Hold That Note

For a while in the fifties, music-themed game shows were very big.  One of the less-successful ones was Hold That Note starring Bert Parks.  Parks had been hosting the current incarnation of a game show called Break the Bank in that same time slot, sponsored by the same sponsor. This was back when every season, some network would have some version of that show. Its host and rules changed but the hallowed name of Break the Bank went on.

Finally though, the name had run out of stream so on the night of January 22, 1957, the few viewers who did tune it in had a surprise: In a decision made too late to even be in TV Guide, Break the Bank was replaced by Hold That Note.  Even some of the contestants were folks who’d won on the previous week’s Break the Bank and thus won the right to come back and play on the next episode.

Largely imitative of the more popular Name That Tune, the idea of Hold That Note was for contestants to identify a song from its first few notes.  There were bonus questions and jackpot rounds and Bert sang…but it was all for naught.  The show went off the following April and Bert went on to another show.  And another show.  And another show.