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First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:41 pm
by Robert K S
- 1964-12-24 Plain Dealer - Frank Dillon contestant story - small.png (322.94 KiB) Viewed 3170 times
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:55 pm
by MarkBarrett
Great find with the Frank Dillon story and thanks so much for sharing. He was unforgettable for his success on
The Joker's Wild and it was a such a treat when he showed up in the Seniors Tournament.
I added a line on his bio page for his Fleming appearance:
http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=9253
With the expectation I have his 1987 J! semis game I'll add that this summer.
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:57 pm
by opusthepenguin
I'm confused by the math. He says there are 1000 applicants each month and 40 appear on the program. That's 1 in 25, right? He then says "Obviously, more women apply than men." (If that's true, when did that change? Or did it?) Thus "only one out of every 20 women are selected." So... the general chance to get on the show is 1 in 25. But if you're a woman, the chance goes up to 1 in 20 because MORE women apply?
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:16 pm
by Robert K S
opusthepenguin wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:57 pmIf that's true, when did that change? Or did it?
I can't speak to Dillon's math but you can see the discussion over on the Fleming ToCs thread about women on
J! in the '60s. The testing and taping commitments likely meant that the applicant pool was largely housewives, who at that time were also the show's big audience, since it generally aired at noon.
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:44 pm
by Bamaman
MarkBarrett wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2019 4:55 pm
Great find with the Frank Dillon story and thanks so much for sharing. He was unforgettable for his success on
The Joker's Wild and it was a such a treat when he showed up in the Seniors Tournament.
I added a line on his bio page for his Fleming appearance:
http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=9253
With the expectation I have his 1987 J! semis game I'll add that this summer.
Was he the one who gave his winnings to cancer research?
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:10 pm
by twelvefootboy
Cool thread!!
So, in season 1 the second (and third?) place contestants kept their final total? I had seen in other backstories that they changed the rules to encourage playing to win. But how did they morph from this to those awful cringeworthy prizes, lol..
Thanks for all the hard work from all you guys building the archives.
I had no idea that Carmen was in French, or any Opera for that matter
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:28 pm
by AndyTheQuizzer
twelvefootboy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:10 pm
So, in season 1 the second (and third?) place contestants kept their final total? I had seen in other backstories that they changed the rules to encourage playing to win. But how did they morph from this to those awful cringeworthy prizes, lol..
The entire Art Fleming run had contestants keep the cash they won. It was only when it returned in 1984 did they change the rule (because the stakes were higher).
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:46 am
by Bamaman
They said they did it to assure that people would play FJ competitively and that people just wouldn’t cash out and bet zero. It also reduces the show’s budget by quite a bit.
Supposedly a guy in the Fleming era wanted to win enough to buy an engagement ring and quit buzzing in when he reached the amount he wanted.
I don’t have a problem with the guarenteed money for the non-winners, but I think they should at least get them a free hotel room. Work out a deal with a hotel in exchange for an on air plug. At least they get money now instead of the prizes they used to give that they had to pay taxes on.
Re: First-season contestant story from 1964
Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:06 am
by alietr
I was laughing at how describing one of your opponents as a "lovely housewife" would go over today.