The $22,500 Footsteps

Who is the Walking Man? Lots of radio listeners thought that they knew, but nobody had even come close to guessing right--on the air. The point of the contest was to identify the mysterious man who walked past the mike each week, but said not a word.

By last week the Walking Man had broken some sort of record by passing up Miss Hush and strolling into his tenth week on Ralph Edwards' Truth or Consequences (Sat. 8:30 p.m., NBC). The prizes had piled up to $22,500 worth of Cadillacs, home-freeze units, trips to Sun Valley. The American Heart Association was wallowing in contributions from would-be contestants (last week they topped a million dollars), and the mail was terrific: 114,000 letters in one day last week.

The likeliest clues were the Walking Man's hollow, echoing footfalls (they sounded as though they might be coming from a vault), and the jingle:

Bing bong bell, It's ten and only one can tell. The master of the metropolis Fits his name quite well.

The other clues weren't much help: the strains of Annie Laurie and Auld Lang Syne; a neighing, galloping horse (Eddie Cantor was a wrong guess); cat yowls; a horn tootling. Columnists and rocking-chair dopesters were certain they had it. Some of the "sure things": Sir Harry Lauder, George Gallup, Mayor O'Dwyer, Jack Benny, Gene Tunney, All-America Fullback Doak Walker.

Edwards, who thought up all the clues himself, couldn't understand why everybody missed "such easy hints." He explained: "The original contest was started as a satire, to end all giveaways." But the skyrocketing Hooperatings of Mrs. Hush (Clara Bow) and Miss Hush (Martha Graham) changed his thinking. After the Walking Man, he might try a "Walking Lady, a Baby Hush, or a Burping Baby." The only trouble is "those other quiz shows that glommed on to the idea." If the rivals don't stop, they may spoil the whole thing.

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