November 21, 1977 -- the Professor's return (and swan song!)

[brosa0]

You've got to love how you can see the stagehand in that first Professor Price screen.

Fencing uniforms would be up there as one of the weirdest prizes I could think of.  Imagine them offering that today.

Are there any recaps here or elsewhere with Finish Line/Telephone Game in them, aside from the golden gallery?  They are the only two games without any playings available to watch on youtube or elsewhere, aren't they?

[Guint]

There's three. You forgot Shower Game.

[actual_retail_tice]

Thanks, Scott! This was very interesting and I'm sure it took a lot of time and effort on your part. This is just as good as finding a new episode on YouTube (and a little quicker to get through!)

From what I've observed, around 4.3 is a good multiplier to convert 1977 car prices to 2014 car prices. For most other prizes, multiplying by 3 is pretty good. I really can't figure out electrical kitchen appliances, except that they were much more expensive then.

I wonder if they gave away all that Samsonite furniture (Act 3) because they wanted to get rid of it. It looks pretty weird to give away 4 barstools but no bar.

Even as a fairly frequent watcher of Turner Classic Movies, I've never heard of Tyrone Power. It's pretty entertaining when the Entertainer showcases feature an actor that's been completely forgotten.

File fencing equipment under "H" for "How the hell would anyone guess the price of that?"

[Nick]

I wonder if they gave away all that Samsonite furniture (Act 3) because they wanted to get rid of it. It looks pretty weird to give away 4 barstools but no bar.

I'd be willing to bet, odd as that combination was, that was just what Samsonite paid to have on the show.

File fencing equipment under "H" for "How the hell would anyone guess the price of that?"

There are two things that jump out at me with that:

One, it was typical of these Entertainer Showcases to include a slightly offbeat prize, at least from all the ones I've seen.  It was one of the few cases (back in the day, anyway) where they offered prizes that simply looked cool and fit more with a theme they were trying to create than with with the overall theme of the show. ("How much does something cost?")

Second, and this is what makes offering such a prize acceptable, the fencing equipment was paired with three other prizes one could take a reasonable guess at still have a chance of winning (trips to Spain and India, and a piano).  There's a big difference between this and what Mike likes to do with the Showcases nowadays, which is too often two prizes, one of which is impossible to ballpark, like a trip with all kinds of "luxuries."  Notice by how much the ARPs are often missed on those.

Aside from the problem of no average person is going to have any idea what a Hawaiian stay in a bamboo eco cottage and yoga treatments will cost, too many things get lumped together to form what is essentially one prize but may be better understood as three.  Contestants will only focus on the package (a trip and whatever other main prize there was).  Adding insult to injury are the "recaps" at the end of the Showcase.  They aren't encouraging broad thinking with these for one thing.

But this... It's fencing equipment presented plainly and simply as fencing equipment, and its presentation also doesn't detract from the main prizes of the Showcase.