It was perhaps the first clip anyone or anything had ever pooped on live television .
The Price Is Righthost Bill Cullen and objector stifled laughter as a massive elephant — which had been trot out on leg to be facetiouslyawardedas a prize — could not book its bowels any longer . The beast evacuated , pressure the camera operators on the sequence , which aired in the 1950s , to quickly deviate away from the aspect .
Cullen made an reflection with his typical wit . “ All I can say is , the Democrats are asking for equal time , ” hequipped .
Despite the blunder , The Price Is Rightwould go on to boast a second prize elephant in another episode — and again , producer considered it to be a joke . But one contestant insist that if the show was going to promise an elephant , it had better deliver an elephant .
A Pachyderm Pact
Most present-day television TV audience are intimate withThe Price Is Rightin its current personification , which has had an uninterrupted run since 1972 — first with Bob Barker and then his replacement , Drew Carey . But the serial publication ab initio aired from 1956 to 1965 and was hosted by Cullen , an amiable tuner and telly personality who was so in need that he was on the respiratory tract five days a hebdomad . In addition to heading upThe Mary Leontyne Price Is Rightand appear as a panelist onI’ve Got a unavowed , Cullen also broadcast a pop New York radio program , Pulse , every weekday dawning . "
At first , Cullen wasn’tsurethat a game show focused on dissident guessing the prices of retail items would be all that exciting , either for himself or for viewers . But producer Mark Goodson , Bill Todman , and creator Bob Stewart convert him it was a game most people played in their daily lives , when champion or relative would ask them to guess the price of a raw car or point of clothing .
Cullen ’s doubts faded whenThe Price Is Rightdebuted to well-nigh - immediate success in 1956 . ( The pilot , in which Cullen fell off a turntable - elan band and into a wall , was left unseen . ) air every weekday live at 10:30 ante meridiem , the show had both in - studio apartment contestants and at - abode player : Viewers were ask in to guess the price of a Showcase assortment by mail in postal card . billion came in each week , and those who guessed closest to the retail price without going over won the item .
IfThe Price Is Righthad one problem , it was that there was a finite identification number of consumer goods to feature on the show . Producers trust that the interview would finally get bored of car , kitchen gadget , and vacations , so sought to get creative with the dirty money — specifically , with the “ bonus ” pillage .
succeed a restored 1901 Oldsmobile , for deterrent example , and the show endow you with a brand - Modern 1958 Olds ; win a European holiday and you ’d get some muckle of foreign currency to go along with it . If you won a French poodle dog , you might get tickets to Paris . At one period , the show even award someone an island in the St. Lawrence Seaway , which is now know as terms Is Right Island , and kick in them afire trucksince they ’d be the only fire section on the island .
That irreverence is what led Stewart and producers to rope in a genus Circus elephant — not once , but twice . The first time , accordingto Adam Nedeff ’s bookQuizmaster , the defecating attractive force was mistreated to some degree : In an crusade to fend off having the creaturepoopon photographic camera , a plug was inserted into its anus , which was reportedly a common pattern in television at the metre . ( For animals , anyway . ) manifestly , it flush it to work on .
“ We did have an inauspicious elephant , I guess , ” Stewart latertoldthe Television Academy Foundation . “ This was early on in the show . We still had 20 minutes to go . The elephant acquire frightened . He did what elephant do when they get frightened … We had stuff to bring on stage . We ’re shoot everything from the waist up . The models are tiptoe around , seek not to step in the wrong plaza . ”
A stage cover in animal BM did n’t deter the show from bringing out another elephant , this time as a “ bonus ” prize and as a spoiled paronomasia referring to a piano a contestant had won . ( Its purpose was to provide " extra bone . " ) It was stand for as a joke , but producers quickly find out that the contestant was n’t laughing .
Bigger in Texas
Stewart figured anyone gain an elephant was pass away to turn down it , so he had an alternative at the ready — a cash prize of $ 4000 . But the gain bidder preferred the animal for what was to him a sensible reason : He owned a farm in Texas andbelievedthe elephant could produce enough natural plant food to make caring for it deserving his trouble .
The show could n’t give away the elephant that appeared on stagecoach — it had beenrentedas a resilient airplane propeller . So Stewart went through the difficulty and disbursement of merchant marine in an elephant from Kenya .
obtain the animal from Kenya was surely workable , as selling elephants in Texas and other states had been done before . One Abilene zooobtaineda baby elephant after a cabaret provoke $ 4750 for one . Finding out the destiny ofThe toll is Rightwinner and his elephant , however , is difficult , as no media outlets seemed to have followed up on it . Previous contestants who make headway non - naturalize animals were have a go at it to sell them — like the guest who went home with a unrecorded hint as a “ bonus ” for winning a barbecue grille . It ’s possible this 2d elephant was given to the man , then re - sold — or that the man changed his mind .
However Stewart ’s elephant storey ended , it only added to the solicitation ofThe cost Is Right , which was a ratings polish off for years . After the inaugural run of the show envelop up in 1965 , Goodson - Toman mounted a syndicated revival in 1972 hosted by Dennis James . ( Cullen , who was based in New York , did n’t desire to relocate to Los Angeles for the new iteration . ) Bob Barker began a daytime version that same yr . In 2013 , Barker — anoted animal rights militant — pay $ 1 million to helprelocatethree African elephants from Canada to a chancel in California .
Although Cullen may have been assume by Barker as the face ofThe Price Is correct , his story with the show and its elephants may testify to be more abiding . A 1994 instalment ofThe Simpsonstitled“Bart Gets an Elephant ” sees Bart opt for a pachyderm instead of $ 10,000 in cash during a radio call - in competition , and “ Stampy ” issue to make for mayhem in suburban Springfield . It ’s believed the show was exalt by one or both of theThe Price Is Rightincidents . ( That episode ’s writer , John Swartzwelder , wasbornin 1949 , make it at least plausible he had seen the elephant stunts on live television . )
Cullen himself seemed unbothered by the elephant episode , peculiarly the first one . Remembering the brute that used the phase as a gutter , he recount a diary keeper in 1963 that the show feature a donkey the undermentioned week and “ nothing untoward befall . ”
extra Sources : Quizmaster : The Life & Times & Fun & Games of Bill Cullen
