Priceless Memories

by Bob Barker; Digby Diehl

  It was still a gamble, I suppose, but those of us involved thought we had a winning formula. I started doing The Price Is Right on September 4, 1972. The longest and most rewarding ride of my career was under way.

  As it turned out, I did leave Truth or Consequences about three years later, but for the first three years that I was on Price—1972 through 1974—I did both shows. I was on a half hour a day with Price, and a half hour every night with Truth. By 1975, we had taped enough Truth shows for a year of syndication. These shows had been seen in only four markets. In a smart move, they just stopped production, used the backlog, and made nothing but money for a year with no production costs. During that year, Price went from its half-hour format to a full hour.

  Truth or Consequences wanted me to do the show again, but Sol Leon, a legendary agent with the William Morris Agency who was representing me at the time, advised me not to do it. He said that with an hour in the daytime and a half hour at night I’d be overexposed. I took his advice, and we passed on continuing with Truth or Consequences. Also, my decision was influenced by the fact that some of the people with whom I had worked were gone, the most important one being Ed Bailey, the producer. Bobby Lauher, one of my favorite writers on the show, had died as well, and Charlie Lyon, a dear friend, had retired.

  • • •

  Mark Goodson was a smart businessman, a generous soul, and the one who brought me to The Price Is Right. I did hear a few years later, however, that Mark wasn’t the only one who wanted me to do The Price Is Right. Bud Grant, who later went on to become a legendary television executive, was more instrumental in orchestrating the whole deal than I realized. At the time, Bud Grant was head of daytime television at CBS. He had been the assistant to the director of daytime at NBC when I had hosted Truth. By this time he was head of daytime at CBS, and he had told Mark Goodson that he would buy The Price Is Right for CBS if Mark could get me to host it. Mark was always generous with me, but if I had known that he had to have me host the show in order for Bud to buy it, Mark would have been even more generous with me. I told him that, too. We laughed about it.

  In fact, I remember that Bud Grant made a pitch to me when I was having some last-minute doubts. He said, “You come over here and do Price on CBS, and good things are going to come of it.” I’ll never forget that because after he bought Price, a bit of time passed and he was moved from head of daytime to head of all entertainment on CBS. When I saw him, I said, “Congratulations, Bud. I remember when you told me that if I came over to CBS good things would happen. I didn’t understand at the time that these would be ‘good things’ for Bud Grant. I assumed they would be for Bob Barker.” I kidded him about that for years.

  But he deserved all his success. Bud Grant knew daytime. He didn’t just buy Price, he also bought Jack Barry’s The Joker’s Wild and Gambit with Wink Martindale. Both shows debuted the same day that Price did, and all three shows were hits.

  Bud also bought The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful, both of which are still thriving on CBS. In fact, CBS has been number one in daytime ratings for twenty years, thanks in no small part to Bud Grant’s purchases and scheduling. He really knew daytime, particularly game shows.

  Speaking of ratings, The Price Is Right was a smash from day one. We never had a ratings problem. That’s a testimony to the energy, the chemistry, and the enthusiasm that was so much a part of the show. It was electric, in fact. There was terrific energy in the studio when we went on the air, and it never let up. There are shows that actually have to buy audiences, but our problem was fitting people in. We had lines around the building, and some people sleeping out there.

  • • •

  But let me get back to the early days of The Price Is Right. I want to explain why I think the show was so successful. First, these types of shows were not originally called game shows, they were called audience participation shows, and that’s the key element of them. It was always the spontaneous nature of the entertainment, the guests’ reactions, the unscripted moments, the enthusiasm, the humor, and the personalities of average people getting excited and having fun. When people asked me how I made a living, I told them I made a living creating spontaneous entertainment with unrehearsed contestants.

