The Price Is Right (1956 game show)

The Price Is Right was an American game show hosted by Bill Cullen which ran from 1956 to 1965 in two runs on NBC (from 1956-1963) and ABC (from 1963-1965) in both daytime and primetime versions. The game centered around contestants making bids on the price of a prize, rewarding the contestant with the closest bid without going over with the prize itself and sometimes a chance at other prizes. Critics cited Cullen's easygoing personality as a key part of the show's success, and the show also gained reputation during the years following the Quiz show scandals, becoming the most-watched game show in prime-time from 1959 to 1961.

The show was also a precursor to the current and most well-known version of the show, premiering in 1972 on CBS and in syndication. Originally dubbed "The New Price Is Right" to disambiguate it from the Cullen version, the CBS daytime version hosted by Bob Barker from 1972-2007 and Drew Carey from 2007-present has run for over 37 seasons.

The original version, hosted by Bill Cullen, aired from 1956-1963 on NBC and 1963-1965 on ABC. Versions aired in both daytime and (from 1957-1964) prime-time. It was the precursor to the current and most well-known version of The Price Is Right, which has been running on CBS since 1972,

On the original version of The Price Is Right, four contestants – one a returning champion, the other three chosen from the studio audience – bid on items or ensembles of items in an auction-style format.

A prize was presented for the contestants to bid on. After a minimum bid was specified, the contestants gave a bid on the item, one at a time; usually, each successive bid had to be a certain amount higher than the previous bid. At any time when it was his or her turn to bid, if he/she believed his/her bid was close enough to win, he/she could "freeze" (and thus, was not allowed to give further bids). A rule added part way into the run allowed contestants, on the first go around only, to "underbid" the other bids, but this meant that they would be automatically frozen. Some rounds were one-bid rounds, where only one round of bidding was held, and sometimes the minimum bid and "bid higher" rules were also waived.

The bidding process continued until one of two things happened:

A "time's up" buzzer sounded. Each contestant who had not yet "frozen" was given one final bid.

At least three of the contestants had "frozen". The fourth contestant was allowed one final bid, unless he/she already had the high bid.

Cullen then read the actual retail price of the prize; the contestant whose bid was closest without going over won the item. If everyone overbid, the prize was not won; however, Cullen would sometimes have the overbids "wiped out" and instruct everyone to give a lower bid.

Frequently, a bell would ring after the winner was revealed, indicating a bonus prize was awarded along with the item up for bids. While this was frequently just an additional prize, there was often a bonus game (e.g., a tune-matching game, where a clip of a well-known song was played and the contestant matched it with a face for a cash bonus). This concept would later evolve into the "pricing games" on the current version, although the pricing games themselves were actually inspired by Let's Make a Deal.

After a set number of rounds (four on the nighttime version, six on the daytime), the contestant who accumulated the most value in cash and prizes was the returning champion on the next show.

The Price Is Right frequently featured a home viewer "Showcase", a multi-prize package for which home viewers were invited to submit their bids via postcard. The viewer who was closest to the actual retail price without going over won everything in the Showcase, but one item was sometimes handmade so the viewer could not check the price of all the items. The term "Showcase" would, in time, be replaced by "sweepstakes".

Very often, home viewers were stunningly accurate with their bids, including several viewers who guessed the price correct down to the penny. In such a case, the tied contestants were informed and asked to give the price of a stated item; this continued until one of the contestants broke the tie (re-ties and all-overbids were thrown out).

The Showcases remain in today's CBS version (including the phrase "This Showcase can be yours if the price is right"), while Home Viewer Showcases were done for a time in the 1980s (including to-the-penny guesses).

While many of the prizes on the original Price Is Right were normal, standard game show fare (e.g., furniture, appliances, home electronics, furs, trips, and cars), there were many instances of outlandish prizes being offered. This was particularly true of the nighttime version, which had a larger prize budget.

An island in the St. Lawrence Seaway

Sometimes, large amounts of food – such as a mile of hot dogs along with buns and enough condiments (perhaps to go with a barbecue pit) – were offered as the bonus.

