Wink Martindale, the king of the television game show, dies at 91

Wink Martindale, the king of the tv crippled amusement who hosted “Tic-Tac-Dough,” “Gambit,” “High Rollers” and a slew of different programs that became staples successful surviving rooms crossed America, died Tuesday successful Rancho Mirage. He was 91.

Martindale, a longtime dependable of Los Angeles vigor who had an unexpected deed grounds successful the precocious 1950s, died surrounded by household and his woman of 49 years, Sandra Martindale, according to a quality merchandise from his publicity firm.

Throughout a agelong vocation successful vigor and television, Martindale was often asked however helium came by his antithetic archetypal name.

As helium would explain, 1 of his young friends successful Jackson, Tenn., had occupation saying his fixed name, Winston, and it came retired sounding similar Winkie. The nickname, shortened to Wink aft helium got into radio, stuck — with 1 exception.

After Martindale signed to big his archetypal nationalist TV crippled amusement successful 1964, NBC’s caput of daytime programming felt that the sanction Wink sounded excessively juvenile. So, for its astir one-year run, “What’s This Song?” was hosted by Win Martindale.

Not that helium peculiarly minded having the “k” dropped from Wink.

“Not really, due to the fact that I loved those checks [from NBC],” helium said a 2017 interrogation for the Television Academy Foundation. “They tin telephone maine thing they privation to telephone me: Winkie-dinkie-doo, the Winkmeister, the Winkman, you sanction it.”

The genial, dapper TV big with the gleaming grin and perfectly coiffed hairsbreadth had hosted 2 section TV crippled shows successful L.A. earlier going nationalist with “What’s This Song?”

Over the decades, according to his website, Martindale either hosted oregon produced 21 crippled shows, including “Words and Music,” “Trivial Pursuit,” “The Last Word” and “Debt.”

“That’s a batch of shows,” helium acknowledged successful a 1996 interrogation with New York’s Daily News. “It either means everybody wants maine to bash their amusement oregon I can’t clasp a job.”

Martindale was champion known for hosting “Tic-Tac-Dough,” the revival of a precocious 1950s show, which aired connected CBS for little than 2 months successful 1978 but continued successful syndication until 1986.

Unlike tic-tac-toe, successful which 2 players simply effort to get 3 Xs oregon 3 Os successful a enactment successful a nine-box grid, “Tic-Tac-Dough” required contestants to prime a taxable class successful each of the 9 boxes, everything from geography to opus titles. Each close reply earned the players their X oregon O successful the chosen box.

“Tic-Tac-Dough” achieved its highest ratings successful 1980 during the 88-game, 46-show tally of Lt. Thom McKee, a handsome young Navy combatant aviator whose winning streak earned him $312,700 successful currency and prizes and a spot successful the Guinness Book of World Records.

“Our ratings were ne'er arsenic large until helium came connected and were ne'er arsenic large aft helium left,” Martindale said successful his Television Academy Foundation interview.

As helium saw it, the simplicity of “Tic Tac Dough” and different TV crippled shows helps explicate their continued popularity.

People astatine home, helium said, “gravitate to games that they know. They tin beryllium there, and they accidental to themselves, ‘Man, I could person gotten that; I tin play that game.’ And erstwhile you get that from a location spectator oregon a idiosyncratic successful the audience, you’ve got them captured.”

Martindale near “Tic Tac Dough” successful 1985, a twelvemonth earlier it went disconnected the air, to big a amusement that helium had created. Alas, “Headline Chasers,” lasted little than a year.

As Martindale told The Times successful 2010, “There person been a batch of bombs betwixt the hits.”

Born Winston Conrad Martindale connected Dec. 4, 1933, successful Jackson, Tenn., helium was 1 of 5 children. His begetter was a lumber inspector and his parent a housewife.

While increasing up, Martindale was a large instrumentality of the fashionable vigor shows of the time and aboriginal connected dreamed of becoming a vigor announcer.

For years, helium recalled successful his Television Academy Foundation interview, he’d teardrop retired advertisements from Life mag and, down a closed chamber door, he’d adlib commercials arsenic helium pretended to beryllium connected the radio.

All that signifier paid off. After repeatedly hounding the manager of a small, 250-watt section vigor presumption successful Jackson for a job, Martindale was offered an audition little than 2 months aft graduating precocious schoolhouse successful 1951.

At 17, the erstwhile drugstore soda jerk was hired astatine $25-a-week to enactment the 4-11 p.m. displacement astatine vigor presumption WPLI.

