Storybook Squares

Storybook Squares is an American game show. It is a spin-off of Hollywood Squares.^[1][2][3] The series featured celebrities dressed up as famous people and characters from history and various forms of media.^[4]

Quick Facts Based on, Presented by ...

Storybook Squares
Title card for the 1976–1977 version.
Based on	Hollywood Squares by Merrill Heatter Bob Quigley
Presented by	Peter Marshall
Announcer	Kenny Williams
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	16 (1969 version) 30 (1976–1977 version)
Production
Production locations	NBC Studios Burbank, California
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Heatter-Quigley Productions
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	January 4, 1969 (1969-01-04) – December 30, 1977 (1977-12-30)

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Peter Marshall served as host of these episodes. The panelists were introduced by "The Guardian of the Gate", who announced their characters' presence by reading their names from a scroll. The Guardian was played by regular Hollywood Squares announcer Kenny Williams, and the character was similar to his "Town Crier" character from Video Village.

The series ran on NBC on Saturday mornings from January 4 to April 19, 1969, with repeats airing until August 30. The concept was revived during the 1976-1977 season as a series of special theme weeks on the daytime Hollywood Squares.

On the original edition of Storybook Squares, the game was played in the same manner as the regular game, with celebrities in the squares dressed as storybook and nursery rhyme characters.^[5] Two children competed, always boy vs. girl. Like on the regular Hollywood Squares, boys played X and girls played circle. Instead of playing for money, each game was played for a prize.

The first two games on each episode of Storybook Squares were, as on Hollywood Squares, Secret Square games. Each game was played for a different prize, and if the first prize was unclaimed it could be won along with the second prize in the second game.

Panelists (1969)

The only panelist from the adult show who played as he normally would was Cliff Arquette, who carried his "Charley Weaver" persona over to Storybook Squares. The other panelists played characters from fairy tales and books, historical figures, or in some cases the characters they played on television.

Unlike the parent series, on Storybook Squares each panelist/character was given an elaborate introduction as they entered the set and took their place on the board, allowing for a brief comic interaction with host Marshall as they did so. Some of the celebrities who appeared were:

• Marty Allen as Tarzan and Cupid
• Jim Backus as Mr. Magoo (animated character for whom he provided the voice) and Thurston Howell III (his character from Gilligan's Island)
• Ted Cassidy as Tarzan
• Charo as Isabella
• Wally Cox as Paul Revere and Davy Crockett
• Bob Crane as Colonel Hogan (his role on Hogan's Heroes)
• Abby Dalton as Little Miss Muffet
• Barbara Eden as Jeannie (her role on I Dream of Jeannie)
• Nanette Fabray as The Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe
• Stu Gilliam as Merlin
• Arte Johnson as Wolfgang the Nazi from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, referred to herein as the "'Very Interesting' Soldier"
• Paul Lynde as Frankenstein's monster and the Evil Queen from Snow White
• Paul Winchell as Romeo and Dr. Jekyll (with Tessie Mahoney- Jerry Mahoney in a blond wig- as Juliet and Jerry Mahoney as Mr. Hyde)
• Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams (her role on The Addams Family)
• Rose Marie as Pocahontas and Annie Oakley
• Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
• Soupy Sales as Henry VIII and Thomas Edison
• William Shatner as James T. Kirk (his character from Star Trek)
• Leslie Uggams as Snow White

When the daytime series brought back Storybook Squares, its format was changed slightly. Instead of a two-player match featuring boys playing girls, the matches used a team format with the boys playing with their fathers and grandfathers and the girls with their mothers and grandmothers.

The children played the first game of the match, with the parents playing the second and the grandparents each subsequent game as time permitted. $300 was awarded for each game won, with $50 awarded per square if time was called during a game.

The team with the most money at the end of the game won a large prize, such as a car or exotic vacation.

The 1969 set was decked out in a medieval theme for the host and players' podiums, while the gameboard remained the same as on the adult version. The 1970s sets extended the medieval theme to the entire set, with a sweeping castle facade built around and behind the "Squares".