New York City

[Neumms]

I'll be visiting NYC for fun next month and wonder two things: Does anyone have any picks to ask for at the Paley Center? (I'm hoping for a Jack Kelly $ale of the Century.) And are any game shows taping in New York around now?

[BrandonFG]

Dunno if it’s taping right now but Generation Gap is now in New York.

EDIT: These episodes might still be on Youtube, but there's also a few shows from the Andy Warhol Collection. Money Maze, High Rollers, and I wanna say Gambit.

[SuperMatch93]

Does anyone have any picks to ask for at the Paley Center? (I'm hoping for a Jack Kelly $ale of the Century.)

They don't have any Sale, but they have two Clayton eps of Concentration; one of them is a CoC final!

Other stuff I saw there is an hour-long Marshall Squares, a Woolery Wheel ep that isn't circulating, an episode of What's My Line from 1950 that isn't on YouTube, and a contestant's five day Jeopardy run from 1972. Also, if you're interested, there's a Magnificent Marble Machine episode that isn't circulating; it hasn't been digitized, so you'll need to ask for it at the desk (the catalog lists it as "Marble Machine") and play it on one of their VTRs at the back.

[Nick]

I second checking out the Money Maze episode that they have.  It was a fun watch.

The first thing I went for on my first visit way back when was the episode of the NBC version of Jackpot that immediately precedes the one on the trading circuit (Maybe you could remind me what happened).  They've also got one episode of the Arte Johnson-hosted Knockout too.

I watched the pilot for You're Putting Me On on one visit.  I think they had to pull a tape for that one (Should mention it was at the now-closed Beverly Hills location.  Not sure what the availability is like for the non-digitized shows in New York).  One of the curators was kind enough, when he knew I came to see game shows, to pull me tapes of Say When and Mike Stokey's Pantomime Quiz.

I think the simplest thing to do would be to head to the Archive and see what you can find that they have.

[That Don Guy]

This was something like 15 years ago when I went, but it didn't seem to me that they had very much in terms of shows that don't have at least one other episode on YouTube. IIRC, I saw a 1950s Name That Tune, an episode of Gambit, and what I think was NBC's first episode of G.E. College Bowl. (I saw a fourth show, but I can't remember what it was - at the time, each person was limited to 2 hours' worth of shows.)

[mmb5]

There is a one hour talk that Mark Goodson gave about the development of Family Feud.  Not the most riveting TV but it's interesting.

[Nick]

at the time, each person was limited to 2 hours' worth of shows.

I don't see this written anywhere on the website, so maybe things have changed  I suppose something of the sort was in effect at the time I visited, but since I mentioned I had come from outside the country, I ended up getting to stay the entire afternoon.  It probably helped that they were not so busy that every viewing terminal was taken or there were people waiting to get in, but if you're coming from a distance, you might as well mention it in case they try to shoo you out.

I mean, if they really want people to patronize them (and if in-person visits are still going to be the only way to view digitally-stored materials)… I can see limiting the locals since it's easier for them to come back, but if you're making a long-distance trip and thought so highly of them that you plunked down twenty bucks to come see them, I think they should be happy to let a person such as you stick around if others aren't having to wait to enter.

[SuperMatch93]

I second checking out the Money Maze episode that they have.  It was a fun watch.

The first thing I went for on my first visit way back when was the episode of the NBC version of Jackpot that immediately precedes the one on the trading circuit (Maybe you could remind me what happened).  They've also got one episode of the Arte Johnson-hosted Knockout too.

I watched the pilot for You're Putting Me On on one visit.  I think they had to pull a tape for that one (Should mention it was at the now-closed Beverly Hills location.  Not sure what the availability is like for the non-digitized shows in New York).  One of the curators was kind enough, when he knew I came to see game shows, to pull me tapes of Say When and Mike Stokey's Pantomime Quiz.

I think the simplest thing to do would be to head to the Archive and see what you can find that they have.

I also saw You're Putting Me On, and that was another tape they had to pull.

