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I am pretty sure that most on this forum have had the opportunity to meet a famous game show person or to have seen a show taping in person.
What show, or who did you first meet in the game show realm? Was it planned, or did you just happen to see them in passing at the airport? Did you get to talking with them? What was your impressions?
My first encounter was in 1987. I had gone on Spring Break to L.A. While there I got tickets to see Super Password which was taping at NBC Burbank. I don't remember who were the celebs (B-list that day), but officially, the first 'official' person I saw was Gene Wood.
He warmed up the audience, was very personable, and took time to answer all the audience questions. He also had some games that we played between the tapings, and nearly everyone who participated got a few bucks.
What was cool out of this first encounter was how easy it was to talk to him when the tapings wrapped up. I stopped to talk to him for nearly 15 minutes after the audience was allowed to leave, and had asked if I could interview him on my college radio station. Not only did he oblige, but he gave me his phone number and mailing address to get in touch with him as if he was just a lowly stagehand -- no big deal and no hesitation.
When we did the on-air interview, he was just as cordial & friendly as if he was right there in the studio with us.
Bert was also pretty fun to see as host, but he wasn't as personable as I thought he'd be when the camera was off. Perhaps the B-listers were part of the problem.
I had also seen Rich Jeffries running around in the audience getting people to applaud, ooh & ahh at the right time.
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Regis on 8/24/1999. Regis actually did two run through hot seat questions with each contestant at the time. He seemed nice enough, and seemed to keep it as cool as possible during the stopdowns that occurred during Schutterley's $500K run(the answer to a question was challenged by Mike IIRC). Besides that, Randy W. and Mark L. Walberg on 9/20/2004 at TPiR Live in AC. I met Jeff Trachta on the 8/16/2004 show of TPiR Live in AC, but don't consider him enough of a game show celeb(Daniel Rosen left the premises when it came time to greet the audience and do autographs post-show). Of course we know how great Randy and Mark L. are, as has been mentioned by many people here.
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Let's see. Because I worked as a camera operator on a local TV talk show in Michigan, I got to meet a number of celebs passing though town. It was probably a tie between Polly Bergen and Peter Lind Hayes (host of "Alumni Fun") around 1979. Both were very nice to me and I was especially awestruck with Polly. The problem is, when I met them, I was unaware that they were associated with game shows, so I will add a couple of others, as follows....
While in radio in Ohio around 89 or so, I met Soupy Sales (at two different times) and Ray Combs. Ray was appearing at a department store in Toledo doing a live in-store "Feud" game. Both gentlemen were very nice to me and I have a autographed photo to me from Ray. Didn't get to spend much time talking but enjoyed meeting these folks.
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I believe around 1998-1999, I got to meet Mark Cohen of "Make Me Laugh" fame, doing a local version in Portland.
That's as close as I've gotten to a "Game Show" personality thus far.
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I've met about 4.
CHARLIE O'DONNEL: When Wheel came to Houston. I told him that when I play the home version, my cousin calls me a CHEATER!!! Charlie told me they don't allow cheaters!
STEVEN SAUNDERS: Met him after he did Pyramid auditions held @ a mall in Frisco, Texas. I told him that I remember him a long time ago from "Secrets of The Cryptkeepers Haunted Mansion".
WILLIE AAMES: Met him @ a church when he had his Bibleman show. While getting an autograph, I mentioned 8 Is Enough, his singing career, his wife use to be on a Saturday morning series, as well as him hosting The Krypton Factor (1990).
MARIO LOPEZ: Future Masters of the Maze/America's Most Talented Kid (NBC) host. I met Mario @ a San Antonio mall in 1991. He was very kind enough to play my snare drum, autograph my snare head & take a pic with me. I got the funds from winning $475 @ bingo.
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jan 3 2005, 06:34 PM\']I am pretty sure that most on this forum have had the opportunity to meet a famous game show person or to have seen a show taping in person.
What show, or who did you first meet in the game show realm? Was it planned, or did you just happen to see them in passing at the airport? Did you get to talking with them? What was your impressions?
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Well, there was the time that John Davidson hugged me. :)
Details here (http://\"http://gameshow.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6451&view=findpost&p=67072\") (not for the squeamish).
Doug -- and the countdown to 900 continues
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I went to a taping of What Would You Do? in 1992 (I think), but I wasn't called on stage (a kid right in front of me was though!) Also, I went to a taping of Wheel in 1999, and I was pretty close to Pat and Vanna for about maybe 2 seconds when everyone was exiting.
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In December 1993, Nickelodeon Live came to Norfolk, and I "met" Phil Moore ("Nick Arcade" host), by answering a question regarding the commentator on "Guts" (Moira Quirk). I say met because all he did was place a microphone in front of me for the answer.
