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Site updated October 26, 2003
A site dedicated to the original Classic HOLLYWOOD SQUARES (1966-1981), hosted by Peter Marshall, and produced by Heatter-Quigley Productions (NBC, Syndication).
 
Photo source: hollywoodsquares.com
Hollywood Squares' past caught up with itself the week of December 9th, as Peter Marshall (left) guested as the Center Square
on the current version hosted by Tom Bergeron (right).
And as if that wasn't enough, on Dec. 12th,
history was made...
Photo source:hollywoodsquares.com
... when Peter hosted the Squares for the first time in 21 years!
Newly added:
The Themes From Hollywood Squares!...in Stereo, no less!
a (Nearly) Complete Peter Marshall
Discography...
and coming soon: the COMPLETE transcript of
the legendary
album! Stay tuned...
Rose Marie's autobiography is now in the stores!
Most of us remember Rose Marie as the wisecracking Sally Rogers on The Dick Van Dyke Show, or recognize her from her perch in the top middle square on Hollywood Squares, but her career in show business has spanned almost seventy years.
At the tender age of three Rose Marie Mazzetta was entered in an amateur contest at New York City’s Mecca Theatre. Her rendition of "What Can I Say Dear, After I Say I’m Sorry?" won, and her career was launched. She stayed "Baby Rose Marie" until she was well into her teens, singing in nightclubs, on vaudeville stages, on the radio, and in the movies.
It was a glamorous but difficult life—she worked side by side with legends such as Al Jolson, Milton Berle, and W.C. Fields, and was watched over by "Uncle" Al Capone and his associates—but her father managed her career and personal life with an iron fist, gambling her earnings away and abusing her and any boy foolish enough to show an interest in the family meal ticket.
Rose Marie married trumpeter Bobby Guy in 1946 and continued as a singer and nightclub entertainer. She soon established a second career on the small screen, most prominently as Sally on the legendary Dick Van Dyke Show, a groundbreaking role for which she earned three Emmy nominations and which continues to gather new fans from reruns on TV Land. Her fourteen years on Hollywood Squares and recent guest spots on such hit shows as Murphy Brown and Caroline in the City have kept her in the spotlight.
With candor and humor, Rose Marie tells of her many years in the entertainment world. Her behind-the-scenes look at show business is replete with intimate stories of household names from Hollywood, Las Vegas, and Broadway. Look for "Hold the Roses" published by University Press Kentucky, in bookstores near you, or order online at Amazon.com.
Sep. 20, 1972: A classic moment: Wally Cox (right)
meets lookalike contestant David Honea (left).
(I still recall the hilarity when Peter introduced
him, the camera alternated between David and
Wally, and finally Wally's statement: "This
game is fixed!")
Ever wonder what the Squares set looked like from the back?
(Click on cover to see larger cover.)
Peter's book is a HIT!
If the turnout in Hollywood for the signing party for "Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square" is any indication, Peter Marshall's second book (QUICK! Can anyone name his first book?) is destined to be a runaway bestseller!
Peter was joined by co-author Adrienne Armstrong and veteran "Original Squares" panelists (cubicle dwellers?) Rose Marie, Tom Poston & Suzanne Pleshette, Harvey Korman, Arte Johnson, Abby Dalton, JoAnne Worley, and others. (Also in attendance were Tom Kennedy, former Squares producer-and King World overseer of the current Tom Bergeron version-Jay Redack, Gary Owens...well, you get the idea. And if you couldn't be there, Dixon Hayes has a link to the book signing, complete with photos, at his Classic Squares site (click the banner at the bottom). Peter will be recording an audiobook version, as well as working on his second CD, which features songs made famous by Billie Holliday.
Format: Hardcover: CD
Author: Peter Marshall
CoAuthor: Adrienne Armstrong
Foreword By: Alex Trebek
Publisher: Rutledge Hill Press
Catalog#: 1558539808
Length: 224 Size: 6 x 9 Weight: 1.19 lbs
Description:
Peter Marshall was the host for 17 years of the phenomenally successful celebrity game show, The Hollywood Squares. This is the inside story from why Peter took the job (he did not want Dan Rowan to get it) to the inner workings of the show (how did Paul Lynde come up with all those jokes?). From stories about regulars Wally Cox, Rose Marie, Cliff Arquette as Charley Weaver, Nannette Fabray, and Abby Dalton to stories about the guests - Betty Grable, Helen Hayes, George C. Scott, Richard Burton, and everybody else who was anybody in Hollywood.
