Whatever it is, wherever it is, north, south, east or west, we'll find it.
You'll see it here.
You ask for it.
Brought to you by Skippy, America's largest selling peanut butter.
If you like peanuts, you'll like Skippy.
And here's your host, Art Baker.
Well, howdy folks.
Say, it was fun.
It was exciting, an unforgettable experience.
But am I glad to be back in my U.S. foreign office in the good old USA.
Now, during the summer, we repeated 12 shows.
And the reason we did is so that our camera and our camera crews and myself could travel through the world.
That was to film many of the unusual international features that you have asked for.
Oh, let's see.
We kissed the Blarney Stone in Ireland.
We went over to England and to Denmark and Holland, down through Germany,
then Switzerland, through France, Spain, over to Italy, down in Africa and, oh yes, Monte Carlo here.
So here we go with the all new You Ask For It with the international flavor.
And here's our first request.
Mrs. Peter Winnick of Buffalo, New York asked for it.
She wrote, an illustrated French magazine showed some breathtaking photos of a knife thrower
who threw his sharp cutlery at a pretty girl spinning on a wheel
while he balanced himself precariously on a slack wire.
To me, that is pouring danger on top of danger, but I'm asking for it.
Mrs. Winnick from London, England.
One of Europe's most celebrated thrill acts, Elizabeth Ann Collins.
You Ask For It.
Now, here is a target for you that's well worth missing.
Now the knife, one by one, circling her head.
Steel points, needle sharp, nerves of steel.
A great performance, my friends, but that was just the warm-up.
Now watch this.
One knife has a marker and she rests her neck on that blade.
And the knives come fast.
Closer and closer, talking about sticking your neck out, wow.
Thirteen knives in the cup of her throat.
And they are thrown hard, they're deep into the wood.
Now up to the spinning wheel for an incredible demonstration of split-second timing
and some courage.
Collins sets up the slack wire.
He was an expert wire artist and a knife thrower before he thought of combining the two.
Six years of practice, five hours a day before he was ready for a revolving human target.
And the wheel spins.
The first knife, one miss, that'll be all.
One foot on the wire now, fighting for balance.
And still the knives come.
Slack wire, spinning target, ring of steel.
The only act in the world that combines slack wire with a rotating human target.
A total of thirteen knives.
Elizabeth and Connors.
Oh, Mr. Byrd, you can imagine how I felt looking over this knife artist's shoulder there
as he poured danger on top of danger.
You asked for it.
Hey, may I come in?
You see, I'm conducting a survey and I am in desperate need of your help.
You right there in front of that television set.
Now I have here several letters from people who watch this program.
Normal, intelligent, perspicacious, peanut-loving people like yourself.
And they say that when they see me skipping up a cracker or a slice of toast
in this luscious, lavish fashion,
well, it just makes them so hungry that they rush right out to the kitchen right then and there and do likewise.
And of course, when they do this, they miss out on hearing the rest of my commercial.
And if this were to become a widespread practice,
my sponsor might feel that I was unnecessary around here.
So it's essential that I find out exactly how many people are switching to the kitchen
and going dippy over skippy when they watch me spread the bread.
Of course, if a great many people are doing this in the future,
I'll simply have to keep my spreading operations slightly out of camera range.
And instead of letting you see for yourself,
I'll simply have to tell you that no other peanut butter spreads or tastes or stays fresh like skippy
because no other peanut butter is made like skippy.
So please get out a postcard and pencil and tell me how you react.
And as you drop that postcard into the mailbox,
keep this beautiful, inspirational thought in mind.
If you like peanuts, you like skippy.
This, my friends, is a trap.
Yes, it provides a crude but a very effective means of capturing one of the most grotesque and fabulous monsters of the deep.
Mrs. Karen Foster of Seattle, Washington, asked for it.
She writes, can you imagine anyone making his living as an octopus trapper?
Well, there's a man named Ben Frick here in the state of Washington who does,
and I for one would just love to know how he managed to catch those grotesque things.
Well, Mrs. Foster, an octopus trapper was a new one on us until you asked for it.
