High Rollers Dice Table & Opening Music Of The 1974 Version

[Chris Kennedy]

I am just curious as to, How the dice table worked in all of the versions of "High Rollers", when the dice were brought back to the contestant?

Also, was the drum stinger from the 1974 High Rollers music package, the opening cue repeated several times before the open part 1 is played, or was it an entirely different piece of music?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

[Bob Zager]

[quote name=\'Chris Kennedy\' post=\'240541\' date=\'May 9 2010, 01:02 AM\']I am just curious as to, How the dice table worked in all of the versions of "High Rollers", when the dice were brought back to the contestant?

Also, was the drum stinger from the 1974 High Rollers music package, the opening cue repeated several times before the open part 1 is played, or was it an entirely different piece of music?

Thanks in advance,
Chris[/quote]

The 1978 revival, and the Wink Martindale hosted revival, were the only versions to feature a conveyor belt system to return the dice to the contestants.  

On the original version, the contestants were seated at one of the wider sides of the dice table, and Alex Trebek was standing at one of the narrower sides of the table reading questions, while Ruta Lee (or Elaine Stewart on the nighttime version), stood at the other narrower side (across from Alex), rolling the dice.  She'd had a long "L" shaped prop to reach out and pull the dice back to her side.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the second part, but I know the theme music stayed the same on both of Alex's versions.

If you're referring to the drum sounds from the second version, played when the numbers popped up in the three columns, I think it was specially made for that version, but blended in well with the drum sounds of the theme music.

[Chris Kennedy]

The 1978 revival, and the Wink Martindale hosted revival, were the only versions to feature a conveyor belt system to return the dice to the contestants.  

On the original version, the contestants were seated at one of the wider sides of the dice table, and Alex Trebek was standing at one of the narrower sides of the table reading questions, while Ruta Lee (or Elaine Stewart on the nighttime version), stood at the other narrower side (across from Alex), rolling the dice.  She'd had a long "L" shaped prop to reach out and pull the dice back to her side.

Thank you kindly Bob for the answer.  But I just have one more question on how the conveyor belt worked.  Was it done by the host pressing a button, or was it controlled by a stagehand?

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the second part, but I know the theme music stayed the same on both of Alex's versions.

If you're referring to the drum sounds from the second version, played when the numbers popped up in the three columns, I think it was specially made for that version, but blended in well with the drum sounds of the theme music.

Actually what I was referring to, and I should have been more specific, as it was an oversight on my part, was the opening drum cue apparently used on the 1974 version, when the numbers lit up and occasionally when the audience clapped along, like the Martindale version at times, that preceded the first part of the open that was heard on both 1974 & 1978's HR versions.  Sorry about the mislead.

Here's a youtube link of it.  
High Rollers 1974

Thanks again,
Chris

[Jeremy Nelson]

[quote name=\'Bob Zager\' post=\'240553\' date=\'May 9 2010, 11:15 AM\']If you're referring to the drum sounds from the second version, played when the numbers popped up in the three columns, I think it was specially made for that version, but blended in well with the drum sounds of the theme music.[/quote]
I think he may be referring to the first 12 seconds of this.

[jmangin]

[quote name=\'Bob Zager\' post=\'240553\' date=\'May 9 2010, 12:15 PM\']She'd had a long "L" shaped prop to reach out and pull the dice back to her side.[/quote]
That would be the patent-pending "Ruta Lee Hook-O-Matic."

You can see Alex pushing a button to move the conveyor on the 1978 version. I haven't seen Wink perform any action like this at his console so the conveyor movement was probably controlled off-stage.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'rollercoaster87\' post=\'240557\' date=\'May 9 2010, 01:23 PM\'][quote name=\'Bob Zager\' post=\'240553\' date=\'May 9 2010, 11:15 AM\']If you're referring to the drum sounds from the second version, played when the numbers popped up in the three columns, I think it was specially made for that version, but blended in well with the drum sounds of the theme music.[/quote]
I think he may be referring to the first 12 seconds of this.
[/quote]
My Gawd, I think I could listen to the :05-:21 mark on endless loop and never get tired of it. :-)

[TLEberle]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' post=\'240580\' date=\'May 9 2010, 07:44 PM\']My Gawd, I think I could listen to the :05-:21 mark on endless loop and never get tired of it. :-)[/quote]It is certainly one of the more badass bits of music in all of game-show-dom.

