Daniel Van Orden writes to ask…
I've seen the Henry Morgan hosting show before, but the fact that you posted this and are an expert in the field has me asking a question that has bugged me since the show was new.
Did the big time celebrities really just take $20/$40/$60 and cigarettes for appearing? They were frequently plugging their own shows or movies, but it seems cheap and awkward.
Celebrities who appear on game shows are and always have been paid a minimum of union scale, whether it be AFTRA scale or SAG scale, for appearing. They do it for the exposure and to plug what they have coming up…but there's also a little money in it. I suspect that on something like I've Got A Secret, they didn't take the $20 and may not have even taken the cigarettes. But for most, the money was probably secondary to the exposure.
On a lot of those low-money game shows, the prize money was really just a prop. On some, if the top prize was $100, they paid every contestant $100 regardless of what they actually "won" on the show. The money was trivial and it made contestants more cooperative and forestalled any complaints that the game wasn't fair. Of course, contestants on a show like I've Got A Secret usually got more than what they won. A lot of them got paid trips to New York and generous per diem cash.
Often, so did the celebs. One of the few times I got to talk to Buddy Hackett at any length was the day after Game Show Network had run an old What's My Line? on which he appeared. I asked him about it and while he had no memory of the specific appearance, he did tell me the following. He said he had a policy of never, ever paying for travel out of his own pocket. When he went anywhere to perform, the folks hiring him would pay for his airfare and hotel. If by some chance, he had a reason to go to New York and didn't have someone else to pay, he'd find someone to pay. He'd have his agents call up and book him on What's My Line? or some other game show or talk show in New York. Then that show would pay. He said, "I did a lot of shows just because I was too cheap to buy a ticket."