Sunday, July 27, 2014

Paperback 799: Zingers from the Hollywood Squares / ed. Gail Sicilia (Popular Library 00221)

Paperback 799: Popular Library 00221 (PBO, 1974)

Title: Zingers from The Hollywood Squares
Editor: Gail Sicilia
Cover artist: photo cover

Yours for: $12

Pop00221

Best things about this cover:
  • The pink.
  • Blue orange pink yellow. You could do whatever the fuck you wanted with color in the mid-70s as long as it was bright. Or earth toned. Or avocado.
  • Lamont!
  • I know who all these people are (ugh, old). Except the dude in the upper left, and possibly the 'fro'd guy underneath him, who looks like Jackie Mason, but can't really be Jackie Mason. Nope, it's Marty Allen. I have no idea who he is. His hair is righteous.


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Best things about this back cover:
  • Paul Lynde with the gay joke FTW!!!!
  • Rosemarie looks like Amy Sedaris in "Strangers with Candy."
  • What the hell kind of hat is that, Charley?

Page 123~

19. You have just scolded your gorilla for being a bad boy. Might he stick out his tongue at you to show his anger?

Paul Lynde: Was that his tongue?

Paul Lynde with the gorilla dong joke FTW!!

~RP

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Tumblr]

11 comments:

Margaret said...

Marty Allen said Hello Dere! (that's what I remember about him most clearly.) And the top left is Jan Murray, whom I remember only from Hollywood Squares.

DemetriosX said...

Marty Allen was one of the last Borscht Belt comics but never really worked the Borscht Belt. There are 2 people I'm not sure about. Is that Tommy Smothers center right? I don't remember him being on Hollywood Squares. And that's Lily Tomlin bottom center?

I'm glad Margaret was able to identify Jan Murray. I'd completely forgotten about him. He was pretty big in the 70s (and before).

It's astonishing the kind of jokes Paul Lynde was able to get past the censors.

John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur said...

Jan Murray was a 50s 60s comedian, lot of Tonight Show and Ed Sullivan appearances. (God am I old!) He once said he was born "Murray Janowski," but his agent made him change it because he wasn't commercial, His agent's biggest client, he went on, was Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur said...

Center right is McLean Stevenson, who was most famous for his portrayal of Col. Henry Blake on MASH.

Sam Donaldson said...

As long as we are being completists, the celebrities on the front cover are, row by row and from left to right, Jan Murray, Rose Marie, Burt Reynolds, Marty Allen, Paul Lynde, McLean Stevenson, Charley Weaver, Lily Tomlin, and Demond Wilson (best known as Lamont from "Sanford and Son"). Those celebrities were chosen for the cover for obvious reasons, but REAL Hollywood Squares fans would want Wally Cox, Charo, and Jo Anne Worley (to say nothing of Michael Landon, Eva Gabor, and Vincent Price).

DemetriosX said...

Oh, that's obviously Maclean Stevenson. How could I not see that?

And Sam Donaldson is right, those three he suggests could easily replace the right-hand column, or leave one of those and replace Marty Allen.

How many of these quips start with "You know, Peter..."?

bill baud said...

jan murray was the host of a late 50's tv show called 'treasure hunt'. (probably) another borscht belt comic who found a home on the early days of television

TZ from NJ said...

Although the answers by all the celebrities were mostly double-entendre, they were side-splitingly funny to us as youngsters. And who could forget the cool, cool, demeanor of George Gobel? He was one of my favorites, along with Wally Cox and Charley Weaver...these guys could make you laugh by just raising their eyebrows! :)

Marcela said...

You would think after the game show fixing scandals of the 1950s, that the pre-arranged "retorts" of the squares were venturing into dangerous territory.

Janosky would be a tough sell for any entertainer, but especially in mid-20th century. Zimbalist was the son of a famous musician and so he was the exception.

Rex Parker said...

The number of comments on this post (compared to others) is hilarious. You all really love your HSq!

RP

NomadUK said...

I owned an LP of 'Zingers from the Hollywood Squares' and my brother and I spent many an hour listening and being 'zung'. Good times!

There were occasional celebrity editions, and I remember clearly one in which both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were on. Come to that, they also did a guest stint on The $64,000 Pyramid.

Ah, endless summers of daytime television!