Barry & Enright Productions

Barry & Enright Productions ("or simply referred to as:" Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions or Jack Barry & Dan Enright Productions), was a U.S. television production company that was formed in 1947 by Jack Barry and Dan Enright.

History

In 1956 Barry & Enright created the game shows "Twenty-One" and "Tic Tac Dough". The company, along with Robert Noah, also created and produced the original version of "Concentration". Two years later "Twenty-One" was cancelled as part of the quiz show scandal, when it was revealed that the producers pre-arranged outcomes. The scandal led to Congressional legislation against the rigging of game shows. In 1959 "Tic Tac Dough" was also cancelled. Barry & Enright were forced to sell their game shows to NBC, including "Concentration", and the company later ceased to exist.

In 1971 Dan Enright came back to television as executive producer for "All About Faces". After an unsuccessful stint working with former rival Goodson-Todman, Jack Barry first staged a comeback as an emcee, replacing Dennis Wholey on the short-lived game show, "The Generation Gap" in 1969, then formed a production company and in 1971, sold "The Reel Game" to ABC (he also hosted the 13-week game show), and in 1972, permanently resurrected his career by hosting the hit game show "The Joker's Wild", which he reputedly created while with Goodson-Todman.

In 1975 Enright rejoined his partner in Barry & Enright Productions, and their collaboration continued until Barry's death from a heart attack in 1984. Enright kept the company name and continued running the company. The company ended in 1991 after the 90s version of "Tic Tac Dough" was dissolved. Dan Enright died of cancer in 1992. Although the production company was primarily known for game shows, it also worked on other projects such as the comedy films, "Private Lessons" (1981) and "Making Mr. Right" (1987).

A common practice on most Barry & Enright games was an automobile was awarded for any player who won five front games in a row, typically winning a game by getting to a target score, or in the case of "Tic-Tac-Dough", getting three Xs or Os in a row. On most games, players continued playing until defeated.

Bonus rounds were of a game of chance, in which players faced a bad guy (such as "The Devil" on "The Joker's Wild" or "The Dragon" on "Tic Tac Dough"). Winning these bonus games awarded the players cash and prize packages worth anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000 in winnings, which may include trips. "The Joker's Wild" and "Tic Tac Dough" offered these prize packages if players accumulated $1,000 or more in bonus money without the bad guy revealed, while on "Bullseye", players can win the prize package plus win a possible jackpot of up to $10,000 in cash, which can be accomplished by spinning three bullseyes in a row on one spin.

All of the cash and prize winnings were in increments of $50, except on "The Joker's Wild", where the winning were in increments of $25 due to the value of the money cards in the "Face The Devil" bonus round.

Ownership of properties

The Barry family, along with former "Wheel of Fortune" letter-turner and Enright's companion Susan Stafford, sold Barry & Enright Productions and its library of game shows to Columbia TriStar Television sometime in 1994, before the launch of Game Show Network on December 1 of that year.

Today, the pre-scandal library is owned by NBC Universal and the post-scandal library including the 1950s version of "Tic Tac Dough" is owned by Sony Pictures Television. There are two exceptions: the 1990 edition of "Tic Tac Dough" is held by Granada International through their accquisition of the ITC library, and the 1989 kids' version of "Pictionary" is held by NBC Universal through their ownership of the MCA library.

Known employees

Some known employees have included Susan Stafford who was vice president for public relations. Another noted staffer was Louis M. Heyward, who was vice president for development. Heyward is the father of Andy Heyward, who is chairman and chief executive officer of DiC Entertainment. Barry's sons Jonathan and Douglas Barry, his daughter Barbara Barry, Dan Diana, Chris Sohl, Gary Cox and Ron Greenberg were prominent employees of Barry & Enright.

Barry & Enright producer (and frequent director) Richard S. Kline, set designer John C. Mula, and music composer Hal Hidey would leave the company, following Jack Barry's death, to form Kline & Friends, where they would co-produce the game show, "Win, Lose or Draw", with Burt Reynolds and Bert Convy. Gary Cox left following Barry's death to join Reg Grundy Productions, which was adjacent to Barry & Enright in Century City, as an associate producer of "Sale of the Century". Ron Greenberg departed Barry & Enright a year before to produce other game show projects.

Longtime Chuck Barris game show announcer Johnny Jacobs, a longtime friend of Jack Barry's, was the primary announcer of all Jack Barry-produced and Barry & Enright produced-game shows from 1972 to 1977, while working on Barris' "The Newlywed Game", "The Dating Game" and "The Gong Show", among others. In 1977, a year after "Let's Make A Deal" went off the air, its announcer Jay Stewart replaced Jacobs as its primary announcer for four years, and was also its primary spokesman for all Barry & Enright projects outside of the game show world. Jacobs, who died in 1982, did fill in for a few months during the 1978-79 season of "The Joker's Wild", and in addition, Johnny Gilbert was also used as a fill-in. Bob Hilton was also used as a fill-in announcer towards the final weeks of the 1979-80 season.

In 1981, Stewart left Barry & Enright productions following his daughter's suicide, replaced by longtime Wheel of Fortune voice Charlie O'Donnell. The popular "Charlie O." would remain with Barry & Enright until the cancellation of "Joker" and "Tic Tac Dough". Again, Johnny Gilbert filled in for O'Donnell on occasion, as well as Marc Summers and John Harlan.

Jack Barry, Jim Peck, Geoff Edwards, Wink Martindale, Art James, Tom Kennedy, Jim Lange and Bill Cullen were the main hosts during that period. Nipsey Russell and Jim Caldwell also hosted at least one game show from B&E. Jim Perry, Peter Tomarken, Patrick Wayne and Bill Rafferty were given auditions for future game show pilots, none of which were produced. Wayne however went on to host the 1990 revival of "Tic Tac Dough".

Titles by Barry & Enright Productions

Owned by NBC Universal Television

*"Twenty-One" (1956-1958)
*"Pictionary" (1989)
*"High-Low Quiz" (1957)
*"Dough Re Mi" (1958-1960)

Owned by Sony Pictures Television

* "Tic Tac Dough" (1956-1959, 1990-1991)
* "The Joker's Wild" (1972-1975, 1975-1986) (this series was a property of Jack Barry Productions throughout the entire run)
* "Hollywood's Talking" (1973) (A Jack Barry Production).
* "Blank Check" (1975) (Also a property of Jack Barry Productions).
* "Hollywood Connection" (1977)
* "Break the Bank" (1976-1977)
* "The New Tic Tac Dough" (1978-1986)
* "Bullseye" (1980-1982)
* "Play the Percentages" (1980)
* "Hot Potato" (1984)

Other productions

* "Concentration" (1958-1973) (now owned by FremantleMedia and NBC)

External links

* [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800359096/bio Dan Enright] at Yahoo! Movies
* [http://www.gameshow-galaxy.net/who_owns_what.htm Gameshow-galaxy.net page on game show ownership]