Tuesday, August 20, 2024

TWO FOR TUESDAY TVXOHOF TRIBUTE #1 - PETER MARSHALL



Peter Marshall, the velvety-voiced host who presided over NBC’s celebrity-filled game show The Hollywood Squares for 16 years, died [August 15]. He was 98.

Marshall, an accomplished singer who also was a leading man on Broadway and one-half of a popular comedy team before embarking on his game-show gig, died of kidney failure at his Encino home, his family announced.

The pride of West Virginia hosted some 6,000 episodes of The Hollywood Squares from 1966 through 1981, winning four Daytime Emmy Awards. Marshall often worked just one day a week, when he taped five shows. “It was the easiest job I ever had, and I never rehearsed,” he said.
Mike Barnes
The Hollywood Reporter

PETER MARSHALL

From Wikipedia:
Ralph Pierre LaCock (March 30, 1926 – August 15, 2024) better known by his stage name Peter Marshall, was an American game show host, television, radio personality, singer, and actor. He was the original host of 'The Hollywood Squares' from 1966 to 1981 and has almost fifty television, movie, and Broadway credits.


Marshall was given his stage name by John Robert Powers. Powers had chosen the last name Marshall for Peter's sister (who later chose to use Joanne Dru instead), and Peter adopted it early in his career and paired it with an anglicized version of his middle name.


Although Marshall occasionally worked in film and television, he could not find regular work in the industry until his friend Morey Amsterdam recommended him to fill in for Bert Parks (who emceed the pilot) as the host of the game show 'The Hollywood Squares' in 1966.


BLOOPER FRAMEGRABS

Though Marshall did not initially want the job, he took it in order to ensure that rival comic Dan Rowan would not get it.  Marshall's grudge stemmed back to when he and Noonan had written material for Rowan and Martin, but Rowan had shown virtually no respect to Noonan when Noonan fell terminally ill in the mid-1960s (as opposed to Dick Martin, who was fully supportive of Noonan's fight). He expected to spend 13 weeks as host, then return to Broadway, but ultimately hosted for 15 years and more than 5,000 episodes. The show was canceled in 1980, but production continued in syndication into 1981.


Marshall was the host of his own short-lived syndicated music and comedy series, 'The Peter Marshall Variety Show', which aired during the 1976–1977 season in markets in the United States.


In 2002, he returned to the new version of 'The Hollywood Squares' as a panelist during a Game Show Week hosted by Tom Bergeron. Marshall occupied the prestigious center square. For one day that week, Marshall took his old position at the podium to host while Bergeron was the center square.


Marshall won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host four times. In 2006 he received the annual Bill Cullen Award for Lifetime Achievement, from the non-profit organization, Game Show Congress. On October 13, 2007, Marshall was one of the first inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in Las Vegas.


Here are the shows which garnered him entry into the TVXOHOF, beginning with the most important entries for the man as a member of the League of Themselves:


‘HOLLYWOOD SQUARES’
1966-2002







Approx. 2,029 episodes in all incarnations, including one week in the version hosted by Tom Bergeron in which Marshall was one of the guest squares.


‘STORYBOOK SQUARES’
1969-1977
46 episodes


O’Bservation:
In most cases in which game shows are a factor, they usually serve just as flavoring.  But it’s not just the sheer volume of episodes.  The televersion of ‘Hollywood Squares’ is part of the TV Universe – spoofed in sketch comedy shows, characters watching the show, even a few seen appearing in it.  In fact, ‘Hollywood Squares’ is part o the Television Crossover Hall of Fame already.  And besides, it’s because of his hosting duties on the show that he got the opportunity to make other appearances which qualified him for this (ahem!) “honor”.


‘THE PETER MARSHALL SHOW’
1977
Unknown number of episodes

O'Bservation:
According to the IMDb, there was only one episode; maybe that was the pilot.  (The guests were Marlo Thomas, Alice Ghostley, Michael McKean & David L. Lander [probably as Lenny and Squiggy], and the Pointer Sisters.)

BUT!  There is this video on YouTube which shows Marshall performing on the show with soap opera legend Bill Hayes.


I found more videos.  These had to be from other episodes, probably more than one:



And a search online has revealed other celebrities who guest-starred on the variety show. I don’t know how many episodes there were for his variety show, but there was more than just the one. It looks like it lasted maybe the usual 13 weeks.

And here are the other shows which fatten up his tally:

From Kliph Nesteroff's
CLASSIC TELEVISION SHOWBIZ

‘THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW’
1960

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