Circa 1953

Groucho Marx

(1890-1977)

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian, actor, comic vocalist and game show host who performed in vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio and television.  A master of the one-line retort, he is considered one of America's greatest comedians.

Groucho was the third born of the Marx Brothers with whom he appeared in three Broadway shows ad thirteen feature films, usually portraying a fast-talking, slightly shady protagonist and frequent foil to the antics of his brothers, Chico and Harpo.  He also had a successful solo career, primarily on radio and television, most notably as the host of the quiz-interview show You Bet Your Life.  In 1947, Marx was asked to host the radio quiz program.  It was broadcast by ABC and then CBS before moving to NBC.  It moved from radio to television on October 5, 1950 and ran for eleven years.  It was largely sponsored by DeSoto automobiles and Marx sometimes appeared in the commercials.*  Filmed before an audience, the show consisted of Marx bantering with the contestants and ab-libbing jokes before briefly quizzing them.  The announcer for the show was George Fenneman.  The show was responsible for popularizing the phrases "Say the secret word and the duck will come down and give you fifty dollars".

You Bet Your Life proved to be one of the most popular on television by the mid-1950s, garnering a #1 rating in 1953.  With George Fenneman as his announcer and straight man.  The show ran for 11 seasons until it was canceled in 1961.  *Ironically, longtime major sponsor, automobile marque DeSoto went out of business for declining sales that same year. For the DeSoto ads, Marx would sometimes say:  Tell'em Groucho sent you".

George Fenneman

(1919-1997)

George Watt Fenneman was an American radio and television announcer.  Fenneman is best remembered as the show announcer and straight man on You Bet Your Life.

"There never was a comedian who was any good unless he had a good straight man and George was straight on all four sides".

Groucho Marx 

Circa 1976

During Fenneman's career he was one of a pair of announcers on Dragnet starring Jack Webb.  It was Fenneman's voice which announced "The story you are about to see is true.  The names have been changed to protect the innocent". Fenneman was also an announcer on television shows including The Life of Riley, The Jim Nabors Hour, The Donny & Marie Show and The Simpsons. 

Circa 1958

Fenneman married his college sweetheart, Margaret "Peggy" Jane Clifford in 1943.  

Both Marx and Fenneman have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.