Some other examples of outlandish or "exceptionally unique" bonus prizes:

Accompanying a color TV, a live peacock (a play on the NBC logo) to serve as a "color guide".

Accompanying a barbecue pit and the usual accessories, a live Angus steer.

Accompanying a prize package of items needed to throw a backyard party, big band legend Woody Herman and His Orchestra.

Accompanying a raccoon coat worth $29.95, a sable coat valued at $23,000.

In the early 1960s, the dynamic of the national economy was such that the nighttime show could offer homes in new subdivisions (sometimes fully furnished) as prizes, sometimes with truly suspenseful bidding among the contestants.

In the last two seasons of the nighttime run, the series gave away small business franchises (like a take-out fried chicken establishment or a mobile dry-cleaning operation).

In some events, the outlandish prizes were merely for show; for instance, contestants may bid on the original retail price for a 1920's car, but would instead win a more contemporary model.

The Price Is Right was created and produced by Bob Stewart for Mark Goodson–Bill Todman Productions. Stewart already had created one hit series for Goodson-Todman, To Tell the Truth and he would later create the enormously successful Password. After 1964, Stewart left Password and Goodson-Todman to strike out on his own. (Frank Wayne, who later produced the Barker version of Price, took over Stewart's Password spot.)

Bob Stewart attributes the creation of The Price Is Right to watching an auctioneer from his office window selling off various merchandise in New York City.

In 1959, shortly after the quiz show scandals broke, most game shows lost their popularity rapidly. The Price Is Right was an exception; Goodson and Todman had built a squeaky-clean reputation upon relatively low-stakes games. Thus, as the more popular competition was eliminated, Price soared to become the most watched game show in the country, where it remained for two years.

When the series moved to ABC in 1963, three studio contestants – including the returning champion – played. The fourth chair was filled by a guest celebrity who played for either a studio audience member or home viewer. If the celebrity was the big winner of the show, the contestant who had the most winnings was considered the champion; it is unknown what would have happened in the event of a shut-out with the celebrity winning.

As Don Pardo was still under contract at NBC, he was replaced by Johnny Gilbert, who currently serves as the announcer for Jeopardy!.

Also when the show moved to ABC, several CBS affiliates took up ABC secondary affiliation to show The Price is Right (especially if the market at the time had no full ABC affiliation), in part because of the still-high ratings the show enjoyed in daytime.

Goodson-Todman wanted to have Price be ABC's first non-cartoon color show, however the network could not afford to convert to color at the time. This meant that the nighttime version had to "revert" to black-and-white.

After the success of Price, To Tell the Truth, and Password, producer Stewart left Goodson-Todman in 1964. Stewart's follow-up to The Price Is Right, his first independent production, was Eye Guess, a sight-and-memory game with Bill Cullen as host (it was loosely based on a Price bonus game). Later, Stewart had success shows such as Jackpot!, and the popular The $10,000 Pyramid and its successors, among several other shows.

Mark Goodson's game-show empire also grew in the 1970s and 1980s, starting with The New Price is Right and continuing with Match Game and its spin-off Family Feud, Card Sharks, and others.

In the early 1970's, Mark Goodson would was preparing a new revised version of Price for syndication and CBS daytime dubbed The New Price Is Right, which would incorporate elements of the Cullen version (in this case, the "one bid" rounds, re-purposed as a preliminary round) alongside new mini-games influenced by Let's Make a Deal. Dennis James, who was a regular substitute for Monty Hall on Deal, was selected to host the new version, but only hosted the original syndicated version as CBS insisted that Bob Barker of Truth or Consequences fame host the show. While the syndicated version would only last until 1980 (and Barker would take over hosting the syndicated version in 1977), the new version, eventually re-christened without disambiguation to the old series near the end of its first season on CBS, would go on to run for over 35 seasons with Barker hosting, and still runs in the present with comedian Drew Carey as host.

On one show, the prize was a trip to the circus. The producers placed a live elephant in front of the circus backdrop. The camera cut to the elephant – which was moving its bowels. Cullen quipped: "Join us again on Monday when we'll have equal time for the Democratic Party!"

