When It Positively Has to Be There

A dramatic staged photo illustration of a 1940s Mack semi pulling a Fruehauf Corporation (1918-1996) trailer near Greenville, Alabama. Mack Trucks gained a reputation for dependable service. In the early Thirties, their famous icon and logo, a tenacious Bulldog, began appearing on the hood of the trucks. "Built Like a Mack Truck" became common slang for anything indestructible. 

In 1900, the three Mack brothers opened their first bus manufacturing plant to complete an order from a sightseeing company. The first "Mack bus" was delivered. Two years later, The Mack Brothers Company moved to Brooklyn and, in 1905, moved their headquarters to Allentown, Pennsylvania, remaining there for over a century until its relocation in 2009 to Greensboro, North Carolina, home of its parent company, Volvo. 
 
Photo by John Vachon via shorpy dot com

The Dependable Fallback Host

 

Bill Cullen (1920-1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. His biggest claim to fame was as a game show host for twenty-three shows, earning him the nickname "Dean of Game Show Hosts." Cullen's broadcasting career began in 1939 in Pittsburgh as a disc jockey and play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Hornets. After serving in the Civil Air Patrol as an instructor and patrol aircraft pilot during World War II, Cullen got his first television game show, Winner Take All, in 1952.

The witty busy Bill was on the network's list as their fallback guy. When no one could think of someone new, they typically went with the engaging personality of Cullen. In the mid-Fifties, he hosted Name That Tune, and from 1956 to 1965 he hosted the initial daytime and primetime versions of The Price Is Right. For three seasons he hosted Eye Guess, beginning in 1966. The show spawned a board game version, as well. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, he hosted some new generations of game shows, most of which had a short life. Cullen was certainly a household face, appearing as a guest on countless game shows including popular shows like The Cross-Wits, Password, Pyramid, and Match Game. But most famously as a panelist on I've Got a Secret from 1952 to 1967, and To Tell the Truth from 1969 to 1978.

Note: Cullen contracted polio when he was 18 months old. That long-term disability plus injuries sustained in a serious motor vehicle accident in 1937, made it difficult for him to walk or stand for extended periods. The game show directors took great care and limited his standing or walking. Few peers knew of his disability at the time and nearly every television viewer ever noticed.