Bill Cullen

**William Lawrence Francis "Bill" Cullen** (February 18, 1920 – July 7, 1990) was an American radio and television personality whose career spanned five decades. He was best known for television game shows, where he hosted multiple series (including the original version of *The Price is Right*, *The $25,000 Pyramid*, and *Blockbusters*), and served as a panelist for over twenty years combined on *I've Got a Secret* and *To Tell the Truth*.

## Biography:

Cullen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to William and Lillian Cullen. His father was a Ford dealer. Bill is an only child. During childhood, he suffered from Polio. He was around 18 months in August 1921. Later in life, in 1937, he was in a terrible car accident that required 9 months of hospitalization. A third incident resulted in him significantly aged. Around this time he wore large, exaggerated glasses that resemble magnifying glasses. Over the years he had limited mobility, and could not run, and could stand unaided temporarily. As with many peoples with disabilities, they can go about their house largely unhindered. As many Game Shows provide chairs for every body to sit in, and he is seen approaching these chairs, as well as seen standing several times on Pyramid and Chain Reaction, it was not well known that Bill Cullen had limited mobility. Bill Cullen is better known for his punch lines and other comedy. Mel Brooks wrote a story about how embarrassed he was after learning about Bill Cullen, who stumbled as he approached Mel Brooks, and imitated Bill Cullen. He was unable to cope with his physical limitations, smoked heavily, and decided to not have any children.

He was married three times:

* Ruth Ellen Harrington, 1943-1948; divorced)
* Carol Ames (1948–1955; divorced)
* Ann Roemheld Macomber (1955–1990; his death)

The result of these marriages is an indirect relation to Jack Narz and Tom Kennedy. Ann appeared with him on Tattletales numerous times, as "TV Host And His Wife".

They bought a house together, and cordially gave an interview to breakfast news.

Cullen, a heavy smoker for most of his life, died of lung cancer in 1990.

## Career:

In 1939, he got a job in WWSW as a Disc Jockey and Sports Anchor. In 1943, he got another radio job at KDKA. In 1944, he got a national job at CBS. The pay was insufficient to live in New York, so this is when he began his career in comedy. He wrote puns for numerous radio stars and filled in as a general assignment reporter and staff writer. He began his work on radio game shows starting in 1945.

In 1952, a radio show expanded to television, and hosted many other game shows since then. The most memorable one is The Price Is Right from 1956 - 1965. He was also a panelist on numerous game shows, particularly I've Got A Secret, and To Tell The Truth. Bill Cullen mostly kept his distance between Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. He did not get the job when The Price Is Right returned, and was not approved to take over hosting when Gerry Moore retired from television. He joined fellow disgruntled worker Bob Stewart when he launched his own company, Basada. Several of these game shows lasted several years. They ranged from simple and weird to grand and deluxe. Examples of the smaller game shows included Eye Guess and Three On A Match. Weird ones consisted of Winning Streak and Pass The Buck, as they were too difficult to play. It would not take long before the contestants were completely stomped, unable to form the word "Threshold". As for Pass The Buck, every game play had the same outcome. It is basically like Tic-Tac-Toe on a 3 X 3 grid: You tie all the time, and without added gimmicks such as matching your answer with Celebrity Panels, it is not possible to make these games work successfully. Bob Stewart also had many Grand and Deluxe game shows with large stages and numerous running lights slowly flickering along every abstract trim. Pyramid is one of these game shows, which includes celebrity panelists.

Bill Cullen's regular work consisted of panelist jobs at To Tell The Truth, and hosting several Bob Stewart shows. Some of these lasted a few years, while others lasted a few months. He hosted a weekly syndicated version of Pyramid, called The 25,000 Pyramid. It ran for five years initially as a bonus version of The #10,000 Pyramid. Later, they increased that version's amount to $20,000, making little sense to continue with the $25,000 Pyramid. Instead, they simply increased the daytime version to $25,000, and all subsequent versions are daytime also. The reason why is that game shows stopped syndicating weekly versions, and the only way to get a weekly version is with a network during prime time. Bill Cullen continued to host numerous odd ball Bob Stewart games, and got a job hosting Chain Reaction, and Blockbusters. After that, he hosted Child's Play before working for Jack Barry and Dan Enright. Bill Cullen was hired to host Hot Potato, and was pulled from that show to host The Joker's Wild in a controversial decision. The Joker's Wild did not properly accommodate Bill Cullen. Instead of simply turning his chair towards the audience as they did on The Love Experts, they abandoned the Audience Podium in favor of adding the third contestant via telephone. Bill Cullen did not host any other Bob Stewart shows after 1980, Pyramid or otherwise. He did not host GO, a spin off of Chain Reaction. Chain Reaction it self did not revive until after he retired.

