I've Got A Secret Website

[chris319]

Addenda:

Gil Fates was also involved with To Tell the Truth.

Ira produced the 1972 version. In addition to Match Game he produced Play Your Hunch which typically got a 50 share on NBC daytime.

I believe Stu Phelps directed the 1972 version (working from memory).

Edd Kalehoff/Score Productions did the music for the 1972 version.

Does Ted Cooper appear on your radar screen? He would have been involved with the show even if he is not credited and another scenic designer was used; in fact Ted would have hired any outside scenic designers.

I remember Roger Peterson fondly, a gentleman through and through.

In the '80s, though he was on the credits and payroll of several shows, except for Card Sharks he rarely came to any tapings of those shows (Password Plus, Family Feud, Mindreaders). He usually wrote the emcee language, was around during startup and then went back to New Jersey.

[chris319]

I haven't explored the entire site yet, but do you have Allan Sherman's memo to Goodson & Todman begging for a secretary? It's very funny.

[Chief-O]

I believe Stu Phelps directed the 1972 version (working from memory).

Correct, as did Marc Breslow.

[Matt Ottinger]

I haven't explored the entire site yet, but do you have Allan Sherman's memo to Goodson & Todman begging for a secretary? It's very funny.

I have it (it's in his autobiography) but I haven't introduced it on the site.   In general, my focus is on what happened in front of the camera.

[Mr. Matté]

I haven't explored the entire site yet, but do you have Allan Sherman's memo to Goodson & Todman begging for a secretary? It's very funny.

"Hello Mark-uh, hello Toddah..."

(ducks)

[JohnXXVII]

Great site! It just makes me want to see all the episodes. Any way to partner with anyone official, like Fremantle, or Buzzr, or an archive, and upload master copies of episodes to the site, including ones that have never before been aired?

[Matt Ottinger]

Great site! It just makes me want to see all the episodes. Any way to partner with anyone official, like Fremantle, or Buzzr, or an archive, and upload master copies of episodes to the site, including ones that have never before been aired?

Thanks!  There are definitely hopes for the site, and high among them is accessing the episodes that have never been rerun.  I'm convinced I have ever episode that HAS, whether on GSN or Buzzr, plus there's another fifty or so with full writeups on every secret based on long-ago GSN notes.  I think I'm close to acquiring more of those, but even then that's not the same as watching and sharing the episodes.  Stay tuned!

[TwoInchQuad]

Matt--

You've got mail (through your gmail account)... and if my attachment didn't make it through, please let me know.

And by the way-- great site!

- Kevin

[JohnXXVII]

It's interesting how many "special" episodes have ended up missing. It's almost as if someone at the time decided to set those episodes aside, maybe so that they wouldn't end up lost, and by so doing, those episodes ended up lost.

A Google search for Garry Moore I've Got A Secret turns up a NY Times article from February 21, 1964 saying Garry announced yesterday that he will be leaving IGAS and his CBS daytime radio show in May, all while still getting paid next season in excess of $100,000 from his long term CBS contract. He's going to get paid to do nothing. I guess he really wanted to stick it to them for canceling his variety show, he was that offended by it? I don't think he ever mentioned he was leaving IGAS on air on IGAS, until the September 1964 transition show, which is a missing episode?

The NY Times article says IGAS was owned by Moore and CBS. Is that right? CBS gave Garry an ownership stake in it?

[Matt Ottinger]

It's interesting how many "special" episodes have ended up missing. It's almost as if someone at the time decided to set those episodes aside, maybe so that they wouldn't end up lost, and by so doing, those episodes ended up lost.

I have a slightly different theory that certain special episodes were probably meaningful to certain important people, so they just took them.  It couldn't have possibly occurred to anybody that this archive was going to have value decades later, and therefore it had to be maintained perfectly.  I strongly believe, for example, that Gil Fates took the 1960 election special out of the collection when he was writing his What's My Line? book, and then never bothered to return it.

I don't think he ever mentioned he was leaving IGAS on air on IGAS, until the September 1964 transition show, which is a missing episode?

