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The Price Is Right (1956 game show)
Encyclopedia
The Price Is Right is an American game show hosted by Bill Cullen
which aired on NBC
from 1956–1963 and on ABC
from 1963-1965 in both daytime and prime time. On the show, contestants made successive bids on merchandise with the goal to be the player who bid closest to the actual retail price of the item without going over.
Bill Cullen
hosted both the daytime and nighttime versions of the show. For two seasons (1959–1961), the nighttime version was eighth in the prime-time Nielsen ratings
, making it the most watched game show on television at the time.
The game centered around contestants making bids on the price of a prize, rewarding the contestant with the closest bid without going over with the prize itself and sometimes a chance at other prizes. Critics cited Cullen's easygoing personality as a key part of the show's success, and the show also gained reputation during the years following the Quiz show scandals
, becoming the most watched game show in prime-time from 1959 to 1961.
The show was also a precursor to the current and best-known version
of the show, premiering in 1972 on CBS
and in syndication.
-style format.
A prize was presented for the contestants to bid on with a minimum bid specified. After the opening bid was made, contestants bid on the item in turn with each successive bid a certain amount higher than the previous bid. Instead of increasing their bid, a contestant could freeze their current bid on their turn if he/she believed his/her bid was close enough to win. A later rule added allowed contestants, on their opening bid only, to "underbid" the other bids, but this automatically froze their bid and prevented them from later increasing the original bid. Also, some rounds were one-bid rounds, where only one round of bidding was held, and sometimes the minimum bid and higher bid threshold rules were also waived.
The bidding process continued until a time's up buzzer sounded, at which point each contestant who had not yet "frozen" was given one final bid, or at least three of the contestants had frozen. The fourth contestant was allowed one final bid, unless he/she already had the high bid. Cullen then read the actual retail price of the prize; the contestant whose bid was closest without going over won the item. If everyone overbid, the prize was not won; however, Cullen sometimes had the overbids erased and instructed everyone to give lower bids prior to reading the actual price.
Frequently, a bell rang after the winner was revealed, indicating a bonus prize accompanied the item up for bids. While this was typically an additional prize, a bonus game often accompanied the prize (e.g., a tune-matching game, where a clip of a well-known song was played and the contestant matched it with a face for a cash bonus).
After a set number of rounds (four on the nighttime version, six on the daytime), the contestant who accumulated the most value in cash and prizes became the champion and returned on the next show.
Very often, home viewers were stunningly accurate with their bids, including several viewers who guessed the price correct down to the penny. In such a case, the tied contestants were informed and asked to give the price of a stated item; this continued until one of the contestants broke the tie (re-ties and all-overbids were thrown out).
The Home Viewer Showcase was reformatted as the final round of the current CBS version
. The two winners of the Showcase Showdown compete to bid on separate showcases of prizes, with the contestant who bids closer to the actual retail price of their own showcase winning the prizes contained within it.
Home Viewer Showcases have also been featured on the CBS version, in 1972, 1978, annually from 1980-87, 1990, and in 2011. The format stayed faithful in all versions to 1990, but the 2011 version, because of the advance in technology, changed to a ten prizes in a week format, with two prizes appearing per episode during the week. Each day the price of one of the prizes was revealed to the home audience, and the price of the second prize (part of one of the two Showcases) was not provided. Instead of postcards, the bids had to be submitted through the show's website.
Some examples:
Sometimes, large amounts of food – such as a mile of hot dogs along with buns and enough condiments (perhaps to go with a barbecue pit) – were offered as the bonus.
Some other examples of outlandish or "exceptionally unique" bonus prizes:
In the early 1960s, the dynamic of the national economy was such that the nighttime show could offer homes in new subdivisions (sometimes fully furnished) as prizes, sometimes with truly suspenseful bidding among the contestants.
In the last two seasons of the nighttime run, the series gave away small business franchises.
In some events, the outlandish prizes were merely for show; for instance, contestants may bid on the original retail price for a 1920's car, but would instead win a more contemporary model.