He did give me a Nickelodeon hat though. :-)
And this doesn't count as a meeting, but when I was in NYC, I walked past Frank Nicotero doing a Street Smarts segment. Being in a rush, I couldn't watch much of the segment, or better yet, talk to Frank. However, I can say that he's a pretty funny person, and very short. ;-)
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1973, on a trip to New York City, I got to see a taping of The $10,000 Pyramid. Afterwards, the only celebrity who stuck around to sign autographs was announcer Bob Clayton. He was impressed that the kid -- who was technically too young to be at the taping -- remembered his days as the Concentration host.
Dozens since then.
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Only one: Vicki Lawrence, October 1986. She was making public appearances to promote union membership. I got her autograph and we exchanged a sentence or two about Pyramid.
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Back in 1996 or so I met "Carmen Sandiego" host Greg Lee at a show "brunch" held at my local mall. Greg came out, took questions from the crowd and I believe played a brief mock game with a few people from the audience (I was 11 at the time so memories are a little hazy). I got his autograph afterward; he seemed quite friendly and personable, from what I can recall.
--Sam
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The first in-person experience with a local host was Paul Tapie, former host of the Ohio Lottery's game show, at a Cleveland Indians convention in 1993. Among national game show hosts, the first one I met was Dick Enberg in 1994.
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Wonder if TPiR Live visits count. Rady West had enough stories to keep us in Atlantic City from the end of September 'til April.
Mark Walberg couldn't stay very long, but it was extremely cool of him to come by and hang with us while he could. He's very witty and down-to-earth. Not too different from the Mark you see on On The Cover.
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I'm dating myself here, but the first non-local-show host I had the opportunity to speak to was Todd Newton, when the Get Schooled Tour came to Pittsburgh on 4/22/03. Really nice guy; spent a lot of time fielding questions from the game show fanatics present.
(Others that I have very positive memories of conversing with include Kurt Long, Donny Osmond---who noticed me merely as a repeat Pyramid audience member---and Meredith Vieira.)
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In August 1975 I paid a visit to TPIR to see Marc Breslow directing the show. During a break in rehearsal, who should step into the booth but Janice Pennington!
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Unless you count Judy Landers as a Match Game 7x panelist (whom I met at an auto show in Des Moines in the '80s; a picture of us together is on my home page), the only true GS personality I ever got to talk to was Vanna White, at the 1991 opening of an Omaha mall.
I took the opportunity to try and assure her that all those critics were off the mark in their all-too-expected finger-pointing at her acting ability as the sole reason her "Goddess Of Love" TV movie bombed. I told her she shouldn't have been faulted there and she had the potential to prove herself as a good actress with the right project, and I still feel it's true. Though I didn't tell her what I thought of the film itself, it's problem was the story and the writing; Ava Gardner couldn't have saved that thing.
And yes, Vanna was noticably appreciative of me for "being on her side".
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Some of you have heard this story. But, for those who haven't, take a look...
http://www.dougmorris.net/scrapbook/weseure.jpg (http://\"http://www.dougmorris.net/scrapbook/weseure.jpg\")
...that's me with Wesley Eure, original "Finders Keepers" host and guest on such shows as MG (syndie) and P+. He's a native of Hattiesburg, MS and visited WDAM to plug his children's Christmas book, "The Red Wings of Christmas".
Great guy. He said it was fun to do a game show.
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Jack Clark after a taping of Wheel Of Fortune in 1985.
One of the nicest people ever to trod the planet.
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I love this topic!
10 Years old, for my birthday, my dad called in some favors, and got me backstage at the "Bob Barker Fun and Games Show", on location in Miami. Before the show i was brought to an open room behind the stage where I got to meet my childhood idol..
Hands down, one of the coolest moments of my life.
Since then, as a tv reporter/host, i've had the great and rare experiences to have one on one conversations (some of them lengthy!) with Trebek, Sajak, Regis, Dick Clark, Tom Bergeron, and Chris Harrison...Even better, I have all of the interviews on tape.
And last year I added Monty Hall to the list, but that was a quick hello before his live show....Somewhere there's a picture....
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Last summer I met Peter Marshall and his son Pete LaCock, and got to chat with them at some length. They were visiting the radio station where I work, during a local golf tourney with which they were involved.
In 2000, I spent some time with Ed McMahon at the Nashville radio station where I worked at the time. He was touring with the new incarnation of Star Search.
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Only one I can stake claim to is Todd Newton, at the GSN "Get Schooled" event in June, 2003 at the King of Prussia Mall. Very nice guy, just as nice off camera as on.
