Chuck Barris | |
|---|---|
 Barris in 1977 | |
| Born | Charles Hirsch Barris (1929-06-03)June 3, 1929 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | March 21, 2017(2017-03-21) (aged 87) Palisades, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Drexel Institute of Technology |
| Occupations | Television producer, television presenter, songwriter, author |
| Years active | 1962–2010 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
Charles Hirsch Barris (June 3, 1929 – March 21, 2017)[1] was an Americangame show creator, producer, and host, author, and songwriter. A key crew member of several hugely successful game shows, he was the creator ofThe Dating Game (1965–2021), the original producer ofThe Newlywed Game (1966–2013) both for theABC network and syndication, and the host and producer ofThe Gong Show from 1976 to 1980, for theNBC network and syndication.
His songwriting credits include "Palisades Park", first recorded byFreddy Cannon in 1962 and also recorded by theRamones in 1989, and he wrote three novels and four memoirs. Barris made unsubstantiated claims that in parallel to his career on television, he was an active international assassin for theCIA in the 1960s and the 1970s, including in his 1984 memoirConfessions of a Dangerous Mind, which was adapted into a2002 film of the same name by directorGeorge Clooney and screenwriterCharlie Kaufman, starringSam Rockwell as Barris, and in which his alleged CIA career is mostly portrayed in anabsurdist manner.
Barris was born to aJewish family[2] inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 3, 1929, the son of Edith (née Cohen) and Nathaniel Barris, a dentist.[3][4] He was raised inLower Merion Township and attendedLower Merion High School.[5] His uncle was singer, songwriter and actorHarry Barris.[citation needed] He graduated in 1953 fromDrexel University[4] where he was a columnist for the student newspaper,The Triangle.
Barris got his start in television as apage and later was part of the staff atNBC in New York City.[4] After his stint at NBC, Barris worked as a standards-and-practices person at the television music showAmerican Bandstand for ABC. He produced pop music for records and television, and wrote "Palisades Park," which was recorded byFreddy Cannon and peaked at No. 3 on theBillboard Hot 100 for two weeks (June 23–30, 1962) to become the biggest hit of Cannon's career.[6] Barris also wrote or co-wrote some of the music that appeared on his game shows.
Barris was promoted to the daytime programming division at ABC in Los Angeles and was responsible for determining which game shows the network would air. When he told his bosses at ABC that he felt the game show concepts being pitched were worse than his own ideas, they suggested that he quit his programming job and become a producer.[citation needed]
Barris formed his own production company, Chuck Barris Productions, on June 14, 1965.[7] His first success came withThe Dating Game, which debuted in 1965 on ABC. The show was hosted byJim Lange and featured three contestants who competed for a date with a person hidden from their view. The contestants' suggestive banter and its "flower power"-motif studio set were a revolution for the game show genre. The show ran until 1980 and was twice revived, later in the 1980s and 1990s. A celebrity version of the show began in June 2021.[8]
In 1966, Barris launchedThe Newlywed Game, originally created byNick Nicholson andE. Roger Muir, also for ABC. The combination of the newlywed couples' humorous candor and hostBob Eubanks's sly questioning made the show another hit for Barris. The show is the longest-lasting of any developed by his company, broadcast until 1985, for a total of 19 years on both "first run" network TV and syndication. Interviewed on the NPR programWait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on August 1, 2009, Barris saidThe Newlywed Game was the easiest program he had developed: "All I needed was four couples, eight questions, and a washer-dryer."[9]
Barris created several other short-lived game shows for ABC in the 1960s and forsyndication in the 1970s, all of which revolved around a common theme: the game play normally derived its interest (and often, humor) from the excitement, vulnerability, embarrassment, or anger of the contestants or participants in the game. Barris also made several attempts through the years at non-game formats, such as ABC'sOperation: Entertainment, a variety show staged at military bases akin toUSO shows; a CBS revival ofYour Hit Parade; andThe Bobby Vinton Show, a Canada-based syndicated variety show for singerBobby Vinton (produced in conjunction withChris Bearde and Allan Blye). The last was his most successful program other than a game show.
Somewhat shy, Barris disliked appearing on camera, though he once dashed onto the set ofThe New Treasure Hunt to throw a pie at emceeGeoff Edwards. But he became a public figure in 1976 when he produced and hosted the talent show spoofThe Gong Show, which he packaged in partnership with television producer Chris Bearde. The show'scult following has endured, though it ran only two seasons on NBC (1976–78) and four in syndication (1976–80). As with some of Barris's other projects (includingThe Newlywed Game), it was at one point possible to seeThe Gong Show twice daily, a relatively uncommon feat before cable TV's expansion into the commercial market.
The NBC show's original host wasJohn Barbour, who initially misunderstood the show's concept as a straight talent show, as opposed to Barris's parody concept. Barbour was dropped as host at the last minute; to save the show, Barris took the advice of an NBC executive who suggested that he should host it himself.
