The Jackpot (1950) on Netflix
Bill Lawrence, an Indiana family man working at a struggling department store, gets a call to appear on a radio quiz show as a contestant. He wins $24,000 worth of merchandise.
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- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.6/101,516 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Bill Lawrence works at a struggling department store in Indiana and lives with his wife, Amy. A representative of the radio quiz program Name the Mystery Husband telephones to ask whether Bill will take part that evening. He doubts the call is real, but Amy believes it may be, and their friends grow excited. A tip tells him the mystery husband is either the bandleader Harry James or the writer Charles MacArthur. As the phone rings repeatedly, Bill grows nervous, falls down the stairs, then flips a coin and names Harry James. He wins $24,000 worth of merchandise, from a side of beef and thousands of cans of soup to a pony and a portrait painter named Hilda Jones. He is then told he must sell the prizes to pay a $7,000 income tax.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Jackpot (1950)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film is based on a 1949 New Yorker article by John McNulty about the true experience of James P. Caffrey of Wakefield, Rhode Island, who won $24,000 worth of merchandise on the CBS radio quiz program Sing It Again.
- A radio adaptation starring James Stewart aired on April 26, 1951 on NBC's Screen Directors Playhouse and drew much press coverage because Stewart's costar, Margaret Truman, was making her debut as a radio actress.
