Becky Price has been found!

[Chris Jaunsen]

Hello all, this is Chris Jaunsen of The Game Show Plaza. I haven't
posted here in ages but I must in light of my discovery. I just started
my junior year at UC Santa Cruz, where the daughter of Becky Price (High
Rollers '78-80 model) now attends. (And may I point out that she looks
just as lovely!) I had known her for a week but just found out who her
mom is (her dad is also in the entertainment industry as a music
producer). They unfortunately do not have any of her High Rollers' eps.
on tape (they are overwhelmed by the fact that I have a couple) and
Becky has just been notified of the game show fanatics on the internet
who would like to know more about her. I am in the process of setting up
an interview with her, the transcript of which will be featured on my
site in the coming month. If any of you have suggestions for great
questions, please let me know.

Unfortunately, Becky is currently suffering from multiple illnesses as a
result of breast surgery she had in the early 70's and does not look as
she did on High Rollers. Becky did a lot of commercials (she does have
those on tape however) and Brittany [Becky's daughter] tells me NBC
tried to persuade her to replace Susan Stafford on Wheel of Fortune but
Becky turned down the offer! Brittany also tells me Becky was
romantically involved with Alex Trebek -- she was the reason why Alex
divorced his first wife. Of course, one of the questions I'll definitely
ask Becky is if Alex was really drunk on the HR finale! In a few weeks
we will finally be able to put that myth to rest once and for all.

That's all Brittany knows about Becky's modeling career, other than the
fact that Becky got to hang out with everyone at the NBC lot, and met
lots of big-time celebrities who appeared on Carson.

More details to come...stay tuned.

Chris Jaunsen
-------------
The Game Show Plaza
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193

A picture of Becky can be found on my finales 2 page at:
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193/finales2.html

(P.S., for those who visit my site regularly, the 3rd finale page is on
hiatus. With college going full blast, it's very difficult to find time
to write a lengthy webpage...sorry.)

[T. Jay]

Chris Jaunsen wrote:

> Of course, one of the questions I'll definitely
> ask Becky is if Alex was really drunk on the HR finale! In a few weeks
> we will finally be able to put that myth to rest once and for all.
>

I would love to hear how Brittany reacts to her first national reference
(while still in the womb, of course) by Alex Trebek.

Aaaowww!! Many Moon Come...A Niner!!!

T. Jay

[Chris Jaunsen]

LOL, but Becky is actually holding Brittany's brother. When I told her
of how Becky was pregnant on the final show, Brittany just about went
nuts and said "That must be my brother! Oh my God..."

She still has not seen the shows yet, my tapes are being shipped to my
dorm as I speak...I'll definitely post here once she sees the eps. BTW,
I am slated to interview Becky this weekend by phone, and I am unsure of
how to go about recording her voice so I can write a transcript of the
interview. Any good cheap way of doing this? Thanks for any help.

Chris Jaunsen

[Jason Compton]

Chris Jaunsen <chr...@cats.ucsc.edu> wrote:

: She still has not seen the shows yet, my tapes are being shipped to my

: dorm as I speak...I'll definitely post here once she sees the eps. BTW,
: I am slated to interview Becky this weekend by phone, and I am unsure of
: how to go about recording her voice so I can write a transcript of the
: interview. Any good cheap way of doing this? Thanks for any help.

Radio Shack sells modular phone taps that aren't too terribly expensive.
They plug into the phone line between the jack and the phone, and lead out
to a standard microphone plug so you can pop it into a cassette recorder.

--
Jason Compton jcom...@xnet.com

[T. Jay]

Chris Jaunsen wrote:

> I am slated to interview Becky this weekend by phone, and I am unsure of
> how to go about recording her voice so I can write a transcript of the
> interview. Any good cheap way of doing this? Thanks for any help.
>

If you have (or know someone who has access to) a speakerphone and a
handy dandy tape recorder, to me that is the easiest.

