The Magnificent Marble Machine
| The Magnificent Marble Machine | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Created by |
|
| Presented by | Art James |
| Narrated by | Johnny Gilbert |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes with commercials |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | July 7, 1975 – March 12, 1976 |
The Magnificent Marble Machine is an American television game show that featured a giant pinball machine as its centerpiece. The program premiered on NBC on July 7, 1975, at 12:00 pm ET, replacing the short lived Blank Check whose timeslot was taken over by Jackpot.
Merrill Heatter and Bob Quigley packaged this program, with Robert Noah as executive producer. Art James served as host, and Johnny Gilbert was the announcer.
Two contestants, one a returning champion, competed, each paired with a celebrity partner.
In the first half of the game, the teams answered general knowledge questions, frequently involving puns or other wordplay, which were displayed on a huge electronic marquee, similar to one found on a pinball's backbox display. First, the players were shown blanks on the display's bottom line, denoting the number of words and letters in the answer; then a clue would crawl across the display's upper line. If no team buzzed in once the clue was revealed (or buzz in and get it wrong or took so long), letters of the answer then filled in at random as time progressed. (e.g., "He's center and he's square/#### #####", with the answer "Paul Lynde"; or "An athlete's supporter/###", with the answer "fan"). In the case of the latter example, the celebrity buzzed in and blurted out, "Jock!"; when the laugher died down, James pointed out that the answer was only three letters, and asked if he was spelling it "JOQ." After the answer was finally revealed, the celebrity made a remark about how he'd never worn a "fan" in a locker room. James occasionally gave an additional clue before the main clue scrolled across the marquee. For example, the blanked-out answer "### ### #####" would appear and James would say "What does this man pull out?" at which point, "A showy organist" scrolled across the marquee. (The answer is "all the stops".)
For any given question, only the contestant or the celebrity was eligible to buzz in. This alternated with each question, and was indicated by lighted panels in front of the eligible player.
Correct answers were worth one point. Five points won the game and the winning team played "The Magnificent Marble Machine" in the bonus round.
...
Wikipedia