That image brings back a few memories of my fifties childhood. The skinny tie alone is enough to set off fashion nostalgia.The guy in the screenshot is Jan Murray on only one of two episodes that survive from the 1956-59 Treasure Hunt. This ancient effort was Murray's show from the top of the treasure chest to the bottom. He was Treasure Hunt's creator, producer and host.
The show was targeted at bored (or, for all I know, desperate) housewives and their littlest kids. Although never a huge hit, the show did enough business to earn daytime and prime time slots, first on ABC and then on the better established NBC.
A modestly challenging quizzer led to a bonus round where the winner picked prizes from treasure chests. A curvaceous "Pirate Girl" (March, 1956 Playboy centerfold Marian Stafford) made the treasure motif even more clunkingly obvious. But what the hey, she looked good.
The March 20, 1958 episode on YouTube reminded me of the show's bargain-basement production values, right down to the cheesy organ music. In the 1970s Chuck Barris got hold of the format and made it something of an embarrassment, as Chuck was wont to do.
UPDATE: Being a full-service blogger, I dutifully searched the web for Marian Stafford's Playboy photos. Grim work, indeed, but it had to be done. The photos are almost absurdly demure by current standards - at least, that's what I've heard about current standards - but they do feature limited and very mild nudity. So you are officially warned.
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