Information Please

In this December 27, 1943, episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman moderates a spirited session with panelists John Kieran, Franklin P. Adams, and special guests Leon Henderson, noted New Deal economist and former OPA head, and Jan Struther, poet and creator of “Mrs. Miniver.” The panel tackles a wide array of questions ranging from the etymology of peculiar phrases like “namby-pamby” and “hocus pocus” to discussions of mythological references, famous duos in history and literature, and seasonally themed musical and poetic quizzes.

Henderson adds dry wit and unexpected musicality, while Struther charms with her literary knowledge and humor. Highlights include an amusing musical round requiring the panel to sing embedded songs from familiar lyrics, reflections on geopolitical time zones during FDR’s Christmas broadcast, and clever poetry references tied to turkey parts.

This episode offers a delightful mix of intellect and entertainment with a wartime flair, providing both levity and learning to listeners across the globe.

In this December 20, 1943, episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman hosts the ever-engaging panel featuring Franklin P. Adams, John Kieran, Oscar Levant, and special guest Jesse Stuart, celebrated author of Taps for Private Tussie. Hailing from Kentucky, Stuart brings homespun charm and literary insight to the witty exchanges.

The panel fields a lively assortment of trivia, ranging from fictional characters and American poets to curious animals and funeral marches in music. Stuart delights with tales of cowbirds, Appalachian traditions, and his poetic influences, while the panel riffs on everything from Steinbeck’s characters to toolshed-worthy book titles.

Brimming with humor, culture, and intellect, this episode offers a delightful holiday-season blend of down-home storytelling and erudite repartee. Don’t miss Jesse Stuart’s unique voice and the panel’s merry mischief on Information Please!

In this December 13, 1943, episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman moderates regulars Franklin P. Adams and John Kieran with two distinguished guests: news commentator Quincy Howe and diplomat-scholar T. F. Tsiang. The panel ricochets from literature to geopolitics—quoting Shakespeare and Confucius, revisiting wartime maps, and trading quips about clocks, conferences, and courtship—while Heinz’s sponsor spots keep the proceedings savory.  

Highlights include: authors “about man” (Hamlet’s “What a piece of work,” Confucius via the Analects, and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Princess Ida); territories to be taken from Japan (Mandate islands; Manchuria, Formosa, Pescadores; Guam/Wake); and literary parenthood (Lady Macbeth, Madame Bovary, Peggotty). The crew recalls Lincoln refusing to sack Grant over whiskey, Perry at Nagasaki, and Columbus pressing on; then maps famed journeys (the 622 Hijra from Mecca to Medina; de Soto’s El Dorado; Sir John Franklin’s Northwest Passage). They trace exiles who lived in America—Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Garibaldi (Staten Island), and Trotsky—swap poetic timepieces and “by/to/from sea” lines, tick off wartime conferences (Mena House near Cairo; Quebec’s Château Frontenac; Moscow’s Spiridonovka House), and close with literary lovers who couldn’t quite propose (Cyrano, Sydney Carton, and Miles Standish/John Alden).  

In this December 6, 1943, episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman presides over a lively panel featuring Franklin P. Adams, John Kieran, and special guests Lewis Browne and Nobel Prize–winning novelist Sinclair Lewis. Wit flies as the “friendly enemies” trade barbs and brainpower across literature, language, and legend.

Highlights include melodrama in verse from “The Highwayman” to “The Shooting of Dan McGrew,” the origins of everyday words like “goodbye,” “amen,” and “vamoose,” and first names hiding in plain sight (Wilfred Ivanhoe and Dr. John Watson). The panel matches poets to melodies (“Excelsior,” “The Two Grenadiers,” and “Sweet and Low”), unpacks why groups like Rotary, Phi Beta Kappa, and the Masons are so named, and recalls famous figures’ dramatic arrivals in great cities—Lenin’s sealed train to Petrograd, Joseph’s sale into Egypt, and Shakespeare’s footsore London beginnings. Blending quick quips, cultural trivia, and spirited debate, this sparkling half hour delivers classic Information Please charm.

In this November 29, 1943 episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman hosts the familiar panel of Franklin P. Adams, John Kieran, and Oscar Levant, joined by the eminent guest Artur Rubinstein, the celebrated concert pianist. Together, they mix sharp wit with high culture in a lively wartime broadcast.

Highlights include painterly trivia from Goya to Whistler, a dazzling test of musical paraphrases from Strauss and Verdi to Chopin, and Rubinstein’s insights into Brahms concertos and European royalty. The panel navigates literary fortunes from Dickens and Dumas to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, recalls poets who died by brawl, duel, or battle, and plays with animal imagery in verse from “Pop! Goes the Weasel” to Emerson’s “The Mountain and the Squirrel.” Two-piano mashups of Chopin, Verdi, Gounod, Schumann, and Grieg showcase the evening’s musical flair, while historical puzzles trace the tangled bloodlines of World War I monarchs.

Blending sparkling banter, Rubinstein’s virtuoso knowledge, and the panel’s trademark humor, this episode delivers a captivating mix of art, music, literature, and laughter on Information Please! 

In this November 22, 1943 episode of Information Please, Clifton Fadiman quizzes regulars John Kieran and Franklin P. Adams alongside special guests Russell Crouse and Moss Hart—fresh from Broadway hits and wartime stages—for a brisk, funny hour of brainy parlor sport.

Highlights include year-matching puzzles spanning Washington’s inauguration to Dempsey–Willard, debates over Fulton’s steamboat lore, and a gangster suite from Blind Alley to Brother Orchid and The Earl of Chicago. The panel riffs on etymology (from “hussy” to “coquette”), psychiatry-by-song (“I Love Me,” “Sometimes I’m Happy,” “I Ain’t Got Nobody”), and billiards terms in verse. Wartime flavor runs through musical clues to aircraft (Zero, Corsair, Thunderbolt, Hurricane, and the Soviet Stormovik), color similes in poetry, and “last lines” lightning rounds touching Rain, The Show-Off, and Kaufman & Hart’s Once in a Lifetime. They even decode service slang—topside, upstairs, and “going over”—and nod to stage tunes from Lady in the Dark and Oklahoma, with timely Thanksgiving asides from the Heinz mic.