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Author Topic: Vintage game show books on archive.org  (Read 14608 times)

Casey Buck

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Vintage game show books on archive.org
« on: March 29, 2020, 06:01:12 PM »
For the last several years, The Internet Archive has scanned quite a collection of out-of-print books, and have been available to rent library-style, where one user at a time can check out a book for 14 days. From now until the end of June, they have suspended the waiting lists.

Here's what I've found so far:

Art Fleming's TV Game Show Fact Book by Art Fleming (1979)
Daytime Television Game Shows and the Celebration of Merchandise: The Price is Right by Morris B. Holbrook (1992)
How to Become a Game Show Contestant: An Insider's Guide by Greg Muntean and Gregg Silverman (1987)
How to Strike It Rich on TV Game Shows by Ed Fishman (1972)
Prime Time and Misdemeanors: Investigating the 1950's TV Quiz Show Scandal by Joseph Stone and Tim Yohn (1992)
Prisoner of Trebekistan by Bob Harris (2006)
Quiz Craze: America's Infatuation with Game Shows by Thomas A. DeLong (1991)
The Jeopardy! Book by Alex Trebek and Peter Barsocchini (1990)
The TV Game Shows: How to Get On and Win by Norm Blumenthal (1975)
The Ultimate TV Game Show Book (Volume I) by Steve Ryan and Fred Wostbrock (2005)
This is Jeopardy: Celebrating America's Favorite Quiz Show by Ray Richmond (2004)
What's My Line?: The Inside History of TV's Most Famous Panel Show by Gil Fates (1978)
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire: The Official Book by David Fisher (2000)
You Can Become a Game Show Contestant and Win by Susan Sackett and Cheryl Blythe (1982)

curtking

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2020, 07:52:31 PM »
How cool!  Thanks for this! ;D

BrandonFG

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2020, 08:22:08 PM »
Before I discovered the EOTVGS, I swore by a few of these books, as well as Maxine Fabe’s book. Would love to see these so many years later.

Thanks!
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chris319

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2020, 08:59:12 PM »
Gil Fates's book is full of amusing anecdotes about the show and is highly recommended.

Prime Time and Misdemeanors is a detailed account of the quiz scandal, also highly recommended.

Ira Skutch and Monty Hall have written memoirs. Ira's book didn't go into game shows and his days at G-T as much as I would have liked.

I would love to see a book about game show packagers such as Goodson & Todman, Barry & Enright, Heatter & Quigley, Hatos & Hall, Bob Stewart, Ralph Edwards, John Guedel and the rest, written by someone who doesn't pull fiction out of his a**.

Unfortunately, those guys are all deceased now so they can't be interviewed. Jay Wolpert and Bob Noah are still with us.
« Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 01:47:10 AM by chris319 »

Mike Tennant

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2020, 09:52:17 PM »
I would love to see a book about game show packagers such as Goodson & Todman, Barry & Enright, Heatter & Quigley, Hatos & Hall, Bob Stewart, Ralph Edwards, John Guedel and the rest, written by someone who doesn't pull fiction out of his a**.
Adam Nedeff, please pick up the white courtesy phone...


Adam Nedeff

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2020, 02:03:11 AM »
I would love to see a book about game show packagers such as Goodson & Todman, Barry & Enright, Heatter & Quigley, Hatos & Hall, Bob Stewart, Ralph Edwards, John Guedel and the rest, written by someone who doesn't pull fiction out of his a**.
A friend of mine has been working on a book about Jack Barry for about five years now, with help from Barry's family. Hopefully that'll be on its way soon.

My revised version of Monty's biography goes a little more in depth on the history of Hatos & Hall, but not MUCH deeper for reasons I'll go into in a moment.

A friend of mine sent a message to my publisher suggesting I write a book about the history of Bob Stewart Productions and the publisher politely declined. Quizmaster, if I may say so, gives a nice truncated history of it since Bill and Bob crossed paths so much.

A bunch of people have suggested a book about Goodson & Todman's history, but there are two problems I have with that:
#1. I'd be regurgitating a BUNCH of information that I've already trickled out in other books and I do know that a lot of people own multiple books of mine, so I'm worried about how they'd feel buying a book that's just revisiting a lot of stuff they've already paid for before.

#2. I hate to point this out, but we're at a point where we've lost enough people that I can't go in depth with anything before 1970. A lot of people would suggest "Well, you could talk to their kids." But David Narz said something to me once when he talked about how people have suggested that he write a biography of his dad. "I can't write about my dad's work. I was in school. I was out being a kid. If somebody asked you to write a book about your dad's job, could you do it?"
« Last Edit: March 30, 2020, 03:19:00 PM by Adam Nedeff »

chris319

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2020, 03:28:28 AM »
Quote
A friend of mine has been working on a book about Jack Barry for about five years now, with help from Barry's family.

