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In tems of 70's G/T output, 'Concentration' hosted by Jack Narz is below the radar alongside 'Mindreaders' and syndicated 'Tattletales.' Does anyone have any recollections of it or recall any differences there were to the Eighties version? I'm assuming it was a weekly show.
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[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 10:59 PM\']In tems of 70's G/T output, 'Concentration' hosted by Jack Narz is below the radar alongside 'Mindreaders' and syndicated 'Tattletales.' Does anyone have any recollections of it or recall any differences there were to the Eighties version? I'm assuming it was a weekly show.
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The syndicated "Concentration" was on five days a week, and I'm glad to say I watched most of the run (mostly on WNBC, but I think it eventually moved to WOR-TV near the end). Jack Narz was a very smooth host and this, believe it or not, was his longest running show. And Johnny O was the announcer throughout.
The technology to do the puzzles on computer didn't exist in the 70's so the mechanical game boards were used (and I believe that they tried to ship the original game boards out of New York, but wound up building their own from the original plans because the old ones were not in that great of shape). The puzzles were rendered in color for the first time, and there were a couple of different end games. Most notable was the "Double Play" game in which the contestant had to solve two fully-shown rebuses in a total of 10 seconds or less to win a car, usually a Chevrolet Vega.
Each episode was its own self-contained unit, no returning champions.
That great Edd Kalehoff theme and some of the other cues were actually pitched down a step when the show began in 1973, but eventually were played at their normal speed. By the time the show ended, the music used was a mix of the original Kaleoff cue package and some TPiR cues tipped in for bonus game prize music.
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Concentration director Ira Skutch told me that the show was done on the slimmest budget. Two game boards were shipped from New York and were the ones used on the show, as were the prize display "slips". The only things built new were the game board controller, as well as the overall set and the Double Play area. Ted Cooper devised a feature called "Head Start" in which the locations of four prizes were revealed ahead of the game. This served the dual purposes of giving the players a head start and guaranteeing that at least four fee plugs would be read.
That great Edd Kalehoff theme and some of the other cues were actually pitched down a step when the show began in 1973
How can you tell if Edd Kalehoff music is being speeded up or slowed down? IIRC it was Concentration music that made it over to TPIR rather than vice-versa, such as the Lucky Seven cue.
Concentration had a successful five-year run, hardly in the league of Mindreaders or syndicated Tattletales.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 12:08 AM\']Concentration director Ira Skutch told me that the show was done on the slimmest budget. Two game boards were shipped from New York and were the ones used on the show, as were the prize display "slips". The only things built new were the game board controller, as well as the overall set and the Double Play area. Ted Cooper devised a feature called "Head Start" in which the locations of four prizes were revealed ahead of the game. This served the dual purposes of giving the players a head start and guaranteeing that at least four fee plugs would be read.
That great Edd Kalehoff theme and some of the other cues were actually pitched down a step when the show began in 1973
How can you tell if Edd Kalehoff music is being speeded up or slowed down? IIRC it was Concentration music that made it over to TPIR rather than vice-versa, such as the Lucky Seven cue.
Concentration had a successful five-year run, hardly in the league of Mindreaders or syndicated Tattletales.
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I do remember the theme music and the car cue among those being slowed down. Price, of course, always played that car cue at the correct speed, so that's how I deduced it was being slowed.
As far as PIR cues showing up on "Concentration" the one example I can think of is "Starcrossed".
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You watched more Concentration than I did.
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Was "Starcrossed" really a part of the '76 TPIR cue package or '83? Methinks it was '76.
Anyways, I do remember that synthesized music fron Narz Concentration very well. I had a habdheld version that plays the theme everytine I turn it on. Of course, the Double Play round was a unique aspect to the show since there was no "bonus" round to speak of in the Hugh Downs original.
Another thing I sometimes remember is when sometimes they offer foriegn currencies as prizes during the main game that are converted to American cash. It was neat to see that. I think Classic Concentration did the same thing sometimes.
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In terms of the fundamental gameplay, I started a thread about the differences inviting people to add/subtract as necessary. It has a similar title to yours, sans the quotes.
