Fact or fiction? Herpes tests on "Feud"

[SamPrainito]

https://people.com/kliff-nesteroff-outrageous-showbiz-book-claims-family-feud-required-contestant-herpes-tests-during-richard-dawson-hosting-era-8406935

I dunno about this one.   Certainly plausible, but I feel like our little community would have known about this by now.

Thoughts?

[SuperMatch93]

I don't have the link handy, but the closest thing to that was in an interview I read once where checks for cold sores were mentioned.

[Otm Shank]

Here's a case where technically correct isn't the best kind of correct. Except it is for the author, who gets tons of clicks.

[SamPrainito]

That's what I was thinking.  It's a clickbait article.

It also goes on to say that Johnny Carson got complaints from Senior Citizen groups over his Aunt Blabby character.  That's a new one to me as well.

I think some these stories are wishful thinking on the part of the author, who is most likely judging the past through the lens of today.

Ordinarily, I'd buy a book like this, but I think I'll pass.

[BrandonFG]

Here's an article from early-1985 that confirms the testing (relevant info highlighted in blue). H/T to Alex Braun.



Also, from the second page...

“It’s in his contract,” Lynn said. “The kissing is serious business.”

It's bizarre, but I get it.

[Matt Ottinger]

It also goes on to say that Johnny Carson got complaints from Senior Citizen groups over his Aunt Blabby character.  That's a new one to me as well.

That one is very real, supported by plenty of contemporary reporting.

[trainman]

Ordinarily, I'd buy a book like this, but I think I'll pass.

The author Kliph Nesteroff already has two well-regarded books under his belt (his first is a history of American comedy in general, and the follow-up is specifically about Native Americans in comedy), so it's not like this is some random guy making up stories for clickbait purposes. And this new book was published by Abrams, which is enough of a major publisher that there would have been at least a modicum of fact-checking.

[Ian Wallis]

I believe each lady was asked before the show if it was alright if Dawson kissed her.  There were a handful that said no, and he usually kissed them on the cheek instead.  I'm very surprised at how many women gave the OK - there were very few that refused.

For the record, I was never a big fan of it - it got to be a bit much after a while.  Towards the end of the run there seemed to be some that he kissed four or five times (especially if they were in Fast Money) instead of just once at the top of the show.

[BrandonFG]

For the record, I was never a big fan of it - it got to be a bit much after a while.  Towards the end of the run there seemed to be some that he kissed four or five times (especially if they were in Fast Money) instead of just once at the top of the show.

Agreed. I get it was a different time and all but towards the end the constant kisses got a little creepy for me.

[Chuck Sutton]

It may have been a different time, but sexual harassment was already against the law, and if the woman .had to agree to kiss Dawson to get on show, it is no different than being forced to kiss the boss, then Mark Goodson is lucky he never got sued.

Honestly it us why I can't watch the Dawson episodes anymore. 

[chris319]

I never heard any such thing around the office. I worked for the E.P. of Family Feud and something like that would have gotten around. I once heard "Richard made a contestant cry" but that's about it.

Cathy Dawson is on Facebook; ask her. Why she keeps that a-hole's surname, I don't know.

Watching FF and MG now I'm struck by how lecherous both Dawson and Rayburn were back then. I'd have loved to see Dawson kiss the wrong lady and get his nose bloodied. Dawson was all over some of those female contestants. I think he was so embittered by his divorce from Diana Dors that he was trying to find the next Mrs. Dawson, and he did.

The E.P. of FF once remarked, "I'd rather have 100 Allen Luddens than one Richard Dawson.". Allen was what you would call a "pill".

[ScottyJ]

My family was on the Dawson era of Feud.  The women were asked if it was ok if Richard kissed them, but there was definitely no Herpes test. 

[Matt Ottinger]

When I hear "herpes test", I'm thinking cotton swabs and, you know, labs and actual test results.  I think there's a huge difference between that and eyeballing to see if somebody's got a cold sore.

[Ian Wallis]

Cathy Dawson is on Facebook; ask her. Why she keeps that a-hole's surname, I don't know.

I'm certainly not a fan of his.  He seemed like a nice guy on the early days of Match Game, but around early '77 he started to get unbearable.  At least that 1984 TV Guide article told the truth about him.

Watching FF and MG now I'm struck by how lecherous both Dawson and Rayburn were back then. I'd have loved to see Dawson kiss the wrong lady and get his nose bloodied. Dawson was all over some of those female contestants. I think he was so embittered by his divorce from Diana Dors that he was trying to find the next Mrs. Dawson, and he did.

The E.P. of FF once remarked, "I'd rather have 100 Allen Luddens than one Richard Dawson.". Allen was what you would call a "pill".

One thing that strikes me about Rayburn that I didn't really pick up on before is that he seemed quite full of himself.  He seemed like a nicer guy than Dawson though.

[SuperMatch93]

It may have been a different time, but sexual harassment was already against the law, and if the woman .had to agree to kiss Dawson to get on show, it is no different than being forced to kiss the boss, then Mark Goodson is lucky he never got sued.

If a woman didn't want to kiss Dawson, he'd respect their wishes. In one of the episodes from 1980 that's on Prime Video, as he's saying goodbye to the losing family he says to one woman "I won't kiss you" and hugs her instead.