‘The Match Game’, NBC Studio 8H…Photo 5 of 5

‘The Match Game’, NBC Studio 8H…Photo 5 of 5

With the help of Dick DeBartolo (who is shown here sitting in Gene Rayburn’s chair), and some sleuthing of my own, I have discovered that this series of photos by NBC cameraman Bob Batsche were taken during the week of February 3-7, 1968. Episodes 1591-1595, the two celeberty team captains were father-daughter performing duo Meredith & Gordon MacRae. These are rehearsal shots, and I had wondered about that, but back then, the game was different.

In the later CBS Television City version, there were six stars and two non celebrity panel members, but NBC’s original version was played with two celebrity team captains with two non celebrity players on each team. As Dick explained, the questions in rehearsal were not the show questions and was done to get players familiar with the mechanics, like how to put their answers cards in the slot. In the foreground is Johnny Olson’s mic and behind it, camera 2, with 3 and 4 to the right (not shown). Camera 1 was shooting from the left end of the set and was “the question camera” that would shoot Gene Rayburn with a monitor next to it for Gene’s benefit.

In case you missed it in earlier posts, Dick DeBartolo was the writer that saved ‘The Match Game’ from cancellation early on by coming up with the more “titillating” line of questions. As many of you know, Dick was, and still is one of MAD Magazine’s top writers.

Source