Narz Concentration (http://\"http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2231&hl=\")
-Jason
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[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Feb 17 2006, 09:59 PM\']I'm assuming it was a weekly show.
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In some cities it was weekly while in others it was five-a-week. That was one of two reasons I can summon for why the episodes were self-contained. The second is in that age of bicycling they could be played in any order with no loss of content.
More 1970s syndication information: Quite often those were seven-a-day taping sessions.
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Hands down, my favorite show from the 70s.
Can someone explain again just what the status of the tapes are ? And why this show has never seen the light of day on GSN? Same for Classic Concentration...
And i'll throw it out there again : I'd love to have the "head start" music theme, esp the music cues used on that ONE ep that exists from 1978...can anyone help?
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:15 AM\']Hands down, my favorite show from the 70s.
Can someone explain again just what the status of the tapes are ? And why this show has never seen the light of day on GSN? Same for Classic Concentration...
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It's been assumed for some time that the tapes of the '70s Concentration exist, like those of other Goodson/Todman-produced syndie shows, though I don't know that it was ever confirmed firsthand. Of course, we know that Classic Concentration wasn't erased because it's been rerun.
Neither has been shown on GSN because although they were produced by Goodson, they're owned by NBC, which -- save for the Povich run of Twenty-One -- hasn't seen fit to open its vaults to GSN. A few folks from ATGS used the NBC/Pax deal to speculate that Pax would air reruns of both versions of Concentration, and at least one idiot announced it several times as established fact, but it never happened.
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No one has yet mentioned the fact that Jack Narz is the only Concentration host who didn't have a prize model. Hugh and Bob had Paola, and Alex had Diana and Marjorie, but Jack either didn't want a prize model or wasn't allowed to have one.
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It would've been hard for them to use a model on that version. There wasn't much to model besides the car. She would've only really been eye candy, which I guess would've been ok. But lots of others shows did that, haha.
David
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Recapping the history of the show, wasn't it created by Barry & Enright who soon sold rights to NBC who had in turn a 15 year run with it? Then Mark Goodson made a deal with NBC and produced it in the Seventies and Eighties. Am I leaving anything out?
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[quote name=\'PaulD\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 03:22 PM\']Recapping the history of the show, wasn't it created by Barry & Enright who soon sold rights to NBC who had in turn a 15 year run with it? Then Mark Goodson made a deal with NBC and produced it in the Seventies and Eighties. Am I leaving anything out?
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That's pretty much it.
Regarding the budget, the G-T '70s version was definitely done on the cheap compared to the original (which, for those of us who were around then, had just departed a few months before). The car game at the end was nice, but even that was monkeyed around with later in the run with the matching game to see what the prize would be (thus, perhaps a car, perhaps a new washer/dryer).
Pity the technology wasn't there to play the '80s end game -- would have been a lot easier than making six rebuses for every program.
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[quote name=\'calliaume\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 03:29 PM\']
Regarding the budget, the G-T '70s version was definitely done on the cheap compared to the original (which, for those of us who were around then, had just departed a few months before). The car game at the end was nice, but even that was monkeyed around with later in the run with the matching game to see what the prize would be (thus, perhaps a car, perhaps a new washer/dryer).
Pity the technology wasn't there to play the '80s end game -- would have been a lot easier than making six rebuses for every program.
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They could have done something like the matching game for a bonus round. Have a board of six or eight numbers, three or four matching prizes(or make it more evil by using an odd number of squares, leaving one prize on the board without a match a la the Classic Concentration end game). Contestant selects two numbers, if they match, the contestant wins the prize. If not, contestant wins nothing.
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Y'all have omitted the involvement of syndicator Jim Victory. He had worked for NBC at one time and acquired an interest in the show when it was cancelled by NBC. He then signed up Goodson to produce it and a bunch of stations to air it, and voila! It was Jim Victory who gave the project impetus. I don't know what share of Concentration Victory owns/owned, or if he sold his interest back to NBC.
