Hollywood Squares

The Hollywood Squares is a American television comedy and game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win money and prizes. The "board" for the game is actually a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The celebrities are asked questions and the contestants judge the veracity of their answers in order to win the game.

Original version

The show's greatest success was during its original run. In its heyday in the early 1970s, it was the most popular daytime show in the country, and a platform for celebrities to promote their work which seemed almost as popular as Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show.

Related Topics:
1970s - Johnny Carson - The Tonight Show

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The show got its beginning as a black-and-white pilot episode filmed for CBS in 1965. That pilot was hosted by Bert Parks, with the squares occupied by Cliff Arquette in his "Charley Weaver" comic persona, Wally Cox, Rose Marie, Morey Amsterdam, Abby Dalton, Jim Backus, Gisele MacKenzie, Robert Q. Lewis, and Vera Miles. The first five of the initial panelists were to later appear on the first broadcast show (October 17, 1966) and become some of its initial regulars.

Related Topics:
Black-and-white - Pilot - CBS - 1965 - Bert Parks - Cliff Arquette - Wally Cox - Rose Marie - Morey Amsterdam - Abby Dalton - Jim Backus - Gisele MacKenzie - Robert Q. Lewis - Vera Miles - October 17 - 1966

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CBS shot a second pilot hosted by Sandy Baron, but choose not to follow-up with either host. A year later, NBC acquired the rights to the show, and chose Peter Marshall as host, a job he held for fifteen years, until 1981.

Related Topics:
Sandy Baron - NBC - Peter Marshall - 1981

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Paul Lynde, in addition to his recurring role on Bewitched, had his greatest fame as the coveted "center square" throughout most of the original show's run. But he was not (as is commonly believed) the first person to take that position; Ernest Borgnine held that honor. However, in 1970 after two years on the show, Lynde became the regular center square. Lynde was the only panelist on the show to win two daytime Emmy Awards, in 1975 and 1979. Other regulars and semi-regulars over the years included Nanette Fabray, George Gobel, Vincent Price, Jan Murray, Rose Marie, Charo, Sandy Duncan, Jonathan Winters, Karen Valentine, Roddy McDowall, and Joan Rivers. Lynde left the network series in early-1980, but returned when the series relocated to Las Vegas towards the end of the year.

Related Topics:
Paul Lynde - Bewitched - Ernest Borgnine - 1970 - Emmy Award - 1975 - 1979 - Nanette Fabray - George Gobel - Vincent Price - Jan Murray - Rose Marie - Charo - Sandy Duncan - Jonathan Winters - Karen Valentine - Roddy McDowall - Joan Rivers

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The daytime series was played as a best-of-three match between a returning champion and a challenger, with each individual game worth $200 and a bonus prize package going to a five-game winner. Early in the first season, each game paid $100. Winning the match upped that total to $500. Beginning in the late 1970s, an "endgame" of sorts was added; here, the champion simply selected a panelist, each of whom held an envelope, to earn the prize concealed within. (The "real" prize here, however, was a check for $5,000 in cash.) Both the syndicated and NBC primetime version featured the same two contestants playing for the entire half-hour, with each completed game worth $300 (NBC primetime) or $250 (syndicated). If time ran out with a game still in progress (signaled by a very loud and annoying horn), each X or O on the board at that point was worth an additional $50 to the players. The player with the most money at the end of the show won a bonus prize, which on the syndicated series was usually a new car.

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The "Secret Square" round was played as the second game on a given episode (or the first complete game if a show began with one already in progress) during the daytime series. In this game, one of the nine panelists was selected at random (and revealed to the home audience only) as the "Secret Square," and if that panelist was picked during this game, the contestant who picked him or her could win a bonus prize package for correctly agreeing or disagreeing with the celebrity. For the syndicated version, initially the first two, and later the first three games were all "Secret Square" games. The prize packages were always different on the syndicated version; the daytime show featured an accruing prize package that continued to build until won.

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The daytime version of the show was replaced by NBC on June 20, 1980, along with Chain Reaction and High Rollers, by a short-lived talk show hosted by David Letterman. The panel for the 3,536th and final NBC episode consisted of Rose Marie (the only person, other than Peter Marshall, to appear on both the first and last network episodes), Tom Poston, Michelle Lee, Vincent Price, Leslie Uggams, George Gobel, Marty Allen, Charlie Callas, and Wayland Flowers (with "Madame") in the Center Square. Squares ran for one more year in syndication (this last year of shows was taped at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada) before it was canceled for good.

Related Topics:
June 20 - 1980 - Chain Reaction - High Rollers - David Letterman - Rose Marie - Tom Poston - Michelle Lee - Leslie Uggams - Marty Allen - Charlie Callas - Wayland Flowers - Syndication - Las Vegas, Nevada

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Peter Marshall wrote about his experiences on the show in the 2002 book Backstage With The Original Hollywood Square (ISBN 1558539808).

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The 1st theme song used in 1966-1969 is called "The Silly Song" by Jimmie Haskell. The 2nd and most famous theme song, used after 1969, is called "Bob & Merrill's Theme" by William Loose (named after the show's original co-executive producers, Bob Quigley and Merrill Heatter). The 3rd theme, used during the last two years of the Marshall network and syndicated versions -- is a re-arrangement of "Bob & Merrill's Theme" orchestrated by Stan Worth.

Related Topics:
Bob Quigley - Merrill Heatter

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