Fortunately, you and that friend have great respect for accuracy and the truth, unlike a certain game-show wannabe who makes up stuff and publishes fictional accounts, such as the demise of a certain game-show personality. I know you know who I mean. Thank goodness he isn't writing Jack Barry bio. It would be an insult to Jack's family/survivors.

I met Jack Barry in San Francisco at the 1976 NATPE convention. He and Enright were trying to launch Break the Bnk. Jack was incredibly brusque and ice cold. He described BTB as having nine celebrities a la Hollywood Squares.

There is a good interview with Monty on the TV Academy site. IIRC Fred Wostbrock interviewed him. There should be interviews with Bob Noah and Jay Wolpert while they're still around.

Jamey Greek

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #8 on: March 31, 2020, 11:27:39 AM »
I would love to see a book about game show packagers such as Goodson & Todman, Barry & Enright, Heatter & Quigley, Hatos & Hall, Bob Stewart, Ralph Edwards, John Guedel and the rest, written by someone who doesn't pull fiction out of his a**.
A friend of mine has been working on a book about Jack Barry for about five years now, with help from Barry's family. Hopefully that'll be on its way soon.

My revised version of Monty's biography goes a little more in depth on the history of Hatos & Hall, but not MUCH deeper for reasons I'll go into in a moment.

A friend of mine sent a message to my publisher suggesting I write a book about the history of Bob Stewart Productions and the publisher politely declined. Quizmaster, if I may say so, gives a nice truncated history of it since Bill and Bob crossed paths so much.

A bunch of people have suggested a book about Goodson & Todman's history, but there are two problems I have with that:
#1. I'd be regurgitating a BUNCH of information that I've already trickled out in other books and I do know that a lot of people own multiple books of mine, so I'm worried about how they'd feel buying a book that's just revisiting a lot of stuff they've already paid for before.

#2. I hate to point this out, but we're at a point where we've lost enough people that I can't go in depth with anything before 1970. A lot of people would suggest "Well, you could talk to their kids." But David Narz said something to me once when he talked about how people have suggested that he write a biography of his dad. "I can't write about my dad's work. I was in school. I was out being a kid. If somebody asked you to write a book about your dad's job, could you do it?"

Adam, you think you could write a book about Narz in the future?

Casey

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #9 on: March 31, 2020, 11:31:36 AM »
Thanks for sharing this!  I “checked out” and read Gil Fates’ book.  A very easy and amusing read - I enjoyed it thoroughly.

tvmitch

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #10 on: March 31, 2020, 12:03:26 PM »
Thanks for sharing this!  I “checked out” and read Gil Fates’ book.  A very easy and amusing read - I enjoyed it thoroughly.
The Gil Fates book is an especially good find here, because of its relative rarity. Copies go for $100 on Amazon right now, and I recall seeing higher price tags in the past.
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BrandonFG

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2020, 09:19:45 PM »
I haven't read Susan Sackett and Cheryl Blythe's book in close to 30 years. It's a fun read, having seen so many of these shows on GSN/Buzzr/Youtube, something I never thought would be possible as a child.

On page 38, she mentions that Battlestars contestants received $800 worth of parting gifts. Having wondered the actual amount of these gifts, was that the norm for most shows of that era? Most credit rolls I remember seeing offered the Lee Press-On nails, Ragu spaghetti sauce and pizza mix, and the Hawaiian Tropic towel.
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Neumms

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2020, 10:58:57 PM »
Most credit rolls I remember seeing offered the Lee Press-On nails...

You need 10 at a time, so maybe you hit $800 pretty fast.

Joe Mello

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #13 on: March 31, 2020, 11:44:23 PM »
On page 38, she mentions that Battlestars contestants received $800 worth of parting gifts. Having wondered the actual amount of these gifts, was that the norm for most shows of that era? Most credit rolls I remember seeing offered the Lee Press-On nails, Ragu spaghetti sauce and pizza mix, and the Hawaiian Tropic towel.
It probably depends on the show. Just as an example, I remember Whew! parting gifts to be some pretty hefty stuff. Plus, there's the possibility of returning champs accumulating parting gifts; do I need (an excuse) to break out the Bob Harris video again?
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Mr. Armadillo

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Re: Vintage game show books on archive.org
« Reply #14 on: April 01, 2020, 01:23:48 AM »
I mean, Prisoner of Trebekistan *is* in the list of books in the OP...

/Great book, highly recommend it