Does the Divine Ding-Dong ring a bell?
If you grew up in St. Louis during 70s and 80s, do you remember D.B.’s Delight? Better yet, did your sixth grade class travel downtown to the Channel 4 studios to appear on the show? And better YET, did you compete on the show? And did you win?
Check out today’s story in the “Screens” section of the Post-Dispatch, which looks back at the locally-produced game show and evokes memories of Saturday mornings inhaling Fruit Loops while glued to the television set.
I appeared on the show when I was in sixth grade. (And got two Six Flags tickets for winning. Yes, please take a moment now to bask in my coolness.) My big sister Natalie not only appeared on the show and won, but also made it to the prime-time semifinals. I like to give her trouble by reminding her she appeared on the show wearing a dorky green sweater with whales on it. She simply reminds me that I wore a mullet. ‘Nuff said.
I think it would be awesome if a local television station would revive the idea of a kids’ game show and put one on the air. Schools, parents, and kids would love it, and it would be great publicity for the station and its sponsors.
There’s a Wikipedia entry about D.B.’s Delight here. And check out Joe Svoboda’s appearance on the show here and here and here. He posted the videos on YouTube for friends and family, and jokes that his nieces and nephews are most impressed with the fact he actually had hair.
As for why my mullet isn’t on the web for millions to see? I’ve lost the videotape. Honest. It makes me a bit sad, really — so if any of my old Point Elementary classmates can produce a tape, I’ll forever thank you. My sister will probably thank you more.
This show doesn’t ring a bell at all for me. I guess I missed out. Since it ran such a long time, from 1977 to 1988, one would think I’d have some memory of it, but I’m drawing a complete blank and never heard of it until today.