''Pick a Box'' was an Australian

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

s that first aired on radio in 1948 until the early 1960s; subsequently, the concept transferred to TV and was broadcast from 1957 and 1971. The program was hosted by the husband and wife duo

Bob Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places * Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname ...

and

Dolly Dyer Thelma Phoebe Mclean MBE (5 June 192125 December 2004), known professionally as Dolly Dyer (formerly Mack) was an Australian Gold Logie winning radio and TV personality, and wife of fellow game-show host and performer Bob Dyer. Early life She w ...

History

Radio program

Beginning initially as a radio program in 1948, it was heard Australia-wide on was then the Macquarie Broadcasting Service (now Nine Entertainment Co.). It was originally produced in Sydney, New South Wales at studio

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total rad ...

. The program successfully made the move to

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, debuting at on Saturday 2 March 1957, less than six months after the new medium had been launched in Australia. Nevertheless, the program continued to be heard on radio for some years.

Television version

The TV version in addition to the radio version was filmed in the studios of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

ATN-7 ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The licence, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of John Fairfax & Sons, was one of the first four licences (two in Sydney, ...

and was broadcast on ATN-7 and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

, which were initially affiliated. This changed, however, when Frank Packer, owner of

TCN-9 TCN is the flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia. The station is currently located at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Sir Frank Packer, was one o ...

, bought a controlling share in GTV-9 and formed the National Television Network, which later became the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

. As a result, in 1963 ATN-7 and

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melb ...

came together to form the Australian Television Network, now known as the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. The affiliation changes meant that ''Pick a Box'' became part of the newly formed

and its Melbourne broadcast moved from GTV-9 to HSV-7. The program was initially broadcast on Saturday nights and sponsored by the Colgate-Palmolive Company of Australia. Three years later, on 4 July 1960, the show was moved to Monday nights at and was sponsored by BP.

Presenters

Bob Dyer Robert Neal Dyer OBE (May 22, 1909 – January 9, 1984) was a Gold Logie-award-winning American-born vaudeville entertainer and singer, radio and television personality, and radio and television quiz show host who made his name in Australia. Dy ...

, who produced and packaged the show for the Seven Network, decided in 1969 that it was time to start thinking about ending the show. After approximately 900 episodes, ''Pick a Box'' broadcast its final episode on 28 June 1971. As they owned the program, the Dyers then reviewed most of the archived episodes – kept a few as souvenirs and discarded most of them. The couple then retired to

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

where Bob pursued his other great love,

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

. In 1971 the show was still the seventh most popular in the country.

Format

The format for each episode consisted of two contestants participating in a multi-question trivia quiz. The contestant who correctly answered a set number of questions, was invited to choose from one of 30 boxes. Without disclosing the box's contents (which could be either valuable or a

booby prize A booby prize is a joke prize usually given in recognition of a terrible performance or last-place finish. A person who finishes last, for example, may receive a booby prize such as a worthless coin. Booby prizes are sometimes jokingly coveted a ...

), Dyer would offer the contestant a cash payment in lieu of the prize. Here appears one of the program's catch phrases, "The money or the box?" To increase the risk/suspense, he would sometimes offer increasing amounts of cash to contestants who chose the box. After receiving the cash or prize, contestants had the option of leaving the show undefeated, or returning to play for more prizes, at the risk of losing those already won. This format remained largely unchanged throughout its entire run.

Famous contestants

The first contestant to make a name for himself was Ken Eccleston who gained fame over 10 weeks in 1958 when he achieved what was then the longest win on the program. After claiming the official title of "Mr Pick a Box" during a closely fought contest with Melbourne entrant George Morris, Eccleston retired from the game with a total of AU£3873/5/-, or

AU$ The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isla ...

7746.50. ($121,477.99 in 2018 currency, adjusted for inflation) Two other famous contestants were Frank Partridge, the last Australian to be awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and George Black, who went on to become a question writer for the show. However, by far the program's most successful contestant was Barry Jones, who won a total of 208 episodes spanning eight years between 1960 and 1967, winning over A$58,000. He was known for taking issue with Dyer about certain expected answers, most famously in response to a question about "the first British Governor-General of India", where he pointed out that Warren Hastings was technically only the Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal Presidency. Jones' appearances on Pick a Box lasted from 1960 to 1968. Jones later became a member of the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...

and then of the

Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

, a minister in the Hawke government and president of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

. He was also chosen as an Australian Living Treasure. ''Pick a Box'' was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2010. An excerpt of Episode 170, featuring Barry Jones, has been published online. The show's later remake, ''Ford Superquiz'', featured Hutton "Red" Gibson as a contestant. Gibson, who had already won thousands of dollars as a Grand Champion on the game show ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...

'' in his native United States, had a prolonged run of several weeks as champion on ''Superquiz''.

Episode status

Out of the 900+ episodes made, 73 are stored at the National Film and Sound Archive, including the final episode, according to a search of the archive's website.

Superquiz

*''Ford Superquiz'' was a remake of the show hosted by

Bert Newton Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie award-winning entertainer and radio, theatre and television personality and presenter. Newt ...

and his wife

Patti Newton Patricia Anne Newton (née McGrath; born 4 February 1945) is an Australian singer, actress, dancer, stage performer and radio and television presenter. Life and career Prior to her marriage, Newton worked under her birth name, Patti McGrath, w ...

and produced by the

Reg Grundy Reginald Roy Grundy (4 August 1923 – 6 May 2016) was an Australian entrepreneur and media mogul, best known for his numerous television productions. He was the producer of various Australian game shows, such as '' Blankety Blanks'' (based on ...

organisation for the

. It began in 1981 and ran for two seasons with the number of boxes reduced to 20. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company of Australia. *''Superquiz'' was a remake of the show in 1989 hosted by Mike Walsh and Deborah Hutton on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. The number of boxes was further reduced to 12 in this version. *''Super Quiz'' is a series of games and books as well as a syndicated quiz column and online quiz game created by Ken Fisher.

References

External links

*
''Pick a Box''
at memorabletv.com
'Pick A Box'
o
australianscreen online
{{David Cahill 1940s Australian game shows 1950s Australian game shows 1960s Australian game shows 1970s Australian game shows Seven Network original programming Television shows set in New South Wales 1957 Australian television series debuts 1971 Australian television series endings Black-and-white Australian television shows English-language television shows