T. Jay

[angel...@comcast.net]

On Monday, September 25, 2000 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Chris Jaunsen wrote:
> Hello all, this is Chris Jaunsen of The Game Show Plaza. I haven't
> posted here in ages but I must in light of my discovery. I just started
> my junior year at UC Santa Cruz, where the daughter of Becky Price (High
> Rollers '78-80 model) now attends. (And may I point out that she looks
> just as lovely!) I had known her for a week but just found out who her
> mom is (her dad is also in the entertainment industry as a music
> producer). They unfortunately do not have any of her High Rollers' eps.
> on tape (they are overwhelmed by the fact that I have a couple) and
> Becky has just been notified of the game show fanatics on the internet
> who would like to know more about her. I am in the process of setting up
> an interview with her, the transcript of which will be featured on my
> site in the coming month. If any of you have suggestions for great
> questions, please let me know.
>
> Unfortunately, Becky is currently suffering from multiple illnesses as a
> result of breast surgery she had in the early 70's and does not look as
> she did on High Rollers. Becky did a lot of commercials (she does have
> those on tape however) and Brittany [Becky's daughter] tells me NBC
> tried to persuade her to replace Susan Stafford on Wheel of Fortune but
> Becky turned down the offer! Brittany also tells me Becky was
> romantically involved with Alex Trebek -- she was the reason why Alex

> divorced his first wife. Of course, one of the questions I'll definitely

> ask Becky is if Alex was really drunk on the HR finale! In a few weeks
> we will finally be able to put that myth to rest once and for all.
>

> That's all Brittany knows about Becky's modeling career, other than the
> fact that Becky got to hang out with everyone at the NBC lot, and met
> lots of big-time celebrities who appeared on Carson.
>
> More details to come...stay tuned.
>
> Chris Jaunsen
> -------------
> The Game Show Plaza
> http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193
>
> A picture of Becky can be found on my finales 2 page at:
> http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193/finales2.html
>
> (P.S., for those who visit my site regularly, the 3rd finale page is on
> hiatus. With college going full blast, it's very difficult to find time
> to write a lengthy webpage...sorry.)

Hi!! I hope when you get in touch with Becky, tell her that her High School friends have been looking for her! She was one of the sweetest girls and always had a kind word for everyone. She was an excellent actress opposite Peter Bergman (All My Children and Y&R fame) playing daisy Mae opposite his Lil Abner. Her Senior year she was Maryland"s Miss in the Miss USA pageant. Tell her to contact the Crossland High School 1st 10 years FB page! We would love to hear from her. She is on my prayer list!

[jeffh...@gmail.com]

Did anyone ever make contact with Beckie?

[James Fabiano]

Becky Lynch in WWE used part of her name as tribute to Becky Price. I wonder if she knows whether Alex was drunk or not.

[Bl0atGermsL0bstr]

I still think he was. His phone Jeopardy commercial proves that he drinks in the studio.

[Stephen Tinius]

October 18th 2022

Note: The post in the Google group by Chris Jaunsen includes two links to a Geocities site called "TelevisionCity" which is long gone. I located an archived copy of the site on the Waybackmachine, but it looks blank because it uses white letters on a white background. I cut'n'pasted the text below, which is an interview with Becky Price. https://web.archive.org/web/20010423064048/http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193/beckyprice.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010415060640/http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193/index.html

Enjoy...
Stephen Tinius (tin...@mindspring.com) Crossland High School Class of 1969

Wayback Machine
http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4193/beckyprice.html
3 captures
23 Apr 2001 - 24 Oct 2009
MAR APR AUG
Previous capture 23 Next capture
2000 2001 2009

About this capture

An Interview with High Rollers Hostess Becky Price

On October 17, 2000, I had the utmost pleasure of talking with High Rollers ('78-80) hostess Becky Price. She was very gracious in granting me an interview with her, and I couldn't have done it without the help of her daughter Brittany, who told me through a stroke of good luck that her mom was a game show model. Becky currently resides near Malibu, California, and is happily married for over 20 years with 3 children. She has many recollections of her days as a model and TV commercial actress, of which she shares many in this interview. My sincerest thanks to Becky and Brittany for making all of this possible.

