I'll take old gameshows for $200..

October 5, 2006 8:35 AM

Old GameshowFilter: My mom was on a couple of gameshows back in the 60's (and had won several fabulous prizes). Does anyone have any advice on obtaining archival footage or photos (if they exist)? I think it would make an fantastic birthday present for my mom.

Mom was on Jeopardy and Sale of the Century (there was one other, but I can't remember the name). I don't know the exact dates she was on, but I was hoping that the networks maintained a contestant listing of some kind (yes..I'm spoiled by our modern neverending archival of everything).
I'm thinking all of this is a longshot, but any and all help would be appreciated.

posted by zerokey to media & arts (9 comments total)

Contact the network (NBC, CBS, etc) that aired the show. I'd be willing to bet that they have archival footage that can be purchased, for a fee.
posted by chrisamiller at 8:40 AM on October 5, 2006

If she was on Jeopardy!, you might want to contact Merv Griffin Enterprises, the producers of the show. They produced it back in the 1960s/1970s, too, and are probably a better resource than NBC.

When I was on Jeopardy! in 1992, one of the women who was a contestant during my taping day had also been a Jeopardy! contestant in the Art Fleming days, but she didn't tell the contestant coordinators until taping day, so they had no time to go back and check her out.
posted by briank at 8:43 AM on October 5, 2006

The Museum of Television and Radio might be able to help.
posted by saladin at 8:54 AM on October 5, 2006 [1 favorite]

Sorry, that got truncated. They should be able to help you get in touch with someone who could get the clip; they don't actually own the rights to anything in their archives, so you can't buy footage directly from them.
posted by saladin at 8:55 AM on October 5, 2006

You might be able to search for your mother's dates on the Jeopardy Archive which might help for footage search.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:11 AM on October 5, 2006

Hell, I'm trying to find an episode of Rock n Roll Jeopardy, which was much more recent, and STILL having no damn luck.
posted by polexxia at 11:18 AM on October 5, 2006

This reminds me of a similar quest of mine. My mother was on a TV show in the 50s called "It Could Be You." It was like "This is Your Life" of the unknown set. They surprised her, brought her up on stage and told all about how my mother and father met, yadda.

Many decades later I read in the Washington Post that the Library of Congress has just received the archives to that show. Every Monday (my day off) I went to the LOC to research. Unfortunately, her TV debut was before video (I was hoping for a kinoscope but eventually talked to the MC's son and found out there wasn't any).

After many months of going through the microfilm (and coming home quesy from the film viewer) --I had no idea when she was on-- I found the script and printed out a copy. It is a gem. Glad I did it.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 12:50 PM on October 5, 2006

Try the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Sorry, this is not allowing me to link for some reason. I remember going there on a trip in high school and looking through their archive of old David Letterman episodes.
posted by printchick at 6:28 PM on October 6, 2006

This guy's hobby is archiving gameshow footage - he's got quite the collection. I think he runs a gameshow fansite. Contact him and ask - he may be able to help you.
posted by divabat at 9:18 PM on October 6, 2006