Clint Eastwood and the lost TV appearance

So here’s an interesting little story. About a month ago I had to enter the dark domain known to millions as ‘the cupboard under the stairs’. I took this dreaded journey as I knew I had a sealed up box which had my Eastwood scripts inside. 

Finally locating it, I was going through it and rediscovered an original script which I had acquired from America well over 20 years ago. I had forgotten all about it. However, what makes this rather unique is that it is for a TV game show where Clint appeared as special guest star – nothing too exciting in that I guess? But here’s the thing - no-one has this appearance recorded, not even the big sites such as the IMDB! 

So effectively it could easily be considered as lost. Furthermore, it’s entirely possible that this script could be the only existing evidence of Clint’s appearance? The show was ‘It could be you’ (1956-1961) and was hosted by Bill Leyden, absolutely everything is in this script, all of the original additions, the different coloured pages for the advertisements, what was being advertised in the breaks, the word count, duration, agency headed pages, it’s quite wonderful.

It was filmed (taped) on Stage 1, NBC Studios - 3000 W. Alameda Avenue, Burbank, California on Tuesday, December 27^th 1960 and aired on Friday, December 30^th 1960. The half hour program was filmed in front of a live studio audience and had the contestants win prizes they had always wanted but were unable to afford - usually by performing stunts.

The contestant on this particular episode (a Mrs Louise Bush) was a big fan of Rawhide and Clint was introduced as the show’s special guest, every part of Clint’s dialogue is scripted and he is invited to sing along to a rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ –

I don’t think I realised (at the time I obtained this piece) what a rarity this would turn out to be? The internet was still very much in its infancy at the time, so researching a show such as this was pretty much impossible. But some 20-25 years on, and the fact that this appearance is still unrecorded anywhere, does make me smile a little.

The Wiki entry for the show does state ‘Guest celebrities would sometimes appear to aid the host. Among those that appeared on the show were Lex Barker, Annette Funicello and Steve McQueen.