Charles Van Doren
Encyclopedia
Charles Lincoln Van Doren (born February 12, 1926) is an American
intellectual
, writer, and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s. He confessed before the United States Congress
that he had been given the correct answers by the producers of the show Twenty One
.
-winning poet
and literary critic/teacher Mark Van Doren
and novelist and writer Dorothy Van Doren, and nephew of critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Carl Van Doren
, Charles Van Doren was a committed academic with an unusually broad range of interests. He graduated from The High School of Music & Art
and then earned a B.A.
degree in Liberal Arts
(1946) from St. John's College
in Annapolis, Maryland
, as well as a master's degree
in astrophysics
(1949) and a doctorate
in English (1955), both at Columbia University
. He was also a student at Cambridge University in England
.
and Albert Freedman, originally, to appear on Tic-Tac-Dough
, another game they produced. Van Doren eventually revealed—five decades after his Twenty One championship and fame, in a surprise article for The New Yorker
—that he did not even own a television set, but had met Freedman through a mutual friend, with Freedman initiating the idea of Van Doren going on television by way of asking what he thought of Tic-Tac-Dough.
Enright and Freedman were impressed by Van Doren's polite style and telegenic appearance, thinking the youthful Columbia teacher would be the man to defeat their incumbent Twenty One champion, Herb Stempel
, and boost the show's slowing ratings as Stempel's reign continued.
In January 1957, Van Doren entered a winning streak that ultimately earned him more than $129,000 (more than $1 million in 2009 dollars) and made him famous, including an appearance on the cover of TIME
on February 11, 1957. His Twenty One run ended on March 11, when he lost to Vivienne Nearing, a lawyer whose husband Van Doren had previously beaten. After his defeat he was offered a three-year contract with NBC.
Numerous writings since have suggested Van Doren was offered a job as a special "cultural correspondent" for Today almost at once—but Van Doren subsequently reminded people that his first job was as a newswriter, short-lived, before he began doing small pieces for Today host Dave Garroway
's weekend cultural program, Wide Wide World—pieces that led quickly to Garroway's inviting Van Doren to join Today. Van Doren also made guest appearances on other NBC programs, even serving as Today's substitute host when Garroway took a brief vacation.
, a United States Congress
subcommittee, chaired by Arkansas
Democrat Oren Harris
, that he had been given questions and answers in advance of the show.
In his book, The Fifties, David Halberstam
writes:
The same scene, depicted in William Manchester
's narrative history, The Glory and the Dream, tells of audience reaction opposite to Halberstam's:
Steven Derounian (R, NY) and the Congressional Subcommittee that investigated the 1950s Quiz show scandals are presented in Robert Redford's 1994 film Quiz Show where Derounian dissents saying:
His actual remarks, taken from the published transcript, were: "Mr. Van Doren, I am happy that you made the statement, but I cannot agree with most of my colleagues who commended you for telling the truth, because I don't think an adult of your intelligence ought to be commended for telling the truth."
. Van Doren became an editor
at Praeger Books and a pseudonymous (at first) writer, before becoming an editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica
and the author of several books, of which the popular-market text A History of Knowledge
may be his best known. He also co-authored a well-received revision of How to Read a Book
, with its original author, philosopher Mortimer J. Adler.
In his eventual New Yorker article, Van Doren revealed he had actually been contemplating the Britannica job even at the height of his celebrity: taking a long walk with his father around the farmlands they both loved, the elder Van Doren mentioned to his son that Mortimer J. Adler, the philosopher and a member of Britannica's board of editors, had spoken of making Van Doren Britannica's editor-in-chief. Van Doren eventually accepted the job, he would write, by way of intercession from a former college roommate. Van Doren retired from Britannica in 1982.
Van Doren also revealed he had been offered an opportunity to do a PBS
series on the history of philosophy but that its tentative producer, Julian Krainin, might actually have had in mind Van Doren's explicit cooperation on a planned PBS program recalling the quiz show scandals. When that did not occur (though the program thanked Van Doren explicitly, among other credits), Van Doren wrote, Krainin later sought his cooperation and consultation when Robert Redford
was beginning to make Quiz Show
—even conveying that Van Doren would be paid in six figures for it. After wrestling with the idea—and, he wrote, noting his wife's objections—Van Doren rejected it. It would be five decades before Van Doren finally broke his silence on the quiz show scandal to The New Yorker
magazine.
