Charles Van Doren - "All The Answers"

"All The Answers"

The July 28, 2008 issue of The New Yorker included a personal reminiscence titled "All the Answers," written by Van Doren, in which he recounted in detail the scandals and their aftermath. Other than very occasional and often very abbreviated references to it, Van Doren had never before spoken publicly about the scandal, his role, and its effects on his life.

He referred to the film, saying he was bothered most by the closing credits' reference that he never taught again: "I didn't stop teaching, though it was a long time before I taught again in a college." But he also said he enjoyed John Turturro's portrayal of his Twenty-One rival, Herb Stempel.

The article also belied many impressions the film gave of Van Doren: it portrayed him as a bachelor when he was actually engaged; it suggested he had a fascination with the burgeoning, popular television quiz shows when in fact he did not even own a television set; that the only reason he became even mildly acquainted with Twenty-One was because co-producer Al Freedman shared a mutual acquaintance with one of Van Doren's friends; and, that he had been offered his job with The Today Show promptly after losing to Vivien Nearing when, in fact, NBC was not sure at first what to do with him, until he did work for Dave Garroway's Sunday afternoon cultural show, Wide Wide World, which then led to the invitation to join Today.

Van Doren upended critical impression the film left regarding his engaged friendship with Congressional investigator Richard Goodwin while he was Twenty One's reigning champion (and as Herb Stempel had begun his bid to expose the show's rigging). According to Van Doren, the two men had not met until August 1959, when the subcommittee to which Goodwin served as counsel had begun investigating the quiz shows and Van Doren was already established on The Today Show.