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''Concentration'' was a TV Game Show based on the Children's Memory Game of the same name. The property has been seen in several different versions: The original network daytime series, ''Concentration,'' aired on , New York City . A once-a-week nighttime version of the show appeared in two separate broadcast runs on NBC. The first edition appeared only for four weeks, from October 30 , 1958 to November 20 , 1958 , with Jack Barry as the host. The second edition was on the air from April 24 , 1961 to September 18 , 1961 , with Hugh Downs as the host. The second version of ''Concentration'' was Syndicated , with Jack Narz as host. It ran from September 10 , 1973 through September 8 , 1978 . A third version of ''Concentration'' was first piloted in 1985. The pilot was hosted by Orson Bean , but no network or syndicator bought the show. However, after some reformatting, a remake of the game called '' Classic Concentration '', hosted by Alex Trebek , aired on NBC from May 4 , 1987 to September 20 , 1991 (with reruns airing through the end of 1993 ). Despite numerous attempts to develop a new version in recent years, NBC (the rights holder) has not authorized a new version of the program. DEVELOPMENT Barry and game show-partner puzzle that was revealed as matching cards were removed from the board. In place of the playing cards, the gameboard featured numbered boxes (30 in all) on one side of each card, and prizes, that were to be matched, on the other. The gradual matching of card pairs slowly revealed elements of the rebus, a picture puzzle described below. REBUSES The Rebus form is centuries old, and has been used in various forms. The most popular contemporary form, prior to "Concentration," involved pictures, letters and numbers, as well as plus and minus signs to add or delete parts of a phrase. For example, wick + e + pea + d + uh, or, with minus signs, wick + elephant - lephant + pie - ie + d + uh. The member of the Barry & Enright development team responsible for the development and art direction of the puzzles was Norm Blumenthal, who later became the original series' producer. He simplified the rebus form for television, allowing only plus symbols, and subsequently devised all of the puzzles seen on the original series. In his version of a rebus puzzle, which became ''Concentration's'' standard, a rebus is a puzzle made up of a combination of pictures, letters, words and numbers connected by plus signs. When solved, it is either the title of something or a well-known phrase. For instance:
Put it together CON + CENT + TRAY + SHIN (CONCENTRATION) In all versions, two contestants competed to solve a Rebus behind doors of numbers, similar to the brain bender on the later Nickelodeon game show '' Think Fast! ''. Since his departure from ''Concentration'', Blumenthal has continued to experiment with sophisticated picture puzzles. He has published several books filled with rebus puzzle games, including ''Picture Puzzle Pandemonium''. RULES OF THE GAME Two contestants (one a returning champion) sat before a board of 30 squares, which concealed the rebus, names of prizes and special squares (see below). One at a time, the contestants called out two numbers. If the prizes or special action didn't match, the opponent took a turn. However, if the player did match, whatever prize was printed on the card was placed on a board behind the contestant; or, he/she could perform an action. The second number had to be called out within a certain time limit; otherwise the contestant's turn ended. It was also permissible to pass on one's turn. This usually happened during the course of a game if a contestant called out a prize card that had been orphaned as the result of a Wild Card match (see Wild Card below). More importantly, a match also revealed two pieces of the rebus, which identified a person, phrase, place, thing, etc. The player could try to solve the rebus by making one guess or choose two more numbers. There was no penalty for a wrong guess; even if he/she was wrong, he/she kept control. Usually, a player waited to solve the puzzle until they had exposed a good portion of the rebus through several matches. In rare instances, the puzzle was solved with only a few clues showing. On one occasion, it was solved with only two clues. In addition to the prize cards, there were the following action cards:
Players uncovering two WILD cards also won a bonus. At first, players won $500 (theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome) and chose two additional numbers; the prizes went on that contestant's side and four pieces of the rebus were revealed. Late in the run, the bonus was changed to a new car, and again the player kept it, regardless of the game's outcome. Only one car was awarded to a contestant if they called a double WILD card. If a contestant called a double WILD card a second time, they received $500. As before, it was theirs to keep regardless of the game's outcome. If each wild card matched a "car" prize, a player could win three cars in one game: one for matching the two wild cards, and the two "car" card matches. (It only happened twice.)
