TPIR Fun Facts
davem...@bix.com
* To the left of the stage is the producer's table and the show slate.
You will find producers Phil Wayne and Roger Dobkowitz and associate
producer "Fingers" Greco sitting here. The show slate has a monitor
built-in and includes the show production number and the games in
sequence to be played that day. (The Showcase Showdowns and Showcase
are also listed.) The slate is sometime shown on camera if a contestant
runs out of the normal camera range, or if Barker walks over to the
table.
* The four seats in the front row with green seat covers reading "The
Price Is Right" are where the three unsuccessful one-bid contestants
sit during the pricing games. The empty seat preserves the open position
in Contestants Row. All three contestants who don't make it on stage get
one last shot at camera time during the fee plugs before the second
Showcase Showdown.
* Contrary to popular belief (and the show's closing credits), Edd
Kalehoff did not compose the program's familiar theme. It was actually
written by Sheila Cole, a staff composer at Score Productions. The last
time new music cues were added to the show's library was in 1983, which
explains why you hear the same music over and over again on the show.
* Kathleen Bradley was not the first regular black model on "TPIR." That
honor went to a young lady named Harriet who was featured with Janice
Pennington and Anitra Ford on the show's first syndicated season in
1972-1973.
* Every person coming to a taping receives a postcard with Bob Barker's
picture on it. The printed text on the back tells your friends to watch
you on the show. You write in the airdate (which you are informed of
before the taping begins) and drop it in the mailbox outside in the
lobby of Studio 33. "TPIR" pays the postage.
* The little numbers you sometime see under contestants' price tags are
used during the contestant cattle call. The number tag, which is supposed
to be removed after entering the studio, is part of a two-part name tag
issued during lineup. You write your name and Social Security # on the
smaller half of the tag, which bears the same number as the other half
of the tag. A page tears the tag in half and keeps the smaller part and
you stick the larger part under your price tag, also issued by the page at
this time. (Ineligible contestants just watching the show have their
numbers X'd out.)
When Phil Wayne interviews the line, he'll give secret key phrases to
the contestant coordinator to indicate that the person he has just talked
to would make a good contestant. The coordinator writes
that person's number on a clipboard. After consultation, the nine most
likely contestants and a few alternates are typewritten on a sheet of
paper placed on Rod Roddy's podium. It is from this list that Rod reads
the names of those who "COME ON DOWN!"
* Bob Barker has only missed one episode of "TPIR"'s daytime version. It
was in the mid-1970's and Dennis James, who had been hosting the
syndicated version, filled in for him.
* Before Rod Roddy took over as the show's permanent regular announcer,
the interim announcers after Johnny Olson's death were Rich Jeffreys,
Gene Wood and Bob Hilton. (People Magazine noted that Charlie Tuna
would do fill-ins, but he was too busy doing "Scrabble" at the time).
Hilton was offered the job full-time after his tryout but refused due
to a new project he was to host the following fall called "Fun For The
Money". Unfortunately the show never sold.
* "TPIR" tapes two episodes per day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during
production. New shows air from September through May only, with the summer
programs being repeats.
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| davem...@bix.com | Went to 9 TPIR shows |
| Dave Mackey | but never came on down |
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davem...@bix.com
In article <CICz5...@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>
wlam...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Chris L!) writes:
>In article <9312171215.memo.15526@BIX.com> davem...@BIX.com writes:
>>Some little known facts and secrets about "The Price Is Right."
>>
>>* Contrary to popular belief (and the show's closing credits), Edd
>> Kalehoff did not compose the program's familiar theme. It was actually
>> written by Sheila Cole, a staff composer at Score Productions.
>
>Dave, would you happen to remember the year that the current theme was
>instituted? That would be a boon to my Faq!
The "current" theme has been used since the very first episode of the
show on September 4, 1972. It has never been changed, remixed or
reorchestrated in any way. My source, by the way, for the music credit
is the ASCAP Catalogue Of Performed Compositions, 1981.
>> The last
>> time new music cues were added to the show's library was in 1983, which
>> explains why you hear the same music over and over again on the show.
>
>If anybody else is as rabid a trivia buff as I am, that would be the
>theme from the old "Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour", which is used
>mainly with NEW CARS!!! and almost exclusively with the Superball! game.