So when our camera's located, Mr. Frick, up in this region here,
I asked him some questions from the safe distance of 1,500 miles.
And Mr. Baker, and greetings from Duncinette on the Straits of Huanifuga,
right across from Victoria, British Columbia.
Well, Ben, how big are these octopi you're catching?
Oh, I've caught them up to 110 pounds.
Of course, they don't all learn that large.
That's a relief.
Now, look, when you have them in the traps once, the question is, how do you get them out?
That's easy.
I do that with my bare hands.
Now, if you cameras will follow me out there,
I'll show you how it's done.
Good.
Let's go, Teddy.
Come on, Teddy.
Come on, let's go.
That's fine.
Now, the dog always goes along.
Ben has three octopus trap lines, each 1,000 feet long, with 20 traps on each line.
There are 60 traps in all, see?
He checks them every day, and he has his work cut out for him, but he loves them.
I don't think I've ever met a more delightful fellow.
So long, good fishing, Ben.
Ben catches the buoy, and he plays it over the pull line.
There's absolutely no bait in the traps there, and after a good meal,
he likes to hole up in caves and crevices, and the traps just make a good place to hide.
Simple as that.
They like them.
Now, here we are at the first trap.
Now, here's where he catches the buoy, and he'll play it over the pulley there.
There's something heavy down there.
Yeah, there's the trap.
Ooh, that one isn't empty.
There's Mr. Octopus in person.
Look how he hangs on with those powerful suction cups.
Come on, Junior, out you go.
Ben sometimes pulls up a trap with one octopus inside and two more clinging on the outside.
Okay, Junior, let's have a look at you here.
Well, that looks pretty big to me.
That's big enough.
How would you like to meet up with one of those in a dark night?
Well, Ben knows how to handle them, though.
You know, this is one place I'd hate to get all wrapped up in my job.
You see what I mean?
Those suction cups.
There's a trick to handling the creatures, and Ben's one of the few who know how.
He can tell by the feel of the muscle just when the cups are about to be relaxed, and he gets his arm away fast.
Heaven help the guy who doesn't know how.
Here's a living beauty.
Think of the ones that got away, too.
Ben's been trapping octopus for a good many years.
And on they go, the more traps.
If he's lucky, the boat will be full of them coming back.
By the way, he never puts more than one octopus in a single compartment, confined together in captivity, or they'll kill each other.
Well, Ben's had a busy day making the rounds, checked a lot of traps, and in just a moment we hope to see a day's octopus catch.
Hey, come on ashore, Ben, will you?
Let's talk it over.
Any more luck?
Well, I had a little luck.
Did you ever see an octopus up close?
Yeah, once, but let's see it again, huh?
You'll notice that he has very prominent eyes attached to his body.
I don't see any eyes, Ben.
Where are the eyes?
Oh, yeah, there's the eyes.
I saw it, yeah.
Uh-huh.
His mouth is in the center of the underside of the body, and it has a sharp beak.
It almost looks like a beak of a parrot.
I stay clear of that.
Yeah, I don't blame you either.
They're wicked.
Would you like to see this octopus move on land?
That would be a sight, yeah.
I'll show you.
He moves like a bunch of snakes, and he always heads for the nearest forest.
And, of course, he sometimes shoots out a brownish ink as a means of protection.
In deep water, he moves by means of a sort of jet propulsion,
taking the seawater to his gills to move himself forward.
Uh-huh.
Well, Art, it looks like today's entire catch is just about ready to go on display.
How would you like to see about 300 pounds of octopus all at once?
That we'd like, yeah.
That's a typical day's catch, Art.
I'll now prepare them for the market,
and tomorrow, the next day, they'll probably be served in Seattle and other northwest cities.
Thanks a lot, Art, for sending your cameras to Whitsitt, Willis.
Goodbye.
Well, Mrs. Forster, I think that this Mr. Frick earns every penny he can make at octopus trapping, don't you?
Well, after all, you asked for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, for a daring ride on the most threatening and the most daring roller coaster within the continental limits of these United States,
a ride for 25 cents, a quarter pound of a dollar.
