I know there are fewer of us that are interested in the really old shows of the 50s and 60s, but for those who are...
In the past few months, somebody's been selling a handful of film prints of game shows. Some are Goodson-Todman stalwarts that have been seen on GSN plenty of times, and Groucho episodes that are easily found in packages, but others are less well-known titles, including a few (like a 1967 Supermarket Sweep) that I don't think are in circulation at any level.
In many cases, it's obvious that the prints are the same episodes that have made their way to collectors in video form, but in some tantalizing cases, it's obvious that they are not. I personally missed out on a "new" episode of Cullen's
Bank on the Stars because I was outbid.
And that's the thing. Even the least well-known tends to be pretty expensive since film collectors tend to have deeper pockets. Three-digit prices are standard, and a single episode of The $64,000 Question went for more than $250.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/waly1420/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc Here are the guy's completed listings, to give you an idea of the sorts of things he's been offering. He tends to space them out so that there's no more than a dozen or so up for bids at any time. There are currently seven, including an episode of Dick Clark's early hosting effort
The Object Is that I don't think I've seen before.
I just put this out there for your edification and amusement, but certainly if anybody could shed more light about any of this, I'd been very interested.