$ale of the ¢entury press photos

[tvrandywest]

It's hard to imagine dinky studio 6B is where it all started for Johnny Carson's Tonight Show, and 6A for Letterman.

And Milton Berle and a bunch of other iconic shows. Mostly 3-camera shoots. While today's state-of-the-art, 12-camera facilities turn out... whatever it is they turn out.

Always loved the low-tech little wooden shelves along the walls in 6B, that look like something your father would build, that held the TV monitors for the audience. Of course they were all RCA TVs, and all set to channel 4, despite their direct feed.


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[chris319]

I'm surprised Berle didn't originate from a theater, as tiny as those 6th floor studios are.

Play Your Hunch was in 6B and Say When!! in 6A, according to a Mr. Skutch. Jack Paar's Tonight Show was in 6B; I wonder if Merv's daytime NBC show was in there, too. I love the way the organ and piano are clinging to the side wall of the studio. I wonder if that's Paul Taubman at the keyboard.

Speaking of Mr. Skutch, his daughter took a picture of the mechanical (Narz version) Concentration board from the rear. The picture hung outside his office. Other than seeing the vertical tubes around which the trilons spun and seeing the rebus squares in backwards order, it was none too spectacular as the works (motors and solenoids) were contained inside the trilons.

Randy: would you recognize Bill McCord if you saw a picture of him?

[CoreyArcher]

I wonder what the contestant's buzzer sounded like (on the original $ale).

[tvrandywest]

... Play Your Hunch was in 6B and Say When!! in 6A, according to a Mr. Skutch. Jack Paar's Tonight Show was in 6B; I wonder if Merv's daytime NBC show was in there, too. I love the way the organ and piano are clinging to the side wall of the studio. I wonder if that's Paul Taubman at the keyboard....

... Randy: would you recognize Bill McCord if you saw a picture of him?

Paar's Tonight Show shared 6B with Play Your Hunch. One afternoon Paar came in a bit early, took a shortcut to his office, and walked on stage in the middle of Merv's show! Merv made magic of Paar's unplanned walk-on, and so impressed Paar with his adlibbing that Merv became a fill-in for Paar. It advanced his career greatly to where he was seriously considered for the gig before Carson finally said "yes" to the Tonight Show.

I'm trying to ID that announcer in the photo, doing warm-up for Tic Tac Dough in 6B. There's not enough face for me to recognize Bill McCord, but his son might recognize his dad. Can anyone get the photo to Billy Vera?


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[Adam Nedeff]

EDIT #gazillion: By the way, what is this picture from The Newlywed Game? Pilot picture for promo purposes, or the series' first set?

That is from an untaped demo game that was done for an audience of entirely invited guests, mostly ABC executives and personnel, to show them how the game worked. They were so dazzled by the demo that they picked up the show without even doing a pilot episode.

And by the way, take another look at that photo. Husband #1: Dom DeLuise.

[Jimmy Owen]

I did a search for Jan Murray and some great color pics of "Funny You Should Ask," on which Jan was a panelist came up.  What a treasure trove!  Thank's to the OP.  Pop in Garagiola and you get some b&W pics of Joe's "Memory Game."

[alfonzos]

I wonder what the contestant's buzzer sounded like (on the original $ale).

FWIW, I remember a buzzer sound something like the time's up buzzer from the original TTTT.

[SFQuizKid]

EDIT #gazillion: By the way, what is this picture from The Newlywed Game? Pilot picture for promo purposes, or the series' first set?

That is from an untaped demo game that was done for an audience of entirely invited guests, mostly ABC executives and personnel, to show them how the game worked. They were so dazzled by the demo that they picked up the show without even doing a pilot episode.

I can believe that, but then what explains the minor set change from square openings for the score readouts to the more familiar circular ones?  That's the sort of thing that usually changes between pilot and air shows, no?
Don't rely upon Getty's dates; they're often wrong.

[MisterX]

Well, it seems both sets were used during the show's run. There were a few more cosmetic changes, such as:

1966 to 196(9)
- Trees decor behind players
- Empty arch grids behind-top of players
- NG intro logo in a box
- Eubanks wearing suit with NG badge
- White/black text logo behind Eubanks
- Grid sides on chappel lectern
- Pink curtains w/thick tree branch patterns
- No big win music

196(9) to later
- No trees decor behind players
- Partially filled grids behind-top of players
- NG intro logo attached to horizontal wood stilts
- Eubanks wearing ordinary suits
- Blue/white text logo behind Eubanks
- Blue sided chappel lectern
- Yellow curtains w/thinner tree branch patterns
- Added big win music

There's no YouTube episodes of NG b/w the years 1966-1969, so guessing when they changed it I can't say. The picture from GettyImages shows different couples from the one on Youtube, and since a pilot wasn't made, there must have been lots more episodes made with that grid-y set.

As to why? Beats me, maybe it made the set less white, plain, & gridded.

[snowpeck]

I can believe that, but then what explains the minor set change from square openings for the score readouts to the more familiar circular ones?  That's the sort of thing that usually changes between pilot and air shows, no?
Don't rely upon Getty's dates; they're often wrong.

There's an episode from the third week of the series circulating (YouTube here) with the square score displays.

[MisterX]

Here's some other finds:

From the 1940s, it's Missus Goes A Shopping.

Dream House with Mike Darrow, 1968. Color pictures included.

Treasure Isle, just of the host and some set pieces.

A few more Treasure Hunt pictures of the 1950s, near the bottom middle section.

There's this photo with Bob Hope, tagged with the keyword "game show", though don't know what it could be.

There's also one with Betty White in this panel.

Pictures from Hollywood Squares' 1980s set-up, It's Anybody's Guess, & All-Star Secrets.

And more '50s stuff. Masquerade Party set pictures near the bottom.

Split Personality with Tom Poston. Looks crampped in there.

Fred Allen on Judge For Yourself, and other assortments.

A couple of Say When!! pictures at the bottom.

And with Bud Collyer, it's Break The Bank.

[MikeK]

There's this photo with Bob Hope, tagged with the keyword "game show", though don't know what it could be.

If I'm making a guess, it is likely from one of numerous Bob Hope Specials on NBC.  I seem to remember Brooke Shields was a frequent guest on those specials.

[DjohnsonCB]

Here's some interesting shots of Jack Barry's Tic Tac Dough from 1956. There's behind the scenes shots of the rotating category board too!

The photo of the board from behind fascinates me. Building and maintaining it must've been quite a feat of engineering. It'd be great to hear the story from whoever created it. Now, if there were photos somewhere of the other side of the original Concentration and Jeopardy! boards, you'd have to peel me off the floor.

Back in the '70s, NBC had a Saturday Morning kids show called "Go".  No, not the game show, this was a show that took its cameras to various places of interest.  One show went behind the scenes at NBC and they showed the "Jeopardy!" board from the rear, with guys quickly lifting the money and answer cards out of their slots as the contestants called them.

[WhirlieBird74]

To whomever wanted to see rare pictures of the 1974 and 1978 versions of High Rollers, here you go:

http://www.gettyimages.ca/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&assetType=image&mt=photography&p=High+Rollers+game+show#8

Ask and ye shall receive!

[Vahan_Nisanian]

The pictures of the contestants at the main game area doesn't appear to be much different from the 1978-1980 era, other than the fact that they're sitting down, instead of standing up.

Unless, of course, the pictures of them sitting down are from the pilot for the 1978 revival.