Hollywood Squares debuted in 1966 and became, along with The Tonight Show, one of the two shows to be on if you wanted to plug a new movie, show, or book. There are stories of friendships and romances that grew on the show, stories of what happened when the show taped in Puerto Vallarta, Vancouver, and Jamaica. There are stories of The Hollywood Squares' funniest moments and bloopers, including those that never got by the censors.
Almost no tapes exist of The Hollywood Squares because NBC erased them all to save space and money (Ed. note: Yeah, right. Have you seen The Game Show Network lately?). However, the book includes a CD of a long-out-of-print album, Zingers from The Hollywood Squares.
Backstage with the Original Hollywood Square is an insider's view of one of the most remarkable television shows of all time.
Peter Marshall's book, 'Backstage With the Original Hollywood Square," (Rutledge Hill Press, a div. of Thomas Nelson Pub.) is in bookstores now.
In the meantime, you can read the final installment of Steve Beverly's 5-part interview with the Master of the Hollywood Squares, in which he talks about what makes a good emcee, his thoughts on the state of television and the Game Show Network's airing of Classic Squares, as well as Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the interviews, at the TV Game Show Convention Center, and visit the official website of Peter Marshall at www.boysinger.com.
Here's a rare item. It ran in the summer of 1969
in various syndicated newspapers:
Those cereal ads 'Made' Marshall
by Cyntia Lowry
NEW YORK (AP) - Peter
Marshall has an identity problem.
He is not related to his namesake,
the late chaplain of the U.S. Senate.
Nor is he related to Russell Nype or
to Gene Rayburn, with whom he is
sometimes confused.
This Peter Marshall is the man who
has been serving for four years as host
of one of NBC's more popular daytime
game shows, Hollywood Squares.
Since he and his troupe can tape a
week's worth of shows in one day,
Marshall has the other four days of
the normal work week to pursue
other interests, including acting,
singing - he just cut an album - and
business.
Perhaps the greatest of these
is business, because Peter Marshall's
most lucrative avocation involves
commercials. As a matter of fact, it
was the commercials that got him
into television, Hollywood brand.
"I was doing a show in New York -
playing with Julie Harris in 'Skyscraper,'"
Marshall recalled. "My agent asked me if
I'd like to do some television commercials."
Marshall drew himself up to his full
height and announced he would not like.
"I am an actor."
The agent, however, was persuasive,
and the reluctant Marshall did one
commercial spot for a cereal company.
The result was a three-year exclusive
deal.
Before Hollywood Squares, Marshall
packed in a lot of show business
experience. After serving as an NBC
page, he teamed with comedian Tommy
Noonan and, as a straight man for 13
years, played clubs all over the country.
©1969 by Field Enterprises, Inc.
Some classic "zingers" from the Original Squares:
PETER: True or false, Paul: A large bust can cause numbness in your hands.
PAUL LYNDE: (After a beat)...but it's worth it!
PETER: True or false, George: Massaging the feet can help cure hot flashes.
GEORGE GOBEL: True...and that's why Rose Marie wears battery-operated shoes.
ROSE MARIE: Oh, come on, George!!!
PETER: What do we call a group of chickens?
MARTY ALLEN: A bucket.
PETER: What do you call a pig that weighs over 150 pounds?
CHARLEY WEAVER: A divorcee.
PETER: In the old nursery rhyme, do we ever find out why the old woman was living in a shoe?
PAUL LYNDE: Well, have you tried to buy a house lately?
PETER: Lily, true or false: There is a rumored romance between
Mama Cass Elliott and Don Knotts.
LILY TOMLIN: True - she left him flat and he can't get over her.
PETER: Are there any nudist camps in Italy?
PAUL LYNDE: No, the flies'd eat ya alive!
PETER: "It's a quarter to three, There's no one in the place
except you and me, and I've got a little...what?"
PAUL LYNDE: So I've heard, Pete!
PETER (Over audience hysterics): WHY ME???
PETER: Do most of our nation's prisons show first-run movies?
TIM REID: Yes, and to mostly black people.
PETER (Over audience hysterics): You're gonna get letters, I swear you're gonna get letters...
TIM: Send them to my agent.