As stated earlier, the show was done on a slim budget, thus there was no budget for a model. Apparently the game board controller was in bad enough shape that they had a new one built. And you'll notice the music was by Edd Kalehoff, not by Edd Kalehoff for Score Productions, so there was no orchestra a la TPIR. It sounds like Kalehoff by himself with his MOOG synthesizer and with bass guitar and percussion overdubbed later. Does that sound about right, Mr. Mackey?
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 08:11 PM\']Y'all have omitted the involvement of syndicator Jim Victory. He had worked for NBC at one time and acquired an interest in the show when it was cancelled by NBC. He then signed up Goodson to produce it and a bunch of stations to air it, and voila! It was Jim Victory who gave the project impetus. I don't know what share of Concentration Victory owns/owned, or if he sold his interest back to NBC.
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Didn't Victory Television get mentioned on full credit rolls as the distributor of Classic Concentration?
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:11 PM\']It sounds like Kalehoff by himself with his MOOG synthesizer and with bass guitar and percussion overdubbed later. Does that sound about right, Mr. Mackey?
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It might have been a little combo, but Kalehoff does play guitar as well and may have done his own guitar/bass overdubbing. So it could have been a one-man band. The percussion sounds electronic, when it's there at all.
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No one mentioned that this was the only version to let the players choose three numbers at a time. I would assume to help speed the game up.
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[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 06:08 PM\'][quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:11 PM\']It sounds like Kalehoff by himself with his MOOG synthesizer and with bass guitar and percussion overdubbed later. Does that sound about right, Mr. Mackey?
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It might have been a little combo, but Kalehoff does play guitar as well and may have done his own guitar/bass overdubbing. So it could have been a one-man band. The percussion sounds electronic, when it's there at all.
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I'm enough of a Kalehoff fan that I got the Robert Moog documentary DVD which shows Maestro's Schaefer Beer TV spot. It sounds like he used the same MOOG on the Schaefer spot as on Concentration -- in fact, save for the vocals, you think you're listening to a G-T game show theme when you watch it. The Schaefer spot contains some snare hits a la Concentration, but instead of bass guitar we hear another Kalehoff trademark: the glockenspiel, an instrument which figures prominently in the TPIR and Tattletales music.
Here is a little snippet I found:
3 January 1969, New York Times, pg. 44:
The Schaefer beer boys, pleased as punch with the result of their 1968 talent hunt, are going to give it a go again this year. What they’ll be looking for once more will be musical groups or soloists to belt out an old favorite, “Schaefer Is the One Beer to Have When You’re Having More Than One,” in all of their radio advertising in their 14-state marketing area.
(...)
Then, by spring, B.B.D. & O. will have the winners, and their specially arranged renditions of the Schaefer jingle will flood the airwaves.
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No one mentioned that this was the only version to let the players choose three numbers at a time. I would assume to help speed the game up.
In the full episode that exists among traders, that was just for the first game in that particular show. I believe that episode is from the last syndie season, by which time they had started to play with the format a bit. Every once in a while they'd have a three-call game. In fact, in the previous season, they'd have a special box on the board that stated "Bonus Number". If a contestant matched that, they could call three numbers on the next turn.
I remember watching this show almost every day - it was on five days a week at 1 p.m. in my area, so I could see it every day at lunch before I headed back to school. When the show first went on the air, it was straight two numbers called for every turn - and I'm pretty sure in the first couple of seasons there were no Head Starts. They'd play two games and if there was time for a third, they'd play the Money Game, where contestants had to match amounts of foreign currency.
Oh, and I love the theme too! The main theme is out there, and I think one or two cues - but put me on the list of people who'd love to have more!! :)
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One of the Head Start music cues can be heard on Jim Shea's site as cue #72.
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[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Feb 18 2006, 09:08 PM\']It might have been a little combo, but Kalehoff does play guitar as well and may have done his own guitar/bass overdubbing. So it could have been a one-man band. The percussion sounds electronic, when it's there at all.
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I've got a couple of cues that include trumpet (or, probably, flugelhorn) and flute.
What often struck me about the Concentration music was that it was so mellow, even a little melancholic, uncharacteristically so for GS music.
