Crayon kits to major network quiz show scandal and beyond In 1950, a then
unknown production team, Jack Barry and Dan Enright, approached the fledgling networks
about a money making scheme. Create a kiddie show where the kids would interact by
drawing on a sheet placed over a TV screen. Note how Barry pitches the sheet of tinted
plastic as a television viewing enhancement as well as drawing implement. Winky Dink
a screechy voiced, monolipped cartoony sketchy thing was born on Saturday morning CBS
kidvid. Four crayons and the sheet sold for a half a buck, tell mom you need it or
otherwise, Barry muses, "you won't be a part of the show."
DID YOU DRAW ON THE TV SCREEN WITHOUT THE WINKY DINK PLASTIC?
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With Winky bouncing, Barry-Enright started a Sunday kiddie venue, "Juvenile Jury," a
knockoff of Art Linkletter's weekday "Kids Say The Darndest Things" segment of
"House Party." Except over at the Barry-Enright camp, one young lady from Chicago
spilled the beans. When Barry praised her on her eloquent wit, the girl crossed her legs,
folded her arms and shouted, "Well, you told me what to say!"
Years later, enter Charles Van Doren who also ratted Barry-Enright our on their illicit
video tactics. The Winky duo, aping the hugely successful "$64,000 Question" hosted by
Hal March, came up with the hundred grand "Twenty One," complete with not one but
two "isolation booths" for competing contestants. Van Doren, prompted by Enright,,
grunted, huffed and moaned after host Barry asked the big money question. He got
it right, won a hundred grand, but later testified Barry-Enright Productions furnished
him the answer.
Think that the end of Barry-Enright? Talk about Teflon Dons. A couple of years later
Jack Barry, sans Winky or Van Doren, is back on the air with the daytime syndicated
game show, "The Joker Is Wild." produced by, you guessed it, Jack Barry-Dan Enright
Productions.
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