I came home, and I told my mother, who was living with us then, that Chuck had cracked two of my ribs and that his brother Aaron had cracked two ribs on the other side.
My mom said, “I think you’re going to have to stop playing with those Norris boys.”
• • •
Beginning in the early 1980s, I began to go on the road regularly with an audience participation show playing in large-scale venues around the country. While the format was everything I was accustomed to doing—that is, games, prizes, audience participation, and plenty of ad-libbing and improvisation—the sheer size of the audiences made these shows a completely different entertainment challenge. Much to my delight, it was a hugely successful format, and I went on to do these traveling shows for eight years. We broke records for attendance, and within a short time, we would only book arenas that could seat at least ten thousand people. We often played to audiences of twenty thousand. We smashed records all over the country. It was great fun playing to such enthusiastic large crowds everywhere.
These live stage shows started innocently enough with a phone call to my agent, Sol Leon. There were a couple of men—a dentist named Dr. Robert Rowe and his friend, Sheldon Ferguson, an attorney—who were associated with a charity and wanted me to do a fund-raiser. They contacted Sol Leon, who represented me at the William Morris Agency.
Sol told me, “I got a phone call and this fellow is talking about some pretty good money. He wants you to come down to Johnson City, Tennessee, and do a show.”
I asked Sol what sort of show the caller was talking about.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Why don’t you talk to him and see if you are interested.”
So I called Dr. Rowe and asked him, “What do you want me to do?”
He said, “Just do what you always do.”
I said, “I talk with people, play games, and give away prizes.”
Dr. Rowe said, “That’s what I want you to do.”
And that is how it all started. I asked Dr. Rowe if he could get some people to help me, and he said that he could get all the members of the Johnson City Kiwanis Club. I suggested that a show like that might benefit from a couple of pretty girls on the stage, and he said he would not only get a few pretty girls, he would get some beauty queens. Then I asked if he could get some prizes, and he said, “Oh, yes, the merchants are eager to cooperate, and there will be plenty of prizes.” He was very optimistic and had answers for everything.
So I told him that I would write a script in great detail, describing every movement that had to be made, and I would send a copy to him. “Then,” I said, “I am going to get on the phone and go over that script with you. If you can get this all together, I will come down and do your show.” So that is what we did. I described every game, every prize, every prop. The responsibilities of stagehands and models were all laid out. I asked him to tell his workers to do exactly what we had discussed, everything I had written down, and to have everything set to do the show. I told him I would come in the day before the show, and we would rehearse everything very carefully that night.
He said, “That is fine. We will be ready.” He was completely confident.
Up to this point the show seemed to be all set, but when I got on the airplane to go to Tennessee, the weather in that part of the country was terrible. We could not get near Johnson City, Tennessee. It was a fierce winter storm. I ended up in Kansas City, Missouri, that Friday night. The show was scheduled for Saturday night. So I called Dr. Rowe, and he said, “Hello, Bob, where are you?”
I said, “I don’t want you to worry because everything is going to be fine, but I am in Kansas City.”
There was a long pause.
“Dr. Rowe?” I said.
In a dazed voice, Dr. Rowe asked, “What are you doing in Kansas City?”
I explained the weather problem and assured him that they had told me I would be able to get in tomorrow. “If you can meet me at the airport, we will go directly to the venue,” I said. “We’ll put this show together and it will work.”
The next day, the weather was again horrendous, but I did manage to arrive in Tennessee. By the time we left the airport, it was close to showtime. I was happy to discover that Dr. Rowe and his crew of fifteen men and two young ladies were all prepared. I had told them every move to make, right down to the last detail, in the script, and they were on top of it. They were like a veteran Hollywood crew, sharp and dedicated, and they wanted to work.
We did the show, despite a veritable blizzard in the area, and we filled Jefferson Hall. We had an audience of eight thousand people and turned away a couple of thousand more. The show was a smash hit. They laughed, screamed, and applauded, and they gave me a standing ovation at the end. After the show, Dr. Rowe came up to me and said in his rich southern accent, “I think you ought to be doing more of these shows.”
And I said, “I think you are right.”
That was how the live road show began, and it became wildly popular. We broke the record at the Omni in Atlanta. We filled the Summit in Cincinnati. Everywhere we went, we sold out and broke attendance records. I was still hosting The Price Is Right in Hollywood, but I would fly out on Thursday or Friday, do a show Friday night and then do another one in a nearby city on Saturday night. I would jump on a plane and fly back on Sunday and go to work on Price on Monday.
Dr. Rowe and Sheldon Ferguson had a company called the Tennessee Partners that promoted country-and-western acts—and as of that night, Bob Barker. We started barnstorming all over the map. We went on a tear that lasted eight years. You name it, we played it: Omaha, Oklahoma City, Seattle, Cleveland, Detroit, Tampa, Miami, and Atlanta. We went all over. They wanted us to play Madison Square Garden in New York, but the advertising costs were outrageous, and I did not want to do a show that would just pay for advertising. They wanted us to play at the old Los Angeles Forum, but I didn’t want to appear at the Forum because we taped The Price Is Right in Los Angeles. I thought if people wanted to come see me in Los Angeles, they could come see me for free doing The Price Is Right.