That was one of the cues in that package. There were a few others, which you
mainly hear under Showcases and such. They did retire a lot of the musical
selections throughout the years, funky variations on the main title theme
with wah-wah guitars and like that. (Kind of like that xylophone version of
the theme they use for small prizes in games like Bonus Game.)
If Game Show Channel digs deep enough into the library of old "The New Price
Is Right" shows, you'll hear what I mean.
The musical theme that introduces the Grand Game, by the way, is the last
several bars of the "Family Feud" theme. That piece of music was originally
written for TPIR, but when the late Mark Goodson was trying to find music
for "Feud" he happened upon the basic theme, which had no banjos or violins
in it. He asked Score Productions to countrify it, and it's been the theme
of the "Feud" ever since.
TPIR also used an alternate theme that Edd Kalehoff had written for the
1970's version of "Now You See It" during Showcases that featured game show
parodies. ("NYSI"'s original theme song was "Chump Change" by Quincy Jones
and Bill Cosby; also used on the more recent version with Chuck Henry.)
>>* Before Rod Roddy took over as the show's permanent regular announcer,
>> the interim announcers after Johnny Olson's death were Rich Jeffreys,
>> Gene Wood and Bob Hilton. (People Magazine noted that Charlie Tuna
>> would do fill-ins, but he was too busy doing "Scrabble" at the time).
>> Hilton was offered the job full-time after his tryout but refused due
>> to a new project he was to host the following fall called "Fun For The
>> Money". Unfortunately the show never sold.
>Bob Hilton has never had much luck as a host, though he enjoyed moderate
>(and I do mean moderate) success on "The Guiness Game". Although I
>disagreed, most people thought his tenure as host of "Let's Make A Deal"
>in 1990 on NBC was boring and pretty much sucky. He's probably regretted
>turning down TPiR ever since.
>However, sometimes in life you get a second chance, and Bob will announce
>the 1994 syndicated version of "The Price Is Right", which will bear
>not much more than a slight resemblance to the daytime show. The pricing
>games and showcases will remain, but no one-bids from the foot of the
>stage, and a new host (Doug Davidson), new models, and new extra games like
>"The Price Was Right".
Rich Jeffreys didn't have a very smooth announcing voice. Gene Wood flubbed
a few prizes too many, and he wasn't quite right for the show. So that
explains them off.
Every year I used to go to L.A. and visit all the game shows, and I found
Bob Hilton's warmups and announcing to be among the steadiest in the
business. Back then, he used to run beat box contests between shows and hand
out dollar bills indiscriminately. Quite a funny guy. But I think his best
hosting job was on a show you didn't mention: a short-lived 70's revival of
"Truth Or Consequences" which was a much better show than the pathetic co-
production with Chris Bearde in the 1980's. Hilton would have done the show
well, had he stayed with it. (I agree with you, he was totally wrong for
"Let's Make A Deal" and the show started to gain some momentum when Monty
Hall returned for the final weeks of shows.)
My only regret is that when I finally had the wherewithal to visit "TPIR",
a show I had been watching since day one (and still watch every day at work),
the great Johnny-O was no longer on this mortal sphere. I would have loved
to see him in action. He was the best.
>And since the daytime version still tops the daytime ratings, it ain't going
>anywhere. Looks like we'll have the best of both worlds in a Twilight
>Zone-esque kinda way. (Wait, it's the same show...but...it's different!)
As I've mentioned before in private mail messages to you, Chri$, and in some
messages on rec.arts.tv, I wish Paramount well with their punched-up "Price"
but hope that there can still be a place in television with a slightly
anachronistic giveaway show with a man who just turned 70 as host. I had
predicted a few years ago after a disastrous syndicated season in which none
of the new shows made it to the next season (I think it was 1988-1989, the
year of "Wipeout") that the daytime game show was a dying form, and that
"TPIR" would be the last one standing. With NBC's cancellations, that is now
the case. ("Family Feud" appears on CBS stations, but is no longer offered
by the network.)
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| davem...@bix.com | "Mary never wears a |
| Dave Mackey | _______." -Match Game '73 |
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