tvg1970

Sitting down to a night's work

For 'The Hollywood Squares' this means five shows in an evening, and here's what goes on

Hollywood Squares Charley Weaver, guest Linda Cristal and (the comedy team of) Lohman and Barkley

This article appeared in the June 27-July 3, 1970 edition of TV Guide. It provides a very rare behind the scenes glimpse of the show during its earliest years. No author is given. Incidentally, the program section lists that week's guests as Edie Adams, Abby Dalton, Teresa Graves, Paul Lynde, John Saxon, Vincent Price, Tony Randall, and "regulars" Wally Cox and Charley Weaver.

   Offhand, you'd think that the production of The Hollywood Squares, NBC's daytime TV version of tic-tack-toe, might be a pretty hectic operation--a week's quota of shows shot back-to-back in one evening, with a roster of nine guest stars, an emcee, and two contestants who may change momentarily while any one of five half-hour programs is in progress.
     Actually it isn't hectic at all. It's more like an old-fashioned get-together, as much for the viewers as for the participants.
     Remember Wally Cox in Mr. Peepers? Remember Charley Weaver (Cliff Arquette) with Jack Paar? Remember Nanette Fabray as Sid Caesar's wife, Paul Lynde as Perry Como's neighbor? Of course, you know Rose Marie from The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Doris Day Show, and Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo. All are either regulars or semiregulars on The Hollywood Squares. They have been friends for a long time, have worked together on this show during most of its three and a half years on the air, and are as familiar to viewers at home as they are to each other.

Recollections of a pleasant evening: Cliff Arquette arrives in a pair of loud, black-and-white checked trousers which, in order to cover his ample abdomen, comes almost up to his armpits. He says that he will be 65 this year and is thinking of retiring. "This show is all I do anymore--I don't do any guest shots. I've got two videotape cameras in my garage, and I'm going to shoot my own programs just for the fun of it. I still have my museum in Gettysburg--it takes up almost a whole city block now. Even before Eisenhower died, more people asked where my museum was then asked to see his place." Nanette Fabray, whose hearing has been corrected by a recent operation, tells how she says "Hi" in sign language when she is introduced at the start of each program. "I get so much mail from deaf people--there are 20 million people with hearing problems in the country. Once, when I gave the sign, a little deaf boy in the audience shouted out, 'She spoke to me!' "

    Before the taping begins, each of the guests is taken to a dressing room for a private briefing on what kind of questions will be asked. Bill Bixby objects to this procedure. "What's the point of it? We don't have to give the right answers to the questions--we can bluff. So what difference does it make?" Bixby points out that he is not a regular or a semiregular but a guest star, although he has appeared on The Hollywood Squares many times and says, "I give it credit for keeping my name alive for three years between My Favorite Martian and The Courtship of Eddie's Father."
     It is time for the taping of the first show. The stars gather in the corridor waiting to be introduced by emcee Peter Marshall...Linda Cristal of The High Chapparal says, "I do this show so people can see me out of the costume."...Jim Backus comments on the hot lights whifch illuminate the small cubicles where the stars sit: "They clear up your sinuses and cure rheumatism."...The show begins. Sample question: "When did you last massage your gingivae?" The contestant asks Charley Weaver, who says "Massage it?" But he knows the real answer, that the gingivae are one's gums. Someone says, "The contestants like to pick Charley because he usually knows the answers." When Paul Lynde answers a Civil War question incorrectly, Charley the Gettysburg museum owner shakes his head in dismay. Lynde gets another question, this time about birds, and that prompts Wally Cox to start doing bird calls.
      The first show ends. The stars, except for Charley Weaver, who remains in the traditional costume he has worn for some 22 years, and Wally Cox, who wears a nondescript brown suit, hurry to their dressing rooms to change. Just as the second show is about to begin, it is discovered that the lights in Wally Cox's cubicle are not working. Someone recalls the night of an equipment failure when Shelley Berman entertained the audience for an hour and a half and Wally Cox did one of his old night-club routines. The show finally begins and ends without further incident.
       Most of the cast goes to dinner in one of the NBC rehearsal halls, where there are long tables and a catered buffet. It is Peter Marshall's birthday, and four birthday cakes have been placed on the tables. Everyone gets up to sing "Happy Birthday" when Marshall comes in.
       Rose Marie talks about the old Dick Van Dyke Show. "There'll never be another show like that. We still get together, and whenever Morey Amsterdam gets back to town, he calls to tell me where he's been. Jim Backus expresses amazement at the people who watch the show--"stars like Richard Burton and Henry Fonda." Nannette Fabray is as amazed at the recognition she receives from the public: "When I was making 'The Happy Ending' with Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges and Teresa Wright, people kept mobbing me and saying, "I've seen you on The Hollywood Squares."

Dinner is over, and it is time to go back for three more shows before a fresh audience. Waiting to go on, Wally Cox, heavier than in Mr. Peepers days, says, "I enjoy this more than anything I ever did in show business. I got tired of memorizing scripts." He still rides motorcycles--"unless it's raining"--and confesses a dislike for Mr. Peepers, which created a false image of him: "I played Mr. Goodboy for so long people think that's the way I am, but I'm really a terrible person." Charley Weaver approaches and throws his arms around Wally. "Stop doing whatever it is you're going to do," says Wally. "I just wanted to make love to you." says Charley. Bill Bixby arrives just before showtime with a pretty blonde in tow.
The third show begins. As the NBC peacock appears on the monitor in the control booth, the director says, "Here comes the bird," and the questions and the good-natured joking start again on-stage.
The producer, Bill Armstrong, recalls that a girl from Michigan once saved her own life because she happened to be watching the program. The quesion was, "What is the first thing you should do if your house catches on fire?" The answer was, "Get out immediately." Just as the Michigan girl heard the answer, she discovered that her house was on fire, and she got out. "She sent us a clipping about it from the local paper," says Armstrong.

The shows continue taping, with each of the stars performing according to his natural bent. During a break, Nanette Fabray says, "We each have our own characteristics--I'm a red-headed Billie Burke. Once when I was asked what flax was, I said it was the past tense of the verb flix." Rose Marie plays the man-hunting bachelor girl, as she did with Dick Van Dyke and continues to do with Doris Day. Bill Bixby, who changes from one mod outfit to another between shows, is hip and knowledgeable. Jim Backus, not playing a character, is even more serious than when he is. The team of Lohman and Barkley, who have become semiregulars since their own Name Droppers was dropped, are casual ad libbers. Charley Weaver, Wally Cox and Paul Lynde are, well, Charley Weaver, Wally Cox and Paul Lynde.
The evening ends, the audience files out, and the stars leave--a group of friends who have had a lot of fun, and are looking forward to the next time they get together.