INT: We spent a lot of time talking about budget cuts, and the way that the day has changed, and making your day every day, but you wanted to talk a little bit more about the creative of daytime drama. 

DQ: Absolutely. You know, we are there as Stage Managers for a couple things, especially we’ll get to PRICE IS RIGHT [THE PRICE IS RIGHT] here. You know, number one thing on PRICE, ‘cause there’s so many moving dollies on wheels, number one thing is still safety. You know, we still have to be very, very safety conscious, you know, on everything we do, and certainly the same thing was happening on YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, and you know, you’re the voice, you’re the command, you’re the one that drives the show forward. But also within that, there are some, some of my... If I start to think for a second, I can recall the number of scenes within THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, that you could feel the magic. And I know a lot of people might say, “Golly, you’re talking about a, over here, magic on a soap opera? What, you gotta be crazy,” you know. But truly, there, you know, there are, there are wonderful days when everything in the cosmos is perfect, and everybody is, you know, you’re feeling every moment, it extends, certainly to me as a Stage Manager, we’re very sensitive people, even though we’re, you know, we can be a pretty hard guy to deal with sometimes when we have to keep things moving, which is our job. But there are some wonderful creative moments that’ll come into your heart, and we’re all… I mean cameras, audio, Actors, you know, there has been some great, great moments I’ve experienced over the years.

DQ: And also, there were shots that I helped to set up. I still set up shots, as you know, on PRICE IS RIGHT [THE PRICE IS RIGHT]. I work with the models and so forth, and get a little suggestion, da, da, da. You know, and on YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, under the camera, you know, we had foreground pieces, which give you the fourth wall kind of thing, as part of the quality, I know we’ve had on this show for a long time. So we’d have a, you know, a little truck by, in establishing, you know, a shot that, you know, we’re setting that up, I can set up those opening shots with the extras crossing, or somebody crossing, with, you know, in a restaurant, with a pot of coffee, carrying us to the action. There’s still a great creative part of that, you know, that you can have to set that up, and then you counter it with somebody else in the background, ‘til it finally settles in and then that Actor delivers their first line. So you’re carrying your action, much like, you know, all features, and you know, or little tiny features, you know, feature films, these little mini segments of life on a soap, or an episodic, you know, where you still, you, you know, you have action, you have some movement, you have some energy to the scene, you have something that brings you to a point. You don’t always get it, ‘cause after that first establishing, you know, you cut and you do a scene there, and the next scene they’re still sitting. You know, but still in the background if you’re in a restaurant, you still have people--tail-aways, you know, you have, you start scenes off with some movement, and some action something that helps carries you to the scene. The Actor pauses for a moment or two, and then delivers their line. There’s still many, many wonderful, creative, you know… You know… You know, we’re all photographers. I’m a photographer in my own head, so composition is oh so important. I wasn’t a photographer before I became a Stage Manager, by the way. I became a photographer and, you know, because of the sense of filling that screen, that shot with, you know, a nice, balanced, wonderful carrying shot, you know, that’s gonna carry you to something, or if it’s an establishing shot, just to move those props, just… I used to sneak, I’d see the shot, I’d sneak in, I move a prop over here. The prop man, “Doug, Doug.” “What? It’s good. It’s fine now. We got it.” You know, and not to… You had to give all those guys their job, you know, I mean, you know, the booth’d be calling, “Move the doggone prop, it’s in the way!” Okay, well you’re calling a prop man over to do that. It’s gonna take a moment for him to get up from his chair to get over here to move that, even though, you know, you know, we know that we can move that real quickly, but that man has a family, and he’s got a job and an occupation that he needs to do that.

DQ: You’d fight for, you know, as a Stage Manager, you also fight for your crew, too, when you know, your headset is blowing up because something isn’t getting moved fast--“Hurry, hurry, come on, come on, come on, you know, slide this over here,” and you can set a shot. Anyway, there were wonderful, wonderful creative times. And that’s what brings you back every day. I mean you may have days of just doing, you know, your show by rote, and by what it takes, and cuing action, and pushing, and you know, you’re gonna go home, and feeling very unsatisfied, you know a lot of times. And over the years, though, you know, you have a harder shell. You don’t need, “Thanks for a great day, Doug.” I don’t need that anymore. Okay. But I thank my crew, and I always have. But when I do that, I try to point out something specific they did today. You know, “When you, you know, when you trucked in and got that shot,” or, “That jib shot,” or, you know, or I’ll compliment them right then, of course, when you can, but try to really pass on the truth of what they’ve done, not blowing smoke. “This terrific shot, terrific.” You know, or an Actor who’s done a scene, or the fact that you can pump them up just before you’ve given them notes. BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL [THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL], Stage Manager’s giving those acting notes after you take them here. But once you’ve sat in a chair and watched that performance, and made your notes, you already have your notes. Linda Day is a Director, directed a couple of ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE, so I went to speak to a woman’s group with her. She paid me the, you know--so you’d hear the notes they wanna give. Then when you give the notes, okay, to your Actors, whether it’s a sitcom or whatever, if the Director’s not there to give them and you are the person giving those notes, you know, that boom’s open. They can hear everything you’re saying to that Actor. So, you know, you have to be aware, as soon as you hear yourself in your headset, you know that boom’s open, or it’s followed you around, or it’s still over you, and she used to say, “Doug, you give the best acting notes of anybody I’ve ever worked with. You give the best notes.” I stay engaged, I stay involved. I don’t, you know, start a scene, close my book up, and you know, I stay focused on that scene. I have my monitor. I make sure that monitor and my chair, nobody’s gonna sit in my chair. Get the hell out. I need to watch my show. Whatever it is. PRICE IS RIGHT, I have my two monitors backstage, set up, so I can see the show. I can see what’s happening.

