To Tell the Truth

Playing the Game

At the beginning of the game, a panel of four blindfolded celebrities meets three individuals (challengers) who all claim to be the same person. The host reads a signed affidavit from the real person, and the panelists then ask the challengers questions. One challenger is sworn to tell the truth, and the other two are imposters who lie and attempt to deceive the celebrities into thinking they are the real person. The imposters are not only encouraged to lie, they receive cash prizes for effectively deceiving the panel. Each panelist then guesses who is telling the truth. In two versions of the show, the studio audience also votes. The truth-teller then reveals himself after the host asks, “Will the real [person's name] please stand up?” The challengers receive prize money based upon the number of wrong guesses, incentivizing their ability to bluff effectively.

The truth-tellers came from fields including the arts (Hunter S. Thompson, Berry Gordy Jr., Stan Lee), business (Orville Redenbacher, Mary Kay Ash), and sports (Tony La Russa). Some of the imposters also became famous later in life, such as Anderson Cooper, who appeared as an imposter when he was a child.

Broadcast History

To Tell the Truth debuted on December 18, 1956, on CBS during prime time as Nothing But The Truth. The show was quickly renamed and remained on CBS until 1968. Mike Wallace (who later appeared on the television program 60 Minutes) hosted only the pilot episode; Bud Collyer (the voice of Superman on the serialized radio drama The Adventures of Superman) served as the show's first host. The show also featured a variety of narrators across the six decades.

To Tell the Truth added a daytime five-day-per-week version in June 1962, which featured a different panel of celebrities (though the same host and narrator as the prime time version), less prize money, and only presented two games instead of three to allow time for a news break. In 1965, the prime time panelists replaced the daytime panelists and, toward the end of the daytime show's run, the studio audience voted as well as the panelists. The prime time show ended in 1967; the daytime version lasted until 1968.

The show's first syndicated run lasted from 1969 to 1978. Interestingly, this version debuted the same day original host Collyer died. Replacement host Garry Moore left the show in 1976 [Page 889]after being diagnosed with throat cancer. A second syndicated version started in 1980. It lasted only one year, despite the addition of a new game called “One-On-One,” in which the celebrity panelists were given a fact about one of the four imposters and asked which former imposter was telling the truth.

...