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On this date, May 2 in 1984...the game show world lost one of television's most popular and at one time most infamous game show hosts.
Jack Barry, at the age of 66, passed away in New York after suffering a massive heart attack during a morning jog in Central Park. Barry had returned from a trip to Europe he took shortly after finishing the 1983-84 season of TJW to visit his daughter, who was going to school there.
At the time of his death, Jack had three Barry & Enright game shows on television; one of which was on NBC (Hot Potato) and his other two franchise game shows (Joker and Tic Tac Dough) in syndication. Plus he owned a cable television outlet in L.A. and also owned a radio station as well...not to mention getting involved in motion pictures.
This post is in memory of Jack Barry...who overcame the game show scandals of the 1950s that nearly ended his career and managed to get it together and create a bigger game show empire than the one he had during the height of the 1950s quiz show era. He will not be forgotten in this community.
News of Barry's death did not travel quickly. Newspapers such as the L.A. Times and Las Vegas Review Journal reported his death the following day (May 3); while others did not report his passing until May 4 or even May 5.
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It should be noted that "Mr Barry" (as Herb Stempel was obliged to call him) made a couple of guest appearances on TV after the scandals were over. He played a reporter on an episode of The Addams Family, and was also on the Batman series.
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It's really too bad the scandals happened. It made the average viewer turn their backs on a genre they had trusted up to that point and made cynics of a generation. I'm of the opinion that pressure from advertisers was the catalyst for the subterfuge, but B&E shouldn't have bowed to that pressure.
Hope nobody in the TV industry ever repeats that error.
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I remember the morning his death was reported. I had thought it was May 5th but perhaps I am confusing it with Tom Bergeron's Birthday. Yeah, I was totally shocked to hear that he was jogging when it happened. Since he was jogging it appears that Jack was at least attempting to live a healthy lifestyle. Had he stopped smoking though? That's the question that comes to mind at the moment.
Rest in Peace Jack. You were a great host.
Dizzy
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I for one would like to hear Barry's (and Enright's) take on the contest shows of today, considering all the accusations of scandal we've heard directed at them.
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Since he was jogging it appears that Jack was at least attempting to live a healthy lifestyle.
Jack was an avid jogging enthusiast for yrs...in fact, back in early '78, he actually had to sit in a chair for about a wk-and-1/2 or so on TJW due to a leg injury he sustained during one of his jogs.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'May 2 2005, 08:56 PM\']
Since he was jogging it appears that Jack was at least attempting to live a healthy lifestyle.
Jack was an avid jogging enthusiast for yrs...in fact, back in early '78, he actually had to sit in a chair for about a wk-and-1/2 or so on TJW due to a leg injury he sustained during one of his jogs.
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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I remember that well...I believe Jack sat on a stool, which he continued to do so for the remainder of the first season. I can relate to what he went through; I had an ankle injury over a year ago and that took quite a while to heal. -RD-
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[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'May 2 2005, 07:29 PM\']It should be noted that "Mr Barry" (as Herb Stempel was obliged to call him) made a couple of guest appearances on TV after the scandals were over. He played a reporter on an episode of The Addams Family, and was also on the Batman series.
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Jack moved to Los Angeles after the scandals and did local work for several years, but remained blacklisted from the game show industry. Among other things he worked on Batman as an "Assistant Director"; and he performed those duties again on "The Good Guys", "The Love Boat" and "Dynasty". He was executive producer of "Mama Malone", which aired briefly on CBS in 1984.
In addition, Jack worked on local game shows, which was a regular staple on Los Angeles television during the 1960s and 1970s; and the aforementioned ownership of the Redondo Beach radio station. So all in all he did get busy again, but as he stated before his death that he was unable to focus on his life for a few years after the scandals; and eventually focused on L.A. to redeem himself. And it worked out well for him, and by the late-1960s he was able to get into game shows again, but it would be a tough sell for Jack.
Here's a fact regarding Jack's true return to the spotlight...
When "Joker" graduated from being a local game show to a national game show in 1972, the networks really wanted nothing to do with it. NBC and ABC flat out turned the game show down. CBS though wanted it, but wanted someone other than Jack Barry to host it (hosts considered at that time were Wink Martindale and Allen Ludden, but neither were available at that time). Eventually CBS took a chance on Barry, and gave him a 13-week only contract. That 13 week run eventually became a near-three year run, but not before changing the rules here and there, including utilizing three different bonus rounds.
