Shark Bytes

My husband's father came here from Greece to meet his mother. She had to leave him behind due to money and could not send for him until he was an adult. It was only because she won on Queen for a Day that it happened. Her name was Evelyn and we'd love to get a copy of that show.

The program is available on DVD from an outfit called FirstLook.

There are only about seven or eight complete episodes in existence. The DVD has these and several others where much of the footage still exists.

Too bad nobody thought of preserving live daytime television shows back then, but this was typical.

I had an Aunt that won the show.

She volunteered at a Braile home for children.
She just happened to be in the shopping center where the show was being held on location. She was asked to be on,, and she mentioned the Braille home where she volunteered and a few things the kids could use.

She won the applause meter, and the show came through with ten times what she asked for.
And in addition,, get a load of this, the show sent 20 TV sets too.

The show gave my autn some many things for winning,, the list is vast,, just endless.
But one cool box arrived and it was "Queen For A Day " China.
We still use it to this day. It's really cool with a art deco crown on each piece.
The dishmaster Imperial still is mounted over her sink.
To the blind.
I met Jack Baily several times at Kids charity events and he was a teriffic person.

I believe that more than one critic has voted this show one of the worst of all-time (and that covers almost 60 years, people). A true tasteless stinker. Note to Jessica: your chances of getting a copy of a show are minimal. I heard that only about 5 or 6 of the, literally, hundreds produced still exist.

I would like to get a copy of one of the shows. My grandmother was on once. How would I go about getting a copy?

Yes everything bad about this show is true. A women who had been in asuchwitz appeared once and thanks to sound meter won the money to get the tattoo removed. This is beyond creepy.

In the 50s, TV was awash with these "heart" shows -- Strike It Rich, with former movie actor Warren Hull and the "heartline" where people would phone in with money and prizes for the contestants, The Big Payoff, with Randy Merriman and "our lady in mink" Bess Meyerson, and Queen for a Day.

Queen for a Day was the crassest, most debasing show of its type of the 1950's, thereby setting the stage for today's Springer-like parade of pitiful losers. Female contestants had to tell their sorry tales of woe to an audience, and then beg for prizes such as crutches, food, or wheelchairs. The audience then got to vote on who got the "prize" that day. The winner got a cape and a crown and paraded up and down the runway like a "queen" because she had won a year's supply of insulin for her diabetic son. And whoever described Jack Bailey earlier had it nailed: Was there ever a sleazier-looking game show emcee? I understand that one or two very rare copies of this show still exist, but that most have been destroyed.

Oh this show was bad. I remember watching it on and off as a kid, and even at my tender age (maybe 8 or 9 years old) I knew there was something wrong with it. Watching those truly pathetic women demean themselves with their increasingly sad and desperate stories made it very uncomfortable to watch. I just knew that finding entertainment in other people's misfortunes was not right. And as a previous poster noted, you didn't feel good at the end of the program because you felt even worse for the losers who as far as I know, received absolutely nothing. I also remember that the host Jack Bailey looked like a stereotypical snake-oil salesman with the greasy slicked back hair, thin waxed mustache and leering smile; he gave me the creeps. I also had a gut feeling that he was a drunk. Horrible, horrible show...every bit as bad as the worst of today's reality television.

Your premise behind the show is wonderful. Great people who do great things should be rewarded. I think that the show could work with a softer host. Bill Cosby would have been a far better host. As a viewer this is how the host came across to me. She seemed happier for herself than for her guests. She seemed to carry the attitude that they should thank "her." As a viewer I didn't relate to her; and I don't think the guests did either. She may have been through hell and back in her lifetime, but she's so loud and boisterous that she's scary, not comforting and friendly. If you are going to reward someone who's done good for others, you don't want to frighten them; you want to connect with them. You also need someone in the background to describe the gifts so that it doesn't seem as though your guests owe your host the debt of gratitude. Maybe a hug is all they should want to give, BUT they "should" want to feel comfortable in giving their host that hug. You also need good models who know the right way to model "every" set. Then, I believe this show will be a success. NEW SOFTER HOST FIRST & FOREMOST. You also need to put more focus on each of your guests' story lines. Those story lines are what make the show and that is part of why you need a softer host. Her voice is far too harsh; those stories are supposed to make us melt. NEW HOST.

I think your comments on the Queen for a Day show are horrible. My Mother won this show in 1958, and was awarded and entire farm. We moved to Mo., & lived on the farm & had a wonderful life. Had she not won we (5 of us) would have been forced to live in the despair of downtown Los Angeles. Please rethink your article.

I, also, recall jogging home from grade school to glimpse this silly show. What a lesson for impressionable children: do your best to act as the most miserable wretch in the history of mankind and the prize is yours while some ratty regal robe is wrapped around your heaving shoulders, the tears freely flowing. Our reaction: we laughed and laughed, and we imitated the contestants. All of my hometown watched as one of our own sobbed her misery, and I am thinking she won the coveted prize. And, yes, Jack Bailey did hold his hand over each bawling woman, the audience applauded, and the applause meter registered the level. With tears now amounting to a flood, the pathetic female was crowned "Queen for a Day"! So the good, old days of television were as inane as the programs of today. Reality TV at its finest -- you hadda love it.

QUEEN FOR A DAY was already riding the shark when it began. The competition was which woman was worse off, because the most wretched one would win. At some point the producer decided to block out the contestant's face if and when she started sobbing, but otherwise you'd have rival wretchedness. At first the competition seemed to be "I need the new refrigerator that is today's prize because we're poor and (1) our old refrigerator died, (2) we've taken in three Korean orphans and old fridge can't hold enough food, (3) our house burned down and we're desperate." Eventually it turned into "I should win this nice new sofa and easy chair because my child has cancer." I think viewers originally liked the idea of seeing people worse off than themselves, and the pretention that by watching this show they were somehow helping them, but after a while I think this sparkle wore off. Nowadays if I want a glimpse of life among the lowly, I turn on Jerry Springer.

Cruelest, most morally bankrupt television show ever produced. Three very miserable, poverty-stricken, forlorn ladies actually competed for prizes(!) by describing the horrible pit of despair their lives had become. This show made the women crawl through a sea of humiliation for a handout! As a hideous capper, only one could win and the other two were chucked penniless back upon the refuse heap. The winner was targeted in close up, draped and celebrated, and the other two were never seen again. I viewed this as a young child with horrified fascination. Even my tot's sense of outrage could see the Hand of Evil in this show.

"Queen For a Day" scraped the bottom of the taste barrel when an Auschwitz survivor was allowed to compete. No, I'm not making this up. Naturally, she won, but can you imagine the reaction of the other two women? "Well, can't top that one!"