# About Faces

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Faces
> Source revision: 1356726813
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{distinguish|All About Faces}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                = Ben Alexander 1959.JPG
| caption              = Ben Alexander, the show's host.
| genre                = Game show
| creator              = [Ralph Edwards](/source/Ralph_Edwards)
| writer               = 
| director             = 
| presenter            = [Ben Alexander](/source/Ben_Alexander_(actor))
| narrator             = [Tom Kennedy](/source/Tom_Kennedy_(television_presenter))
| theme_music_composer = 
| open_theme            = 
| composer             = 
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 
| num_episodes         = 
| list_episodes        =  
| camera               = [Multi-camera](/source/Multiple-camera_setup) 
| runtime              = 25 minutes 
| company              = Ralph Edwards Productions
| network         = [ABC](/source/American_Broadcasting_Company)
| first_aired          = {{start date|1960|01|04}}
| last_aired           = {{end date|1961|06|30}}
}}

'''''About Faces''''' is an American [game show](/source/game_show) that aired from January 4, 1960, to June 30, 1961, created by [Ralph Edwards](/source/Ralph_Edwards).<ref name=Daytime>{{cite book |last1=Hyatt |first1=Wesley |title=The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television |date=1997 |publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications |isbn=978-0823083152 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofda00hyat/page/XXX/mode/2up|accessdate=22 March 2020|page=5}}</ref> The host was [Ben Alexander](/source/Ben_Alexander_(actor)) and the show's announcer was [Tom Kennedy](/source/Tom_Kennedy_(television_presenter)).<ref>Schwartz, David - The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, 1987</ref>

==Gameplay==
Competitors were selected from the studio audience.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed. |date=January 10, 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-8641-0 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YX_daEhlnbsC&dq=%22About+Faces%22+ABC&pg=PA5 |access-date=April 3, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Each pair of contestants was challenged to recall how the two of them had come into contact with each other previously. The first to do so won a prize. The program was similar to ''[Place the Face](/source/Place_the_Face)''.<ref name=tt>{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=Alex|title=Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |date=1996|publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc.|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-14-02-4916-8|page= 12|edition=4th}}</ref>

For guest stars who appeared on the program, Alexander interviewed the star briefly before a "mystery person out of the star's past" was shown inside a picture frame. The star then heard a series of clues to help him or her identify the person in the frame.<ref name="ds">{{cite news |title=Mayor Is 'Surprise' Guest on 'About Faces' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/747513761/?terms=%22About%20Faces%22%20Alexander&match=1 |access-date=April 3, 2023 |work=The Desert Sun |date=March 3, 1961 |location=California, Palm Springs |page=12|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}}</ref>

==Schedule and production==
''About Faces'' was broadcast from 1 to 1:30 p. m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday.<ref>{{cite news |title=2d Godfrey show on tv postponed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/12/11/archives/2d-godfrey-show-on-tv-postponed-jan-15-program-called-off-with-no.html |access-date=April 3, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=December 11, 1959 |page=67|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The show was recorded on videotape.<ref>{{cite news |title=Local Banker, Wife to Be In TV Show |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122217845/about-faces-tv-show/ |access-date=April 3, 2023 |work=The Shreveport Journal |date=November 12, 1960 |page=3|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com) }}</ref> After the show's run on ABC ended, its reruns were broadcast in some local markets.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ben Alexander Spends Money On Own Shows, as a Sponsor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122217417/ben-alexander/ |access-date=April 3, 2023 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=March 20, 1960 |page=132|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}}</ref> Joe Landis was the producer and director.<ref name=bc>{{cite magazine |date=April 1, 1963 |page=136 |title=Programming |magazine=Broadcasting |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1963/1963-04-01-BC.pdf#page=136 |accessdate=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

==Guest stars==
Guest stars who appeared on the show included [Barbara Nichols](/source/Barbara_Nichols),<ref name="ds" /> [Joan Blondell](/source/Joan_Blondell),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kennedy |first1=Matthew |title=Joan Blondell: A Life between Takes |date=September 28, 2009 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-62674-432-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LQgbBwAAQBAJ&dq=%22About+Faces%22+ABC&pg=PT254 |access-date=April 3, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> [Rosemary Clooney](/source/Rosemary_Clooney), [Jose Ferrer](/source/Jos%C3%A9_Ferrer),<ref>{{cite news |title=(photo caption) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/122216887/ben-alexander/ |access-date=April 3, 2023 |work=The Modesto Bee |date=August 7, 1960 |page=G-12|via = [Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com)}}</ref> and [Olaf Odegaard](/source/Olaf_Odegaard).<ref>{{Cite news |date=1961-05-05 |title=The Carroll Echo |url=https://archives.carrollu.edu/digital/collection/News/id/882/rec/1 |work=Carroll Echo |via=[Carroll University Archives](/source/Carroll_University) |volume=VI |issue=13}}</ref>

==Episode status==
The [UCLA Film and Television Archive](/source/UCLA_Film_and_Television_Archive) lists among its holdings the premiere episode with [Zsa Zsa Gabor](/source/Zsa_Zsa_Gabor), [Red Schoendienst](/source/Red_Schoendienst) (and family), [Fred Haney](/source/Fred_Haney), and [Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan](/source/Douglas_Corrigan).<ref>[http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=2&ti=1,2&Search_Arg=about%20faces&SL=None&Search_Code=FTIT&CNT=50&PID=xq_MH-g0qtjL6UUmkt3Owa3xD&SEQ=20090407161635&SID=1 UCLA Archive: About Faces]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The March 17 edition exists on YouTube with Tom Kennedy as substitute host.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-cTyrQhz2o|title = - YouTube|website = [YouTube](/source/YouTube)}}</ref>

The [Paley Center for Media](/source/Paley_Center_for_Media) lists among its holdings the series pilot, taped May 6, 1959. Ferrer and Clooney are listed as the celebrity guests for that episode.<ref>[http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/item/?q=About+Faces&p=1&item=B:26972 Paley Center: About Faces]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0053477}}

Category:1960 American television series debuts
Category:1961 American television series endings
Category:1960s American game shows
Category:American Broadcasting Company game shows
Category:Black-and-white American television shows
Category:English-language American television shows
Category:Television series by Ralph Edwards Productions

{{US-game-show-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [About Faces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Faces) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Faces?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.