Today, both Van Doren and his wife, Gerry, are adjunct professors of English at the University of Connecticut
, Torrington
branch. They live in a "small, old house" (his words) on the land his parents had bought over eighty years earlier.
(1994; he was portrayed by British
actor Ralph Fiennes
), produced and directed by Robert Redford
and written by Paul Attanasio
. The film made $24 million by April 1995, and was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film earned several critiques questioning its use of dramatic license, its accuracy, and the motivation behind its making.
The critics have included Joseph Stone, the New York
prosecutor who began the investigations; and Jeffrey Hart
, a Dartmouth College
scholar, senior editor of National Review
, and a longtime friend of Van Doren, who saw the film as falsely implying tension between Van Doren and his accomplished father.
Until recently Van Doren had refused interviews or public comment on the subject of the quiz show scandals. In a 1985 interview on The Today Show—his only appearance on the program since his dismissal in 1959, plugging his book The Joy Of Reading—he answered a general question on how the scandal changed his life. He has revisited Columbia University only twice in the 40 years that followed his resignation: in 1984, when his son graduated; and, in 1999, at a reunion of Columbia's Class of 1959. The graduating class of 1959 entered the university when Van Doren first became a teacher there in 1955.
During the latter appearance, Van Doren made one allusion to the quiz scandal without mentioning it by name:
included a personal reminiscence titled "All the Answers", written by Van Doren, in which he recounted in detail the scandals and their aftermath. Other than very occasional and often very abbreviated references to it, Van Doren had never before spoken publicly about the scandal, his role, and its effects on his life.
He referred to the film, saying he was bothered most by the closing credits' reference that he never taught again: "I didn't stop teaching, though it was a long time before I taught again in a college." But he also said he enjoyed John Turturro
's portrayal of his Twenty-One rival, Herb Stempel.
The article also belied many impressions the film gave of Van Doren: it portrayed him as a bachelor when he was actually engaged; it suggested he had a fascination with the burgeoning, popular television quiz shows when in fact he did not even own a television set; that the only reason he became even mildly acquainted with Twenty-One was because co-producer Al Freedman shared a mutual acquaintance with one of Van Doren's friends; and, that he had been offered his job with The Today Show
promptly after losing to Vivien Nearing when, in fact, NBC was not sure at first what to do with him, until he did work for Dave Garroway's Sunday afternoon cultural show, Wide Wide World
, which then led to the invitation to join Today.
Van Doren also upended another, critical impression the film left: that he had engaged a friendship with Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin while he was Twenty Ones reigning champion (and as Herb Stempel had begun his bid to expose the show's rigging). According to Van Doren, the two men had not met until August 1959, when the subcommittee to which Goodwin served as counsel had begun investigating the quiz shows and Van Doren was already established on The Today Show.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
, writer, and editor who was involved in a television quiz show scandal in the 1950s. He confessed before the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
that he had been given the correct answers by the producers of the show Twenty One
Twenty One (game show)
Twenty One is an American game show which aired in the late 1950s. While it included the most popular contestant of the quiz show era, it became notorious for being a rigged quiz show which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of United States Senate investigations...
.
Background
The son of Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and literary critic/teacher Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation...
and novelist and writer Dorothy Van Doren, and nephew of critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Carl Van Doren
Carl Clinton Van Doren
Carl Clinton Van Doren was a U.S. critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. He was the brother of Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren.-Life and career:...
, Charles Van Doren was a committed academic with an unusually broad range of interests. He graduated from The High School of Music & Art
The High School of Music & Art
The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art", was a public alternative high school at 443-465 West 135th Street, New York, New York, USA that existed from 1936 through 1984, and then merged into the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing...
and then earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Liberal Arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
(1946) from St. John's College
St. John's College, U.S.
St. John's College is a liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1696 as a preparatory school, King William's School, the school received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher...
in Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
, as well as a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
(1949) and a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in English (1955), both at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He was also a student at Cambridge University in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Quiz show star
Twenty One was not Van Doren's first interest. He was long believed to have approached producers Dan EnrightDan Enright
Daniel "Dan" Enright was one of the most successful game show producers in American television. Enright worked with Jack Barry from the 1940s until Barry's death in 1984. They were partners in creating programs for radio and television...
and Albert Freedman, originally, to appear on Tic-Tac-Dough
Tic-Tac-Dough
Tic-Tac-Dough is an American television game show based on the pen-and-paper game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer questions in various categories to put up their respective symbol, X or O, on the board. Three versions were produced: the initial 1956–59 run on NBC, a 1978–1986 run initially on...
