| NAME THAT TUNE packagers: Tel-O-Tune Productions ('53-'59), Ralph Edwards Productions ('74-'81), Sandy Frank Productions ('84-'85) air dates: 7/6/53-6/14/54 on NBC primetime, 9/2/54-3/24/55 & 9/27/55-10/19/59 on CBS primetime, 7/29/74-1/3/75 & 1/3-6/10/77 on NBC daytime, syndicated 9/9/74-9/81 (once a week) by Station Syndication & 9/10/84-9/85 (5 a week) by Sandy Frank Distribution hosts: Red Benson ('53-'54), Bill Cullen ('54-'55), George DeWitt ('55-'59), Dennis James (NBC '74-'75), Tom Kennedy (syn. '74-'81, NBC '77), Jim Lange ('84-'85) announcers: Wayne Howell ('53-'54), Johnny Olson ('54-'59), John Harlan ('74-'85) HOW TO PLAY: '50s versions: Two players each stood about 20 feet from a ship's bell. A song would be played by the orchestra, and the first player to run to their own ship's bell and ring it would be the first to take a guess at the tune. The player who correctly identified the tune earned money. The first tune paid $5 to whomever identified it. The second tune would earn $10, $20 for the third, and $40 for the fourth tune. Whomever earned the most money at the end of the game advanced to the Golden Medley. In the Golden Medley, the winner of the previous game would be given 30 seconds to name 7 tunes submitted by a home viewer. The first correct guess earned $25, with each correct guess after that doubling the money. The clock ticked down while each tune was played. The player sounded a buzzer to stop both the clock and the music and then take a guess, or pass if (s)he didn't know the correct title. If the player passed on a tune, (s)he could come back to it if time permitted. If the player named all 7 tunes within 30 seconds or less, (s)he ended up with $1,600 and a chance to win another $25,000 by playing with the home viewer in the Golden Medley Marathon. Each week, a Golden Medley winner would team with a home viewer for the Golden Medley Marathon. The team would be given 30 seconds to name 5 tunes as played by the band. If they were successful, they each won $5,000 and returned to the next show for a maximum of 5 shows, which meant up to $25,000 could be won by each player. NBC '74-'75: Two players competed in three different games, the first two each scored 10 points (5 points to each player if the round ended in a tie), with the ever-popular Bid-A-Note being played during the final round for 20 points. A maximum of five tunes were played in each round. Each of the first two rounds involved ringing in to name tunes. The first round was played the same as the front game from the '50s run (running up to the bell and ringing it to name that tune). Melody Roulette would be played in the second round. The first wheel displayed seven musical categories. For each tune, the wheel would be spun and a tune would be played from whichever category the wheel stopped on. Each contestant selected a category to have their name put on, and if the wheel stopped on one of those categories, that player would earn a $100 bonus, regardless of who named the tune. In Bid-A-Note, a clue would be read about a tune, and the players would bid against each other as to how few notes were needed to name that tune ("I can name that tune in (amount of bid) notes."). Each bid must be less than the previous bid. After one player tells their opponent to "name that tune", the winning bidder listened to the number of notes in his or her bid and attempted to name the tune. If successful, (s)he scored a point. If not, the other player scored a point for bidding his/her opponent into failure. The first player to score 3 tunes scored 20 points. The player with the highest score after Bid-A-Note played the Golden Medley. In case of a tie, one tune is played with the player who identifies it or whose opponent guesses wrong winning the game. A car was won for winning 5 days (later 4) in a row. In the Golden Medley, the day's winner was given 30 seconds to name six (later 5) tunes in 30 seconds for $2,000. Otherwise, each tune named correctly paid the player $200. (S)he may pass on a tune and come back to it if time allowed. However, an incorrect guess at any time ended the round right then and there. Syndicated '74-'81: Early in the nighttime run, the first round would feature Pick A Tune, in which players would be shown a list of words and must select the words in the title and put them in the proper order. This game would later be replaced by Money Tree, in which each player had a rack of $1 bills. One player listened to a tune and tried to name it, while the other player pulled dollar bills from the guesser's money tree. After each player heard three tunes, whoever had the most money left on their tree scored 10 points. Cassette Roulette would be played in the second round, in which each of 7 oversized 8-track cassettes would contain a category. Four of the cassettes also awarded a prize to whomever named that particular tune. The second round would later become Melody Roulette, with a 7-space wheel displaying amounts from $20-$1,000, and each player selecting from the two $200 spaces. Starting in '77, MR was played in the first round with a 2-part wheel and players no longer chose spaces to have their names put on. The inner wheel featured amounts ranging from $100-$1,000 and contestants no longer chose spaces. The outer wheel featured a CAR space and two DOUBLE spaces. The rest of the outer wheel was blank. If the outer wheel landed on a DOUBLE space, the amount on which the inner wheel stopped was doubled. Once the car was won, the CAR space was out of play for the rest of the round. From '79-'81, the outer wheel featured two PRIZE spaces and a DOUBLE space. Upon MR's move to the first round, Sing-A-Tune would be played in the second round. Kathie Lee Johnson (She's Kathie Lee Gifford now.) would sing a song, replacing any lyrics in the title with "la". Each player would write down what (s)he believed was the correct title. Whomever wrote the most correct titles out of 5 scored 10 points. The player with the highest score after Bid-A-Note advanced to the Golden Medley, in which 7 tunes named correctly in 30 seconds won the player $15,000 in cash and prizes. If not, (s)he won $500 in prizes for each tune named. In '76, the show became The $100,000 Name That Tune. Any player who won the Golden Medley would be given the opportunity