What nearly got Jack in trouble during "Joker" was when the staff in the back failed to replace the bonus wheels with the category wheels before a game began, and the champion (who spinned first for a year or so) spinned three jokers on the first spin of the game (all of them saying "Wild" at the bottom). When that error occurred, Jack invited the challenger (who spinned second) back to play again. Eventually the bonus-game Jokers were changed so the word "Joker" would be at the bottom instead of "Wild".
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Care to provide your source for this?
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A quick check of IMDB.com reveals that there is an A.D. named Jack Barry who is not the same person as the game show producer.
Owning a cable TV system and an FM radio station is not the mark of a man who is struggling to rebuild his career.
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[quote name=\'WorldClassRob\' date=\'May 2 2005, 10:06 PM\']What nearly got Jack in trouble during "Joker" was when the staff in the back failed to replace the bonus wheels with the category wheels before a game began, and the champion (who spinned first for a year or so) spinned three jokers on the first spin of the game (all of them saying "Wild" at the bottom). When that error occurred, Jack invited the challenger (who spinned second) back to play again. Eventually the bonus-game Jokers were changed so the word "Joker" would be at the bottom instead of "Wild".[/quote]
How in the world could that get Jack in trouble?
(And the past tense is "spun", FTR.)
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 3 2005, 02:46 AM\']A quick check of IMDB.com reveals that there is an A.D. named Jack Barry who is not the same person as the game show producer.
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In fact, there are no fewer than six Jack Barries on IMDB.
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[quote name=\'mystery7\' date=\'May 3 2005, 09:49 AM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 3 2005, 02:46 AM\']A quick check of IMDB.com reveals that there is an A.D. named Jack Barry who is not the same person as the game show producer.
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In fact, there are no fewer than six Jack Barries on IMDB.
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And, they all jogged. Coincidence? I think not.
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[quote name=\'WorldClassRob\' date=\'May 2 2005, 10:06 PM\']Among other things he worked on Batman as an "Assistant Director"; and he performed those duties again on "The Good Guys", "The Love Boat" and "Dynasty". He was executive producer of "Mama Malone", which aired briefly on CBS in 1984.
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As was mentioned, that Assistant Director was someone else. However, he did work on "Mama Malone".
[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 3 2005, 02:46 AM\']Owning a cable TV system and an FM radio station is not the mark of a man who is struggling to rebuild his career.
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Doesn't mean he didn't have problems in his personal life. I remember reading that he became very depressed and was driven to drink after the Scandals.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'May 3 2005, 02:46 AM\']A quick check of IMDB.com reveals that there is an A.D. named Jack Barry who is not the same person as the game show producer.
Owning a cable TV system and an FM radio station is not the mark of a man who is struggling to rebuild his career.
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Thanks for clarifying this, Chris. I do know that Jack did appear on "Batman", and the Mama Malone producing is true. Obviously TV Tome does not realize this and assumed it was the same guy.
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[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'May 3 2005, 12:29 PM\']Doesn't mean he didn't have problems in his personal life. I remember reading that he became very depressed and was driven to drink after the Scandals.
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Although Dan Enright told me he was sure that Jack did NOT return to radio in the New England area after the scandals, a now deceased friend of mine with pretty good credibility was certain that Jack did the morning show at a station he worked. I now forget if it was Burlington VT or Portland ME. And according to my friend, Jack was suffering terribly at that time through a particularly difficult period of his alcoholism.
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'May 3 2005, 03:44 AM\'][quote name=\'WorldClassRob\' date=\'May 2 2005, 10:06 PM\']What nearly got Jack in trouble during "Joker" was when the staff in the back failed to replace the bonus wheels with the category wheels before a game began, and the champion (who spinned first for a year or so) spinned three jokers on the first spin of the game (all of them saying "Wild" at the bottom). When that error occurred, Jack invited the challenger (who spinned second) back to play again. Eventually the bonus-game Jokers were changed so the word "Joker" would be at the bottom instead of "Wild".[/quote]
How in the world could that get Jack in trouble?
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At that early stage of the CBS run, the rule on TJW was, regardless of whose turn it was, three jokers was an automatic win -- game over.
In this case, as it was the champion who had the first spin of the match and netted the 3 jokers, the new opponent, in a sense, never played in the match. To make things fair, and at that moment not yet knowing the error, Jack automatically asked the contestant to come back in the next match (Could've been one of Jack's first 'ad-libbed' rules???). Had the challenger not been invited back, there would have been some reason for Standard & Practices to 'investigate'.
