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Author Topic: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?  (Read 2392 times)

DjohnsonCB

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Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« on: May 19, 2022, 03:06:31 AM »
In my collection of vintage TV GUIDE mags, there are listings for two locally-produced game shows: "The Letter Game", which aired in color in 1966 on WMAQ after "The Match Game", and "Lucky Pair", a celebrity game which aired in 1970 on KNXT (now KCBS) in L.A.  Did anyone ever catch these two shows or recall anything about them?
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SuperMatch93

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2022, 07:05:21 AM »
With regards to Lucky Pair, it was created by Bob Barker and ran from 1968-71. It was hosted by Geoff Edwards in the first year and Richard Dawson for the rest of the run; Bob mentioned in his Television Academy interview that he "batted a thousand" when it came to choosing his own hosts, so he was obviously pleased with them both.

According to Geoff in 1997, he left it to go do a network show, but I'm not sure which one that would have been.
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Jimmy Owen

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #2 on: May 19, 2022, 09:17:24 AM »
Geoff did a morning talk show in 1970 for the ABC owned stations called "The His and Hers of It.   It was cleared in Detroit on WXYZ.
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BrandonFG

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #3 on: May 19, 2022, 10:06:30 AM »
Interesting that Geoff joked that Bob's replacement is just being born - in a post from 1997 - but it of course ended up being Drew.

I'm thinking the network show was Petticoat Junction. IIRC, he played one of the young ladies' boyfriend.
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Jimmy Owen

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #4 on: May 19, 2022, 11:03:17 AM »
Interesting that Geoff joked that Bob's replacement is just being born - in a post from 1997 - but it of course ended up being Drew.

I'm thinking the network show was Petticoat Junction. IIRC, he played one of the young ladies' boyfriend.
could be. Coincidentally, Richard Dawson was also doing a CBS sitcom while hosting Lucky Pair, "Hogan's Heroes"
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BillCullen1

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #5 on: May 19, 2022, 11:17:42 AM »
I typed both of these in on YouTube. Nothing. The closest thing was Chain Letters, a British game show.

Steve Gavazzi

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #6 on: May 19, 2022, 06:08:25 PM »
I'm thinking the network show was Petticoat Junction. IIRC, [Geoff Edwards] played one of the young ladies' boyfriend.

That doesn't add up, though -- the character in question only appeared during the '67-'68 season, which presumably ended before Lucky Pair even started.

snowpeck

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #7 on: May 19, 2022, 06:22:29 PM »
Geoff did a morning talk show in 1970 for the ABC owned stations called "The His and Hers of It.   It was cleared in Detroit on WXYZ.
Some quick newspaper research shows "The His and Hers of It" premiered in fall 1969, so that checks out.

"The Letter Game" was a local Chicago show. There's some discussion about it in this thread.
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calliaume

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Bryce L.

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2022, 08:00:42 PM »
No video, but here's a photo of the set from when Geoff was hosting:

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/geoff-edwards-hosting-the-lucky-pair-game-show-image-dated-news-photo/458905850
I'm guessing an "Eye Guess" or "Concentration"-type game, then?

The Ol' Guy

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #10 on: May 20, 2022, 01:29:14 PM »
In his Priceless Memories book, Bob gave a short description of Lucky Pair, which he claimed was an idea of his mother's.

"Lucky Pair was a board game played by two contestants. The contestant who completed the most pairs won the game. To complete a pair, you had to match two squares on the board. A contestant chose a number on the board, and the square turned around, and perhaps it might reveal "1492." The contestant would say "Columbus discovered America," and complete a pair. But suppose a square revealed "Civil War General" and the contestant said "Robert E. Lee" and the square turned back into place. That was not the answer we were looking for - the pair was not completed. Now, the contestant should try to remember the number of the "Civil War General" square in case he discovers the the square that reads "General James Longstreet." Think about it for a moment. Lucky Pair offered endless possibilities that were a lot of fun." 

So it appears that, like suggested above, there was a Concentration element. A player could score a match by finding one element of the Lucky Pair and correctly guessing what the other element would be, or you could score by finding the two numbers on the board that completed the pre-determined information on the pair. Now this sounds pretty good. I wonder, in the case of the 1492 example above, whether the square that contained "Columbus discovered America" was automatically removed from the board, or did it remain to louse up attempts at future matches?

nowhammies10

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #11 on: May 20, 2022, 02:07:49 PM »
That description makes it sound like Eye Guess meets Concentration. Also like the pilot of the latter show that Orson Bean helmed.

The Ol' Guy

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #12 on: May 20, 2022, 02:41:36 PM »
Yes, I can see the Eye Guess element where humorous mis-matches could give a host fodder for jokes, as Orson Bean attempted in his Concentration pilots. Fortunately, the ability to take a guess after revealing one half of the pair could take some pressure off the host as far as going for jokes, and it speeds up the game. Here's a strain on my memory, and perhaps someone has the answer. IIRC, it was the Carl Reiner special "Those Wonderful TV Game Shows" where a montage of game show openings was run, and among them was one with two horseshoes side by side with LUCKY PAIR written over them. There was also a Seven Keys with the spinning title card as well. Seemed to indicate that (a) clips from local L.A. shows were in the mix, and (b) somebody somewhere may have video of the show. One can hope, anyway. Or, (c), maybe I should switch up some of my meds...

geno57

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Re: Anyone recall "The Letter Game" or "Lucky Pair"?
« Reply #13 on: May 30, 2022, 03:06:04 PM »
I attended tapings of The Letter Game at WMAQ-TV Chicago, when I was eight or nine years old (mid 1960s). The host was Jim Hutton — not the actor, but a personality who had moved down from the Twin Cities. He was also at the helm of Everything’s Relative, which was syndicated from the same studio, mainly to the NBC O&O stations.

The Letter Game was, basically, Hangman. A word was presented to three players, who took turns guessing a letter. They kept playing if their letter was in the word. If not, play passed to the next contestant.

I believe the first round was for $5 a letter … second round $10 … third round $20 … and then a 12-letter bonus word for $25 per letter. I could be wrong about that … it’s been 55+ years!

My visit to the WMAQ-TV studios helped to solidify my determination to go into broadcasting as a career (for better or worse). I’m 65, so I’m in my last year or so of that whole thing.