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Sights of the Squares

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One of NBC's earliest publicity stills promoting the Squares, this one shows then-regulars Wally Cox, host Peter Marshall, Abby Dalton and Charley Weaver.

Just after taping the show's 2000th episode, I'm guessing sometime around 1973 or '74.

(L-R) Merrill Heatter, Paul Lynde, Rose Marie, Sandy Duncan, Peter Marshall, Charley Weaver and Bob Quigley. I'm guessing this is a summer 1974 picture promoting the series' upcoming 9th season. If that's the case then it's a sad picture, because Cliff Arquette (Charley Weaver) is seen here and died just after that season began.

An early shot of the grid, back when Wally Cox, Charley Weaver and Paul Lynde were all present. Notice Burt Reynolds is seated in the left middle square, Laugh-In regulars Arte Johnson and Lily Tomlin are right top and middle, and it's rounded out with Sally Ann Howes, Ricardo Maltaban, and Family Affair's Kathy Garver.

Two more shots of the grid: one from the early 1970s, from the "Zingers" LP cover, showing a game in progress; the other comes from the cover of the "More Zingers" book, circa 1978.

A rare behind the scenes shot at NBC, apparently sometime around 1978 or '79.

A ticket to a January 1977 taping at NBC in Burbank. Free at the time, it cost me 9 bucks on eBay nearly a quarter of a century later.

...But that's still a lot less than I paid for this one. It's from 1972. Note the old-timey NBC logo, kids, this is what we saw all the time in my day.

By 1967 the show was popular enough to earn its own board game. This first one actually had play money, but no celebrities...you had to write in the names yourself!

How many game show hosts do you know of, with their own collector's plates? This Peter Marshall plate from the Carson Mint & Victoria China was supposed to be a first in a series of plates commemorating The Hollywood Squares but the others never came. This one was often given away during the show's waning days on NBC.

Another item frequently given away: a 14 karat gold and diamond pendant with a tic tac toe pattern. This one doesn't pop up on eBay near as much as the plate. Wonder why? (By the way, the pendant originally came from...guess where? The Spiegel Catalogue.)