Not too long after, the rule was changed that for a 3-joker spin, the contestant had to correctly answer a question from the category of their choice in order to win the game right there and then.
Somewhere in there, the rules were changed again so the challenger always had the first pull of the match thus the champion always had a chance to tie or beat the challenger if they were behind.
Then the rule was amended a third time(?) in which if the challenger spun 3 jokers and answered their question right, the reigning champion had one last spin to get 3 jokers and a correct answer to tie the game at $500 to $500, then the game would continue regularly until the tie was broken at the end of each round. I put a '?' after the third time because I can't recall if that rule only applied to the T of C's or if that rule was later adapted to regular play in which each player always had an equal amount of spins per match.
Going back to the incident of the regular match still using the bonus wheels, had the champ hit the devil in one of those wheels, either we probably would never have seen that 'glitch'....
Or,...
"I'll take The Devil for $200, Jack".
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'May 3 2005, 06:16 PM\']
Then the rule was amended a third time(?) in which if the challenger spun 3 jokers and answered their question right, the reigning champion had one last spin to get 3 jokers and a correct answer to tie the game at $500 to $500, then the game would continue regularly until the tie was broken at the end of each round. I put a '?' after the third time because I can't recall if that rule only applied to the T of C's or if that rule was later adapted to regular play in which each player always had an equal amount of spins per match.
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Seems to me that the "equal number of spins during TofC's, even if someone answers a question with three jokers spun" rule occurred only during TofC's. Unless it was instituted in the CBS run after APril 1973, and GSN never allowed us to see it :)
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'May 3 2005, 06:16 PM\']In this case, as it was the champion who had the first spin of the match and netted the 3 jokers, the new opponent, in a sense, never played in the match. To make things fair, and at that moment not yet knowing the error, Jack automatically asked the contestant to come back in the next match (Could've been one of Jack's first 'ad-libbed' rules???). Had the challenger not been invited back, there would have been some reason for Standard & Practices to 'investigate'.[/quote]
My question stands: why would Jack get in trouble for this? It's an error. They caught it. He wasn't the guy behind the board, (not) changing the wheels. If you're saying that Jack would specifically take heat for it just because of his past, that seems rather extreme to me.
And your scare quotes are 'puzzling'.
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[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'May 2 2005, 07:29 PM\']It should be noted that "Mr Barry" ... was also on the Batman series.
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As the "Joker, Joker, JOKER!!!!!!!!!!!!"?
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Somewhere in there, the rules were changed again so the challenger always had the first pull of the match thus the champion always had a chance to tie or beat the challenger if they were behind.
I believe it was sometime in mid-late 1974 that the rule was changed. They always had the champion go first, but at around that time switched the chairs so the champ spun second. That way it would guarantee the challenger having at least one spin and not having to be brought back if three jokers came up.
I vaguely remember from the original airings that it happened much later in the run than GSN ever got to.
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[quote name=\'WhammyPower\' date=\'May 4 2005, 07:40 AM\'][quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'May 2 2005, 07:29 PM\']It should be noted that "Mr Barry" ... was also on the Batman series.
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As the "Joker, Joker, JOKER!!!!!!!!!!!!"?
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Please tell me that wasn't a serious question.
Either way...I can see why there would be a concern in the three Jokers case, just because of when this took place (first spin of the game).
For a second, though, just ponder this. Say that this turned out to be a major scandal, just like the 1950s rigging scandal was. Do you think that a second game show scandal, a decade and change later, would have turned people permanently off to game shows? Would people be a little less critical, knowing that it came from one of the central figures of the previous scandal? Or do you think people would care less either way?
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[quote name=\'PYLdude\' date=\'May 4 2005, 09:19 AM\'][quote name=\'WhammyPower\' date=\'May 4 2005, 07:40 AM\'][quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'May 2 2005, 07:29 PM\']It should be noted that "Mr Barry" ... was also on the Batman series.
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As the "Joker, Joker, JOKER!!!!!!!!!!!!"?
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Please tell me that wasn't a serious question.
Either way...I can see why there would be a concern in the three Jokers case, just because of when this took place (first spin of the game).
