Concentration

[normb]

Glad to have you back, Mr. B.

Norm, what did you think of Art James as emcee of Concentration?

I wouldn't have given him the job if I didn't like him.  He was extremely young and inexperienced in that show that you fellas found.  He matured well enough to do over 15 long lasting network game shows -- he did enough to have been in the top 5 or 6 (like Bill Cullen, etc.) who achieved that.  He also did countless industrial training game shows for major corporations.  They never aired, but were produced at national corporate conventions. I did that too -- and have always said, "Learning is a lot easier when it is fun."

[chris319]

Roger Muir didn't elaborate much on the cancellation of Twenty One, either.

I have seen the pilot for Say When!! To my experienced eye, it looks like something went wrong backstage and rather than stop tape, Art was asked to stretch. He ad libbed for quite a while, talking about various aspects of the game in no particular context, until the problem was solved. He was absolutely masterful, just as smooth as could be.

I wish SOMEBODY would post the Say When!! pilot on line.

[davemackey]

In the above clip he starts talking about Concentration at 24:12. Nothing terribly interesting, though.

True.  But you must remember, his affiliation with Concentration was merely as a watchdog making sure we stayed honest.  He had nothing to do with the production.  I liked him because he knew his place, and never tried to "butt" in.  As I said, we remained friends who respcted each other for years.  His claim to fame -- was Howdy Doody.  This was truly something to be proud of -- it belongs in a TV Hall of Fame -- if there ever is one.

And one of Muir's one-time cast members on "Howdy Doody" later became his business partner - Nick Nicholson. Apart from Howdy Doody, they produced a number of modestly successful game shows such as "Pay Cards" and "Super Pay Cards" and some utter bombs like "Spin-Off", and creating the "Newlywed Game" for Barris.

Late to the party, I know, but I just read your book. Some great stories in there. I might even still have your "TV Game Shows" book from the 70's somewhere.

[normb]

In the above clip he starts talking about Concentration at 24:12. Nothing terribly interesting, though.

True.  But you must remember, his affiliation with Concentration was merely as a watchdog making sure we stayed honest.  He had nothing to do with the production.  I liked him because he knew his place, and never tried to "butt" in.  As I said, we remained friends who respcted each other for years.  His claim to fame -- was Howdy Doody.  This was truly something to be proud of -- it belongs in a TV Hall of Fame -- if there ever is one.

And one of Muir's one-time cast members on "Howdy Doody" later became his business partner - Nick Nicholson. Apart from Howdy Doody, they produced a number of modestly successful game shows such as "Pay Cards" and "Super Pay Cards" and some utter bombs like "Spin-Off", and creating the "Newlywed Game" for Barris.

Late to the party, I know, but I just read your book. Some great stories in there. I might even still have your "TV Game Shows" book from the 70's somewhere.

Thanks for kind words about my book.  You obviously have good taste.

[Matt Ottinger]

Norm, a couple of us have an old British home version of Concentration, probably from the late fifties.  The game features prizes, Takes, Forfeits and Wild Cards...but no rebuses. You just make matches, and the player with the biggest prize value when all the matches are made is the winner.  There's also a note saying that "every effort has been made to keep as closely as possible to the actual programme."

Do you know anything about the international versions of the show back in the early days?  We've heard stories that back then, overseas productions would rip off American versions of shows without licensing the formats.  Would that have been something you guys would have heard about while working on the show over here, did they actually license a non-rebus version of the show, or did the British show play exactly like the American and it's the home version that has this glaring omission?

[normb]

Norm, a couple of us have an old British home version of Concentration, probably from the late fifties.  The game features prizes, Takes, Forfeits and Wild Cards...but no rebuses. You just make matches, and the player with the biggest prize value when all the matches are made is the winner.  There's also a note saying that "every effort has been made to keep as closely as possible to the actual programme."

Do you know anything about the international versions of the show back in the early days?  We've heard stories that back then, overseas productions would rip off American versions of shows without licensing the formats.  Would that have been something you guys would have heard about while working on the show over here, did they actually license a non-rebus version of the show, or did the British show play exactly like the American and it's the home version that has this glaring omission?

Very strange.  I never saw, nor even heard of that version.  Was it called, Concentration?  I do recall seeing a British version of Concentration.  There was a rebus, as I recall the puzzle was the name of a British orchestra, none of us had ever heard of.  My staff all watched together and were asked to give our opinions.  None of us enjoyed the show.  Believe it  or not, we all gave the same reason.  Their show had NO commercial breaks, and we were bored.  Sounds ridiculous, but we were so used to the periodic breaks offered by commercials, the excitement (or call it annoyance at having our game interrupted) was missing.

[Matt Ottinger]

Very strange.  I never saw, nor even heard of that version.  Was it called, Concentration?  I do recall seeing a British version of Concentration.  There was a rebus, as I recall the puzzle was the name of a British orchestra, none of us had ever heard of.  My staff all watched together and were asked to give our opinions.  None of us enjoyed the show.  Believe it  or not, we all gave the same reason.  Their show had NO commercial breaks, and we were bored.  Sounds ridiculous, but we were so used to the periodic breaks offered by commercials, the excitement (or call it annoyance at having our game interrupted) was missing.