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[quote name=\'Clay Zambo\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 09:29 AM\']I've got a couple of cues that include trumpet (or, probably, flugelhorn) and flute.
What often struck me about the Concentration music was that it was so mellow, even a little melancholic, uncharacteristically so for GS music.
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I think you need brackets there, sir.
Which reminds me--almost time to start filling out my NCAA brackets. :-D
Doug
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As recently as a few years ago, the electronic "Concentration" Tiger put out had a copyright notice with NBC's name on it and "Licensed by Victory Television" underneath. However, it seems to me that a recent slot just had the NBC copyright.
This seems to be similar to Lorne Michaels' relationship with NBC regarding "Saturday Night Live"--the network owns the program and the title, but Michaels has the rights to market and license back episodes and products containing characters from the show, whether past or present and make most of the profits (after giving a cut to the network, of course).
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Jim Victory seems to have more involvement in the front end (first-run production and licensing). I think he has a more generous deal than Lorne Michaels considering that Concentration was dead meat as far as NBC was concerned when he made his deal.
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[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Feb 20 2006, 11:59 AM\']I think you need brackets there, sir.
Which reminds me--almost time to start filling out my NCAA brackets. :-D
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Sorry, I was all out.
(Which is, of course, exactly how I played during my NCAA days.)
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I'm a novice here. Not sure what I'm doing, but here goes...
I was a contestant on the syndicated/Narz version of Concentration. We filmed in December 1976 in LA, but it wasn’t aired until many months later. I never saw it. Any chance andyone could direct me as to where I might be able to find or see the episode? (I won a ton of prizes, but missed out on the Ford Fiesta twice…)
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[quote name=\'VenusAndNarz\' date=\'Feb 22 2006, 11:25 PM\']I'm a novice here. Not sure what I'm doing, but here goes...
I was a contestant on the syndicated/Narz version of Concentration. We filmed in December 1976 in LA, but it wasn’t aired until many months later. I never saw it. Any chance andyone could direct me as to where I might be able to find or see the episode? (I won a ton of prizes, but missed out on the Ford Fiesta twice…)
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Like your name!
Welcome, and sorry.....virtually the entire collection of Concentration is missing in action...only one episode from 1978 is in the trading circuit...which is a shame...
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[quote name=\'VenusAndNarz\' date=\'Feb 22 2006, 09:25 PM\']I'm a novice here. Not sure what I'm doing, but here goes...
I was a contestant on the syndicated/Narz version of Concentration. ...Any chance andyone could direct me as to where I might be able to find or see the episode? (I won a ton of prizes, but missed out on the Ford Fiesta twice…)
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I'm sure you'll fit in just fine, and sadly Matt covered the bad news. The good news is that you didn't win the Ford Fiesta. My mom used to have one of those, and trust me, you really did come out a winner. :) Were most of the prizes that you won the fee plug stuff like small appliances and product placement stuff, or the bigger things like furniture and so on?
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I've got a couple of cues that include trumpet (or, probably, flugelhorn) and flute.
During the entire run I don't recall hearing a Concentration cue with those instruments unless it was imported from another show. Mr. Mackey?
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Spaking of, I forget, do we know of an in-the-clear MP3 source of the theme? (Contact me off-list if you do, if you think posting here might be a rules violation.) I just realized I don't have that on my iPod.
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[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Feb 23 2006, 07:32 AM\'][quote name=\'VenusAndNarz\' date=\'Feb 22 2006, 09:25 PM\']I'm a novice here. Not sure what I'm doing, but here goes...
I was a contestant on the syndicated/Narz version of Concentration. ...Any chance andyone could direct me as to where I might be able to find or see the episode? (I won a ton of prizes, but missed out on the Ford Fiesta twice…)
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I'm sure you'll fit in just fine, and sadly Matt covered the bad news. The good news is that you didn't win the Ford Fiesta. My mom used to have one of those, and trust me, you really did come out a winner. :) Were most of the prizes that you won the fee plug stuff like small appliances and product placement stuff, or the bigger things like furniture and so on?
