Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [66]
As I was wondering what a jib was, Rick went on to say the auditorium of the Department of Water and Power office on nearby Lankershim Boulevard was available to him free of charge. Rick said that the water and power company would provide a home economist and all supplies required for a cooking class. They would also provide a freezer demonstration, a washer and dryer demonstration, or a demonstration of any other appliance—so long as it plugged in.
All of this would be free, Rick said, if we could fill the auditorium with women who could be considered prospective purchasers of appliances powered by electricity.
“What do you think, Bob?” Rick asked.
I said, “That’s great, but what about the cost of radio time and my salary?”
“I’m a Hotpoint appliance dealer and a Zenith television dealer, and I sell lots of both. They’ll split the tab if you can bring in the women.”
“I’ll bring them if I have to drive by and pick them up,” I said. And I did.
I should say we did. Dorothy Jo and I sat down that night and put together some ideas that were time-tested winners in Missouri and/or Florida, and I was back at Rick’s Appliances the next day. Rick had the show sold to Hotpoint and Zenith before I got home—well, almost. The deal was signed, sealed, and delivered very quickly. Worthy Murchison was a part of it, in that he represented the radio station KWIK in Burbank and we bought the time from him. Worthy was a busy young man: KWIK, an FM radio network, and an apartment house. When did he sleep?
Dorothy Jo and I had arrived in Hollywood in August, and we did our first show for Rick in September. The show was very successful. Women were coming from the far corners of the San Fernando Valley to attend. Rick was seeing lots of new faces in his store, too. We were all happy.
But the best was yet to come. The folks with Bekins Furniture sales division heard about the show and paid us a visit. As a result, I did a few television commercials for them. It was my first appearance on television, and Dorothy Jo and I didn’t even own a television as yet. The show was a unique method of selling appliances, and it wasn’t long before all the manufacturers were sending representatives out to North Hollywood to scout the action.
One of these scouts was Hal Klapper, a young executive with Westinghouse. Westinghouse had a talent show on the local NBC television station called Your Big Moment. Some of the people with Westinghouse weren’t happy with the emcee, and Hal convinced them that I was the man they needed. Your Big Moment was my first television show as the host. I remember my opening was: “Welcome to Your Big Moment, the show that gives you—if you have the talent—your big moment on television.” We had some really talented people—and a few who were not—on the show. Hal Klapper and his wife and Dorothy Jo and I became close friends, too.
Incidentally, the Department of Water and Power Building where I emceed my first show in California is only three blocks from where the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences complex now stands. In 2004, I was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame right there in the academy theater, and my bust is mounted on a pedestal in the academy courtyard. Dorothy Jo and I made the right decision when we aimed our yellow Studebaker west.
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I was excited and very pleased to learn that Morris Tallon, an executive of the Southern California Edison Company, was in the audience for our show one day. Better still, I stole a glance at him from time to time, and he was laughing and applauding. I figured that had to be a good sign, and I was right. A couple of days later, I met with Mr. Tallon in his office in downtown Los Angeles. He was not a man to waste time with small talk. He promptly said, “Bob, you are doing one show