Definitely called Concentration, and I've recently learned that it's the board game that's screwy.  I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do this before, but checking the page at UK Game Shows, there are images from that 1959-1960 version that clearly show that the TV game did use rebuses.  So even though the board game says "every effort has been made to keep as closely as possible to the actual programme," they actually leave out one of the most important parts of the game.

Interesting take on the need for there to be those commercial breaks to break up the game.  I bet there are a lot of British adaptations that would feel that way to us.

[normb]

Very strange.  I never saw, nor even heard of that version.  Was it called, Concentration?  I do recall seeing a British version of Concentration.  There was a rebus, as I recall the puzzle was the name of a British orchestra, none of us had ever heard of.  My staff all watched together and were asked to give our opinions.  None of us enjoyed the show.  Believe it  or not, we all gave the same reason.  Their show had NO commercial breaks, and we were bored.  Sounds ridiculous, but we were so used to the periodic breaks offered by commercials, the excitement (or call it annoyance at having our game interrupted) was missing.

Definitely called Concentration, and I've recently learned that it's the board game that's screwy.  I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do this before, but checking the page at UK Game Shows, there are images from that 1959-1960 version that clearly show that the TV game did use rebuses.  So even though the board game says "every effort has been made to keep as closely as possible to the actual programme," they actually leave out one of the most important parts of the game.

Interesting take on the need for there to be those commercial breaks to break up the game.  I bet there are a lot of British adaptations that would feel that way to us.

Obviously you have access to international game show sources I am not familiar with.  Here's a challenge.  Many, many years ago, when we were still on NBC, I received several small color photographs of TV sets showing people playing Concentration on Japanese TV.  In no way could we get any further info.  The pictures showed a child and adult playing together, and another puzzlement -- a stuffed animal was on their podium -- sort of like, it represented whoever's turn it was.  Anyone know anything more about this mystery?

[chris319]

It looks like the Brits made a nearly-exact replica of the U.S. mechanical contraption game board.

[geno57]

I'm surprised at the short runs that Concentration had in England.  Would love to see an episode!

[normb]

It looks like the Brits made a nearly-exact replica of the U.S. mechanical contraption game board.

I met with the producers from the United Kingdom when they visited us at 30 Rock.  I supplied sample puzzles, instructions, set designs, board plans and circuitry rquirements and supplied as much info as I could. Most of what they built for their own versiion was based on those meetings.

[chris319]

Norm, who designed and built the U.S. game board?

[normb]

Norm, who designed and built the U.S. game board?

Going way back to the development of Concentration, we needed a game board to demonstrate our concept to the networks. It had to be relatively small and portable enough to be used in conference rooms.  Being Barry & Enright's art director, I had to design and build the presentation model.  It was about 3' x 4' and made of wood, paper and cardboard.  The cardboard trylons were glued in place on large dowel sticks and could be turned easily by hand from the rear.  There were no electrical or mechanical parts.  When we sold the show, we hired one of our favorite set designers, Ted Cooper to design the giant game board (based upon my mock-up board) and the rest of the set. The NBC scenic shop could not build a mechanical board as complicated as this, so we hired Messmore & Damon (a large New York builder of carnival rides and floats for the Macy's annual Thanksgiving parades).  I spent every day of the next few months at their shop supervising the construction. We solved most of our problems, but could not eliminate the clank-clunk of the tiny motors.  Weird, that sound is what most Concentration fans love to recall.

[davemackey]

We have had discussions about the various "Concentration" game boards since back in the USENET days of the 1990's. This page summarizes the information gleaned from Goodson-Todman employee Mark Bowerman as to what happened to the mechanical game boards once they left New York, and Ted Cooper's son Corey on the design of the electronic game screens for "Classic Concentration". I didn't realize he had to do a lot of that work from scratch!

I do remember one show of Jack Narz's version where the puzzle board malfunctioned during the Double Play cross and the trilons went every which way except back to their numbered positions.

Even though the prizes and board numbers were electronic, at least the puzzles were still individually painted with at least two of the old "Concentration" artists still involved, Bernie Schmittke and Vern Jorgensen. (Schmittke worked on every version of the show from beginning to end.) There was a game show in the 80's ("Catch Phrase" which was a bigger hit in the UK than it was here) that used computerized rebuses and they looked primitive. The same guy was involved in making up the rebuses for that show who did "Classic Concentration"'s rebuses, Steve Ryan.

[chris319]

Cool information about Messmore and Damon, Norm, thanks for sharing that!

Messmore and Damon:

http://www.popcultmag.com/oddglimpses/ephemera/messmore/mess00.html

Unfortunately there is no mention on that site of the Concentration board with its clunk-clunk sound.