Isolation Booth - Game show gadget used on THE 64,000 QUESTION/CBS/1955-58. Quizmaster Hal March introduced the Isolation Booth on June 7, 1955. After the players reached the $4,000 level of winnings they were asked only one question per week. When the player reached the $8,000 level, they were placed into the "Isolation Booth" to ponder their answer to the weekly question that risked all their previous winnings (and to keep contestants from hearing answers shouted by audience members).

The quiz show TWENTY ONE/NBC/1956-58 featured two contestants both competing against each other in isolation booths. The heat in the booth was even raised a few degrees to make the contestants sweat and thus look "really" nervous.

TRIVIA NOTE: The first $64,000 winner was gastronomy expert, Marine Captain Richard McCutchen. Dr. Joyce Brothers was the second to reach $64,000 with her knowledge of boxing.

Other winners included actress Barbara Feldon, a Shakespeare expert; Bronx shoemaker Gino Prato, an opera expert; and 11-year-old Robert Strom, whose knowledge in science earned him $192,000 on the April 16, 1957 program.

The first contestant to actually go all the way to $64,000 was Redmond O'Hanlon, a police officer from Staten Island whose subject was Shakespeare.