Dotto
Encyclopedia
Dotto is an American
television
quiz show which aired on CBS
from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz
. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the quiz show scandals
that rocked American broadcasting as the 1950s closed.
. Contestants answered general-knowledge questions to connect dots that made a portrait of a famous or historical person.
Two contestants--a champion and challenger--were each given the same portrait (though they couldn't see the other player's) and started with 50 unconnected dots. Then, each contestant, with the challenger going first, answered questions in various categories to connect the dots. Each category had questions that connected 5, 8 or 10 dots, with the number corresponding to the difficulty of each question.
A correct answer by a contestant connected the dots on that player's portrait, but an incorrect answer or failing to answer in time meant the dots connected on the opponent's portrait. After a contestant has connected 25, 35 and 45 dots, s/he was given phrase- or word-like clues for additional help.
At any time, a contestant may signal (a buzzer for the challenger and an alarm bell for the champion) to guess the person being drawn. The contestant who signals then steps over to a "Dottograph" and writes the answer, with the writing angled so that the opponent can't see. If the contestant is incorrect, s/he automatically loses, but if correct, then the opponent is given 10 seconds to study the picture and give a verbal answer. If the opponent is correct, the game is tied and another game is played with new portraits for higher cash prizes, but if the opponent is incorrect, then the contestant (who signaled first and wrote the correct answer) wins the game plus cash for however many dots were left unconnected.
On the daytime version, each unconnected dot was worth $10, with tied games increasing the value to $20 and $40. On the nighttime version, each unconnected dot was worth $100, with ties increasing the value to $200 and $300.
After a game was completed, usually during the middle of each episode, a "Home Viewer Dotto" game was played, in which a person selected by postcard drawing was called by telephone
live on the air for a chance to guess the person being drawn. If correct, the home viewer won a new car or other valuable prizes, and if incorrect, the viewer received a consolation prize (the daytime version gave away a supply of products advertised by the show's sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive
, while the nighttime version gave away a trip
). At the end of each episode, additional dots were connected and a clue was displayed for the next episode's "Home Viewer Dotto" game.
game Strike It Rich
. Facing Bob Barker
's popular Truth or Consequences
on NBC
and local programming on ABC
(who had not programmed at 11:30 in three years), within six months Dotto became the highest-rated quiz program of the year and Narz achieved a popularity equal to that of Hal March
on The $64,000 Question.
The show became so popular that on July 1 a weekly nighttime version began on NBC
with the same format. One of the nighttime contestants, a young actress and model named Connie Hines
, later became famous as Carol Post on the popular comedy Mister Ed
.
was found by another contestant, Ed Hilgemeier, who discovered that the notebook included questions and answers to be used during Winn's appearances (including an episode with Yaffe Kimball-Slatin). Executives at CBS
and the show's sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive
, later confirmed the suspicion about the country's new highest-rated quiz show. CBS executive vice president Thomas Fisher tested kinescope
s of the show against Winn's notebook and concluded that the show looked fixed.
The CBS and Colgate executives also learned the show's producers had paid Winn, Hilgemeier, and Kimball-Slatin to keep quiet about the notebook. They also learned that Hilgemeier may have demanded more money to keep quiet, filing a deceptive-practices complaint with the Federal Communications Commission
.
) met in August 1958, at the time the nighttime Dotto began to look like an NBC
hit, executive producer Frank Cooper admitted that the series was rigged and that only a select few among his production staff knew it. The executives agreed – Dotto had to be cancelled.
NBC ended its run on August 12, followed by the CBS version three days later. In interviews, host Jack Narz stated that he was not notified of the cancellation until some point after the final episodes had been recorded. Narz was later subpoenaed and took a polygraph test, the results proving that he was not connected to the fraud.
Narz moved to a new show the following Monday, Top Dollar, which ran until October 23, 1959.
champion Herb Stempel
that the popular nighttime quiz had been rigged, and the quiz show scandals were on in earnest.
