December 25, 1966-Password (Lee Remick-Peter Lawford)

Password's CBS nighttime run had ended in September 1965. On December 25, 1966 a brief nighttime revival began with this episode featuring Lee Remick and Peter Lawford and all-celebrity guests (this "friends" format had also been done on daytime Password in September 1966 with Lucille Ball and Gary Morton). Extra celeb guests were Phyllis Newman, Stephen Sondheim, Pierre Salinger, Otto Preminger, Audrey Meadows and Lee Remick's mother Pat Packard.
The nighttime revival was cancelled in May 1967. Daytime Password ended in September 1967, but syndicated reruns of color daytime shows and the 1967 color night shows kept interest alive and led to a revival on ABC in 1971 that ran until 1975. The show was revived again in 1979 on NBC with a modified format and a new title "Password Plus".

[@SmartCookie2022]

Lee Remick was always a class act.

[@Meatcity-sf8fm]

Remic was a natural beauty.

[@donaldleroy6502]

I'll always remember how I felt the first time I ever saw Lee, with the proverbial lightning bolt from the blue. Her mother is just as lovely in her own right ❤. Lee was always far ahead of her time, since she had a face for super high definition

[@hibob418]

I believe Peter Lawford held the record for the lightning round at 11 seconds. Different episode though. Thanks for posting these!!

[@kurtmorris454]

I don't suppose you know when that was? I've searched everywhere for it using every search clue.

[@hibob418]

@@kurtmorris454 I’m afraid I don’t know the date of that. I just remember that when I was 11, and that would have been spring of 1971, I was at home sick for about a month, and my mom and I would watch Password every day, as she just loved it. They might have mentioned Peter Lawford’s lightning round record then. That little factoid has always just stuck in my head.

[@kurtmorris454]

@@hibob418 yeah,I'm going through all the episodes and am up to 1965 and it's been mentioned but evidently skipped.

[@muse7746]

Great! Thx for sharing. Lee Remick, enjoyed her movies. Good actress as well as Peter Lawford. I wish someone would post episodes of : "The Thin Man" with Peter Lawford.

[@gusloader123]

Good episode. I was impressed that a man from Germany (Otto Preminger) knows American English better than some Americans. I think that the last movie that I saw Lee Remick in was the very interesting spy/agent movie "Telefon". Wretched cancer takes too many people.

[@markb846]

Thanks for posting. I am a big Lee Remick fan. But also enjoy Audrey Meadows and Peter Lawford on Password

[@Eowyn187]

Wow. Some heavy-hitters in this episode. And Audrey Meadows with Peter is just great.

[@alanhumphrey4198]

Lee Remick's mother was a beautiful lady!!

[@m.e.d.7997]

I believe she outlived her beautiful daughter. Lee was truly stunning here.

[@epaddon]

When I saw the publicity pix for the episode, I at first thought it was Joan Fontaine because she is almost a total dead-ringer for her at that point in time.

[@sharksport01]

They look nothing alike.

[@andrewsharisky7259]

The show that Stephen Sondheim said he was working on, The Girls Upstairs, became the now iconic musical FOLLIES, which opened on Broadway in 1971.

[@ademirmartins6533]

Lee Remik looked beautiful, here in Brazil she is well known for the film The Omen.

[@m.e.d.7997]

Lee Remick was a very good player.

[@Justme85857]

Lee is very Beautiful

[@walterroma7368]

The sound effects in the background makes this like it’s from outer space.

[@stevenreichertart]

Wow, a $500 prize in 1966 is worth $4,717 in 2023.

[@sharksport01]

7296.00 in 2024.

[@brookehanley3659]

I think Lee’s mother outlived her

[@le832]

Yes according to a Google search, her mother passed in 2007 (born 1911) and Lee in 1991 (born 1935).

[@alanhumphrey4198]

Phyllis Newman was always dynamite in playing PW!!

