MUSINGS, PONDERINGS, RUMINATIONS AND FANCIES

[Bronxgirl48]

Hey, guys, I'm a bit under the weather so hopefully will be fine by the weekend.

Please tawk among yourselves until then. Thanks.

Take care, Barb ... we look forward for your speedy recovery and your speedy return.

"Hmm, no biggie, You'll be back in no time!"

Thank you dear friend. Another aid to recovery was watching THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW on ScreenPix this morning.

[Bronxgirl48]

This is not up to the standards of a musing, etc. It's more of a shoulder shrug or maybe a hmmm. I've been watching reruns of
Match Game with Gene Rayburn recently. Every once in a while during the Super Match ($100, $250, $500) the name
of a classic Hollywood star is given as an answer, sometimes as the top ($500) answer, sometimes not. ___________ Cooper had
Jackie as the top answer. Alice Cooper came in second. Victor ___________ had Mature as the second answer, topped by Hugo
as the top answer. Maybe they had a literary studio audience in that day. And finally, Joan ____________ had Crawford as the
second answer. She was topped by of Arc. But Joan Crawford probably thought of herself as Joan of Arc at various times in
her life, so that one might be closer than it appears at first sight.

I was always fascinated by Gene Rayburn's cheekbones. They seemed to have a life of their own.

[HoldenIsHere]

A 45 year old game show is still pretty entertaining.

My sister and I used to love watching what we called "old game shows" on the Game Show Network in the 1990s.
Our favorites were PASSWORD, MATCH GAME and WHAT's MY LINE? (especially the ones where the blindfolded panel had to guess the celebrity guest who was disguising their voice).

On a PASSWORD episode that originally aired on December 16, 1966 with Elizabeth Montgomery and Jim Backus as the celebrity competitors, one of the passwords is a word that I'm surprised made it to TV during the time of the episode's original airing.
Elizabeth Montgomery's reaction when she first sees the word is priceless. She visibly take a closer look to confirm she's reading it correctly!
And you can hear host Allen Ludden chuckle.

[txfilmfan]

A 45 year old game show is still pretty entertaining.

My sister and I used to love watching what we called "old game shows" on the Game Show Network in the 1990s.
Our favorites were PASSWORD, MATCH GAME and WHAT's MY LINE? (especially the ones where the blindfolded panel had to guess the celebrity guest who was disguising their voice).

On a PASSWORD episode that originally aired on December 16, 1966 with Elizabeth Montgomery and Jim Backus as the celebrity competitors, one of the passwords is a word that I'm surprised made it to TV during the time of the episode's original airing.
Elizabeth Montgomery's reaction when she first sees the word is priceless. She visibly take a closer look to confirm she's reading it correctly!
And you can hear host Allen Ludden chuckle.

Some of us are old enough to remember watching these on their first airings. I don't remember the primetime Password, but I do remember the various daytime ones going back to the late 1960s.

I watched 5 minutes of the new primetime Password. I've got to realize pop culture has passed me by. Five minutes of it was enough.

[Masha]

Some seasons of: What's My Line and: I've got a Secret are sporadically available for streaming.

One thing that I noted on: What's My Line is that the difficulty of guessing the occupation was occasionally based on sex, i.e. a woman who was a bail-bondsman or a man who sold lingerie.

I read once that: Steve Allen once commented that he could never have guessed the identity of some celebrity guests because it was some young starlet whom he did not recognize even after seeing her and hearing her name. It was obvious an attempt was made to promote that person's career rather than provide a legitimate challenge to the panel.

Many game shows taped multiple episodes on one day. There is a man who claims he can instantly identify how late in the day that an episode of: Match Game was taped by how drunk or stoned: Gene Rayburn was. He was apparently much more expansive after a few martinis or a joint while the set was being prepped for the next episode.

[Bronxgirl48]

A giant rogue roach (I live in Florida) escaped from my bathroom and has been crawling all over my living room, including the computer, chaise lounge, sideboard, and television. (I half expect it to burrow its way into the screen like THE TINGLER) I have been trying to swat Mr. R. but with no success. It landed on carpet where I swung a flip-flop sandal down but instead fell over backwards and hit my head against the office chair -- no damage or concussion but I am humiliated by this Super Bug. Where will it strike next? Where can I sit without thinking it is going to walk all over my body....How will I sleep....will he/she make him/her way to my bed?

I am trying to calm down by watching THE PHAROAH'S CURSE on ScreenPix but it has not been helping. Normally after a time I can usually kill bugs before they go crazy but not this one -- is it supernatural? Where will it go next.....

[LawrenceA]

Pondering: When did it become abnormal to refer to men's shirts as a "blouse"? I was watching Flight from 1929 earlier, and Jack Holt mentions his friend's blouse.

[Swithin]

Pondering: When did it become abnormal to refer to men's shirts as a "blouse"? I was watching Flight from 1929 earlier, and Jack Holt mentions his friend's blouse.

The term "blouse" was originally used for a man's shirt; it later became used almost exclusively for a woman's.

Boris Johnson got in trouble a couple of years ago for calling Jeremy Corbyn a "big girl's blouse." That's an old UK term meaning weak, or effeminate.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... uring-pmqs

[Andree]

I was always fascinated by Gene Rayburn's cheekbones. They seemed to have a life of their own.

They are rather prominent. Add in his row of teeth and he looks a bit like a ventriloquist's dummy. But he really was
a wonderful game show host. It couldn't have been easy riding herd on some of the celebrity guests. I always got a
kick out of his suits with the huge bellbottoms. They don't make 'em like that anymore. I hope.

When I lived in south Georgia we had large flying roach-like bugs called palmetto bugs. A large roach that also can
fly. Bummer.

