Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [81]
I did the Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade for twenty-one years. (Have you noticed that twenty-one seems to be my favorite number? As Dorothy Jo noted, I am nothing if not tenacious!) I made many friends in Indianapolis, and I enjoyed the annual visit. The race-car drivers were always a fun bunch, and after the parade we would go to the race, which was even more exciting.
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It was John Christ who steered me to the Rose Parade job that I thoroughly enjoyed for twenty-one years, who hired me to do the Miss USA and the Miss Universe beauty pageants, which I did for twenty-one years, and finally, who hired me to host the Pillsbury Bake-Off every year. He was the agency representative for Pillsbury at the Leo Burnett Agency. He called me one day and said, “We need a producer and a host.” He asked if I would be willing to both produce and host the bake-off.
Without hesitation, I said, “Sure. Why not?” I knew nothing about the bake-off, but I learned, and I hosted that contest for twenty years. (Somehow I missed my usual twenty-one!)
The only thing I didn’t like about the bake-off was taking off the weight I always gained. You see, I got to taste the entries!
John Christ had a wonderful sense of humor, and we could talk for hours together. I remember we were sitting on a plane in the mid-1960s, and we were trying to decide what to drink. I knew he liked screwdrivers, and about this time there was a popular new drink called a Harvey Wallbanger. It was vodka, orange juice, and Galliano. I said, “John, I have never had a Harvey Wallbanger, but I think it has some of the ingredients of a screwdriver.”
He said, “Let’s try some Harvey Wallbangers.”
So we started drinking them. We talked and laughed as always, and we were solving all the problems of television and advertising. Eventually, I looked up and everybody on the airplane was standing up in the aisle.
I said to John, “What’s going on here? Look at these people.”
“I don’t know what is going on,” he replied.
I asked a gentleman in the aisle what was happening.
The gentleman gave me a look of amazement and said, “This airplane has been struck by lightning.”
Everybody was frightened and they were all on their feet, but John and I had not even noticed.
John, however, handled the situation perfectly. He turned to a flight attendant and said, “Miss, could we have two more Harvey Wallbangers, please?”
13
DJ&T Foundation
I have had animals around me since I was a small child. I have always felt deeply for animals. While I was growing up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota, as I have mentioned, my mother could look out from the rooftop of the two-story hotel where we lived and was able to find me by looking for the pack of dogs that would always be following me.
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One aspect of my animal activism has been my constant reminders for people to have their pets spayed or neutered. For years and years, I ended every The Price Is Right show with the words “Help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered.” Pet overpopulation is a huge problem, and we have much further to go, but I am proud to have played a part in raising awareness. Every little bit helps. Despite growing awareness, people still have no conception of the magnitude of the pet overpopulation problem.
There are almost a million animals taken in by shelters each year in California alone, cats and dogs, and of that million, half of them are euthanized every year. In addition to the cruelty factor, it is also costing taxpayers $250 million a year to capture the animals, house them, kill them, and then dispose of them. It is nothing less than a travesty. And with education, it can be stopped. That is why I have worked so hard for so many years. These things can be improved. Changes can happen. I have seen progress on many fronts, and it is part of what keeps me working to help educate others and campaign for new laws, education, and overall awareness.
Along with many others, I have worked to encourage cities,