Checked a few things online, then put on Press Your Luck while getting organized. It was a real nail-biter this afternoon. This time, the two guys were the ones passing spins. As it turned out, the guy with the least spins and the most Whammies hit two big trips to Colorado and New York City along with a ton of money, giving him more than enough to win.
Headed out after the show ended. I rounded up a small bag of donations for Goodwill. There really isn't much I want to get rid of. I cleared out a lot when I moved the past two times, and I generally drop small books in the neighborhood kiosks and clothes in the bins behind the Acme and Dollar General. Had more luck looking around inside. I don't need clothes right now, but I found a book I've wanted for ages. I've wanted to re-read Quiet, about introversion and being an introvert, but it's always out of the Haddon Township Library. Goodwill had a paperback copy in decent shape for 99 cents.
I really hit the jackpot on DVDs. Picked up seven classic titles, the Gene Tierney drama Leave Her to Heaven, the Errol Flynn vehicles The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex and They Died With Their Boots On, and a collection of four Astaire-Rogers films. I actually bought the last-named for the only Astaire-Rogers movie I didn't have, Swing Time. I also picked up the 1985 TV mini-series Alice In Wonderland, an old childhood favorite of mine, still in its original shrink wrap. (It's also a musical, so it'll likely turn up on Musical Dreams Reviews sometime in the next few months.)
I did even better with kids' LPs. My record finds included:
Tale Spinners for Children - The Brave Little Tailor (and the back indicates that among the other titles in this series are Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Robin Hood, Little Red Riding Hood, Alice In Wonderland, and Puss In Boots.)
Another Peter Pan/Tinkerbell short story collection, this one featuring Pinocchio, The Little Red Hen, Treasure Island, The Lion and the Mouse, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The City Mouse and the Country Mouse
Cinderella, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Sleeping Beauty and Other Favorite Stories (This one is from a company called Simon Says, and from the back, it looks like they made several more similar collections.)
Plus three rock and vocal LPs for grown-ups:
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
Johnny Mathis - Open Fire, Two Guitars and Warm (Double disc set)
After a brief peek around Five Below, I went out to lunch. Decided to try something different. Tang Asian Cuisine opened in the former Golden Corral building that sat abandoned behind America's Best and the post office for years. I walked in to warm wooden floors and wide open spaces. They were relatively busy for nearly quarter of 3, with several groups enjoying a late lunch.
And yes, they did have a ton of food. It reminded me so much of Hunan's Chinese Restaurant in Rio Grande, my family's favorite place for Asian food in the 80's and 90's. They converted into a buffet somewhere in the mid-90's, and it became one of the best ways to feed four hungry kids on a decent budget. I loved Hunan's rice noodles with vegetables and their steamed mussels. Tang had those, and many others. I had a hard time deciding. I sampled chilled mussels, broccoli (from the chicken and broccoli), the pasta, sweet and sour chicken, a simple garden salad, cooked shrimp, a fruit salad, an elephant's ear cookie, and two tiny slices of heavenly mocha mousse cake and matcha sponge cake roll. It was all amazing, and I was so full when I left.
Made a stop at WaWa on the way home for a smaller treat. Since I'd had dessert at Tang Asian, I opted to experiment with the Coke Freestyle soda machine instead. I created Coke Tropical Cream Zero, aka Tropical, Lime, and Cream Zero. Not bad. I think I put a little too much lime in. Next time, I might do more cream.
Took the laundry downstairs, then put on Vega$. "Miliken's Stash" is one last load of cocaine a former drug seller is being forced to unload. Tanna's hot on the trail, but even he doesn't know what to think when a plane crashes, and then the missing drugs are held for ransom.
Did some job hunting, then worked on writing. Joyce is dazzled by Televisia City, a green and white Art Deco behemoth that resembles the best parts of Los Angeles rolled into one. Avery's more nervous about the noise, while Charles and Richard can't help thinking all of this is very familiar.
Finally remembered to put the laundry in the dryer, then went back up to watch Match Game Syndicated and have dinner. Marcia began the first episode by requesting that Gene spray her dress to remove wrinkles. Gene begins the second episode by admiring Betty Kennedy's brief tube top, scarf, and beret. The others have far more problems figuring out "Ripple __" in the Audience Match.
Took a shower, brought my clothes upstairs, and finished out the night on YouTube. Women have been contestants and panelists on game shows since they began, but they were far rarer as hosts until recently. Arlene Francis was one of the first women in charge of a game show with the Dating Game prototype Blind Date from the early 50's. She helps three days decide which guy is right for their daughter via goofy skits. The skits are awkward, but Francis clearly enjoys helping the fathers make their decision.
Francis wouldn't be the last woman to host a dating show. Actress and dancer Elaine Joyce was the original host of The All-New Dating Game in 1986. Unlike the 90's version, this one is pretty much the same as the original show with an updated set. Joyce's bubbly personality may have been a little too goofy for this show. She was replaced by Jeff MacGregor after the first season.
Vicki Lawrence had more luck hosting a game show in the 1980's. Win, Lose, or Draw from 1987 was pretty much the same deal as the syndicated version helmed by Bert Convy. Four celebrities help a contestant draw and guess clues to a certain subject. The first person to guess the clues wins the round. I fondly remember Convy's show and the teen version and wish I could have seen more of Vicki's network run. Vicki's not bad, and they're all having a good time.
Just Men! wasn't Betty White's first time hosting a game show. She got to read a question during an episode of Match Game Syndicated when Gene Rayburn was tired of her complaining about how hard it was to match. She had the same warm rapport with the contestants that she would later in Just Men. This episode was wild in general. Marcia, Betty, and Joyce Bulifant all switched seats, letting Joyce sit in Brett's character actress seat for the first and only time. Joyce got to jokingly comment that she could see everyone's answers on the bottom row and now understood how Charles and Brett were always snitching answers!
Women hosted games for kids, too. Summer Saunders was in charge of Nickelodeon's Figure It Out. This 1999 show was pretty much "I've Got a Secret with slime." Four Nick celebrities try to guess what a kid's secret is. If they guess wrong, they get covered in Nick's trademark green gunge. Not a bad show, and Saunders works well enough with the kids and has boundless energy.
By the start of the new millenium, women had begun to make more inroads as hosts. Anne Robinson was the stone-cold mistress of The Weakest Link who came to NBC with the show in 2001. Most of the BBC cowered under her steely gaze and her infamous catchphrase "you are the Weakest Link. Goodbye." The intense show was eventually brought down by too many celebrity weeks, but it would be revived more successfully in 2020 with the even more intimidating Jane Lynch.
Stand-up comedienne Elaine Boosler was the host of Balderdash on PAX TV in 2004. In this comic To Tell the Truth in reverse, three celebrities toss out statements that may or may not be true. Contestants have to decide who's fibbing, then figure out which words are missing to make a statement true in the Bonus Round. Boosler does fine, but the show moves slow as heck, and the bonus round is a bit of a snore. It barely made four months.
Honor Women's History Month by checking out these bits of TV history when ladies ran the games!
Match Game Syndicated (1980) - The episode with Betty hosting begins at 21:38.
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