tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post4059914763195762811..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: Beat the ClockBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-73505788113047977402018-08-18T06:14:52.341-07:002018-08-18T06:14:52.341-07:00My parents, Richard and Elsie Decker, were contest...My parents, Richard and Elsie Decker, were contestants on a Beat the Clock show sometime between September and November of 1958. I would love to find the episode they were on. Any help would be appreciated.Bev Kingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-67546276649295416802018-02-22T14:25:08.516-08:002018-02-22T14:25:08.516-08:00When Game Show Network first started, they showed ...When Game Show Network first started, they showed Beat the Clock all the time. When you mentioned the reboots I didn't realize there were 3 actual reboots of the show, hosted by Jack Narz and Gene Wood in syndication, Monty Hall on CBS, and Gary Kroeger on PAX. I thought you were referring to the old Nickelodeon show Double Dare hosted by Marc Summers. That was pretty much a Beat the Clock ripoff. ScarletNumbernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-40203123880479979512018-02-22T13:47:14.466-08:002018-02-22T13:47:14.466-08:00Not only did folks pay good money for TV sets - bu...Not only did folks pay good money for TV sets - but - more than often, they'd break down. <br /><br />Those hot tubes caused themselves to self-destruct - sometimes sooner than later. FYI - The one that went out the most? The horizontal amplifier. Probably because, it worked pretty hard. <br /><br />Tubes back then were not cheap. The TV guy charged around $10.00 for the call, plus anywhere from $15.00 to $30.00 for a tube. Many times - a TV set needed a clean change-out - due to weaker tubes. So, the bill - sometimes around $100.00. <br /><br /> Gary Westhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04063974316335323136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-23058351291438968152018-02-22T02:28:07.155-08:002018-02-22T02:28:07.155-08:00I should have read all the posts before mentioning...I should have read all the posts before mentioning the Groucho episode. He was a comic genius. DetroitGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01429351018490492648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45728722694413704832018-02-22T02:23:16.885-08:002018-02-22T02:23:16.885-08:00There’s an episode with Groucho Marx on the panel ...There’s an episode with Groucho Marx on the panel questioning a very attractive female wrestler. Some of the jokes are risqué now. One of the funniest segments ever. DetroitGuyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01429351018490492648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-81691863051127706902018-02-21T18:43:16.216-08:002018-02-21T18:43:16.216-08:00Re:
"And one of the writers on Sesame Street ...Re:<br />"And one of the writers on Sesame Street at the time was Christopher Cerf, son of Bennett!"<br /><br />How cool, LouOCNY! I did not know that! <br /><br />Make THIS one even MORE of an inside joke :D<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoETPGb8MCQcharlottesometimesnotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-70089485884355704592018-02-21T13:53:01.629-08:002018-02-21T13:53:01.629-08:00They also did this one:
charlottesometimesnot said...They also did this one:<br /><i>charlottesometimesnot said...<br />Oh, so THAT'S what old school Sesame Street was parodying! ;D<br /><br />Plus this one: <br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA6v6WltUo0</i><br /> <br /><br />And one of the writers on Sesame Street at the time was Christopher Cerf, son of Bennett! <br />LouOCNYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16151395857835632917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85501400422499821612018-02-21T13:45:24.731-08:002018-02-21T13:45:24.731-08:00Bibliography III - the Wrath of Daly:
In the not ...Bibliography III - the Wrath of Daly:<br /><br />In the not too distant future there will be a comprehensive book about What's My Line? The show's producer, Gil Fates, put one out many years ago, but it is near impossible to find. <br /><br />One of the GREAT things about WML, is that it was live, so one of the GREAT stories is that on one show in the mid 60s, they had Louis Armstrong on as an 'extra' MG at the top of the show. The only codicil was that he was specifically prohibited from singing any portion of the song, "Hello Dolly!", as the special he was plugging had the exclusive rights for the TV premiere of the song - no problem, as WML NEVER had people performing. So, with the sponsor of the special in the booth, Louis got guessed very quick - how is he going to disguise THAT voice - so Arlene Francis starts begging him to sing "Hello Dolly!" - which