Jack Narz continued to work in television, hosting not only Top Dollar but also Video Village
(1960), Seven Keys
(1960-1965), I'll Bet
(1965), Beat the Clock
(1969-1972), Concentration
(1973-1978), and Now You See It
(1974-1975). His last hosting appearance was on the March 5, 1982, episode of Password Plus
.
Frank Cooper would never do another game show after Dotto, which was his longest-running game and his only one for CBS. His previous gaming efforts did not fare as well – his first game, an NBC show called Guess What Happened? (dropping the "Guess" after the first show), bombed after three episodes in 1952. Droodles, starring Roger Price
, ran for three months in 1954 while ABC's Keep It In The Family
ran for four months from 1957-1958.
Connie Hines was revealed to have been coached for her Dotto appearance but not given questions and answers in advance. She enjoyed a five-year run as Carol Post on Mister Ed
and, after a few subsequent television guest roles, retired from acting entirely.
Marie Winn eventually became a journalist whose books include The Plug-In Drug
, a scathing critique on television's influence over children. The book became somewhat controversial for its author having been circumspect about her role in one of the medium's greatest scandals.
Ed Hilgemeier (who discovered the notebook) effectively disappeared into obscurity.
, where it ran on ITV
from September 13, 1958 to June 23, 1960. This version was first hosted by Robert Gladwell, followed by Jimmy Hanley
and then Shaw Taylor
.
sometime afterward as per network practices (and possibly by Colgate's insistence).
Two episodes are known to exist – a daytime episode from May 20 featuring Marie Winn's victory over Yaffe Kimball-Slatin, and the third-to-last nighttime episode from July 29 featuring Connie Hines.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
quiz show which aired on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from January 6 to August 15, 1958 and was hosted by Jack Narz
Jack Narz
Jack Narz was an American television announcer and game show host. Narz was the elder brother of Tom Kennedy and the former brother-in-law of Bill Cullen...
. Although it quickly became the highest-rated daytime game show on television, its end came when it became the unexpected first casualty – and ignition – of the quiz show scandals
Quiz show scandals
The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
that rocked American broadcasting as the 1950s closed.
Gameplay
Dotto was based on the children's game of Connect the dotsConnect the dots
Connect the dots, also known as dot to dot or join the dots is a form of puzzle containing a sequence of numbered dots. When a line is drawn connecting the dots the outline of an object is revealed. The puzzles often contain simple line art to enhance the image created or to assist in rendering a...
. Contestants answered general-knowledge questions to connect dots that made a portrait of a famous or historical person.
Two contestants--a champion and challenger--were each given the same portrait (though they couldn't see the other player's) and started with 50 unconnected dots. Then, each contestant, with the challenger going first, answered questions in various categories to connect the dots. Each category had questions that connected 5, 8 or 10 dots, with the number corresponding to the difficulty of each question.
A correct answer by a contestant connected the dots on that player's portrait, but an incorrect answer or failing to answer in time meant the dots connected on the opponent's portrait. After a contestant has connected 25, 35 and 45 dots, s/he was given phrase- or word-like clues for additional help.
At any time, a contestant may signal (a buzzer for the challenger and an alarm bell for the champion) to guess the person being drawn. The contestant who signals then steps over to a "Dottograph" and writes the answer, with the writing angled so that the opponent can't see. If the contestant is incorrect, s/he automatically loses, but if correct, then the opponent is given 10 seconds to study the picture and give a verbal answer. If the opponent is correct, the game is tied and another game is played with new portraits for higher cash prizes, but if the opponent is incorrect, then the contestant (who signaled first and wrote the correct answer) wins the game plus cash for however many dots were left unconnected.
On the daytime version, each unconnected dot was worth $10, with tied games increasing the value to $20 and $40. On the nighttime version, each unconnected dot was worth $100, with ties increasing the value to $200 and $300.