–Bill Todman
Productions. Stewart already had created one hit series for Goodson-Todman, To Tell the Truth
and he would later create the enormously successful Password. After 1964, Stewart left Password and Goodson-Todman to strike out on his own. (Frank Wayne, who later produced the Barker version of The Price Is Right, took over Stewart's Password spot.)
Bob Stewart attributes the creation of The Price Is Right to watching an auctioneer from his office window selling off various merchandise in New York City.
In 1959, shortly after the quiz show scandals
broke, most game shows lost their popularity rapidly. The Price Is Right was an exception; Goodson and Todman had built a squeaky-clean reputation upon relatively low-stakes games. Thus, as the more popular competition was eliminated, The Price Is Right soared to become the most watched game show in the country, where it remained for two years.
As Don Pardo
was still under contract at NBC, he was replaced by Johnny Gilbert
, who currently serves as the announcer for Jeopardy!
.
Also when the show moved to ABC, several CBS affiliates took up ABC secondary affiliation to show The Price is Right (especially if the market at the time had no full ABC affiliation), in part because of the still-high ratings the show enjoyed in daytime.
Goodson-Todman wanted to have The Price Is Right be ABC's first non-cartoon color show, however the network could not afford to convert to color at the time. This meant that the nighttime version had to "revert" to black-and-white.
, a sight-and-memory game with Bill Cullen as host. Later, Stewart created other successful shows such as Jackpot!
and The $10,000 Pyramid
.
In the early 1970s, Mark Goodson was preparing a revised version of The Price Is Right for syndication and CBS
daytime dubbed The New Price Is Right, which incorporated elements of the Cullen version with new mini-games influenced by Let's Make a Deal
. Dennis James
, who was a regular substitute for Monty Hall
on Deal, was selected to host the new version, but only hosted the original syndicated version as CBS insisted that Bob Barker
of Truth or Consequences
fame host the daytime show. While the syndicated version only lasted until 1980 (Barker replaced James on the syndicated version in 1977), the daytime version has been on the air five days per week since 1972, with Drew Carey
replacing Barker in 2007.
, converted for television. A year later it used NBC's Colonial Theater at 66th and Broadway as its main origination. The Ziegfeld Theater was used for a few shows as well. When the show moved to ABC, the Ritz Theater became the show's broadcast origination.
In addition to his hosting duties on The Price Is Right and his weekly appearances as a panelist on I've Got a Secret
, Cullen also hosted a weekday morning radio show for WNBC
in New York.
June Ferguson and Toni Wallace were the regular models, while Gail Sheldon also made frequent appearances. Ferguson, Wallace and Sheldon were featured during the show's entire nine-year run. Other models appearing included Beverly Bentley and Carolyn Stroupe; various other models either assisted Ferguson and Wallace, or appeared during their absences.
was the main announcer. Whenever he was off, or filling in for Cullen as host, substitute announcers included Dick Dudley
, Vic Roby
, and Roger Tuttle.
Following the move to ABC, Johnny Gilbert
became the announcer; one fill-in was ABC staff announcer Ed Jordan
.
's "Sixth Finger Tune", originally written for Milton Scott Michel
's 1956 play Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove.
The second theme song (used from 1961-1965) was called "Window Shopping
" and was composed by Bob Cobert. This theme was later used on another Goodson-Todman game, Snap Judgment, and later found its way back to Bob Stewart's stable with the short-lived game You're Putting Me On
.
on September 23, 1957, no color kinescope
s or videotape
s are known to exist from the nighttime run. Many monochrome NBC nighttime episodes (plus at least one ABC episode) aired on Game Show Network
from 1996–2000, at which time the network's contract to air the show ended; it has not been renewed since.
The daytime run is believed to be destroyed
; the UCLA Film and Television Archive lists the first and third episodes from 1956 among its holdings.
Many noticed that the four Cullen episodes lacked commercials, as well as the fact that all three NBC episodes had already been spotted prior to the DVD release. Both NBC prime-time episodes (January 13 and 27, 1960) had aired on GSN before, while the daytime episode (February 21, 1957) had been available in the public domain for several years; the daytime episode is notable for not only missing its opening, but for Cullen promoting Charles Van Doren's match against Vivienne Nearing on Twenty One
– which eventually led to Van Doren's defeat.
