Author Topic: $100,000 PYRAMID QUESTION (Read 13972 times)

HYHYBT · « **Reply #15 on:** November 07, 2005, 03:49:00 AM »

Why five people? I could see needing two.

(Sorry, I seem to be asking a lot of stupid questions lately)

BrandonFG · « **Reply #16 on:** November 07, 2005, 04:17:49 AM »

[quote name=\'HYHYBT\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 03:49 AM\']Why five people? I could see needing two.

(Sorry, I seem to be asking a lot of stupid questions lately)

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Seems like with the pyramid being the size it was, it would be difficult for only two people to shake six trilons simultaneously. I'm guessing it was two people on the bottom row alone.

zachhoran · « **Reply #17 on:** November 07, 2005, 09:30:15 AM »

[quote name=\'animill9\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 11:24 PM\']Actually, there was more than one "mob" on Pyramid in 1986. There were two to be exact; the time that Cheryl Reinwand (all-time Pyramid money winner with $150,800) won the tournament, and the episode where Denise Bumbliss won the 100k. The trilons didnt wiggle on either of those big wins.

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Mary MOney's January 1987 and Richard Mahaffey's November 1985 $100K wins also had a good chunk of the audience coming up on stage.

BrandonFG · « **Reply #18 on:** November 07, 2005, 09:32:23 AM »

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 09:30 AM\'][quote name=\'animill9\' date=\'Nov 6 2005, 11:24 PM\']Actually, there was more than one "mob" on Pyramid in 1986. There were two to be exact; the time that Cheryl Reinwand (all-time Pyramid money winner with $150,800) won the tournament, and the episode where Denise Bumbliss won the 100k. The trilons didnt wiggle on either of those big wins.

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Mary MOney's January 1987 and Richard Mahaffey's November 1985 $100K wins also had a good chunk of the audience coming up on stage.

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Zach, don't feed into it. Both of you are really killing what was a pretty good joke.

tvrandywest · « **Reply #19 on:** November 07, 2005, 09:53:05 AM »

[quote name=\'HYHYBT\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 12:49 AM\']Why five people? I could see needing two.

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I can't speak for the magic of the trembling trilons, but in the day-to-day production of Pyramid at CBS TVCity the board was operated by two stagehands under the direct supervision of a stage manager. On either the "pass" or "solve" of each subject the stage manager was cued from the booth and subsequently cued the proper direction to flip the trilon in play while also cueing the second stagehand to reveal the next subject. The first stagehand would then move to the third trilon and wait for a cue, and so on.

On stage 33 that pyramid was positioned about 6 feet forward from the studio's rear wall exactly where the hallway from the host's and announcer's dressing room enters the stage floor.

Memories!

Randy
tvrandywest.com

SRIV94 · « **Reply #20 on:** November 07, 2005, 10:34:49 AM »

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 12:11 AM\']IIRC there was also a telethon that lasted all weekend. John Cougar Mellencamp did a pretty nice tribute, although in 1986, he might've just been John Cougar.

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Nah, he readded the Mellencamp surname starting with his 1983 LP Uh-Huh.

And with that, I give you post #1600.

Doug -- celebrating 1600 posts (but only three actually worth reading)

HYHYBT · « **Reply #21 on:** November 08, 2005, 09:40:59 AM »

Thanks very much. I can see that it would take at least three to shake them (two hands per person, you know) but I remember reading in a book someplace once that it took five to operate the big pyramid and two for the small one and never could see why.

Anyway...

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #22 on:** November 08, 2005, 06:01:03 PM »

[quote name=\'HYHYBT\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 09:40 AM\']Thanks very much. I can see that it would take at least three to shake them (two hands per person, you know) but I remember reading in a book someplace once that it took five to operate the big pyramid and two for the small one and never could see why.[/quote]

Perhaps they meant five people total? Two trilon turners, someone to cue them, the judge to cue the cuer, and someone to run the lights?

Casey · « **Reply #23 on:** November 08, 2005, 07:01:24 PM »

[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'Nov 7 2005, 09:53 AM\']I can't speak for the magic of the trembling trilons, but in the day-to-day production of Pyramid at CBS TVCity the board was operated by two stagehands under the direct supervision of a stage manager. On either the "pass" or "solve" of each subject the stage manager was cued from the booth and subsequently cued the proper direction to flip the trilon in play while also cueing the second stagehand to reveal the next subject. The first stagehand would then move to the third trilon and wait for a cue, and so on.
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The coordination (in the 1 second between the ding or buzz of the clue) of 4 people had to have been something beautiful to see. Tangentially, do you Randy or anyone else know why on the $10,000-$20,000 Pyramid, an illegal clue (which would result in the trilong being flipped counterclockwise 1 space to the pyramid side) but in the CBS era, they flipped twice clockwise.. why didn't they go backwards? (and why am I asking a question about a 25 year old game show that has no real relevance to my life?)

clemon79 · « **Reply #24 on:** November 08, 2005, 07:24:34 PM »

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 04:01 PM\']why didn't they go backwards? (and why am I asking a question about a 25 year old game show that has no real relevance to my life?)

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Well, as long as you realize that it's kinda silly to ask

My guess would be that it's simply easier to always remember to flip one direction. "One flip or two" is easier to keep straight than "flip left/flip right." That way you don't make a mental mistake in the heat of the moment and flip a new box over to the dollar amount side.

Another possibility is that in rehearsals or something they might have discovered that the trilons flipped well in one direction, but may have had a propensity to get stuck when flipping the other way. Remember those couple times when a subject card got stuck and fell out of the trilon?

ChuckNet · « **Reply #25 on:** November 08, 2005, 10:15:28 PM »

Quote

Remember those couple times when a subject card got stuck and fell out of the trilon?

Yep...if I may digress, I'm sure the loud "BANG!" when it hit the floor (followed by a sharp "Don't turn around!" from Dick, who would usually compliment the player afterwards for not doing so) must've made a few viewers jump, myself included...LOL.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #26 on:** November 08, 2005, 11:46:01 PM »

[quote name=\'isucgv\' date=\'Nov 8 2005, 07:01 PM\']Tangentially, do you Randy or anyone else know why on the $10,000-$20,000 Pyramid, an illegal clue (which would result in the trilong being flipped counterclockwise 1 space to the pyramid side) but in the CBS era, they flipped twice clockwise.. why didn't they go backwards?[/quote]

... there's no way I can point out that it was a clockwise turn in the '70s, since the normal rotation then was counterclockwise, without looking the fool, is there? This self-aware little ramble is the best I can do.