The Price Is Right Wiki
Advertisement

Dennis James (b. August 24, 1917 - d. June 3, 1997), born Demie James Sposa, was an American television personality, actor, announcer and philanthropist. He is credited as the host of television's first network game show, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry in 1946. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Game Shows". James was the first person to host a telethon and to appear in a television commercial (over 25 television "firsts" in all.) As the host of the United Cerebral Palsy Telethons for 47 years (from 1950 until his passing in 1997), James was instrumental in raising over $750 million for the organization. It is estimated that Dennis helped raise well over $1 billion for various charities during his lifetime.

Game show career[]

In the 1953-1954 season, James was the announcer of the quiz program Judge for Yourself, which aired on NBC, with Fred Allen as the emcee.

James gained his greatest fame as the host of numerous game shows. Before 1956, he and Bert Parks hosted the ABC musical game show Stop the Music.

In 1956, James co-created and hosted the short-lived High Finance on CBS, in which contestants answered current-events questions to build up a jackpot for prizes. James was responsible for the NBC daytime revival of Name That Tune (1974–1975) and his last game show, the weekly syndicated nighttime version of The (New) Price Is Right (1972–1977). James and producer Mark Goodson co-hosted a promotional film, selling stations on the 1972 revival of Price, which was originally hosted by James's fellow TV pioneer Bill Cullen. He appeared with Bill Leyden in the 1962–1964 NBC quiz program Your First Impression. James's game-show hosting duties spanned the better part of four decades, presiding over shows such as The Name's the Same, High Finance (which he co-created), Haggis Baggis, People Will Talk, PDQ, and the talent shows Chance of a Lifetime and Your All-American College Show. James was also the official commercial presenter of the one-episode flop You're in the Picture, and appeared on the subsequent "apology" episode as well. He was also Ted Mack's announcer on The Original Amateur Hour.

James was a regular substitute host for Monty Hall on Let's Make a Deal during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and it was during this time that he caught the attention of Mark Goodson, who at the time was putting together The New Price is Right for syndication; the new format would incorporate the original format from 1956–1965 with elements from Deal. James was Goodson's first choice to host both that version and a daytime version commissioned by CBS, but, due to contractual obligations, the network wanted Truth or Consequences host Bob Barker for the daytime show. Barker took the daytime show, which he hosted until 2007, while James hosted the nighttime version which aired in the "access period." James hosted the nighttime Price from 1972 to 1977, and also filled in for Barker during four daytime episodes that were taped on December 2, 1974, and aired from December 24 to 27 of that year, becoming the only substitute host in the CBS version's history; the subsequent practice became to postpone tapings in cases of the host's inability to appear at those tapings. (James' 5 year contract was up in 1977, and, at nearly 60 years of age, he focused on his Charity work and his Commercial Production Company until his passing in 1997).

In an episode of the 1976 syndicated nighttime version of The Price Is Right, Dennis referred to the mountain climber character in the Cliff Hangers game as "Fritz," a reference to famous Mountain Climber Fritz Weissner. Janice Pennington's husband Fritz Stammberger, was also a mountain climber. The contestant who had played Cliff Hangers lost the game and as the mountain climber tumbled over the cliff, James shouted "There goes Fritz!," unaware that Janice's Husband was named Fritz or that Stammberger had gone missing in the Spīn Ghar mountains causing Janice to spend the rest of the episode backstage crying. According to a Facebook post by Brad James (the son of Dennis James) in the group Classic 'The Price is Right Lovers', Once he was made aware of the incident, Dennis felt absolutely terrible and was extremely apologetic. The incident was quickly put behind them and they remained friends.

Surviving work[]

James was known to have kept tapes of shows he had hosted (mostly those from his guest-hosting stints) in his library as a supplement to his résumé; one such clip from Let's Make a Deal appeared in the pitch film for The New Price Is Right. The status of the other tapes is unknown. Due to his work mostly being within the earlier years of television, most of James' shows (both as host and celebrity guest) were destroyed, with the exceptions of The Name's the Same and his tenure on Price, plus a few scattered episodes of the other programs mentioned above. A single kinescoped episode (July 18, 1950) of his live DuMont daytime program Okay, Mother did survive in its entirety and became available on video as well as in the Paley Archives.

James' episodes of Price, however, frequently featured fur coats as prizes. Due to the wishes of Bob Barker, who prohibited any episodes featuring furs from airing on Game Show Network and was executive producer of the show at the time the network aired reruns (giving him great authority over most aspects of the show), all but approximately 50 episodes of James' tenure were included in this prohibition. No episodes from the 1970s nighttime version were ever aired by GSN from 1996–2000, the time it held rights to the show. GSN has previously aired episodes of The Name's the Same with James hosting. The Christmas Day 1974 episode of the daytime Price aired in tribute after James' death.

Gallery[]

Advertisement