[txfilmfan]

Some seasons of: What's My Line and: I've got a Secret are sporadically available for streaming.

One thing that I noted on: What's My Line is that the difficulty of guessing the occupation was occasionally based on sex, i.e. a woman who was a bail-bondsman or a man who sold lingerie.

I read once that: Steve Allen once commented that he could never have guessed the identity of some celebrity guests because it was some young starlet whom he did not recognize even after seeing her and hearing her name. It was obvious an attempt was made to promote that person's career rather than provide a legitimate challenge to the panel.

Many game shows taped multiple episodes on one day. There is a man who claims he can instantly identify how late in the day that an episode of: Match Game was taped by how drunk or stoned: Gene Rayburn was. He was apparently much more expansive after a few martinis or a joint while the set was being prepped for the next episode.

This YouTube user's channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChPE75 ... dAsO7Nzb8w

has, I believe, every available What's My Line from the 17-year-long CBS primetime era. You can even watch them in chronological order if you want. Freemantle (Goodson-Todman's successor company and the owner of the Buzzr diginet) tried (and continues to try) to get them taken down, but they were never copyrighted (as I understand it) and are therefore in the public domain. The syndicated version of WML was copyrighted.

The celebrity mystery guest, nearly all the time, was there to plug either a play, musical, film, nightclub appearance, album release or other project (sometimes a charity), especially for those who resided on the west coast and were "in town" for one reason or another. This is why Dorothy Kilgallen was so good at these, because she knew, due to her gossip columnist's connections, who was "in town" and who wasn't. Most times she knew very early on, but let the questioning go on anyway. Very few times was she stumped by a celebrity guest.

Match Game taped a week's worth of shows - 5 or 6 shows - per taping day (6 when there was a night time syndicated version (MG PM) and daytime version running in parallel). They would tape two days in a row and then take two weeks off. The host and panelists would often be a little tipsy for the later tapings because they'd take a dinner break about halfway through and libations were served with dinner. Gene Rayburn would fly back home to the east coast and repeat the process two weeks later. Most half hour game shows did 5 tapings a day (and still do, as far as I know). It's the most efficient way to utilize studio time.

[laffite]

I was always fascinated by Gene Rayburn's cheekbones. They seemed to have a life of their own.

They are rather prominent. Add in his row of teeth and he looks a bit like a ventriloquist's dummy. But he really was
a wonderful game show host. It couldn't have been easy riding herd on some of the celebrity guests. I always got a
kick out of his suits with the huge bellbottoms. They don't make 'em like that anymore. I hope.

When I lived in south Georgia we had large flying roach-like bugs called palmetto bugs. A large roach that also can
fly. Bummer.

Didn't he look a little like Howdy Doody (without the freckles)?

[Andree]

My sister and I used to love watching what we called "old game shows" on the Game Show Network in the 1990s.
Our favorites were PASSWORD, MATCH GAME and WHAT's MY LINE? (especially the ones where the blindfolded panel had to guess the celebrity guest who was disguising their voice).

On a PASSWORD episode that originally aired on December 16, 1966 with Elizabeth Montgomery and Jim Backus as the celebrity competitors, one of the passwords is a word that I'm surprised made it to TV during the time of the episode's original airing.
Elizabeth Montgomery's reaction when she first sees the word is priceless. She visibly take a closer look to confirm she's reading it correctly!
And you can hear host Allen Ludden chuckle.

I'd feel a bit guilty if I spent too much time watching old game shows, so I limit myself to one hour of Match Game. Of course many
of the celebrities are no longer around, but it's fun to see what they were wearing and talking about way back when. Dumb Dora lives
on.

[Andree]

Didn't he look a little like Howdy Doody (without the freckles)?

Not being much of a Howdy Doody fan, I had never thought of that before, but there is something of a resemblance.
Another thing I've noticed is how touchy and feely Gene is with the contestants; no doubt other game show hosts were
the same. I wonder if they still do that on today's game shows or if they're more aware of personal space.

[laffite]

Didn't he look a little like Howdy Doody (without the freckles)?

Not being much of a Howdy Doody fan, I had never thought of that before, but there is something of a resemblance.
Another thing I've noticed is how touchy and feely Gene is with the contestants; no doubt other game show hosts were
the same. I wonder if they still do that on today's game shows or if they're more aware of personal space.

One guy was kissing female guests whenever he could. I never did game shows with any regularity so I don't recall his name. I consulted a list of 60 game show hosts and I didn't see him. He kept sayng, "Survey says ... " whatever game that was. I would doubt that women today would allow that. It was so transparent and opportunistic that it became disgusting. The female guests were probably a bit mentally charged just to be on the show and maybe didn't even realize what they were doing.

[HoldenIsHere]

My sister and I used to love watching what we called "old game shows" on the Game Show Network in the 1990s.
Our favorites were PASSWORD, MATCH GAME and WHAT's MY LINE? (especially the ones where the blindfolded panel had to guess the celebrity guest who was disguising their voice).

On a PASSWORD episode that originally aired on December 16, 1966 with Elizabeth Montgomery and Jim Backus as the celebrity competitors, one of the passwords is a word that I'm surprised made it to TV during the time of the episode's original airing.
Elizabeth Montgomery's reaction when she first sees the word is priceless. She visibly take a closer look to confirm she's reading it correctly!
And you can hear host Allen Ludden chuckle.

I'd feel a bit guilty if I spent too much time watching old game shows, so I limit myself to one hour of Match Game. Of course many
of the celebrities are no longer around, but it's fun to see what they were wearing and talking about way back when. Dumb Dora lives
on.

Our favorite celebrity on MATCH GAME was Charles Nelson Reilly.