The contestants aren’t versed, as reality-show stars are today, in the grammar of television they have trouble maintaining eye contact with the host, and nervously wrap their handkerchiefs around their fingers. Old episodes can be found online, but they are hard to watch. Another, a Holocaust survivor, wanted funds to have her tattoo from Auschwitz removed. One contestant entered the show in the hope of hiring a carpenter to patch the bullet holes above her bed left by her husband’s suicide. In addition to the prizes, each winner was granted a request for some product or service, which tended to be practical and not infrequently macabre. One of the so-called misery shows of that era, along with “Strike It Rich” and “Glamour Girl,” it largely featured working-class contestants: widows whose husbands had been killed in hunting accidents, mothers of chronically sick children, grocery-store owners who couldn’t afford to stock their stores. At the end of the half hour, one woman would be crowned queen and showered with prizes. In each episode, four women who had suffered recent hardships spoke candidly about their experiences on live TV. From 1956 to 1964, one of the most popular daytime television programs was “Queen for a Day,” a game show that rested on a simple, and savage, premise.

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