Bob Barker: 1923 - 2023

You'd had to have been living under a rock to not have heard of the recent death of Bob Barker at age 99 on August 26th. Born on December 12, 1923 he was several months shy of reaching the 100 milestone.

1923 - 2023

When I was a kid, literally, when I was in Kindergarten is when I say that was the first time I'd heard of Bob Barker. When I was in Kindergarten we had what they called AM and PM Kindergarten. I went to PM which began around 12:30pm. It was the early 1980s and I walked to school myself. Anyway, why I'm saying all of that, is I watched "Price is Right" every week day at 11am before having to leave for school. I'd watch often during summer break from school and for the rest of my school life, of course, the only time I'd get to see the game show or ANY weekday daytime programming happened to be during summer break from school. As a kid I developed a fondness for some of the pricing games that were played. I'm sure like most other people that loved the show we couldn't wait to see if one of those games would be on an episode. My favorites were Plinko, Cliff Hangers, Hole in One, Any Number, Safe Crackers...and the game where you punch your fist into a plastic covering to reveal a piece of paper with a dollar amount. I was always forgetting it's title.. Punch a Bunch? Then there was One Away where the contestant would have to say "Do I have at least one number right?" and you'd hear a car horn or not. There were so many games that were favorites but the one everybody loves is Plinko. 

Bob Barker became the host of "Price is Right" while being the host of "Truth or Consequences". He had been the host of the latter game show since December 31, 1957. Bob became the host of "The Price is Right" on September 4, 1972. It was a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production. It was a revamped version of the original hosted by Bill Cullen (1956-1965). The revamp originally aired half an hour but it was expanded to it's familiar hour long format several years later due to the unprecedented ratings it was receiving. When it expanded to an hour in 1975 it introduced the concept of the Showcase Showdown. This segment featured the use of a large spinning wheel with money amounts up to $1.00 and whichever contestant got closest to a $1.00 without going over would appear in the showcase near the end of the show. There were two showdown segments per show to determine who appeared in the final segment. The game made catchphrases out the simplest sayings. Bob, after hearing all the bids in contestants row for an item, would pull out a card from his envelope and say one of the catchphrases: "Actual retail price...". Whichever bid was closest to the actual retail price without going over won the item and then got to come up on stage and play a pricing game. "Without going over" was another catchphrase of the show. Another phrase happened to be Bob's sign-off "help control the pet population. Have your pets spayed or neutered". Now, although those were iconic catchphrases attached to the show, the one that tops them is "Come on Down!!!". That phrase is heard by the announcer after calling a contestant's name from the audience. 

Bob's run on "Truth or Consequences" was 19 years (1957-1975). That series was created and previously hosted by Ralph Edwards. When "Price is Right" returned in 1972, as you could guess, millions of people were so used to seeing him on the other show that it took some viewers a little getting used to seeing Bob hosting pricing games instead of presiding over wild stunts. As a child of the '80s I was familiar, of course, with "Price is Right". Once I saw episodes of the other game show I was tickled to see him in a different setting even though it was the same guy. 

Bob was also familiar to viewers of beauty pageants and bake-off's...hosting nationally aired beauty contests (Miss USA), parades, and bake-off's for about as long as he hosted game shows. 

In addition to everything else he also became known all over the world for his animal rights advocacy and in a more light-hearted recognition was his cameo appearance in Adam Sandler's movie, Happy Gilmore, and the hysterical scene on the golf course. 

Bob and "Price is Right" became an institution. He hosted the show for 35 years (1972-2007) and it completely overshadowed and towered over the 19 years he hosted "Truth or Consequences" (1957-1975) but it didn't matter which game show you enjoyed the most or the least... it was Bob Barker presiding over it all... and that's who we're remembering.