Becky's first national exposure, via a Miss USA pageant, paved the way to her success. Here she talks about how she began her modeling career in Hollywood.
Becky: My ex-husband was in rock 'n' roll -- Casablanca with Neil Bogart [ed. note: Neil Bogart was head of Casablanca Records, whose artists included Donna Summer and the Village People], and I went to dinner with one of his agents, whose girlfriend was an agent for Abrams, Rubaloff & Lawrence. It's a really big agency for commercials and actors, more than prints, so I really went that direction. And she met me and said "you oughta come and do commercials" and they called me and were so nice, they were like family. Because I wasn't going to do it here, I was really turned off and I never sought out to be a model, it just sort of happened from the pageants and then this. I was busy being a mom and I wasn't going to do anything else...

Chris: Did you have plans for what your career would be prior to becoming a model?

Well I went to the University of Tennessee and I went there and got a bachelor's degree in Biology. And I was more of an intellect and I sorta just happened on [modeling] with the pageant and Wilhelmina wanted to see me and said "you could make a lot of money" and went and tried that...I was making $300 an hour then - that's a lot more than you can make with a degree. So then I went to L.A. and I ended up with Abrams, Rubaloff & Lawrence and I started going out on calls and it just seemed like everything I touched was gold with commercials. I did see myself as more of a commercial actress, not a model, but I did do a lot of modeling before that. And I did so many commercials and even when I was pregnant with my 2nd son I did one for the milk advisory for pregnants; they wanted someone really pregnant so they asked me to come out of my seclusion to do it for them. They had all these women and they couldn't find anyone with that look in their eye like being pregnant I guess [laughs]. So I did hair commercials, Vidal Sassoon, shampoos, makeup for Maybelline, fast food restaurants, Taco Bell and McDonald's...well it goes on and on, I could give a hundred of them. And when I had done 3 or 4 of them; Abrams, Rubaloff & Lawrence which represents big actors in the commercial world - they don't represent just models, some agencies will cross over from models to commercials, but they literally don't take models, just actors; and that's who I was with and they were also big with game shows, placing the host and hostess. So they called me and said NBC has bought a game show, it's already been piloted and been bought for 26 weeks, and they asked if I was interested in doing it and I said sure. The girl that was supposed to do it-they didn't like her and they fired her and literally they were shooting in a week. And they had already interviewed thousands of women and they couldn't find the girl and I said I'll be happy to go on the interview. I went down to Sunset and I went to the Penthouse, the big Hollywood highrise; and it was Mr. Heatter and Mr. Quigley, and the two of them were there. And I dressed real simple, my hair was halfway down my shoulders, it was sort of a blondish red, and I walked in and they said "why should we let you do this?" and I said "because I'm the best one for the job" and they asked why and I said "because I've done modeling, runway, beauty pageants..." and I got up and they said "show us how'd you show prizes" and I showed them and said I was perfect for this and "you oughta cast me." And I thought maybe they'd think that I'm totally full of myself and hate me, or they're going to give me the job!

And they gave you the job.

And they gave me the job. They called me that night and said they signed me on and I did the show for about 3 years. It was a wonderful thing to do because they only shot so many days of the month and they paid you a lot of money. It was wondeful and we got to talk and meet people too, we weren't just models, we had names and they introduced us too so that was nice. I continued to have my family and do the game show. Course I could do commercials during this time too and I did so many, eventually I was bought out by Canon Copiers and I was a spokesperson for Jack Klugman and they wouldn't let me do anymore commercials. The shooting [of High Rollers] was 5 days a month. In one day you shoot 5 shows and then there were 2 prize days, which the other girl that was with me, Lauren, she'd show up, so we had a brunette and a blonde. And we'd put on all these outfits and they were really into like, if you were doing a trip to Hawaii, you had one of those hula outfits on and if you were doing a baseball leather seat you'd have a baseball outfit on and then the hair, whatever that was best [for the prize].

