What in the World (4 Programmes)

Synopsis: WHAT IN THE WORLD was the Penn Museum’s popular weekly half-hour television programme which was first seen in the US in 1951 and which ran for 14 years. On each programme, four or five unidentified objects were presented to a panel of experts who were asked to guess what each piece was, where it came from, how old it was, and how it was used. Objects were selected from storerooms and had never before been seen by the panel. Before the experts guessed, the audience was told what the object was, and, during the course of the programme, could watch the thought processes of real --and often fallible!-- anthropologists and archaeologists. After they had completed their identification, the moderator, Froelich Rainey, Director of the Museum, told them whether they were right and if not, gave the correct identification. Only four episodes of the show survive. The special guest on one of these was the famous actor (and collector) Vincent Price.
Language: English
Country: United States
Year of production: 1951
Notes: American equivalent of the popular UK television series ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL
Subjects: Archaeology; Media studies
Keywords: archive television; archaeological finds

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