  I never wanted contestants who were chosen two weeks in advance; taught a game; told what to say, how to smile, and how to react. I was not interested in that. I wanted to talk with people who are surprised they’re suddenly on television—totally natural. They might be standing there in a coat and tie or in shorts and sandals with a sunburned nose, but they’re natural. The personalities of the contestants were the lifeblood of the show. People in the audience would root for the contestants, and the viewers would be rooting for them, too. Everyone entered into the fun. People at home enjoy it vicariously. They picture themselves there at the show. They may be in the middle of Nebraska, but they’d love to be out in Hollywood winning a car.

  It is always about the people. The host and the games and the prizes are all-important, but on TPIR it has always been the contestants and the audience who provide the energy, the laughs, and the opportunity to create the beautiful and hilarious moments that keep bringing people back for more. People ask me what makes a good contestant. I always say someone who behaves naturally. For Price, some people think they have to jump around and scream or they won’t get on the show. They try to do that, but if it’s phony, it won’t work. If that is not your natural way, then you are not going to come off well trying to do it. But if that is your natural way, it will happen. I have had people, taciturn individuals, who were hilarious. They were great fun. And if you behave naturally and are reasonably outgoing when you are standing in line at Price, you have a chance to get on the show. If you are too introverted, it is not going to work; but if you try too hard, it’s not going to work either. Just be natural. That’s the way to be a good contestant.

  I didn’t select my own contestants on Price. Originally, we had one of the producers do it, and eventually we had contestant coordinators do it. We probably had over the years half a dozen people doing it. But all of them knew I wanted people with whom I could have fun. Our contestant coordinators went out into the line outside before the show and talked to people. They made their selections following my guidelines, but I never knew who was going to be on the show and the people chosen to be contestants didn’t know either. They didn’t know until their name was called to “Come on down!” That’s how we got those wonderful reactions of joy.

  Another facet of Price’s success is that the show always had a live feel. This was intentional, and it was a big part of the show’s energy and appeal. As I’ve said, my background was in live entertainment, on both radio and television, so that’s what I felt comfortable in and that’s the environment and attitude I wanted to foster. That’s what I had done all over Southern California on radio shows with Dorothy Jo and on Truth or Consequences.

  • • •

  I always brought the shows out on time. In other words, I did them in time to match the allotted length of the show. This assured that the broadcast had a live feel, which everyone loved. Beyond that, I also wanted to decide what went on the air. I didn’t want somebody to edit the show and decide that this goes and this stays. I didn’t want someone else deciding what’s funny about the show. I know what’s funny. I did it. If you do it live to time, that’s it. What you see is what you get. So that’s what I did. If something went wrong, you covered, one way or the other. If you do it live to time, it also has that consistent natural feel, where the energy and the momentum never fade. It worked beautifully. Editing is expensive. I saved CBS millions of dollars in editing costs, and I think we maintained a more lively show. That’s a win-win situation.

  Sometimes we had people fall down coming down the aisle. We left it in. They might fall flat on their faces or go into long stumbles until they eventually tripped over themselves in their excitement. And as many people who fell, we never had one get hurt beyond a bump. Of
course, we had pages rushing right out there, helping them get on their feet and up to the stage, and I might make a remark like, “Been drinking again, huh?” or something like that, and we rolled on with the show.

  We had situations where models would be pulling on refrigerator doors that didn’t open, on cabinets that were stuck, all kinds of gaffes, and we just kept going. The models would be up there tugging on oven doors or on handles or pulling on drawers that wouldn’t open, and we made the best of it, all the while getting laughs. I remember one time we had a refrigerator that was stocked with food and sitting on a dolly. They did not shoot the dolly, of course. They just shot the refrigerator and the model whose job it was to open the refrigerator door. When she opened it, the weight of the door was enough to cause the refrigerator to tilt on the dolly and everything in the refrigerator came crashing out on the floor. We left everything in just as it played. I told the audience: “Try to picture this refrigerator without all that stuff lying around it there on the floor. It really is a beautiful refrigerator, you know.” I told the announcer, “Go ahead, Johnny, please describe this mess.”

