Dennis James

Dennis James (born Demie James Sposa, August 24, 1917 – June 3, 1997) was an American television personality, philanthropist, and commercial spokesman. Until 1976, he had appeared on TV more times and for a longer period than any other television star. Alternately referred to as "The Dean of Game Show Hosts" (along with fellow emcee Bill Cullen) and the "Godfather of Gameshows", he was the host of television's first network game show, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry (1946).

James was also the first person to host a telethon (raising more than $750,000,000 for United Cerebral Palsy throughout his nearly 5 decade run as its host), the first to appear in a television commercial (for Wedgwood china), first to emcee a variety show, and first to appear on video tape; more than 25 "firsts" in all.

James was born to Demetrio Ernest Sposa and Teresa Amorosi, both of Italian descent. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, James joined that city's WAAT as an announcer and moved in May 1940 to WNEW in New York City (now WBBR). He was soon hosting a morning show called Breakfast With Bamberger's Basement. He went into television, appearing in 1943 on the first anniversary program of W2XVW, which eventually became WABD, the flagship station of the DuMont Television Network in 1946 (WABD is now Fox-owned WNYW). By mid-July 1943, he had taken over as host of DuMont's renamed fledgling Wednesday night variety show, Television Roof. By September, programming was drastically curtailed on all New York stations due to the war. On April 15, 1946, WABD opened new studios at Wanamaker's department store and on the 18th, James appeared in an episode of Famous Jury Trials.

James became the host of many game shows; his first was WABD's DuMont Beepstakes on May 29, 1946, followed on June 20 with the more successful Cash and Carry from the same program packager, Carr and Stark. Later he appeared on the ABC version of Chance of a Lifetime (1952–53), and served as commentator for DuMont's wrestling and boxing shows, such as Boxing From Jamaica Arena (1948–49) and Amateur Boxing Fight Club (1949–50). He hosted the DuMont daytime variety show Okay, Mother (1948–51) with Julia Meade.

James often addressed the TV audience as "Mother", a practice he had begun when discussing the finer points of wrestling during his sports broadcasts. He feared the men in the audience would be insulted by the implication that they didn't already know the rules (even if they didn't), but would accept that James was merely explaining things for the benefit of women watching.

James started his game show hosting career with the first network game show, Cash and Carry, on the DuMont network from 1946 to 1947. During the 1953–54 season, James was the announcer of the quiz program Judge for Yourself, which aired on NBC, with Fred Allen as the emcee.

In 1956, he and Bert Parks hosted the ABC musical game show Stop the Music. In 1956, James emceed High Finance on CBS in which contestants answered current events questions to build up a jackpot for prizes.

James also appeared with Bill Leyden in the 1962–64 NBC quiz program Your First Impression. James's game show hosting duties spanned four decades, as he presided over shows such as The Name's the Same, Haggis Baggis, People Will Talk, and PDQ, and the talent shows Chance of a Lifetime and Your All-American College Show. James was the official commercial presenter of the one-episode You're in the Picture, and appeared on the subsequent "apology" episode as well. His last new game show hosting gig was the NBC daytime revival of Name That Tune (1974–75).