Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid  (Read 5560 times)

Eric Paddon

  • Member
  • Posts: 919
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #15 on: March 20, 2011, 10:37:00 PM »
LOL.  Well, one of her wins made the opening montage so she was certainly capable of catching lightning in a bottle!    I can also remember a 1977 $20K win of hers making the montage sequence for the surviving 78 episodes.

If there was one Cullen Pyramid episode that I wish had been among the stash that made it out it would have been the episode from 77-78 where Garry Moore played and won (since he is seen winning in the opening on a couple other episodes for that year).   This would have been taped at the same time he stepped down as TTTT host and it would have been nice to see him on the other side doing some game playing for a change and coming up a winner.    Aside from that, the 26 that got out do give more than a reasonable flavor of the show from beginning to end of run.

GSFan

  • Member
  • Posts: 209
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #16 on: March 31, 2011, 09:45:19 PM »
I remember the "List."   it was given out as part of the press kit provided by Viacom.  Somewhere, I have a copy of the list for the second season, 1975-76.  I was taking a media course in High School.  Pyramid was the topic of my term paper; made all the better by my having the opportunity to interview several contestants from that season.  The list included their contact information.    Dick Clark's back-to-back wins (in taping order) were second season episodes.  I was in the studio on tape day and eventually interviewed both his contestant partners for my paper.

Recollections of life in Stewartville are pretty much on the mark.  A contestant would play until losing to an opponent in the front game or clearing the Big Board.  From 1973 until 1976, a jackpot win would add $10,000 to any previous winnings.  Similarly, all winnings on the Cullen show were kept unless you cleared the second Big Board.  At that point, your total would top off at $25,000.

From 1976 until 1980, clearing the Big Board augmented your winnings to the Jackpot total only.

Peter Lawford used to agonize over his inability to clear the Big Board.   He finally achieved a win on the daytime show in 1974 or 1975.  An audience member rushed on stage to present him with a novelty newspaper.  The headline read,  "Pyramid Staff Rejoices!  Lawford Finally Wins!"

Last and certainly not least, the contestant who won seventeen consecutive main games in 1978 was Ruth Hlavacek.  I may be wrong about the spelling although I remember her very well.  Lois Nettelton, Dick Cavett, Ruth and Me.  "Pyramid, July 20, 1978, Part 3."  It's on YouTube and my blog.  My "fee spot" was edited out, I am sad to say.  Air transportation for the entire week of shows was provided by my shirt collar.
March 26, 2023 - 50 years of Pyramid!

Eric Paddon

  • Member
  • Posts: 919
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #17 on: April 01, 2011, 01:29:19 AM »
We're fortunate that Dick's two wins are among those episodes that are in the hobby thanks to those 1985 repeats on Channel 55!

Ruth actually is not the contestant who was on for 17 games if that was the record.   Her entire run on the show was aired by GSN and she actually made it through 13 games (including a tie on the final Friday show of the Nettleton-Cavett week) and then got beaten on the Wednesday show of the following week with Debralee Scott-Sal Viscuso.   Her accumulated winnings of a little over $7000 were a record for someone who never hit the big board.

And then the irony.  The contestant who beat her, an out of work attorney named Roger Zeigman, then proceeded to hit the $10,000 on his first try!

GSFan

  • Member
  • Posts: 209
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #18 on: April 01, 2011, 02:02:48 AM »
Has anyone posted Dick Clark's other episode with the (at the time) law student. Leslie?  I'd love to see it.

Didn't Ruth's run start with the Monday episode of the Nettleton/Cavett week?  I do remember she won the most money without hitting the jackpot.
March 26, 2023 - 50 years of Pyramid!

Eric Paddon

  • Member
  • Posts: 919
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #19 on: April 01, 2011, 02:12:59 AM »
Yes, her run began on Monday in the second game when she played the champ, Frank, to a tie game that had reached the high 30s when time ran out and they decided on Tuesday to start over from scratch.   So she was on eight shows altogether.

A couple of weeks after Ruth's run, there was another long-term futile champ, Jim Hickey who failed in at least 11 attempts (GSN skipped his first appearances so he may have had as many as 12-13) and came away with $5900.

Eric Paddon

  • Member
  • Posts: 919
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #20 on: April 01, 2011, 02:23:50 AM »
I wish I knew how to upload or I'd gladly do the honors re: the second Clark episode.   On that one, he received the clues both times in the Winner's Circle instead of giving.

GSFan

  • Member
  • Posts: 209
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #21 on: April 01, 2011, 01:52:51 PM »
I wish I knew how to upload or I'd gladly do the honors re: the second Clark episode.   On that one, he received the clues both times in the Winner's Circle instead of giving.


Send it to me, Eric.  I'll gladly upload it.
March 26, 2023 - 50 years of Pyramid!

Eric Paddon

  • Member
  • Posts: 919
Winnings limits on 1970s Pyramid
« Reply #22 on: April 06, 2011, 01:07:35 PM »
E-mail me, epaddon AOL.com and I'll be glad to work it out.