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I won a queen-size sofa bed (my 89-yr-old mom still has it in her living room); a fridge; silverware for 12; a chain saw; 12 pair of sunglasses, a KitchenAid mixer with all the accoutrements;
The prizes could not be awarded/delivered until the show aired, which was about 6 or 7 months later. I sold most of it to finance a move to New York
I lost the last Ford Fiesta rebus that read, “Benny Goodman played the clarinet.” At age 23, I had no clue as to what Benny Goodman played…
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[quote name=\'VenusAndNarz\' date=\'Feb 24 2006, 08:42 PM\']12 pair of sunglasses
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What the hell are you supposed to do with 12 pairs of sunglasses.
Man, I'd rather have Dessert of the Month...
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Feb 24 2006, 06:43 PM\'][quote name=\'VenusAndNarz\' date=\'Feb 24 2006, 08:42 PM\']12 pair of sunglasses
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What the hell are you supposed to do with 12 pairs of sunglasses.
Man, I'd rather have Dessert of the Month...
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Me and 11 of my best friends were looking very cool back then...
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I lost the last Ford Fiesta rebus that read, “Benny Goodman played the clarinet.” At age 23, I had no clue as to what Benny Goodman played…
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That used to make me angry: sometimes rebus puzzle on Double Play was a statement of fact not a familiar phrase, book title, etc. I guess, as long as there is no deception on the part of the production company it's legal. *sigh*
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[quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Feb 27 2006, 02:04 PM\']That used to make me angry: sometimes rebus puzzle on Double Play was a statement of fact not a familiar phrase, book title, etc.
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That would be the "or something you know" part of "The rebus solution can be a familiar phrase, a person's name, the title of something, or something you know."
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[quote name=\'VenusAndNarz\' date=\'Feb 24 2006, 05:42 PM\']I lost the last Ford Fiesta rebus that read, “Benny Goodman played the clarinet.” At age 23, I had no clue as to what Benny Goodman played…[/quote]
[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Feb 27 2006, 04:56 PM\']That would be the "or something you know" part of "The rebus solution can be a familiar phrase, a person's name, the title of something, or something you know."
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...or something you don't know...
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[quote name=\'alfonzos\' date=\'Feb 27 2006, 05:04 PM\']That used to make me angry: sometimes rebus puzzle on Double Play was a statement of fact not a familiar phrase, book title, etc. [/quote]
Did you happen to replace your TV after viewing?
I guess I don't understand why things like this make people "angry". This isn't intended to be derogatory towards the contestant, but he had a gap in his knowledge.
Would you have been as upset if someone hadn't heard of a certain movie? (I, for one, would be screwed if that's what the rebus was).
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[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Feb 28 2006, 05:37 AM\']I guess I don't understand why things like this make people "angry". This isn't intended to be derogatory towards the contestant, but he had a gap in his knowledge.
Would you have been as upset if someone hadn't heard of a certain movie? (I, for one, would be screwed if that's what the rebus was).
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Honestly. I'd be much madder (at myself) if the puzzle were something I "knew" but just couldn't come up with. A question I'd never heard of? No call for shame or anger there.
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[quote name=\'Modor\']I guess I don't understand why things like this make people "angry". [/quote] Maybe it's not a lasting anger, something that just ticks you off, and you move on. I'm a bit sad when someone misses one of the first five on Millionaire, I was happy for the guy who won on Deal last night...and so on.
If a game show isn't getting you to emote ("C'mon, there's only the $300 box left! Surely you can win the $100,000!") then either you need to check your pulse, or more than likely, the producer of the show needs to fix things.
This isn't intended to be derogatory towards the contestant, but he had a gap in his knowledge.
As did I. I was unaware that Mr. Goodman even played an instrument, much less could I name a song of his. I'm not going to point and laugh at someone for a miss like that.
Would you have been as upset if someone hadn't heard of a certain movie? (I, for one, would be screwed if that's what the rebus was).
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Then if you want to go on Concentration 2006, I would suggest picking up Roger Ebert's Movie Encyclopedia. :)