So all of these segments were pre-taped.

They were all pre-taped, except for when we drove the cars in, that had to be live, and when we put the fur on the person, we would do those live. But the others were all pre-taped and we got to pull costumes from NBC [which were used] 50 years back, so that was real exciting and I had my own dresser and my own make-up artist. And we were across the hall from the Tonight Show so for 3 years every star that was on that show had their make-up put on in the same place that we had ours done, so I met lots and lots of stars.

How was Alex off-camera because on High Rollers and some other shows from that period he acted real goofy you know?

He was really funny, he was real moody. And he would act goofy, he would have these goofy, silly moods so he'd almost look stoned or drunk or something [I laugh] but he wasn't! I never saw him drink anything, not one sip of alcohol or any drugs. Clean as a whistle, a straight-shooter, he's very straight. And he's brilliant, absolutely brilliant, he would say to me, "oh why don't you wear that pink top with those blue pants" and I asked, "how do you know my clothes?" and he goes "I know every piece of clothing you have." I said "you're kidding me" and he goes "no" and he starts naming all my wardrobe. I said "how can you do that" and he goes, "oh, I have a photographic memory." And I would be talking to him and we'd be discussing things backstage and the prop guy would come up with this long posterboard of copy and he would take his finger and just run it down slowly and then say OK and he'd have it memorized, that's how brilliant he was.

So that's all the preparation he ever did?

Oh yeah. He'd hold his head and just rest his eyes, I know he did that a lot, just close his eyes sitting up and I'd ask him what he was doing and he goes, "there is so much I take in all the time that I have to do this." He would do that periodically on a regular basis. I never saw him prepare except for that, ever, in his dressing room.

Was there any preparation for you and Lauren for each show?

No, they just handed us the cards right before we walked on and we were just supposed to read it, they didn't give it to us ahead of time. It was pretty easy when they did the show, you'd just sit back there and come on when they won a prize.

Were there any mistakes made, any bloopers or funny stories that you remember?

Well you have to remember that it was pre-taped and they'd say "take it from the top" [laughs].

So they'd edit out everything, because like on some other shows when a funny unplanned moment occurs it's often kept in the show.

Well I was known as a goofball, that's for sure. And they never knew what the hell I was going to say. They were always afraid and Lauren was real straight and conservative and most of the time they'd go with her because she was a sure thing and I was more of one of those that would say anything that came to mind. But the director [Jerome Shaw] loved that in me though. [solemn] He just died actually, yeah, a lot of the people have passed away and it seems like only yesterday when it was, gosh, 20 years ago.

Did you know the announcer Kenny Williams at all?

Oh yeah, he was really a nice guy, he worked for the Tonight Show also, oh and he worked for another game show...

...like Hollywood Squares.

Yeah! There were like several he was doing at the time; he was just a nice clean cut guy. He didn't get a lot of the Hollywood hub-bub, you know there were no drugs or anything like that on the set, everything was pretty clean cut and right on. He was pretty relaxed all the time and wasn't like Hollywood like people imagined. And I remember David Letterman would always come in - he cracked me up because he had this parking place and he'd come in with this red beat up old jalopy truck. He'd get out and his hair was going every which direction, with his torn T-shirt and his broken old pair of jeans, and that was before it was 'in', to have them torn up. And he had tennis shoes with probably holes in them [laughs] and he cracked me up because he could've cared less. He would come in and shoot a lot and I'd see him. And one of the things that happened a week, maybe a month before we went off the air we were the highest rated game show; so that decision was political and had nothing to do with how good the game show was.