The Fremantle
logo animation was added after each episode, as the production company currently owns all Mark Goodson properties.
The episode listing included with the DVD set states the daytime episode aired March 10, 1957 and the ABC episode aired September 4, 1964 (with guest Jose Ferrer
); however, the former is a Sunday and the latter is not actually present on the DVD set but had been aired by GSN. The 1964 finale featured Pat Carroll as the celebrity player, and the night's champion was invited back to appear on the following Monday's daytime episode.
Bill Cullen
William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...
which aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
from 1956–1963 and on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1963-1965 in both daytime and prime time. On the show, contestants made successive bids on merchandise with the goal to be the player who bid closest to the actual retail price of the item without going over.
Bill Cullen
Bill Cullen
William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades...
hosted both the daytime and nighttime versions of the show. For two seasons (1959–1961), the nighttime version was eighth in the prime-time Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, making it the most watched game show on television at the time.
The game centered around contestants making bids on the price of a prize, rewarding the contestant with the closest bid without going over with the prize itself and sometimes a chance at other prizes. Critics cited Cullen's easygoing personality as a key part of the show's success, and the show also gained reputation during the years following the Quiz show scandals
Quiz show scandals
The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
, becoming the most watched game show in prime-time from 1959 to 1961.
The show was also a precursor to the current and best-known version
The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)
The Price Is Right is an American game show which was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Contestants compete to identify the pricing of merchandise to win cash and prizes. The show is well-known for its signature line of "Come on down!" when the announcer directs newly selected contestants to...
of the show, premiering in 1972 on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and in syndication.
Gameplay
On the original version of The Price Is Right, four contestants – one a returning champion, the other three chosen from the studio audience – bid on items or ensembles of items in an auctionAuction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
-style format.
A prize was presented for the contestants to bid on with a minimum bid specified. After the opening bid was made, contestants bid on the item in turn with each successive bid a certain amount higher than the previous bid. Instead of increasing their bid, a contestant could freeze their current bid on their turn if he/she believed his/her bid was close enough to win. A later rule added allowed contestants, on their opening bid only, to "underbid" the other bids, but this automatically froze their bid and prevented them from later increasing the original bid. Also, some rounds were one-bid rounds, where only one round of bidding was held, and sometimes the minimum bid and higher bid threshold rules were also waived.
The bidding process continued until a time's up buzzer sounded, at which point each contestant who had not yet "frozen" was given one final bid, or at least three of the contestants had frozen. The fourth contestant was allowed one final bid, unless he/she already had the high bid. Cullen then read the actual retail price of the prize; the contestant whose bid was closest without going over won the item. If everyone overbid, the prize was not won; however, Cullen sometimes had the overbids erased and instructed everyone to give lower bids prior to reading the actual price.
Frequently, a bell rang after the winner was revealed, indicating a bonus prize accompanied the item up for bids. While this was typically an additional prize, a bonus game often accompanied the prize (e.g., a tune-matching game, where a clip of a well-known song was played and the contestant matched it with a face for a cash bonus).
After a set number of rounds (four on the nighttime version, six on the daytime), the contestant who accumulated the most value in cash and prizes became the champion and returned on the next show.
Home Viewer Showcases
The Price Is Right frequently featured a home viewer "Showcase", a multi-prize package for which home viewers were invited to submit their bids via postcard. The viewer who was closest to the actual retail price without going over won everything in the Showcase, but one item was sometimes handmade so the viewer could not check the price of all the items. The term "showcase" was later replaced by "sweepstakes".Very often, home viewers were stunningly accurate with their bids, including several viewers who guessed the price correct down to the penny. In such a case, the tied contestants were informed and asked to give the price of a stated item; this continued until one of the contestants broke the tie (re-ties and all-overbids were thrown out).