Also included were two or three joke or gag prizes (such as a banana peel or torn teddy bear). These actually served as insurance markers against opponents' Take cards and the Forfeit cards he/she might stumble upon. During a panel discussion of the series at the 2005 Game Show Congress , producer Blumenthal revealed the cash value of the gag gifts to be $1! If a contestant solved the puzzle, they won all of their accumulated prizes which were theirs to keep. If there were no legitimate prizes in the rack, they were awarded $100. The loser forfeited all his/her gifts accumulated in that game, but still received token parting gifts as well as a home Concentration game. There was no bonus round in the original game. Occasionally, a game would come down to where only two prize cards were left on the board, which because of the Wild Cards often did not match. In such instances, the unmatched cards were turned over to reveal the entire puzzle, and the contestant who made the last match was allowed one guess to try to solve it first. If he/she guessed incorrectly, their opponent was allowed to make one guess. If both guessed incorrectly, the game ended in a draw. A new game was played and each contestant was allowed to carry over a maximum of three prizes. Champions continued until they either were defeated or won 20 games. Reportedly, this happened just once (in 1966 , by Ruth Horowitz). ORIGINAL SERIES (1958-1973) ''Concentration'' remains the longest-running game show on NBC and held the record for longest continuous daytime run on network television until it was eclipsed in April 1987 by Bob Barker 's version of '' The Price Is Right ''. ''Concentration'' now ranks fourth on the long-run list of long-running daytime/syndicated game shows, behind ''TPiR'' and the syndicated runs of '' Wheel Of Fortune '' and '' Jeopardy! ''. As a result of the quiz scandals, co-creators Jack Barry and Dan Enright, upon their blacklisting from television, were forced to relinquish the rights to NBC, who still holds exclusive rights today. Apart from the earliest episodes, ''Concentration'' was an NBC in-house production. When ''Concentration'' started, it was hosted by Hugh Downs, was produced and broadcast live at 11:30 a.m. Eastern/10:30 a.m. Central weekdays in black-and-white, and quickly became the most-watched daytime series in NBC's lineup. The announcer was Art James , who sometimes served as a substitute host and later became a game show host in his own right. The series was produced in NBC's Studio 3A. The series then moved to 11/10 a.m., and slowly introduced color broadcasts. For a picture puzzle game whose rebuses were designed and painted in monochrome, this required some design changes: The colors of the numbered cards might otherwise interfere with the colors used on the rebus, a critical issue for contestants playing in the studio and for viewers who played along at home. During this period, the series was produced in NBC's Studio 6A. Hugh Downs (by this time also an anchor on NBC's ''Today Show'') remained host, and the announcer became Jim Lucas, who also worked on NBC's local New York radio station, WNBC-AM . In early 1969 , Downs stepped down to devote his entire attention to ''Today,'' with Bob Clayton (who had succeeded Jim Lucas as announcer) taking the reins. Briefly, NBC set Clayton aside in favor of Ed McMahon (due to advertiser pressure), but Clayton returned and remained host until the series ended. On the Monday following ''Concentration's'' demise on NBC, he became the announcer for '' The $10,000 Pyramid '' on CBS . CBS placed ''Pyramid'' in the very same time slot where ''Concentration'' aired. NBC staffer Wayne Howell replaced Clayton in the announcer's booth. The first puzzle was titled "It Happened One Night," and the last puzzle read "You've Been More Than Kind". Some 30 years later after the cancellation, Blumenthal visited all-time "Concentration" champion Ruth Horowitz at her home. She showed him a publicity photo he had autographed, a few years before the show left the NBC lineup, with the comment, "You've Been Most Kind." Seen daily for nearly 15 years, and consistently one of the most popular series on NBC, the original series included many special features. These included special salutes to individual nations around the world, annual specials saluting the Boy Scouts, annual Christmas shows featuring "Secret Santas" (celebrities who played the game in Santa Claus suits and revealed their identities at the end of the show), and the Challenge of Champions (so successful that it was subsequently mimicked by another popular NBC daytime game, ''Jeopardy!''). Among the series' popular special features:
Throughout the competition, participants, including Downs, Clayton, and Blumenthal, wore blue blazers, with the show logo embroidered in gold on the breast pocket. During another contest (circa 1970), home viewers could win a prize based on the initial of their last name corresponding to a number on the board. To enter the contest, one merely had to send a postcard to the address given. These postcards were placed in a rotary drum and Clayton would draw a card and read the name. If the prize card was for a gag prize or a "Forfeit 1 gift," the home viewer received $100. If it was a "Take 1 Gift" card, a $250 prize was awarded. If it happened to be a Wild Card, the home viewer won $500. The contest was held at least once a week and frequently several drawings were held on the same episode. On one episode, a viewer from Oklahoma won a motor boat. Host Bob Clayton made the mistake of asking, "What could he possibly do with a boat in Oklahoma?" The show was then inundated with brochures on Oklahoma lakes. Most Oklahoma lakes are man-made, in response to the Dust Bowl . Through nearly all of the original series' run, the program was produced by Norm Blumenthal. He also created every one of the 7,300 puzzles used on the show (with no repeated puzzles). He also created all puzzles used in the 24 editions of the Milton Bradley home game. One retrospective of the original series reported the following prize tally:
