Today marks 44 years ago that The Price Is Right had its final daytime and nighttime telecasts on NBC. Since it's unclear about the whereabouts of the last daytime show, the following will be an account of the final nighttime show which has not been screened on GSN in eight years.
The players were:
* - Returning champion Charles Reyes a salesman from Berkeley, Mich., who in his past two appearances racked up $34,782 in winnings. In the last show, he had won a bonus in which he was made an honorary judge in the Miss America Pageant. He toured the site of the pageant the week prior and talked with each contestant. Mr. Reyes then wrote the names of five girls he thought would be Miss America and those names were placed in a sealed envelope, turned over to the show on this telecast and would be opened on the next nighttime show (the first ABC show on September 18, eleven days after the pageant). If any of Mr. Reyes' picks made it to the semi-finals, he won $2500. If any of his picks became a finalist, he won $5000. If any of his picks was crowned Miss America, he won $10,000.
* - Arlene Fears, a housewife from Groton, Ct.
* - Paul Roberson, a plumber from Holly Hills, Fla.
* - Marilyn Peterson, a dance teacher from Long Island City, N.Y.
The first item up for bids was a Zenith color TV and hi-fi stereo unit.
Mr. Reyes was the opening bidder with minimum bids set at $100. Bidding went through the panel three times (the last-bid buzzer sounding after the second time) and after freezing the bids were as follows:
Reyes - 1350
Fears - 1450
Roberson - 1100
Peterson - 1250
Actual retail price: $1775, with Mrs. Fears winning the TV/stereo, and she hit the bonus bell. For her bonus, for $100 a pop, Mrs. Fears had to identify the TV personalities that Bill Cullen was impersonating or disguising himself as, which were Jack Benny, Groucho Marx and Mitch Miller (Mrs. Fears said Skitch Henderson, but they gave it to her anyway). For the last guess, she had to identify the personality whose face was obscured by a hand-held mask, which turned out to be announcer Don Pardo. Don was brought out as part of Bill's testimonial to him because as Price was moving to ABC, Don's contractual obligations to NBC kept him from going with them, and Bill wanted all to know that Price would not have been the success it turned out to be without Don Pardo's talents.
The second item was a wind-up toy dog named Flip-Flop. This was a one-bid item with Mrs. Fears starting. The bids (in dollars and cents; the numbers shown were how the totes displayed them):
Reyes - 1000
Fears - 995
Roberson - 750
Peterson - 849
Actual retail price: $7.98 with the item going to Mr. Roberson, and he hit the bonus as well. He won a live poodle with a newspaper tied to its collar. Mr. Roberson read the headline: PRICE IS RIGHT CONTESTANT WINS TRIP TO PARIS.
The winner of the home sweepstakes was announced. The price of the Dodge motor home and Lady Elgin diamond ring was $15,645.98, the winner being Robert Corp of Detroit, Mich., with his bid right on the nose. He won the prizes and would be flown to New York to appear as a contestant on the next nighttime show (first ABC nighttime show on September 18). The next sweepstakes offered the winner a choice of either a working oil well or $25,000 in cash.
The third item up for bids was wrought-iron outdoor furniture by Salterini. This was also a one-bid item with Mr. Roberson starting. The bids:
Reyes - 550
Fears - 985
Roberson - 1275
Peterson - 649
Actual retail price: $1999.45, with Mr. Roberson again the winner.
The final item was a business on wheels, the Sea Mac Kleen-Mobile, a mobile dry-cleaning unit. Minimums were $100 and Mrs. Peterson was the starter with the opening bid asked to be at least $5000. Bidding went on for a bit, and the bids after all were frozen were:
Reyes - 13750
Fears - 12000
Roberson - 12300
Peterson - 13850
Actual retail price: $17,950 with Mrs. Peterson the winner. The final totals were as follows:
Reyes - $0 (but he did win big on the previous two shows)
Fears - $2075
Roberson - $3588
Peterson - $17,950
Mrs. Peterson became the new champ and would return with sweepstakes winner Robert Corp on the next show, September 18 on ABC.