he does, the whole damn thing in fact...and Fates, in the booth,standing right next to the sponsor, looking for a gun or a noose - nothing like live TV! LouOCNYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16151395857835632917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-12860730264055448162018-02-21T11:33:04.857-08:002018-02-21T11:33:04.857-08:00Oh, so THAT'S what old school Sesame Street wa...Oh, so THAT'S what old school Sesame Street was parodying! ;D<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA6v6WltUo0charlottesometimesnotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-1932555215900594432018-02-21T09:29:54.959-08:002018-02-21T09:29:54.959-08:00You know what this low-budget-but-you-can't-st...You know what this low-budget-but-you-can't-stop-watching-it sounds like, YouTube today. Moving Dixie Cups around? YouTube challenge that probably has 4 million views. Putting on pants while holding balloons? On a YouTube channel with more subscribers than CBS All Access. Seriously.Jonny Mnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-37245698462164758752018-02-21T08:34:06.841-08:002018-02-21T08:34:06.841-08:00Bibliography, Part II:
BearManor Media (op cit.) ...Bibliography, Part II:<br /><br />BearManor Media (<i>op cit.</i>) also publishes <i>Johnny Olson: A Voice In Time</i>, a biography by Johnny's protege Randy West.<br /><br />Note to Kevin FitzMaurice: No, Johnny Olson did not live in the back of a New York TV theater.<br />But read the book, and you'll see that you're not far off in terms of his omnipresence.<br />(...and it goes back farther back than the '60s...)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05527404061764217504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54383798446259074612018-02-21T06:04:06.820-08:002018-02-21T06:04:06.820-08:00Betsy Palmer was a great hugger. She knew how to ...Betsy Palmer was a great hugger. She knew how to make her fans feel appreciated.Kosmo13noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-30159121144125000132018-02-21T00:21:55.047-08:002018-02-21T00:21:55.047-08:00Buzzr is also available online as a stream, which ...Buzzr is also available online as a stream, which might differ from the what the TV channel is showing, on Twitch.tv: https://www.twitch.tv/buzzr KMBhttp://www.inpromtu.denoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-89162664935149015822018-02-20T19:48:49.281-08:002018-02-20T19:48:49.281-08:00Johnny Olson must have had a tiny apartment in the...Johnny Olson must have had a tiny apartment in the back of a New York television theater in the sixties. He was the announcer (and studio audience warm-up man) on damn near every Goodson-Todman panel and game show back then. Plus he also worked "The Jackie Gleason Show" at the time. Amazing.Kevin FitzMauricenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-80317254851315503972018-02-20T19:21:17.182-08:002018-02-20T19:21:17.182-08:00Gene Rayburn did get to join the panel on "Wh...<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4PTnPdnEWU" rel="nofollow">Gene Rayburn did get to join the panel on "What's My Line" once.</a> Then CBS canceled the show after the next episode.J Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15175515543694122729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-83477992684876821982018-02-20T16:42:59.192-08:002018-02-20T16:42:59.192-08:00Of course, while Bud Collyer's Superman was a ...Of course, while Bud Collyer's Superman was a total pal to Batman, there were some uncomfortable evenings in the Batcave involving Alfred, balloons, and dixie cups. E. Yarbernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-34883755848960704072018-02-20T16:42:49.097-08:002018-02-20T16:42:49.097-08:00@Gary: Most network shows of the 50s with an audie...@Gary: Most network shows of the 50s with an audience originated from repurposed "legitimate" theaters in the Broadway district. In the 50s, What's My Line? usually originated from what is now called the Brooks Atkinson Theater on 47th Street. They were completely surrounded by Broadway culture, so it's not too surprising that a lot of that spilled into the show.Andy Rosenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-54216798255091085182018-02-20T16:24:55.224-08:002018-02-20T16:24:55.224-08:00Bud Collyer played Superman in over one thousand e...Bud Collyer played Superman in over one thousand episodes of the radio serial, as well as voicing the character in both the 1940s Max Fleischer theatrical cartoon series and a 1960s Saturday Morning show. His Man of Steel even managed to get along with Batman.E. Yarbernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-87093269448408392132018-02-20T16:11:19.725-08:002018-02-20T16:11:19.725-08:00Michael said, 'Garry Moore (who was terrific)...Michael said, 'Garry Moore (who was terrific) must have averaged six packs a day'.