Yes, it was widely reported that Garry was sore about his show being cancelled and was going to walk away from Secret, but he never mentioned it on air until the missing transition episode.  Aside from the very first episode, that's the one I'd most love to locate some day.  Maybe Garry took it?

The NY Times article says IGAS was owned by Moore and CBS. Is that right? CBS gave Garry an ownership stake in it?

Goodson-Todman sold the show to "Telecast Enterprises," a partnership between CBS and Garry that seems to have had no other purpose than this.  While most reports at least suggest it was an equal partnership, others say Garry had a minority stake. 

[chris319]

What exactly is the lineage of IGAS ownership? Did G-T reacquire it from Telecast Enterprises either for the 1976 four-show run or for the syndicated run made in Hollywood? Did Fremantle ultimately wind up owning it?

IIRC Gil said in his book that Beatrice Foods was involved at some point.

[Matt Ottinger]

What exactly is the lineage of IGAS ownership? Did G-T reacquire it from Telecast Enterprises either for the 1976 four-show run or for the syndicated run made in Hollywood? Did Fremantle
ultimately wind up owning it?

I can't tell you under whose auspices Goodson produced the 1972 and 1976 versions.  "Telecast Enterprises" does not show up in any search of any historical records I can find after 1967.

In 1992, The Carsey-Werner Company announced that they had acquired the rights to the format, and were going to launch a version in the fall of 1993.  That version didn't happen, but they made the 1980 version on Oxygen, and they probably had a hand in (or at least signed off on) the 2006 GSN version.  The press release for the 2023 pilot says that it's "based on the format owned by Werner Entertainment, Inc." (Carsey and Werner have not been producing partners for a long time.)  Fremantle, as best as I can tell, does not have any ownership stake in the format. They just have possession of the old episodes.

IIRC Gil said in his book that Beatrice Foods was involved at some point.

Gil is specifically referring to What's My Line? in a brief passage where he says, "In 1969, in a manner too involved to detail here, the rights to the program passed to Garry Moore's Redwing Productions. In 1971, Redwing sold all of its assets to a conglomerate. If after reading the following pages anybody gets a hankering to revive What's My Line? on television, he will have to negotiate for the rights with Beatrice Foods, Inc., the people who also bring you Stiffel lamps, Samsonite luggage, and Dannon yogurt."

So take that as you will.  This passage might just be about WML? or perhaps Garry's company acquired rights to both shows in that complicated deal.

[chris319]

I found the credits of a 1972 show. It lists "Goodson-Todman Telecasts, Inc." on the copyright notice, with Firestone as the syndicator. Celebrity was Paul Lynde. Directed by Marc Breslow.

This is what prompted my question about G-T reacquiring IGAS.

[Matt Ottinger]

I found the credits of a 1972 show. It lists "Goodson-Todman Telecasts, Inc." on the copyright notice

Interesting.  That's a very specific word to use, and while it might be a coincidence and just a common word to use to describe a television show, it might also suggest some sort of mutual agreement with "Telecast Enterprises" without that entity giving up the rights.

I haven't done nearly the deep dive into the 72 version as I have the original, though I'm beginning to.  If I find anything cool, I'll be sure to share it.

[chris319]

That's a very specific word to use, and while it might be a coincidence and just a common word to use to describe a television show, it might also suggest some sort of mutual agreement with "Telecast Enterprises" without that entity giving up the rights.

That's an interesting notion.

I looked at the crawl of a Narz Concentration and the copyright notice says "G-T Programs, Inc." even though Jim Victory and I think NBC each had a piece of it, so the copyright notice isn't necessarily definitive.

In the case of IGAS, CBS and Garry Moore may still have had a piece of the show in 1972. That would also explain the four-show run on CBS in 1976. Perhaps CBS financed the pilot show of that run?

The two living people who MIGHT know something about it are Bobby Sherman and Jonathan Goodson. Gil Fates, Garry Moore, Jerry Chester and even Bud Austin are no longer available.