to come back on the next show for a chance to win $100,000. In the event such a player returned, a maximum of three tunes instead of five were played in each round. The returning player would be secluded in the Gold Room offstage. In the Gold Room, security guard Jeff Addis would open a safe to reveal a revolving carousel full of manila envelopes. Each envelope contained a set of sheet music for a particular Mystery Tune. After Golden Medley was played, the returning player selected an envelope and Jeff would escort the player onstage and the player would step into an isolation booth in which (s)he could only hear Tom and the music. The sheet music would be handed to the pianist who would then play a 20 second portion of the Mystery Tune. The player was then given 10 seconds to guess the tune. After stepping out of the booth, the player listened as Tom read background information on the Mystery Tune. After hearing a recording of the player's guess, if it matched the title on the sheet, (s)he would be paid ten annual installments of $10,000. From '78-'81, the contestants played MR in the first round, Bid-A-Note in the second round, and the third round featured the Golden Medley Showdown in which the clock started at 30 seconds and counted down as the music played. The clock stopped when a player buzzed in to guess the title. As soon as the 30-second time limit expired, whomever named the most tunes scored 20 points. The highest scorer earned one of 6 spots in a $100,000 tournament. Each of the first 2 semifinal shows started with three semifinalists playing Melody Roulette. The first 2 players to name 2 tunes each competed in another game of MR plus Bid-A-Note, each of which scored 10 points, and the 20-point Golden Medley Showdown. The winner of the first semifinal show competed against the winner of the second semifinal show in the finals, the winner of which won $100k. NBC '77: Melody Roulette was played in the first round with the values on the inner wheel ranging from $50-$500, and the outer wheel featured only 2 DOUBLE spaces. In the second round, the players would play Build-A-Tune, in which each tune would start with one instrument playing, with the other instruments joining in one at a time. And of course, Bid-A-Note was played in the third round. The winner played the Golden Medley in which 7 tunes in 30 seconds won $10,000 in prizes, and a chance to come back on the next show and name a Mystery Tune for $25,000 in cash. '84-'85: On The New $100,000 Name That Tune, two contestants competed in three rounds for a chance to play Golden Medley for a spot in the monthly $100,000 tournament. If a round ended in a tie, the first player to name one more tune scored 10 points. Melody Roulette was played in the first round. the wheel featured 4 $100 spaces, and one each of $200, $300, $400, and $500. Early in the run, the outer wheel featured three DOUBLE spaces. One player spun the outer wheel while the other player spun the inner wheel. Shortly thereafter, the outer wheel only featured one DOUBLE space which was noticably a bit wider than any of the DOUBLE spaces on the first outer wheel, and Jim spun both parts of the wheel. Only the winner of the round kept all their money. This later changed to where Jim spun the wheels once to see how much money went to the winner of the round. The amounts on the inner wheel at that point ranged from $250-$1,000 by $250s, which meant that the round could be played for up to $2,000. Tune Countdown, which was played in the second round early in the run, was played similarly to the Golden Medley Showdown, except that the clock started at 20 seconds. After 20 seconds ran out, whomever named the most tunes scored 10 points. This game was replaced shortly thereafter by (Tommy Oliver's) Tune Topics, in which all of the tunes' titles related to a specific topic. Whomever had the highest score after Bid-A-Note played the Golden Medley, in which each tune correctly named earned $250 in prizes. Naming all 7 tunes in 30 seconds earned that player a spot in the $100,000 tournament at the end of the month. The round was ended instantly by an incorrect guess. In the tournament, each show started with three or four players. The first 2 players to each score 2 tunes played Tune Topics and Bid A Note, worth 10 points each, and the 20-point Golden Medley Showdown. On the finals show, MR and TT each scored 10 points, while Bid A Note scored 20 points and the GMS scored 40 points. The finalist with the highest score won $10,000 in cash and $90,000 in prizes, including a Polynesian spa, a Carribean cruise, a week's vacation every year for life at a Palm Springs resort, a grand piano, a pair of his/hers diamond watches, a home entertainment system, an emerald/diamond necklace, and a Pontiac Fiero. OTHER TIDBITS: Future astronaut John Glenn appeared as a contestant during George DeWitt's reign as host of the '50s version. Ralph Edwards, the executive producer of the '74-'81 run, also created This Is Your Life and Truth or Consequences. The latter show introduced the legendary Bob Barker to America. Ralph and his partner Stu Billett created The People's Court in '81. Ralph died in 2005 at age 92. Dennis James also hosted PDQ and the syndicated version of The Price Is Right from '72-'76, amongst other shows, and became the spokesman for Physicians Mutual. He died in 1997 from lung cancer at age 79. Kathie Lee Johnson, the show's vocalist from '77-'78, later married former football star Frank Gifford and became Regis Philbin's co-host on Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, which was renamed Live with Regis and Kelly in 2000 after Kelly Ripa (All My Children, Hope & Faith) replaced Kathie Lee. On one occasion, security guard Jeff Addis ran into some trouble opening the safe containing the Mystery Tunes and claimed that he forgot the combination! The show featured two vocalists from 1978-81: Steve March Torme, whose stepdad Hal March hosted The $64,000 Question, and Monica Pege. Steve performed the rock and pop hits while Monica sang the orchestra's tunes. Jim Lange, who hosted the '84-'85 run, is better known for hosting The Dating Game. VH-1 aired a short-lived revival in 2001 called Name That Video, hosted by former MTV VJ Karyn Bryant. Back to my game show joint or my homepage. |