{{Short description|American radio and TV quiz series}} {{more citations needed|date=December 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = Doctor IQ ad.jpg | alt_name = Doctor IQ | genre = Game show | presenter = James McClain (NBC Radio; January–October 1954)<br>Lew Valentine (ABC Radio)<br>Jay Owen (November 1953–January 1954)<br>Tom Kennedy (1958–1959) | narrator = Bob Shepard (1953–1954)<br>Bill Ewing (1958–1959) | location = Various locations throughout the United States (1939–1950)<br>Elysee Theater, New York City (1953–1954)<br>ABC Television Center, Studio D, Los Angeles (1958–1959) | country = United States | channel = NBC (Radio)<br>ABC (Radio; 1953–1954, 1958–1959) | first_aired = {{start date|1939|4|10}} | last_aired = {{end date|1959|3|23}} }} '''''Dr. I.Q.''''' (aka '''''Dr. I.Q., the Mental Banker''''' and '''''Doctor I.Q.''''') is a radio and television quiz program that ran from 1939 – 1959.
==Background== A "trial run" of ''Dr. I.Q.'' was staged at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, to test whether the program's format might be viable for radio. Allen C. Anthony, the program's announcer, said in 1961, "Overflow crowds at the Fox convinced producers that the ''Dr. I.Q.'' Show would go. When the 'I have a lady in the balcony, doctor' caught on, we knew we had it."<ref name="ac">{{cite news |last1=Barker |first1=Eddie |title='I Have a Lady in the Balcony' Caught On and They Were In |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112943674/the-atlanta-constitution/ |access-date=November 12, 2022 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |date=June 7, 1961 |page=5|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Radio== Over decades, the program's sponsors were Mars Candy, the Vick Chemical Company and Embassy Cigarettes. The radio series did not have a set studio. Instead, it traveled from city to city and broadcast from large concert halls and theaters.<ref name="dunningota_1">{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=John|title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=9780195076783|pages=204–205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&pg=PA204&dq=%22The+Mental+Banker,+quiz%22 |section=Dr. I.Q., the Mental Banker |access-date=22 March 2017|language=en}}</ref>
The quizmaster, Dr. I.Q., delivered silver dollars to audience members who correctly answered his fast-paced questions. The series began April 10, 1939, on NBC's Blue Network with singer-announcer Lew Valentine as Dr. I.Q. Later quizmasters in the role of Dr. I.Q. were Jimmy McClain and Stanley Vainrib. The radio version aired until November 29, 1950 on the NBC and ABC networks. Valentine and McClain were also the hosts of '''''Dr. I.Q. Jr.''''', a juvenile version heard on NBC from 1941 to 1949.<ref name="dunningota_2">{{cite book|last1=Dunning|first1=John|title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio|date=1998|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=9780195076783|page=205|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi5wPDBiGfMC&pg=PA205&dq=%22juvenile+quiz%22 |section=Dr. I.Q. Jr.|access-date=22 March 2017|language=en}}</ref>
==Television== The television version ran on ABC from November 4, 1953, to October 17, 1954, and again from December 15, 1958 to March 23, 1959. The first host was Jay Owen. However, beginning January 18, 1954, McClain began hosting again.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |date=2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=9780307483201 |page=370 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Doctor+I.Q.+quiz%22+ABC&pg=PA370 |access-date=6 June 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Tom Kennedy hosted the 1958–59 version.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baber |first1=David |title=Television Game Show Hosts: Biographies of 32 Stars |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=9781476604800 |page=131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VbrwCQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Doctor+I.Q%22+ABC&pg=PA131 |access-date=6 June 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
On January 18, 1954, Hazel Bishop cosmetics became a sponsor of the program.<ref>{{cite news |title=Network Sponsor Activity |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Index/1954/TV-Index-1954-01-04.pdf#page=3&search=Hazel+Bishop+Dr+I.Q. |access-date=6 June 2019 |work=Ross Reports on Television |date=January 4, 1954 |page=3}}</ref>
==Episode status== Only one episode is known to exist of the 1953-54 version, and it is with McClain as host. Four episodes exist with Kennedy (including a probable pilot taped on October 15, 1958) along with a pilot for a television version of ''Dr. I.Q. Jr.''<ref>[https://archive.today/20120707130524/http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?Search_Arg=doctor+i.&SL=None&Search_Code=FTIT&PID=lo4i2toINcK8aR9QD-GhhGH5xMjb&SEQ=20090129131218&CNT=50&HIST=1 "Doctor IQ" at the UCLA Film and Television Archive]</ref>
==References== {{Portal|Radio|Television}} {{Reflist}} <!--See below list for others.-->
==Sources== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=HRljYz89pqwC&q=%22george+ansbro%22&pg=PP1 ''I Have a Lady in the Balcony: Memoirs of a Broadcaster in Radio and Television'']
==External links== *{{IMDb title|id=0135089|title=Doctor IQ}} *{{InternetArchiveOTR|id=Dr.IQ|title=Doctor IQ}} *{{InternetArchiveOTR|id=Dr.IQ_Jr|title=Doctor IQ Junior}} *[https://archive.org/details/DoctorIQ1958 A public domain TV episode of ''Dr. I.Q.'' at the Internet Archive]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doctor I.Q.}} Category:NBC game shows Category:American Broadcasting Company game shows Category:American radio game shows Category:1930s American radio programs Category:1940s American radio programs Category:1930s American game shows Category:1940s American game shows Category:1950s American game shows Category:1953 American television series debuts Category:1954 American television series endings Category:1958 American television series debuts Category:1959 American television series endings Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:English-language American television shows Category:ABC radio programs Category:NBC radio programs