How many would you have, mister, for a thrilling ride on the roller coaster?
Two, please.
Take two.
Two, please. There you are, sir. Have a good time, young man.
Have a good time.
Now, the reason I took two is because two of us are going to take this ride here.
Here's a letter that comes from Mrs. Stuart Bailey of Cincinnati, Ohio.
I got a kick out of this.
She said, would you please take me for a ride by means of a moving picture camera in the front seat on the most daring and exciting roller coaster in America?
Uh-huh.
The both of us are going to go for a ride.
All right, Mrs. Bailey, you think you're going to sit back there at home kind of clutching the Davenport?
No, sir.
This is, believe me, one ride you'll never forget.
Would you come along with me, Mrs. Bailey?
All right, step in.
You first, please.
Anybody else?
Anybody else?
Twenty-five cents for a ride on the roller coaster.
Anybody else?
Twenty-five cents, please.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Well, young man, did you have a good time?
Did you get your money's worth?
And how, brother?
That was one whale of a ride, wasn't it, Mrs. Bailey?
Wasn't it, everybody?
Now, I'll tell you, I think that we ought to have out here the cameraman who, I don't know how many,
25 cents is as he put in that thing to get these pictures.
They were magnificent.
So right now, I want you to see our cameraman, Danny Rouser.
Danny.
How are you?
Did you get your money's worth on the ride?
I certainly did.
It was a little tough job, the assignment, but I think I got it.
How many times did you go up and down those things?
Well, about half a dozen at least.
You did.
And that's, how were you holding the thing, right?
Well, it was a little difficult to hold it and hold the roller coaster at the same time.
Oh, yeah, that.
I imagine it was a little difficult, yes.
But I can't complain, though, because, well, you see, I asked for it, too.
That's right.
That reminds me, my friends, that nothing happens on this show unless you ask for it.
Now, who would ever think of asking to have a roller coaster ride at home in their living room,
the Davenport, but Mrs. Bailey did.
You may have quite an idea of the unusual thing, maybe you want to see repeated.
That's what we're here for, to obey your command.
You're the boss of this show, and it's a delight, believe me, to follow your request.
So get busy, put all your thinking together.
Give us a challenge, give us something unusual.
Here's our address.
Jot it down now, because maybe you haven't got an idea now, but you will tomorrow.
Here it is.
You asked for it.
I wonder, yes, I guess I am.
I'm in the ladies' section of the Swanky Barber store here,
and we're looking for the person who has a talent by the yard.
It's the subject of this next request from Miss Barbara Allison of Boston, Massachusetts.
And she wrote, Dear Mr. Baker, I'm 13, and I'm interested in dress designing,
and I read in a fashion magazine about a man who takes bolts of material,
he makes lovely dresses out of them, without doing a stitch of sewing.
He does all this in just a few seconds.
I would like him to design some dresses on your show, please.
Sincerely, Barbara Allison.
Well, Barbara, I guess you'd be kind of more comfortable in this section here than I would,
but here is where that lightning-fast dress designer springs into action,
and I do mean that.
His name is Alphonse Berger.
He's professionally known as the Great Draper,
and I want you to watch very closely while he goes into action, because you asked for it.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to call your attention to my next dress,
a complete and practical street rock.
One straight length of material, no pins completed, in about 30 seconds.
Watch it.
Thank you very much.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to make three entirely different types of dresses.
Now, let's see how long it takes to make three.
I hope you like them.
So we'll play them at your own pace.
One, two, three.
Lovely drive.
Now, Father, begin to bide away.
Take your coat off.
Here you go.
Yes, sir.
Well, there, sir, there you saw, Barbara, the world's fastest dress designer, believe me, the Great Draper.
And I feel indebted to you, too, Barbara.
I feel very, very elegant, because you asked for it.
Well, I see time is up.
And so now, on behalf of our sponsor, Skippy, America's largest selling peanut butter,
I'll say so long.
See you next week.
ABC, the American broadcasting company.