“Hi, doll!”

I’ve been watching a lot of Buzzr lately.

Buzzr is a channel that shows old game shows. It’s what I watch now that MeTV has been brutally yanked from my channel lineup yet again by the heartless overlords at Spectrum.

Anyway, I’m watching “Password Plus” (“It’s more than just Password! It’s Password PLUS!”) and like always, host Allen Ludden (“Mr. Password” himself) comes out and says “Hi, doll!”

https://youtu.be/SL0TYYWbYos

On the show I saw tonight, Patty Duke asked Allen Ludden to whom he’s saying that. And Allen explained that when Betty White’s mother first saw him on television, she exclaimed “Hi doll!” to the TV. (Betty White later became Mrs. Allen Ludden, you see.)

So Allen’s “Hi, doll!” (sometimes easily heard, sometimes muffled by audience applause) was for his mother-in-law, which I think is incredibly charming…right up there with such subtle shout-outs as Carol Burnett’s ear tug.

I was thinking that as I start my morning broadcast and my loud, cheesy jingle gets rolling it would be fun to throw in a “Hi, doll!” before my “good morning good morning good mornings”, just to see if people are paying attention. As a reference it makes no sense to most, but that has not stopped me once in 22 years. I make Uncle Tonoose references for pete’s sake.

But I don’t think there are any “Hi doll!”s in my future, because 2020 is not 1979. I’m not sure any television host today could yell “Hi, doll!” on his way on stage and not be scorned….or booed back behind the curtain. Ah well.

In closing, here’s the theme music to Password Plus. It’s super funky.