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[quote name=\'aaron sica\' date=\'Jan 4 2005, 10:06 AM\']Only one I can stake claim to is Todd Newton, at the GSN "Get Schooled" event in June, 2003 at the King of Prussia Mall.
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I'm only about 20 minutes from the mall, Aaron - not sure how I even missed that one!
Not counting attending a game show, the first REAL face to face was with Wink Martindale around 1989 at a Broadway show in NY. He sat right next to my parents & I. I still have my Playbill autographed by him...somewhere.
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Well, there's the time I shook Susan Stafford's hand in a Chicago hotel lobby and got a shock of static electricity. I also kissed my hopes of getting on "Wheel" goodbye when I told her I was trying out and she then introduced me to Nancy Jones (S&P doesn't appreciate any previous host contact...)
Also, at an AIDS benefit in Chicago some years ago I spoke to Skip Lackey, who was in a touring company of "The Secret Garden" at the time. When I sheepishly mentioned that I saw him on "Think Fast" "one day when I was sick," he turned red-faced. Still a nice guy, though--I think he knew he wasn't cut out for game shows and didn't enjoy doing the one he did.
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The very first game show personality I met was former Barker's Beauty Janice Pennington. She was in the Detroit area autographing paperback copies of her book "Husband, Lover, Spy." She'd been working on another book that was to be titled "The Price Hasn't Always Been Right," but it was never published.
The first game show host I'd met was Bob Eubanks, when he hosted the "Wheel of Fortune Live Tour," in 1996. He did a good job hosting this road show version of "America's Game."
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During our trip to California in '79, I hit the jackpot - brief but nice face to face conversations with Jack, Dan, Wink, and Ron Greenberg, after years of corresponding and occasional phone conversations with the first two. I saw Bob Hilton at the taping, but we didn't converse. Jack autographed my home version of Joker as well. Quite the time.
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In 89, when I was just 10, I met Marc Summers (along w/Dave and Robin) when the DD Roadshow stopped at my local mall...gave me an autographed 8x10 and posed for a pic, which I may have to put on my page sometime. :-)
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")
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My first one was Alex Trebek, back about 20 years ago now during the first season of his hosting "Jeopardy!" I wish I could say it was a pleasant experience, but my memory of him was as being rude, demanding and a bit arrogant (even down to his not liking the way I wrote my name on the TV screen...so he came over and did it himself). Simply one man's opinion; as they say, your mileage may vary.
(A "near miss" in 1992: I had an invitation to a party at Dick Clark's home when one of his companies bought the firm I worked for in Seattle. Two days before the party, his secretary calls and says they've overbooked, so some people had to be "disinvited." Oh, well.)
Fast forward eight years to Regis in 2000. A nice guy all around--with the contestants, their families, the staff and audience. Definitely the kind of guy you'd like to sit and have a beer with...and his comments as we taped the "closing wave" at the end of the episode were priceless.
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[quote name=\'tomobrien\' date=\'Jan 5 2005, 01:06 AM\']My first one was Alex Trebek, back about 20 years ago now during the first season of his hosting "Jeopardy!" I wish I could say it was a pleasant experience, but my memory of him was as being rude, demanding and a bit arrogant (even down to his not liking the way I wrote my name on the TV screen...so he came over and did it himself). Simply one man's opinion; as they say, your mileage may vary.
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Going by that assessment, I'd have to agree with you. :-)
BTW, how'd you do on Jeopardy!?
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[quote name=\'tomobrien\' date=\'Jan 5 2005, 01:06 AM\']
My first one was Alex Trebek, back about 20 years ago now during the first season of his hosting "Jeopardy!" I wish I could say it was a pleasant experience, but my memory of him was as being rude, demanding and a bit arrogant (even down to his not liking the way I wrote my name on the TV screen...so he came over and did it himself). Simply one man's opinion; as they say, your mileage may vary.
That's interesting. When I attended a J! taping recently, the only contact he had with the players was during one break when he had his picture taken with all 3 players, and of course during the end credits. Do you think it was his role as executive producer (at the time) that made him concerned about how the players wrote their names, and made him demanding?
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[quote name=\'whewfan\' date=\'Jan 5 2005, 04:21 AM\']
[quote name=\'tomobrien\' date=\'Jan 5 2005, 01:06 AM\']
Do you think it was his role as executive producer (at the time) that made him concerned about how the players wrote their names, and made him demanding?
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Can't really say. All I know is when you look at the tape, it looks like my name was written by a 4-year-old with one of those giant Crayolas you started out with in kindergarten. I just remember really feeling sorry for the staff (who were all exceedingly pleasant and helpful) when he was yelling at them. Maybe just a bad day for him.
