Sale of the Century, big prizes, big winners!

[tpir1972]

NBC never had limits like CBS and ABC did in 1983, so NBC could offer $1,000,000 if they wanted to.

[johnnyafairbanksak]

@tpir1972 Right; take that $38,750 Super Jackpot

[zacsz]

Do you still have Cindy's, Barbara's and Mort's final episodes? If so, there are a ton of people (including myself) who want to see them!!

[TVLubber]

@zacsz

I'm sure I have Cindy's final episode, but it's gonna take a lot of trading to find the other 2.

[AaronBruceLadner]

Jim Perry was One Hell of a Host.

[sushixcreations]

how high did the cash jackpot get?

[5star555555555]

@sushixcreations the highest it got on the US version was $109,000

[Godzillaman]

Wow. A $46,000 Mercedes Benz convertible. They must have had a HUGE budget to afford some of those prizes. I wonder if they ever had cabin cruisers or motorhomes as prizes.

[5star555555555]

i wonder where i could find mp3s of these prize cues...

[eci4r]

I remember when barbara phillipps was on in august of 1983

[aafuss]

The intro used is from 1989-mittdawson replied to a comment I made about this intro in another video.

[zacsz]

Please upload more!!!

[jDink2101]

i would definately bring it back in this version

[WhatsAYak]

Very well done...didn't know they actually lowered the see-through money briefcase w/the sign in early eps, that had some potential for injuring contestants! LOL

[DES3450]

I wonder if Tony Barber's "cash cube" incident had any precedent...?

[eci4r]

I remember barbara phillips,mort camens

and cyndi barr back when I was in high school

[TVLubber]

Who was Mort Camens?

[5star555555555]

@TVLubber mort camens was the first to win the lot in 1983 (before either the speed round or cash jackpot were introduced) for a total of around $95,000 in prizes

[jaywilliams0910]

@TVLubber Was Mort Camens the fella that won Sale's 1983 Tournament of Champions for total career winnings of almost $250,000 in cash and prizes? I know that Stephanie Holmquist won the 1985 Sale toc and Diane Cross won the 1988 toc. I am just curious.

[5star555555555]

@jaywilliams0910 yes it was

the way the '83 tournament was organized is that three players would play for one week with the scores carrying over each show (plus $20 with each new show) and the winner would spend their five-day winnings on as many prizes as they wanted at the sale of the century

each winner came back on the fourth week, and the winner (mort camens) would win the lot at the end of the week

[jaywilliams0910]

@5star555555555 Thanks, I take it that for SOTC's 1983 tournament the top nine winners from the show's first 39 weeks came back for this tournament.

[bluebear1985]

I noticed that you used the intro for the Australian version of this show. Why is that?

[mittdawson]

You're asking me questions about a piece I edited 21 years ago, so my memory is a bit vague on the details. The objective was to throw as many high dollar prizes at the network in as little time as possible, and I liked the way the Australian open starts with prizes instead of a CU of todays' returning contestant (for this sales pitch) and then flows into the US top dollar items.

[bluebear1985]

Sorry about that, eh, Mitt? I didn't realize you had put together the montage that long ago. It still looks pretty good.

[mittdawson]

LOL, seems like yesterday...thx!

[bluebear1985]

No problem. By the way, not too long ago I happened to stumble upon a couple of episodes of two other game shows Reg Grundy Productions did, "Time Machine" with John Davidson, and "Scattergories" with Dick Clark. You should look for those on this website if you have the time.

[palmercomm]

Great idea for an April Fools joke: John Davidson on Sale of the Century, Chuck Woolery on Time Machine, and Jim Perry on Scrabble.

[bluebear1985]

Would have been interesting to see what would have happened. They could have pulled it off considering they were all on the same network, but "Time Machine" wouldn't last for too much longer. John Davidson had that interesting joke pulled on him on "Hollywood Squares" in a couple of years.

[mittdawson]

That's wonderful, thanks. I didn't keep any episodes of either...it's nice to know you posted them for us!

[bluebear1985]

I wonder how many shows it took Alice Conkright to rack up the amount to win every prize on the stage plus the cash jackpot. I believe this was from the nighttime version. There was a clip of an instant bargain where a trip to Hawaii was being offered, and Jim Perry was begging Alice to buy something! He was pretending to cry going into a commercial after she rejected $500 with it. When it came back, he was going "If I had offered $19,200, $19,300...." Talk about being desperate.

