To Tell the Truth

1956 Pilot Intro: "ANNOUNCER: What is your name, please? PLAYERS (individually): My name is Tony Costello. ANNOUNCER: 2 of these people are imposters. Only one of them is the real Tony Costello. And is the only one who is telling Nothing But the Truth. And now, here is the host of Nothing But the Truth, our dealer in fact and fiction, Mike Wallace."

50s Intro: "ANNOUNCER: What is your name, please? PLAYERS (individually): My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: 2 of these people are imposters. Only one (of them) is the real (insert name). And is the only one sworn To Tell the Truth. (insert sponsor). And here is our host, Bud Collyer."

80s and 90s Intro: "ANNOUNCER: Number 1, what is your name, please? NUMBER 1: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Number 2. NUMBER 2: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: And number 3. NUMBER 3: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Only one of these people is the real (insert name). And is (the only one) sworn To Tell the Truth! And now, (from Studio 6A in New York's Rockefeller Center) (let's) meet our panel (insert celebrities). (And) Here's the host of To Tell the Truth, Robin Ward/Gordon Elliott/Lynn Swann/Alex Trebek!"

2000s Intro #1: "ANNOUNCER: Number 1, what is your name? NUMBER 1: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Number 2, what is your name? NUMBER 2: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Number 3, what is your name? NUMBER 3: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Only one is the real (insert name) and has sworn To Tell the Truth! Now, let's meet our panelists (insert celebrities). Here is the star of To Tell the Truth, John O'Hurley!

2000s Intro #2: "ANNOUNCER: Number 1, what is your name? NUMBER 1: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Number 2, what is your name? NUMBER 2: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Number 3, what is your name? NUMBER 3: My name is (insert name). ANNOUNCER: Only one is the real (insert name) and the other two are lying. (Insert story mode), and he/she has sworn To Tell the Truth! Now, let's meet our panelists (insert celebrities). Here is the star of To Tell the Truth, John O'Hurley!

A 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 imposters 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:


 * 50s Nighttime Version - Each incorrect vote was worth $250 meaning that a complete stump was worth $1,000. If the entire panel chose the same challenger and was correct, the challengers still won $150.
 * 60s 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

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

Notable Contestants

 * Berry Gordy Jr. - Founder of the famed Detroit record company "Motown".
 * Alex Haley - Author of the book "Roots".
 * Sissy Biggers - The television personality who went on to host the cooking game show Ready... Set... Cook!.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * William Hanna - Co-Founder of Hanna-Barbera Productions
 * Thom McKee - Tic Tac Dough's big time champion.
 * 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).
 * 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.
 * 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 $1000 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.

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...

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

Inventors
Mark Goodson & Bill Todman

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

Catchphrase
"Will The Real (insert name), please stand up?"

Taglines
"This is Bud Collyer saying good night, and always remember 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)

Links
A TTTT site focusing on all versions of the show

Chris Lambert's TTTT Page

Rules for To Tell the Truth

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