According to the TV Guide article that appeared
in January 1964, Earle was a community-relations
specialist with GE in Ithaca, NY; he had been chair
of the radio-TV department at Ithaca College and,
of course, a former newscaster.
I'm not sure from the article that he had videotaping
equipment (seems unusual for 1962) although I was
under the impression that, as a GE employee, he might
have had access to some prototype VCR (apparently
not). What he did do, as I said on my previous post,
was to have his secretary type up all the dialogue,
go to WHCU, the Ithaca radio station (he'd worked there),
and deleted Ludden's voice. He then went to WICB-TV,
the Ithaca College studio, and videotaped himself asking
the questions and saying anything else Ludden said.
Producer John Cleary always denied that the physical
resemblance between Earle and Ludden was a factor
in Earle's getting the job, but I think College Bowl fans
might disagree. It's a shame, though, since Ludden became
one of the superstars among game-show hosts while Earle
faded back into obscurity, that most people still associate
the show with Ludden, when Earle actually hosted it longer
(1962-70).
BTW, the reason Ludden left College Bowl has to do with
some unfortunate scheduling. For the fall of 1962, CBS
scheduled College Bowl at 5:30 PM Sundays, with Password
at 6:30 (both times Eastern) in addition to the daily 2 PM show.
CBS head programmer Jim Aubrey didn't like the idea of Ludden's
appearing on two shows an hour apart, so he called him in and
gave him the choice: he could host one but not both. Since
Ludden had hospital bills from the death (of cancer) of his
first wife (he married Betty White in 1963), and because Password
paid more, it was a no-brainer. Earle hosted College Bowl's last
season on CBS, then the entire NBC run (1963-70).
