Parks entered radio broadcasting at age 16, for Atlanta's WGST. Three years later, he moved to New York City and was hired as a singer and straight man on The Eddie Cantor Show, then becoming a CBS Radio staff announcer. Parks was the host of Break the Bank, which premiered on radio in 1945 and was telecast from 1948 to 1957, as well as Stop the Music on radio in 1948 and television from 1949 to 1952. The success of Stop the Music took a toll on the ratings of the popular radio show hosted by satirist Fred Allen, who began spoofing Parks's program with skits mocking the premise of the show, one called Cease The Melody. With other celebrities, he hosted NBC radio's Monitor during the 1960s.
Television
Parks' first game show was Party Line on NBC, which involved viewers calling in to answer questions and win $5 prizes; Party Line ran from June 8 to August 31, 1947, making its one surviving episode the oldest known game show and one of the oldest surviving television shows to have been recorded. Commercial kinescopes did not come out until fall 1947, and the only kinescopes known to predate Party Line are a few episodes of Kraft Television Theater from February and June 1947. Other games that Parks hosted in early television include Stop the Music, Double or Nothing, Balance Your Budget, Two in Love, Giant Step, Hold That Note, Bid 'n' Buy, County Fair, Masquerade Party, The Big Payoff, Yours for a Song, and the pilot for Hollywood Squares. His last game show hosting job was in 1968, on the pilot for a revival of Heatter-Quigley's The Celebrity Game; the show did not sell. He also helmed a daytime variety show in 1950, simply called The Bert Parks Show. In addition, he also starred in a syndicated series called Circus! in the early 1970s. Parks also appeared in a 1976 episode of The Bionic Woman as the nefarious host of the "Miss United States" beauty pageant, involved in a plot to sell national security technology. However, Parks is most famous for hosting the Miss America telecast from 1955–79; each telecast ended with Parks singing "There She Is, Miss America", as the winner was crowned. Following the 1979 pageant, he was unceremoniously fired by the organization in an attempt to attract a more youthful audience. The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson led an on-air campaign to get Parks rehired, but was unsuccessful. In 1990, for the 70th anniversary of the Miss America pageant, Parks was brought on by host Gary Collins to sing "There She Is" to the new Miss America, Marjorie Judith Vincent. It was the last time Parks performed the song live. Parks' last known television appearance, a Pepsi commercial, first aired in June 1991.
Recordings
A recording of "There She Is, Miss America" as sung by Parks was used each year in the Miss America scholarship pageant until 2012 as the new reigning titleholder takes her walk down the runway in her newly earned crown. On September 13, 2015, the recording was reused for the 95th Anniversary of the Miss America pageant. Parks did a take-off of his hosting role in The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick and Bruno Kirby. He played the emcee of a Gourmet Club dinner where guests supposedly eat a Komodo dragon, singing a spoof of "There She Is" in a salute to the soon-to-be-deceased dragon. Some of his other film appearances were in That's the Way of the World and The Great Balloon Race. Parks appeared on WKRP in Cincinnati in the 1980 episode "Herb's Dad", playing Herb Tarlek Sr.. In 1988, Parks appeared on an episode of 227 as himself, and in 1991, Parks appeared on an episode of Night Court as himself.