DQ: So out of that, going to PRICE IS RIGHT [THE PRICE IS RIGHT], you know, for years as a staff Stage Manager, even though, I think, I think, I think Fred at NBC, I think their staff ended in like ’91 [1991], or the network--ours was like ’94 [1994]. And we had a couple people that carried over on the soaps for a few years after, but basically, that took care of, you know, any CBS staff, ADs or Stage Managers were pretty much gone at that time, especially Stage Managers. And so, leading up, you know, to this time at PRICE, you know, the wonderful thing is, you know, work is a gift, when we get to work, but when we...it’s even a bigger…more grateful gift when I would get a show, and I’d have it for it’s run. So when I got $25,000 PYRAMID, it was six or seven years, Dick Clark hosted it, six or seven years. There’s tons of stories within that. We went to $100,000 [THE $100,00 PYRAMID], syndicated, where we did five, about five shows before we took a meal break, came back, and did five more shows. We did 10 shows on Sundays. Oh my god, you know, it was a forever day. FAMILY FEUD came in, with Ray Combs, god bless him. Six, seven years, I did the show. You know, you become a family. You become, you know, friends with people. You know, not only your crew and, you know, whoever may be on the show. TIC TAC DOUGH [THE NEW TIC TAC DOUGH], we did. You know those things, those shows ran for years, and it was a blessing to have all of those, and they would run their season, then you’d fill in on, you know, on this show, and you’d fill in on that, and so forth. But when all that left, and we lost, you know, any sort of staff, the king of them all, that’s still on today, that I still work on, is THE PRICE IS RIGHT. I’m still there today. In ’94 [1994], a quick personal story, as ’94 was coming and we were being laid off. There was a lot of, like, oh my god, oh my god, you know, what am I gonna do? I have not been freelancing for forever. I’m not out there in any circle of, you know, I don’t have anybody’s number, I haven’t had to hustle for a gig, see this is part of the blessing. I haven’t had to hustle. I haven’t had to make a phone call; I haven’t worried about what I’m doing next week, or the week after. I’ve always had CBS, or NBC prior to that. And so now when we’re starting to… Well in ’94, I’m sorry, let me get back to ’94. So we’re being let go as staff, it’s stressful, still wondering what’s going to happen. Back in the day, we used to work three days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, two shows a day. As Barker [Bob Barker], Barker was getting a little older, those two-day show days, two show days were exhausting for him. So because we’d lost a CAROL BURNETT [THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW], we’d lost a lot of, you know, whatever’s coming in after, which became BILL MAHER SHOW, POLITICALLY INCORRECT was in there before. So we could get four days on that stage. And so Monday we’d do two shows, and then one show Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Okay? So it stretched it out four days. That is a blessing to me in that, you know, I’ve got custody of my son. I’m now a single parent, living way the heck out in Santa Clarita because, you know, that’s where he was going to school, and that’s where his mother was when we were divorced. So now, as a single dad, I can get home, you know, the only late day is Monday. We only worked like maybe max, four hours a day when we’re only doing one show. You know, we start that early, get an hour with Barker, my gosh, you know, we’re out in an hour and 15, that’s a wrap, “Bye everybody,” I’d sign everybody out, be home 4:30, five o’ clock. You know, my son’s in high school, and getting out, and so I could be home, and take care of him, make dinner, and be there for him. It was a blessing.

DQ: So then as this is you know, this wrapping up certainly is, now Barker’s [Bob Barker] career is ending on the show [THE PRICE IS RIGHT] after 35, 15 years on TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, 50 years in television as a host. Plus, by the way, because I was on PRICE, and out front with Barker for some time, I worked the Rose Parade [CBS TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE] with him, for like 12 years in a row, ‘til, you know that was enough for him to, you know, and he segued out of that. Once Barker left, I left. You know, I really didn’t wanna work with anybody, and for years I never had a New Years Eve, I tried to eat early, I’d rehearse the day of, and the day before, and tried to get a little sleep in, in CBS by one o’ clock, so we could catch the bus, so as, you know, a crew, we would drive down to the Rose Parade and we had our compound at CBS. And you know, all was good and, you know, nice and safe, and we got the Rose Parade first, it started here before it went around the corner, where all the other networks and local stations would pick it up, we’d get it right here by the starting line, so we had a booth down below, and one up above, and a couple of stars, and we’d interchange the stars, and Barker would stay up above. Now ROSE PARADE, if a lot of people don’t know, these kinds of live shows, that parade doesn’t stop when we go to commercial. Okay, so we’re still shooting each float, knowing what was important about that float, ‘cause the Director, Vern Diamond, I think was his name, oh my god he was a crazy guy. He could be talking nice and relaxed and calm, but once he’s on the air, “Get all the roses bud, pull out, three, tighten in, tighten in, pan on two, pan!” He’d just be, I’m telling you, absolutely crazy. All the way through this. It’s like, “It’s okay, we got it,” but he would just amp up, and this is the way it’s shot. So when we’d have to go away to commercial, we’d still be shooting the floats, okay, that would be necessary. I’d be on book with Barker, and whoever would be guest hosting with him. And so, we’re gonna go back now to catch this float that’s on tape, but as we speak, it’s like it’s still live. They’re still doing their voiceover live, so I’d go back, you know, we’re getting ready to come out. First thing out of tape, I’d get his book, you know, to the right page, you know, standing by, you know, live mics coming, you know, we’d go and say, “Roll tape,” and come up on it. Cue him, he’d start with the thing, and we’re gonna go back to this and blah, blah, blah, and now we’re, here’s where we are now. Okay. Now we’re back live again. So we’d do a lot of that. So it’s a, you know, a little old live little parade is not just, sit back, and, “Oh, what a lovely band, that’s very nice. Look at the horses, isn’t that cute with the thing.” So, it’s a constant pressurized, and really by the time starts, you’ve been up all night, you’re exhausted, you’re trying to get your focus, got your coffee going, you know. So worked with years. And then I was gonna do the Miss US--I think it was Miss USA [MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT] with Bob, and that’s when I got called away I think to fortunately do work with Dick Van Dyke.

