Monday, February 12, 2024

Flowers for Tattletales

Got a quick start this morning, with just enough time to finish Mrs. Harris Goes to New York, write in my journal, grab breakfast, and hurry out. At least Uber helped there. The driver going to work arrived in 4 minutes; the one going home came in 5. No trouble anywhere on the road. Got to work with just a few minutes to spare.

Work was crazy today, especially this morning. We focused on balloons this morning, which of course, are not my strong suit. I gathered Super Bowl balloons to be given away or sold at a discount, then balloons to be refilled. Had a harder time figuring out how to put the balloons back. I just could not get them organized right, no matter how hard I tried. I did a little better helping to shelve new vases on two empty shelves after lunch.

We had a few extra "illusion" vases left, so I made bud vases. One perfect rose bud is clipped, and the stem is stuck into florist's rocks. The vase is then filled with water. They made a red rose bud vase earlier. I did pink, orange, yellow, and lavender. I thought they all came out rather well. The bright pink rose was especially pretty. Tied satin ribbons around the vases, then priced them and put them out for sale. 

Went online for a while, relaxing and messing around when I got home. Took the laundry downstairs, then did some writing. Patti explains that the poppies appeared after the first invasion of Televisia City by a band of trained warriors. The Warlock of the West is only one evil spell-caster in the land. There are many others, including the one who invaded Televisia City in the first place, Mombi. 

Put the laundry in the dryer, then had a quick dinner. Began strawberry white chocolate chip cookies for a Valentine's Day surprise while watching Match Game '79. In the first episode, Bill Daily's rather scraggly beard comes in for some ribbing. Brett would rather rant about politics and having to pay taxes. In the second episode, Gene and Bill end up dancing together.

Finished the night after taking the cookies out of the oven and the laundry upstairs with Tattletales episodes in honor of Valentine's Day and its 50th anniversary this Sunday. Since I already looked at the show's history, I decided to check out episodes featuring my favorite couples on the show. I wish Dick Martin hadn't been quite so insistent that he and Dolly mainly play with Bob Newhart and his wife Ginny. Newhart doesn't like his game show episodes to be seen nowadays. I did manage to find a very funny episode from 1982 where they're joined by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and Lynn Redgrave and John Clark.

Scoey and Claire were so popular on the show, they were regulars well into the 1982 revival. In this episode, they're playing with Tom Poston and his wife Kaye and Leslie Easterbrook and her honey Vic Holchak. They knew each other so well, they were married for over 50 years, until his death in 2022, and we get that here. (And Claire did not change in a decade. At all. She looks the same as she did in the early 70's episodes.)

Bobby Van and Elaine Joyce appeared on the very first week of Tattletales with Dick Gautier and his then-wife Barbara Stuart and Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. There were some terrific stories in the early non-Quickies format. One involved how Elaine picked up Bobby in a singles bar. Another had Anne detailing  how a glass of milk was significant in her Jewish-Irish household. 

Gene and Helen Rayburn were also married for 50 years. Those who only know Gene from Match Game don't realize how well-matched he and Helen were. When Gene talks about how funny his wife is on Match Game, he's not kidding. Helen is a riot. I especially love her answer to why she wouldn't read her diary on the air. I have their first appearance from later in 1974, where they're joined by Gary Burghoff and his sweet then-wife Janet, and Amanda "Miss Kitty" Blake and her then-husband, animal trainer Frank Gilbert. 

No couple was crazier about each other than Betty White and Allen Ludden. They made frequent appearances during the entire run of Tattletales, and they always played well and had great stories to share. I love their answers to which one of them would swear more! Patrick Duffy and his wife Carlyn and Bill Anderson and his wife Becky join in near the end of the original run in 1978.

Patti Deustch and Donald Ross may have been the most well-matched twosome of any celebrity couple. They shared the same wacky sense of humor and truly strange and creative minds, as we see in the 1977 episode here. None other than Red Foxx and his wife Joi are in this one, along with Bill Macy and his wife Samantha Harper.

Possibly the funniest regular couple on the show were battling duo Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall. Like Gene and Helen and Scoey and Claire, they were married for a long time, and are still married to this day. They had been doing an act together for years when they started appearing on the show. This 1976 episode with Julie London and her husband Bobby Troupe and soap stars Eileen Pone and her husband Danny Fortune gives you a good example of how crazy those two could get.

Patty Duke and John Astin could be very competitive when they played each other elsewhere, but they were surprisingly sweet on Tattletales. No wonder they raised five kids together. They were some of the best players on the show, and among its top money winners. Gene and Helen and Bill and Samantha return in this episode from 1975. 

Celebrate Valentine's Day and Tattletales' 50th anniversary with hilarious stories told by some of the most loving and funniest couples on the air!


(Oh, and it had been cloudy and cold all day. Thankfully, it didn't start raining until around dinner time. It's rained off and on ever since.)

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