  A few times on the show we called a common name, “Harry Brown, come on down.” Well, it turned out that there were two Harry Browns in the audience, so they both came on down.

  Then I’d say, ”Now, wait a minute here, is your name Harry Brown?”

  “Yes.”

  And to the other, “Is your name Harry Brown?”

  “Yes.”

  And then I’d turn to Roger Dobkowitz, our producer, or someone who knew which Harry Brown we wanted as the next contestant. “Which one was the one chosen?” I’d ask.

  And he’d point out the right Harry Brown.

  I’d turn to the other one and say, “Maybe next time,” and we’d go on, but it was all on the air.

  I remember a show when we called the name of a contestant, and I don’t remember if we said “Senior” or “Junior,” but they were both in the audience, and they both got up, father and son, and came down. It was the senior that we wanted. I turned to Junior. “What a thing to do, to try to ace out your own father to get on The Price Is Right!” I said, “You should be ashamed of yourself. Now, you go back there and sit down.” The audience roared with laughter.

  Another time, a model accidentally drove a car into a wall. We rolled out this beautiful car with a model at the wheel, smiling into the camera. She smiled and smiled some more as the car rolled —bam— into the wall. We just kept going, and I said, “I’m going to give you a chance to win that beautiful car with the dented fender!” and the audience cheered the idea. There were so many moments like that, so many comic episodes and mishaps that we encountered, but we always left them in, and the show was much richer for it.

  Of course, the all-time on-air mishap, the one everyone always talks about, was the show with the lady in the tube top. When her name was called to come on down, she jumped to her feet and began jumping up and down and her breasts popped out of the tube top. She didn’t even know it. She got into Contestants’ Row, and a lady in the front row told her. She dropped down and pulled her tube top back up. She came on down and “they” came on out on CBS, and no one has ever forgotten it.

  I actually didn’t see it when it happened. I was waiting behind the doors to be introduced, and when I came out onstage, the audience was roaring with laughter and applauding thunderously. At first I thought it was all for me. I thought: “This audience really loves me!” Then I decided that no audience had ever been that fond of anyone.

  I turned to Johnny Olson and asked, “What is going on out here?”

  Johnny said, “Bob, this girl has given her all for you.”

  We left it all in as it played. We put a banner across her chest so you couldn’t see anything, but the viewers at home knew full well what happened. That is undoubtedly the most talked about incident in The Price Is Right history.

  Speaking of Johnny Olson, he was a great announcer and a beloved part of our show. The audiences in the studio and the fans at home loved him. He deserves the credit for the very popular slogan “Come on down.” “Come on down” was just three words in the script, but Johnny came up with this delivery, this tone and excitement, and it was magical. It really took off. I am often asked, do I mind or do I get tired of hearing it when people call out to me on the street? The answer is, never. I love it. It means they watch the show. People are always saying “Come on down” to me, and I don’t mind at all. I consider it a tribute to the show.

  • • •

  When people ask why The Price Is Right was so successful, my agent always said—as I would expect him to say—that it was all because of the host. But in truth, it was a combination of things. In addition to the spontaneity and the live atmosphere, the basic premise of the show was strong. Everything we did on the show was based on prices, and everyone identifies with prices. You can be a policeman, a doctor, a writer, a cabdriver, but you identify with prices. When we brought out something for the contestants to bid on, the person at home played right along: “Oh, that’s a good bid” or “That’s not enough” or “That’s too much.” The viewer at home might be standing at an ironing board or feeding an infant or cleaning the house or doing whatever, but once we get into the price-guessing phase of the show, they’re immediately engaged, thinking to themselves, “Well, let’s see, that should be about $10” or $200 or whatever the case may be. But whatever they think, they have become involved, and that’s what every game show wants. Every show wants viewer involvement, and we had it to the nth degree.