Though initially uneasy before the camera, Barris soon settled in comfortably as the show's host. His jokey, bumbling personality, accentuated hand-clapping between sentences (which eventually had the studio audience joining in with him), and catchphrases (he usually went into commercial break with "We'll be right back with more, uh, STUFF"—occasionally paired with shifting his head to reveal the later ubiquitous sign behind the stage reading simply "STUFF"—and "This is me saying 'bye'" was one of his favorite closing lines) were the antithesis of the smooth TV host (such asGary Owens, who emceed the syndicated version of the show in its first season). Barris joined in with the eccentricity of the format, using unusual props, dressing in colorful and somewhat unusual clothing and wearing strange hats, pulled down and nearly covering his eyes. He became yet another performer of the show, and for many viewers, a cult hero. Dubbed "Chuckie Baby" by his fans, Barris was a perfect fit with the show's goofy, sometimes wild amateur performers and its panel of three judges (including regularsJamie Farr,Jaye P. Morgan, andArte Johnson). In addition, there was a growing "cast of characters", including an NBC stage carpenter who played "Father Ed," a priest who got flustered when his cue cards were deliberately turned upside-down; stand-up comedianMurray Langston, who as "The Unknown Comic" wore a paper bag over his head (with cutouts for his eyes, mouth, and even a box ofKleenex) and "Gene Gene the Dancing Machine", who was arguably the most popular member ofThe Gong Show "cast". Gene Gene was actually Gene Patton, the show's stagehand, who danced onto the stage whenever the band played "Jumpin' at the Woodside". In the 1980s, long afterThe Gong Show was canceled, NBC tour guides still pointed Patton out to crowds as his character while he was working as a stagehand.
OneGong Show episode consisted of every act appearing singing the song "Feelings", which was popular at the time. One of its most infamous incidents came on the NBC version in 1978, when Barris presented an onstage act consisting of two teenage girls slowly and suggestively suckingpopsicles. Another incident was when during a "Gene Gene, The Dancing Machine" segment, Jaye P. Morgan opened her blouse to reveal her bare breasts.[10]
In 1980, Barris directed and starred inThe Gong Show Movie, which performed so poorly both critically and financially, it was pulled from theaters shortly after release. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2016.[11]
The Gong Show has had four subsequent revivals, one under Barris's title (withDon Bleu) in 1988–89, one on The Game Show Network in 2000 calledExtreme Gong, and one with current format owner Sony Pictures Television in 2008, hosted by stand-up comedianDave Attell. A fourth version, produced byWill Arnett and hosted by fictional British celebrity "Tommy Maitland" (Mike Myers), aired on ABC beginning in 2017.
Barris continued strongly until the mid-1970s, when ABC canceled theDating andNewlywed games. This left Barris with only one show, his weekly syndicated effortThe New Treasure Hunt, but the success ofThe Gong Show in 1976 encouraged him to revive theDating andNewlywed games, as well as addingThe $1.98 Beauty Show to his syndication empire. He also hosted a prime-time variety hour for NBC from February to April 1978 calledThe Chuck Barris Rah-Rah Show, essentially a non-competitive knock-off ofGong.
The empire crumbled again amid the burnout of another of his creations, the 1979–1980Three's a Crowd, in which three sets of wives and secretaries competed to see who knew more about their husbands/bosses. This show provoked protests from both feminist and socially conservative groups, who charged that the show deliberately exploited adultery to advocate it as a social norm. Most stations dropped it months before the season was over as a response to those criticisms. At the same time,The Newlywed Game lost the sponsorships ofFord andProcter & Gamble and earned the resentment ofJackie Autry, whose husband and business partnerGene Autry owned the show's Los Angeles outlet and production base,KTLA, because of its supposedly highly prurient content. So strong were the Autrys' feelings thatThe Newlywed Game was nearly expelled from the KTLA facilities, but the show was discontinued by the syndicator before any action occurred.The Gong Show andThe Dating Game also ended otherwise successful syndicated runs in 1980.
During the winter of 1980, Barris attempted to rebuild by bringing back another game show that was not an original of his,Camouflage, in which contestants answered questions for the chance to locate a "hidden object" (such as a toaster) concealed within a cartoon-type drawing. Although a noncontroversial format, it lasted only a short time in syndication. By September 1980, for the first time in his company's history, Barris had no shows in production.
After a year's inactivity, Barris revivedTreasure Hunt again in 1981 in partnership with the original 1950s version's producer, Budd Granoff, who had become his business partner (the show itself was created by its original host,Jan Murray). Unlike with the 1970s version ofTreasure Hunt, Barris did not have direct involvement with the production of the show itself. This revival, a five-day-a-week strip, lasted only one year.
After briefly living in France, Barris returned in 1984 and formedBarris Industries and a distribution unit called Bel-Air Program Sales (later Barris Program Sales) and an ad-sales barter called Clarion Communications (later Barris Advertising Sales). After a week-long trial ofThe Newlywed Game on ABC in 1984 (withDating Game emceeJim Lange), Barris produced the dailyNewlywed Game (titledThe New Newlywed Game) in syndication from 1985 to 1989, with original host Eubanks (and in 1988, comedianPaul Rodriguez).The Dating Game returned to syndication the next year for a three-year run (the first year hosted byElaine Joyce, and the next two hosted by Jeff MacGregor).The Gong Show also returned for one season in 1988, hosted by "True" Don Bleu. All those shows (except the one-week trial run ofNewlywed on ABC) aired in syndication, not on the networks.
