June 30, 1964 Elysee Theater, New York City, NY

Missing Links

Tuesday, June 30, 1964

This is Sam’s second appearance on a television game show. This show, another Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production, debuted in 1963 on NBC with Ed McMahon (“Here’s Johnny!”) as host. It moved to ABC beginning on March 30, 1964, with Dick Clark as the host. While it aired on ABC, the show was taped at the Elysee Theater in New York. Sam was in New York at the time as he had opened at the Copacabana the preceding Wednesday night (June 24), and perhaps he was able to use the show as an opportunity to promote the Copa engagement, which lasted until July 8. The synopsis of the show: celebrity panelists tried to guess key words omitted from funny or embarrassing real-life stories narrated by studio contestants. The contestant gave a statement to the panel that contained a series of blanks, and each member of the panel had to guess the missing words. The contestant earned money for each incorrect guess. The last story of the day was told by a celebrity guest - in this case, Sam. No footage of this particular episode of the show has been located.