October 18 - April 4

Starting on January 10, some games would instead have the panel guess the celebrity that particular contestant was related to. Available episodes showed relationships of mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, wife, and grandson.

Whereas "I'd Like To Be..." and "Secret Wish" were ways to include celebs in a similar manner to What's My Line? Mystery Guests, "Famous Relative" made no sense at all (especially since all but two games in the available episodes involved celebs who weren't actually on the show that night) and strongly suggests the show was running a bit short on contestants.

"Famous Relative" games added (began 1/10/55)

Bob Elliott & Ray Goulding
April 11 - June 20

The well-known radio duo essentially brought their show into Name, providing a comedic element similar to what I've Got a Secret was doing at the time.

In May or June, the intro was overhauled to an animation of various checkerboarded stuff, with the Ralston building present. The logo was changed to "The Name's the Same" inside the same pattern Ralston used for its product packages, while the theme music was changed from "Shooting Star" to an instrumental version of "Meet Me in Saint Louis, Louis".

June 13 seems to have been when the "Famous Relative" games were dropped. Based on extant episodes, the two times the idea really worked were during this era: April 18 (Ray's son), and May 2 (Joan Alexander's daughter; Joan was the celebrity guest that night, returning to the show after having a son).

Clifton Fadiman
June 28 - October 7

The final era began with two other changes: the show moved to Tuesdays at 10:00 PM, and panelist Walter Slezak left due to the new time conficting with his Broadway role.

The final alteration came on September 16, when Name was moved to Fridays at 10:00 PM.


 * June-October 1955 (Intro)