PETER: According to the food editor of the Dalls Morning News, what is the best reason for pounding meat?
PAUL LYNDE: Oh, loneliness!
PETER: George, you've cheated a little on your income tax, and now your conscience is bothering you. Does Dear Abby recommend anything that might help?
GEORGE GOBEL: Well...she says she's had pretty good luck with chugalugging gin...
PETER: Paul, before Virginia Graham was a talk show hostess, what did she do for a living?
PAUL LYNDE: She was a pilgrim.
PETER: Paul, in the old childhood chant, when you sing,
'Lady bird, lady bird, fly away home,' why should she go?
PAUL LYNDE: 'Cause Lyndon wants his chili.
PETER: In "Little Bo Peep," what did the famous sheep leave behind them?
PAUL LYNDE: Well, Simple Simon felt they were bread crumbs.
Clockwise from top to center square: Wally Cox, Nannette Fabray, Jan Murray, Van Johnson, Walter Matthau, Sally Field, Charley Weaver, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Buddy Hackett, in a clip from a 1968 NBC prime time episode, which led off the premiere of Classic Squares on GSN. (Photo source: Mike Klauss)
Hopefully, your VCRs were rolling the morning of April 15th. Viewers tuned to Game Show Network at 10 a.m. were given an early treat: the old unfolding of the NBC Peacock with its musical entrance from the 1960s.
GSN launched its daytime reruns of Hollywood Squares classics with a 1968 nighttime version which featured regulars Wally Cox and Charley Weaver, guest Center Square Buddy Hackett and the late Walter Matthau and a young Sally Field in the cubicles.
The winner was Donna Brown, a southern California woman who ran a business with her husband and had a 16-month-old son. Brown won $1,200, a new car in a Secret Square and the bonus prize for winning the most money: a new Kimball grand piano.
Matthau, who only seven years earlier had been toiling as the star of a long-forgotten syndicated police series, Tallahassee 7000, received the first question: what place is considered the playground of Europe? Answered Matthau: "Zsa Zsa Gabor's living room."
The episode, which aired on a Friday night at 9:30 in its original run, was one of 32 NBC nighttime editions produced. NBC had not been able to reach agreement with Monty Hall on a midseason return of a nighttime Let's Make a Deal (a dispute which ultimately led to him taking the show to ABC) and turned to Heatter-Quigley Productions for Squares.
Brown defeated the late Naval hero Dieter Dengler, who had escaped enemy capture in overseas conflict. According to reader Eric Paddon, Dengler escaped from a POW camp in 1967 in Laos after being shot down over North Vietnam. He was the subject of a 1998 documentary "Little Dieter Needs To Fly" which is available on DVD and died on February 7, 2001. Dengler was buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
In the prime time premiere (8:30 p.m. EDT). Lt. Col. Margaret Nelson defeated Nelson Taylor of Lone Oak, Ar., in an episode from the Rhodes Productions nighttime syndication era of 1971-81. The legendary Paul Lynde's first question: "Paul, what is St. Matthew's Passion?" Lynde: "A suggestive stained glass window."
The late-night (11:30 p.m.) edition featured another NBC nighttime show from 1968. Contestant Loretta Hess won the evening with $700, earning her the bonus prize: a new Zenith console color TV/stereo combo worth more than $1,100. Four of the original five regulars: Charley Weaver, Wally Cox, Rose Marie and Abby Dalton appeared.
Above information from Steve Beverly's TV Game Show Convention Center.
Stay tuned for more details!
Yes, you read right! The 1974 album "Zingers from the Hollywood Squares" is back in print as a bonus CD included in Peter Marshall's book, "Backstage with the Original Hollwyood Square"!
Click album for larger version of the cover, and...
Click Zingers logo to go to the Zingers page!
Click the big button to catch up on Squares news from the past year!
And while you're at it, be sure to visit Dixon Hayes' excellent tribute site to Squares:
(Click on banner)
Oh, the name of Peter's first book?
"CHEER UP! A First Aid Book for Survivors", published 1974 Jeremy Tarcher (out of print).
THE HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, created by Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley, was a Heatter-Quigley Production in association with Filmways Television. © Copyright 2003. This unofficial site is not affiliated with Heatter-Quigley, Inc., MGM Television, King World Studios West, Inc., Fair Dinkum, Michael Levitt Productions, or Columbia Tristar Television.
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