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| As The Hollywood Squares celebrates the 35th anniversary of its air debut, our site visitors share their own memories of watching the show, when it was an everyday part of their mornings via NBC or a once-a-week or twice-a-week staple in the prime access hours...in my case, on WBRC, Channel 6 in Birmingham, Mondays and Thursdays. from 1972 until 1979... Game show fanatic that I was as a kid (and remains so to this very day!), I remember feasting my eyes on daily editions of The Hollywood Squares on my NBC-TV affiliate WDSU-TV, Channel 6. (Those O's reminded me of the O's on Oreo boxes!) And, yes, I, too, think that it is a shame that NBC couldn't preserve many of the vast 3,536 tapes from those 14 sensational seasons of The Hollywood Squares (yes, that's how many of them there are)--oh, those precious recordings. :( (It's good to hear that all the other episodes of HS running from April 1978 to the June 20, 1980 finale still exist, however!) --Aaron Handy III One thing I did notice very distinctly between the 1966-1981 version of "Squares" (AKA "Classic Squares") and the 2 subsequent versions (1986-1989; 1998-present) was how the X''s and O's were formed in the squares. I don't know if you will agree with me, however did you ever notice how in the '86 and current versions of "Squares" the symbols looked more like real X's and O's all right. BUT! On the classic version, the X's are more elongated and the O's look more like ovals than squares. Isn't that a bit weird???!!! By the way, I am quite surprised (and even a tad disappointed) that many of not most of the classic squares episodes were destroyed. --Mr Pro 555 It had been a treat to see Match Game for the first time in 15 years when Game Show Network began airing it again-- it's too bad the same can't be said for Hollywood Squares (but who knew what rerun value Squares would have when most of the episodes were erased?) Some eight years ago I came across the Zingers LP when I worked at the University of Oregon's campus radio station and in retrospect should have made a casette copy for myself-- it had some great one-liners! Even worse on the day Vincent Price died in 1993, I made mention of it on the station's newscast-- and probably could have used a clip from the album! AUGH! --Bill Griffiths Orlando, FL I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your Hollywood Squares Site very much. I too spent a very enjoyable part of my life watching some of this country's wittiest and most entertaining people. Peter Marshall and Joanne Dru lived for a time in Wheeling, WV which is just across the Ohio River from Bellaire , Ohio where I was born. I remember him mentioning he and his sister having lived there once on the show. Anyway, your site is very well done and thank you for doing your part to preserve a part of Television History that may otherwise have been lost. --Norm W. When I was home during summer vacations from school, I was addicted to the show. The show was an excellent mix of "celebrity" and "game show". I still find myself humming the main 70-79 theme, and was saddened when they didn't bring the old theme back for the new Goldberg/Bergeron version. I thought I had remembered there being a "swing" version in the early years, but not until I saw the link on your site did I realize my memory was correct! Another interesting trivia bit from the original couple of years: During the opening & closing themes, the outlines of the squares flashed on & off in unison, not in the staggered, alternating manner that became commonplace. I bet I could re-create the keyboard solo of the "Loose" version, at least on paper, as I have a very good musical memory. I am not that good a keyboard player, though. It was interesting, listening to the various themes, how differently network TV was paced then than nowadays. It's sad, in these days of cheap digital storage & archival, that most of the show's episodes are lost. --Richard Cuff Allentown, PA The middle of June 1979 was when the new set and new theme song arrived on the daytime Squares. I remember coming back from Bible school and seeing those rather sudden changes. When the ninth season of the syndicated show began in September 1979 (without Paul Lynde), they still had the old set for about a month. I still believe the Legends of Rock and Roll is the last of the old set (taped in the middle of May 1979-after the Emmy special). October 1979 was when the new set and theme arrived on the syndicated show. If the shows from the final syndicated year still exist, hopefully we'll someday get the 1981 finale (I think it aired on March 27, 1981-all shows were then rerun until September 1981). --S. Hubbard Dear Mr. Dixon, My name is Laurie Marshall and I'm married to Peter Marshall. This is quite a site you've put together, I commend the work you put into it. I just thought that maybe you would like to provide a link to our site on yours for people who might be interested in what Peter is doing now.... and that is, recording music. He recorded a CD this summer and it is doing quite well. You can hear samples of it on the site, which is www.boysinger.com I just thought that might interest you. Thank you, Laurie Marshall p.s. Why are you so interested in the old Hollywood Squares anyway? Or have you done this for other shows also? It seems like a lot of research.... just curious... Thank you for the kind words, Laurie...fact is, I always loved the Squares and I didn't want Match Game hogging all the attention on the net, that's why my site. :-) But I should add much of the material on the site was sent in by other fans, that's why it's so huge. Do you remember the day Charley Weaver returned to the show after his long absence due to a stroke? For the one and only time, when Kenny Williams announced the line-up of stars, he began with Paul Lynde and ended with Charley