Celebrity listings for "Musical Chairs" and "You Don't Say!" ('75)

[thomas_meighan]

I didn't exactly set out to do this, but a little research on newspapers.com led to a rabbit hole, and soon I had passably complete celebrity listings for two short-lived games that ran from summer to fall of 1975.

The one for "Musical Chairs" was undoubtedly encouraged by all the newly surfaced material. The Cleveland Press and Tucson Citizen were pretty good about listing the upcoming celebrity guests for game shows, but even then I had to fill occasional gaps from other sources. At least one week, #13, changed a celebrity multiple times during the week, and as we hopefully get to see more of the series, there may be similar discoveries. (The reference to Sharon Vaughn on #62 was found in the Akron Beacon Journal and hasn't been confirmed anywhere else -- the listings I have found for that week only cite Mary Stuart and The Spinners.)

Although WCBS carried the show at 1 p.m. Eastern, they evidently were able to air each show on its scheduled date rather than delay to to the following day; e.g. they aired the premiere on June 16, and they aired its replacement ("Give-n-Take") in that slot starting November 3. The NY Daily News listings show only one preemption (Tuesday, 7-15, for Apollo-Soyuz coverage). That would seem to fit with the airdates cited on the Musical Chairs 75 YouTube page, as well as the final episode being #99. Ergo, new celebrity "panels" (if you can call them that) began on Tuesdays starting in mid-July. (On 7-15, WCBS aired an extra "What's My Line?" at 1 p.m.)

Lines with an asterisk have at least one episode in circulation (and the celebrities verified through watching). There will probably be more.

June 16: Kelly Garrett, Ernestine Jackson, The Tokens
June 23: Lynn Kellogg, Jane Olivor, Sister Sledge
June 30: Lee Kirk, Marilyn Sokol, The Tokens
July 7: Larry Kert, Donna Theodore, The Flashy Ladies*
July 14: Larry Kert, Julie Budd, Jonelle Allen [preempted 7-15]
July 22: Dede Warwick, Marilyn Michaels, The Tokens
July 29: Alice Playten, Kelly Garrett, The Tokens
August 5: Cathy Carlson, Linda Hargrove, Bobby Rydell, Gretchen Wyler*
August 12: Janie Sell, Ernestine Jackson, The Tokens
August 19: Margaret Whiting, Marilyn Michaels, Sister Sledge
August 26: Phyllis Newman, David James Carroll, The Flashy Ladies
September 2: Buddy Greco, Dick Roman, Hatti Winston, Napoli and Glasson
September 9: Mary Stuart, The Spinners, Sharon Vaughn (#62), Irene Cara (#63), Alaina Reed (#64), Donna Cellini (#65)*
September 16: Eileen Fulton, Don Stewart, Blue Magic
September 23: Jerry Vale, Dana Valery, Melba Montgomery
September 30: George Kirby, Sheila MacRae, Larry Kert, Kelly Garrett
October 7: New Christy Minstrels, Michael Nouri, Ernestine Jackson
October 14: Ernestine Jackson, Gordon MacRae, Heather MacRae, Lou Rawls*
October 21: Larry Kert, Shari Lewis, Sister Sledge*
October 28: Ralph Carter, Donna Cellini, Ernestine Jackson, Bobby Rydell*

"You Don't Say" was more straightforward, as ABC doesn't appear to have preempted it during the 21-week run save for Thanksgiving and the day after (I presume the episode slated as #103-YDS-75 is the last one). Most listings came from the Tucson Citizen or from viewing episodes that circulate (denoted with an asterisk).

On #93, Tom says that the show planned to have kids back as contestants during Christmas week. There wouldn't be one, of course, and the timing suggests he or the producers were being a little optimistic. The move of "Edge of Night" to ABC and its replacing YDS! was reported as early as October 2 in the Independent-Gazette of Richmond, CA, and with the show in question being taped October 17, maybe there was some hope that a different slot could be found for one or the other.

July 7: Loretta Swit, Sherman Hemsley, Bob Crane, Abby Dalton*
July 14: Bill Cullen, Ann Elder, Larry Hovis, Linda Kaye Henning
July 21: Alex Karras, Abby Dalton, Pat Harrington, Linda Kaye Henning
July 28: Peter Haskell, Barbara McNair, Larry Hovis, Betty White
August 4: Leslie Nielsen, Jessica Walter, Charlie Brill, Ann Elder
August 11: Bob Crane, Adrienne Barbeau, George Lindsey, Betty White
August 18: Robert Reed, Abby Dalton, Larry Hovis, Ann Elder
August 25: Mickey Manners, Betty White, Peter Haskell, Conny Van Dyke
September 1: Larry Hovis, Ann Elder, Marty Ingels, Fannie Flagg
September 8: Greg Morris, Meredith MacRae, Mickey Manners, Joyce Bulifant
September 15: Peter Haskell, Conny Van Dyke, Charlie Brill, Mitzi McCall
September 22: Lee Majors, Abby Dalton, Larry Hovis, Mary Ann Mobley
September 29: Charlie Brill, Mitzi McCall, Greg Morris, Abbe Lane
October 6: Bob Ridgely, Ann Elder, Mickey Manners, Conny Van Dyke
October 13: Marty Ingels, Dusty Springfield, George Lindsey, Joyce Bulifant
October 20: Larry Hovis, Joyce Brothers, Robert Morse, Conny Van Dyke
October 27: Charlie Brill, Ann Elder, Mitzi McCall, Peter Haskell [VTR 10-3]*
November 3: Rex Reed, Betty White, Elaine Joyce, Bob Ridgely*
November 10: Rex Reed, Conny Van Dyke, June Lockhart, Larry Hovis [VTR 10-17]*
November 17: Charlie Brill, Mitzi McCall, Gary Collins, Mary Ann Mobley
November 24: Bob Ridgely, Conny Van Dyke, Larry Hovis, Ann Elder [VTR 10-31; only three episodes this week]*

[JasonA1]

Thanks for this! I'm a little surprised the YDS list didn't have even more overlap between weeks than this, given the four-celeb format, and how relatively hard it was to play that game vs. others that booked guest players.

-Jason

[Ian Wallis]

Some notes:

I think the week with a different guest each day only happened once, probably to give more newer talent a chance to be featured.

Re WCBS - I wondered about that.  I was under the impression that CBS fed the show once for the Eastern/Central time zones, and another for Pacific.  I'm guessing there wasn't a separate feed just for them (?).

I watched most of this show during its original run but looking at the listings now, they did seem to have some semi-regulars - Ernestine Jackson, Larry Kert and the Tokens made quite a few appearances.

Re You Don't Say...I hadn't realized that Lee Majors did the show - that was a pretty big get for the time.  It was carried in my area on tape delay to the next morning but paired with Dialing For Dollars, so the celebrities weren't listed.  The description was for what was going to happen on Dialing instead.  I had to rely on out-of-town TVGuides for any listings but there were a lot of ABC stations that didn't carry the show, so the info I had was spotty.

It does seem odd they'd mention the Christmas week if they knew about the cancellation, but wikipedia claims this:

"According to an ABC press release dated November 6, 1975, You Don't Say! was slated to return to ABC's daytime schedule at a later time, but for unknown reasons, this never occurred."

Maybe Tom and the producers were told this before that show was taped and were hoping it would be back by then.

Interesting nonetheless.