Bowling for Dollars


Bowling for Dollars is a television game show on which people could play the sport of bowling to win cash and sometimes prizes based on how well they bowled.
Unlike most TV game shows of the time, which were taped in either New York or Hollywood and broadcast nationally, Bowling for Dollars was produced by local TV stations and featured contestants from the immediate area. The show was actually a franchise, created by Bert Claster of Claster Television, also the creator of Romper Room. Episodes of Bowling for Dollars were taped either in a local bowling alley or on a pair of bowling lanes constructed right inside the TV studio.
The show reached its heyday in the 1970s. The most recent station to air the format was Detroit, Michigan independent station WADL, which relaunched Bowling for Dollars in September 2013.

The show

The show's main set consisted of a sliding door from which the host emerged, as did the contestants, one by one. There was also a Jackpot light with a numeric display of its value, and a Pin Pal container. There were also stands set up for an audience.
Local editions may have varied, but there were two musical themes used. One was a custom theme for the show's opening and close. The other was played when a contestant hit the jackpot, also used for commercial bumper music in some editions. The latter was an instrumental version of "Keep the Ball Rollin'" by Al Hirt, a song originally done by Jay & the Techniques.

Game play

As each contestant appeared, the host would interview him or her for a couple of minutes. Then the audience camera would cue as the contestant pointed out whom he had brought along. The contestant was then instructed to pick a Pin Pal out of a container filled with postcards sent in by home viewers, then went off to the lanes where they would bowl at least two balls.
A half-hour show had seven contestants.

Prizes

Each contestant received $1 for each pin knocked down. A strike or spare awarded $20. The real allure of the show was the Jackpot, which was awarded to any bowler who got two consecutive Strikes. The jackpot started at $200, $300, or $500 and was increased by $20 each time it was not hit.
Some versions of Bowling for Dollars awarded prizes in addition to the money. In the Detroit edition of the show, a contestant who got a spare won a dinner for two at a local restaurant. If that spare was a split, they would also get two large pies from Buddy's Pizza. If the contestant got only one strike, they got to pick a pin from a "pinboard" for a prize from a local jeweler; one such prize was a genuine diamond ring. Finally, contestants breaking the jackpot got to bowl one more time, and if that was a strike they would receive yet another prize, such as a recliner chair or bicycle. The Los Angeles version awarded a portable television set for three consecutive strikes and a car for four.

Pin Pals

Each contestant, just before approaching the bowling lane, was instructed to pick a postcard at random out of a large, horizontally mounted container. The name on the card was then read aloud by the host. These were Pin Pal cards, allowing a viewer at home to participate in the game on TV. Whatever the contestant won, the Pin Pal won also, although in many markets the jackpot was actually split between the two of them. Many people wrote clever messages on their Pin Pal cards, like "Strike it rich!" A Pin Pal was only eligible once per show, in case a Pin Pal tried to send an overwhelming number of postcards at one time.

Popular culture

The show's title has been so popular, it has been parodied quite a bit.
  • In the movie UHF, there was a show called "Bowling for Burgers".
  • On George Carlin's 1981 album, A Place for My Stuff, he announced a parody called "Bowling for Pussy" in the track "Fourth Announcements".
  • It was mentioned on The Carol Burnett Show in "The Family" skits titled "The Rehearsal" and "Mama's Accident".
  • It was mentioned on a Mama's Family episode titled "Grandma U.S.A." as "Bowling for Dishes".
  • The Michael Moore movie, Bowling for Columbine.
  • The rock band Bowling for Soup.
  • In the 1987 Film The Running Man it was spoofed as "Climbing For Dollars".
  • In the Humongous Entertainment video game Backyard Baseball, the co-anchor for the game, Vinnie the Gooch, will sometimes comment "Bowling for Dollars..." in a deadpan tone should a pitcher throw the ball low enough to the ground.
The show is mentioned in "Get a Load of This" by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders and in "No Anchovies, Please" by the J. Geils Band.

Local editions

Bowling for Dollars was broadcast from TV stations serving medium to large communities all across North America. In many of these markets, the host was introduced by the announcer as "the Kingpin himself".

Baltimore

There were two separate runs. Both aired on WBAL-TV, and both sites were filmed in studio :
Hosts: Bailey Goss, then Chuck Thompson
This show only required contestants to make one strike for the jackpot — a significantly harder task in duckpin bowling than in standard tenpins.
  • Bowling for Dollars
Hosts: Tom Cole, then Ron Riley, then Royal Parker
At one point, the show alternated between duckpin and tenpin bowlers.

