Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News

“I’ve got a bad case of lovin’ you.”—From the song Bad Case of Loving You by Robert Palmer

I’ve learned from Mike Schmidt that Dr. Joyce Brothers, the pioneering pop psychologist who died of respiratory failure at age 85 on May 13, first became known to the American public not through her advice to the lovelorn, but because of her boxing expertise.

Married to a man still in medical school and with a newborn at home, Dr. Brothers thought that a good way to make money would be to appear on the television game show The $64,000 Question. She wanted to answer questions on psychology and home economics, but the producers were interested in the incongruous—the construction worker who was expert in botany, for example—and wondered if the young and diminutive girl doctor would agree to answer questions on the Sweet Science. Dr. Brothers didn’t know Rocky Marciano from Rocky Graziano from Rocky Road Ice Cream, but she was amenable and spent the next several weeks memorizing a 20-volume boxing encyclopedia.

First appearing on the program in late 1955, Dr. Brothers came back week after week, correctly answering question after question, until she finally won the coveted 64 grand (at least half a rock in today’s money). Dr. Brothers parlayed her knowledge of boxing arcana into a like amount by later winning The $64,000 Challenge.

The doctor proved that she hadn’t been involved in the notorious quiz-show scandals of the era by appearing before a grand jury and answering each and every boxing question.

Care to test your mettle against this uppity female? Let’s start with those questions she answered to win $16,000:

What referee holds the record for the greatest number of heavyweight championship fights?
Who reffed the “Long Count” match between Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney?
Who was the referee in the Jack Johnson-Jim Jeffries bout?

Time! We have some lovely parting gifts for those of you who didn’t know or who answered incorrectly. Don Pardo?

“Needle and thread with which to sow them back on. Or…a blouse and skirt ensemble! But wait, there’s more…the most adorable purse (sighing and pearl clutching) in their choice of bone or tan.”

Are we not men? Let’s find out. Here are the questions Dr. Brothers answered correctly, thus becoming the second person and first woman to win the 64 thousand:

Who were the two men Mickey Walker fought for the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World?
In what year and city did the fights take place?
Who won each bout? How? Over how many rounds?
Whom did Bobo Olson challenge for the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World?
In what year and city did the fight take place?
Who won? How? Over how many rounds?

Tommy Loughran challenged the doctor’s answer to the last question—he was wrong…she was right.

Bone or tan?

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