[@jeffreylong3963]

December 25, 1966 (Christmas Day 1966)

[@akrenwinkle]

Lee's husband was Bill Colleran, who produced- for a while- Judy Garland's TV show. Lee was sometimes in the audience but really around to keep an eye on things. When you worked for Judy, let's just say, you really worked.

[@TimH-pu2dd]

So fantastic to see Sondheim play! Too bad the contestants are rushed on and off so quickly.

[@gusloader123]

It was a special episode, at holiday time and they were playing for a charity. Not a regular "Daily/Week" episode with audience people playing for cash.

[@alanhumphrey4198]

Stephen Sondheim RIP in 2021...

[@25FADIII]

This Password episode looks like its done in film, when the vast majority of the series franchise was done in videotape since its 1961 daytime inception.

[@epaddon]

It originally aired in color from a videotape master. The original color videotape master is lost or was destroyed. But back then it was not uncommon for backup copies to be made in the black and white "Kinescope" format of putting a film camera in front of a TV monitor because kinescopes of 16mm film were easier to store and maintain than videotapes in those days. The only reason why the color Passwords of this era we've seen still exist in that format is because the videotapes were being saved for rerun purposes in syndication back then and that originally included this episode but over the decades the videotape was lost and we're lucky the backup kinescope still existed.

[@SamWesting]

Kinescopes were typically made for affiliates that did not have satellite linkup, or were distributed to overseas military bases to entertain troops.

[@jackeppington6488]

@@epaddon Understood. But who is vacuuming during every darn clue!

[@Justme85857]

Audrey is a Class Act

[@rdbwdc774]

Sondheim was cute!

[@alanhumphrey4198]

Love Otto's hair!!!

[@matthewbulger2549]

What time was this episode of "Password" on Christmas day December 25th,1966 over CBS-TV on ? 5:00pm (EST) ? I await your reply.

[@jimmybrice6360]

i think microscope, with an inflection would have gotten 10 points on telescope. airplane should have been the second clue.

[@teetarquin7012]

Yeah it’s the Morris code. 🙄

[@randysills4418]

It would be so sad if Lee outlived her Mother, Pat...

[@epaddon]

I think you meant to phrase that the other way. Her mother outlived Lee by 16 years (Lee dying much too young at 55).

[@gplunk]

Death from kidney cancer in '91....

[@stillnotwoke]

​@@epaddon I was in the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis MA with my wife around '85 at night during the winter and immediately recognized her, as I knew she lived in the area, despite her wearing large, dark sunglasses and a long coat. As we passed her I gave her a simple wave and said "Hi Lee" and she gave a simple wave back with a smile as we kept walking. My wife asked "Who's that" and was surprised when I told her. I ran into a few big celebrities on the Cape, but never bothered them for autographs or anything...just a simple wave and "hi" sufficed.

[@trevorkeyes6067]

peter lawford o tickerty boo

[@MrJoeybabe25]

B&W Kine?

[@epaddon]

That's the only copy that exists. The color tape master that was cut down for the syndicated package is lost and the B/W kinescope version still existed in the Goodson materials that were donated to the Library of Congress. Thankfully once they realized this was a "missing" episode, Buzzr worked out a deal to air this episode (though if the color version still existed it would have been hacked down to accommodate the syndicated format like all the other 67 color night shows were).

[@libertubey2199]

@@epaddon They can colorize this, since it originally aired in color.

[@conniebeckmann2733]

what is that horrid noise. scrapping. ???

[@gplunk]

Some kind of distortion on the sound track??

[@jackeppington6488]

@@gplunk thank goodness someone else noticed it! Sounds like somebody flushing

[@walterroma7368]

It’s because it’s from the outer space!

[@cwf1701]

to add. Password was revised in 1984 as Super Password on NBC with Bett Convy. in 2002 as Million dollar Password on CBS with Regis Philbin, and in 2022 as Password on NBC with Keke Palmer

[@walterroma7368]

Who cares