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Are giveaway shows, as many critics claim, debasing TV and offering a vulgar substitute for real entertainment? A few winning contestants have been dogged by their fame and fortune into worthwhile pursuits, or received lifetime annuities in odd ways. One giveaway winner now has his own local quiz program, another is being pressured to run for Congress. Stock Market Wizard Leonard Ross, II, who won $100,000 on The Big Surprise, is busy studying the price of coffee in the U.S. for a leading Brazilian businessman. Marine Corps Captain Dick McCutchen, who won the jackpot on both $64,000 shows, is putting the finishing touches on a cookbook. Shakespearean Scholar Redmond O'Hanlon, a Manhattan cop, will have a book of Shakespeare puns on the stand this spring. Alice Morgan, 78, who won $32,000, has completed The Investor's Road Map for Simon & Schuster. And Operatic Cobbler Gino Prato recently signed a second $10,000-a-year contract with a rubber company as good-will ambassador to U.S. shoemakers.
What might be the final word on giveaways comes from TV comedy Writer-Director Nat (Phil Silvers Show) Hiken, who whimsically suggests a show called A Million or Your Life'. "The contestant will stand in front of the TV camera and face two gun barrels. He will have a string leading to the triggers on the two barrels. One will be loaded with a dud containing a check for $1,000,000—the other with a live 37mm. shell guaranteed to tear his head off. If he pulls the wrong string—kaputt!"