Hollywood Squares Question

[calliaume]

I know some of the old-time TV stars did Squares, like Groucho Marx and Milton Berle, but were Jack Benny or George Burns ever asked to do the show?  Having seen them on The Tonight Show, it seems like they'd be naturals for the format.

Obviously, the answer is either "They didn't want to do it" or "No one ever asked"; I'm just wondering if anyone has any inside knowledge.

[Matt Ottinger]

No inside knowledge, but in his book, Peter Marshall makes a passing mention of them being among the huge stars that could be found wandering around the halls at NBC on taping days.  There's also an odd reference in the book to big stars making cameo appearances in the contestant seats after a player was defeated, and Benny is mentioned (along with Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis) as one of the stars who did that.

[whewfan]

In the case of George Burns, I am not so sure he'd be as interested in playing the game as he would be in telling funny stories, and that's not what HS is about. Also, I think Burns would be out of place as a panelist, because Burns is a straightman. He'd be unaccustomed to cracking jokes. George didn't do many game show apperances. He appeared once on the 1972 version of IGAS, and his secret was that he tells lies. Unfortunately, George was really just doing his schtick and not playing along with the secret, which noticeably annoyed Steve Allen.

Jack Benny also did few game show appearances. He definitely would've been a good celeb if they wrote questions in tune to his stingy character.

I think it's interesting that Milton Berle appeared on game shows at all. Peter Marshall said in his book that Milton thought game shows were "above him", but at the same time, Milton's popularity on TV pretty much declined once his show went off the air.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215286\' date=\'May 9 2009, 03:43 PM\']Peter Marshall said in his book that Milton thought game shows were "above him"[/quote]
Pretty sure that's not what Peter said.

[Jimmy Owen]

Didn't know Uncle Miltie did "All-Star Blitz."

[calliaume]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'215287\' date=\'May 9 2009, 02:58 PM\'][quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215286\' date=\'May 9 2009, 03:43 PM\']Peter Marshall said in his book that Milton thought game shows were "above him"[/quote]
Pretty sure that's not what Peter said.
[/quote]
Have the book in front of me -- Berle was complaining about his dressing room to Peter Marshall, who said, "I have no idea why you're doing this show.  It's only a game show.  You're a very big star, Milton," etc., using a little reverse psychology, which worked well.

[Allstar87]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'215294\' date=\'May 9 2009, 05:19 PM\']Didn't know Uncle Miltie did "All-Star Blitz." [/quote]

Well played.

[ChrisLambert!]

[quote name=\'whewfan\' post=\'215286\' date=\'May 9 2009, 03:43 PM\']In the case of George Burns, I am not so sure he'd be as interested in playing the game as he would be in telling funny stories, and that's not what HS is about.[/quote]

Didn't stop Jonathan Winters.

Oh wait, you said funny stories.

[JasonA1]

Oh, rush of memories from the GSN reruns. Jonathan would prattle on and on and then not even give an answer and have to be asked ANOTHER question.

-Jason

[BillCullen1]

Jonathan seemed to be a little more "with it" when they made him answer as one of his characters. Peter would preface the question with "As Elwood, As Maude" etc. He was on the nighttime version for two or three seasons. I saw six shows of nighttime HS in 1975, and Jonathan was one of the celebs. During the commercial breaks, he would go off on one of his tangents, and he had the audience and the celebs in stitches. One bit involved him pretending to be Curt Gowdy. Funny as hell, and it was all clean. Some eyebrow-raising, but nothing outright filthy. Supposedly, Jonathan and Paul Lynde got along very well on the Squares set.