, another game they produced. Van Doren eventually revealed—five decades after his Twenty One championship and fame, in a surprise article for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
—that he did not even own a television set, but had met Freedman through a mutual friend, with Freedman initiating the idea of Van Doren going on television by way of asking what he thought of Tic-Tac-Dough.
Enright and Freedman were impressed by Van Doren's polite style and telegenic appearance, thinking the youthful Columbia teacher would be the man to defeat their incumbent Twenty One champion, Herb Stempel
Herb Stempel
Herbert Milton "Herb" Stempel is a television game show contestant and subsequent whistle blower on the fraudulent nature of the industry, in what became known as the quiz show scandals...
, and boost the show's slowing ratings as Stempel's reign continued.
In January 1957, Van Doren entered a winning streak that ultimately earned him more than $129,000 (more than $1 million in 2009 dollars) and made him famous, including an appearance on the cover of TIME
Time
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
on February 11, 1957. His Twenty One run ended on March 11, when he lost to Vivienne Nearing, a lawyer whose husband Van Doren had previously beaten. After his defeat he was offered a three-year contract with NBC.
Numerous writings since have suggested Van Doren was offered a job as a special "cultural correspondent" for Today almost at once—but Van Doren subsequently reminded people that his first job was as a newswriter, short-lived, before he began doing small pieces for Today host Dave Garroway
Dave Garroway
David Cunningham "Dave" Garroway was the founding host of NBC's Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality—and, eventually, his life...
's weekend cultural program, Wide Wide World—pieces that led quickly to Garroway's inviting Van Doren to join Today. Van Doren also made guest appearances on other NBC programs, even serving as Today's substitute host when Garroway took a brief vacation.
Quiz show scandal
When allegations of cheating were first raised, by Stempel and others, Van Doren denied any wrongdoing, saying "It's silly and distressing to think that people don't have more faith in quiz shows." But on November 2, 1959, he admitted to the House Subcommittee on Legislative OversightHouse Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight
The House Subcommitte on Legislative Oversight was special subcommittee of the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, responsible for the oversight of federal regulatory agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission...
, a United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
subcommittee, chaired by Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
Democrat Oren Harris
Oren Harris
Oren Harris was a U.S. Representative and United States District Court Judge from Arkansas.-Background:Born in Belton, Arkansas, Harris attended public schools in Prescott, Arkansas....
, that he had been given questions and answers in advance of the show.
In his book, The Fifties, David Halberstam
David Halberstam
David Halberstam was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian, known for his early work on the Vietnam War, his work on politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and his later sports journalism.-Early life and education:Halberstam...
writes:
"Aware of Van Doren's great popularity, the committee members handled him gently and repeatedly praised him for his candor. Only Congressman Steve Derounian announced that he saw no particular point in praising someone of Van Doren's exceptional talents and intelligence for simply telling the truth. With that, the room suddenly exploded with applause, and [Congressional investigator] Richard N. GoodwinRichard N. GoodwinRichard N. Goodwin is an American writer who may be best known as an advisor and speechwriter to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and to Senator Robert F. Kennedy.-Life and career:...
knew at that moment ordinary people would not so easily forgive Van Doren."
The same scene, depicted in William Manchester
William Manchester
William Raymond Manchester was an American author, biographer, and historian from Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, notable as the bestselling author of 18 books that have been translated into over 20 languages...
's narrative history, The Glory and the Dream, tells of audience reaction opposite to Halberstam's:
"The crowd at the hearing had been with Van Doren, applauding him and his admirers on the subcommittee and greeting Congressman Derounians's comment with stony silence."
Steven Derounian (R, NY) and the Congressional Subcommittee that investigated the 1950s Quiz show scandals are presented in Robert Redford's 1994 film Quiz Show where Derounian dissents saying:
"I'm happy that you've made the statement. But I cannot agree with most of my colleagues. See, I don't think an adult of your intelligence should be commended for simply, at long last, telling the truth."
