Part of my misguided youth was spent hanging around various Burbank productions, where my aunt was a studio teacher (her most famous pupil being Ricky Schroder). We (my sister and I and friends) wound up spending a lot of time in the audience at the Gong Show - enough that we got to know some of the stagehands and production assistants a little. I was in high school I think, and not the most reliable judge at the time - my memory is that for all of the insane stuff I later read was going on, they were not a very happy group (at least compared to some of the other shows we hung around, mostly low-prestige sitcoms, and the Tonight Show). It may have been part of the schtick to goose the studio audience, but our impression was always that most of the crew really did not like Barry, and were mildly embarrassed to be working on the show.
On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 11:36 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote: > I met Gene a few times, but mostly I know of him by the legendary > baskstage stories of the Gong Show. I know there have been movies and even > semi-documentaries about what went on in the hallways between the Carson > studio and the Gong Show studio back in the day, but the tales I heard of > those days topped any on-screen fact or fiction. Alas, they aren't my > stories to tell, and the statute of limitations probably hasn't run out on > more than a few of them, so I'll just leave it at that. > > On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 7:43 PM, Bob Jersey <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Gene Patton, actually a stagehand at NBC Burbank, didn't do that much of >> a dance when summoned by Chuck Barris during lulls in the action on *The >> Gong Show... *he was a pioneer of sorts, the first member of colour at >> IATSE Local 33... in Pasadena, of diabetes, from which he lost both legs; >> 82. >> >> *NY Daily News* >> <http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gong-show-gene-gene-dancing-machine-dies-82-article-1.2149430> >> (link) >> >> B >> >> -- >> -- >> TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "TV or Not TV" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TVorNotTV" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