Weaver, to the great acclaim of the studio audience. Did you notice that Charley Weaver sat in his lower left square, in a wheelchair, for several months after he returned, until the episode where Peter Marshall declared to the audience that they were all so happy because Charley Weaver("Big Chuck") had walked into the studio that day! --David Dubin New York One time when Kenny Williams was breathlessly announcing what a contestant had just won by winning the Secret Square, he momentarily forgot which show he was announcing for because he concluded the list by saying, "Congratulations from High Rollers!" Nobody in the studio seemed to notice the faux pas but I was on the floor! I'm not sure when Paul Lynde began to occupy the center square but I believe it was sometime in 1969. I do have a definite memory of seeing him in the upper right square. Also, the Monkees were on during the week of December 23 - 27, 1968 (not 1969) and they were in the center square. (I don't remember if Lynde was on the show that week -- I was almost 12 years old and the Monkees were on "Hollywood Squares"! Need I say any more about where my focus was? LOL!) --Mary Lou Wallace I happened onto your site doing a search for Charley Weaver (more on him later). That search was prompted by the recent obituary of his son, in which I learned that Charley was the grandpa of... Roseanna and Patricia Arquette?! Hubba hubba! (No kidding...and don't forget, an ancestral in-law to Courtney Cox! --D.H.) I was born in 1959, and began watching HS around 1971, during the summer. I noted early on that Peter Marshall was from my home state. I also thought Paul Lynde was the most hilarious human being in the world, and subtly tried to emulate him at school. I abruptly stopped this when I found he was gay (hey, it was West Virginia in the 1970's!) Someone I didn't fully appreciate at the time: Charley Weaver. I didn't hear his reply about the strawberries, but it had me laughing for days when I read it from your site. (It may have been over my head when he said it!) I also remember a remark Charley made when they were signing off, and Peter was plugging the stars' various appearances in Vegas, etc. Charley informed Peter, "I'll be appearing in Wasserman, Ohio, with my trained hamster." (Even I knew he was mocking the "stars", with his reference to the name of the VD test.) I now am seriously thinking about emulating Charley Weaver as I grow older -- I'll bet he was the only one of the Squares who owned a museum! I guess that's one thing I could say about HS -- it made me aware of grown-up humor, at a time when there wasn't much of it accessible to kids my age. --John Pappajohn The Hollywood Squares, along with You Don't Say with Tom Kennedy and Name That Tune, have always been my favorite game shows. The Hollywood Squares is the number one favorite, although NOT because both the show and I "premiered" on the same day, October 17th--tho I have to confess--I "premiered" a good many years earlier!... I have followed the show since it first began, and I can even remember The Storybook Squares. I will agree with you when you say that one of the best things about the show is, and probably always has been, the "one-liners" by the stars. However, I personally also enjoy the "trivia"-type questions and can honestly say that I have learned quite a bit from watching. In fact--the information I've gained from this show has even helped my "Trivial Pursuit" game!! So--while the stars are delightful--I think I would still tune the show in even without them. --Eddie Smith Glen Burnee, MD I am 46 years old and have many fond memories -- apparently not unlike your own -- of days off from school when I would be in front of the TV (usually right before lunch) to enjoy the Hollywood Squares. Just going through a few pages (and clips) from your site brought tears of laughter, and of nostalgia, to my eyes. --Frank Maurizio Schenectady, NY Thanks for your web site featuring The Hollywood Squares. I also enjoyed the original version with Peter Marshall and gang. Television had much more class in the old days. I have a question for you. Do you know the studio in which the original Hollywood Squares was taped? It was the studio next to the Johnny Carson Tonight Show studio at NBC in Burbank. If I remember correctly, the Tonight Show studio was "Studio 1" and the Hollywood Squares studio was "Studio 2". Studio 1 has permanent raised seating and was designed by Bob Hope in the 1950s for his television specials. Whenever Bob Hope was taping a special in the early 1970s, Johnny Carson had to move his show to another NBC studio (possibly Studio 2). I have been in Studio 2 twice (in 1982 and 1997). In 1982, the tour guide told us that it was the "game show studio." Most of NBC's game shows in the 1970s and 1980s were taped in this studio (including Password Plus, and both the Peter Marshall and John Davidson versions of Hollywood Squares). Remember when celebrities would "come across the hall" and visit the Tonight Show between tapings of Hollywood Squares? Those were the days!!! Studio 2 is narrow but very long - 80 feet by 150 feet. They taped five shows a day and so the same studio could tape four or five different game shows. --Bob Sewvello Thank you for the tour, Bob. I am fascinated with things like this. I missed my chance to take the NBC tour when I was in LA in 1999, and a scheduling conflict kept me from attending a taping of the most recent Hollywood Squares. :-( D.H. | Home | History | Reruns | 1965 Pilot | Square Facts | More Square Facts | Square Rules | Square Bluffs | Contestant Memories | Peter Marshall | Paul Lynde | Charley Weaver | Rose Marie | George Gobel | Wally Cox | Kenny Williams | Heatter & Quigley | Other Regulars | Guests | Politically Incorrect | Sequels | Square Sights | Square Sights II | Square Sounds | Square Sounds II | Links | Update | Dixon's Wish List |