Today, shortly before 12:30 p.m., one of the contestants in the
$20,000 Pyramid, will -- with the help of Bart Braverman -- win
$10,000. As the audience cheers, applauds and whistles, she will
explain to Dick Clark, the host of the show, how she plans to spend
her prize.

$20,000 Pyramid is taped -- five shows at a time -- In advance of
its air date. Thus the contestant -- let her name come as a surprise
-- will have the pleasure of watching herself be enriched.

The creation of a game show entrepreneur named Bob Stewart, $20,000 Pyramid has been on the
air for six years and gives no sign of going off. It began at CBS as the $10,000 Pyramid, but soon after
it switched to ABC, where it now resides, it raised its top prize to $20,000. Clark has been the host
since the show began.

A couple of days ago, Clark, who lives In California, came here to tape a week’s worth of programs.
The show is taped in a converted theatre on W. 58th Street -- Dick Cavett used to tape there -- and
there are usually around 400 spectators on hand to watch.

For those who don’t watch the show, $20,000 Pyramid is a game concerned with speed in
communication. There are two teams and, in the early rounds, each team picks a vague subject
and one partner gives clues while the other -- within 30 seconds -- tries to figure out what the
clue-giver is talking about.

Whichever team wins the preliminary round goes on to try to win either $10,000, $15,000,
or $20,000. Again, one partner gives clues, the other tries to guess the subject of the clues. This
time, though, the contestants are competing only with the clock and not with another team.

In the early round, team partners are allowed to touch, pantomime, and anything else they can use
to get the clue across. In the big-money rounds. the clue-giver’s arms are strapped to a chair and he
must convey the idea by words alone.

One half of each team Is always a celebrity -- this week they are Linda Kelsey of Lou Grant and Bart
Braverman of Vegas -- and the celebrities, who get only a union minimum to do five shows, are the
clue-givers during the bigmoney rounds. (They don’t share In the contestant’s winnings.)

During break between shows, Edie Chan, the contestant
coordinator, told the audience how to get on the show (most
contestants are picked from studio audiences). "This audience
is being tested next Tuesday. Anybody who’s interested, we'll
give you a card, and then we'll choose about a dozen names at
random. Before you come in next week, practice. We’re looking
for good players who are fun.

"We'll take 10 of you into a room and you’ll play. Then we'll take
the of that group, four at a time, and well play with you. From
that group, we'll call you and you'll come in and play in hour
long sessions.

Miss Chan, who has been coordinating contestants since the
show’s start, said, "Out of 100 we test, maybe eight will get on
stage. Everybody thinks they're good, but all of a sudden when
they're put in a room with nine players ... What comes up most in
nervousness -- playing at home along with the set isn't the same
as being under pressure -- and lack of knowledge."

Bob Stewart, who also created The Price Is Right, To Tell The
Truth, Jackpot, Three On A Match and Password, talked about
his work: "The biggest inspirarion is being unemployed." He
laughed -- Stewart seems to be a funny, extremely bright man.
"First you look for a skill that the audience can share in.

"You try to get the audience at home to talk to the TV screen. Nobody talks to a bridge game on
television. Once you get the skill, you look for the form -- will it be solo contestants, will it be teams,
will it be against one another, against the clock, both. Celebrities are useful because they help an
audience identify which team is which."

Stewart said that game shows cost from $15,000 to $35,00 a week to produce (a soap opera costs
about $100,000 a week, a prime time half hour upwards of $200,000 an episode): "We're the cheapest
kind of product there is." Naturally, at these figures, game shows make lots of money for everyone.

He lamented that there was very little new talent in the game show business.

"There are a lot of new writers, but game shows are a minute little skill -- we're sort of like the guys who build ships in bottles. When I come up with something, I believe it's new, but I've been doing
this for so long, I could be coming up with old solutions to new problems." Again, he laughed, "I
began my career as a comedy writer, drama, too. If I had been a better writer, I wouldn't have been
in the game show business."