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[quote name=\'tomobrien\' date=\'Jan 5 2005, 01:06 AM\']Fast forward eight years to Regis in 2000. A nice guy all around--with the contestants, their families, the staff and audience. Definitely the kind of guy you'd like to sit and have a beer with...and his comments as we taped the "closing wave" at the end of the episode were priceless.
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Wha'd he say? Wha'd he say?
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I've heard less-than-flattering things about Alex from people who worked on Classic Concentration.
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[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Jan 5 2005, 10:58 PM\']I've heard less-than-flattering things about Alex from people who worked on Classic Concentration.
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From what I heard, he was in his dressing room a lot of the time.
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[quote name=\'TimK2003\' date=\'Jan 3 2005, 05:34 PM\']I am pretty sure that most on this forum have had the opportunity to meet a famous game show person or to have seen a show taping in person.
What show, or who did you first meet in the game show realm? Was it planned, or did you just happen to see them in passing at the airport? Did you get to talking with them? What was your impressions?
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Let's see... working in an AC casino afforded me the opportunity to meet several game show folks from "game show land." Totally, totally UN-planned, but memorable just the same!
All of the meetings were surprises... from one extreme to the other!!
I have an autographed photo of this one personality who I REALLY liked until... the day I saw the OTHER side of him. After that day, whenever I've looked at the photo, the only thing I remember is the rudeness he showed another guest in the hotel.
And that's a shame too, because I really DID admire this one. Oh well.
On the other end of the spectrum, two of the NICEST folks _by far_ that I've met were:
Steve Allen and his wife Jayne Meadows! Friendly, humorous, entertaining. Wonderful folks. They stayed at the hotel for approximately one week, and I spoke to them on a daily or near daily basis.
At the time I met Steve and Jayne, I wasn't into the B&W game show thing, so I hadn't asked any game show questions. But now that I AM... I can think of a few that I wish I HAD asked!!
I imagine Steve was pretty busy as he was "headlining" at the casino. Between rehearsing, and performing... and **EXERCISING** "Steverino" stayed quite busy. There wasn't much time for an extensive* chat, with him, but we did exchange the usual pleasantries on a daily to near daily basis.
As for Jayne, I saw quite a bit of her and she was every bit as friendly and courteous as her husband Steve was. Jayne was thrilled to answer any question I asked her about her career or Steve's, and she was more than happy to tell me about her SISTER'S as well ! Before she and Steve left to go back to California, she asked me to come up to her suite. When I got there she invited me inside and told me she wanted to give me two *autographed* photos; one 8"x10" glossy of her, and the other of Steve. It came as a COMPLETE surprise when she asked my last name and the correct spelling of it. I had NO clue she was intending to give me a personalized check, drawn on her and Steve's California bank account! I was astonished at this gesture! Of course, for sentimental reasons, I've never cashed their check but of everything I got, I think the most memorable came from Steve...
After exercising one morning, Steve was jogging down the hallway to his suite in these grey sweats, in stocking feet! Apparently Jayne had locked the door after he left, and when Steve tried to go in, he was unable to. Can you imagine the visual of Steve Allen begging someone to let him in? In a barely audible voice, Steve stood at the door knocking telling Jayne: "Let me in... I'm locked out!!" Probably one of those "had to be there," visuals, but it was pretty funny - I never forgot it. OH! and those thick, dark rimmed glasses!!
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[quote name=\'MyCapableAssistant\' date=\'Jan 6 2005, 01:01 PM\']I have an autographed photo of this one personality who I REALLY liked until... the day I saw the OTHER side of him. After that day, whenever I've looked at the photo, the only thing I remember is the rudeness he showed another guest in the hotel.
And that's a shame too, because I really DID admire this one. Oh well.[/quote]
You won't reveal this mystery person's identity? Where's the fun in that?
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My first meeting with a GS personality was when I met Johnny Gilbert at a taping of the J! College Championship this past October. Unfortunately, it was at the very end of two long days of taping, and everyone was hustling to get out of the studio, so all he had time to do was autograph my ticket and shake my hand.
I will add that my experience (as an audience member only) with Alex Trebek at that taping was totally different from what Tom earlier described. Alex was very personable and open, talking to the audience constantly during all taping breaks (and there were many) and joking around. I didn't see any arrogance or rudeness at all.
Oh, yes. I did see Peter Tomarken in the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport during the time PYL was on CBS. Many others were going up to him and getting his autograph, but my parents wouldn't let me do the same. Finally they relented . . . at which point his flight began boarding.