His actual remarks, taken from the published transcript, were: "Mr. Van Doren, I am happy that you made the statement, but I cannot agree with most of my colleagues who commended you for telling the truth, because I don't think an adult of your intelligence ought to be commended for telling the truth."
Aftermath
Van Doren was dropped from NBC and resigned from his post of assistant professor at Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. Van Doren became an editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
at Praeger Books and a pseudonymous (at first) writer, before becoming an editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
and the author of several books, of which the popular-market text A History of Knowledge
A History of Knowledge
A History of Knowledge is a book on intellectual history, with emphasis on the western civilization, written by Charles Van Doren, a longtime editor of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It is a history of human thought, condensing over 5000 years of philosophy, learning, and belief systems into just...
may be his best known. He also co-authored a well-received revision of How to Read a Book
How to Read a Book
How to Read a Book was first written in 1940 by Mortimer Adler. He co-authored a heavily revised edition in 1972 with Charles Van Doren, which gives guidelines for critically reading good and great books of any tradition, but refrains from recommending any book outside the Western tradition; the...
, with its original author, philosopher Mortimer J. Adler.
In his eventual New Yorker article, Van Doren revealed he had actually been contemplating the Britannica job even at the height of his celebrity: taking a long walk with his father around the farmlands they both loved, the elder Van Doren mentioned to his son that Mortimer J. Adler, the philosopher and a member of Britannica's board of editors, had spoken of making Van Doren Britannica's editor-in-chief. Van Doren eventually accepted the job, he would write, by way of intercession from a former college roommate. Van Doren retired from Britannica in 1982.
Van Doren also revealed he had been offered an opportunity to do a PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
series on the history of philosophy but that its tentative producer, Julian Krainin, might actually have had in mind Van Doren's explicit cooperation on a planned PBS program recalling the quiz show scandals. When that did not occur (though the program thanked Van Doren explicitly, among other credits), Van Doren wrote, Krainin later sought his cooperation and consultation when Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
was beginning to make Quiz Show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
—even conveying that Van Doren would be paid in six figures for it. After wrestling with the idea—and, he wrote, noting his wife's objections—Van Doren rejected it. It would be five decades before Van Doren finally broke his silence on the quiz show scandal to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
magazine.
Today, both Van Doren and his wife, Gerry, are adjunct professors of English at the University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
, Torrington
Torrington, Connecticut
Torrington is the largest city in Litchfield County, Connecticut and the northwestern Connecticut region. It is also the core city of the largest micropolitan area in the United States. The city population was 36,383 according to the 2010 census....
branch. They live in a "small, old house" (his words) on the land his parents had bought over eighty years earlier.
Film version
The story of the quiz show scandal and Van Doren's role in it is depicted in the film Quiz ShowQuiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
(1994; he was portrayed by British
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
actor Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
), produced and directed by Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
and written by Paul Attanasio
Paul Attanasio
Paul Albert Attanasio is an American screenwriter and producer of film and television, who is currently an executive producer on the television series House.-Life and career:...
. The film made $24 million by April 1995, and was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The film earned several critiques questioning its use of dramatic license, its accuracy, and the motivation behind its making.
The critics have included Joseph Stone, the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
prosecutor who began the investigations; and Jeffrey Hart
Jeffrey Hart
Jeffrey Peter Hart and raised in New York, New York, is a cultural critic, professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth College, essayist, and columnist who lives in New Hampshire, United States. After two years as an undergraduate at Dartmouth, he transferred to Columbia University, where he...
, a Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
scholar, senior editor of National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, and a longtime friend of Van Doren, who saw the film as falsely implying tension between Van Doren and his accomplished father.
Until recently Van Doren had refused interviews or public comment on the subject of the quiz show scandals. In a 1985 interview on The Today Show—his only appearance on the program since his dismissal in 1959, plugging his book The Joy Of Reading—he answered a general question on how the scandal changed his life. He has revisited Columbia University only twice in the 40 years that followed his resignation: in 1984, when his son graduated; and, in 1999, at a reunion of Columbia's Class of 1959. The graduating class of 1959 entered the university when Van Doren first became a teacher there in 1955.