DQ: But at any rate, so now, I’ve been filling in on THE PRICE IS RIGHT. For years prior to this, I had the other shows, it would go and come, and being on staff, you always filled in on a show, without an education, you just, you know, you just had to know what to do and how to do it, and if you didn’t know, you found out. And you know, we were all so interchangeable, you know, at that point. So I’d worked with the show quite a bit, and actually free-lanced it for quite a while, during the course, you know, before MIKE DOUGLAS [THE MIKE DOUGLAS SHOW], you know, doing a lot of that, before ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE, Y & R’s [THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS] always there. [INT: PRICE, you mean.] Excuse me. PRICE IS RIGHT was always there. Now, you know, since we could--and so early on, if I go, PRICE IS RIGHT, early on, because it was so busy, and Barker [Bob Barker] was younger, we only shot two days a week, but three shows, three hour shows a day. Okay, it was oh my gosh, it was… You know, back in those days, there was an hour meal break, you know, after when, now, union wise and so forth, you know, we easily could’ve just taken a half hour and fed us there, and you know, changed the audience out, bring in another one, but it was an hour. It was a 15-hour day, 15 to 16-hour day to rehears these shows, set up and tape it, lose the audience, rehearse that show, get an audience in, tape it. You know, it was, it were long days, okay. But, you know, because that same stage needed to be rotated out, and get, you know, the next show in there, you know, it took a lot of time to be able to, you know. We had to do it in that short amount of time, is what I meant.

DQ: So then, it [THE PRICE IS RIGHT] went to the three days a week, two shows a day, and then toward the end with Barker [Bob Barker], four days a week, to only do five shows. So in the earlier days, if you can imagine two days a week, by time summer would come, you know, we’d have a four, five, six week hiatus, ‘cause, you know, PRICE would be so far ahead, you know, with six, so you know, we’d have a big break, and that was the blessing to be, you know, on staff is, you know, you’re gonna call me when you need me, I don’t even have to come in, but I'm still getting the paycheck. Not a big one, but I’m getting a paycheck. Medical and everything, of course, paid for, a little bit going into retirement, nothing like it would’ve for both CBS and for the Directors Guild [DGA]. So, that was nice, and now Barker wraps up his 35 years, and now we’re looking for a new host. Well in the meantime we’ve been testing. I think I did like eight screen tests, if you will, or hosts tests for a new host. Mike Richards was one of them; I think he was, who’s Executive Producer now of THE PRICE IS RIGHT and LET’S MAKE A DEAL. He tested, I think he had come in after hosting like BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, and you know, had some connections with the show. Did a terrific job. Little did we know, later, he was gonna come back and be the Executive Producer of THE PRICE IS RIGHT. [INT: Wonderboy.] Yes, Wonderboy, hey. So, and doing a terrific job, you know, overseeing both shows. Huge, huge, huge undertaking. And George Hamilton, and you know, several people we tested, you know, for who’s gonna replace Bob Barker. And then they were calling this guy who wore these dark rimmed glasses, he used to be on a sitcom and then a comedy show after that, and you know, he was doing a show, something like 10 TO ONE, or TO THE POWER OF 10 [POWER OF 10] in New York, it was like a summer game show. It’s Drew Carey. So network I guess kinda, you know, he read a lot of questions, there was not a lot of room for, you know, off the cuff, and ad-libbing and so forth, so it was a pretty structured show because of the Q and A. And I think they started talking to him back then, I think CBS said you know, and you know, most everybody would say, those shoes, Bob Barker, me, come on. There’s no way I wanna follow, you know, what Bob and so forth. So we had a summer where I moved to the beach, Hermosa, you know, for, from June ‘cause we wrap up in June. You know, and I can’t go far, ‘cause you get a call, and say, “All right Doug, we need you, we’re testing, you know, two more guys,” or something, or another lady, whatever it was, testing to try to find a new host for the show. So after all these years, I know I’m going back, I just don’t know who with, ‘cause the show’s gonna carry on. Well, turns out to be Drew Carey, of course. So we’re in our fifth year with Drew now, so Barker wraps at 35. We’re into the 40th now, with Drew, and he’s embraced the show, his energy, he’s...he’s fantastic now. First couple of years, I thought for a second, maybe he thought this was gonna be a little easier. PRICE IS RIGHT, whether you know it or not, much like LET’S MAKE A DEAL, after every commercial, there’s a new game. There’s new prizes, and a new game. So unlike WHEEL OF FORTUNE, or JEOPARDY, or WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE, that set stays set, and all we do is change out a contestant and the Q and A happens, or you know, you’re trying to solve a puzzle with three players. PRICE IS RIGHT a new contestant’s called down, there’s a new one bid to see if they can get up on stage, then there’s a big prize, and then we play a different game. After every commercial. I think that’s why there’s such success in the show. ‘Cause it’s not the same, you know, it’s the same pattern, and we certainly go through that, but people don’t know, on our show, right up to the moment, here’s a new prize, and oh, by the way, what are we gonna play? Ah, it’s plinko. [INT: There’s like 75 games I think?] 85. Yeah, about 85. [INT: So that’s amazing.]

