The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: SuperMatch93 on March 09, 2025, 10:16:26 PM
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We've had similar threads about The Paley Center (https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,35357) before, but I don't recall us discussing this:
I plan on being in Washington, D.C. the last week of March, and I want to spend an afternoon at the Library of Congress. Has anyone gone there to view their A/V collection for any rare episodes of game shows? For instance, they have audio of four episodes of Sale of the Century from 1969-70, and I plan on putting in a request to have access to those.
Anyone have any other recommendations for things to keep an eye out for?
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The LOC has some episodes of the 60s Match Game that have never circulated but whether they've been transferred or not is an open question:
1/2/63 LC Arlene Francis, Skitch Henderson
6/24/63 LC Florence Henderson, Henry Morgan
8/20/63 LC Faye Emerson, Henry Morgan
11/21/63 LC BW, Shelley Berman
5/19/65 LC Lauren Bacall, Roger Smith
6/2/65 LC Joe Garagiola, Whitey Ford
9/23/65 LC Jayne Meadows, Sydney Chaplin
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Wheel of Fortune from December 15, 1982 (Vanna's third permanent show) also resides there and has been digitized.
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Wheel of Fortune from December 15, 1982 (Vanna's third permanent show) also resides there and has been digitized.
That one's actually already circulating, been posted in a couple places.
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Anyone have any other recommendations for things to keep an eye out for?
Two of relevance, one which we've discussed before, and one we haven't:
1) The Library of Congress, along with UCLA, received the bulk of the kinescope library of Goodson-Todman Productions- spreadsheets of the collection are linked to here (https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,32428.msg383098.html#msg383098), and it includes quite a bit that has never been rebroadcast.
2) As part of the Library of Congress's holdings of the NBC Collection, there are episodes of game shows (as demonstrated here (https://guides.loc.gov/nbc/television-collections/broadcasts))- however, while the radio end of the NBC Collection has been well-indexed, there seems to be no public information concerning the television holdings, so I have no clue how substantial these materials are.
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Anyone have any other recommendations for things to keep an eye out for?
Two of relevance, one which we've discussed before, and one we haven't:
1) The Library of Congress, along with UCLA, received the bulk of the kinescope library of Goodson-Todman Productions- spreadsheets of the collection are linked to here (https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,32428.msg383098.html#msg383098), and it includes quite a bit that has never been rebroadcast.
2) As part of the Library of Congress's holdings of the NBC Collection, there are episodes of game shows (as demonstrated here (https://guides.loc.gov/nbc/television-collections/broadcasts))- however, while the radio end of the NBC Collection has been well-indexed, there seems to be no public information concerning the television holdings, so I have no clue how substantial these materials are.
Ooh, Concentration! My appetite is whetted.
I may contact the research librarians there for specifics, due to some of their stuff not being catalouged.
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I got to view a bunch of cool pilots when I was last out. CBS's primetime Celebrity Name Game, a GSN Dating Game from the late 00s, the original Gong Show pilot, and a 2006 for a revival of Child's Play.
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1) The Library of Congress, along with UCLA, received the bulk of the kinescope library of Goodson-Todman Productions- spreadsheets of the collection are linked to here (https://www.gameshowforum.org/index.php/topic,32428.msg383098.html#msg383098), and it includes quite a bit that has never been rebroadcast.
My understanding is that the G-T kinescope library was split, roughly in thirds, between the Library of Congress, UCLA and The Paley Center. There is a little bit of duplication in the collections because one organization or another may have already had kinescopes from previous donations. The G-T collection was the company library, of course, but other kinescopes were made for each episode for various reasons, and many of them have independently made their way to one or more of the three organizations.
A couple months ago, a friend visited the Library of Congress and watched four Secret episodes that I had asked him to check out. He had no problem viewing all four. I don't know whether that means that the LoC has already digitized their G-T holdings, or if they're just very, very generous about taking requests.
