Its hip to be square….Hollywood, that is.

April 21st, 1965 a pilot for a new game show was shot in black-and-white for CBS and hosted by Bert Parks (Best known for hosting the Miss America pageant).  The show wasn’t picked up by CBS but a year later NBC bought the rights and lo and behold a game show legend was born.  Hollywood Squares  would go on to run for decades. Peter Marshall was the original host when the show ran on NBC from 1966 to 1981. And who could forget the most famous “center square” Paul Lynde (Click here for his story) Lynde was so outragous that his quips and quotes won him a daytime emmy in 1974 AND 1978.

For two years Bowzer from Sha Na Na hosted it before John Davidson took over two years after THAT run was cancelled. Then in 1998 Tom Bergeron came in as the host for another 6 years before it was cancelled for good. It is a piece of television history.

But I still have memories of those evening shows just after dinner when my family would watch the show and just wait to hear what Paul Lynde would say.  My dad would always  say, I remember Paul as Perry Como’s sidekick.  If you have the same memories that I do then watch this clip and get ready for that warm fuzzy feeling we get when something from your childhood comes back in a reflection or memory.