Sale Of The Century (partially found Al Howard game show; 1969-1973)

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The show's second host Joe Garagiola and model Madelyn Sanders.

Status: Partially Found

Sale of the Century was an American quiz show that ran on NBC from September 29th, 1969 to July 13th, 1973. It was first hosted by Maverick actor Jack Kelly and then by former Chicago Cubs catcher Joe Garagiola. The show would be brought back two times in 1973 (two months after its cancellation) and 1983. Although the later versions of the show exist in some compacity, the original run of the show has not been seen since it last aired.

Format

Three contestants started with $25 each and get $5 for every correct but lose $5 for every wrong answer. At certain points in the game, there would be attempts to persuade the contestant with the most money to buy a prize 10% or less than its original value, sometimes another gift is added to the prize as an incentive. The winner could use his/her's tally they won in the game to but expensive prizes at cut rates or return the next day to try again.[1]

Availability

No episodes have surfaced since their original airings and are most likely destroyed, lost or disposed of.[2] The exact number of episodes that aired are unknown, some sources say around 1,000 episodes.[3] A lot of those episodes can't be accounted for although various visuals of the show have resurfaced via press photos,[4] leaked photos, audio recordings[5][6] or photos used for merchandise (i.e. board games).

In August 2020, Lost Media Wiki user Comedyfan74 found a website that has two episodes of the show in audio form. He purchased one and arrived in September, he made the promise that he would release the two episodes once the second episode arrived. On November 14, 2020, he released the first episode on YouTube and Soundcloud. The reason on why he released the first episode and not both episodes it's because it was taking longer than excepted to receive the second episode. When the audio was posted on Soundcloud, the airdate of the episode was revealed to be October 21, 1969.[7] On December 20, 2020, he finally received the second episode and uploaded it to youtube and the Internet Archive immediately. The date of the second episode was October 27, 1969.[8]

Two audio clips, both about 1 minute in length, also exist. Both clips feature the opening spiel of an episode, one with Jack Kelly hosting, the other with Joe Garagiola. Interestingly, each features a different theme used on the show. The Kelly episode offers a year-long babysitting service, theater tickets for every Saturday for a year, and a bubble mink cape all for a total of $2,420. The Garagiola episode has a Bargain total of $12,600 and features the couples format. Ashley and Steve Baker challenge the current champions Susan and Ken Greenstein. It is unknown whether or not these recordings exist in full.

Gallery

October 21st, 1969 episode.

October 27th, 1969 episode.

External Links

References