When Bob S. Bestos and I chat on the morning program, I am George Fenneman. Bob is Groucho. For every Groucho there must be a George Fenneman–or a Margaret Dumont.
George Fenneman was born in China; his parents were importer-exporters–in fierce competition, one assumes, with Vandelay Industries. The Fenneman family moved to San Francisco 9 months after George was born. George started working in radio in the early 40’s, and spent some time as a correspondent for the U.S. Office of War Information.
In 1947, Groucho Marx was at a lull in his career, making guest spots on radio shows doing mediocre routines. During one of these radio appearances Groucho’s natural wit and personality broke through the written patter, and a fellow named John Guedel, who’d had success with audience participation series “People Are Funny”, decided Groucho was the ideal host for a similar type of series. “You Bet Your Life” debuted on ABC radio in October of ’47 with George Fenneman as announcer and sidekick.
Fenneman served as straight man while assisting in the game, welcoming contestants, and delivering one of the most iconic introductions in broadcasting history–made even more iconic when the series made the leap to television:
I first saw “You Bet Your Life” in the 80’s on a block of late-night reruns on the CBN cable channel, which has changed hands and titles so many times I have no clue what it’s called now. Freeform? Fox Family? Who knows. But when it was CBN, the rerun lineup was on point. Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Dobie Gillis, Love That Bob. And Groucho. The wanna-be radio announcer in me loved the show because it was pure ad-lib. Well, not really. Writers gave Groucho lines to use based on pre-interviews with the contestants. But Groucho being Groucho, I defy you to pick out which jokes are his, partly his, or not his at all. That is the mark of a great comic mind at work.
The other thing that amused me about those “You Bet Your Life” reruns: the “game”, never the priority on the show, changed with the wind. Sometimes there’d be categories to pick from, sometimes it would just be random questions. Sometimes there was a bonus wheel, sometimes it was just a straight bonus question. I’m guessing they changed and updated the gameplay at the start of each new season but with episodes run weeknights (and likely out of order) it makes Fenneman look like a savant to figure out what the hell the quiz is supposed to be.
Groucho Marx called George Fenneman “the male Margaret Dumont”, referencing the actress who had provided the stuffy straight role in countless Marx Brothers pictures. Here, Fenneman talks with Carl Reiner about “You Bet Your Life” and the one, the only…well, you know.
“You Bet Your Life” ended a long, healthy run in 1961. By then Fenneman had done a daytime game show (he would host another in fall of ’61), did some commercial work, acted in a couple of movies, and become the official spokesperson for Lipton Tea, putting him at an iconic moment in history. The place: Deauville Hotel, Miami Beach FL. The date: February 16, 1964. This commercial–taped, as was the entire broadcast, on location at the hotel–aired during The Beatles’ second appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show”.
If memes were a thing back then, I have to assume we’d see this kind of thing popping up all over Facebook:
Earlier I said Fenneman delivered one of the most iconic introductions in broadcasting history. Make that two of the most iconic introductions:
And when Jack Webb relaunched the series in 1967:
Which brings me to one of my favorite classic TV trivia nuggets. For the first three seasons of “Dragnet 196x”, Fenneman provided only the opening and closing disclaimer. The details about what happened to the crooks were recited by another familiar voice:
That’s John Stephenson, who is well remembered for providing the voice of Fred Flintstone’s boss:
George Fenneman continued to pop up on television and radio for decades after “You Bet Your Life” concluded its run. And he was a close friend to Groucho until the great comic died in 1977. Twenty years later George Fenneman passed away, leaving a fantastic legacy of broadcasting greatness. From Groucho to Dragnet, to sipping his tea poolside on the beach…always a voice of distinction and the finest “straight man” a brother (Marx that is) could ask for.