Behind the Scenes of The $20,000 Pyramid Game Show

[catholicpriest1]

General Electric cameras.

[catholicpriest1]

Camera operators don't usually push their cameras around on shag carpenting.

[Sjsuman5000]

@ 0:34...Now we actually know how far Dick Clark stands during the Pyramid days in New York City.

[SimplyPriceless514]

Amazing stuff you have here and what unique footage! Good thing you got it online when you did at least... Appreciate you taking the time to upload it!

[joshb80]

@SimplyPriceless514 Hey there. Thank you for the compliment!

[johnnytheC]

Very cool- this has always been my favorite game show, and I used 8mm quite a lot when I was a teen.  Good music too.

[Spindriftful]

I remember back in the 70's asking my dad if he would front me the money for the airfare to New York City to see Pyramid, alas, he said no. This was when I was living here in Southern California. Then, when the show moved to CBS Television City in Los Angeles, I thought I had my chance to see a Pyramid taping, but I had no money for my trainfare between Oceanside, CA and L.A. Ah well, such is life

[georgef551]

How did you get away with this?! A Super 8 movie camera isn't a small thing. Sure, there were "tiny" models, but that had to be TOUGH to sneak in!

[spxmet]

This footage is really valuable, especially to gs enthusiasts. Much of the early Pyramid shows (before Clark's $25,000 Pyramid) were victim to "wiping"-recycling videotape. So not very many of the broadcast versions of the show exist anymore, much less "bootlegs". Very cool. Was this filmed on Beta?

[joshb80]

@spxmet Thank you for the comment! I agree, that this is a pretty rare piece of footage. This was filmed with an 8mm movie camera. Unfortunately the quality isn't that great, but for what it is....it's luck to have survived.

[spxmet]

@joshb80 It looks wonderfully preserved for 8 mm. Do you have the original film or is this a converted copy?

[joshb80]

@spxmet Hi, yes I do have the original 8mm. This is the only Pyramid footage on it though. Someone filmed their vacation across the country, and Pyramid NYC was one of their stops.

[raiders1967]

Good stuff. Thanks for posting the video.

[joshb80]

@raiders1967 Glad that you enjoyed it!

[catholicpriest1]

I was watching a Dick Cavett Show from the early 1970s last night. He was interviewing Hollywood directors. At the beginning of the show he mentioned that he used a wireless mic. He ran through the theater and up into the balcony....the same theater where the $10,000 Pyramid was taped.

[catholicpriest1]

More than half of the lower audience area was removed to make room for the set.

[Ccrazyfella]

What happens during the commercials?

and my guess is that they manually flipped the topics for a game.

[tstorm2200]

Wow... VERY cool!!!

[mrwrister]

Greatest theme song for a game show ever.

[catholicpriest1]

Has anybody ever attended a taping of Pyramid when it taped in Studio 33?

[catholicpriest1]

Real cool! It's amazing that they let you film from the balcony. It has always fascinated me how they converted theaters for televison production. They extended the stage out 20 to 25 feet for the set, cameras, etc.

[Rlotpir1972]

Wasn't "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" taped at that very stage from 1999-today?

[secondchance1977]

No, this studio was torn down a while ago for another building :(

[GarfieldnPyramid]

A school.

[davemock]

The original "Millionaire" site was the Sony Music Studios in Hell's Kitchen, at which the New York leg of the post-9/11 telethon was produced in 2001. "Millionaire" moved out of the facility early in the 2000's and Sony Music moved out a couple of years ago. I work a couple of blocks north at the CBS Broadcast Center on 57th near 10th.

[Noveltooner]

Boy, does this bring back memories. I attended 37 tapings of "The $20,000 Pyramid" at TV 15 on 58th Street and shared some wonderful memories with the late announcer Bob Clayton about his years on "Concentration." Part of the Elysee's auditorium does still remain as part of the St. Thomas Episcopal Choir School, but the lobby and most of the theatre were destroyed. The facility became redundant when ABC moved uptown to Lincoln Square. Even today, I still imagine its "ghosts" when walking there.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

Why was the stage torned down.

[Noveltooner]

The Elysee Theater (ABC Studio TV-15) was no longer needed when the new ABC headquarters and studios were re-located to Lincoln Square (Broadway at West 66th Street). For decades, ABC's headquarters were in cramped, leased quarters at 1330 Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) with a studio already at Lincoln Square (All My Children, One Life to Live), and other theatre/studios scattered about town (the Ritz, the last home of the original "Beat the Clock" and "The Price is Right").

[davemock]

Part of me thinks the NYC government should rename that portion of Central Park West the ABC Neighborhood.

