Author Topic: Clark Pyramid Question (Read 5419 times)

cmjb13 · « **on:** July 12, 2003, 08:20:28 PM »

Were the squares in the bonus round turned manually?

Brandon Brooks · « **Reply #1 on:** July 12, 2003, 08:30:11 PM »

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Jul 12 2003, 07:20 PM\'] Were the squares in the bonus round turned manually? [/quote]
You betcha, though I don't know how they coordinated it so flawlessly. Anyone?

Brandon Brooks

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #2 on:** July 12, 2003, 08:46:24 PM »

When Dick Clark has just screamed \"NEXT PLEASE!!!\" at you for the 100th time, you start getting it right.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #3 on:** July 12, 2003, 09:52:41 PM »

i dunno why dick clark would do that so often. if the cluegiver quietly said \"why don't we go on.\", then i'd understand. but he sometimes says it even when the giver yells \"PASS!\"

Brandon Brooks · « **Reply #4 on:** July 12, 2003, 10:07:47 PM »

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Jul 12 2003, 08:52 PM\'] i dunno why dick clark would do that so often. if the cluegiver quietly said "why don't we go on.", then i'd understand. but he sometimes says it even when the giver yells "PASS!" [/quote]
He would say that if the turners weren't quick enough or just to make sure that they heard correctly to move on. Inadvertantly revealing a category would be a very bad thing to do.

Brandon Brooks

tvrandywest · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2003, 02:46:35 AM »

[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Jul 12 2003, 07:30 PM\'][quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'Jul 12 2003, 07:20 PM\'] Were the squares in the bonus round turned manually? [/quote]
You betcha, though I don't know how they coordinated it so flawlessly. Anyone?

Brandon Brooks[/quote]
As much as Dick Clark would be honored to have you think that he controlled the turning of the 3-sided boxes (aka trilons) on the pyramid WHILE hosting the show (hell, he'd probably like you to think he invented television!), they were indeed turned by hand. Actually, by 2 stagehands who were perched within the set, among the 9 rotating boxes, under the direct and immediate supervision of a stage manager below.

The stage manager was on headset to the control room where (imho) the most talented judge ever to officiate over any game show, David Michaels, would rule on the acceptability of clues and answers. The stage manager would receive one of 3 cues for each subject (\"correct\" or \"pass\" or \"disqualify\") and he would relay the information to the 2 stagehands.

More specifically, one guy had control of the box (trilon) for the subject at play. The other was poised to reveal the next subject. So \"correct\" meant stagehand #1 turned the box in one direction, \"pass\" meant don't turn it at all, and \"disqualify\" meant turn it the other direction. No matter which one of the three cues was given, stagehand #2 would immediately turn the next box to reveal the next subject.

I never saw a mistake when I was there. Bob and Sande Stewart ran/run tight ships. It was damn impressive. And for the LA episodes it happened on stage 33, near the very rear of where TPIR's door #2 is located ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2003, 04:34:14 AM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Jul 13 2003, 01:46 AM\']More specifically, one guy had control of the box (trylon) for the subject at play. The other was poised to reveal the next subject. So \"correct\" meant stagehand #1 turned the box in one direction, \"pass\" meant don't turn it at all, and \"disqualify\" meant turn it the other direction. No matter which one of the three cues was given, stagehand #2 would immediately turn the next box to reveal the next subject.[/quote]
Thanks much for the info, Randy.

Extremely minor nitpick that I'll turn into a question: on the LA shows, a disqualified category was actually turned past the money amount to get to the pyramid face. In other words, the trilons were always turned to the left. Does anyone know if they did that because of the way the trilons were built, or was it just a system less prone to screwups?

Oh, and one more question: how were they getting to those three different levels? Catwalks? Crouching and tiptoeing?

tvrandywest · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2003, 04:59:37 AM »

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Jul 13 2003, 03:34 AM\']on the LA shows, a disqualified category was actually turned past the money amount to get to the pyramid face. In other words, the trilons were always turned to the left. Does anyone know if they did that because of the way the trilons were built, or was it just a system less prone to screwups?

Oh, and one more question: how were they getting to those three different levels? Catwalks? Crouching and tiptoeing?[/quote]
Geez, I haven't seen an episode in years. I'll certainly take your word for the directions the trilons were turned on the show. But I saw nothing elaborate in their mounting at 33 that would appear to limit the trilons' motion in either direction.

The rear setpiece was damn tall and quite deep. Deep enough to allow for stagehands to stand behind (upstage of) the trilons in order to turn them by hand, and still be comfortably downstage of the rear of the set. They stood on metal support bars that ran horizontally and were connected to similar metal vertical supports to the floor. The grips would step up to the next level of trilons as game play waranted.

Veteran set designer Ed Flesh drew the plans for that baby, but he told me it was not his original design, as it was based on the previous set built in New York. And I bet Ed still has those plans... I know he still has his original PYL plans, and was ready to make a few bucks with them when the movie seemed to be a \"go\".

Randy
tvrandywest.com

BrandonFG · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2003, 05:46:49 PM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Jul 13 2003, 03:59 AM\']Veteran set designer Ed Flesh drew the plans for that baby, but he told me it was not his original design, as it was based on the previous set built in New York. And I bet Ed still has those plans... I know he still has his original PYL plans, and was ready to make a few bucks with them when the movie seemed to be a \"go\".[/quote]

ObPyramid: During the 80s run, in the closing credits they credited Jim Ryan for the original Pyramid design.

BTW, is Ed still doing anything set design related?

tvrandywest · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2003, 08:21:42 PM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jul 13 2003, 04:46 PM\'] During the 80s run, in the closing credits they credited Jim Ryan for the original Pyramid design.

BTW, is Ed still doing anything set design related? [/quote]
Yes, Jim Ryan. That's the name of the original NY set designer... going all the way back to when there were TEN subjects in the winners' circle! The area where the lowest horizontal row of 4 trilons was located was simply covered on the original set when the format changed.

Ed is still doing Supermarket Sweep. I expect to see him again soon ;-)

Randy
tvrandywest.com

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2003, 10:34:16 PM »

Quote

Ed is still doing Supermarket Sweep. I expect to see him again soon ;-)

His Sweep set is so amazing that I'm sure there are many, many viewers who just assume that they're doing it in an actual supermarket.