In another episode, an elephant was offered as a "bonus prize" for a contestant who had won a grand piano ("for extra ivory"). The real prize was $4,000; however, the contestant wanted the elephant and persisted with his demand. Eventually the contestant got his wish and a live elephant from Kenya was delivered to him. This incident was spoofed in an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Bart Gets an Elephant". [ 1 ]

On a 1957 daytime episode, an elk's head was offered (it was connected to a bonus prize of a trip to a Vermont hunting lodge). One camera angle had the elk head, which was suspended from the ceiling, looking like host Cullen was wearing it. Apparently seeing the camera shot from an offstage monitor, Cullen appeared to duck from under the head and in deadpan fashion said "hello, there" before standing up straight, his head once again seemingly disappearing into the neck cavity of the elk's head.

On occasion, the contestants' bid displays (furnished by The American Totalizator Company, "a division of Universal Control, Inc.") would break down. When this happened, a chalkboard was wheeled out and placed behind the contestants. One of the models would then act as "official scorekeeper" for that show.

The show originated from the Hudson Theater in New York City, converted for television. A year later it used NBC's Colonial Theater at 66th and Broadway as its main origination. The Ziegfeld Theater was used for a few shows as well. When the show moved to ABC, the Ritz Theater became the show's broadcast origination.

In addition to his hosting duties on Price and his weekly appearances as a panelist on I've Got a Secret, Cullen also hosted a weekday morning radio show for WNBC in New York.

Over the nine-year run, various people sat in Cullen's place while he took a well-deserved vacation. Note that these dates are what is known – the following people may have hosted more than what is listed here; in addition, this may not be a complete list as many (mostly daytime) episodes are not known to exist (see "episode status" below).

During the NBC run, Don Pardo was the main announcer. Whenever he was off, or filling in for Cullen as host, substitute announcers included Dick Dudley, Vic Roby, and Roger Tuttle.

Following the move to ABC, Johnny Gilbert became the announcer; one fill-in was ABC staff announcer Ed Jordan.

The first theme song (used from 1956-1961) was an arrangement of Charles Strouse's "Sixth Finger Tune", originally written for Milton Scott Michel's 1956 play Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove.

The second theme song (used from 1961-1965) was called "Window Shopping" and was composed by Bob Cobert. This theme was later used on another Goodson-Todman game, Snap Judgment, and later found its way back to Bob Stewart's stable with the short-lived game You're Putting Me On.

Although Price became the first regularly-airing game show to be aired in color in 1957, no color kinescopes or videotapes are known to exist from the nighttime run. Many monochrome NBC nighttime episodes (plus at least one ABC episode) aired on Game Show Network from 1996-2000, at which time the network's contract to air the show ended; it has not been renewed since.

The daytime run is believed to be destroyed; the UCLA Film and Television Archive lists the first and third episodes from 1956 among its holdings.[7]

Four episodes, including the 1964 nighttime finale, were released on "The Best of The Price is Right" DVD set (March 25, 2008). Despite pre-release assumptions that each of the four unique runs would be represented (as it was announced that there would be four Cullen episodes), none were of the ABC daytime run despite the existence of episodes from that era; a second NBC prime-time episode instead filled that slot.

Many noticed that the four Cullen episodes lacked commercials, as well as the fact that all three NBC-era episodes had already been spotted prior to the DVD release (in comparison, several of the 1970s episodes on the set were not rerun on GSN) – both NBC prime-time episodes (January 13 and 27, 1960) had aired on GSN before, while the daytime episode (believed to have aired February 21, 1957) had been available in the public domain for several years; the daytime episode is notable for not only missing its opening, but for Cullen promoting Charles Van Doren's match against Vivienne Nearing on Twenty One – which eventually led to Van Doren's defeat.

The Fremantle logo animation was added after each episode, as the production company currently owns all Mark Goodson properties.

The episode listing included with the DVD set claimed that the daytime episode aired March 10, 1957 and the ABC episode aired September 4, 1964 (with guest Jose Ferrer); the former is a Sunday, while the latter is not actually present on the DVD set (but does exist in the public domain).