Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 23 March 2017
A31

‘Gong Show’ creator Chuck Barris dies at 87

JOSCELYN PAINE tress” with a dream to open through the show. One ex-
Associated Press her own gallery. ample was the late country
NEW YORK (AP) — Chuck After the show became a musician BoxCar Willie, who
Barris, whose game show hit on both daytime and was a 1977 “Gong Show”
empire included “The Dat- nighttime TV, the Barris ma- winner. He called himself
ing Game,” ‘’The Newly- chine accelerated. New “The King of Daytime Tele-
wed Game” and that in- products included “The vision,” but to critics he was
famous factory of cheese, Newlywed Game,” ‘’The “The King of Schlock” or
“The Gong Show,” has Parent Game,” ‘’The Fam- “The Baron of Bad Taste.”
died. He was 87. ily Game” and even “The As “The Gong Show” and
Barris died of natural Game Game.” Barris’ other series were slip-
causes Tuesday afternoon At one point Barris was sup- ping, he sold his company
at his home in Palisades, plying the television net- for a reported $100 million
New York, according to works with 27 hours of en- in 1980 and decided to go
publicist Paul Shefrin, who tertainment a week, mostly into films.
announced the death on in five-days-a-week day- He directed and starred in
behalf of Barris’ family. time game shows. “The Gong Show Movie,”
Barris made game show The grinning, curly-haired a thundering failure that
history right off the bat, Barris became a familiar stayed in theaters only a In this Dec. 20, 2002 file photo, Chuck Barris, the man behind
in 1966, with “The Dating face as creator and host week. Afterward, a dis- TV’s “The Dating Game,” poses in the lobby of his apartment in
Game,” hosted by Jim of “The Gong Show,” which traught Barris checked New York. Associated Press
Lange. The gimmick: a aired from 1976 to 1980. into a New York hotel and
young female questions Patterned after the Major wrote his autobiography, gong all those years,” and made only infrequent
three males, hidden from Bowes Amateur Hour show “Confessions of a Danger- quipped CIA spokesman returns to his old haunts
her view, to determine that was a radio hit in the ous Mind,” in two months. Tom Crispell. “Chuck Barris over the next two decades.
which would be the best 1930s, the program fea- In it, he claimed to have has never been employed Back in the news in 2002 to
date. Sometimes the pro- tured performers who had been a CIA assassin. by the CIA and the allega- help publicize “Confessions
cess was switched, with a peculiar talents and, of- The book (and the 2002 tion that he was a hired of a Dangerous Mind,” Bar-
male questioning three fe- ten, no talent at all. When film based on it, directed assassin is absurd,” Crispell ris said his shows were a
males. But in all cases, the the latter appeared on the by George Clooney) were added. Barris, who offered forerunner to today’s pop-
questions were designed show, Barris would strike an widely dismissed by disbe- no corroboration of his ular reality TV series.
by the show’s writers to oversize gong, the show’s lievers who said the creator claims, was unmoved. Born in Philadelphia in 1929,
elicit sexy answers. equivalent of vaudeville’s of some of television’s most “Have you ever heard the Charles Barris was left des-
Celebrities and future ce- hook. The victims would lowbrow game shows had CIA acknowledge some- titute, along with his sister
lebrities who appeared then be mercilessly berat- allowed his imagination to one was an assassin?” he and their mother, when
as contestants included ed by the manic Barris, with run wild when he claimed once asked. his dentist father died of
Michael Jackson, Arnold a hat often yanked down to have spent his spare time Seeking escape from the a stroke. After graduating
Schwarzenegger, Steve over his eyes and ears, traveling the world, quietly Hollywood rat race, he from the Drexel Institute
Martin and a pre-”Charlie’s and a crew of second-tier rubbing out enemies of the moved to a villa in the of Technology in 1953, he
Angels” Farrah Fawcett, celebrities. Occasionally, United States. south of France in the 1980s took a series of jobs, includ-
introduced as “an accom- someone would actually “It sounds like he has been with his girlfriend and future ing book salesman and
plished artist and sculp- launch a successful career standing too close to the second wife, Robin Altman, fight promoter.q

‘No Scrubs’ writers get added to Sheeran hit ‘Shape of You’

MESFIN FEKADU Burruss and Tiny were mem- Housewives of Atlanta,” “To be a part of such a ty and Jeff Lynne writing
AP Music Writer bers of the R&B girl group posted about the news great song is a blessing,” credit on his Grammy-
NEW YORK (AP) — The Xscape. Burruss, also a real- Sunday on her Instagram Tiny, in an email to The As- winning hit “Stay With Me”
songwriters behind TLC’s ity star on Bravo’s “The Real page. sociated Press, said of be- after some said it sounded
1999 megahit “No Scrubs” ing added to the “Shape like Petty’s 1989 song, “I
are now listed as co-writers of You” songwriters. Won’t Back Down,” and
of Ed Sheeran’s No. 1 hit Last year The Chainsmok- Mark Ronson and Bruno
“Shape of You.” ers’ ubiquitous No. 1 hit, Mars, for their worldwide,
On the website for perfor- the Grammy-nominated Grammy-winning “Uptown
mance rights organiza- “Closer,” extended writing Funk,” extended credit
tion ASCAP, Kandi Burruss, to two members of The Fray to the five writers of Gap
Tameka Cottle aka Tiny because of similarities to Band’s 1979 hit “Oops Up-
and Kevin Briggs have the band’s 2005 hit, “Over side Your Head.”
been added as co-writers My Head (Cable Car).” “Shape of You” has spent
of “Shape of You,” co-writ- In 2015, a jury awarded almost two months at No.
ten by Sheeran, Steve Mac Marvin Gaye’s children 1 on the Hot 100. The song
and John McDaid. $7.4 million after finding set the record for the most
“Shape of You” is currently Robin Thicke and Pharrell’s one-day streams on Spotify
on top of the Billboard Hot “Blurred Lines” copied their with 10,123,630 streams.
100 chart. Representatives father’s hit “Got to Give It “No Scrubs” had a big pop
for Sheeran and ASCAP In this combination photo, musician, songwriter and TV person- Up.” culture moment in the late
didn’t immediately re- ality Kandi Burruss, left, appears at the OK! Magazine’s So Sexy A judge later cut the ver- ‘90s. It also reached No.
spond to emails from The Party in June 1, 2016 in New York and musician Ed Sheeran dict to $5.3 million. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
appears at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 5, 2017, in
Associated Press seeking Inglewood, Calif. That was the same year and earned a Grammy for
comment. Associated Press Sam Smith gave Tom Pet- TLC.q