The Home Viewer Showcase was reformatted as the final round of the current CBS version
The Price Is Right (U.S. game show)
The Price Is Right is an American game show which was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Contestants compete to identify the pricing of merchandise to win cash and prizes. The show is well-known for its signature line of "Come on down!" when the announcer directs newly selected contestants to...
. The two winners of the Showcase Showdown compete to bid on separate showcases of prizes, with the contestant who bids closer to the actual retail price of their own showcase winning the prizes contained within it.
Home Viewer Showcases have also been featured on the CBS version, in 1972, 1978, annually from 1980-87, 1990, and in 2011. The format stayed faithful in all versions to 1990, but the 2011 version, because of the advance in technology, changed to a ten prizes in a week format, with two prizes appearing per episode during the week. Each day the price of one of the prizes was revealed to the home audience, and the price of the second prize (part of one of the two Showcases) was not provided. Instead of postcards, the bids had to be submitted through the show's website.
Prizes
While many of the prizes on the original Price Is Right were normal, standard game show fare (e.g., furniture, appliances, home electronics, furs, trips, and cars), there were many instances of outlandish prizes being offered. This was particularly true of the nighttime version, which had a larger prize budget.Some examples:
- A 1926 Rolls-Royce with chauffeur
- A Ferris wheelFerris wheelA Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
- Shares of corporate stockStockThe capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
- An island in the St. Lawrence Seaway
- An Airplane
- A Submarine
Sometimes, large amounts of food – such as a mile of hot dogs along with buns and enough condiments (perhaps to go with a barbecue pit) – were offered as the bonus.
Some other examples of outlandish or "exceptionally unique" bonus prizes:
- Accompanying a color TV, a live peacock (a play on the NBC logo) to serve as a "color guide".
- Accompanying a barbecue pit and the usual accessories, a live Angus steer.
- Accompanying a prize package of items needed to throw a backyard party, big band legend Woody HermanWoody HermanWoodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
and His Orchestra. - Accompanying a raccoon coat worth $29.95, a sable coat valued at $23,000.
- A bonus prize of a 16x32' in-ground swimming pool, installed in the winner's back yard in one day's time.
- A bonus prize of a trip to Israel to appear as an extra in the 1960 film Exodus.
In the early 1960s, the dynamic of the national economy was such that the nighttime show could offer homes in new subdivisions (sometimes fully furnished) as prizes, sometimes with truly suspenseful bidding among the contestants.
In the last two seasons of the nighttime run, the series gave away small business franchises.
In some events, the outlandish prizes were merely for show; for instance, contestants may bid on the original retail price for a 1920's car, but would instead win a more contemporary model.
History
The Price Is Right was created and produced by Bob Stewart for Mark GoodsonMark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
–Bill Todman
Bill Todman
William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...
Productions. Stewart already had created one hit series for Goodson-Todman, To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth
To Tell the Truth is an American television panel game show created by Bob Stewart and produced by Goodson-Todman Productions that has aired in various forms since 1956 both on networks and in syndication...
and he would later create the enormously successful Password. After 1964, Stewart left Password and Goodson-Todman to strike out on his own. (Frank Wayne, who later produced the Barker version of The Price Is Right, took over Stewart's Password spot.)
Bob Stewart attributes the creation of The Price Is Right to watching an auctioneer from his office window selling off various merchandise in New York City.
In 1959, shortly after the quiz show scandals
Quiz show scandals
The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition....
broke, most game shows lost their popularity rapidly. The Price Is Right was an exception; Goodson and Todman had built a squeaky-clean reputation upon relatively low-stakes games. Thus, as the more popular competition was eliminated, The Price Is Right soared to become the most watched game show in the country, where it remained for two years.
ABC
When the series moved to ABC in 1963, three studio contestants – including the returning champion – played. The fourth chair was filled by a guest celebrity who played for either a studio audience member or home viewer. If the celebrity was the big winner of the show, the contestant who had the most winnings was considered the champion; it is unknown what would have happened in the event of a shut-out with the celebrity winning.As Don Pardo
Don Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....
was still under contract at NBC, he was replaced by Johnny Gilbert
Johnny Gilbert
John L. "Johnny" Gilbert III is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various eras, dating as far back as the 1950s...
