Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [3]
This was not what I was hoping to hear. I didn’t want to do another show some time in the future. I wanted to do Truth or Consequences right now! Some time in the future might never come. I tried to smile my best smile as I said, “Thank you, Mr. Edwards.”
I went home worried and frustrated. There seemed to be no end to the number of hoops I would be asked to jump through. Worse yet, Ralph called a few days later and informed me that what we both thought was a successful audition was not really a “television audition” at all, since no one had actually seen me on camera. He asked if I would come down to the old El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, where they were producing The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, so they could check out my on-camera appearance during a break. I had no idea who they were, but they held my future in their hands.
Joe Landis was one of the pioneering directors of the early days of television, and he was doing Tennessee Ernie’s show. As soon as I arrived, they hustled me into makeup and put me in front of a camera to say a few lines with Joe during breaks in the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show rehearsal. Ralph was in the booth with a bunch of other people—and they were all looking intently at me. I was about to find out whether I had a face made for radio. Finally, Ralph came out of the booth and said the dreaded words: “I’ll be in touch.”
I went home despondent. Dorothy Jo commiserated and tried to console me. I began to wonder if “I’ll be in touch” was one of those Hollywood phrases that was a euphemism for something more ominous. Can’t these people make up their minds?
A few days later, I got the answer. On December 21, 1956, at exactly five minutes past noon, Ralph Edwards called me and told me I was to be the host of Truth or Consequences. That was and is and will always be the most important telephone call of my professional career. It changed my whole life. That first national show paved the way for the wonderful half century I have had on television.
At the time, I certainly did not feel like an overnight success, especially after the ordeal of the last few weeks, but that was the way many in the industry saw it. Moreover, when I tell that story, some people shrug and say, “If Ralph Edwards hadn’t called, someone else would have.”
Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe I would have spent my entire life going to Ventura and Oxnard doing the Southern California Edison shows. But Ralph did call, and I signed a contract shortly thereafter. Ralph made all the difference in my life.
• • •
Ten days later, we went on the air with our first show. It was New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1956. I will always be grateful to Ralph for his support and kind words on that show. After reminding the audience that Truth or Consequences was “the granddaddy of audience participation shows,” he graciously introduced me as “a young man… with one of the brightest futures in television,” and over the years he did his best to make that prediction come true.
As I look at it today, that first show is a sweet period piece, a slice of the 1950s right down to the Studebaker prize and the savings bond promotion. With Ralph’s glowing introduction of me and the excitement of our special guest, former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, we got the show off to a rousing start, and the contestants did the rest.
But that phone call was everything to me. It came after a long string of “I’ll be in touch” promises, but it was also the beginning of a bond with Ralph Edwards that lasted a lifetime. He became not only my champion but my mentor and my dear friend. He and his wife, Barbara, became close with Dorothy Jo and me, and really took us under their wing. Every year on December 21, Ralph and I had lunch together, and at five minutes after noon, we drank a toast to our long and enduring friendship. Ralph passed away in 2005, but on that date, at that time, I always pause to thank him.
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Truth or Consequences, My First National Show