September 15, 1977

[plinko2000]

[William]

I'm a simple man... I see a new 1977 episode, I click on it.

I see a new 1977 episode, that's a historic one, never seen in full since first airing, in studio master quality, I click on it as fast as possible and raise my fist when it starts!

Such a great and exciting episode!

We always knew Alene won a car, but it was a beautiful Chevelle Malibu at that! You can see her staring to fade out as the prizes are revealed. Had there been a commercial break during the Showcase, she may have had time to collect herself a bit and never fainted.

And who in the world thought it was a good idea to use the velvet rope in Golden Road? It gets in the way of Bob and the contestant, and the camera crew has to shoot around it and use off angles. This was probably the most I've ever seen Golden Road revealed before gameplay started. Crew members were also visible throughout the show setting things up. Mostly in Golden Road but also Card Game.

[plinkowin2010]

Nice to see the entire episode. I don't see this episode being added to the barker era channel rotation due to the fir coat seen during the showcase, unless the episode aired on GSN.

[actual_retail_tice]

We've all seen the clip of Alene fainting, so what makes the full episode interesting is the end credits and the way the show handled the situation, which was to keep the cameras rolling and let everyone's natural reactions to this unexpected turn of events play out (rather than re-shoot a typical prize walk later when Alene was steady on her feet). The result is interesting stuff happening throughout the remaining moments of the episode, including Bob shouting for Jay and then making every attempt to protect Alene's dignity (including chiding a cameraman for trying to get a close-up of her...which does nothing to dissuade him/the director), Barker's Beauties appearing at the turntable for no clear reason and looking very uncertain as to what they should be doing, and a disclaimer from Johnny reassuring us that Alene recovered just fine AND that she was *delighted* with her prizes.   

[Nick]

result is interesting stuff happening throughout the remaining moments of the episode, including Bob... chiding a cameraman for trying to get a close-up of her...which does nothing to dissuade him/the director

Nor should it have, and I'm tickled to see Marc Breslow just ignored Barker's attempt to direct from the floor.

Because as the viewer, what do I want to see?  What happened to the contestant.  Wallpapering shots of the audience or anything else isn't going to cut it, and I appreciate how much Marc tried to get a good series of shots when the subject wasn't easily visible with everybody standing in the way.

The way they handled this was excellent, and while it's not an event you'd want to happen again, it's disappointing to know that it would never go without editing in this day and age if it did happen again.

Side note: Was this the only time in the history of the show there was no "parade of prizes" following a Showcase win?  I can't think of any other scenario where it would have been the case.

[actual_retail_tice]

Was this the only time in the history of the show there was no "parade of prizes" following a Showcase win?

I think the occasion/occasions when Bob called a home viewer showcase winner on the phone at the end of the show replaced the prize parade with a montage of shots of the home viewer showcase prizes.

[Briguy]

Honestly, I'm not sure – either in hindsight, or if I were directing a show either in 1977 (given the standards of nearly 50 years ago) or today – how I would have handled a situation such as Alene fainting after learning she had won her Showcase.

The one thing I will add is a memory, and it was from seeing this clip as part of a special back in the 1980s.

I had memorized the prices of some of GM's full-sized cars from the late 1970s, one of them for the Chevrolet Caprice Classic sedan. As Alene's total winnings were $11,000 – IIRC, they didn't show the price reveal of Alene's Showcase, only the part where Bob tells her she'd won and then she faints – I bragged to my dad that, "Hey, she could have won a Caprice." (As many Caprices sold for $6,500-$7,000 at that time, with the Impala maybe just a couple of hundred bucks less.)

Hey, I was close – a Chevrolet Malibu, in an era where most of them were priced in the low $5,000 range (at least as presented on TPiR).

Which does get me to wonder: Besides the nighttime Dennis James-hosted show from late 1976 that was uploaded a few years ago, did the daytime Price ever feature a Chevrolet Caprice during the late 1970s? Surely there were at least one or two, but nobody would know since a good chunk of episodes haven't re-aired thanks to those fur coats.

I'm just glad Alene was OK and that all turned out well.

Brian

[Dude111]

Im amazed the whole episode is here..........

I really miss Bobby