Password


Aired
CBS Daytime, October 2, 1961 – Friday September 15, 1967 CBS Nighttime & Sunday Afternoon, Tuesday January 2, 1962 – Monday May 22, 1967
Number of episodes
1,555 (CBS Daytime) 201 (CBS Primetime)
Run time
30 Minutes
Host
Allen Ludden
Announcers
Bob Marcato Jack Clark (1961-1965) Frank Wayne Bern Bennett Lee Vines (1966-1967) Gene Wood (1965-1966) Bob Kennedy
Origination
CBS Studios 50 and 52, New York City, New York Studio 33 & Studio 43, CBS Television City, Los Angeles, California

Password is a game show where one player teams up with one celebrity to try to guess a secret password using one-word clues.

Game format[edit | edit source]

Two teams of two (consisting of one celebrity & one contestant) played Password for points. One player from each team (both celebrities or both contestants) is given the password while the home viewers saw the word on their screens (by letting the announcer saying, "The Password is..."). Then the clue givers gave a one-word clue to get their partners to say the password. Teams alternated turns until one guesser said the password which gave the team points according to how many clues given, starting at 10 and finishing with 1. Should the guesser on the team in control say a form of the password, the guesser got one last chance to say the exact word. Whenever an illegal clue is given, a buzzer sounded and the guesser lost a chance to guess the password and giving away the password by the clue givers ended the word. The decisions as to whether the clues were good or bad were made by a word authority. The word authorities are Professor David H. Greene, a professor from New York University (1961) and The World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary editor Dr. Reason A.Goodwin (1961-1967). Partners on both teams alternated between giving & receiving, starting with the stars, then to the contestants; plus, the team that trailed or lost the last password in case of a tie started a new password. The first team to reach 25 points wins the game ($100 to the contestant in the CBS daytime version and $250 in the CBS nighttime version) and they go on the play the Lightning Round.

The Lightning Round[edit | edit source]

In the Lightning Round, the celebrity on the winning team had 60 seconds (1 minute) to get his/her partner to say 5 passwords. If the contestant can't guess the password, the celebrity can pass. Each password guessed is worth $50 meaning that the contestant can win up to $250.

Returning Champions[edit | edit source]

On the CBS daytime version, contestants played 2 games, win or lose with each game worth $100. Originally on the nighttime version, 2 players stayed for the entire show. Starting that November, two new contestants played one game each, with winners receiving $250 and losers receiving $50.

Personnel[edit | edit source]

Host: Allen Ludden (1961-1967)
Substitute Host: Jack Clark (1961-1965)
Announcer: Bob Marcato, Jack Clark (1961-1965), Frank Wayne, Bern Bennett, Gene Wood (1965-1966), Lee Vines (1966-1967) & Bob Kennedy
Executive Producer: Bob Stewart
Producer: Frank Wayne
Directors: Lou Tedesco & Mike Gargiulo
Set Designers: Ted Cooper & Bill Bohnert
Word Authorities: Professor David H. Greene of New York University (1961) & Dr. Reason A. Goodwin, Editor of The World Book Encyclopedia Dictionary (1961-1967)
Music: Bob Cobert

Broadcast History[edit | edit source]

CBS Daytime

October 02, 1961-September 15, 1967 (CBS Weekdays at 2:00 p.m.)

CBS Primetime

January 02-September 04, 1962 (CBS Tuesday Nights at 8:00 p.m.)
September 16, 1962-March 17, 1963 (CBS Sunday Nights at 6:30 p.m.)
March 25-September 16, 1963 (CBS Monday Nights at 10:00 p.m.)
September 26, 1963-September 17, 1964 (CBS Thursday Nights at 7:30 p.m.)
September 24, 1964-September 09, 1965 (CBS Thursday Nights at 9:00 p.m.)
December 25, 1966-March 19, 1966 (CBS Sunday Evenings at 5:00 p.m.)
April 10-May 22, 1967 (CBS Monday Nights at 10:30 p.m.)

Theme Song[edit | edit source]

1. "Holiday Jaunt (You Know The Password)" is Written & Performed by The Kurtis "Kurt" Rehnfeld Orchestra from 1961 to 1963.
2. "You Know The Password (The Password Theme)" is Composed by The Robert Cobert Orchestra from 1963 to 1967.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

On May 17, 2021; it has been briefly announced that Password^[1]will be revived & developed by late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon. The format has been previously played on his version of The Tonight Show on a few episodes.