Jackpot Bowling, hosted by Milton Berle, debuted on 19 September 1960 and was broadcast from Hollywood’s Legion Lanes. Chick Hearn provided play-by-play commentary.
Two matches were played in each show, and each telecast began with two professional bowlers competing in a nine-frame match in which only strikes counted. The winner received $1,000. The premiere show featured Don Carter and Ray Bluth (who lost).
If, perchance, the bowler had a string of six successive strikes during the competition, he received a bonus of $5,000.
The winner was also entitled to meet another pro – the “king of the hill” – in the second match of the evening for another $1,000 and the right to return the following week as the new “king of the hill”.
Rolling six strikes in a row in this second weekly match won the jackpot, which started at $25,000 and had $5,000 added each week it was not won (hence the show’s title).
The odds against bowling six straight strikes were astronomical, but by the 10 October show, Frank Clause had done it, claiming the $40,000 purse.
For the bowlers privileged enough to appear on the show, Jackpot Bowling was an excellent arrangement (even the losers received $250). But as a spectator sport, the pastime did nothing to excite an audience. It is certainly mostly a participant’s sport.
To add a little entertainment value to the proceedings, a show business celebrity bowled for his favourite charity between the two formal matches. Steve Allen and Desi Arnaz, among others, did the honours, but this hardly raised the show above its own mediocrity.
Uncle Miltie pocketed $15,000 a week from sponsor Bayuk Cigars (makers of Phillies) to play stooge to a row of tenpins; an assignment that required no more than nine minutes of performance every Monday night.
Prior to Berle’s association with Jackpot Bowling, the show had enjoyed a three-year run on NBC, broadcast from the T-Bowl in Wayne, New Jersey.
Used solely to fill the time between the conclusion of the match on Cavalcade of Sports and the start of the 11.00 pm local news, the show had a series of hosts, including Leo Durocher, Mel Allen, and Bud Palmer, none of whom had the slightest affiliation with bowling.
Promised a full half-hour slot for the season by NBC, Bayuk/Phillies decided to jazz up the offering by having Uncle Miltie around.
Berle said at the time, “It’s a snap. The show goes live from Hollywood at seven-thirty. I come in half an hour before airtime. My producer’s lined up the bowlers. My director’s rehearsed the five camers. He points to where I stand. I do an opening monologue and introduce Chick Hearn. Then I come back between matches, maybe a minute, maybe four minutes, depending on how long the play lasts. Then I say good night and close the show. At eight o’clock I put on my hat and I go home.”
And he added: “No cast. No guests. No script. No ulcers. Just a camera, cut to your host, Milton Berle, and then back to the bowling.”
Berle enjoyed giving the impression that he strolled into the Hollywood Legion Lanes a few minutes before show time, lit up one of his sponsor’s cigars, and rattled off a few jokes.
Actually, he arrived early every Monday morning, conferred with his four writers (although he often claimed everything was ad-libbed), rehearsed the actors with their lines, including the “spontaneous” remarks some of them were to make to him from the bowling crowd, etc.
It was quite an undertaking for the man who said, “I’m not going to kill myself again. I’m happy with a bowling show.”
The bowling show was equally happy with Berle. Despite some keen competition from ABC’s stylish Peter Gunn series, Jackpot Bowling racked up some impressive ratings. But by 13 March 1961, Berle’s contract with the cigar makers had run out.
Insiders predicted that Brunswick, manufacturers of bowling alley equipment, would take over sole sponsorship, but this didn’t materialise.
Miltie bowed out gracefully, allowing the show a dignified death.
Two matches were played in each show, and each telecast began with two professional bowlers competing in a nine-frame match in which only strikes counted. The winner received $1,000. The premiere show featured Don Carter and Ray Bluth (who lost).
To add a little entertainment value to the proceedings, a show business celebrity bowled for his favourite charity between the two formal matches. Steve Allen and Desi Arnaz, among others, did the honours, but this hardly raised the show above its own mediocrity.
