Monty Hall
From Freepedia
Monty Hall, born August 25, 1921 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as Maurice Halprin, is a Canadian-born actor, singer and sportscaster, but is best known for being the MC of popular American television game shows. He was the host of the long-running game show Let's Make a Deal from 1963 to 1986 and for a limited run in 1990.
Hall hosted several shows during the 1950s and early 1960s before finding his niche making deals and as a producer. Among his early efforts was as part-time host (along with Jack Narz) of a short-lived but unique game show called Video Village, which ran during the summer of 1960 on CBS. Contestants played on a giant game board consisting of three sections: Money Street, Bridge Street and Magic Mile. Players advanced with the roll of softball-sized dice. The farther they got along the board, the better the prizes were. A spinoff called Video Village Junior, featuring youngsters, was hosted by Hall and ran during the 1961-1962 regular television season.
Hall received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 24, 1973. On May 1988 the Government of Canada bestowed on him the prestigious Order of Canada for his humanitarian work in Canada and other nations of the world.
Because of his work on Let's Make a Deal, Hall's name is used in a popular probability puzzle known as the Monty Hall problem. Hall himself gave a pretty good explanation of the solution to that problem, and why the solution did not apply to the case of the actual show, in an interview with New York Times reporter John Tierney in 1991. Because Hall had control over the way the game progressed, he played on the psychology of the contestant.
Hall received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba, where he majored in biology and zoology as a pre-med student.
He has been married for many years to his wife, Marilyn, and has a daughter, actress Joanna Gleason.
Other uses
The format of Let's Make a Deal, with the option to trade an up-front prize for an unknown quantity behind a curtain, for example, has often been imitated in other settings, such as between-innings entertainment at professional sports events.
Some players in role playing games refer to an easy challenge with massive rewards as a "Monty Haul".
A spoof of Let's Make a Deal appeared at the beginning of the Flintstones animated film The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1979), entitled Make a Deal or Don't. The game-show's host was called Monty Marble. The way in which 'Marble' was pronounced gave emphasis to the end of the word, making it sound like 'marb-hall'.
In the mathematical sciences, the "Monty Hall Problem" examines the counter-intuitive effects of switching one's choice of doors if "Monty" reveals a zonk behind one of doors the player didn't choose.
External links
Categories: 1921 births | Canadian television personalities | Game show hosts | Members of the Order of Canada | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Winnipegers