DQ: So now, our new host [Drew Carey], who’s seen that show [THE PRICE IS RIGHT] just move slick and smooth with Barker [Bob Barker] after all these years, you know, now you have to learn rules to all these games. And there’s no benefit of cue cards here, you have to have it up here. So we’d rehearse games and games and games and games, to get him, you know, up to beginning to get up to speed, it took us weeks and months to get up to speed so that we could play a game here, and then not play it again for a month, and then we have to, oh, by the way remember this game, this is the way this one worked. So there’s constant learning curve that takes place on a show like THE PRICE IS RIGHT, like LET’S MAKE A DEAL, unlike any other game show. There’s no game show as big--as a matter of fact, THE PRICE IS RIGHT would never be sold as a new show today, wouldn’t have been sold 10 years ago, wouldn’t have been sold 20 years ago. 30, maybe. Why? It’s so big and expensive that you have to store all these prizes somewhere. Where are you gonna keep all these cars? Well, we have a parking lot out there, it’s under lock and key, and fenced in. We’ve got three or four warehouses of prizes. We have a huge storage area in PRICE IS RIGHT for all the games. We have a huge storage area just for set decorating. So that, for example, a dining room table doesn’t come out and have nothing on it, you’ve got to have a center display, and you know, you’re gonna have, maybe your dishes, but what...you have your mats underneath that. You know, it’s a table setting. It’s not just a dining room table. You know, then you have a hutch. Well, standing up are all the dishes fanned facing toward camera, they’re not laid down flat like we would if we had them at home; they have to all be displayed beautifully. Then the walls behind it, the carpet underneath on the ramp, the chairs. Everything has, you know, we said if not, that’s when I set it on camera. If they’re gonna have these dishes that are part of this package, and to go along with this dining room set, these, you know, dishes and so forth, and they pan across them, I had the girl lift them up, the model lift them up, to show them to camera, we might have to put a little mat in there from Chiron to show where they’re from, and we’re done, and, you know, we finish this. We have to rehearse every prize. So not only do we show that prize, whether it’s a dining room set, a spa, or whatever, so that it shows as beautifully as it should be shown for the audience, and for that sponsor, for that advertiser who we’re getting that prize to have on the show, we want it to look absolutely wonderful. And we throw sometimes a spa, we have greenery that has to be set up, and all the greenery behind it, on a carpet. We, you know, the set decorating should be nominated every year for daytime, oh my gosh! They’re in at midnight. Okay. They come in the night before, starting with the show, and they start dressing the show. You know, they’re not gonna do anything to a car, you know, we’re just gonna roll in a car and so forth, but then the Art Director’s gotta pick what set goes behind that car, and then if it requires a game piece that’s behind it, that has to be plugged in and checked out. If it’s a set that has lights behind it, those all have to be plugged in and checked, so you know, that’s why we have a rehearsal, to solve whatever quick little problem we may have.

DQ: I’m working on the show for years, and I’m starting to get a steady dose of PRICE IS RIGHT [THE PRICE IS RIGHT]. It’s becoming…it’s kind of becoming… And by the way, I worked behind the doors, okay, where all the bigger prizes, the big elephant doors we call them, open outside here to the hallway, where all the games, all the set pieces, all the prizes are all stored out there, ‘cause there’s no room on stage to store them, so when we cut and stop, then those prizes gotta come out and the new ones come in, the game, and we’re always doing a do-si-do as I call it. Prize and grip pieces going around, game pieces going around each other to keep this fluid movement, so everybody’s on the same stage, nobody tries to come in the door at the same time and stop, somebody’s gotta back up and lose momentum. It’s, you know, you’ve, I’ve been there so long that all the grips, and head props, and all the guys I’ve trained in all the years, this is the way this show works more fluidly, this is the way it’s efficient, and we gotta think efficiency. Time, time, time. Gotta keep it moving. So, I’m doing the show, and I was pretty young back in the day, and I kinda remember, you know, we’d start rehearsal from the top of the show and work down to the showcases. Well the showcases, all three doors are filled, and whatever may be on stage, and a turntable, I mean, it’s the big end of the show, with all the huge prizes. You know, it’s a big set up, and it’s gonna take some time, and so forth. And now, “All right, cut, now we’re gonna, okay, we’re gonna tape everybody. You know, an hour and a half, whatever it might be,” blah blah blah. And all these guys are going, “Ah, geez.” So they’ve gotta change all the big prizes now have to go out. Now, in the hallway, you know, the show has to be stored in order out there, so there’s a whole hall crew that has to deal with the prep and the storing of what prizes are coming in at what act, so we have six acts, spin this wheel twice, and we’ve got a showcase. So I heard all this grumbling, and this bitching going on, and you know, and rightfully so, it’s, you know, and it dawns on me. Hey, why can’t we come in, when those guys, the crew time, has time before we get on camera, why can’t we start with the showcases, and work backwards in rehearsal, and then when we’re in act one, we all walk away, we’ll see you in an hour, no sweat. So I pitch the idea, “Doug, I think it’s great, let’s see how it works.” That’s the way it’s been running for 30 years, 25 years, however long it’s been. So the efficiency and the time well used here, is, like any show as a Stage Manager, that is our goal. If we can see something that would benefit, you know, saving time, which is money on the show. Same thing I did at ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE, I would set up the whole shooting schedule, what scene, when, time, calls, everything. That’s what I’d hand out, that’d be Xeroxed, that’s when, you know, we’d do the show. So it’s our thought process, how can we do this show as efficiently as possible?

INT: Thinking about the show [THE PRICE IS RIGHT], you’ve given sort of your history of having been there, and the different ways it was done, the three shows a day, two days, and then one every day except for the two day show day on Monday. Now you’re back to with Drew [Drew Carey], two shows a day, three days a week. Couple weeks on, week off, almost year round, right? [DQ: Right.] Take us through your day. You know, when you come in in the morning, from the first thing you do, just take us through a normal day at PRICE IS RIGHT. 

DQ: Well, I... first thing I do is, as any Stage Manager, like in theater as well, we open up those dressing rooms for our cast. And our cast being, you know, a host and three models, you know, and a makeup room. So opening up all of those, checking, you know, as the models are gonna come in, you know, just a little bit after me, I make sure I’m there ahead of time. And then I start perusing the stage, our sheets, our show rundowns are gonna be waiting for us. But today’s a different day, and the reason why it’s a different day is because, actually before I come in, they’re already emailed to me. So I can peruse them the night before. You know, so I already anticipate what’s going on, going to happen that day, that may or may not be unusual, but I’m, if it is unusual I’m aware of it. If we have guest stars, which we had a lot of the Olympic athletes prior to the Olympics this year, so guest starring, more spokespeople, you know Heidi Klum’s been on the show, and we had several celebrities promoting their charities and so forth. So there’s been a lot more people that are coming to the show that are not normally ever on THE PRICE IS RIGHT, but they can give away their prizes, we can, you know, if they have a cooking, you know, show, we’ve had a couple of those folks come, and then they’ve had their own line of furniture, and we kinda plug that out. So it’s kind of a new day with that. So I prep mentally, I, you know, I’m gonna see how this is gonna translate for the day. But I know going in, that this somebody is gonna come in, or not. So I open up dressing rooms. And you know, we’re gonna have, the crew is starting to trickle in, you know, and so forth, so I grab the sheets to the show, and I have a little office, it’s our, what we call a field office on THE PRICE IS RIGHT. It’s Barker’s [Bob Barker] old dressing room. Nice and big with a nice production table in it now, and so forth, and a flat screen TV, and you know, it’s all modernized now.

