Recordings occurred mostly on alternate Thursdays, with two shows taped in each session.
In 1972, Goodson-Todman revived I’ve Got a Secret for syndication, meaning individual stations and station groups would buy the show directly from a distributor and would have great latitude in where they would place it on their program schedule. G-T was already having success with syndicated versions of What’s My Line?, which debuted in the fall of 1968, and To Tell the Truth, which came around a year later. Both those shows were being offered as daily programs. Secret would be, as it always had been, a weekly show. The most dramatic change is that it would now be produced in Hollywood rather than New York.
The public first started hearing about a revival in early
February. Goodson-Todman (and their
distributor Firestone) took out a splashy full-page trade ad announcing the
revival and its host…Art Linkletter? The
popular television personality had appeared on the original several times and
was on the short list to replace Garry Moore when he stepped down in 1964. By April, without explanation, Linkletter was
out and Steve Allen was in. Steve had
been hosting a syndicated talk-variety show, the last and least noticed of
three he had launched in a relatively short span. That show had folded in January (at the end
it was only airing in eighteen markets), leaving him available to return to his
old role.
Also returning to his old role, for a lot of the run anyway,
was Henry Morgan, as irascible as ever if not more so. His well-documented disdain for Steve Allen,
or anything else Henry found irritating, would occasionally be on full display. Jayne Meadows, who presumably had a fonder
opinion of Steve, made a few appearances as well. The other panelists remained in New York.
Bill Cullen had become a regular on To Tell the Truth. Bess Myerson had
left television for a political career. Betsy was primarily focused on her
stage work and also had the odd job of “Den Mother” (occasional hostess, liaison
and spokesperson) at the fashionable Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue.
The biggest new addition was Richard Dawson, clearly
designated by Steve most weeks as the featured “anchorman” of the panel. Dawson
had been an actor (Hogan’s Heroes) and comedian (Rowan and Martin’s
Laugh-In) and was just beginning the “game show personality” phase of his
career, which would suit him well. After
this series ended, he became a regular on the updated revival of Match Game. He gained a huge following there, which led to
him becoming the host of Family Feud a few years later.
The regular panelists were Dawson (37 of the 39 episodes),
Morgan (22), comic actress Pat Carroll (29) and stage veteran Anita Gillette (25). Oddly, that particular group of four did not end
up working together as a quartet until the 23rd week of the 39-week series. Others who appeared for more than a single
two-show session were Jayne (6), Nanette Fabray (6), Gene Rayburn (5), Arte
Johnson (4), Bert Convy (4), and Betty White (4).
The show looked and played just about the same way it always
had. Instead of a curtain, the back area
was hidden from view by a large partition Steve would refer to as “The Great
Wall.” When the wall was down,
contestants would enter through a doorway inside the giant “A” of the show’s
logo. When they needed the extra room
for the demonstrations and performances, the Great Wall would fly up to reveal whatever
nonsense the producers had cooked up.
Also, this version solved the problem of playing for low stakes not by
raising the prize money but by removing it altogether. Guests received gifts and had their expenses covered,
but the game was played without any mention of anybody winning anything. (The syndicated
version of What’s My Line? had similarly done away with its references
to prize money.)
This revival only lasted a single season. There wasn’t anything wrong with the series
itself. It continued to provide fun,
clever and interesting segments, sometimes with a modern edge. (They were particularly fond of the possibilities
associated with touch-tone telephones and similar technological marvels.) Many segments were cribbed from nearly
identical games played on the original series, but you would have needed a long
memory to know that, and they were plenty of fun on their own merits. Locating the series to the West Coast meant
having access to a lot more of the television stars who called California home. The vast majority of regular contestants also
hailed from the Golden State.
What probably hurt the show most of all is that in this case, Goodson-Todman was a victim of their own success. When What’s My Line? was resurrected for syndication a few years earlier, it was deliberately designed to be a looser version of the original show, and specifically incorporated some of the demonstrations that John Daly had objected to originally, but that had made I’ve Got a Secret so popular. (G-T insiders jokingly called the new version What’s My Secret Line?) With both shows covering the same ground, and in some cases even using the very same contestants, the new Secret didn’t offer anything that audiences weren’t already getting five times a week. Add to that a competitive and confusing syndicated marketplace, in which weekly game shows were having a harder time gaining a foothold than five-a-week “strip” series were, and Secret didn’t have much of a chance.
Use the chart below to learn more about the secrets and the stars of each of the syndicated episodes. Where a state is not specified in a contestant intro, assume California. Three of the 39 episodes do not appear to be in the Fremantle archives, as noted below. We don’t like to use the word “lost” to describe such programs, but they’ll certainly be hard to find.