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By Root 641 0

fortune of working. One year, when I was hosting the Miss Universe pageant in New York, Julio sang on the pageant, and he and I ended up staying at the same hotel. As it turned out, our suites were side by side, and we both had balconies. I finally met a man who wanted to be tan as much as I did. Every day before we went to rehearsal, we had enough time to get out there and get sun for a while. As the day wore on and the sun moved, we moved closer and closer to the railing. Eventually we were leaning over backwards off these thick balcony railings, talking to each other. We’d lie there hanging over the edge of the balconies, saying, “What do you think of so and so, Julio?” and, “Yes, that’s right, Bob.” I wonder if he’s still as tan as he was then, or if he’s had as many skin cancers as I’ve had. He was such a romantic singer. And he was a really good guy. He was a lot of fun.

• • •

I’ve talked about some of the people in the industry who’ve had a great influence on my career and on my life, people like Ralph Edwards, Mark Goodson, and my agent Sol Leon, but there’s another fellow who I worked with for thirty-five plus years, and he’s a good friend of mine to this day. That would be Roger Dobkowitz. At the University of San Francisco, Roger wrote the thesis for his master’s degree in communications on game shows. He sent it to Mark Goodson, and Mark was so impressed that he hired Roger to work on Price as a production assistant. Over the years, Roger worked his way all the way up to become the producer of the show. As an adult, he’s never done anything except work on Price. He knows Price inside and out. He knows every little nuance of every game, and he’s the most creative person on the show. He’s developed more games than anyone else. Our original executive producer was Frank Wayne. And when Frank Wayne died, I became executive producer. But I would not have been able to be both host and executive producer if I had not had Roger working with me. He’s a fine producer and a good friend.

• • •

The Price Is Right set many records—for longevity, for ratings, and for prizes—and I am naturally proud of the show’s many accomplishments. Over the years, CBS did many nice things for me. One that made me particularly happy was that in celebration of our 5,000th show, CBS named Studio 33 the Bob Barker Studio. I did thirty-five years of Price in that same CBS studio. So many entertainment legends and people I admired worked and performed and produced shows in Studio 33. Danny Kaye did his show there. Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan, and Red Skelton had their shows there. Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore produced their programs at that studio, and Elvis Presley sang on television for the first time there. But CBS still named it the Bob Barker Studio. That means a lot to me. And it’s also a tribute to the show. The Price Is Right really took on a life of its own. It became more than a television show. It became a piece of Americana.

4

Dorothy Jo: Wife and Partner

About two years ago I received an honorary doctorate from my alma mater, Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, and I was asked to give the commencement address. Some of Dorothy Jo’s relatives and friends were in the audience. I explained to the graduates and their families that I would not be up there receiving an honorary doctorate if Dorothy Jo Gideon had not become Mrs. Bob Barker. She had graduated summa cum laude and had been the valedictorian of her class. She had also been immediately accepted into George Washington University medical school, which is one of the better medical schools in the Midwest. She threw it all away and married me.

• • •

From the age of fifteen, Dorothy Jo was a part of everything in my life. She certainly deserves a lot of credit for any success I may have had. It was seventy years ago, but I remember it vividly without even closing my eyes: We had our first date on November 17, 1939. Dorothy Jo was also fifteen years old, and we were together from then until she passed away at age fifty-seven in 1981. She was my wife, my