After a game was completed, usually during the middle of each episode, a "Home Viewer Dotto" game was played, in which a person selected by postcard drawing was called by telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
live on the air for a chance to guess the person being drawn. If correct, the home viewer won a new car or other valuable prizes, and if incorrect, the viewer received a consolation prize (the daytime version gave away a supply of products advertised by the show's sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
, while the nighttime version gave away a trip
Trip
Trip may refer to travel, a vacation, or a psychedelic experience. It is also an informal description for a circuit breaker or its action. Trip may also refer to:-People:*Trip Adler , American entrepreneur...
). At the end of each episode, additional dots were connected and a clue was displayed for the next episode's "Home Viewer Dotto" game.
Broadcast history
Dotto debuted on January 6, 1958 at 11:30 AM, replacing the long-running (and controversial) Warren HullWarren Hull
John Warren Hull was an actor and TV personality, active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial actors in the action-adventure field....
game Strike It Rich
Strike It Rich (radio-TV)
Strike It Rich was a controversial game show that aired on American radio and television from 1947-1958 on CBS and NBC. People in need of money appeared and told their tale of woe, then tried to win money by answering some relatively easy questions...
. Facing Bob Barker
Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...
's popular Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and local programming on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
(who had not programmed at 11:30 in three years), within six months Dotto became the highest-rated quiz program of the year and Narz achieved a popularity equal to that of Hal March
Hal March
Hal March was a Jewish-American comedian and actor.-Early career:March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March." He also partnered with actor/comic Tom d'Andrea in the early...
on The $64,000 Question.
The show became so popular that on July 1 a weekly nighttime version began on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
with the same format. One of the nighttime contestants, a young actress and model named Connie Hines
Connie Hines
Connie Hines was an American actress, best known for playing Alan Young's wife, Carol Post, on the 1960s syndicated and then CBS sitcom Mister Ed.- Biography :...
, later became famous as Carol Post on the popular comedy Mister Ed
Mister Ed
Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
.
Scandal
Dottos downfall began, almost by accident, in May 1958. A notebook belonging to contestant (and later journalist) Marie WinnMarie Winn
Marie Winn, a journalist, author and birdwatcher, is known for her books and articles on the birds of Central Park, her Wall Street Journal ornithology column and her role in the quiz show scandals of the 1950s...
was found by another contestant, Ed Hilgemeier, who discovered that the notebook included questions and answers to be used during Winn's appearances (including an episode with Yaffe Kimball-Slatin). Executives at CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and the show's sponsor, Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...
, later confirmed the suspicion about the country's new highest-rated quiz show. CBS executive vice president Thomas Fisher tested kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
s of the show against Winn's notebook and concluded that the show looked fixed.
The CBS and Colgate executives also learned the show's producers had paid Winn, Hilgemeier, and Kimball-Slatin to keep quiet about the notebook. They also learned that Hilgemeier may have demanded more money to keep quiet, filing a deceptive-practices complaint with the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
.
Cancellation
When Colgate, CBS, and NBC executives (including CBS president Frank StantonFrank Stanton
Frank Nicholas Stanton was an American broadcasting executive who served as the president of CBS between 1946 and 1971 and then vice chairman until 1973. He also served as the chairman of the Rand Corporation from 1961 until 1967.Along with William S. Paley, Stanton is credited with the...
) met in August 1958, at the time the nighttime Dotto began to look like an NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
hit, executive producer Frank Cooper admitted that the series was rigged and that only a select few among his production staff knew it. The executives agreed – Dotto had to be cancelled.
NBC ended its run on August 12, followed by the CBS version three days later. In interviews, host Jack Narz stated that he was not notified of the cancellation until some point after the final episodes had been recorded. Narz was later subpoenaed and took a polygraph test, the results proving that he was not connected to the fraud.
Narz moved to a new show the following Monday, Top Dollar, which ran until October 23, 1959.
Aftermath
The Dotto revelations prompted the New York Journal-American, at last, to take seriously the previously-presented accusations by deposed Twenty OneTwenty 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...
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...
that the popular nighttime quiz had been rigged, and the quiz show scandals were on in earnest.
Jack Narz continued to work in television, hosting not only Top Dollar but also Video Village
Video Village
Video Village is an American television game show produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions which aired on the CBS network in daytime from July 11, 1960 to June 15, 1962 and in primetime from July 1 to September 16, 1960....