, who currently serves as the announcer for Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
.
Also when the show moved to ABC, several CBS affiliates took up ABC secondary affiliation to show The Price is Right (especially if the market at the time had no full ABC affiliation), in part because of the still-high ratings the show enjoyed in daytime.
Goodson-Todman wanted to have The Price Is Right be ABC's first non-cartoon color show, however the network could not afford to convert to color at the time. This meant that the nighttime version had to "revert" to black-and-white.
Afterward
After the success of The Price Is Right, To Tell the Truth, and Password, producer Stewart left Goodson-Todman in 1964. Stewart's follow-up to The Price Is Right, his first independent production, was Eye GuessEye Guess
Eye Guess is an American game show that ran from January 3, 1966 to September 26, 1969 on NBC in which two contestants tried to answer questions by remembering the answers hidden on a board , with the winner playing for various prizes including a new car.This was the first game show by Bob Stewart...
, a sight-and-memory game with Bill Cullen as host. Later, Stewart created other successful shows such as Jackpot!
Jackpot (game show)
Jackpot! is a television game show seen in three different runs between 1974 and 1990. Geoff Edwards hosted the original version of this Bob Stewart production from January 7, 1974 until September 26, 1975 on NBC. A second version, produced in Canada, aired from September 30, 1985 to December 30,...
and The $10,000 Pyramid
Pyramid (game show)
Pyramid is an American television game show which has aired several versions. The original series, The $10,000 Pyramid, debuted March 26, 1973 and spawned seven subsequent Pyramid series...
.
In the early 1970s, Mark Goodson was preparing a revised version of The Price Is Right for syndication and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
daytime dubbed The New Price Is Right, which incorporated elements of the Cullen version with new mini-games influenced by Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal
Let's Make a Deal is a television game show which originated in the United States and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The show is based around deals offered to members of the audience by the host. The traders usually have to weigh the possibility of an offer being...
. Dennis James
Dennis James
Dennis James was an American television personality, actor, and announcer. He is credited as the host of television's first network game show, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry in 1946...
, who was a regular substitute for Monty Hall
Monty Hall
Monte Halperin, OC, OM , better known by the stage name Monty Hall, is a Canadian-born MC, producer, actor, singer and sportscaster, best known as host of the television game show Let's Make a Deal.-Early life:...
on Deal, was selected to host the new version, but only hosted the original syndicated version as CBS insisted that Bob Barker
Bob Barker
Robert William "Bob" Barker is a former American television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975.Born...
of Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences
Truth or Consequences is an American quiz show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards and later on television by Edwards , Jack Bailey , Bob Barker , Bob Hilton and Larry Anderson . The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication...
fame host the daytime show. While the syndicated version only lasted until 1980 (Barker replaced James on the syndicated version in 1977), the daytime version has been on the air five days per week since 1972, with Drew Carey
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
replacing Barker in 2007.
Bloopers
- On one show, the prize was a trip to the circusCircusA circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
. The producers placed a live elephantElephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
in front of the circus backdrop. The camera cut to the elephant – which was moving its bowels. Cullen quipped: "Join us again on Monday when we'll have equal time for the Democratic PartyDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
!"
- In another episode, an elephant was offered as a "bonus prize" for a contestant who had won a grand piano ("for extra ivoryIvoryIvory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...
"). The real prize was $4,000; however, the contestant wanted the elephant and persisted with his demand. Eventually the contestant got his wish and a live elephant from KenyaKenyaKenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
was delivered to him. This incident was spoofed in an episode of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
entitled "Bart Gets an ElephantBart Gets an Elephant"Bart Gets an Elephant" is the seventeenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 31, 1994. In the episode, Bart wins a radio contest and is awarded an elephant named Stampy. After Stampy wrecks the Simpsons' house and eats all the...
".
