I've never really understood the appeal of Jan Murray and watching this almost unbearable game show just cements the confusion. He seems like the kind of guy who was just in the right place at the right time, when networks needed a lot of bodies to fill the primitive airwaves and almost anybody with some stage experience/presence would do. I'm not sure if this episode bombed terribly or if it's just a sparsely populated studio audience, regardless I find Murray awfully obnoxious. He seemed to get slightly more bearable as he aged, but maybe that's just because he wasn't hosting his own show in the silver haired years. The best part of this thing is the Milton Delugg accordion peppered throughout the show (actually, when Murray is first introduced the music for a moment sounds strikingly similar to Delugg's opening for Broadway Open House with a man who should've been a far bigger star than Murray, one Jerry Lester).
It appears the game show was merely a springboard for Murray to apply his "borscht belt" style of humor. Nobody really cared about the game itself. I liked Murray when I was very young.
ReplyDeleteYou have to admit his plaque at Hillside Memorial Park in L.A.. where he is interred is good.
Jan Murray had appeared on virtually every game show on the small screen during the late '50ss,
ReplyDeleteearly to late '60s and 1970s.
Can you search for Murray's hidden
treasure?
My dad was the one who "guarded the safe during the show. I and my brother and sisters use to go backstaged and watch Jan Murray reheaseed for the show. Murray tried as hard as he could to make my father laugh during the intermissions... Now if there is a tape of that, Murray was at his best... so was my dad!!
ReplyDeleteForget the game shows,go to You Tube and watch the Car 54 episode,Boom ,Boom,Boom.It's impossible not to laugh.
ReplyDelete