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So what are these people doing nowadays?
Marc Breslow and Paul Alter?
I'm just curious because watching some of their work on past game shows with G-T and seeing them on GSN. I'm just so impressed by their directorial skills...you don't see great stuff like this anymore? Personally, if I were to revive a game show I would call these two up in a heartbeat to get them to direct a show because of their expertise in this business and direction.
Yes, this may sound like a simple, whatsthepointinyoupostingthis? But if you look at the mess that was made at PRICE when Paul left the show, you could see why praise should be given when it is totally due.
Cool things like, on Card Sharks with the camera zooming out and panning to the right (just a little) see the Money Card Board swirl into place or (when after the bonus round is played to commercial break), you have the visual of the camera zooming out and panning to the right focusing on the big cards dividing with the game board moving into place. That is some talent right there to visualize a shot like that to define the glitz of a game show, or like on PRICE, with the shot of the turntable turning to see the next pricing game or the opening sequence of the show. Talent people!!!
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Paul Alter was last spotted circulating a bitter proposal for a tell-all book on his career, with special features on some of the "monsters" he'd worked with (including Dawson and Barker, but also Frank Sinatra, and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme).
I saw it and recommended my publisher not pursue it - couldn't see the audience being all that big.
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[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'May 9 2005, 01:24 PM\']Paul Alter was last spotted circulating a bitter proposal for a tell-all book on his career, with special features on some of the "monsters" he'd worked with (including Dawson and Barker, but also Frank Sinatra, and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme).
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How long ago was this?
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[quote name=\'cmjb13\' date=\'May 9 2005, 01:23 PM\'][quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'May 9 2005, 01:24 PM\']Paul Alter was last spotted circulating a bitter proposal for a tell-all book on his career, with special features on some of the "monsters" he'd worked with (including Dawson and Barker, but also Frank Sinatra, and Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme).
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How long ago was this?
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A year and a half, two years ago.
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I saw it and recommended my publisher not pursue it - couldn't see the audience being all that big.
Hey, if Ira Skutch can get published with his tales about working at Lennen & Newell, why not Paul Alter?
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Now let's think. What happened to Paul Alter a few years ago that would inspire writing a book? As I understand it, there are at least 3 "Tell Alls" planned and waiting to be pitched.
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 9 2005, 03:25 PM\']Hey, if Ira Skutch can get published with his tales about working at Lennen & Newell, why not Paul Alter?
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My instinct is the Ira Skutch book was a very short run, and might not have been available in stores. My copy doesn't have a dust jacket, which means either the original owner disposed of it or it never had one (and if it's the latter, the "not available in stores" theory seems more likely).
[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'May 9 2005, 03:50 PM\']Now let's think. What happened to Paul Alter a few years ago that would inspire writing a book? As I understand it, there are at least 3 "Tell Alls" planned and waiting to be pitched.[/quote]
Of the "monsters" listed, three are of little interest to present-day readers (Dawson, Stevie & Eydie, and John Daly), one is no surprise to anyone (Sinatra)... which leaves Barker. Yes, the proposal had what sounded like a lot of interesting stuff for us (how he saved Tattletales three times, and worked on Treasure Isle) that would be less interesting to the rest of the world.
Somebody else might have picked it up, but it's not listed in Amazon.
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Janice Pennington supposedly wrote a follow-up to "Husband, Lover, Spy" but nothing's been seen of it yet. Wonder if that's one of the three tell-alls Randy mentioned.
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[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'May 9 2005, 05:21 PM\']Yes, the proposal had what sounded like a lot of interesting stuff for us (how he saved Tattletales three times...)
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Yer damn right, it sounds interesting. He saved Tattletales three times?
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My copy of Ira's book did not have a dust jacket when I bought it new at Samuel French, where Ira suggested I would find a copy (OK, I'm shameless in my name-dropping). It was indeed a limited run published somehow in association with the DGA. Of course, knowing the late literary agent Frank Heller didn't hurt in getting it published.
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[quote name=\'tvrandywest\' date=\'May 9 2005, 01:50 PM\']Now let's think. What happened to Paul Alter a few years ago that would inspire writing a book? As I understand it, there are at least 3 "Tell Alls" planned and waiting to be pitched.
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Two that I'm aware of will be memoirs of people who worked on the show in one capacity or another, and will likely emphasize their experiences and reflect their points of view. It's anybody's guess whether those people are under non-disparagement agreements and are limited in what they can say publicly, unlike an independently-researched work.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 9 2005, 10:21 PM\']My copy of Ira's book did not have a dust jacket when I bought it new at Samuel French, where Ira suggested I would find a copy (OK, I'm shameless in my name-dropping).
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I just did a search on a couple of used-book sites and it seems that every copy offered is sans dust jacket. For what it's worth, I picked up a copy for less than $10 including shipping.
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[quote name=\'mystery7\' date=\'May 9 2005, 07:18 PM\']Janice Pennington supposedly wrote a follow-up to "Husband, Lover, Spy" but nothing's been seen of it yet. Wonder if that's one of the three tell-alls Randy mentioned.
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If she's still working on it, it's been awhile. My former employer, St. Martin's Press, published the book in paperback (and I think it was on or near the best seller lists in that format); the longer it takes to write something like that the less interested publishers are.
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And I'm guessing that Marc Breslow is enjoying his retirement and that he invested wisely his five years' worth of "consultant" fees from MGP/All-American/Pearson.
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And I'm guessing that Marc Breslow is enjoying his retirement and that he invested wisely his five years' worth of "consultant" fees from MGP/All-American/Pearson.
Ten years, plus the salary he earned directing Family Feud and Card Sharks, plus the $1 million Goodson reportedly left his wife Patti, not to mention the appreciation on their home above Beverly Hills.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 10 2005, 02:06 PM\']Ten years, plus the salary he earned directing Family Feud and Card Sharks, plus the $1 million Goodson reportedly left his wife Patti, not to mention the appreciation on their home above Beverly Hills.
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So the extra $10-$20K from a tell-all is not going to make a big difference in his bank account. And that's all it is for a book from an author with no name recognition.
I'm fairly certain many of the people who were let go by Barker in the last few years would love to make the best-seller lists and bring him down a peg or two, but except maybe for Dian, I don't see anyone having a tawdry enough story to make it happen. "Bob Barker fired me at age 78!" isn't going to lead to too much righteous indignation, no one knows or cares much about Dawson, Steve & Eydie, or Daly ("What did that fat golfer ever do to this guy?"), and saying Sinatra was a pain to work with at times, at this point, is like saying a pretty girl occasionally caught JFK's eye or Joan Crawford was strict with her kids.
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or Daly ("What did that fat golfer ever do to this guy?")
Funny how you have the golfer, the newsman and game show host, AND a RealTV host all with the same name.
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I thought it was Paul Alter who was writing the tell all, not Breslow.