  On the subject of prices, I have to confess, I would have been a terrible contestant. I don’t know the price of anything. One time a reporter came to do an interview with me, and he brought a grocery bag of items. He said, “OK, you’ve been asking the questions all these years, now we’re going to see how well you know prices.”

  I did terribly. I didn’t know what anything cost.

  He said, “No refrigerator for you. In fact, nothing for you, and you better stick to your side of the microphone.”

  Why should I pay any attention to prices on the show? I couldn’t win anyway!

  We also had beautiful models—beautiful women who displayed the prizes, demonstrated merchandise, and provided ample grace and beauty to the show. The models were extremely popular with our audience, and along with announcers Johnny Olson, Rod Roddy, and Rich Fields, they became a valuable part of our success. People felt they knew them also. Both our announcers and our models did a fantastic job.

  • • •

  The Price Is Right was a fast-moving show. We played six games per show, and we constantly developed new ones. We had about eighty games at the time of my retirement. I used to say if you don’t like what we’re doing right now on the show, wait about four or five minutes, and we’ll be doing something completely different. People ask me how I could do that show for so long, and I say because it was always something different every day. Different contestants, different games, different prizes, different audiences—they all had their own unique attraction. Every show was different because you never knew what was going to happen. We played Plinko and some other games once a week. We played some games every other week, and there were others we played less frequently. Our format was so flexible that I could spend extra time with a contestant who was particularly entertaining or funny. If we were having fun and getting laughs, I’d stay with that contestant and make up the time somewhere else in the show.

  Someone once said about me that I make my living making other people funny. I think that sums it up. I helped them be funny. I never try to get a laugh at their expense. As a matter of fact, I played straight man for the contestant. I deliberately set them up for a laugh. I think I was able to establish rapport with guests quickly and got them to open up and reveal themselves a bit because they felt they knew me already. I never played any other part on television. I was never a doctor or a detective. I was always Bob Barker: what you saw was what you got. When people
would see me on the street or in a restaurant, I was the same guy. People always felt they knew me because they may have watched me for years on Truth or Price, and I was always just Bob Barker. Also, I had my wife on my shows occasionally. I talked about my pets, and I had them on my shows over the years, too.

  After a while, you have established a bond with your audience. I never wanted a contestant to leave with his or her feelings hurt. I wanted them to enjoy every moment of the show, and I wanted them to look back on it as a fond memory in their life. I tried to treat them just as if they were guests in my home. I never tried to put them down. I know there are comedians who do and make a huge success of it, but that’s not my style. I tried to have fun with the contestants, and I kidded them, but I hope in a loving way. And we got letters, plenty of them, from people who said being on the show was one of the highlights of their life, one of the best things that ever happened to them. It was always rewarding and encouraging to receive those kinds of letters. I can’t take all the credit because our staff did a great job handling people.

  • • •

  The show had a wide appeal from the beginning, a complete cross section of the country. And I have to say, in all the years I did Price, our audiences and contestants always displayed good manners. They were excited and they could be zany and unpredictable, but our guests always stayed within the boundaries of good taste. We didn’t have to bleep out profanities like some shows had to do. I think in general all of our guests knew they were on a family show and acted accordingly. I wanted Price to appeal to people of all ages and colors and nationalities. I wanted it to be a show that you could sit down with your mother and watch and not be embarrassed by anything we said or did. And you could.

  Our show was different from the others in a lot of ways. Not only did we leave all the unscripted moments in and have packed houses for the tapings of the show, we had contestants that you did not see on other shows. We had ninety-year-olds. I had a winner, a showcase winner, who was ninety-five years old. You never see a ninety-five-year-old on other shows. The fellow was great. I had many people in their seventies and eighties. We had tall, short, fat, thin, old, young, black, white, and brown. We wanted a diverse group. Our country is becoming more and more a melting pot, and we wanted Price to reflect that. I believe that is one reason why the show was so successful from the start and for so many years. We had contestants on Price who would not get on any other show, and they were wonderful contestants.