- On a 1957 daytime episode, an elkElkThe Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
's head was offered (it was connected to a bonus prize of a trip to a Vermont hunting lodge). One camera angle had the elk head, which was suspended from the ceiling, looking like host Cullen was wearing it. Apparently seeing the camera shot from an offstage monitor, Cullen appeared to duck from under the head and in deadpan fashion said "hello, there" before standing up straight, his head once again seemingly disappearing into the neck cavity of the elk's head.
- On occasion, the contestants' bid displaysTote boardA tote board is a large numeric or alphanumeric display used to convey information, typically at a race track or at a telethon .The term "tote board" comes from the colloquialism for totalizator , the name for the automated...
(furnished by The American Totalizator Company, "a division of Universal Control, Inc.") would break down. When this happened, a chalkboard was wheeled out and placed behind the contestants. One of the models would then act as "official scorekeeper" for that show.
Origin
The show originated from the Hudson Theater in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, converted for television. A year later it used NBC's Colonial Theater at 66th and Broadway as its main origination. The Ziegfeld Theater was used for a few shows as well. When the show moved to ABC, the Ritz Theater became the show's broadcast origination.
In addition to his hosting duties on The Price Is Right and his weekly appearances as a panelist on I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...
, Cullen also hosted a weekday morning radio show for WNBC
WNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
in New York.
Substitute hosts
Over the nine-year run, various people sat in Cullen's place while he was on vacation.- Sonny FoxSonny FoxIrwin "Sonny" Fox is an American television host, executive and broadcasting consultant, who was the fourth full-time host of the children's television program, Wonderama.-Biography:...
(June 10, 1957; first substitute host) - Merv GriffinMerv GriffinMervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin, Jr. was an American television host, musician, actor, and media mogul. He began his career as a radio and big band singer who went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. From 1965 to 1986 Griffin hosted his own talk show, The Merv Griffin Show on Group W Broadcasting...
(July 28/August 5, 1959 nighttime) - Jack NarzJack NarzJack Narz was an American television announcer and game show host. Narz was the elder brother of Tom Kennedy and the former brother-in-law of Bill Cullen...
(May 1960 {one-month stint}; Bill's brother-in-law, later that year he began hosting Video VillageVideo VillageVideo Village is an American television game show produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions which aired on the CBS network in daytime from July 11, 1960 to June 15, 1962 and in primetime from July 1 to September 16, 1960....
; his brother hosted a syndicated version of the 1972 The Price Is Right revival for one season.) - Arlene FrancisArlene FrancisArlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
(February 1, 1961 nighttime; at this point, she was a rare occurrence of a woman hosting a game show) - Don PardoDon PardoDominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....
(December 31, 1959/December 28, 1962) - Robert Q. LewisRobert Q. LewisRobert Q. Lewis was an American radio and television personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q...
(December 27, 1963 {Cullen himself was the celebrity guest}) - Johnny GilbertJohnny GilbertJohn L. "Johnny" Gilbert III is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various eras, dating as far back as the 1950s...
(specific date unknown) - Jack Clark (week of March 12, 1965; Dorothy Lamour, Anita Louise, and Dennis O'Keefe were among the celebrity guests that week
- Sam LevensonSam LevensonSam Levenson was an American humorist, writer, teacher, television host and journalist.-Personal life:Born Samuel Levenson, he grew up in a large Jewish immigrant family in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Brooklyn College in 1934...
(specific date unknown)
Models
Throughout the nine-year run of The Price Is Right, the show also employed models, whose duties were similar to those of the models in the current version.June Ferguson and Toni Wallace were the regular models, while Gail Sheldon also made frequent appearances. Ferguson, Wallace and Sheldon were featured during the show's entire nine-year run. Other models appearing included Beverly Bentley and Carolyn Stroupe; various other models either assisted Ferguson and Wallace, or appeared during their absences.
Announcers
During the NBC run, Don PardoDon Pardo
Dominick George "Don" Pardo is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live....
was the main announcer. Whenever he was off, or filling in for Cullen as host, substitute announcers included Dick Dudley
Dick Dudley
Richard Allen "Dick" Dudley was an American radio and television announcer....
