In Memoriam|

Chuck Barris from 1976 with the infamous gong used on The Gong Show (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Chuck Barris, the goofball host of The Gong Show who also was the manic mastermind behind two other spontaneous game-show classics, The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, has died. He was 87.

Barris, who in his book, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: An Unauthorized Biography, claimed to have been an assassin for the CIA – his implausible story became a fantastical 2002 movie directed by first-timer George Clooney and written by Charlie Kaufman – died Tuesday of natural causes at his home in Palisades, N.Y., his family announced through publicist Paul Shefrin.

The Philadelphia native also penned the 1962 pop song “Palisades Park,” a tribute to the old amusement park in New Jersey that was a hit for Freddy Cannon and figured high on Barris’ list of career achievements.

With his innovative shows, Barris changed the face of reality TV but was derided but critics who nicknamed him “The King of Schlock,” “The Baron of Bad Taste” and “The Ayatollah of Trasherola.”

On The Gong Show, which aired on NBC and in syndication in daytime and primetime from 1976-80, amateurs took to the stage to demonstrate their so-called talent in front of three celebrity judges. Quite often, they made fools of themselves.

Barris’ original idea had been to create a show that featured fine performers, but in his search for talent, he frequently encountered awful acts. “I came back and said, ‘Let’s change the show, have all bad acts and one or two good ones, and people can make a judgment,’ ” he said in a 2010 interview with The Archive of American Television.

When original host John Barbour didn’t work out after about a year, NBC execs insisted that the cuddly, curly-haired Barris come on as his replacement, so he donned a tuxedo and a floppy hat and introduced the acts.

Any of the three judges (a roster that included Jaye P. Morgan, Rex Reed, Rip Taylor, Jamie Farr, Arte Johnson and David Letterman) could send the bad performers packing by striking a large gong.

“Everybody could relate to somebody wearing a lampshade and dancing around,” Barris said. “Bad acts are inherent in everyone.”

Acts who appeared included The Unknown Comic (Murray Langston), Danny Elfman, Paul Reubens and Barris’ own mother, and at random moments, the host would call out Gene Gene the Dancing Machine (stagehand Gene Patton) to boogie for the audience to the tune of “Jumpin’ at the Woodside.”

On one particularly crazy show, Morgan unbuttoned her blouse to reveal her breasts to the cameras, and Barris said she never worked on The Gong Show again.

“The end of the show came because of me,” he said in the TV Archive chat. “I had a small nervous breakdown out there, doing strange things. When I see films of the last shows, I was walking around, busting up [studio] flats on the air. That was the behavior of a host who was bored to death.”

In October, ABC ordered a new version of The Gong Show to be executive produced by Will Arnett.

Barris first made his mark in the game show arena when he created The Dating Game, which bowed as an ABC daytime program in December 1965. Hosted by San Francisco radio personality Jim Lange, the program featured a bachelor or bachelorette asking three members of the opposite sex suggestive questions, then choosing one for a date.

ABC’s The Newlywed Game, produced by Barris and hosted by the cheeky Bob Eubanks, premiered in July 1966. Four couples who had been married for a year or less competed by matching answers to questions about their spouses’ likes and dislikes. Just like The Dating Game, it was a huge hit and played in primetime as well (both shows aired in tandem on Saturday nights for a time).

Barris often came off as a nut case, but he was an astute businessman. As a pioneer of first-run syndication, he sold The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game to stations after ABC canceled his shows, keeping them the air.
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Meanwhile, “Palisades Park” had reached No. 3 in June 1962 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (Barris would also write the theme music for many of his game shows.)
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His daughter, 36, died from an overdose of drugs and alcohol in 1998, and Barris wrote the moving Della: A Memoir of My Daughter, published in 2010.

He is survived by his wife of 16 years, the former Mary Clagett. In lieu of flowers, it is suggested that donations be made in his name to the New York Police Foundation.

The Hollywood Reporter | Duane Byrge contributed to this report.

https://www.yahoo.com/music/chuck-barris-wacky-host-creator-gong-show-dies-050605615.html

Article contains videos and the song “Palisades Park” as performed by Freddy Cannon.

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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths… March 2017
22: Sven-Erik Magnusson, 74, Swedish musician (Sven-Ingvars), prostate cancer.

21: Chuck Barris, 87, American television producer, game show creator, host (The Gong Show, The Dating Game), and songwriter (“Palisades Park”); Inao Jiro, 48, Indonesian music manager (JKT48), suicide by hanging.

20: Buck Hill, 90, American jazz saxophonist.

18: Chuck Berry, 90, American Hall of Fame rock and roll guitarist, singer and songwriter (“Johnny B. Goode”, “Maybellene”, “Roll Over Beethoven”), heart attack.

16: James Cotton, 81, American blues harmonica player (“Hard Again”), pneumonia.

15: Phil Garland, 75, New Zealand folk musician; Wojciech Mlynarski, 75, Polish poet, singer and songwriter.

From http://www.wikipedia.com

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