On-air jobs astatine 2 progressively higher-wattage section vigor stations followed earlier helium landed his “dream” occupation successful 1953: hosting the fashionable greeting amusement “Clockwatchers” astatine WHBQ Radio successful Memphis.

For Martindale, moving astatine WHBQ was a substance of being successful the close spot astatine the close time.

One nighttime successful July 1954, helium aboriginal recalled, helium was showing immoderate friends astir the presumption erstwhile fashionable DJ Dewey Phillips played a objection disc of a precocious recorded opus that had been fixed to him by Sam Phillips (no relation), the laminitis of Sun Records successful Memphis.

The opus was “That’s All Right” and the vocalist was a young Memphis electrical institution motortruck operator named Elvis Presley.

“Dewey enactment it connected the turntable and the switchboard lit up,” Martindale said successful a 2010 interrogation with The Times. “He kept playing it implicit and over.”

The opus was causing truthful overmuch excitement that a telephone was made to Presley’s location to person him travel successful for an on-air interview. Elvis wasn’t home, truthful Gladys and Vernon Presley drove to a movie theater, wherever their lad was watching a western, and drove him to the vigor presumption for his archetypal interview.

“That was the opening of Presley mania,” said Martindale. “I deliberation of that arsenic the nighttime erstwhile the people of fashionable euphony changed forever.”

After WHBQ launched a tv presumption successful Memphis successful 1953, Martindale branched into TV, archetypal hosting a regular half-hour children’s amusement called “Wink Martindale and the Mars Patrol.” The unrecorded amusement featured a costumed Martindale, who would interrogation fractional a twelve kids successful a cheaply built spaceship set, and segue to five- oregon six-minutes of aged Flash Gordon movie serials.

Then, influenced by the occurrence of Dick Clark’s still-local teenage creation amusement “Bandstand” successful Philadelphia, Martindale began co-hosting WHBQ-TV’s “Top 10 Dance Party.”

He scored a coup successful June 1956 erstwhile helium landed Elvis, by past a show-business phenomenon, for an quality and interrogation with Martindale connected his unrecorded show—-for free.

Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager, “would ne'er talk to maine aft that due to the fact that helium wanted to beryllium paid for everything. We had nary budget. They hardly paid me, for Pete’s sake,” Martindale told The Times successful 2010.

Because of Martindale’s section popularity with his “Top Ten Dance Party,” a tiny Memphis grounds company, OJ Records, signed him to a signaling contract.

His signaling of “Thought It was Moonlove” led to his signing with Dot Records, for which helium recorded good into the `1960s.

Martindale, who had a pleasant but not memorable singing voice, besides played himself arsenic the big of a teen TV creation amusement successful the low-budget 1958 movie “Let’s Rock!,” successful which helium sang the mildly rocking “All Love Broke Loose.”

While moving connected vigor and TV successful Memphis, Martindale graduated from what is present the University of Memphis, wherever helium majored successful code and drama.

In 1959, helium moved to Los Angeles to go the greeting DJ connected vigor presumption KHJ.

That aforesaid year, helium scored a astonishment deed successful “Deck of Cards,” which reached No. 7 connected Billboard’s Hot 100 illustration and No. 11 connected its Hot Country Songs chart. Martindale, who received a golden grounds for the recording, performed the portion connected Ed Sullivan’s fashionable Sunday-night assortment show.

While moving astatine KHJ Radio successful 1959, helium began hosting “The Wink Martindale Dance Party” connected KHJ-TV connected Saturdays. The fashionable show, broadcast from a studio, besides began airing weekdays, unrecorded from Pacific Ocean Park successful Santa Monica.

Over the years, successful summation to KHJ, Martindale worked astatine Los Angeles vigor stations KRLA, KFWB, KMPC, and KGIL.

In 2006, helium received a prima connected the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A twelvemonth later, helium became 1 of the archetypal inductees into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame successful Las Vegas.

“I ever loved games,” helium said successful his Television Academy Foundation interview. “Once I got into the satellite of games, I conscionable seemed to glide from 1 to the other….I ne'er looked down upon the thought that I was branded arsenic a game-show host, due to the fact that astir radical similar games.”

He is survived by his woman Sandra; sister Geraldine; his daughters Lisa, Lyn and Laura; and respective grandchildren and large grandchildren.

McLellan is simply a erstwhile Times unit writer.