During the latter appearance, Van Doren made one allusion to the quiz scandal without mentioning it by name:
Some of you read with me 40 years ago a portion of AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's EthicsNicomachean EthicsThe Nicomachean Ethics is the name normally given to Aristotle's best known work on ethics. The English version of the title derives from Greek Ἠθικὰ Νικομάχεια, transliterated Ethika Nikomacheia, which is sometimes also given in the genitive form as Ἠθικῶν Νικομαχείων, Ethikōn Nikomacheiōn...
, a selection of passages that describe his idea of happiness. You may not remember too well. I remember better, because, despite the abrupt caesura in my academic career that occurred in 1959, I have gone on teaching the humanitiesHumanitiesThe humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
almost continually to students of all kinds and ages. In case you don't remember, then, I remind you that according to Aristotle happiness is not a feeling or sensation but instead is the quality of a whole life. The emphasis is on "whole," a life from beginning to end. Especially the end. The last part, the part you're now approaching, was for Aristotle the most important for happiness. It makes sense, doesn't it?
"All the Answers"
The July 28, 2008 issue of The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
included a personal reminiscence titled "All the Answers", written by Van Doren, in which he recounted in detail the scandals and their aftermath. Other than very occasional and often very abbreviated references to it, Van Doren had never before spoken publicly about the scandal, his role, and its effects on his life.
He referred to the film, saying he was bothered most by the closing credits' reference that he never taught again: "I didn't stop teaching, though it was a long time before I taught again in a college." But he also said he enjoyed John Turturro
John Turturro
John Michael Turturro is an American actor, writer and director known for his roles in the films Do the Right Thing , Miller's Crossing , Barton Fink , Quiz Show , The Big Lebowski , O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Transformers film series...
's portrayal of his Twenty-One rival, Herb Stempel.
The article also belied many impressions the film gave of Van Doren: it portrayed him as a bachelor when he was actually engaged; it suggested he had a fascination with the burgeoning, popular television quiz shows when in fact he did not even own a television set; that the only reason he became even mildly acquainted with Twenty-One was because co-producer Al Freedman shared a mutual acquaintance with one of Van Doren's friends; and, that he had been offered his job with The Today Show
The Today Show
Today is an iconic American morning news and talk show airing every morning on NBC. Debuting on January 14, 1952, it was the first of its genre on American television and in the world. The show is also the fourth-longest running American television series...
promptly after losing to Vivien Nearing when, in fact, NBC was not sure at first what to do with him, until he did work for Dave Garroway's Sunday afternoon cultural show, Wide Wide World
Wide Wide World
Wide Wide World was a 90-minute documentary series telecast live on NBC on Sunday afternoons at 4pm Eastern. Conceived by network head Pat Weaver and hosted by Dave Garroway, Wide Wide World was introduced on the Producers' Showcase series on June 27, 1955...
, which then led to the invitation to join Today.
Van Doren also upended another, critical impression the film left: that he had engaged a friendship with Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin while he was Twenty Ones reigning champion (and as Herb Stempel had begun his bid to expose the show's rigging). According to Van Doren, the two men had not met until August 1959, when the subcommittee to which Goodwin served as counsel had begun investigating the quiz shows and Van Doren was already established on The Today Show.
Further reading
- Thomas Doherty, "Quiz Show Scandals," The Museum of Broadcast Communications.
- Jeffrey Hart, "'Van Doren' and 'Redford'," National Review, 7 November 1994.
- Lina Lofaro, "Charles Van Doren Vs. the Quiz Show Dream Team," Time, 19 September 1994.
- Robert Metz, CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye. (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1973.)
- Joseph Stone, Prime-time and Misdemeanors: Investigating the 1950s TV Quiz Scandal—A D.A.'s Account. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1992.)
- David Halberstam, The FiftiesThe Fifties (book)The Fifties is a historical account by David Halberstam about the decade of the 1950s in the United States. Rather than using a straightforward linear narrative, Halberstam separately tracks many of the notable trends and figures of the post-World War II era, starting with Harry Truman's stunning...
(Chapter Forty Three), Random House, 1993. - Charles Van Doren, "All the Answers," The New Yorker, 28 July 2008.
External links
- "The Quiz Show Scandal", American ExperienceAmerican ExperienceAmerican Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
, PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia.... - "The Remarkable Van Dorens", Time, Feb. 11, 1957
- Testimony of Charles Van Doren on the quiz show scandals