For a second, though, just ponder this. Say that this turned out to be a major scandal, just like the 1950s rigging scandal was. Do you think that a second game show scandal, a decade and change later, would have turned people permanently off to game shows? Would people be a little less critical, knowing that it came from one of the central figures of the previous scandal? Or do you think people would care less either way?
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I don't think it would've even had the ability to do that, considering it was a prop malfunction and nothing deliberate like the scandals were. If it did, somehow...it may have had some impact, but likely not the massive reaction that people had when the first scandals took place.
I, for one, credit Jack's ability to think on his feet and come up with a solution quickly like that--no doubt his experience working in the early days of live TV helped immensely. Of course, it also left some old habits that were hard to break ("Can you come back for tomorrow's show?" "No, Jack, I decided to lock myself in the green room instead.")
--Sam
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Even if it was a technical error, there's no doubt that S&P was watching "TJW" like a hawk. The error was probably more embarrassing to S&P than anyone else, since they didn't catch it--and I'm sure from that point forward an S&P person was backstage making sure that the reels got changed correctly.
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Jeez, you people have vivid imaginations.
Even if it was a technical error, there's no doubt that S&P was watching "TJW" like a hawk. The error was probably more embarrassing to S&P than anyone else, since they didn't catch it--and I'm sure from that point forward an S&P person was backstage making sure that the reels got changed correctly.
S&P: What happened?
Producer: They forgot to change the wheels.
S&P: Oh.
So much for your grand inquisition.
Take it from someone who's worked on a few game show tapings: S&P watched all game shows like a hawk, but it was the production company's respoinsibility to make sure the wheels were changed. There is not some game show policeman roaming the set, shining a MagLite at the projector to make sure they had been.
You don't honestly believe B&E would try to rig a show again when they were trying to rebuild their company and their reputations and after quiz rigging had been made a federal offense, do you?
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Here is my addenda to this tidbit.
With partner Dan Enright, Barry originated such game show favorites as Winky Dink And You, Concentration, Tic Tac Dough, and Bullseye. The 1950s Game Show Scandals stemming from programs Twenty-One and The $64,000 Question made them the most controversial figures of TV history. As a result of The Scandals, Jack Barry was a virtual pariah to the networks until his work on Generation Gap and The Reel Game, and his creation of The Joker's Wild, which originally aired on CBS between 1972 and 1975, restored his status in TV game show culture.
Many closed door meetings on whether what to do about Joker in 1984 occurred until Bill Cullen was named host following his brief stint on NBC's Hot Potato, another Barry-Enright venture. This would be Cullen's final game.
In fact, The Joker's Wild turned out to be the final game for each one of its emcees, including 1983 interim host Jim Peck.
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[quote name=\'AH3RD\' date=\'May 4 2005, 02:13 PM\']In fact, The Joker's Wild turned out to be the final game for each one of its emcees, including 1983 interim host Jim Peck.
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That version, maybe. While his career hasn't been anything to write long letters to the Pope about, Pat Finn hasn't done badly for himself.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 4 2005, 04:19 PM\'][quote name=\'AH3RD\' date=\'May 4 2005, 02:13 PM\']In fact, The Joker's Wild turned out to be the final game for each one of its emcees, including 1983 interim host Jim Peck.
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That version, maybe. While his career hasn't been anything to write long letters to the Pope about, Pat Finn hasn't done badly for himself.
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Agreed. And I wouldn't mind Finn coming back to TJW if the damn show was done correctly.
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[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' date=\'May 4 2005, 07:29 PM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 4 2005, 04:19 PM\']That version, maybe. While his career hasn't been anything to write long letters to the Pope about, Pat Finn hasn't done badly for himself.
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Agreed. And I wouldn't mind Finn coming back to TJW if the damn show was done correctly.
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According to the Pat Finn Book of Logic, if "The Joker's Wild" was a game of Definitions, then what does Pat perceive the Canadian show "Definition" to be???
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I wonder how Jack felt about being relegated to local tv in the 60s for so long, hosting several L.A. games and a variety show. There must have been some real frustration over helping to get a game going locally like You Don't Say (for Ralph Andrews), then being told he couldn't be a part when it graduated to a network. I would imagine he appreciated the local work, but knowing he couldn't get in the net doors a few buildings down had to be tough.
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[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'May 4 2005, 06:25 PM\']I wonder how Jack felt about being relegated to local tv in the 60s for so long, hosting several L.A. games and a variety show. There must have been some real frustration over helping to get a game going locally like You Don't Say (for Ralph Andrews), then being told he couldn't be a part when it graduated to a network. I would imagine he appreciated the local work, but knowing he couldn't get in the net doors a few buildings down had to be tough.
