Sophie Altman, 95; created long-running TV quiz show
WASHINGTON - Quick: Can you name the longest-running television quiz show in the world?
"It's Academic" is correct!
Who founded the program, and where did it start?
Winning answer: Sophie Altman, at WRC (Channel 4) in Washington in 1961.
Mrs. Altman, 95, who thought high school academic achievement is just as worthy of celebration as athletic prowess and who syndicated that idea to more than two dozen cities across the country, died Saturday of heart disease at Georgetown University Medical Center. She lived in Washington.
Now entering its 48th season, the show pits teenage brainiacs against the world's collected body of knowledge under the pressure of lights, cameras, and competing schools. Mrs. Altman, who continued to produce the show until she was hospitalized three weeks ago, reveled in the hormone-driven energy of the contestants.
"Life is competitive. You're always competing for jobs, your friendships," she said eight years ago. "The television aspect of it does make some kids freeze up, but you've got to be confident. You've got to have drive, poise. You've got to be able to think on your feet. You've got to be aggressive."
Those traits prepared tens of thousands of students to become leaders in nearly every field of endeavor. Former contestants include senators (Hillary Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, whose congressional website has a photo of his appearance on the show), astronaut Timothy Creamer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, and
"Many of our past team members have come back to tell me that their participation in 'It's Academic' fundamentally changed their lives. The stories range from poor students who became scholars, doctors, and lawyers to students who had a hard time finding a fit socially until they found a home on the ['It's Academic'] team," said Robert Tupper, chairman of the history and social sciences department at the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Md.
The brain behind the show has been Mrs. Altman. She was an experienced producer in 1961 when the superintendent of schools in Washington asked her "to come up with something that would help them promote academically inclined students and that would make the schools look good," said Susan Altman, a daughter who has worked on the show almost since it began.
Within a year, a Chicago television station asked Mrs. Altman to produce a local version. At its peak, the show was licensed to television stations in 24 cities, from Honolulu to New York. Mrs. Altman also instituted a series of "It's Academic" programs in federal and state prisons.
She added school bands and cheerleaders (actress Sandra Bullock once appeared) and constantly fine-tuned the balance between entertainment and education.
Her latest innovation brought guest quizmasters to the show. They included Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, presidential Cabinet secretaries Elaine L. Chao and Margaret Spellings, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., and former secretary of state Colin L. Powell. President Reagan once taped a message for the show, as have many elected officials.
The 100 questions that each local show requires every week comes from knowledge that high school seniors are presumed to have mastered. Topics range from ancient Greeks to text messaging.
"We are all determined to get it right," said Mac McGarry, host since the show's start. "She was fixated on getting it right."
Born in Springfield, Mass., Sophie Robinson graduated from Wellesley College, and received a law degree from Yale in 1936. She moved to Washington to work in the government and met and married another New Deal lawyer, Norman S. Altman, in 1937.
She got her start in television as an assistant to the producer of "Meet the Press" and then created and produced several highly acclaimed local shows in the 1950s, including "Report Card for Parents" and "Teen Talk." She received eight local Emmys and was named a "foremother" last year by the National Research Center for Women and Families.
