Of Jack Bailey and “Queen for a Day”

September 15 was the birthday of actor, announcer, and emcee Jack Bailey (1907-1980), best known in his time as the host of the game show Queen for a Day for nearly 20 years.

Originally from Iowa, Bailey had been a musician in vaudeville and tent shows, a director of musical comedies, and a barker at the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair. By the late ’30s he had broken into radio as an announcer, and also found work doing cartoon voice-over work for Walt Disney and others.

In 1945 Bailey was fired to replace Ken Murray as host of the radio show Queen for a Day on the Mutual Network, and he and the show just clicked. One’s immediate assumption (if I’m any measure) was that it was a beauty pageant: that the most beautiful, poised, and talented contested were crowned Queen. If that were the case — Ken Murray probably would have stayed with the show. If you’ve ever witnessed interacting with his “Glamorlovelies” in old clips, he comes off like a letch. No, the premise was quite the opposite. And while the actual gimmick may sound more admirable than a beauty contest it was actually just as exploitative, simply in a different way. Each woman on the show was asked to tell a sob story. The more misery and misfortune the woman had undergone, the greater the need, that was won you the cash and prizes and title of Queen for a Day. If your house burned down, or you had cancer, or you had nine kids and your husband just his job, then you were a shoe-in. To me, it sounds tawdry and manipulative and undignified, but since when has bad taste been a barrier to American audiences? It ran on radio through 1957. A local television version was produced in L.A. as early as 1948. It went to network television on NBC in 1956 and switched over to ABC in 1960, running through 1969. There was also a fictionalized movie about it starring Bailey, which was released in 1951.

Meantime, Bailey was also the announcer on radio shows like The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Duffy’s Tavern, and others. He also emceed Truth or Consequences for a time (1953-56) during his TV years. Bailey dabbled in acting, too, mostly but parts and stunt cameos. Early on you could see him in movies like The Contender (1944) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). When the game show career wound down his outlet was guest shots on tv shows like Mister Ed,Batman, Green Acres, I Dream of Jeannie, Gunsmoke, Adam-12, Emergency, Dusty’s Trail, and Police Story. Later movies included The Day of the Wolves (1971), How to Seduce a Woman (1974), and Disney’s The Strongest Man in the World (1975), his last. He also performed in live regional and touring productions of musicals.

For more on vaudeville, where Jack Bailey got his start, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.