Editing Allen Funt (section)

==Career==
===Radio and television===
Trained in [[commercial art]], Funt worked for an advertising agency in its art department, but he eventually moved to its radio department.<ref name= Independent /> Among his first jobs for radio, he wrote for ''[[Truth or Consequences]]'' and assisted [[US First Lady]] [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] with her radio commentaries.<ref name= Independent />

Drafted into the military during [[World War II]] and stationed in [[Oklahoma]],<ref name= Independent /> Funt served in the [[Army Signal Corps]], eventually making radio shows.<ref name= "CC bio" /><ref name= WNYC />

===''Candid Microphone''===
He began his signature program on [[Citadel Media|ABC Radio]] as ''[[The Candid Microphone]]'' on June 28, 1947, and it ran until September 23, 1948. The program was revived on [[CBS]] from June 6 to August 29, 1950.<ref name=dunningota>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EwtRbXNca0oC&dq=%22The+Candid+Microphone,+human%22&pg=PA135 |last=Dunning |first=John |author-link=John Dunning (detective fiction author) |title=On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio |section=The Candid Microphone |date=1998 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-19-507678-3 |pages=135–136 |edition=Revised |accessdate=2019-11-11}}</ref>

Funt soon experimented with a visual version by making a series of one-reel (10-minute) theatrical short films for [[Columbia Pictures]]. The series began in July 1948, as part of Columbia's "Film Novelties". Each film was called ''The Candid Microphone''<ref>''Boxoffice'', July 31, 1948, p. 14.</ref> with the individual entries numbered. Unlike the TV version of the 1960s, where members of the production staff interacted with the unsuspecting victims, the ''Candid Microphone'' reels had Funt himself perpetrate all the stunts. The trade press enjoyed these shorts, which used a then-fresh format. ''The Exhibitor'' encapsulated a November 1949 release: "His first session is with a woman in an airline office who wants to buy a ticket to Denver. After he gets through, she almost decides to take the train. Next, he plays a clerk in a plumber's supply house, and tries to talk a character out of wanting to build a shower in a closet. The final sequence has him as adviser in the office of a honeymoon service, where he tries to sell a prospective bride a bill of the wrong goods." The reviewer gave this short one of the publication's rare "excellent" ratings.<ref>''The Exhibitor'', March 9, 1955, p. 3934.</ref> These theatrical shorts served as a springboard for ''Candid Camera'', which premiered on television on August 10, 1948. The ''Candid Microphone'' shorts continued to play in theaters through 1956 and were reissued in the 1960s when Funt became a major television personality.