Twentieth Century Talkers

 

Bob Barker (1923-) was born into a modest home environment in the state of Washington. Barker spent most of his youth, however, on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota, enrolled as a member of the Sioux tribe. Somewhat typical of his generation, as a youth he enlisted for military service in WW2. After the war, he returned to Drury (College) University to finish his education, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in economics.

Baker worked part-time in radio while attending college. He moved to California in 1950 to pursue a broadcasting career. He was given his own radio show, The Bob Barker Show, which ran for six years. He began his television game show career in 1956, hosting Truth or Consequences until 1972. He hosted the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants from 1967 to 1987, giving him the distinction of being the longest-serving host of those pageants. Barker is best known for hosting CBS's The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history. His popular 1987 decision to appear without black hair dye was immediately accepted by a cheering audience. Considering his salesmanship, it is no wonder he was destined to be a "barker."

Though officially retiring in 2007, Barker continued to make occasional public appearances until 2017. One of his best received was a 2015 April Fools' Day appearance on The Price Is Right, taking Drew Carey's place at the beginning of the show. 

Television Talkers

 

John Lewis Gilbert III (1928-) aka Johnny Gilbert, was originally a nightclub singer and entertainer. He has worked mainly on television game shows as far back as the 1950s. He is known primarily for his work as the announcer and audience host for countless game shows. Gilbert was selected by Mark Goodson to replace Don Pardo as the announcer and audience host for the original version of The Price Is Right when it moved from NBC to ABC in 1963. Merv Griffin's quiz show Jeopardy! was reintroduced to television in 1984. Its new host, Alex Trebek, convinced Griffin to hire Gilbert as the announcer. His list for hosting game shows is staggering and can be found elsewhere online.

Gilbert's voice was heard on the CBS ceremonies, the People's Choice Awards and Emmy Awards. In addition, he added his distinct voice to episodes of the animated series, The Angry Beavers and Johnny Bravo.

Above, Gilbert was Dinah Shore's announcer and sidekick for Dinah!, beginning in 1974.

Television Talkers

 

Peter Marshall (Ralph Pierre LaCock 1926) is an actor, singer, TV host, and radio personality on television, movie, and Broadway. He is the brother of actress Joanne Dru (Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and All the King's Men).

Born into a show business family, he came by his Broadway credits and singing career naturally. By the 1950s Marshall earned his living in a comedy act with Tommy Noonan, appearing in nightclubs, on television variety shows, and in three forgettable films. The team attempted to capitalize on the popularity of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis with Noonan as Lewis to Marshall's Martin.

But he is best known to television viewers as the unflappable host of some 5,000 episodes of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 to 1981. When his tenure expired, Marshall continued as a game show host and actor in various television shows. For cable subscribers, Marshall, along with co-host, singer Debby Boone, was featured in a successful infomercial presented by Time Life, the Music of Your Life Collection. Featuring hit songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the infomercial was re-released in 2016. Marshall retired in 2021.

Television Talkers

 

Johnny Olsen (1910-85) was an American radio personality and television announcer. Before hearing his tenor voice on television, Olson was ensconced in radio. He joined WTMJ in Milwaukee in early 1933, organizing a five-piece jazz band called The Rhythm Rascals, and became one of the station's most popular personalities. He would later create the first iteration of Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room, which attracted major national performers. After World War II, he revived the show in 1949.

Olson began his tenure as a television announcer in 1949, but few knew about it. By the Sixties, his voice was closely associated with game shows, particularly the work for Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions, the original To Tell the Truth and What's My Line? He spent over a decade as the announcer for both Match Game and The Price Is Right, where his high-pitched enthusiastic, "Come on down!" became legendary and often parodied. From 1962 to 1970, he was the announcer for The Jackie Gleason Show. During the peak of his announcing duties in the 1970s and early 1980s, his distinct voice was heard on more than six other game show productions.

Television Talkers

Chuck Woolery (1941-) is an American game and talk show host,  musician and actor. Though perhaps best known as the original host of Wheel of Fortune (1975-81) he hosted a number of game shows in his career. Woolery's longest-running stint was his eleven years with Love Connection, beginning in 1983.

The Ashland, Kentucky native served as a wine consultant in Columbus, Ohio, and as a sales representative for the Pillsbury Company in his early twenties. Around this time he was part of The Bordermen folk trio, singing and playing the double bass. He later was part of the duo called The Avant-Garde, garnering a Top 40 hit with "Naturally Stoned" in 1968, adding to a long list of one-hit wonder groups. By the late 1970s, his singing career took him into the country music world for Warner Bros. and Epic Records.

Beginning in 1972, Woolery often played himself during his television acting career. His latest role was in 2009 for the series Drop Dead Diva. He has become a spokesperson for senior interests, as well as promoting investments in the gold standard.

A Man of Many Firsts

 

Dennis James (Demie James Sposa 1917-1997) was an American television personality and commercial spokesman. He had appeared more times and for a longer period than any other television star, until 1976. Referred to as the "Godfather of Gameshows", he was the host of television's first network game show in 1956, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry. James was the first to host a telethon, raising more than $750,000,000 for United Cerebral Palsy throughout his nearly five-decade run as host, the first to appear in a television commercial, the first to emcee a variety show and the first to appear on videotape. In all, he garnered more than twenty-five "firsts" in his career.

Outside of sports, game shows, and his periodic acting on television and film,  James' congeniality, warmth, and distinct voice was held in high esteem as a commercial spokesman. He had a vast list of national clients, as well as local and regional companies and businesses around the country through his own production company. His expression "Okay? Okay!" became a trademark in many of James's commercials.

Note: The Cash and Carry game show (left above) has been described as an early television adaptation of Truth or Consequences. Set in a market, James asked contestants questions attached to cans of the sponsor's products, with correct answers worth $5, $10, or $15. Other tasks were stunts, such as the wife, being blindfolded, and having to feed her husband, who work together for a common goal.

The Dependable Fallback Host

 

Bill Cullen (1920-1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. His biggest claim to fame was as a game show host for twenty-three shows, earning him the nickname "Dean of Game Show Hosts." Cullen's broadcasting career began in 1939 in Pittsburgh as a disc jockey and play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Hornets. After serving in the Civil Air Patrol as an instructor and patrol aircraft pilot during World War II, Cullen got his first television game show, Winner Take All, in 1952.

The witty busy Bill was on the network's list as their fallback guy. When no one could think of someone new, they typically went with the engaging personality of Cullen. In the mid-Fifties, he hosted Name That Tune, and from 1956 to 1965 he hosted the initial daytime and primetime versions of The Price Is Right. For three seasons he hosted Eye Guess, beginning in 1966. The show spawned a board game version, as well. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, he hosted some new generations of game shows, most of which had a short life. Cullen was certainly a household face, appearing as a guest on countless game shows including popular shows like The Cross-Wits, Password, Pyramid, and Match Game. But most famously as a panelist on I've Got a Secret from 1952 to 1967, and To Tell the Truth from 1969 to 1978.

Note: Cullen contracted polio when he was 18 months old. That long-term disability plus injuries sustained in a serious motor vehicle accident in 1937, made it difficult for him to walk or stand for extended periods. The game show directors took great care and limited his standing or walking. Few peers knew of his disability at the time and nearly every television viewer ever noticed.