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Pantomime Quiz...Stump The Stars

J

joeybabe25

I've been watching the 1962 version of this show (STS's) and really enjoying it. I have never really played charades, at least not by the rules evident on this show.

It seems quite difficult and requires a quite agile and quick mind. I don't recall ever seeing a celebrity game show that requires the rigorous game playing ability needed here.

This was 1962, a more sophisticated era when people knew things and played games like charades that required great skill.

Do people still play charades? I cannot imagine the average person on the street even knowing what the game entails, even if they have heard of it.

Great program. And although no civilians to win cash, it is a really suspenseful show.

Joe
 
I've seen some of Stump the Stars from that Perry Mason 50th Anniversary release: the segment I saw had Burr, Hale, Hopper and Talman.
 
visaman said:
In Canada in the 1990's we had a similar program called Acting Crazy, hosted by Wayne Cox. The mood was loose, but it had strict rules, and customized signals that developed over the years, and a gang of "Zany's" but it was very popular. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acting_Crazy
Click to expand...

During the 1970s, there was also "Party Game", which was much closer to "Pantomime Quiz" in format. Some clips of this show can be found on YouTube:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_Game_(game_show)
 
Jim Perry hosted a short-lived (September-December 1967) game
called "It's Your Move." Two teams of two contestants took turns
bidding on how little time it would take to mime certain words. I
think WABC carried this show, but I can't think of any others that did.
Anybody remember this show?

Perry, of course, is remembered as the first host of "Card Sharks"
(1978-81) and the '80s version of "Sale Of The Century," as well as
the Canadian game show "Definition." He also played straight man for
Sid Caesar in an act they performed in some of the clubs in the Catskills.
 
I had thought that there was a first-run syndicated version of "Stump The Stars", under that title, around 1972 or so.

I'm also pretty certain that a man named Mike Stokey hosted all versions of "Pantomime Quiz"/"Stump The Stars" through the 1970's, with the exception of the first few months of the 1962/63 version of "Stump The Stars", when Pat Harrington was emcee. But Stokey replaced Harrington at the start of 1963 (I believe Harrington was living on the East Coast at the time, the show was taped in Hollywood, and Harrington was finding the weekly flights to/from L.A. weary).

If my memory serves me correct, Stokey also produced all versions of the show through the 1970's.

I also seem to recall that "STS" was syndicated around 1964, but I think they were reruns of the 1963 Stokey shows and not newly-produced episodes.

Wasn't the show (as "Pantomime Quiz") originally local in Los Angeles in the late 1940's, and occasionally seen as a local show there between network/syndicated runs?
 
"Win, Lose, Or Draw" (Was: Re: "Pantomime Quiz"..."Stump The Stars ")

There was also a show that was a variation of charades, "Win, Lose, Or Draw", that aired in the late 1980's both on NBC's daytime schedule (with Vicki Lawrence as hostess) and in first-run syndication (with veteran game show host Bert Convy, who also co-produced both versions, presiding).

The object was that instead of acting out clues, you had to draw them on a large sketch pad with magic markers!

There were two teams of three people each; one contestant captain and two celebrity teammates.

(Were the show being revived today, players would probably use a stylus on some sort of large electronic screen)

Despite having the daytime edition of "Wheel Of Fortune" (which I believe was the only show to ever give the post-1972 "Price Is Right" a real run in the ratings) as a lead-in, the daytime version only lasted about a year; I think the syndicated version lasted two years.

Additionally, the Disney Channel cable network carried a junior version with teenage celebrities and teen conbetstants.
 
I always thought "Win, Lose Or Draw" was closer to Pictionary than charades. The Disney version was called "Teen Win, Lose Or Draw" and was hosted by Marc Price (Skippy from "Family Ties", not the guy who played for the Cavs.)
 
"Stump The Stars" was syndicated in 1964 and again in 1969.
I don't know if the '64 episodes were new or reruns of the 1962-63
CBS shows, but the '69 episodes were new.

And yes, Mike Stokey hosted all versions, going back to its days as
a local program on KTLA in the '40s, except for three months (Sep-Dec
1962) when Pat Harrington Jr. was host. In fact, it was Stokey's creation;
when he was in college in the late '30s he worked at experimental station
W6XAO (I think it was) in Los Angeles, and hosted a charades show with
some of his classmates as participants. It was there that he invented the
hand signals we now associate with charades, such as making a motion like
using scissors to indicate "cut down." After World War II, he was working at
KTLA when something fell through and he was given 36 hours to come up with
a replacement. He recruited some of his old friends and put on his charades show.
The first night, Roddy McDowall dropped in after a day of working on a movie and
Stokey invited him to sit in while the others played the game. At the end McDowall
said, "If this is television, it's a ball. Come on down and play this game with me."
Lucille Ball and Steve Allen were among those who made their first television appearances
on "Pantomime Quiz."

The show should be remembered for the creativity of the players in communicating words.
One that comes to mind is Vincent Price, who, given a phrase containing the word "dog," got
down on the floor and hiked a leg (wonder he got away with it in those days but apparently
it worked).
 
I've come across an early KTLA episode of Stokey's "Beat The Odds" (from July 21, 1961). The object of the game was to form a four or five letter word starting with the letter on the left drum and ending with the letter on the right drum. Each acceptable word was worth 100 points, and 1000 points won a game. The champion then went on to a letter picking game for an additional prize.

Sounds easy enough...right?

Not so fast.

Both drums also had a rendering of a villain, whose name became more well known 20-plus years later on another game show. And when he came up, he could take your points away unless you froze. I guess that's better than taking away your money.

Here's the opening of the show (Episode 5)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R34g8hg6lAI
 
According to "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows" that was
the Friday episode of the first week of "Beat The Odds." A few
tidbits: Stan Chambers of KTLA was the announcer, and Dennis
James replaced Stokey in July 1962. James remained host until
the original show ended on August 23, 1963.

Five years later the show returned in syndication and was a rare
hosting job for "Jeopardy!" announcer Johnny Gilbert (Bill Baldwin
was the announcer for this version of "Beat The Odds"). Gilbert
has emceed two other games: "Music Bingo" (1958-60) and "Fast
Draw," something that sounds similar to "Win, Lose Or Draw," in
the summer of 1968.

And no, I'm not going to give away the name of the villain.
 
I very much remember the 1969-70 version. I saw it on WFBG (now WTAJ) and WHP. There was a regular team of Dick Patterson, Roger C. Carmel and either Deanna Lund or Karen Valentine, and a "guest" team of various "stars."
 
It was Deanna Lund, who was also doing "Land Of The Giants"
at the time. (Karen Valentine was more likely to turn up on
"Hollywood Squares.") WLCY (now WTSP) Tampa/St. Petersburg
carried that version of "Stump The Stars," but that was before I
moved to Florida and so I never got to see it.

I do remember "Celebrity Charades" in 1979; Jay Johnson, the
ventriloquist who also played on "Soap," was the host. WAGA
carried that show on Sunday afternoons.
 
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