So anyway, I was in New York City for a few days in early August, and I thought I'd check out the library at MT&R. The problem is, unless you're looking for a specific title, it's hard to find anything, as typing \"game show\" into the computer doesn't seem to want to return any matches. \"Game\" had 250 hits - mainly sporting events, but a handful of game shows; I think What's My Line? led the list.
Anyway, here were my four:
\"NBC's All-Star Dream Machine, Day 1\" - the first day of a Wheel of Fortune Tournament of Champions, with five players from the hour version (late 1975, early 1976) and four from before the hour-long version started. I assume the episode was from right after they went back to the half-hour version, especially as the wheels were 500-1000-1500. There was one thing that confused me: Chuck said that one of the contestants, Rob Mandel, won $21,000 in November, but I definitely remember his big win being on the last show of 1975 (I assume he meant that it was taped in November).
A generic Gambit from either 1976 or late 1975; the tape ended right at the closing plugs, but they did say that the cars were 1976 model. (And I always thought Elaine only showed the first card of the first game of a match in advance, but Elaine showed the first card of each game, although it's possible that it was added later in the run.)
Here's a Gambit question: Wink mentioned a game on the Gambit Galaxy board called \"Stop or Go\", but nobody hit it, and they never showed it. Anybody out there know how it worked? (And there was also a bonus for any couple getting an Ace in the end game - in this case, a trip to Monte Carlo; was this a regular thing, or a one-off?)
A 1950s-era Name That Tune - nobody famous like John Glenn in it, but I had never seen that version (and I think it was the only NTT they had).
The \"sixth season premiere\" of G.E. College Bowl, with Temple at UC-Santa Barbara. I put \"sixth season premiere\" in quotes because it was an NBC episode, produced in color (however, there was a credit for the kinescope (although they didn't call it that) process used at the end), and Robert Earle (instead of Allen Ludden) hosting, but I thought CBS ran the show for longer than six years (my copy of EOTVGS is in a box getting ready for a house move). The familiar theme was not used at the beginning, but was at the end.
Here's something strange that happened at MT&R, in case it happens to you as well: one of the tapes just stopped about 8 minutes before it was supposed to end, as if the recording had just stopped. When I tried reloading it, I got a \"this recording is busy\" message a couple of times, but when I did reload it and fast forwarded to the stop where it had stopped, the tape continued normally. Don't assume that a tape ends early.
-- Don