DQ: So I sit down, and I start going over that show rundown [THE PRICE IS RIGHT]. So I start marking it, you know, and so forth. Checking on the models, make sure they’re all in, and their in time, and you know, we’ve got a certain amount of time, and we’re gonna be on camera here, so, still a little bit of a push, making sure they’re aware of it. Now, through the lovely giving heart of Mr. Carey [Drew Carey], we have breakfast in the morning. He came on the show early on and said, “There’s nothing to eat? It’s just coffee?” You know, that’s it? For years, all we had were like crackers in a drawer in a prop box with some peanut butter. We would have some soft drinks or something around. Now, there’s coffee, there’s juice, there’s catering. You know, craft services that we never had before. Then he provides a snack in the afternoon, it’s all on his dime. This is the quality person we’re talking about here. Once a month, lunch is totally catered; we take over the whole patio outside. And it’s amazing. Now we have, now we’re like a feature film. [INT: And that’s also Drew.] All on Drew, all on Drew, yeah. Never to be forgotten, ‘cause you know, after a while you take it for granted, but you know, always gotta shoot--you know, I’ll tell some of the guys on the crew, too, I’ll say, “Guys, you know, breakfast is really good today. So when I go get Drew and we walk out, throw a line at him and thank him for it.” You know, “Hey Drew, thanks for breakfast this morning, it was really good,” you know. Or, “The oatmeal was fantastic with the peaches.” You know, something to, you know, he… We need to constantly; it’s so appreciated. So after 35 years of, well that’s why I...never mind.

DQ: You know, I said I check on craft services [on the set of THE PRICE IS RIGHT], how’s the set up, you on time, you’re not? And like any good first AD, you know, your talent needs to eat first. So I would come out of that, going over my show rundown to craft services, making sure they’re on time. Then I get my models, the girls up front in makeup and hair, so they can grab their breakfast first and they we all follow behind with the crew and so forth. So they’re taken care of, they can eat in the makeup room, da, da, da. You know, if they’re going to eat just a snack, whatever, it doesn’t matter, they need to be taken care of. So, then I go back, continue to look over the show rundown, making my notes, looking at the show, marking, you know, my show sheets, and what we’re gonna shoot today. And then when I start to see any, you know, well this needs some extra attention, or this or blah, blah, blah. Then by then, I’m out, you know, my--the heads of each department, electric, grip, and props are in. You know, and I’m starting to say, “Have you seen this particular piece yet? This is a special, you know, set,” perhaps behind let’s say a spa, or a, you know, an outdoor barbeque or something. He said, “No, I know something’s…” I head down the hall, and I start looking at this, and seeing, this is gonna take quite a while, is this gonna be in the easy set up, you know what’s happening? So I’m overseeing all of that, and then I can see one act to another, because you know, I basically have door one where I store, or the grips store all of the set pieces that go behind prizes. In order, okay. So I’m still gonna start the day rehearsing the showcases, the very first thing, everybody knows that. Meantime, all the games are being brought out ahead of all of that, and every game that’s going to be used today, that’s two shows, so you know, we’re talking 12 different games, if indeed there’s an electric part of something that has to be computerized, and you know, numbers put in, or whatever, all that needs to be checked out before we even start rehearsal. The wheel’s brought in, every day. Audio plugs it in, electronics plugs it in, we go through the numbers to make sure the numbers, scan all the lights, to make sure there’s not a bulb out. You know, and we spin the wheel, and beep, beep, make sure the electronic sensor is working, the whole nine yards. “All right, you can have the wheel.” You know. They unpatch the wheel, get that out of the way. So, you know, I’m overseeing just to make sure that… Everybody’s there to check the games out, but let’s keep it moving here, let’s, you know, we still have to have rehea--sometimes there’s a little problem with a game, and that’s sitting out front, you know, and I gotta set, I have to set all of the showcases in all the doors prior to it. Well, I know I’ll just move that left or right as I do one, while they continue to work it out, I gotta find out how, I find out how long is it gonna take, is it a major problem, a little problem. You know, is it dead in the water, what other game, gotta pass the information on. So, but always just wanna do it nice and, you know, I’m making those, the other two Stage Managers aren’t as involved in this whole process as I am. So since because I have the doors, and the bigger sets, the bigger prizes, the bigger ramps, the cars that have to be pushed in, a lot of people don’t know, those batteries have to be unhooked, so there’s no danger of starting a car up, and accelerator sticking or anything. I mean that’s one of those old, old safety rules that we’ve always pushed and rolled our cars in. Props gets it in, we set marks up, you know, on the stage, so it has, you know, whatever angle, and you know, then the set pieces go in behind it.

