Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Ralph Edwards Productions
- Abstract:
- The collection consists of materials pertaining to the various Ralph Edwards Productions projects such as Truth or Consequences, This is Your Life, and Name That Tune.
- Extent:
- 156.5 Linear Feet (313 boxes), 52 Audiovisual Carriers (43 records, 4 audiocassettes, 1 film reel, 3 open reel audiotapes, 1 recording wire), and 2 Born-digital Carriers (2 optical discs)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Ralph Edwards Productions Production Records (Collection PASC 336). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection consists of materials pertaining to the various Ralph Edwards Productions projects such as Truth or consequences, This is your life, and Name that tune.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Ralph Edwards was born near Merino, Colorado, in 1913, moving with his family to Oakland, California, when he was 12. He worked his way through college at radio stations in Oakland and San Francisco, graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1935 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama. Edwards moved to New York in 1936 and became one of radio's busiest announcers, doing as many as 45 network shows a week. In 1940, in response to this hectic pace, Edwards created, produced and hosted the landmark audience participation show "Truth or Consequences".
The show's great popularity led to his appearance in the Lucille Ball-Victor Mature film Seven Days' Leave (1942). He moved the show and his production company to Hollywood in 1945, where he made three more films for RKO: Radio Stars on Parade (1945), The Bamboo Blonde (1946) and Beat the Band (1947), all with Frances Langford. His big-screen career took a decided back seat in 1948, when Edwards first brought to the air his other long-running show, "This Is Your Life" (1952). On radio for its first two years, Edwards took the program to NBC-TV in 1952, where it remained until 1961, winning two Emmys (he also hosted a syndicated version from 1971-1973). His last feature film appearance came in the Susan Hayward MGM bio-pic of Lillian Roth, I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955), which ends with a recreation of Roth's appearance on "This Is Your Life" (1952).
Edwards' television career began in earnest in 1950, when "Truth or Consequences" (1950) aired one season on CBS-TV and earned the first Emmy awarded for an audience participation show. He turned over host duties to Jack Bailey in 1954 and, in 1956, launched the career of Bob Barker as host of the daytime version. Edwards, also well-known for his extensive charitable and philanthropic activities, became one of TV's most prolific producers. Biographical note courtesy of IMDB.com.
- Processing information:
-
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged in the following series:
- Series 1. This is Your Life, 1952-1987
- Series 2. Truth or Consequences, 1940-1988
- Series 3. The Cross-Wits, 1975-1980
- Series 4. End of the Rainbow, 1957-1958
- Series 5. Funny Boners, 1954-1955
- Series 6. Face to Face
- Series 7. Knockout, 1977-1978
- Series 8. Name That Tune
- Series 9. Press Your Luck
- Series 10. Punchliners
- Series 11. Mouthtrap
- Series 12. The People's Court
- Series 13. The Ralph Edwards Show, 1952
- Series 14. That's Show Biz, 1985 October 23
- Series 15. About Faces, 1960-1961
- Series 16. So You Think You've Got Troubles
- Series 17. Superior Court, 1986-1989
- Series 18. Who in the World, 1962
- Series 19. Walk Across the Land, 1961 December
- Series 20. Portrait of an American, 1963
- Series 21. Human Thing to Do, 1961
- Series 22. Fatasies Fulfilled
- Series 23. Going, Going, Gone
- Series 24. Sing Out, 1960 October 13
- Series 25. Woody Woodbury Show, 1967
- Series 26. Ungame Show, 1977 March 10
- Series 27. That Crazy Show, 1977 April 14
- Series 28. It Could Be You, 1956-1961
- Series 29. Place the Face
- Series 30. Wide Country, 1962-1963
- Series 31. Beadle's About, 1986. 1 folder
- Series 32. Television's Good Housekeeping, 1972-1973
- Series 33. In Session
- Series 40. Ralph Edwards
- Series 41. Bob Barker
- Series 50. Business Papers
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Ralph Edwards Productions Production Records (Collection PASC 336). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988