Well a lot of game show fanatics call that day when NBC cancelled several game shows "NBC Game Show Death Day" and the David Letterman morning show actually probably replaced your show among others.

And it was for no reason....but the thing was like a month or two before NBC asked me to go across the hall. They were interviewing for hostesses and they wanted to use me if I would leave my show and try out for a show called Wheel of Fortune, and so I said "no no no", my show is the highest rated and I love my show and said I couldn't do that, they've been so good to me I can't leave them. Well you know the rest is history and later we were cancelled and Wheel of Fortune is still on the air and Vanna White was the one you know who took that spot. She was actually a replacement of another person...I could've had that spot if I wanted but I guess it wasn't in the cards.

...or in the dice.

Or in the wheel, I don't know! [laughing]

You've basically answered all the questions I was going to ask without me having to ask them!

One of the little tidbits that happened is you know Bill Cosby, who hosted the Tonight Show, well his mother's favorite game show was High Rollers. It was like her passion. And he came to me and asked if I could get her on the show and I told him that if you know someone then they're not allowed on the show, and they were real strict about those rules, and the contestant process was strictly random. I told him no and he got real mad, and he even offered money. I told him I couldn't and anyway he got real mean and cussed at me; and I just thought he was the funniest, greatest comedian and when that happened I hated him ever since. You see a lot of these stars and most of them aren't what you think they are, it's really disheartening. Seemed like the bigger the star they were, the more genuine they were.

Have you seen anybody like Lauren since you've done High Rollers?

No I totally lost contact with them. Something I've wanted to do was check that out but I haven't kept up with any of it. Maybe that's something I'll end up doing in my older age now [laughs].

So basically after High Rollers you had a family life, correct?

Yes, I had Barrett, my middle son; and then I kept doing commercials but I always hated it and the business but I kept doing them because I just happened on them and I made so much money that I stayed in it. But there was a part of me that wanted my life to have purpose and meaning and I wanted to be a doctor, my father's a doctor. So I went back to school and I became an RN and I was valedictorian of my class with 3 children. And I have to tell you I got more out of that in a month than I did the 15 years that I was on the air, I really did.

But High Rollers was an enjoyable experience, right?

It was enjoyable, but that was just a fun high time, but I guess in the entertainment business you're only as good as your last spot and the thing is when you go on an interview; I was one of those who wouldn't feel in control, you know you could have the worst day ever. I got the biggest spot of my life, the biggest commercial of my life, on the day that I didn't even wash my hair and felt sick and didn't even want to be there. And the days where I get all spiffed out and feel like going, I don't even get a call back, so there's no rhyme or reason for it so you feel out of control with your life, like a pawn being thrown around. And I had a real dilemma that I decided when I was in New York when I did that Coppertone ad, I decided that when I walked in and saw every woman that was on the cover of all these magazines, all these famous models; and when you walk in and do these cattle calls, and they say a quarter turn to the right and you feel like a piece of meat you know, real disgusting. So I just hated it and I'd always act out or speak out and do something outrageous because on that one I said, "who is doing that?" and I couldn't even see people, it was just a voice talking to us and I said, [agitated] "this is rude, how would you like to be down here and feel like a piece of meat..." and he goes, "bring her up here..." So they brought me up and I said, "this is disgusting, you should be ashamed of yourself" and I just let him have it. Well, he cast me in it, and the thing is is that I decided they're going to hate me, and some casting people hated me, or they're going to love me, but dammit they're going to know I was there, I'm not going to be just another one moving through. Nowadays when you go on a commercial call and if you get one every 3 months or one every 6 months, you're doing fantastic. When I did commercials I would go on 8-10 calls a week and I would end up with one every other week, and all I did was national spots so I was really hot with commercials.

Do you think there's a huge change in modeling between then and now?