DQ: As the games are being checked out, and they’re finalized, an they’re out of the way, then the Art Director comes in, Bente Christensen. So she starts setting, you know, the pieces behind, you know, a particular prize. Well, it’s a new day; it’s an old new day, in that it’s high definition now. It’s not a 4x3 aspect, you know, it’s 16x9. You know, you’re filling this space. And those lenses will go in and shoot like this. It’s amazing! You can think--you cannot see the camera, sometimes, right, but I look up at the monitor, and I can see a piece of me. It’s amazing, the optical things. So, one of the things I did, many, many years ago, is make sure these monitors are up there for me to see, behind the doors. With Harvey Levine came to visit, before he was gonna start the original LET’S MAKE A DEAL, you know, I gave him, I said, “Look, I started from the bottom to the top, and I have these monitors to help you see, and set, and understand what you need to see to make things better. You can see that composition of that, you know, you can make your own personal adjustments all the time. I do.” And sometimes, you know--now we rehearse, so let’s say we get everybody into, the girls into makeup, I’ve conversed and touched base with all the prop guys, grips, electric, just as things are okay, and you got your full crew in, and everybody showed up, and you know, ‘cause a lot of people bounce out of the union, and we have our core guys, and the rest of the guys are coming in as more labor. So making sure that everything’s good, blah, blah, blah. Then I go into a production meeting, 10:15, and we talk the show down with the Producer, with Adam Sandler, our Producer, and Ryan Polito is our new Director. So we got the models in there, we have the models in there, and the rest of the production staff, and the other two Stage Managers, and we go through every act of the show and assign the models to something, and if there’s something in particular we need to make sure that it shows, you know, this way, or we need to turn a camera around, we have to have it, you know, have it on with a nice picture. Sometimes we’ll pre-shoot a picture of THE PRICE IS RIGHT doors when they’re closed with the logo, and we have that, you know, on a camera, so that takes that extra little time. You know, all the little attention to detail, kinda wrapping up in that meeting. And then we have a half an hour for the girls to get ready, and the Stage Managers we go out and start making sure, that the show is set up with not only the entire show, okay, set up and ready to go, from bottom to top, but once I, once we finish showcases, starting on camera and so forth. Once I finish that, I’ve got three doors to unload. It’s gonna take some time. So the other Stage Managers are gonna fill in with what they have, a turntable, you know, a rolling crossing to the bidders, you know. They’re filling in on that and then I’ll get a, you know, a car in, another door, and another game, you know, with four prizes in another door, and say, “Okay, next up is gonna be this door.” You know, so we’ll knock out door two, they’ll be striking that, while I go over to door three, and we rehearse that, so then that can follow the strike right behind it, and then we get the next set, and those guys, you know, help to fill in with their prizes. So it’s kind of, you know, a nice understanding that the bigger stuff is gonna obviously be behind the doors with the bigger set.

DQ: So, sometimes during the course of this, and I work very closely with Bente [Bente Christensen], is some of the shots you see in rehearsal, you’ve gotta adjust those set pieces, because it’s a little wider shot, he trucks around to show the car, this set piece needs to come down over here to fill this high definition gap if you will, and so forth. So, “Grips, pull the marks on the stage right piece.” Da, da, da, pull the marks, cameraman gives me the shot, I have the monitor. “More, more, more, more, more, oh, that’s it right there, mark it. Strike it!” Boom, moving onto the next. A lot of times, during the second show of the day, we haven’t, maybe we don’t get to rehearse everything. I’m setting those, all those set pieces on the fly, during--[INT: Your knowledge of what you figure the composition, what will work.] Absolutely. [INT: Again that’s your experience.] Yeah, yeah. I do that a lot. And it’s not that I would be usurping anybody, it’s just we haven’t had time to set that. So, for the efficiency of a rehearsal hall, let’s say I have this night, we have a 100 inch monitor, and let’s say it’s a trip to Fiji. Well, I don’t wanna take the time at that time to set the background, which would have all the tropical's, and then electric is gonna, again cross shoot, you know, a couple of lights here with some amber light or something to light up the green to make it even prettier. I’ll do that on the air, on the fly. If I’ve got a set piece that I’m rushed for time, a little bit, and a set piece that requires no electric, you know, input to check it out, I’d say, “Yeah marks, no we don’t have marks, I’ll set the marks, strike it.” Haven’t even rehearsed it yet. Maybe it’s a car. Then I’ll rehearse the car, I’ll tell the booth, you know, and lighting, “This is gonna be our New York profiles behind it,” or, “This is gonna be this such and such,” or, “We’re gonna have environmental behind this.” You know, so we haven’t rehearsed it, they haven’t gotten to see it, but at the same time, we’re all on the same page. Everybody cool with that? You know, if not, they say, “You know Dougie, I really, I really need to see that,” for Tim Sheldon, who’s lighting. You know what I mean, “All right, we need to set up,” you know, “blah, blah ,blah, but let’s make it quick, let me go do this while you guys are setting that up.” You know, Spencer might pick something up, Tracy is gonna fill in, and you know, this rehearsal is, you know, it’s an hour. It’s jam-packed. And now we go from rehearsal, and it’s supposed to end at 12, okay, we button the doors up, close it up, and that audience has gotta get in there in 20 minutes. In 20 minutes, we’re supposed to start that show. It’s like, oh my god, it’s a jam! Sometimes it’s crazy, sometimes the entire, at least 15 minutes while I’m giving, “Price is Right, we’re taping at 12:20 everybody,” right, and then I go, “10 minutes ‘til the Price is Right. Five minutes,” I’m still giving those call times to cast and crew, models and Drew [Drew Carey], and you know, goes to the hallway, so everybody knows what time we’re starting. “This 12:20 start, everybody back at 15.” Or, if we still have things to set, which we often do, we’re still setting those, maybe they only get a seven or eight minute break. You know what I mean, back in seven minutes, back at 15 after. And you know, here we go. Drew’s getting ready, the models are ready. Audience is in, our announcer starts his warm-up of the audience, and starts saying hello to everybody, and PRICE IS RIGHT. Gives them a couple of rules, “You run up the stairs this way,” and blah, blah, blah. You know, he lays out the show, and, “Have fun, don’t hesitate to have fun,” and blah, blah, blah. And, “We’re here with Drew Carey,” “Hurray,” you know. It’s… So here we go.