[JepMasta]

[quote name=\'jmangin\' post=\'240576\' date=\'May 9 2010, 07:16 PM\'][quote name=\'Bob Zager\' post=\'240553\' date=\'May 9 2010, 12:15 PM\']She'd had a long "L" shaped prop to reach out and pull the dice back to her side.[/quote]
That would be the patent-pending "Ruta Lee Hook-O-Matic."

You can see Alex pushing a button to move the conveyor on the 1978 version. I haven't seen Wink perform any action like this at his console so the conveyor movement was probably controlled off-stage.
[/quote]

Actually that hook-o-matic is called a "croupier stick" used during games of craps at casinos

and yes Alex used a button for his coveyor belt, which he called his "Junior G-Man magic carpet."

I honestly don't know why I know that

[Bob Zager]

[quote name=\'Chris Kennedy\' post=\'240556\' date=\'May 9 2010, 12:56 PM\']But I just have one more question on how the conveyor belt worked.  Was it done by the host pressing a button, or was it controlled by a stagehand?

If you're referring to the drum sounds from the second version, played when the numbers popped up in the three columns, I think it was specially made for that version, but blended in well with the drum sounds of the theme music.

Actually what I was referring to, and I should have been more specific, as it was an oversight on my part, was the opening drum cue apparently used on the 1974 version, when the numbers lit up and occasionally when the audience clapped along, like the Martindale version at times, that preceded the first part of the open that was heard on both 1974 & 1978's HR versions.  Sorry about the mislead.

Here's a youtube link of it.  
High Rollers 1974

Thanks again,
Chris
[/quote]

A few additional notes/thoughts by myself:

Yes, Alex was occasionally seen pushing the button controlling the belt, but I'm sure a stagehand did so on Wink's version!  In fact, because of the angle of the camera shots, the tables from those versions were designed differently, where the dice always landed in camera view on Alex's version, but on Wink's version you'd often see the belt move back about a foot or less after the dice completely landed on the table, to get a full view of the roll.

The beat of the drum cue, that I now fully understand, kind of reminded of the music cue for introducing the "Spoilers," on Alex's "Double Dare."

BTW the picture shown on the youtube link, is from the 1978 revival.

Long ago, I'd seen clips, on shows like Entertainment Tonight, showing parts of original series' episodes, featuring the original number/prize board, and the short-lived "Face-lifters" screen, used the last few months on the air!  Hope someday they'll turn up on youtube

[Bobby B.]

At about the 1:28 mark of this excerpt from CBC's "Life and Times: Alex Trebek," there is a short clip of the opening of the first version.  You get a full view of the Big Numbers, and you see about half of the maingame board.

[jmangin]

[quote name=\'JepMasta\' post=\'240584\' date=\'May 10 2010, 02:25 AM\']Actually that hook-o-matic is called a "croupier stick" used during games of craps at casinos[/quote]
"Hook-O-Matic" is also called a joke

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'Bobby B.\' post=\'240611\' date=\'May 10 2010, 04:27 PM\']At about the 1:28 mark of this excerpt from CBC's "Life and Times: Alex Trebek," there is a short clip of the opening of the first version.  You get a full view of the Big Numbers, and you see about half of the maingame board.[/quote]

In that segment, Alex mentioned "Pitfall" and his lump sum salary check which did not clear that still hangs on his wall.  It looked like the check was for $49,200.04  That was quite a chunk of change back in the day.  Exactly how many eps of Pitfall were made???

[mmb5]

On that same episode, that opening to Double Dare looks off.  Wonder if that is pilotriffic?


--Mike

[ChrisLambert!]

[quote name=\'Bobby B.\' post=\'240611\' date=\'May 10 2010, 06:27 PM\']At about the 1:28 mark of this excerpt from CBC's "Life and Times: Alex Trebek," there is a short clip of the opening of the first version.  You get a full view of the Big Numbers, and you see about half of the maingame board.[/quote]

Is this the Museum's ep, or does CBC know something we don't?

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'ChrisLambert!\' post=\'240651\' date=\'May 11 2010, 02:06 PM\'][quote name=\'Bobby B.\' post=\'240611\' date=\'May 10 2010, 06:27 PM\']At about the 1:28 mark of this excerpt from CBC's "Life and Times: Alex Trebek," there is a short clip of the opening of the first version.  You get a full view of the Big Numbers, and you see about half of the maingame board.[/quote]

Is this the Museum's ep, or does CBC know something we don't?
[/quote]
Alex is wearing a tux, so it's got to be the nighttime syndicated version.