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CBS's primetime Celebrity Name Game, a GSN Dating Game from the late 00s…
I don’t think I’d heard of these. Would anyone share more about them? Was the CBS Name Game the same as what got syndicated? What was GSN Dating Game like? Was it meant to be a companion to its Newlywed Game? Was Michael Davies involved?
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I thought the Dating Game pilot was actually for CBS, in the timeslot that eventually went to LMAD? But the idea of it being a companion series for GSN makes more sense.
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Over 30-some years ago I spent a few days in Chicago and visited the Museum of Broadcasting, somewhere in The Loop.
That was my first experience with viewing older game shows.
Are they still around? And are they affiliated with the Library of Congress, the Paley Center or another group elsewhere in the country?
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Over 30-some years ago I spent a few days in Chicago and visited the Museum of Broadcasting, somewhere in The Loop.
That was my first experience with viewing older game shows.
Are they still around? And are they affiliated with the Library of Congress, the Paley Center or another group elsewhere in the country?
They're still there (at a new building since then) but their viewing room to the best of my knowledge is no longer open.
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And are they affiliated with the Library of Congress, the Paley Center or another group elsewhere in the country?
Based on this (https://www.museum.tv/about), it would appear that the Museum of Broadcast Communications has no formal connection with the LoC, the Paley Center, or the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
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I got to view a bunch of cool pilots when I was last out. CBS's primetime Celebrity Name Game, a GSN Dating Game from the late 00s, the original Gong Show pilot, and a 2006 for a revival of Child's Play.
Pls clarify - which collection are these in?
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The LOC has some episodes of the 60s Match Game that have never circulated but whether they've been transferred or not is an open question:
1/2/63 LC Arlene Francis, Skitch Henderson
6/24/63 LC Florence Henderson, Henry Morgan
8/20/63 LC Faye Emerson, Henry Morgan
11/21/63 LC BW, Shelley Berman
5/19/65 LC Lauren Bacall, Roger Smith
6/2/65 LC Joe Garagiola, Whitey Ford
9/23/65 LC Jayne Meadows, Sydney Chaplin
Back in 2003 or so, I made an appointment at the Library of Congress and saw the 1/2/63 and 6/24/63 episodes of Match Game!
It's too bad no one at Buzzr is a fan of the 60s Match Game. These episodes would have been great for one of the Lost and Found marathons! Buzzr did air a rare 60s Password episode from the Library of Congress in 2021.
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The LOC has some episodes of the 60s Match Game that have never circulated but whether they've been transferred or not is an open question:
1/2/63 LC Arlene Francis, Skitch Henderson
That would be from the Premiere week!
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The LOC has some episodes of the 60s Match Game that have never circulated but whether they've been transferred or not is an open question
What I wouldn't give ...
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As I type this, I'm at the Recorded Sound room listening to the 3/20/70 episode of Sale of the Century!
I put in a request to listen to the four episodes listed on their website, but they hadn't been digitized and it would have taken 10 days to have access to them. The librarian did however have a digitized transcription disc with three Sale episodes and one Jeopardy episode, all from 1970.
By this point in the run, Madelyn Sanders had joined up as assistant and the Open Sale was still at the midpoint of the show instead of the Audience Sale. By this point, during the Instant Bargains Jack is more willing to haggle with the prices; he dropped the price of a fur coat from $13.95 to $5.
Incidentally, he hasn't gotten much better as host. ;D
An example of the caliber of the questions:
"If you were abbreviating this writer's name, you might call him 'Ezra lb.'"
EDIT: I'm on the 7/23/70 episode of Sale now, and the Audience Sale is now in place. Three audience members are shown a prize (in this case, a $336 set of tires) and they each write down their guess of the sale price. Closest without going over wins it.
Before the winner is announced, each of the contestants select which audience player they think guessed correctly (or put up a 0 if they think all of them went over). Any player who guesses correct receives the sale price--in this case, $17.95--added to their score as a bonus.