Game show nostalgists everywhere were dealt a crushing blow Tuesday when Jim Lange, the original host of “The Dating Game,” died at the age of 81.
“The Dating Game,” which took off in the mid-’60s and flowered into the mid-’70s, was the show that launched a thousand imitators, from “The Bachelor” to “The Newlywed Game.”
On the show, a bachelorette would be hidden behind a wall, where she would ask three young men, prospective dates, questions about themselves. The questions were all framed provocatively, with plenty of opportunity for a naughty answer. A typical question went something like this: “Bachelor Number Three, it’s the holiday season and I’m Santa — you’re on my lap. Little boy, take it away . . . “
When the embarrassed yucks were muddled through, the bachelorette chose her favorite bachelor, and the happy couple were sent on a date (always with a chaperone, and often to some far-off, exotic locale).
In the years since the show aired, some fascinating names came up on YouTube’s radar — of on-the-prowl singles who would one day make a name for themselves.
Before his hair went white and his stand-up comedy career took off, Steve Martin appeared on the show (on multiple occasions). Both Greg and Marcia Brady (Barry Williams, Maureen McCormick) appeared as celebrity bachelors/bachelorettes. And, who knows, maybe his appearance on “The Dating Game” inspired future “Family Feud” host Richard Dawson to get into game shows. (Dawson appeared on the same “Dating Game” panel as Bill Bixby.)
Even future politicians could be seen in their 1970s dating personas: Jennifer Granholm, who is the 47th and current governor of Michigan, was a blond bachelorette whom Lange described as “Cute and curvaceous.” (Sure, we’d vote for that.)
Here are some other noteworthy contestants who showed up over the years:
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett perhaps never looked better than when she appeared with straight, honey-colored hair as the bachelorette. But, we have to confess, we’re disappointed that Farrah chose the bachelor who gave the most obviously cheesy answers. At least she and her beau got to go on a skiing vacation to Kitzbühel, Austria for their big date.
John Ritter
A baby-faced John Ritter, who would later go on to star in “Three’s Company,” was one of the trio of prospective bachelors on this episode. The bachelorette sensed something in Ritter and chose him for their date. (The hammy actor is there even as a college student — he fake cries with joy when he hears the good news.)
Rodney Alcala
Of course, not everybody who appeared on the show would go on to great things. Serial rapist and murderer Rodney Alcala (who has been convicted of killing seven people — and the number might be higher) was a cheerful contestant on the show, to whom the bachelorette decided to give a chance. (Google might have helped screen him out of the process . . . he had already been convicted of rape when he appeared, but the full extent of his crimes was still unknown.) Thankfully, she was not one of his victims.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Before he was “The Terminator,” “The Governator” or the shameless philanderer, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a beefy bachelor, choosing between three flirty ladies — one of whom was a Playboy bunny. When he asks Bachelorette Number One what she wants to do on their first date she says: “Maybe we should go to another planet because earth is kind of strange — I’d like to go to an interesting place. Venus, maybe.” Could this have planted “Total Recall” seeds in Arnie’s head?
Andy Kaufman
We were never quite sure of how much Lange, et al. were in on the joke, but Andy Kaufman, who would later find fame on “Taxi,” played Bachelor Number Three, “Baji Kimran” in this episode of the Dating Game. “Hello Patrice,” he says in his unmistakable Latka Gravas voice. (When it is announced that he has lost, a crushed Baji wept, “But I won!” A perplexed Lange says: “I’ve never seen anybody take it quite that hard.”)
Of course, “The Dating Game” was ripe for parody, and it’s happened again and again over the years. Most recently, “Saturday Night Live” did a dating show which featured two wild and crazy guys (Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin) as one pair of contestants, and Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg in their smoothest D-in-a-B personas as two others.
But the tradition extends back father than that — Carol Burnett did a parody called “The Rat Race” back in the 1960s.
On that note, we’ll blow you a goodbye kiss, Mr. Lange.