I arrived an hour early and met a few other fans, including SRIV94, or "SRIV" for short. We talked for a while until murmuring of a possible Don Pardo sighting caused us to migrate to the lobby, and there he was. His voice is shockingly different in person (soft-spoken and thick New Yawk accent). His hands shook a little bit but other than that, he was as lively and friendly as I'd like to be at that age. Matt Ottinger politely escorted Don to a reception area where Bob Stewart was waiting, and the two of them immediately began reminiscing while I acted as a fly on the wall. Matt emereged from the room and cracked me up with his boastful announcement: "You'll have to excuse me, everybody...I'm GETTING DON PARDO HIS COFFEE."
More milling around and watching the stars arrive. I met Randy West, Rich Fields, Fred Wostbrock, David Schwartz, Ron Greenberg, and Barbara Feldon. We watched Wink and Florence Henderson make their entrances as well. I got some photos taken with help from Matt O. (lesson for future reference: Matt becomes frightened if he doesn't immediately know how a camera works :-))
At noon the shindig started. I had the chicken. Chicken was good. Was everybody else happy?
I sat at the same table as J. Keith Van Stratten, who predictably had a great sense of humor. I asked him to autograph my Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows, and, looking shocked, he asked, "Don't you want to preserve the value of it?"
The speeches started. Mark Maxwell Smith was a shining example of what audience warm-up SHOULD be. There were some very well produced video tributes which Randy mentioned. Thom McKee (who, for some reason, really shocked me with how good he is at speeches) and Charlie O'Donnell both told great stories about the Winkster. Wink gave a funny and occasionally surprising speech (didn't expect Wink to quote a George Carlin joke about student-teacher sex, but, well, he did).
Next was Bob Stewart's tribute...or so we thought. Betty White did her tribute and then was asked to stay and got surprised with the 1st Arlene Francis Lifetime Panelist Achievement Award. It was a neat bonus for the day.
Then we got back to the Bob Stewart tribute, this time for real. Ann Cullen got in a funny "cheap" jab at him, Sande Stewart had some nice behind-the-scenes observations, and Bob himself had a book's worth of stories. (Side note: Strongly recommend the multi-part interview with Bob on Google Video.)
The ceremony ended and I began making beelines through the ball room with things for various folks to autograph. Tragically, going through all the stuff I brought back, I fear something got left behind...So, selfish aside here...If you found a photo from the "Gambit" pilot inscribed "To Adam, Wink Martindale," e-mail me immediately.
I also got to rub shoulders with Betsy Palmer (who was delighted by the TV Guide cover I had for her), Betty White (who was thrilled when I handed her a photo of Mr. & Mrs. Ludden from very shortly after the wedding), Bob Stewart, Barry Jenner, and Geoff Edwards (who actually noticed that I got my hair cut since I met him last year).
Mr. Clementson, I can't thank you enough for Match Game. You really seemed to have this "I hope it's good enough attitude" about it, but it was great stuff. The set, the audio, and even the little things (Randy's mike and the question cards) were sensational (I went rummaging through the pile afterward and nabbed two of the cards with questions I had written for souvenirs). And I second Randy's motion...Matt was the best panelist there (though all of you were in rare form).
After the Congress was officially done, it was off for a quick snack and then What's My Line? As I told J. Keith after the show, I came there expecting the show to be good...I never expected it to be THAT good. J. Keith is a great moderator, Adam Chester did some superb music (his warm-up included a phenomenal version of "Bohemian Rhapsody"), the panel had good chemistry (although Oscar Nunez seemed a little nervous), and all of the games were just FUNNY. Contestants were a maker of gourmet dog treats ("Would children enjoy this product?"), a retired meter maid who was on the show in 1964 (they followed the game with a clip!), Mr. X (who turned out to be MAD Magazine artist Sergio Aragones), and they absolutely went above and beyond in getting a Mystery Guest...PETER FALK. Wow! I kinda bullied my roommate (who's not really a game show fan) into coming with me, and he left the show confident that we were coming back for the next two shows and that we were getting our other roommate to come with us.
It was a thrill to meet all of you. The out-of-towners, I definitely will see you next year. Those of you in LA...I'm in Glendale and feel free to drop by or meet me somewhere for lunch. And those who didn't come...stash your pennies for next year, it's worth the journey.