Additionally, there were countless gift certificates, travel trailers, airplanes, swimming pools, furniture, kitchen appliances (large and small), rooms of furniture, clothing, stereos and televisions, fantastic nights out on the town and virtually any other item seen in any mail-order catalog. One history of the 1958-1973 series reported the total prize giveaway at $10 million. Speaking of prizes, the prize values on the original series were deliberately much smaller than those of the big-money games implicated as part of the Quiz Show Scandals of the late 1950s. Barry and Enright kept the winnings low-value on purpose, to avoid any suggestion that it, too, was tainted; NBC maintained that policy when it took over production. Usually, there was at least one prize worth more than $1000; however, nearly all the other prizes were worth less than $500, with many in the $10-$100 range. A board of prizes rarely totaled more than $2000-$3000 and champions rarely took home more than that in merchandise during their stay (though some longer-lived winners approached $10,000). During most of the network version's run, it faced production, '' Baffle '', hosted by Dick Enberg , replaced it at that time slot. SYNDICATED RUN (1973-1978) After NBC cancelled ''Concentration'', Mark Goodson - Bill Todman Productions produced a daily five-times-a-week (a practice known as "stripping" in the TV trade) version for syndication, but there were some television stations in different cities that aired the program only once a week ("checkerboarding" with similar games and other syndicated features on different nights of the week). The project was a joint venture of syndicator Jim Victory and NBC, which retained the rights to the show. The show premiered in September 1973 and ran for five years. Jack Narz was the host, with Johnny Olson as announcer. This version of ''Concentration'' was produced at Metromedia Square in Hollywood . This time, two new contestants competed each day (no returning champions, because some stations only carried the show one evening a week); games did not straddle episodes as on the network version. For the first two seasons, the basic game was identical to the NBC version with the addition of 4 "head starts" that revealed the locations of four prizes on the board. The "gag prizes" were gone and only one pair of ''Forfeit One Gift'' cards remained, with three pairs of ''Take One Gift'' cards this time. ''Concentration's'' board had become very colorful, with the 30 larger numbers in red with yellow backgrounds and red frames. Many prize, ''Forfeit'', ''Take'', and ''Wild Card!'' cards had actually come from New York with the original board and were reverse printed (white lettering on a dark background). The rebus was in full color on a sky blue background. The prize budget had clearly taken a nosedive from the NBC's aging version (although the set and theme were necessary major production upgrades that, conceivably, could have saved the NBC series). A step up was the increase of the cash prize when a contestant solved the puzzle with no prizes on his/her side of the board from $100 to $250. A step down was that the bonus for matching the two ''Wild Cards'' regardless of winning the game reverted to $500 instead of the new car last offered by NBC. Also, the contestant no longer received the opportunity to match the ''Wild Cards'' and reveal 4 parts of the puzzle. Prizes that were once only consolation prizes on the NBC series and other game shows became the prizes on the board. Fun additions like the Cash Wheel, The Envelope (containing an unknown prize) and the International games did not appear on this version, as the game became somewhat utilitarian in nature. If the board had no more matches and no one solved the puzzle, the remaining parts would be revealed and a contestant could ring an electric "buzzer" to give his/her solution. Double Play The winner of the game played a new bonus round called "Double Play," with a new car as the prize for solving two fully revealed rebuses within 10 seconds, with the first puzzle earning the player $100. Solving both rebuses won the car. (The first car offered was a yellow 1973 Chevrolet Vega hatchback.) If there was time for a third game, a "money game" was played, which was plain, old ''Concentration'' with no head starts. On the board were matched amounts of foreign currency with the ''Take'', ''Forfeit'' and ''Wild Card'' cards on the board. If the puzzle was solved, the winner received the money in American currency; if the game could not be completed, the contestant with the most money on his/her side of the board was declared the winner. Although the "mystery logo" and unusual animated opening were gone, a giant backlit "Concentration" logo in the style retained from the latter years on NBC framed the center of the set from above. Another change was the reversal of the contestant and board locations (oddly common among game shows originally produced in New York and moved to the West Coast). The contestants now sat on the right side of the studio, with the board positioned on the left. There was no emcee's podium and for the first three seasons, Jack Narz was mainly off-camera during the game, standing in the center of the stage. He eventually stood between the two contestants. The prize tote board