When I was a kid, the summer months for me meant following a routine. With school out of the way for a while, my days consisted of organizing my playtime. Maybe an afternoon movie at the RKO Proctor's or Loew's. Some Strat-o-Matic baseball. A little post-dinner softball at the local vacant lot.
But, without fail, there was the Hollywood Squares airing at 1130AM on NBC.
This is one more example of a phenomenon that will continue throughout this list of my top 25 favorite TV shows. Spending quality time bonding with my grandmother. In front of the telly.
Those years of summer leisure are cherished. Old enough to do stuff on my own. Still young enough that I didn't have to get a summer job. And those few years coincided with my grandmother's first years as a widow. So, in between hanging with the kids up the block, I was very conscious about spending a little time with her. She had found this great new TV game show. Loaded with laughs and stars of TV and film. It would be our daily half hour. And we were there right from the opening with the NBC peacock.
Like the "Mike Douglas Show" that was on later in the day, "The Hollywood Squares" would provide me and my grandmother with a super-extended family. And we had our favorite "relatives" on that big tic-tac-toe board. My grandmother loved Charlie Weaver, Wally Cox, and Rose Marie. I totally got into Suzanne Pleshette and the sorely missed Karen Valentine who I fantasized over privately.
And then there was the ultimate center square. Paul Lynde.
Say what you want about whether all his "zingers" were written for him in advance. There were no funnier two or three moments a day than when Paul Lynde got called on every day. And that lasted for about ten years. But, during those pre-teen years, I didn't know anything more about Paul Lynde than what I saw on the screen. And, for me, that was damn funny and more than enough. I was so Paul-manic in those days that I took to perfecting an imitation of him. And I would do it at the drop of a hat. Regardless of where I was or who I was with. I even remember answering questions in class as if I was the secret square of the day.
Teacher: Can you tell me who shot Abraham Lincoln?
Me (a la Paul Lynde): Eve Arden.
Years later in college, I got to interview Paul and, at the end, I dropped my journalistic hat and did Paul for Paul. Perhaps a highlight of my life. And a lowlight at the very same time. But, I digress...
The family my grandmother and I formed with "The Hollywood Squares" also mirrored life in some ways. We mourned the deaths of Charlie Weaver and Wally Cox. We went on with our existence. And so did the Squares. Long after I was no longer free for the summer, any days home from school or work would still find me in front of the set with my grandmother waiting for a Paul Lynde block. And, still, the outlandish moments kept on coming.
"The Hollywood Squares" was such a reliable game show formula that it was revived many times since. And it always provided me with a solid 30 minutes of amusement. But, later regulars like Joan Rivers, Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, and Ellen DeGeneres never really replaced the older version in my memory bank. Folks like Nanette Fabray, Abby Dalton, and Buddy Hackett.
Plus my grandmother was long gone. And that made it all wrong.
Dinner last night: Pasta with chicken and Kalamata olives at Cafe Montana.
1 comment:
I, too, spent happy summers watching Squares up in Peekskill with my cousins. We watched hours of game shows then jumped in the pool or grabbed lunch. We still talk about it. My cousin can recite the daily show schedule (including hosts)from memory.
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