Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [25]
We had Rowan and Martin on several times when they were first starting out. They were hilarious. They went out and performed in clubs all over the United States, and they let us know when they came back into town because they loved the national television exposure. We put together consequences in which they could be featured and had them on frequently.
One time Dan Rowan played a surgeon. We had an operating-room set, and Dick Martin was his assistant, his nurse, and you can imagine how he assisted. He dropped the scalpel, then picked it up and wiped it on his coat, then gave it to Dan Rowan. The contestant was the patient. Rowan examined him, and he said, “Well, you have…” and he made up a long medical term that no one could pronounce. Then Rowan asked, “Have you ever had it before?” and of course he thought the guy was going to say no. The guy said yes!
At that point, you might think the whole joke was blown, but there was a pregnant pause, and then Martin says, “Well, you’ve got it again.” We had a lot of fun with them. They went on to be very successful, but we had them on first.
We had Joan Rivers on a lot. She was doing clubs in those days, and she was great. She was very funny, and everybody loved her. We had Tony Bennett on the show early in his career. In fact, I used to say we had Tony Bennett on Truth before he’d even been to San Francisco. We had Wayne Newton on when he was just starting. He was just a boy, and he was still working with his brothers—they were all musicians.
When he was doing T or C on radio, Ralph Edwards came up with the idea to get a town named after the show, and after several cities expressed interest, he settled on a town in New Mexico that had been called Hot Springs. It became Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and we went down every year for a fiesta. We took lots of Hollywood celebrities because the people down there loved it. We took Wayne Newton down there one year. Nobody knew him in those days, but he was a hit in the fiesta show. He could play any and every instrument you put in his hands. He was a pro then and has been a pro ever since. We took Jayne Mansfield to the fiesta one year. She was lovely. Her husband, Mickey Hargitay, came down as well. He was a great-looking guy, a bodybuilder, and they made a beautiful couple. What impressed me most about Jayne Mansfield was that she had her daughter Mariska with her, and she was such an attentive, loving mother. She may have spent a lot of time being a glamour girl, but she was a great mother, too.
I remember we had Jack Palance on Truth in 1953. It wasn’t long after he had been a big hit and had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as Jack Wilson, the villain in the movie Shane. He was such a great heavy, such a great villain. After the show, Ed Bailey and I went to the Brown Derby and had a drink with him. He was soft-spoken and very gentle. Years later, I remember watching him on television at the Academy Awards as he astounded everyone by doing one-armed pushups. I sat there and said, “Go, Jack, go.” We had Bobby Darin on the show in 1958, right after the release of “Splish Splash,” his first million-selling hit. The kids in the audience went crazy.
Some of the stars had reputations for being difficult, but when they came on our show, they were absolutely charming. We had Robert Mitchum on Truth when he was right at the peak of his career. I was warned that he could be a problem, but he was a perfect gentleman. He could not have been nicer or kinder. He was a great-looking guy, of course, and he impressed everyone on the show with his sense of humor.
Wilt Chamberlain was another excellent guest. In addition to his professional basketball stardom, he was a splendid volleyball player, and for a while he coached the old pro team the Conquistadors in San Diego. I