[mittdawson]

I dunno how many episodes Alice was on. She has a MySpace page that she checks every now and then, why don't you ask her.

[bluebear1985]

I might. I'm on Facebook and I'm still trying to figure that out. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out the internet overall since I first went on it ten years ago.

[mittdawson]

LOL, the net is great fun, just don't let it take over your life!...;)

[mittdawson]

I really don't think they all have active MySpace pages, and are probably fan generated....I figure this out because Jay Stewart died almost 20 years ago!

[jthweatt]

Hiya. I was a big fan of the show when I was a kid, and I remember seeing Alice all that time ago. I didn't remember how long she was on the show, but the Wikipedia page for SOTC says she won everything in six days.

[bluebear1985]

I can believe that. If she had over $100 on each show I can see why she cleaned them out.

[DrLove0378]

Thatks to not buying any instant bargains, she did it in only 6 shows.

[jDink2101]

nobody can get the tournament of champions

[nextbarker]

Alice Conkrite, who never brought an instant bargain, but ended up with over $141,000, amazing.

[nextbarker]

You have any other big winner moments?

[TVLubber]

Do you happen to have the full episode of Barbara Phillips' big win, or at least a full clip of her big win?

[mittdawson]

no, I'm sorry, I don't.

[TVLubber]

Okay. Thanks for reminding me. But hopefully somebody does.

[mittdawson]

I'll bet someone out there does, thanks for your interest!

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

mitt, do you happen to know who that guy was that won nearly a quarter of a million dollars?

[mittdawson]

I'm sorry, I do not remember, but I'm sure if we leave the question up, someone out there knows who is is.

[nextbarker]

$250,000 was that daytime or syndicated?

[TVLubber]

I don't know. But whatever it is, it's impressive!

[TVLubber]

Could it be that the near-$250,000 win have included a tournament of champions win?

[TVLubber]

Finally, we see what Barbara Phillips looks like. I wish someone uploaded her big win.

[nextbarker]

Ummm, how did the guy win almost $250,000 on the US SotC?, the highest winner was $183,373

[johnnytuffguy]

Thanks for posting your vids!

I'm a long time fan of Sale of the Century and hope to see reruns again on GSN! Do you know if there is an extended version of the American version of the theme music (the theme from 1983-1986(?)) I have found the theme on the internet, but it is always the shorter version. Thanks again!

[mittdawson]

Unfortunately, I did not keep any theme music, wish I had.

[palmercomm]

Know anyone who does?

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

who is that @ 2:32?

[DES3450]

I believe that is the fellow who won the whole Floor (the $95,000 Lot)...just a guess

[Wheeloffortunefan999]

i'm talking about the guy who won over $242k

[DES3450]

Precisely.

[DerrickLee2006]

Thanks for posting these great videos of "Sale of the Century".

Do you have the episode where Rani White won $50,000 in the Winner's Big Money Game?

Also...

Do you have anymore clips of foreign versions of "Sale of the Century" beside the one you posted?

[mittdawson]

Thanks!...Sorry, I do not have any more footage, I hope someone reruns Rani's win somewhere, ya never know....write GSN, it might help....:)

[zachhoran]

USA only aired the last six months of the NBC run, and the syndicated version. However, USA did air all but the first three months, the three months from the Spelling maingame format, and the last five months of the original Scrabble's run. They didn't get to the latter five months of the 80s run because USA dropped the series in favor of their USA Live blocks.

[mittdawson]

"Spelling maingame format"?..are you referring to Sale of the Century or Scrabble?...Unfortunately, the only Scrabble episode I have is from a "Teen Week" and the audio is bad, but there's plenty of clips on YouTube if I miss the good old days.

[megamanj2004X]

especially the infamous "MOSQUITOS" moment.

I remember there was an episode where Chuck started off the top of the show by saying "Welcome to Scrabble, where you don't have to spell the words anymore!" or something like that.

[vnisanian2001]

What a great montage that is, mittdawson.

Just tell me one thing: Are all these clips from the original studio masters? If so, are they enough to put any theory to rest that the pre-1985 daytime episodes are gone forever?