consisted of the two doors that were originally on the NBC New York set, but cut down and made permanently set boards in the new set. A single bell chime sounded whenever a match was made. The old board did not suffer the trip to the West Coast well. By the end of the 1974-1975 season, the trilons were "grinding" so badly they could barely turn. A few weeks into the 1975-1976 season, the mechanism was completely rebuilt with a smooth high-speed mechanism that made the trilons almost fly around. The first of many changes to come in the game arrived with the four ''Bonus Number'' cards and the elimination of one prize pair and one of the ''Take One Gift'' pairs. A contestant matching the ''Bonus Number'' cards could call a third number if their next two picks didn't match. Changes During the 1975-1976 season, more rules were changed to speed up gameplay. The ''Forfeit One Gift'' cards were scrapped entirely. The board also hid 2 Free Look spaces. Revealing one instantly uncovered that particular portion of the rebus and allowed the contestant who selected the space to take a guess at the puzzle. Two more ''Wild'' cards were added to the board and the prize for matching them was reduced to $250. In the first game, contestants could call a third number if the first two did not match. All of the original trilon cards were scrapped and replaced with new graphics. The rebuses were also made shorter and easier, all trends that later made up ''Classic Concentration''. These changes did not sit well at all with longtime ''Concentration'' play-along viewers, who preferred game play over speed. Most of them had continued to follow the show, as it was syndicated to many NBC affiliates. Ratings fell and many stations (including former flagship WNBC in New York) moved the show to pre-dawn hours (or other non-prime-time access slots) and then dropped it. Some independent stations then picked it up for what would be its last two seasons. During the 1977-1978 season, the "Double Play" bonus game added a step: players determined their Double Play prize package by choosing squares from a 9-space board and competing for the first prize package matched (the car was also a prize on this board). One space, if chosen, allowed the player to play for all of the prizes revealed up to that point. This version of ''Concentration'' also used several prize music cues also used on ''Price'' including what fans call "Splendido", which is used for furniture Showcases on ''Price''. CATCH PHRASE During the original NBC run, Downs or Clayton would often say, "Not a match, the board goes back," after a contestant's selections didn't match. In recent years, Talk Show host David Letterman — himself a frequent celebrity guest on game shows during his early career — has taken to using the phrase as well, sometimes after a comedy bit fell flat and other times for no apparent reason at all. During the early days of the show, after Hugh Downs' introduction, he'd greet the home viewers by saying, "Welcome to CONCENTRATION, the show where the ability to concentrate pays off. The object is to solve the puzzle..." When matches were made, and the puzzle was slowly revealed, Downs would say," look at these two parts of the puzzle (or puzzle parts)...can you tell us what it says?" After the "times-up buzzer" sounded, he'd say "...(it's) still your turn. Two more numbers..." When the contestant successfully solved the puzzle, Downs would happily shout, "..IS RIGHT!" This trait was also used later by game show host Jim Peck on several of his programs. When it came time for the contestant to find out about their prizes, Downs would say to them, "...here's (announcer's name) to tell you EXACTLY what you have won..." Whenever saying good-bye to a contestant, at the end of each day's show, the host would say, "... and thanks for playing Concentration." COMMERCIAL VERSIONS
EPISODE STATUS Nearly all of the 1958-73 episodes were rumored to have been destroyed by NBC, but some were said to be found in the Library of Congress. Only a few remain on the trading block; Shokus Video is known to have a tournament episode from the late 1960s, and 12 Downs/Clayton episodes and a syndicated Narz episode have been found in the UCLA broadcasting archive. The Museum Of Television And Radio has in its possession one 1958 Hugh Downs episode, two 1971-72 Bob Clayton episodes and one syndicated Narz episode from 1974. The status of the Narz episodes is uncertain. The 1985 pilot hosted by Orson Bean also exists in private collections. All of the Trebek episodes still exist and have since been converted from analog to digibeta tape (required to air on cable television), but no version of ''Concentration'' has aired since 1993, as NBC still holds the rights to the format, and has, so far, not licensed it anywhere for syndication. At least one Narz episode has been found on the trading circuit, from the final season in 1978 with the Double Play bonus round pick-a-prize package board. A ten minute clip of the end of an episode from 1974 also exists, in poor quality. INTERNATIONAL VERSIONS A British version of the show was produced from 1959 to 1960 by Granada Television , hosted by Barry McQueen , Chris Howland and David Gell . It was later revived by TVS in the late 1980s and early 1990s , hosted by Nick Jackson and Bob Carolgees . Both versions were shown on ITV . In Australia , versions aired from 1959-1967 (with a nighttime version airing until 1961), then in the 1970s with Lionel Williams , and then again in 1997, with Mike Hammond as host on the latter. The 1960s versions aired on the Nine Network , the latter versions aired on the Seven Network . EXTERNAL LINKS
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