Masquerade Party

Masquerade Party was an American television game show. During its original run from 1952 to 1960, the show appeared at various times on every television network except DuMont (ABC, NBC, and CBS). A syndicated revival was produced for one season in 1974–75. The gameplay consisted of a panel of celebrities attempting to guess the identity of a celebrity who was disguised with heavy make-up and/or a costume. The disguise would provide clues as to the celebrity's actual identity. For example, actor Gary Burghoff appeared in 1974 as a robot with a radar, alluding to his role as Radar O'Reilly on M*A*S*H. The panel asked yes-or-no questions of the disguised celebrity, after which they were given another clue. They then had one last chance to guess the identity, after which the celebrity revealed their true identity. 1952–1960 The original show had several well-known celebrities on its panel including Pat Carroll, Ilka Chase, Buff Cobb, Dagmar, Sam Levenson, Audrey Meadows, Ogden Nash, Betsy Palmer, and Jonathan Winters. Comedian Allan Sherman was the producer, and Stefan Hatos was executive producer. The show's theme music was "The Comedians," an orchestral composition by Dmitri Kabalevsky. The oversensitivity of the show towards advertisers, and political correctness complaints, made it fall into a hoax of the satirical magazine The Realist in 1960.