One Minute Please – Nostalgia Central

1 9 5 4 (USA)
30 minute episodes

Uniquely visaged British comedienne Hermione Gingold starred in this DuMont television version of a BBC radio show in which she had starred in the UK.

The object of the game was to outtalk your fellow panellists. Players were assigned topics such as “Making Glue”, “The Perfect Woman”, “Eating Artichokes” or “Why I Grow Poison Ivy” and asked to discourse extemporaneously for one minute – without hesitation, repetition, deviation or reiteration.

The game was not as simple as it sounds. A speaker could be stopped at any moment by a fellow panellist who felt the talk was wandering. Or that the speaker was just muttering the same words over and over.

Secret words, which must be avoided by the speaker, were set up as an additional hazard.

The show pitted three female players against three fellas, with a variable panel including comedienne Alice Pearce, actress Ann Burr, writer Cleveland Amory, Alan Mowbray, Morey Amsterdam, playwright Marc Connelly, Ernie Kovacs and Miss Gingold herself.

John K M McCafferty was the moderator who maintained order between the two teams, posed the questions, and kept things moving with brilliant sallies of his own.