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The Set
The set is full of all kinds of academic things. Behind the contestants is a bookshelf. Behind Ben is various kinds of diplomas, and academic-looking pictures. Starting in early 1999, there was even a picture of Richard Nixon, otherwise known as Tricky Dick, Ben Stein's former boss, when he was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon in the 70's.
But as you can see, there's lots of comedy in the set as well, coming
from the way things are done up. For instance, the skeleton next to Jimmy is
sometimes dressed up somehow, and sometimes a simple In the middle of the stage, jutting out in front, is the big Win Ben Stein's Money logo on the floor. This section doesn't just exist to advertise the name of the show. Absolutely not. It also serves as a place for the isolation booths to go for the Best of Ten Test of Knowledge. Both Ben's and the contestant's isolation booths are rolled up to either side of this section for the Best of Ten for Ben's $5,000. Here's two more pictures of the set of Win Ben Stein's Money:
A Salute to Game Shows © 1999-2001 Ben F. Schumin, Chris-Place.com. All rights reserved. |
Ben
Stein's set is very academic-looking, with comedy thrown in here and there. In the
middle is the board with Ben's total on it, as well as the emcee podium. To the left
are the contestants. And to the right is Jimmy, with the game board.
Adding to the academic look of it all is a number of busts placed
around the set. However, the most well-known of all the busts is the one of Ben
Stein, up in front of everything. The letters B and S (for Ben Stein)
are usually laying around there, as well as various other bits of stuff. Also, the
bust is always dressed up in SOMETHING for each show. In the
picture at left, though, the bust is actually dressed more tamely than usual.
Usually, there's more to the dressings-up than just a leis, like sunglasses, a fake nose,
rainbow wigs, or all of these things together.
thing like an ottoman and a
hat rack can inspire Mr. Stein to extreme comedy ("Can you say game show?").