[mittdawson]

Thanks! No, this did not come from the masters. There are rumors that Freemantle still has the syndicated series sub-masters. We, as in Reg Grundy Productions, did not save the NBC series masters until the last 6 months of taping, when the WBMG was in place.  With that said, there was, at the time of my departure in 1997, an archive of Beta viewing/reference tapes in the office of EVERY episode, both network and syndicated, that may have survived, but I seriously doubt it....all the best, Mitt.

[bluebear1985]

I think I heard something that the original beta tapes were converted to digital, which would be a requirement if they were to be shown on digital cable. It's just a shame GSN can't get a hold of it, and that the recent revival of "Temptation" in the US wasn't that good. I could barely stand to watch one episode. It was on in late night timeslots in most markets. I heard that Charlotte, NC pulled it after a few weeks.

[bpot22]

Does anybody have Alice's last episode of sale & Barbara Phillips last show

[rebelwrest]

Mitt,

Thank you for what you've posted, and hope you can post more in the future. I have 2 questions:

1. Did you work for NBC or Reg Grundy Productions?

2. Whenever, a change occurred on the Australian version, was the American version ordered to make that change or was it discussed with the network first.

[mittdawson]

I worked for the production company, Reg Grundy Productions.

I can't comment on the other point, as I wasn't involved, but I know NBC was involved in the change.

[mittdawson]

Sure! I'd be happy to post all of her episodes...be right back..oh crap!..does anyone know how to fix a time machine? LOL!...just kidding around...seriously, all those tapes were trashed a long time ago, sorry SaleGuy, this is all I have of her...cheers...:)

[SaleGuy]

I mean her $50,000 win in her eleventh and final game.

[mittdawson]

I gotta stop using that time machine joke!...sorry SaleGuy, this is all I have..:)

[mittdawson]

I edited this piece 20 years ago. I don't have the raw footage anymore, sorry.

[SaleGuy]

You got to put up Cindy Barr's big win ep. in its entirety!

[guspolly]

Whoever was featured at the end there -- Reg shoulda just spotted him another $18, don'tcha think? :-þ

[mittdawson]

Unfortunately, I don't have any more of Barbara Phillip's win than this short piece.....it's the first thing I grab after I fix my time machine...:)

[zachhoran]

Barbara Phillips' win was the most exciting I've ever seen in 30+ years of game shows I've followed. Forget Deal or no Deal or the stuff out there now, including last season's Temptation :) All that existed of Barbara on the trading circuit was audio only.

[Tubewings]

If a full clip of Barbara winning the lot shows up, I can die happy.

[MrBennetzen]

Me Too.

[mittdawson]

thanks!..stay tuned, my computer can crank this stuff out only so fast...:)

makes me very happy that there are still so many fans out there....these lost syndicated episodes are rare, and will never air again.

[DES3450]

Maybe its me, but I'm more intrigued with the earlier stuff you might have. Considering the viewing public had to put up with the revival last year, this is most certainly refreshing to view.

[mittdawson]

Temptation didn't air here in Houston. I hope that the 80's SOTC series will air again someday, somewhere.

[TVLubber]

Obviously, Houston didn't like that new concept.

[mittdawson]

....I guess not..;)

[jimousine85]

Actually Mitt, Temptation DID air here in Houston on KTXH-20 at 1:00pm, following Merv Griffin's Crosswords which aired at noon. Both of those shows were "double-runs", each airing for an hour.

[mittdawson]

Really, wow, I wasn't paying attention, must not have lasted very long, that's too bad.

[jimousine85]

Temptation actually lasted the full season here in Houston, as far as I know; it ran until September I think.

[mittdawson]

My first soapbox opinion on YouTube..this is the perfect example of why so many shows fail. The days of allowing a show, particularly a game show, to run long enough to gather an audience are all but gone. These days, a series is run for 13 weeks, if that, ratings are typically low as they usually are at startup, and it is canceled so quickly, noone even knew it was on the air....unfortunately, we the OCD 300 channel surfing audience is to blame for that one, and this is the fallout.

[gshowguy]

I didn't like the new "Temptation" with Rossi Morreale as much as I did the '80s "Sale" with Jim Perry (thanks to USA reruns in the early '90s), IMHO.

[DES3450]

This is teasing us...haha. Good stuff!