<br />Yep, cause of death, emphysema and throat cancer.I'm Outraged!https://www.blogger.com/profile/08329023172070049233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58184882570131802232018-02-20T16:10:04.782-08:002018-02-20T16:10:04.782-08:00I just looked up your AVN review and it's crac...I just looked up your AVN review and it's cracking me up again.<br /><br /><i>One starlet was asked “Who are you wearing” and she said Ron Jeremy. I had to hit "pause", run upstairs and take a 90 minute shower.</i><br /><br /><i>Kagney Linn Karter won Best New Starlet. Considering the lifespan of a porn career she could also win a Lifetime Achievement award at the same ceremony.</i><br /><br /><i>But my favorite moment of the night came during the “Best Actor” award. One of the presenters said this (word for word): “There’s a thing called acting chops, which is different from fucking. True acting is when a man can blow his entire load all over a woman’s face and still remember his lines.” Poetry. Sheer poetry.</i>Peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58355196194927948582018-02-20T15:17:09.594-08:002018-02-20T15:17:09.594-08:00This is rather funny. I'm at a train station h...This is rather funny. I'm at a train station here in London and I thought I'd use the station WiFi to visit this blog while waiting for my train to depart. But it's blocked on the following grounds:<br /><br />"This site was categorized in: Nudity, Pornography"<br /><br />LOL! It must have been the blog post you did on watching the AVN Awards! <br /><br />So I'm using my phone's data allowance.Peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-28821026003490106122018-02-20T15:05:30.817-08:002018-02-20T15:05:30.817-08:00Something going on Ken? I'm can't remembe...Something going on Ken? I'm can't remember the last time I found a typo in a Levine post, and now two for this one. In tact should be closed up, as in 'intact,' and their is used when 'there' was intended.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-75604921495631769522018-02-20T15:02:46.369-08:002018-02-20T15:02:46.369-08:00If you are really old (or a historian of pop cultu...If you are really old (or a historian of pop culture trivia) you know that Dorothy Kilgallen (a newspaper gossip columnist by trade) did a morning radio show with her husband, "Breakfast With Dorothy and Dick." It was parodied in the movie RADIO DAYS.<br /><br />Even farther back, Arlene Francis and her husband Martin Gabel were members of Orson Welles's Mercury Theater. And wasn't Bud Collyer Superman on the radio?Buttermilk Skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07430011403223875192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-58563313376861208342018-02-20T14:36:20.197-08:002018-02-20T14:36:20.197-08:00BUZZR was ok for a while, but it;s programming su...BUZZR was ok for a while, but it;s programming sucks, as it is stuck in a loop of some kind, and repeats it time after time.If you REALLY want to see some of these shows, check YouTube out, where complete catalogs exist. WML has the comlete 17 year run available - including some that were presumed 'lost;. No commercials usually, but you can burn through entire seasons if you want (remember WML was on EVERY week, almost) <br /><br />What's really neat about WML, is watching all these urbane people flail away and NOT get the occupations of people with fairly rural or middle class jobs - they never got a milkman, for Petes sake. <br /><br />With the Mystery Guests, they usually know who's in town, so the producers sometimes went to great lengths to fly in people, r other tricks, just to mess with their heads. For instance,Joey Bishop was the male guest panelist, and so he had 'given a ride to the airport to Buddy Hackett' (who had been the same the week before), only the producers brought him right back into town, to be that weeks MG! <br /><br />I can watch 2, 3, sometimes 4 in a row without getting tired of it. <br /><br />Also on the YT channel the biggest single watched episode, is one where they had Groucho on the panel, and let him loose - 25 minutes of almost exhausting laughter...not to be missed!LouOCNYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16151395857835632917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-57233275665088362142018-02-20T14:22:13.791-08:002018-02-20T14:22:13.791-08:00I loved the clock on Beat the Clock. I didn't...I <i>loved</i> the clock on Beat the Clock. I didn't care much about what was going on; I just wanted to watch the clock tick down to zero, with the lights around the dial going out in sequence. I guess I was three or four.<br /><br />I had a thing for stopwatches, too.<br /><br />I wound up writing and producing news for CBS. The stopwatch thing was probably why. It was always about the ticks.thirteennoreply@blogger.com