DQ: So now we drive into that show [THE PRICE IS RIGHT] from the top, okay. The hallway’s set out from the top. So as one game, one prize is out, and you know, we’re calling for, is there a pick up, do I see a thumper, do I see a camera bumper. Is the shot not quite perfect, and as good as we’d like it to be, or something happens with something. A--mechanically, or something doesn’t turn at a proper time, pick up, okay, we’ll pick that up. We will pick things up in our commercial break. We'll ISO a camera and roll on it. Do a lot of pick-ups. You know, I do a lot of pick-ups off camera with the models with certain prizes that are there for post. So they can throw them in. You know, then that camera’s gotta swing and get audience. So we’re shoot--especially cars, you know, they’re doing this, they’re hoping, oh. You know, they’re give it a nice gesture, they’re applauding. You know, hoping, hoping, hoping. You know, all those are gonna be edited into the body. So I’m off--I’m under the camera, or beside the camera, going through all that with a pause in between, and then, you know, something, you know for post that, you know, we do. So for me, being back behind those doors, it’s a constant move. And if something’s going on out front, and I’ve got a door and a prize open, I’m setting the next act. Or if there’s a game out front which has to come through our center door, to door 2, it has to be off to the side. Big, big drop comes in to block it from the studio audience, so they can’t see back stage and or any of our prizes or games. You know, and we’re striking things and setting that out, and getting that closed, and Tracy’s flying that out. We’re going to the next act. She’s got a one bid, or she’s got a game on the turntable or whatever, and we have an ISO, which we’re talking to, and I can give him a heads up, say, “Hey guys, I’m already set in door three. This is gonna be a very fast turnaround for me, I’m ready.” So, “Okay.” So Spencer knows that he can get to Drew [Drew Carey] a little bit sooner, who’s talking to the audience. You know, story telling, asking questions, you know all of that wonderful stuff. And now it’s pretty much maybe up to Tracy this time to, maybe strike a prize off, get a game up, check the game out. Okay, “I’ll be ready backstage,” or, “I’ll be ready stage right. You know, I’m ready backstage.” “Roll tape.” “Okay let’s go Spence, let’s get them going.” So he’s gotta wrangle Drew away from whatever he’s doing and in his conversation. [INT: Let’s make clear. So Tracy and you are basically up stage with all the prizes, you’ve got all the doors, Tracy’s got some the prizes up stage.] Stage right and a turntable, right. [INT: And there’s a third Stage Manager, Spencer is out in front. Again--] He has his small prizes, but also he’s there for Drew. [INT: Yep. A lot of moving parts. That’s why I wanted you to go through this. People have no idea how fast, how many moving parts are involved in what looks like a pretty simple game show.] Right. And like I said today, it could never be sold today. It takes up so much space when the show is not working, or all the prizes that are stored, that we’re not using this week. There’s still tons of those. Or all these prizes are not used this week. And you know, I mean it’s a constant rotating… Even when we’re down, and not shooting, you know, there’s prizes that are still, you know, being attended to, and making sure they’re good, or new ones are coming in. Or they’re, you know, some prizes come in, we have to assemble them, and they’re all being assembled. There’s a crew doing that as well. So it’s a huge, it’s a huge production. [INT: Yeah.]

INT: I never thought about it until you said it today, that you’re quite right, it would never, with that many moving parts, that much stuff, that much space, you’d never see that [THE PRICE IS RIGHT]. [DQ: No. And it’s all because it would cost way too much.] But the Price remains an American institution, really. [DQ: Right.] People wait years to come and spin the wheel. 

DQ: Right. Or they plan their vacations around it. You know, we have--summertime is great. You know, people are actually planning vacations, so you’re getting them from all over the country, even though we have re-runs all summer. You know, our season ends in June, but we’re now, when we start shooting, we’re shooting now for September, or September, October shows. So we’re prepping for that. But, you know, now, I look at the audience sometimes, and I go look at all these guys. They’re in their tank tops and t-shirts and shorts and flip flops, and it’s gonna air in November, you know, but California audiences, you know, so much warmer than the rest of the country. So that’s what we do. We work every month. Okay, we work several days every month, 12 months out of the year. Some months we only work six days, like we have in this last August and September. We’ll work nine in October, nine in November, six in December. So it’s still very, very part time this year, a little bit slower, you know, every year is a little bit different. When we start back in January, February, March, and April, we are knocking out nine to 12 days a month. So we’re really gonna sort of kick into high gear. You know, the other thing that happens is, for example, we had what we call a hard out for Drew [Drew Carey], who had to be out at four o’ clock; I think he was, had to catch a flight somewhere. So, so, you know, they come in, and out of the blue, the production doesn’t want us to rehearse, check out all the games, start setting up some of the prizes and the sets behind it. They wanna do two shows back to back for rehearsal. And they wanna start with the second show first. Which of course, makes sense. So, the second show first, and out in the hallway, in a big, big, major hallway where I’ve got two soaps going. I’ve got THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, in two studios over here, and BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL next door to me. And as those shows, one of the sets, or they can get sets out, or they take a break, you know, all those set pieces are being struck out and they have to go out the same hallway, down the ramp, and out to storage, where THE PRICE IS RIGHT, next show is, we’re trying to strike our stuff, or new stuff’s coming in for our second show. The hallway’s gonna be crazy, if I know both soaps are going. Remember, they’re only going four days a week. So Mondays, I can use the entrance way to those stages on my Monday shows. But now they wanna do this, like on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. And it’s like oh my gosh. So I started thinking about it the first day, as we all, Stage Managers have to start thinking in, you know, how are we gonna pull this off, they got this time schedule, what? What?