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Yeah, he should have thought of that before he rigged Twenty-One.
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I wonder how Jack felt about being relegated to local tv in the 60s for so long
How about "I'd be lucky to be hosting 'Dialing for Dollars' in Peoria"?
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'May 4 2005, 08:12 PM\']According to the Pat Finn Book of Logic, if "The Joker's Wild" was a game of Definitions, then what does Pat perceive the Canadian show "Definition" to be???
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A joke?
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'May 4 2005, 08:34 PM\']Yeah, he should have thought of that before he rigged Twenty-One.
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Jack had very little, if anything, to do with the actual rigging. He just "went down with the ship"...
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[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'May 5 2005, 01:50 AM\']Jack had very little, if anything, to do with the actual rigging. He just "went down with the ship"...
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Really. Barry/Enright productions. Can't tell me Barry didn't have a say in some of this.
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Although Dan Enright orchestrated the rigging each episode, Jack obviously went along with it. Here's a Dan Enright quote taken from an excerpt of The American Experience Quiz Show Scandal :
next morning, the sponsor called my partner, Jack Barry, and me and told us in no uncertain terms that he never wanted to see a repeat of what happened the previous night. And from that moment on, we decided to rig Twenty-One.
Operative word, "we," not just "I decided to rig Twenty-One."
--Jamie
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[quote name=\'sshuffield70\' date=\'May 4 2005, 07:29 PM\']
Agreed. And I wouldn't mind Finn coming back to TJW if the damn show was done correctly.
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They can use the difficulty level of the 1990-91 questions, which was a bit higher than in the Barry/Cullen syndie years.
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[quote name=\'Jimmy Fiono Coyne\' date=\'May 5 2005, 02:15 AM\']Although Dan Enright orchestrated the rigging each episode, Jack obviously went along with it.
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Yes, basically he did know about it. But he had little or nothing to do with the actual production and purposely stayed out of any behind-the-scenes rigging. I swear the Perfesser had something with Herb Stempel where he talked about that, but I can't seem to find it.
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[quote name=\'ilb4ever2000\' date=\'May 6 2005, 03:16 AM\']Yes, basically he did know about it. But he had little or nothing to do with the actual production and purposely stayed out of any behind-the-scenes rigging.
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Did he really now.
His name was attached to the production company. Suffice to say, he was involved in the rigging as well. And you're using the Perfesser as your source? Refute the facts again.
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Jack's statement in his 1979 TV Guide interview stated, "I condoned the coaching, but deliberately kepy myself uninformed on details. I felt it would diminish my ability as master of ceremonies - how could I be genuinely surprised if I knew who was going to win? With Van Doren, I presumed as much. Again, it was only a safeguard. Van Doren was brilliant and could have answered 95% of the questions anyway. In our zeal to produce good shows, we lost sight of certain moral issues, which, in retrospect, I recognize as being wrong." So yes, Barry agreed to the fix, but claims to have had minimal details. However --if the incident shown in Quiz Show was actual - the kinescope of Barry calling an answer wrong after the contestant decided to screw with them and give the right answer anyway - then Barry had to catch himself and get back on course - makes you wonder how honest his statement was.
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[quote name=\'The Ol' Guy\' date=\'May 6 2005, 04:21 AM\'] ... if the incident shown in Quiz Show was actual - the kinescope of Barry calling an answer wrong after the contestant decided to screw with them and give the right answer anyway - then Barry had to catch himself and get back on course - makes you wonder how honest his statement was.
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Bob Boden is one of the most knowledgable authorities on the scandals. When "Quiz Show" was newly released he spend an hour detailing the numerous items that were fictionalized for the movie. Redford's work is so well produced that it often feels realistic. But like Oliver Stone's "JFK", it's a movie, not a historically accurate documentary.
Randy
tvrandywest.com
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Thank you, Randy. I know Quiz Show has been discussed here ad nauseum and we don't take it 100% at face value. Thanks for clearing that scene up.
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One of the few aspects of Quiz Show that is historically accurate is that Enright handled the nuts and bolts of the rigging together with producer Albert Freedman. What you don't learn from the movie is that executive producer Bob Noah continued his successful career in game shows after his association with Barry & Enright.