Music Bingo
Packager: Teletunes Productions
Original broadcast history: May 29, 1958-September 11, 1958 (NBC Primetime); December 8, 1958-January 1, 1960 (ABC Daytime)
Host: Johnny Gilbert
Announcers: Wayne Howell (NBC), Allan Jeffreys (ABC)
Producers: Harry Salter, Johnny Stearns
Executive Producer: Al Singer
Music director: Ted Rapf
Theme Song: "Song Long" by Russ Morgan, Irving Melsher, and Remus Harris
Taped at Studio 8H (NBC), Ritz Theater (NY, ABC), Elysee Theater (NY, ABC)
An historic show in which Johnny Gilbert makes his network television debut as the emcee to this Harry Salter (Name that Tune) creation. Two contestants identify tunes while attempting to obtain "music bingo."
The Format: B-I-N-G-O M-U-S-I-C
Before any contest begins, 4 "Free Spaces" are set on the board.
Free Spaces are set and we're ready to go!
The game is played with two contestants, one representing the "sharp" symbol, the other player a "flat" symbol. The contestants stand behind a line which is behind the buzzer podium, keeping the buzzers out of reach, while the band plays the tune.
Once the music stops, which is always abruptly, the contestants must "race" to the buzzer, buzz in first, and supply the song title.
As long as you stand behind the line, there's no stipulation on how closely you can reach for the buzzer!
Correctly identifying the song allows the contestant to place his or her respective "flat" or "sharp" marker on the bingo board. A contestant can bingo horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
We have a sharp diagonal bingo!
Each victory is worth $500 with the losing contestant receiving $50. Winners stay on as long as possible.
The Magic Melody
At a random point in the show, a music riff signalled that the subsequent tune was "The Magic Melody." In addition to the right to place his/her marker on the board, a correct identification of this tune allowed the correct contestant to REPLACE one of his/her opponents marks with his/her own. This could actually change the course of the game quite significantly.
The Home Viewer Contest
An example of a Home Viewer's playing card
Viewers could play Music Bingo at home and submit their entries to win fabulous prizes.
Home viewers could play by creating their own bingo cards with the letters M-U-S-I-C at the top and 5 telephone number digits going vertically on the side of the card.
Board positions are chosen from a spinning drum, after which the band plays the tune.
Viewers were then asked to write the song title in the position on their card chosen from the drum. For example, if "I-2" were selected, a viewer would write the song title under the letter I and in the row with the number 2 (if there WAS a 2 in the viewer's phone number).
The last tune was a "Magic Melody" in which the viewer could place that song title anywhere on the board. A total of 8 tunes were played.
The following week, all of the entries in which the home viewer obtained "music bingo" were placed in a revolving drum with the grand prize winner being chosen on-air. 1,000 other winners were selected after the show for other prizes.
Johnny Gilbert actually sang some of the songs in this segment.
Salter's Music Games
Harry Salter had a fun timepasser with this game. The home-viewer sweepstakes segment took up a lot of time, so usually only 2 games were played between the in-studio contestants.
No word on exactly how many episodes of this show exist. The origin of the episode in the PoC Library is not known as it's not in any TV Museum archive.