Boston

This edition was titled Candlepins for Cash, featuring the regional candlepin variation of bowling, and had two separate runs:
Both editions only required contestants to make one strike for the jackpot — a significantly harder task in candlepin bowling than in standard tenpins. In the last two seasons of the show, the player would get $30 for a spare plus one bonus ball, worth $2 more per pin knocked down. When a person threw a 10-box they got $20 plus one bonus ball.
The 2006 show Candlepins For Dollars that aired on WLVI Channel 56 was not related to this format.

Buffalo

A revival of Bowling for Dollars aired between January and February 2008 on WGRZ, also hosted by Kilgore. This version, airing weekdays at 11:45 AM, was much shorter, with only one frame. It used a rotation of numerous theme songs, mostly from game shows of the 1970s.
A similar competing show, called Beat the Champ, aired on WBEN-TV during the original Channel 2 program run, hosted by Van Miller. This was one of two local-origination bowling programs on Channel 4 throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the other being a women's team-bowling program called Strikes, Spares & Misses hosted by Chuck Healy.

Charlotte

  • Station: WPCQ Channel 36
  • Host: Larry Sprinkle
  • Site: George Pappas Park Lanes
  • Only runs for a short time from September 10, 1984, until September 1985.

    Cincinnati

  • Station: WKRC-TV Channel 12
  • Host: Glenn Ryle; fill-ins included weatherman Mike Fenwick, sportscaster Dale Conquest, and WKRC radio host, Jerry Thomas.
  • Site: In studio lanes. The set for Nick Clooney's daytime talk show sat atop the lanes. There was also a daytime version that featured only lady bowlers called Strikes and Spares, hosted by Jerry Thomas.
  • The show first premiered on WKRC as a 13-week trial run in the fall of 1971. It became a regular series on September 3, 1972, airing live at 7:00 p.m. weeknights, later moving to 6:30 p.m.
  • Gus Bailey, then-station PD, cancelled the show in the fall of 1975; its last weeknight program was Thanksgiving night.
  • WKRC began a pre-recorded Saturday afternoon filler show in 1976, hosted by Dick Schorr, who also hosted the weeknight edition on sister station WTVN-TV in Columbus.

    Cleveland

Had three separate runs of Bowling for Dollars. Two used in-studio lanes.
  • 1st run
  • * Station: WUAB Channel 43
  • * Host: Wirt Cain who was primarily a Cincinnati TV personality. He would drive to Cleveland every other weekend to record 10 Bowling For Dollars shows.
  • *Location: The show was recorded at Parmatown Lanes on Day Drive, which was next door to the Channel 43 studios.
  • 2nd run
  • * Station: WEWS Channel 5
  • * Hosts: Don Webster, Paul Wilcox
  • 3rd run - First aired weeknights at 7:00 from August 1977 to September 1978, and later moved to 5:30 PM until January 1979.
  • * Station: WJW Channel 8
  • * Host: Dick Goddard
  • * Substitute Host: Bob "Hoolihan" Wells
  • * The jackpot started at $200 and increased by $20 per contestant until it was won. The top prize once went over $3000.
  • * Site: In-studio lanes.
  • * Announcers: Joe Grant, Andy Hale, John FitzGerald

    Columbus, Ohio

  • Station: WTVN Channel 6
  • Host: Dick Schorr, Gene Fullen with Sally Flowers
  • Site: Two in-studio lanes
  • Aired weeknights at 7:00 PM.

    Dallas/Fort Worth

  • Aired on: WFAA Channel 8 ABC,.
  • Host: Verne Lundquist for most of the series
  • Site: Forum Lanes in Grand Prairie, Texas and Golden Triangle Bowl in Irving, Texas.

    Dayton, Ohio

  • Station: WLWD
  • Host: David G. McFarland
  • Site: In-studio lanes
''The show aired Mon-Fri at 7:00 p.m.''

Detroit

''This was originally at Highland Lanes in Toledo, Ohio, where it was also seen on WDHO Channel 24. It moved to Detroit in about 1974. A revival of this show began in June 2013 on WADL, initially as a one-hour retrospective special, with a weekly half-hour series starting in September. As with the original version, the WADL version was hosted by Bob Allison and originated from Thunderbowl Lanes.''