The Peter Marshall Hollywood Squares

[aaron sica]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 20 2005, 10:21 PM\']I had a few "manufactured memories" of my own in the GS dept. while younger that were later proven to be untrue.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[snapback]72185[/snapback]

[/quote]

So do I....Among mine was that I could have sworn that I remember seeing a "Match Game '80" sign, but I know now that was untrue...

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 20 2005, 10:21 PM\']

Sorry, it's too late--you made a mistake.

Let's cut Ian some slack...[/quote]

Whoosh.

(Just a light one. Think Richard Dawson not wanting to be mean.)

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'golden-road\' post=\'71740\' date=\'Jan 18 2005, 03:39 PM\']
1. What was the opening sequence?

2. Was the player area the same?

3. Was the game still $250 a game, $50 a square if time is called, winner gets a car? Or was the "pick a star, win a prize" bonus in effect?

4. Was the Rhodes Productions logo in-credit, or did it follow the credits?
[/quote]

Sorry I haven't gotten back on this one, my soap-opera love life has kept me busy.

1. I don't have access to what it looks like, just the sound file.  I have a hazy memory of the opening actually showing the Riviera and/or its Vegas marquee as Kenny Williams announces the location, then the stars are ID'ed one at a time.  My one video copy from that season starts just as the camera is zooming away from Paul Lynde, because someone apparently recorded it as they changed the channels on a VCR.

2.  Mostly, I think the wall behind Peter Marshall had a shiny aqua color to it but otherwise the player area was near-identical to the NBC January-June 1980 set, the checkered one that looks like a horse blanket.  In addition to at least one ep on the trading circuit, there's a blooper circulating in which a contestant refers to the recently-returned Lynde as "Paul Smith" and the set indicates it's from a Vegas ep.

3.  I don't think they played for money, just prizes during this season.  That's why the prize plugs went on forever and took hellishly long to read off, and I have to wonder if that's the key factor that killed the show.  I know it hurts my enjoyment of the two I have (one of which is an NBC rerun, shown in syndication!) from that period.  And the display that once gave monetary amounts now gave X's for games won.        

4.  Don't remember, it's possible the Rhodes logo appeared as part of the credits but the Filmways logo ran seperately after they ended.

And to one other person who asked off board: the one and only video copy I have of a Vegas episode picked up with a game in progress from the previous day, and the game play was surprisingly suspenseful.  (Or painfully slow depending on how you look at it.)

Dixon

[bandit_bobby]

Was the $100,000 just in prizes? Or cash and prizes?

[DoorNumberFour]

[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'173958\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 05:45 PM\']
Was the $100,000 just in prizes? Or cash and prizes?
[/quote]
I have no idea what you're talking about...

...so here's a picture of Tommy Oliver in his underwear.

EDIT: Now I DO know what he's talkin' about. The picture stands, nonetheless.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'173969\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 10:12 PM\']
[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'173958\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 05:45 PM\']
Was the $100,000 just in prizes? Or cash and prizes?
[/quote]
I have no idea what you're talking about...

...so here's a picture of Tommy Oliver in his underwear.
[/quote]
Bobby's referring to an earlier post, which mentioned a $100,000 tournament, for the Vegas Squares (1980-81 season).

[DoorNumberFour]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'173970\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 10:38 PM\']
[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'173969\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 10:12 PM\']
[quote name=\'bandit_bobby\' post=\'173958\' date=\'Jan 5 2008, 05:45 PM\']
Was the $100,000 just in prizes? Or cash and prizes?
[/quote]
I have no idea what you're talking about...

...so here's a picture of Tommy Oliver in his underwear.
[/quote]
Bobby's referring to an earlier post, which mentioned a $100,000 tournament, for the Vegas Squares (1980-81 season).
[/quote]
Wow, that one got right by me.

Post edited.

[Neumms]

Does anyone else recall in the opening, before they read Paul Lynde's name, they'd insert a still-photo sequence of Paul doing some bit of jocularity in the casino? It gave him a little extra attention, as Whoopi got later.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'Neumms\' post=\'174028\' date=\'Jan 6 2008, 04:27 PM\']
Does anyone else recall in the opening, before they read Paul Lynde's name, they'd insert a still-photo sequence of Paul doing some bit of jocularity in the casino?[/quote]
I do indeed. And it was good to have him back on the show. Easily, that helped sell the Vegas version.

[uncamark]

By 1980, Jack Rhodes had ceased his relationship with Filmways and had become an independent again.  Therefore, Flimways Sales (or whatever it was actually called) was the syndicator.

[chris319]

An entirely new game board was built for the Las Vegas version of HS. It was quite the buzz around NBC at the time, but HQ would have had to buy the original game board from NBC, and NBC was asking a ridiculous price for it. It was thus decided to build an entirely new board for the Las Vegas version. I don't know what the costs and logistics would have been for dismantling the old board in Burbank, transporting it and reassembling it in Las Vegas, or whether the new board was built in California and transported to Las Vegas, or whether the new board was built in Las Vegas. The thing was about 18 feet high and obviously wasn't easy to transport.

I've never understood HQ's attraction to taping in Las Vegas. Key staffers would have to get on a plane, fly to Las Vegas, stay overnight in the likely event that there was more than one taping day, fly back home to California, and then repeat the whole thing two weeks later.

[Jimmy Owen]

With "Las Vegas Gambit" also there, maybe some of the H-Q staff stayed in the hotel for an extended period of time.

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'174136\' date=\'Jan 7 2008, 07:15 PM\']
I've never understood HQ's attraction to taping in Las Vegas. Key staffers would have to get on a plane, fly to Las Vegas, stay overnight in the likely event that there was more than one taping day, fly back home to California, and then repeat the whole thing two weeks later.
[/quote]
I've got to dig up my Peter Marshall autobiography at home, but I believe Meshulam Riklis (a.k.a. Mr. Pia Zadora) let them use the Riviera at low or no cost.

Side note:  In the book, Pete credits this season for straightening out his life.  He noted he had been drinking with the other stars that night, won a pile of money at the casino, took it in cash to his room, and found the next day it had been stolen.  He realized a) he wasn't looking that good, b) his marriage was on the rocks, c) his career wasn't where he wanted it to be, and d) he was drinking too much.  I wouldn't say all of those things improved (his marriage lasted two more years and his career was what it was), but he did stop drinking cold turkey -- and if you look at subsequent pictures from that decade, he arguably looks a lot thinner and better thereafter.

[chris319]

I would think the contestant coords basically took up residence at the hotel for the duration, and that office space was provided.

Even with free use of the hall, they still had to rent equipment and hire a crew. In addition, there was the sheer inconvenience of all that travel. The writers probably never left L.A., but the producer, director, talent, as well as Mr. H. and Mr. Q. and assorted others had to make the trip.