[Noveltooner]

With most national network live audience shows moved across the country to Los Angeles, ABC looked to consolidate the flagship New York operation. That was actually the reason for the cancellation of "The Price is Right" in 1965 as opposed to ratings, which were moving up rapidly again; it was eliminating a satellite studio and getting real estate bucks from the sale. Even if the syndicated "$50,000 Pyramid" had been successful, it would have stayed in New York, but not at the Elysee.

[Noveltooner]

It would have likely moved the the new Lincoln Square facility from where "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Live with Regis and Kelly" originate (if it had stayed in an ABC facility), or back to its original home at the Ed Sullivan Theater (then owned by Reeves Teletape; it was sold back to CBS for "Late Show with David Letterman"). Once ABC built Lincoln Square, the Elysee was doomed.

[davemock]

If I am correct, "Millionaire" has usually been taped at the ABC network facilities, while "Regis" has originated from the nearby building of flagship WABC-TV since 1983 -- except for a time when the WABC-TV studio caught fire and the Regis show had to move to the "Millionaire" set.

[Noveltooner]

The Elysee Theater had also been the home of "The Dick Cavett Show", Jack Paar's short-lived comeback opposite Carson ("Jack Paar - Tonight!"), the kids' show "Kids are People, Too," and, ironically, Dick Clark's first game show in 1964 ("American Bandstand" was still down the New Jersey Turnpike in Philadelphia), Goodson-Todman's "Missing Links."

[GarfieldnPyramid]

Thanks I nerver knew any of that.

[wmbrown6]

From what I've seen, the Elysee was equipped since at least 1968 with General Electric PE-350 cameras (perhaps the last ABC studio to convert to color, I presume). I attended a "$10,000 Pyramid" taping there in 1975, and I was under the mistaken impression that the Elysee had replaced those GE cameras with Norelco PC-70's - but evidently my mind has played tricks on me.

[davemock]

I was always proud of "Pyramid" because when I was growing up, it was one of the holdouts taped in NYC. Goodson-Todman has started to migrate to the coast but still had "What's My Line?" and the Bob Stewart creation "To Tell the Truth" in NYC, and native New Yorker Stewart remained committed to the intelligence of his fellow locals with his pilots and show for years.

[AdamStabelli666]

Nice. Pyramid is the best show Bob Stewart ever created.

[MrBennetzen]

Whoa!

[MmeBerns]

I was a contestant on the Pyramid that week in December 1979 with Nipsy and Sandy. The yet unknown actor David Graf (Police Academy) was also a contestant. I remember going to lunch with him the day we auditioned for the show. The whole experience was surreal and great.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

Do you have the episode with you one Pyramid?

[MmeBerns]

Unfortunately, we didn't know anyone with a video recorder at the time. I've been searching for a clip for years.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

If you were on the show in 1979 your show would exist ABC stopped wiping in 1978. (wiping is recording over and reuseing old tapes to rec new programs)

[MmeBerns]

Wow! How do I go about getting a copy of the show?

[GarfieldnPyramid]

I'm not sure on that. I don't know who owns the tapes GSN did air the last 2 seasons of $20,000 Pyramid back some time in I think 2002. They might have aired the 1979 episodes with yours. but I'm not sure.

[GarfieldnPyramid]

My mistake that reran $20,000 Pyramid in 1997 that did rerun the 1979 ones unless that were in poor quality. So somone could have a VCR copy record from GSN of your episode.

[FBCDJ1620am]

when in 1979 was this?

[licklolly35]

one of my fave game shows , i recall this with sandy duncan and nipsey russell, wow memories

[jellyneck40]

I love it!! Brings back memories of when I attended the show there in 1979. I also sat in the balcony in that gem of a theater in New York (abc-tv 15). I really miss Dick Clark hosting that show.

[UmedaRaton]

WOW!!! And you managed to get a shot of the long-gone Elysee Theater (aka Studio TV-15). And you even got a shot of the guy who pulled the subject cards on the main game pyramid, as well as the set change to play round 2 (aka the crew bringing out Dick's podium). This is REALLY a behind the scenes shot! Great stuff! You lucky guy!!

[DaveMcdon]

This is priceless. Thank you so much. I too went to see Pyramid that year (my first game show at age 17). It was my "last request" to my parents to take me there right before we moved 6000 miles away. I didn't take a camera, because the tickets said "no photos". I have regretted that to this day, because once we got there they told us to take all the pictures we wanted. I have been back to NY twice as an adult and both times stood outside 202 W. 58th trying to remember in my mind the theater!

[richie19190]

This is my favorite game show when I was growing up. This is awesome to see. Thanks!

[gameshowluvr86]

You're kidding! :D

[SuperPAC]

Awesome!

[tvpirate05]

That...is just all types of awesome! And it looks great for almost 30 years old.

Thanks!