, Vic Roby
Vic Roby
Victor Mills "Vic" Roby, Jr. was a radio and television announcer, voice-over artist and public affairs show host, and served for years as a staff announcer with NBC.-Early life and career:...
, and Roger Tuttle.
Following the move to ABC, Johnny Gilbert
Johnny Gilbert
John L. "Johnny" Gilbert III is an American show business personality who has worked mainly on television game shows. Originally a nightclub singer and entertainer, he has hosted and announced a number of game shows from various eras, dating as far back as the 1950s...
became the announcer; one fill-in was ABC staff announcer Ed Jordan
Ed Jordan
Ed Jordan is a South African musician, composer, singer-songwriter, actor, TV and radio presenter. His most recent work was for Spud the Movie starring John Cleese, where he wrote and produced the orchestral score and the theme songs as working as music supervisor on the film...
.
Theme songs
The first theme song (used from 1956-1961) was an arrangement of Charles StrouseCharles Strouse
Charles Strouse is an American composer and lyricist.-Life and career:Strouse was born and raised in New York City, the son of Ira and Ethel Strouse...
's "Sixth Finger Tune", originally written for Milton Scott Michel
Milton Scott Michel
Milton Scott Michel was an American crime fiction writer and playwright. His most notable work was published in the 1940s - 1960s....
's 1956 play Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove.
The second theme song (used from 1961-1965) was called "Window Shopping
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
" and was composed by Bob Cobert. This theme was later used on another Goodson-Todman game, Snap Judgment, and later found its way back to Bob Stewart's stable with the short-lived game You're Putting Me On
You're Putting Me On
You're Putting Me On! was a short-lived Bob Stewart NBC game show in which celebrities tried to communicate the identities of famous people through odd and interesting clues...
.
Episode status
Although The Price Is Right became Goodson-Todman's first regularly aired game show to be broadcast in colorColor television
Color television is part of the history of television, the technology of television and practices associated with television's transmission of moving images in color video....
on September 23, 1957, no color kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
s or videotape
Videotape
A videotape is a recording of images and sounds on to magnetic tape as opposed to film stock or random access digital media. Videotapes are also used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram...
s are known to exist from the nighttime run. Many monochrome NBC nighttime episodes (plus at least one ABC episode) aired on Game Show Network
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
from 1996–2000, at which time the network's contract to air the show ended; it has not been renewed since.
The daytime run is believed to be destroyed
Wiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
; the UCLA Film and Television Archive lists the first and third episodes from 1956 among its holdings.
DVD release
Four episodes, including the 1964 nighttime finale, were released on "The Best of The Price is Right" DVD set (March 25, 2008). Despite pre-release assumptions that each of the four unique runs would be represented, as it was announced that there would be four Cullen episodes, none were of the ABC daytime run despite the existence of episodes from that era; a second NBC prime-time episode instead filled that slot.Many noticed that the four Cullen episodes lacked commercials, as well as the fact that all three NBC episodes had already been spotted prior to the DVD release. Both NBC prime-time episodes (January 13 and 27, 1960) had aired on GSN before, while the daytime episode (February 21, 1957) had been available in the public domain for several years; the daytime episode is notable for not only missing its opening, but for Cullen promoting Charles Van Doren's match against Vivienne Nearing on Twenty One
Twenty One (game show)
Twenty One is an American game show which aired in the late 1950s. While it included the most popular contestant of the quiz show era, it became notorious for being a rigged quiz show which nearly caused the demise of the entire genre in the wake of United States Senate investigations...
– which eventually led to Van Doren's defeat.
The Fremantle
FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
logo animation was added after each episode, as the production company currently owns all Mark Goodson properties.
The episode listing included with the DVD set states the daytime episode aired March 10, 1957 and the ABC episode aired September 4, 1964 (with guest Jose Ferrer
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...
); however, the former is a Sunday and the latter is not actually present on the DVD set but had been aired by GSN. The 1964 finale featured Pat Carroll as the celebrity player, and the night's champion was invited back to appear on the following Monday's daytime episode.