DQ: So I started thinking about it, so we’re gonna rehearse show two [of THE PRICE IS RIGHT], from bottom to top. Then we’re gonna move that all out of the way, bring in show one, set it up from the bottom, the big showcases, and go to the top. We have to have efficiency here, in my… I know--I look at it and I know we’re I look at it and I know, we’re never gonna make it. I know, you know, it looks great here doctor, but it’s not a cure. So I need to, you know, I start thinking, this is the way we think after years, how can I make this efficient? To be able to make this schedule, to get Drew out. I mean, if it wasn’t, like we wanna try to be out by four, and we don’t really have to, if we go to 4:15 let’s say, it’s a 4:15 out, and a four o’ clock out, or if we go to 4:30 it’s not a big deal. But, no, it is four o’ clock, out! So it’s like, all right, this is the first time we’ve ever done this schedule, so now, at least I had a day to think about it. So as I’m going through the schedule, I realize that with all the hallway, and it’s on a Tuesday, and both soaps are going, that there’s limited space, so, I propose that we rehearse at least with all the cars, there’s gonna be three or four cars, and a boat or a trailer, something nice, on each show. So my thought was, if I rehearse show two, with show one’s cars and automobiles, at the proper angle that that second show is, if it’s this way, and camera’s gonna shoot this way, and get to peek through the window and the model walks around and he does whatever. And if I have that same angle of a car later in the show, or in show one, I wanna rehearse it now. So I could knock out sometimes two or three acts of cars, right now. Or, if I have another one in this door, voo, voo, voo, voo, now we’ve got this angle, now we’ve got act three, second show, let’s knock this car out. But do the, let’s say the Ford copy, even though it’s a Fiat. Let’s do, you know, whatever copy. It’s still gonna work in the blocking, it’s still gonna work for the model that we’re setting up. [INT: Lighting, everything.] Yeah. And then I reiterate doubly, “And behind this is gonna go city lights,” which we’re not gonna see in this rehearsal. So, I remember the first time I thought that’s, that’s… ‘Cause now I only have four cars in the hallway and a boat, let’s say. [INT: Instead of twice that.] Right. And yeah, twice that, plus a camper, or plus, you know, whatever else, other big prize. So with a hallway knowing that, you know, it can get crazy out there with a couple of soaps starting to bring stuff in and strike, you know, now we have only four cars, and it’s a normal look out there in a hallway. But I’ve doubled and tripled up some cars, one day I got to be able to have one car for three different cars in the same door. You know, so I looked--[INT: You gotta do what you gotta do.] And I went, and I went, and I looked, and I, you know, for both shows, and then I started my list. So I was right up front with it, “Okay everybody, showcase is fine. All right, now this car is gonna be for, you know, act three of the second show, and now it’s act two of the first show, and it’s the regular car.” So to try to save time and efficiency, by doubling it up, and everybody can, you know, I mean we’ve done the show. There was a little resis-- “Wait a minute, what do you wanna do again?” And I explained this to somebody who knows the show, and they went, “Sorry, okay, give me that again.” It was like really? You know. You know, you know the show but, you know, it’s the first time we did this. So, are you kidding, we finished 10 minutes early. We actually had a little time for Drew [Drew Carey] to do a promo, you know? So it was like, “Ahhh,” you know. We did it.

DQ: And still, in a rehearsal, where there’s a set piece that’s behind a prize, that doesn’t have to, doesn’t have lights, or neon, or anything behind it, once I get marks on that, I’m blowing that out of there with the grips, and they can go, I can still rehearse that prize. So see I’m saving time by not have to wait, wait, wait, finally get to this, rehearse this, and then it goes away. That way, that prize and the prop department can just start moving out right away, grip pieces are already out. Yeah. So it’s still a challenge, it’s still, new things are still coming to town. [INT: Good for you. Actually it’s… Who knows how this’ll get cut together, but in a way, it’s kind of a nice way to end the career, because it comes back down to preparation, thinking, efficiency, being as easy on your crew as you can, make the day as efficient to keep your talent fresh, all the key elements of what we do.] And safe. [INT: And safe.] You know there’s, we have like a hundred wedges, ‘cause a prize can roll in, you know it’s on a dolly. It may be eight or nine inches high, but it’s on wheels. And it rolls in, we get it to a mark, bam, we gotta wedge it. ‘Cause that girl, the model is gonna be on top of that. And it’s always I’m, you know, watching and grabbing, “Hey guys, wedge this. It’s gotta be wedged.” Safety, safety. [INT: And that can get lost in a day when you’re going too fast, and it is our responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen.] In a heartbeat. I have, you know, many times, it’s just… Or it’s not quite wedged enough, and when they step off, that dolly starts to go. I mean it’s really, more attention to that sort of, you know, detail for safety. We’ve had, you know, I’ve had one of the models who wasn’t paying attention, so it wasn’t our… We had risers this high, quite large and square. And you know, we’ve got ladders, and we get the girls up, we get them up in the boats, we have ladders to help for safety, and you know all that sort of thing, and one of the girls is talking to another over, you know, next to her, and she’s thinking she can back up without really looking. That left foot went off of that stuff. She landed on her kneecap, and just screamed. Oh my, you could hear it, it was like oh my god, it must be shattered and down. [INT: Worst nightmare.] So, you know, and then of course, now they’re all over us about the safety. I went, “Eh, not this time. She wasn’t paying attention. That piece didn’t move, she was backing up, and not focusing on…” So, there is extreme danger. And some people have been, some stage hands, over the years have been absolutely, knee operations, wiped out, shoulders, you know. [INT: We had somebody fall off a ladder just the other day, Caesar, the lighting assist, big guy.] Torn rotator cuffs, I mean, all kinds--scenery falling on people, it happens all the time. It happens all the time. Not necessarily on our show, but you know, when something happens, you know, we got, next thing we know the EMTs are calling, what happened, somebody’s got a gash in their head from something slipping from… There’s injuries all the time. [INT: Again, ‘cause there’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of hanging things, a lot of heavy, sharp, dangerous stuff.] Yep. And stuff that will roll out from under you, even though some of those big walls, if they’re not handled properly, you know, they’re a top heavy, you know, sort of thing, so it’s… [INT: And again, the main thing is, as the day is requiring more and more things and the pace picks up, it is ultimately the DGA Stage Manager’s responsibility, to whoa, safe, take a breath. And you sense it. You sense when it’s getting out of control.] Yep. Yep. Yep. You have to. Yeah, and then it’s the efficiency within that too. You know, it’s trying to juggle both, you know, that’s often the difficult part. You know. [INT: Well, well done, Colleague.] Aye me harties! Aye!