In 1987, Barris sold his shares of Barris Industries[4]toBurt Sugarman and returned to France, no longer directly involved in his company. In 1988, Barris Industries acquired theGuber-Peters Company. On September 7, 1989, Barris Industries was renamed the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company.[12] After the shows' runs ended,Sony Corporation acquired Guber-Peters Entertainment (formerly Barris Industries) for $200 million on September 29, 1989, a day after Sony Corporation of Japan acquiredColumbia Pictures Entertainment.[13] The sale was completed on November 9, 1989. Sony revivedDating andNewlywed from 1996 to 1999. It also revivedThe Gong Show in 1998, this time asExtreme Gong, aGame Show Network (GSN) original production.Three's a Crowd was revived asAll New Three's a Crowd, which, likeExtreme Gong, was a GSN original. A few years afterExtreme Gong ended, Sony planned to revive the show again under its classic name and format forThe WB Television Network, but this version was never realized. Sony andMTV Networks'Comedy Central collaborated on a fourthGong Show revival asThe Gong Show with Dave Attell in 2008; this did sell and aired on Comedy Central from July to September 2008.
One more attempt at reviving an old game show that was not his own originally resulted in an unsold pilot of the 1950s-era gameDollar a Second, hosted by Eubanks. It had at least one showing on GSN and has become part of the collector/trader's circuit. Two more unsold pilots were calledBamboozle andComedy Courtroom.
In 2010, Barris publishedDella: A Memoir of My Daughter, about the death of his only child, who died in 1998 after a long struggle with drug addiction.
In 1984, Barris wrote an autobiography,Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. In the book he states that he worked for theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) as anassassin in the 1960s and the 1970s in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. A 2002feature film version, directed byGeorge Clooney and starringSam Rockwell, depicts Barris killing 33 people. Barris wrote a sequel toConfessions of a Dangerous Mind in 2004 calledBad Grass Never Dies.
The CIA denied Barris ever worked for them in any capacity. After the release of the movie, CIA spokesman Paul Nowack said Barris' assertions that he worked for the spy agency "[are] ridiculous. It's absolutely not true".[14]
In an interview onNBC'sToday Show in 1984, Barris admitted to having made the story up. "No, I was never a CIA hit man. I never did those things. I once applied for the CIA, and while I was going through the process I got a job and went on television. But I had always wondered what would have happened if I had done both."[15][16] In an interview in 2010 with the Television Academy Foundation, he was asked if he had ever disclosed the truth to anyone, including his wife. "No, never," Barris said. "I'll never say, one way or the other".[17][18]
Barris' first wife was Lyn Levy, the niece of one of the founders of CBS. Their marriage lasted from 1957 to 1976, ending in divorce.[19][20] Together they had a daughter, Della, who frequently appeared onThe Gong Show, usually introducing her father. Della died of an alcohol andcocaineoverdose in 1998 at the age of 36.[21]
In 1980, Barris married Robin Altman.[22] They divorced in 1999.[23] The following year, he married Mary Clagett.[19]
Barris was diagnosed with lung cancer in the 1990s.[23] After undergoing surgery to remove part of his lung, he contracted an infection and spent a month inintensive care.[20]
Barris died on March 21, 2017, ofnatural causes at the age of 87 at his home inPalisades, New York, where he lived with Clagett.[24]
Barris composed music which he released on the following 45 rpm records. Songs with an asterisk (*) are songs not composed by Barris, yet featured on the recordings:
Barris also composed the following songs (with performer, who performed the music first, listed on each). The first two songs were released on "Swan" 45 rpm records, and the third released on a "Decca" LP record:
In 1973, Barris released an LP of television game show music,Chuck Barris Presents Themes From TV Game Shows (Friends Records). All tracks are instrumentals and are arranged by Tom Scott, Mike Barone, and Dale Oehler. The tracks for the LP, as listed from the back of the LP jacket, are as follows:
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dating Game Theme" (January/CBP Music, Inc. BMI Chuck Barris/David Mook) | |
| 2. | "Dating Game Closing Theme" (Little Rosie) | |
| 3. | "Newlywed Game Theme" | |
| 4. | "Treasure Hunt Theme" | |
| 5. | "True Grit - Winners Theme" (Bernstein, Famous Music ASCAP) | |
| 6. | "Treasure Hunt Losers Theme" | |
| 7. | "People Pickers Theme" (Pretty Maidens) |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Operation Entertainment Theme" (Road Of Love) | |
| 2. | "Family Game Theme" (Too Rich) | |
| 3. | "Cop-Out Theme" (Little Russian Song) | |
| 4. | "Mother-In-Law Theme" (Mother Trucker) | |
| 5. | "Parent Game Theme" (Baja California) | |
| 6. | "Dream Girl Theme" (Hunk Of Love) |
