Pop Culture Flashback: 'Candid Camera' - Say Cheese (August 10)

Who knew that a prank among fellow servicemen would lead to Candid Camera, a TV series full of fond memories among multi-generations? This day is also known at the opening of the black comedy classic, Sunset Boulevard which starred Gloria Swanson and William Holden.

1948 – Smile, You’re on ‘Candid Camera’

Allen Funt pointing at a TV — Allen Funt, host of *Candid Camera. (Wikimedia Commons)*

Long before there was America’s Funniest Videos, there was Candid Camera and Ironically, both TV shows debuted on ABC. Both shows are different of course, but both feature people doing goofy things often not knowing that they are being filmed.

Allen Funt who began his pranking career back when he as in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. It was there that he secretly recorded complaints from soldiers using hidden microphones. In 1947, Funt turned his stunts into the radio show, The Candid Microphone ABC radio where he served as the show’s host. On this day in 1948, the show began airing on ABC TV. It didn’t become known as Candid Camera until the show moved to NBC in 1949.

Amazingly, Candid Camera has had stints on NBC, CBS, ABC, PAX and even TV Land, sometimes as a show, sometimes as a special. Over the years, the show had almost as many co-stars as the series had stations including Dom DeLuise, Suzanne Suomers and Mayim Bialik. Some of the more memorable stunts performed over the years include an old woman who would sweep a sidewalk and then swat the behinds of passersby; a talking mailbox and even a car that could split in two.

In 1992, when he became too ill to continue, Funt’s son, Peter, carried on the tradition. The hidden camera/practical joke show format has pretty much stayed the same over the years. Never mean-spirited, the show exposes real people’s real reactions to wild behavior and sparked many similar shows, but there can only be one Candid Camera.

It was announced back in 2023 that a new version of Candid Camera was in the works with Taraji P. Henson set to host.

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

2011: The Help

Octavia Spencer won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in The Help which also stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jessica Chastain, Allison Janney, Cicely Tyson and Sissy Spacek.

2018: The Meg

After years of development hell at Walt Disney Studios, The Meg got made by Warner Bros. Jason Statham plays a rescue diver who attempts to rescue a submarine crew despite the giant shark.

2012: The Man

Chapter 4 in the Bourne series, Jeremy Renner steps in for Matt Damon in The Bourne Legacy. Damon chose not to star since Paul Greegrass chose not to direct the picture.

OSCAR WINNER

1950 – She’s Ready for Her Closeup

Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" — Gloria Swanson in *Sunset Boulevard (Paramount Pictures via TVDB)*

In the opening scene from Sunset Boulevard, Joe Gillis, one of the main characters in the movie, narrates the scene as he is found dead face down in a swimming pool. From there, he tries to explain how he got there.

Played by William Holden, Joe is an out-of-work screenwriter who happens to land at the doorsteps at an unkept mansion on Sunset Boulevard. This turns out to be the home of former silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). Upon meeting her he says, “You’re Norma Desmond…you used to be big!” to which she replies, “I am big, it’s the pictures that got small.” However, when she learns that he is a scriptwriter, she shows him a script that she wrote herself in hopes of making her big return to the cinema.

As it turns out, the script is terrible, but Joe tells her that he can fix it. This leads down a rabbit hole of make-believe. Norma’s butler, Max von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim) will do anything to keep up the charade that Norma is still relevant including bringing the script to her old director, Cecil B. DeMille (played by DeMille himself) at Paramount Studios who has no intention of making her movie.

The movie ends with Norma being arrested and misunderstands that the cameras aimed at her are not film cameras. However, she utters the famous line from the film, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”

Directed by Billy Wilder, the black comedy Sunset Boulevard is considered by many as one of Hollywood’s best movies. It also stars Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Jack Webb, Jack Warden and cameos by gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Sidney Skolsky, and silent movie stars Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H. B. Warner.

Sunset Boulevard was nominated for 11 Academy Awards but only won three for Best Story and Screenplay, Art Direction and Scoring. Carol Burnett was a fan of the movie and played the character opposite of Harvey Korman playing Max in a series a comedy sketches on The Carol Burnett Show.