Ted Cooper

Who was Ted Cooper?

Edward Theodore "Ted" Cooper was a long-time United States television scenic designer and creative consultant. Cooper is best known as the production designer and creative consultant for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, the leading producer of American TV game shows. He joined the firm in 1960 and was associated with it until his death at age 79.

Cooper was hired as a TV art director for NBC in 1950 where he worked on various shows including Your Show of Shows, the Martin and Lewis Show, The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show, The Jimmy Durante Show and the game shows Haggis Baggis and Charge Account, among others. Through his association with NBC he knew Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood fame and contributed to the first version of that show. He was also responsible for the sets for the 1956 Orson Welles Broadway production of King Lear which lasted for only 21 performances.

Cooper's best-known achievements were in creating set designs and game displays for TV quiz shows. He is credited with being the motivating force behind taking game shows from a simple table set in front of a drape to a full set designed for the show. The Goodson-Todman shows for which Cooper served as art director or creative consultant after 1960 include The Price Is Right, The Match Game, What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth, He Said, She Said, Family Feud, Beat the Clock, Password, Say When!!, Double Dare, Card Sharks, Mindreaders, The Better Sex, Now You See It, Blockbusters, Child's Play, Body Language, and Trivia Trap, as well as assorted pilots. In addition to being the scenic designer of Say When!!, he was also the associate producer of that show. Cooper's design for "Say When" included the first use of alpha-numeric electronic readouts on TV and in the U.S., and helped the Split-flap display to become so popular for a time on TV and in other venues. Cooper's designs typically included technology not only for displaying numbers and letters, but also technology for controlling electromechanical devices such as lights and sound effects. Most of his designs were executed without the benefit of computer-generated special effects for which the industry is known today, but one of his shows, Classic Concentration, was one of the earliest shows to implement its game board on a fully computerized display. Many of his sets utilized rotating elements: Family Feud, Match Game, Card Sharks and The Price Is Right with its well-known turntable. Game show producer Dan Enright, whose shows competed with those of Goodson-Todman, once referred to Cooper as "Mark Goodson's secret weapon".