Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show that aired on American television in several versions since 1950.
The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950 to 1958 and ABC from 1958 to 1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969 to 1974, with Jack Narz as host until 1972, when he was replaced by the show’s announcer, Gene Wood.
Contestants were required to perform tasks (called “problems”) within a certain time limit which was counted down on a large 60-second clock. If they succeeded, they were said to have “beaten the Clock”; otherwise, “the Clock beat them.” The show had several sponsors over its run, with the most longstanding being the electronics company Sylvania.
The stunts performed on the show were mostly created by staff stunt writers Frank Wayne and Bob Howard. In the early days of the show, playwright Neil Simon was also a stunt writer. The stunts were usually aimed towards fun with difficulty being secondary. The stunts would usually be constructed out of common household props such as cardboard boxes, string, balloons, record players, dishes, cups, plates, cutlery, and balls of almost every type. As was the case with many other game shows during television’s infancy, the budget was low.
The stunts performed varied widely, but there were some common themes. Most stunts in some way involved physical speed or dexterity. Contestants often had to balance something with some part of their body, or race back and forth on the stage (for example, releasing a balloon, running across the stage to do some task, and running back in time to catch the balloon before it floated too high). Often the challenge was some form of target practice, in terms of throwing, rolling, bowling, etc.
The setup for the stunt was often designed to look easy but then have a complication or gimmick revealed. For example, Collyer would say “All you have to do is stack four plates”, check the Clock to see how much time they had to do it, and then add “Oh, and one more thing… you can’t use your hands”. Common twists included blindfolding one or both contestants, or telling them they couldn’t use their hands (or feet or any body part that would be obvious to use for whatever the task was).
The other common element in the stunts was to get one of the contestants messy in some way often involving whipped cream, pancake batter, and such (usually limited to the husband of the couple). While it was not a part of every stunt, and sometimes it didn’t even happen in an episode, it was common enough that when a couple brought a child on, Collyer would often ask what they thought the parents might have to do and the child would often respond “get whipped cream in their face.” Many times the wife would be shown a task, be blindfolded, and then her husband would be quietly brought out and unknown to her she would be covering him with some sort of mess. When the mess was not hidden from the wife, Collyer would often jokingly tell the husband (who usually had a short haircut) that they would put a bathing cap on his head “to keep your long hair out of your eyes” before revealing what form of mess he would be involved with. Occasionally Collyer himself would get caught in the mess accidentally.
In order to determine if the stunts could actually be performed, and to set appropriate time limits for them, the producers hired out-of-work actors to try them out. One of those who did this work was James Dean, who was said to be able to perform any task the producers gave him to try. He was so adept that he had to be let go, as he was too fast to set the time limits by. Collyer also noted on the air a number of times that he himself tested many of the stunts while they were being developed, often noting that the contestant performed the stunt with far more ease than he had. Another up-and-coming actor who would gain stature later in his career, Warren Oates, was also said to have worked on the show as a stunt tester.