Dr. Rowe was the one who suggested that we call the show The Bob Barker Fun and Games Show.
I said, “You got it.”
When I first started doing The Bob Barker Fun and Games Show live in front of such large audiences, I thought we might have to have big acts with lots of things happening on the stage. Not so. I learned that folks loved to have me roam through the audience, even up into the balcony.
The lighting man would follow me with a spot as I had fun with people of all ages and colors, even with kids as young as four or five. I’d pick them up, stand them on their chairs and stay with a youngster as long as we were getting laughs. I remember talking with a six-year-old boy in San Antonio for about five minutes. The audience loved him.
If I was in the balcony, I sometimes chose a contestant seated on the floor below, in which case the lighting man threw a second spot on the contestant. With me in the balcony and the contestant seated on the floor below, we would play a game mounted on a board on the stage.
The two-hour show had a Hellzapoppin’ atmosphere. The audience didn’t know where I would be next or who I might be talking with, but, of course, they hoped it would be with them. And the best part was, it just might have been!
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Believe me, it was. I think I enjoyed the show as much as anyone in the audience, even the contestant who won the car at the end of the show.
Sol Leon came out two or three times to see The Bob Barker Fun and Games Show. Once he said, “Bob, this is the nearest thing to the Beatles I ever saw.” I know, I know: Sol was my agent, but it still sounded good to me.
When we were going into a city to do a show, the Tennessee Partners would lay out a complete advertising plan—newspapers, radio, and television. Then they would send it to Sol. Sol would look the plan over very carefully, and he always made suggestions, made changes, and added valuable insights.
At this time, Sol was ha
ving breakfast once a week with the legendary Colonel Tom Parker, who promoted all of Elvis Presley’s personal appearances. Sol said the Colonel became interested in The Bob Barker Fun and Games Show and gave him tips from time to time on promoting the show. I think you’ll agree that Sol was getting tips from an excellent source.
People often told me that my relationship with Sol Leon was something to behold, and it was. He was my agent, but he was far more than that. He was an advertising consultant, an advisor, and a dear friend.
• • •
The Bob Barker Fun and Games Show was not the only traveling show I was doing during those days, nor was it the only other job I had outside of The Price Is Right. I was hosting the annual beauty pageants. I was also anchoring the Rose Parade broadcasts every year for CBS. In fact, I was involved with a number of parades around the country. I did the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia. For years, I worked the Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade. But the granddaddy of them all, as they say, is the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena. That was a privilege and a pleasure for me to do for over twenty years.
I worked with some wonderful people when I narrated the Rose Parade. I cohosted shows with June Lockhart. She was one bright lady, and she was funny. I worked with Joan Van Ark, who was bright and funny, too. As I wrote earlier, I interviewed the grand marshals every year. One time it was Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, and I am a big fan. I knew he did not like to give autographs, but once when he and I were alone, I apologetically requested one. He quickly sketched Snoopy on my script, wrote, “To Bob with friendship and affection,” and signed it “Sparky,” a nickname his friends called him. It is one of my treasures.
Because of the Rose Parade, for twenty-one years I was unable to go to a New Year’s Eve party. I had to be out there in Pasadena at 4:00 a.m. They really took it seriously. Our team would go to Pasadena for two days or so before the parade. We taped the places where they built the floats and interviewed the float builders. We did a lot of research about the parade, and we studied up on the background of the groups marching in the parade.
I have anchored parades all over the country, but the Rose Parade is the best-organized parade of them all. If they say they are going to step off at 8:00 a.m., you can set your watch by it. And if they say a band will pass the reviewing stand at 9:15, you can bet that band will be there, playing its best music, at 9:15. Many parades do not operate that way.
The Rose Parade in Pasadena definitely has better weather for a parade than any other place in the country. So many of these big parades are around the holidays, and if you are in the East, say New York or Cleveland or Detroit, the weather can be atrocious. I know. I have been there.
I did the Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade for twenty-one years. (Have you noticed that twenty-one seems to be my favorite number? As Dorothy Jo noted, I am nothing if not tenacious!) I made many friends in Indianapolis, and I enjoyed the annual visit. The race-car drivers were always a fun bunch, and after the parade we would go to the race, which was even more exciting.
• • •
It was John Christ who steered me to the Rose Parade job that I thoroughly enjoyed for twenty-one years, who hired me to do the Miss USA and the Miss Universe beauty pageants, which I did for twenty-one years, and finally, who hired me to host the Pillsbury Bake-Off every year. He was the agency representative for Pillsbury at the Leo Burnett Agency. He called me one day and said, “We need a producer and a host.” He asked if I would be willing to both produce and host the bake-off.
Without hesitation, I said, “Sure. Why not?” I knew nothing about the bake-off, but I learned, and I hosted that contest for twenty years. (Somehow I missed my usual twenty-one!)
