You Bet Your Life 1954

You Bet Your Life was a quiz show hosted by comedian Groucho Marx. It was on the radio in the 1940s and graduated to the television later on. The Grand Prize at that time was $3,000 (quite a sum of money). I was searching for some hatty material and I came across one of the shows with a very interesting contestant. The elderly contestant, Mary Saget, was 78 years old (born circa 1876) she was a very sparky spinster. A spinster by choice she told Groucho. She made Groucho extinguish his trademark cigar. When Groucho reached for another as a prop Mary objected to even that since she could not stand the sight of them.

So how do you keep so young asked Groucho? Well it was healthy food and exercise. Groucho asked Mary to demonstrate her breathing exercises. In the tradition of the day Mary kept her hat securely fastened to her head. The hat seemed quite old fashioned for the early 50s but hey you wear what you like. Clearly she was wearing industrial strength hat pins keeping the hat on. No doubt a habit learned when she was a young woman at the turn of the 20th century.

Here is the segment demonstrating her exercises. It was a hoot! How many 78 year olds can touch their toes (let alone in a short time).

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FMIzUl-UGQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FMIzUl-UGQ

Mary reminded me so much of my Aunt Lil who was of a similar generation and passed away sadly when she was 72. She even looks like my aunt (great aunt). It goes without saying that she too loved her hats.

You can download this episode and other You Bet Your Life episodes on the Internet Archive website.

Original article: Old Lady does energetic breathing excercises

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