[1] Queen for a Day originated on the Mutual Radio Network on April 30, 1945, in New York City before moving to Los Angeles a few months later and ran until 1957.
The winner, to the musical accompaniment of "Pomp and Circumstance", would be draped in a sable-trimmed red velvet robe, given a glittering jeweled crown to wear, placed on a velvet-upholstered throne, and handed a dozen long-stemmed roses to hold while her list of prizes was announced.
The prizes began with the help the woman had requested, and included a variety of extras, many of which were donated by sponsoring companies, such as a vacation trip, a night on the town with her husband, silver-plated flatware,[clarification needed] an array of kitchen appliances, or a selection of fashion clothing.
A few months later, the show moved to Hollywood and acquired the more familiar title Queen for a Day[citation needed] with Jack Bailey, a former vaudeville musician and World's Fair barker, as host.
With the addition of a visual component, the fashion aspect of the show expanded and each episode featured three to five young women modelling the upscale apparel that would be given away to contestants.
Other visual stunts, such as a circus-themed episode featuring ponies and clowns from Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, helped bring the show into the television era.
Models on the series included Maxine Reeves, Carol Silversparre, Jann Darlyn, Suzanne Alexander, Pat Sheehan, Patricia Nanton, and Jolene Brand.
It began airing on Los Angeles television on January 7, 1952, although TV listings reveal that the show was seen as early as 1947 on the local Don Lee station channel 2.
Viewers turned away from the format when it was revealed that, unlike the radio and earlier television versions, the new show was rigged and the "winners" were apparently paid actresses chosen to "win" the prizes prior to the start of each taping.
[citation needed] In 1987, Barry & Enright Productions[23][24][25] in conjunction with Fries Distribution attempted to revive Queen for a Day with Monty Hall as host for the fall of 1988 but with no success.
Here the girls meet the quirky and charismatic host Jack Bailey and a colorful cast of Hollywood players who are ready and willing to build the Queen for a Day dream.
Years later, when the channel changed from TVS to SBT, it aired the program in the afternoons, dropping "Good Night" in its title and renaming it Cinderella, until it was cancelled in 1987.
In the winter of 2011, a Spanish-language revival was hosted by Tomás Ramos (better known as The Red Shadow animator), aired on Univision in Puerto Rico under the name Reina por un día.
In Spain, the show was also called Reina por un día (Queen for One Day), hosted by José Luis Barcelona and Mario Cabré.
[2] A third similar show was On Your Way (on the DuMont Television Network and ABC from 1953 to 1954), which also used contestants with unfortunate stories, giving them transportation tickets as a reward for correct answers to quiz questions.
Queen for a Day, on the other hand, dispensed with the quiz-show format entirely: all the contestants were women, and the only way a woman could win was by sincerely touching the heart-strings of the live female audience, who would then award her the greatest volume on the "applause meter."