The only thing I didn’t like about the bake-off was taking off the weight I always gained. You see, I got to taste the entries!
John Christ had a wonderful sense of humor, and we could talk for hours together. I remember we were sitting on a plane in the mid-1960s, and we were trying to decide what to drink. I knew he liked screwdrivers, and about this time there was a popular new drink called a Harvey Wallbanger. It was vodka, orange juice, and Galliano. I said, “John, I have never had a Harvey Wallbanger, but I think it has some of the ingredients of a screwdriver.”
He said, “Let’s try some Harvey Wallbangers.”
So we started drinking them. We talked and laughed as always, and we were solving all the problems of television and advertising. Eventually, I looked up and everybody on the airplane was standing up in the aisle.
I said to John, “What’s going on here? Look at these people.”
“I don’t know what is going on,” he replied.
I asked a gentleman in the aisle what was happening.
The gentleman gave me a look of amazement and said, “This airplane has been struck by lightning.”
Everybody was frightened and they were all on their feet, but John and I had not even noticed.
John, however, handled the situation perfectly. He turned to a flight attendant and said, “Miss, could we have two more Harvey Wallbangers, please?”
13
DJ&T Foundation
I have had animals around me since I was a small child. I have always felt deeply for animals. While I was growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota, as I have mentioned, my mother could look out from the rooftop of the two-story hotel where we lived and was able to find me by looking for the pack of dogs that would always be following me.
• • •
One aspect of my animal activism has been my constant reminders for people to have their pets spayed or neutered. For years and years, I ended every The Price Is Right show with the words “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” Pet overpopulation is a huge problem, and we have much further to go, but I am proud to have played a part in raising awareness. Every little bit helps. Despite growing awareness, people still have no conception of the magnitude of the pet overpopulation problem.
There are almost a million animals taken in by shelters each year in California alone, cats and dogs, and of that million, half of them are euthanized every year. In addition to the cruelty factor, it is also costing taxpayers $250 million a year to capture the animals, house them, kill them, and then dispose of them. It is nothing less than a travesty. And with education, it can be stopped. That is why I have worked so hard for so many years. These things can be improved. Changes can happen. I have seen progress on many fronts, and it is part of what keeps me working to help educate others and campaign for new laws, education, and overall awareness.
Along with many others, I have worked to encourage cities, states, and various local governments to institute mandatory spay/neuter laws and ordinances. This would do a great deal to cut down on the tragic stray dog and feral cat problem. Many of these strays and ferals suffer unbearably during their lifetimes. They contract diseases. They are injured, attacked, hit by cars, sold into research, and worse. Most people are not aware of the extent of animal suffering. Americans do, by and large, love animals. According to the U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 63 percent of all homes in the United States include at least one animal.
People love their own cats and dogs, but when it comes to awareness, most people just have no conception of the animal cruelty problems that exist in this country. That is what I and many other passionately committed people in various organizations are working toward: increasing awareness. Increased awareness leads to increased activism, and increased activism leads to discussion and behavior changes and ultimately to new laws and more stringent enforcement of the laws already on the books.
While I have become involved in all kinds of animal rights causes, the spay/neuter issue is my main advocacy project. In memory of my wife Dorothy Jo and my mother Matilda (Tilly), who were both devoted animal lovers, I established the DJ&T Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that subsidizes low-cost spay/neuter clinics and vo
ucher programs throughout the country. It was established in 1994, and since then, the DJ&T Foundation has contributed millions of dollars to fund clinics and programs which provide spay/neuter services. The DJ&T Foundation offers grants to organizations across the country that meet the foundation’s criteria.
If being on television all these years has helped to make it possible for me to reach people with an important message about animals, then by all means I am going to use that visibility and opportunity. When I received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Daytime Television, I closed my remarks by saying, “Have your pets spayed or neutered.” When I was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame, I said I supposed that I was expected to say something profound and I would. I said, “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” At Drury University, I received an honorary doctorate, and I was privileged to give the commencement address. I closed that speech by advising the graduates to “help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” Of course, I got a laugh. But better still, I made a point.
Activists across the country are working on new legislation in support of mandatory spay/neuter programs. Some states have already passed such laws, and others provide funding for people to get their pets spayed or neutered when they don’t have money for the surgery. Mandatory spaying or neutering is gaining more and more momentum, and where laws have been implemented, the results are very encouraging. In Santa Cruz County, here in California, for instance, a mandatory spay/neuter program was implemented. In ten years, while the human population in Santa Cruz County increased by 15 percent, the number of animals—cats and dogs—turned in at shelters decreased 60 percent. That is very impressive.
Spaying and neutering is so obviously the solution to the tragic overpopulation problem that one would just instinctively believe that we would not run into opposition. Everyone loves animals, right? But believe me, there are powerful lobbies, groups, and industries that have launched serious opposition to the animal rights causes in which I have become involved. If you trace the opposition through all the little channels, eventually you find it is always based on greed.
Priceless Memories Page 18