(1960), Seven Keys
Seven Keys (game show)
Seven Keys is an American game show hosted by Jack Narz and based on Chutes & Ladders that aired from September 12, 1960 to January 15, 1965 on KTLA and ABC.The first KTLA series is one of the few non-syndicated television game shows to air daily in nighttime...
(1960-1965), I'll Bet
I'll Bet
I'll Bet is an American game show that ran on NBC from March 29 to September 24, 1965. The series was created by Ralph Andrews, and hosted by Jack Narz....
(1965), Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock
Beat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show which has aired on American television in several versions since 1950.The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950–1958 and ABC from 1958–1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969–1974, with Jack Narz...
(1969-1972), Concentration
Concentration (game show)
Concentration was an American TV game show based on the children's memory game of the same name. Matching cards represented prizes that contestants could win...
(1973-1978), and Now You See It
Now You See It
Now You See It is an American television game show created by Frank Wayne for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions. Two Now You See It series were produced, and both aired on CBS. The first series ran from April 1, 1974 until June 13, 1975, and was hosted by Jack Narz...
(1974-1975). His last hosting appearance was on the March 5, 1982, episode of Password Plus
Password Plus and Super Password
Password Plus and Super Password are American game shows that are revivals of the game show Password. Both Password Plus and Super Password had the same format other than some subtle changes....
.
Frank Cooper would never do another game show after Dotto, which was his longest-running game and his only one for CBS. His previous gaming efforts did not fare as well – his first game, an NBC show called Guess What Happened? (dropping the "Guess" after the first show), bombed after three episodes in 1952. Droodles, starring Roger Price
Roger Price (comedy)
Roger Price was an American humorist, author and publisher, who created Droodles in the 1950s, followed by his collaborations with Leonard Stern on the Mad Libs series...
, ran for three months in 1954 while ABC's Keep It In The Family
Keep It In The Family (game show)
Keep It in the Family is an American television game show hosted by Bill Nimmo and announced by Johnny Olson which ran on ABC from October 12, 1957 to February 8, 1958....
ran for four months from 1957-1958.
Connie Hines was revealed to have been coached for her Dotto appearance but not given questions and answers in advance. She enjoyed a five-year run as Carol Post on Mister Ed
Mister Ed
Originally produced in late 1960, Mister Ed is an American television situation comedy produced by Filmways that first aired in syndication from January 5 to July 2, 1961, and then on CBS from October 1, 1961, to February 6, 1966....
and, after a few subsequent television guest roles, retired from acting entirely.
Marie Winn eventually became a journalist whose books include The Plug-In Drug
The Plug-In Drug
The Plug-In Drug: Television, Children, And The Family is a book of social criticism written by Marie Winn and published in 1977 by Viking Penguin Publications with the ISBN 0 14 00.7698 0...
, a scathing critique on television's influence over children. The book became somewhat controversial for its author having been circumspect about her role in one of the medium's greatest scandals.
Ed Hilgemeier (who discovered the notebook) effectively disappeared into obscurity.
Revival
Some articles about the quiz show scandals suggested a revival was planned for 2000, but this never materialized.Foreign versions
Dotto was also hugely successful in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where it ran on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
from September 13, 1958 to June 23, 1960. This version was first hosted by Robert Gladwell, followed by Jimmy Hanley
Jimmy Hanley
Jimmy Hanley was a British actor.Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Hanley began his career as a child actor before becoming popular in juvenile roles...
and then Shaw Taylor
Shaw Taylor
Shaw Taylor MBE is a British actor and television presenter.He served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for ATV when the normal announcer was not available...
.
Episode status
Although the series was presumably intact in 1958 (see above), the series is believed to have been destroyedWiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
sometime afterward as per network practices (and possibly by Colgate's insistence).
Two episodes are known to exist – a daytime episode from May 20 featuring Marie Winn's victory over Yaffe Kimball-Slatin, and the third-to-last nighttime episode from July 29 featuring Connie Hines.