The Object Is...

A game show where celebrities & players try to connect objects with famous people.

Broadcast
ABC - December 30, 1963-March 27, 1964

Packager
The Object Is, Inc.

Host
Dick Clark

Announcer
Mike Laurence

Gameplay
The object of The Object is... is to guess a famous person from a series of clues which were all objects (things people touch, hole, feel, eat etc.) related to the person in some way.

Here's an example: If the name were Adam West, then a typical clue would be, "TV Batmobile".

Main Game
The main game went through two formats in it's 13 week run.

Format #1
Three contestants competed with three celebrity guest stars. Each contestant had two celebrity partners, so two celebrities will work with two contestants. Host Clark, gave the mystery name to the first celebrity who will then give an object-type clue. The contestant will then have a chance to score 10 points by identifying the name. If the contestant was not able to guess the right name, then he/she will be shown that same name and then convey the name to the next celebrity by giving a new object. If the second celebrity can guess that name correctly, then the contestant received seven points.

Format #2
In the final weeks of the show, the format changed. Now two contestants played with two celebrities (one for each contestant), and it was played in a Password-like format. For one member of each team was given the name of a famous person, then they alternated turns giving object clues to convey to their partners until one partner got the name right. The celebrities gave the clues first, then the contestants. Jobs switched throughout the game after each name. Here's how they scored:

In either format, the first player to score 15 points won the game and won some money ($75 (at $5/point) in the first format & $100 in the second format).

Winner's Game
The winning contestant went on to play the Winner's Game for a little more money. In the first format, winning contestants played the Winner's Game after each game win, but in the second format they had to win a best 2-out-of-3 game match in order to qualify.

In the Winner's Game, Dick showed a live object which represented a category. Then the winning team had 30 seconds to name as many names that fit under the category as possible. The celebrities & contestant must alternate turns while doing this. When time was up, the winning contestant received $5 for each correct name given.

Trivia
This was Dick Clark's very first game show. His successful dance show American Bandstand was 11 years old at the time of this program. After this show was cancelled, Dick then hosted another short-lived show previously hosted by his future co-host on TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes Ed McMahon. It was called Missing Links, it was produced by Goodson-Todman Productions, and his reign lasted until Christmas Day (December 25) of 1964. Dick would never again host another game show until 1973 when Pyramid came to town.

Video Links
A full episode from one of the final weeks of the show can be found here.

YouTube Videos
Premiere Show

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3