Well there is with the commercials and I see now that they use a lot of actors from shows instead of unknowns and they also are far and few between because of cost efficiency. They're also not shooting them all in Hollywood, but all over in the United States, and they'd take actors for less money that way. And the days where you'd get to shoot that often aren't there anymore, it doesn't happen anymore, those were the good ol' days, they call them. But the modeling still is good money but you are pieces of meat and it's a really tough physical business. I pounded the sidewalks of New York and I know all about them, I'd go on a call and one guy would be masturbating with his wife watching, and I'd get disgusted and leave. Wilhelmina was my agent and they called her Mama Willie and she said if there was any hanky panky you walk out but there's still - I went to photographers who were total perverts, there was one who had bread goldfish and he would eat the goldfish for protein, and that's what he ate as a diet. I'm telling you, there are some WEIRD photographers out there and you never know what you're walking into. Another one came on sexually and I was nearly raped. You really see the whole gamut when you're a model, more sleazy, but when you get into commercials and you have a really good agent and you only go on national commercials then you never see any of that and that's what I ended up with. I also did a magazine show with Richard Kline, it was a pilot before any magazine shows were ever shown. And we did this pilot and it wasn't bought so I almost did this also.

When was this?

That was right at the end of High Rollers, at that time. I also did bit parts in Christmas specials with Dean Martin and Andy Gibb before he died. I did a lot of bit things like that as a pretty girl on all networks. But I would never go back into it, I'm much too happy without ever having to get into that rat race.

When was the last time you were in it?

I can't remember the last call I went on. I know one of the biggest parts I ever did for a commercial was for Irish Spring and I did a shower scene and they cast me in 2 different commercials that ran over a period of years. They loved my shower scene so well that for 10 years they'd pull my shower scene and put it in the commercial always and I'd get residuals for 10 years.

Do you think there's a stereotype attached to game show models now, because currently there are hardly any models on game shows whereas in the 70's there were tons of them and practically the only ones now, on The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune, were around back then anyway.

I don't know why but I would guess the reason is that it's turned to other kinds of shows like Survivor, you know the crazy shows that are more in-your-face and blunt and the kiddie-pie sex girl model is not so much a commodity like it used to be. Back in those days the Hustler magazine was the big risque thing and now God, there's porn, there's everything and everything's gotten so risque that the concept of the model has changed a lot and there's not as big of an interest and it's cost efficient. And there's not as many game shows as there used to be, because I think the media wants to see different things.

Were you a game show fan before you got into High Rollers?

No, not at all. [laughs] I just happened on all of this. Thank God I wasn't sick enough to make this my life work. It just kinda happened for me, the money was so good and it was easy work that I couldn't really walk away from it at that point. And it was great, I took my daughter Brittany and my sons with me, I always wanted to be an at-home mother. And so my children always went with me. In fact there was a time that I went on a commercial interview and it was like a whole minute which was unusual then, to have a minute dialogue, and they brought Brittany in who was like 4 years old and they said let's roll it and I did my take and then the director turned around to Brittany and said "what do you think of that?" and she goes, "she can do better." [laughs] "Oh, you think so?", "yeah, she can do better, have her do it again, that wasn't the best." [laughs]

Brittany today.
So they had me do it again because she told him that! Another time I asked her, and she was really pretty little girl and I asked her if she wanted to do commercials and she said she'd try it, so I told her that there was a call for both of us, one for a mother with her daughter and that's when I said I'd take her and they were all excited because she was really a little blabbermouth and pretty and everything. So we went in and she did this take and she had tears in her eyes, a beautiful take. And she walked out and said, "mom, are there butterflies in your tummy?" And I said, "well yeah, there always is when you get in front of the camera like that." And she says, "well it doesn't feel good." "No it doesn't, does it?" And she says, "no, I'll think I'll stay at home and play now."

Any last words for all the game show fans out there who have admired your work on High Rollers?

I would like to thank you all for being fans of the show, and remembering it first of all, and remembering me. It means a lot to me because that was my life.
Thanks again Becky! The game show community is grateful for your time and all of your anecdotes. We wish you well.