## Episode Status:

Bill Cullen hosted and / or announced at least 25,000 game show broadcasts. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them have not survived over the decades, or are now in very poor quality. Bob Stewart did not make any efforts to preserve the episodes. Since most of Bill Cullen's game shows are with Bob Stewart, they no longer exist as V.T.R. copies. To make matters worse, home recordings are also scarce as most peoples could not afford to continue to buy tapes for every thing they wanted to record, and reused the tapes after watching only once the timed broadcasts they missed. The reason why every incarnation of Pyramid exists is by coincidence. Basically the first year of $10,000 Pyramid exists as well as the final year of The 20,000 Pyramid. The first year of The $10,000 Pyramid was made on C.B.S., who compromised by agreeing to preserve episodes in exchange for a severe winnings limit. It was rare for a second network to renew a game show. By the time A.B.C. began to preserve its daytime television, it happened to be known as The $20,000 Pyramid. Since Bill Cullen's version is made for syndication, they are more likely to exist as many copies were made.

Chain Reaction aired on N.B.C. and escaped the eraser. Blockbusters did also, which resulted in unlimited returning champions receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bill Cullen won his first daytime Emmy on Blockbusters.

Occasionally, game show hosts such as Bill Cullen criticized the process. During his at home breakfast news interview, he mentioned the shift away from a simple radio desk to gigantic stages such as when The Price Is Right added pricing games. He also accurately predicted that year after year when the amount of game shows increased, they would get dumbed down.

He had an indirect role in changing how episodes of daytime television get preserved. He appeared on QUBE, which was an early attempt to launch a popular Community Antenna Television. All of their channels were unbranded public access cable. They included an Interactive communication. He hosted How Do You Like Your Eggs? which recorded polls in real time. Despite both How Do You Like Your Eggs? and QUBE being canceled, it resulted in USA NETWORK being spun off of Madison Square Garden. USA NETWORK at the time was highly interested in reruns, and even made new game shows as well. By May 1980, the procedure of erasing finally ended completely.

## Other Work:

Bill Cullen was in The Air Force, and attempted to have a commercial air service of his own. He found it unprofitable and mostly flew in the Civil Air Patrol instead.

## Personality:

He had excellent people skills, and knew how to talk through any technical difficulty as well as handle any type of contestant reaction. On Pyramid, Bill Cullen was familiar with William Shatner's type of comedy. There was an upset contestant on Eggs that did not care to be associated with a famous personality. Bill Cullen did not turn away a happy contestant that hugged him, and also talked with an exhausted contestant trying to play a nearly impossible round and said to Bill "I hate the board.". Bill, who had hosted an advice panel a year earlier, provided a talk show environment for the contestants. The pace of the game show was slowed down in favor of Bill Cullen's antics and spent time conversing with the contestants as well as production staff. He would even break the rules by offering prizes out of his own pockets, and guilting Bob Hilton to join him. One time he offered all three contestants a studio tour of N.B.C., while other times the contestants were allowed to show up close footage of their sentimental items and family photos. Other times production staff appeared on stage to repair malfunctioning equipment, and loved ones that accompanied them were given screen time.

## Awards:

He won a daytime Emmy award during his time at Blockbusters.

## Filmography:

His career in American game shows is unmatched by anyone.

Currently Incomplete:

* The Price Is Right, Goodson - Todman, Original Version Only.
* Eye Guess, Basada, All Episodes.
* Three On A Match, Basada, All Episodes.
* Winning Streak, Basada, All Episodes.
* A Weekly Syndicated Version Of $25,000 Pyramid, Basada, 1974 - 1979.
* Blankety Blanks, Basada, All Episodes.
* Pass The Buck, Basada, C.B.S., All Episodes.
* How Do You Like Your Eggs? QUBE, All Episodes, 1978.
* The Love Experts, All Episodes, 1979.
* Chain Reaction, Basada, Most Episodes Of N.B.C. Version, 1980.
* Blockbusters, Goodson - Todman, All Episodes Of N.B.C. Version, 1980 - 1982.
* Child's Play, All Episodes, G&T, C.B.S., 1982 - 1983
* Hot Potato, all episodes, B&E, Daily Syndication, 1984.
* The Joker's Wild, controversial last minute replacement, 1984 - 1986.