A Costume-Free Let's Make a Deal Premiered 57 Years Ago Today

Let's Make a Deal has long been known for having its audience members dress up in crazy costumes as they try to get the host's attention, but as you can see above in the show's very first episode, that wasn't always the case

When it first aired 57 years ago today on December 30, 1963, the show had a much different vibe. People dressed conservatively, and the show's host/co-creator Monty Hall just casually strolled around the first few rows of the audience to decide to whom he wanted to offer silly little prize opportunities.

There are certainly signs of the times here, including sentiments like "What's more exciting to a woman than trading or swapping or looking for a bargain?" and prizes like the hideous raccoon coat given to the first contestant. But even in this first installment, there is the process of choosing mystery prizes from behind one of three numbered doors, which leads to a probability question that has led to a legitimately counterintuitive mathematical conundrum appropriately dubbed "The Monty Hall Problem" that continues to stump intellectual giants to this day.

Case in point, Captain Raymond Holt of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. 

Aaron Barnhart has written about television since 1994, including 15 years as TV critic for the Kansas City Star.