The Jackpot episode had one of my favorite riddles (I'm paraphrasing, but you'll get the gist): What does a former mechanic do when he starts working again? He re-tires! The audience SCREAMED their disapproval and Geoff hid behind the bleachers. 

The High Rollers they have precedes the one on YouTube; I think it's the day before.

[Nick]

The Jackpot episode had one of my favorite riddles (I'm paraphrasing, but you'll get the gist): What does a former mechanic do when he starts working again? He re-tires! The audience SCREAMED their disapproval and Geoff hid behind the bleachers. 

Brilliant.

Also, wasn't one of the Super Jackpots that day a pretty hefty sum?  I seem to remember this being the case, but I don't recall what it was compared to the big one that was won the next day.

[BrandonFG]

The High Rollers they have precedes the one on YouTube; I think it's the day before.

Wait, it is? I haven't been to the Paley Center in more than 20 years but I distinctly remember the chandelier clocking Ruta in the head, which is the episode on Youtube.

[SuperMatch93]

The High Rollers they have precedes the one on YouTube; I think it's the day before.

Wait, it is? I haven't been to the Paley Center in more than 20 years but I distinctly remember the chandelier clocking Ruta in the head, which is the episode on Youtube.

They must have two episodes then. I definitely saw one there that's not the July 4th one.

[Chelsea Thrasher]

Wait, it is? I haven't been to the Paley Center in more than 20 years but I distinctly remember the chandelier clocking Ruta in the head, which is the episode on Youtube.

The first show in the Paley index is 258, the episode with the Chandelier.  There is a second show from the Andy Warhol collection in their index which AFAIK is from the first version as Ruta is credited, where Sand wins two games including a Big Numbers win, before being defeated by Mike.  There is additionally another episode in existence, not listed in their index, #257, from the master, the show immediately preceding the chandelier drop.

[RMF]

In terms of the Paley Center:

First, it should be noted that the catalog is available online (it wasn't when I was first going there around fifteen to twenty years ago)- it is probably a good idea to check this ahead of time, as under current circumstances they tend to include time reading the catalog with your scheduled time (they didn't when it was viewing tapes in the back room):

https://www.paleycenter.org/collection-2/

In terms of some stuff that may be of interest in the television game show realm:

As mentioned before, there are several episodes of game shows from around 1975 that exist in off-air recordings by Andy Warhol (apparently with a project in mind, though I haven't seen more precise details of what this was meant to be), largely of programs for which these are among the few existing examples.

There's also a set of game show recordings from 1978 that came from the San Diego NBC affiliate as part of an example of a full broadcast day, should that sense of continuity be of interest.

One of the episodes of Pantomime Quiz has interest, as, based on a couple of internal clues, I think it could be an episode before any of the national runs.

This episode of Information Please has intrigue- it doesn't correspond to anything that appears in any standard listing (it doesn't seem like it could be a pilot for the brief television run, and clearly isn't one of the 1940s short subjects), and I don't think we've ever figured out its origins.

This program has interest, for those curious as for what a local game show could do in the 1980s

There are also multiple unsold pilots that aren't in circulation (to the best of my knowledge, at least) present- anyone for Robert Q. Lewis with contestants playing something that resembles mahjong?

The one warning I have- it has been a substantial time since I've been in the Paley Center (my last visit was to the defunct branch, and that's four-and-a-half years ago now), so I have nothing to say about their current practices.

[SuperMatch93]

There is a second show from the Andy Warhol collection in their index which AFAIK is from the first version as Ruta is credited, where Sand wins two games including a Big Numbers win, before being defeated by Mike.  There is additionally another episode in existence, not listed in their index, #257, from the master, the show immediately preceding the chandelier drop.

Those two aren't the same episode? For some reason I had the impression that the one with the Big Numbers win was 7/3/75.

[SuperMatch93]

There are also multiple unsold pilots that aren't in circulation (to the best of my knowledge, at least) present- anyone for Robert Q. Lewis with contestants playing something that resembles mahjong?

Is that year correct? Hard to believe something from 1956 would exist in color.