Celebrity Sweepstakes question

[DoorNumberFour]

Jim MacKrell always used to tell the celebrities that their answers were being recorded backstage (at least, he said it outright on the pilot, in which all answers were written on white cards like Match Game).

Does anyone know if this was done on the series, and if so, how it was done?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'179597\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 10:34 AM\']Does anyone know if this was done on the series, and if so, how it was done?
[/quote]
A scrub wrote down their answer on a piece of paper as they gave it?

[DoorNumberFour]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'179604\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 02:28 PM\']
[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'179597\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 10:34 AM\']Does anyone know if this was done on the series, and if so, how it was done?
[/quote]
A scrub wrote down their answer on a piece of paper as they gave it?
[/quote]
No, see, to hear Jim say it, their answers were being recorded as the odds were being calculated; in other words, before they were even called on to answer verbally.

What I'm wondering is if they were recorded electronically via some sort of tablet like the Jeopardy podiums, which is the only way I would imagine something written would be recorded electronically.

The technology existed as early as 1975, as the Rhyme and Reason pilot proves, but I'm just curious if Edwards/Sugarman and crew really put that much technology and that much money into making sure a celebrity didn't get slick with an answer.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'179607\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 02:48 PM\']
What I'm wondering is if they were recorded electronically via some sort of tablet like the Jeopardy podiums, which is the only way I would imagine something written would be recorded electronically.[/quote]
Given the time period, I doubt they were using electronic tablets.  There were less expensive options for something that the home viewer wasn't going to see.  More likely there were simply cameras pointed at the written responses.

Whatever it was, they weren't lying.  I still have a distinct memory of Marty Feldman answering correctly in a second-round question (after another celeb had revealed the correct answer), only to have some off-screen voice say that Marty had written a wrong answer on his card.

[Chief-O]

[quote name=\'DoorNumberFour\' post=\'179607\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 01:48 PM\']
The technology existed as early as 1975, as the Rhyme and Reason pilot proves, but I'm just curious if Edwards/Sugarman and crew really put that much technology and that much money into making sure a celebrity didn't get slick with an answer.
[/quote]

Somehow, I wonder if the telestrator technology used by NYSI was that much different from what J! has. If not that much so, they could've just done it that way.

Also, Ralph Andrews did "Sweepstakes", not Edwards.

[DoorNumberFour]

[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'179615\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 03:25 PM\']
Somehow, I wonder if the telestrator technology used by NYSI was that much different from what J! has. If not that much so, they could've just done it that way.
[/quote]
Yeah, that's what I meant when I said 'tablet'. Probably just poor choice of words on my part.
[quote name=\'Chief-O\' post=\'179615\' date=\'Mar 2 2008, 03:25 PM\']
Also, Ralph Andrews did "Sweepstakes", not Edwards.
[/quote]
Duly noted. I always get them confused.

[clanky06]

Ah, yes, Celebrity Sweepstakes! In 1976 I tried out as a contestant for Ralph Andrews' revival of You Don't Say. That was quite a hectic experience, but to make a long story short, I didn't make the cut. Then maybe two months later I got a call from a contestant coordinator saying that Ralph Andrews just bought back Celebrity Sweepstakes from Burt Sugarman, and they're really trying to up the ratings and can I go directly to the Burbank NBC studios day-after-tomorrow? I went on the second taped show and ended up with $25,000! (Not too bad in 1976, when you could still income average). Bill Cullen was the celebrity I went with the most. Ralph Andrews made a big point that NOW, the celebrities are hearing the questions for the first time. And Ralph Andrews himself did the warm-up explaining the technique of voting—and what do you know—it must have worked, 'cause the odds now went 'way up, allowing big money to be made! I sure didn't complain!

Jim McKrell said nothing about answers being written backstage. That must have happened during an earlier series. Page O'Clips has videos of the last Celebrity Sweepstakes show, probably about three months after I was on. My wife and I were in the audience—she is featured in the opening scan of the audience. One thing I did notice—for the final question where you could either "bet it all" or "bet nothing at all," the celebrities would write their answers on a large pad in front of them. I could watch their pen strokes and could tell if they were writing down the right answer and bet accordingly. Well, when I came back to sit in the audience for the last shows, I noticed that they now placed plywood "blinders" in front of the celebrities so you no longer could watch them write.

[Ian Wallis]

I can shed some light on this:  in the first couple of years answers were recorded backstage.  After every question, Jim McKrell would ask “how many stars had that one right” and the lights in front of them would light up to indicate it.  They also had a “tote board” which kept track of the progress of each star, and the odds for the final question were based on how many they got right during the show.

In the summer of 1976 they changed the rules (oddly enough, on a week where regular Carol Wayne wasn’t there) and that’s when celebrities no longer wrote down their answers.  I believe that’s also the week where the theme changed back to the original Stan Worth theme.  I remember Bobby Troupe and Julie London were two of the stars for that week (and if I could ever find the written records I kept at the time, I could provide more details including exact air dates). I believe it was in early July.  TV Guide listings for summer 1976 were not very accurate for this show.

I always preferred the first format better.