The Face Is Familiar
The Face Is Familiar is an American game show which aired in color on CBS as a summer replacement show from May 7 to September 3, 1966. The show was hosted by Jack Whitaker and featured celebrity guests including Bob Crane, Dick Van Patten, Mel Brooks and June Lockhart.
The Face Is Familiar
United States
English
1
18
Bob Stewart
24-25 min
May 7 –
September 3, 1966
The series was primarily sponsored by Philip Morris' Parliament and Marlboro cigarettes, and their American Safety Razor Company (Personna razor blades) and Clark Gum subsidiaries. The show was produced by Bob Stewart Productions in association with Filmways Television. Its theme song was a slightly-modified version of Brasilia, performed by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.
Changes[edit]
By June 25, the format had changed so that the teams would alternate picking numbers from 1 to 7 to reveal a strip of a celebrity's scrambled face for their opponents until either the entire picture was revealed or one team correctly guessed the face. If the entire picture was revealed, the teams would then begin switching two strips of the face around to try to figure out who was in the picture. Each correct answer was worth $100, and two games won the match.
The bonus round was also changed so that the team could always see either the eyes, nose, or mouth and had to guess which celebrity that body part belonged to. However, there was now a 60-second time limit. $50 was awarded for each correct guess, with $500 awarded if all four were correctly guessed. If a celebrity was not guessed within 10 seconds of the body part being shown, the full face was revealed, and play continued with another body part. Both teams competed for the entire show.
Pilot[edit]
The pilot was filmed early in 1966 with Jack Clark as host; Betsy Palmer and Bill Cullen were the celebrities. As Clark closed the episode, he mentioned that the "following week's guests" would be Eydie Gorme and Alan King, implying that a second pilot would be filmed. Clark became the show's announcer after it was sold to CBS—Hal Simms was announcer on the pilot and Winston cigarettes was going to be the sponsor for it.
The set and format were slightly different; winning the main game was worth $200 instead of $150. Also, winning the end game was worth $500 in addition to the $200 from the main game, instead of a $500 total.
Technology[edit]
The series was notable for its use of technology. Besides the screen which showed the faces and could switch any two pieces instantly, the show also used a split-screen shot when the contestants (who sat outside of the two celebrities) were answering a question. When one contestant rang in, the split wiped to the side to show both partners of that team.
The second format's bonus round used a 60-second timer. For the viewers, a 7x4 electronic lighted scoreboard was superimposed on the bottom of the screen.
Episode status[edit]
The series is believed to have been destroyed due to network practices of the era. Only four episodes are known to exist - the pilot, the premiere with Lockhart and Crane, the June 25 episode with Florence Henderson and Ray Milland, and the July 16 episode with Pearl Bailey and Mel Brooks. Of these, only the June 25 and July 16 episodes are in color, with the latter being rerun by GSN several times.
The premiere has since appeared on the Internet Archive.