Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Cynthia Crossen looks back at “Queen for a Day”, an early radio-then-TV show that paved the way for the reality shows of today. It capitalized on the exploitation of human misery, and the woman with the worst life won the prize. Contestants played up sob stories about disabilities in an effort to convince the studio audience that they deserved the red velvet robe, tiara and appliances. The show was broadcast from 1947 until 1964.

Contestants started wishing for things like dentures, hearing aids and prosthetic limbs, special bikes for their terminally ill children, or a car so they could visit their disabled husband in the veterans’ hospital. Instead of a professional panel, the queen was chosen by an “applause meter” of audience response, so the trick was to tug as many heartstrings as possible without breaking down and blubbering, which [host Jack] Bailey strongly discouraged.

The show became a competition of who had it worst. A woman who wanted a special bed for her brother, who had been shot five times in the back, beat out a woman whose 5-year-old son had a brain tumor and wanted educational toys and a collie for him.

One woman wanted a vacation because her two disabled children had died, then her father and mother died, and a month later her husband. And she didn’t even win. She was defeated by a woman who wanted a wheelchair for her son, who had cerebral palsy.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 8:53 am and is filed under brain damage, cerebral palsy, chronic illness, deaf/hard of hearing, history, limb loss, media, television, veterans, wheelchair. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post