1995 Play-by-Play
January
January 1st, Truck Savage came flying off the line and into the lead with a solo ace on physicist Eugene Wigner, tying the earliest Opening Day record set by Dr. Death. And he held that lead until Jan. 4th, when Demented Debutante and Sweeney Todd stepped up with a two-point duet on Brooks Stevens, designer of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, the '49 Harley, the first wide-mouth peanut butter jar, the Miller beer logo, and the phrase "planned obsolescence"... Jan. 5th, the Bluebirds of Paradise led with spades and soloed for three on bridge great Victor Mitchell, winner of five national titles... Jan. 6th, three scored four on Joe Slovo, the leader of the South African Communist Party. Raising the red flag were Alibi, DDT and Dr. Doornail. But the same day, Fire Ants and the Bluebirds of Paradise aced Charity Lawson, of the world's oldest triplets dubbed Faith, Hope and Charity by former first lady Frances Cleveland in 1899. And so the Bluebirds held on for tie with the three Slovoites at four points... Jan. 7th, the National Health brought England into the fray with a solo trey on comedian Larry Grayson, host of "The Generation Game. It was career solo #34 for the robust Health... Jan. 9th, Passing Fancy soloed for five on England's brilliant satirist Peter Cook and took the lead at five points! ... Jan. 12th, Death Wish Two and Gomez tallied one point on cartoonist George Price whose work graced "The New Yorker" and Mary Lasswell's 'Suds in Your Eye' books, and who penned the Official Game Cartoon... Jan. 17th, ears perked to the sound of approaching thunder as Sweeney Todd blew through the town square in a cloud of chicken feathers with his WILD CARD SOLO on Count Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani, winner of the Mille Miglia and many other legendary road races. It was career Wild Card Solo #2 for this dashing stylist who seems intent on throttling the competition, and he took the lead at seven points, ahead of the pack for the second time in 1995... Then an ominous quiet settled over the Game until, on Jan. 22nd, the dam broke. One hundred and nine (109) gamesters scored on Rose Kennedy including 50 in the Wild Card spot. It was the Top Pop Pick in both Hits and Wild Cards, eclipsing the Arthur Ashe gamester count (78) by 31, and Bess Truman's Wild Card record (18) by a staggering margin of 32. For many, this was the culmination of a career-long wait. Returning to the lead was Truck Savage at 6 & 2... But not for long. On Jan. 23rd, the toll in Japan's Kobe quake inched past 5000 and 14 gamesters scored 10 points each. Pairing the 10 with a Wild Irish Rose Card to take the lead at 15 & 2 were Binky Brown, Coffin Counter, Mouldering Playmate and Nanny's Dream Team. All day... But not two days, because on Jan. 24th, Of Corpse soloed for seven huge points on Grammy-winning producer David Cole. They took the seven, stacked them on top of their National Disaster and towered alone at 17 & 2, in the lead after three earlier seasons that included two Buffalo Cups and a career total of two points. What a changed team! Same day, rookie Die Hard soloed for two on painter George McNeil... Jan. 27th, Flatliners and the Morbo Chucks went deep, put up those soft hands and gathered in six on wide receiver Bob Chandler who played with USC, the Bills and the Raiders... Jan. 30th, England's The Last Trump soloed for three on conservationist Gerald Durrell... Jan. 31st, Wild Cards filled the air again as nine tallied five on Broadway producer George Abbott, led by D. Perriman Jr. with career WC #6, and 17 more scored one point, including the Bluebirds of Paradise with hit #4, on the verge of the Silver Bobcat.
February '95
February 5th, the Flatliners scored their hit #4 as they led 13 in a five-point tribute to actor Doug McClure and rose into a tie for the lead with Of Corpse at 17 points... Feb. 6th, Mr. Dit scored an elegant and lyrical four-point solo on poet James Merrill... Feb. 9th, the bee-lining Flatliners said, "Let this Bobcat be ours!" with hits #5 and #6, a Silver Bobcat-winning Daily Double on Sen. J. William Fulbright and actor David Wayne. Eleven more Fulbright scholars scored two (including Of Corpse moving to 19) and T. & J. James joined the Flatliners for a two-point duet on Wayne. And the historic Bobcat-bagging combo put Flatliners in the lead at 21 & 6!... Feb. 10th, the Sick Puppies finally rolled off the dog bed and out of Club Nula with six points on author Paul Monette. They were joined by nine other well-read gamesters...Feb. 12th, DDT went Wild on basketball great Nat Holman. Was it a Wild Card Solo? Would they get the roll on the rim? NO. They were denied by sports buff Chapter E taking one point and sending DDT back to the bench for fluffy face towels and a few private moments alone... Feb. 17th, Pontius cultivated a solo ace on Edwin Menninger, "The Flowering Tree Man," who exchanged seeds with people around the world and had more than 10,000 potted trees. It was Ponty's career solo #33, just one behind the National Health... Feb. 18th, Death Warmed Over plugged in and wailed with a seven-point solo on Bob Stinson, lead guitarist of the Replacements, dead of a drug overdose. The powerful hit popped Death Warmed Over out of Club Nula and past 125 startled gamesters. What a power move!... Feb. 23rd, Styx & Stones soloed for three on Alf Wight, a.k.a. James Herriot, author of "All Creatures Great & Small"... Feb. 25th, La Petite Morte burnished his gold braid and marched forward stiffly with a three-point solo on North Korean Defense Minister O Jin U, whose death was reported as "an irretrievable big political loss."... Feb. 28th, Gomez soloed for one on conductor Max Rudolf.
March '95
March 1st, Ghostwriter soloed for seven on painter Hugh Steers for career solo #12, and glided into third place at 18 & 3... Mar. 3rd, Alibi led six in tapping Howard Hunter, head of the Mormon Church, for two points... Mar. 8th, the Gamesters of Triskelion soloed for one on author Paul Horgan, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize... Mar. 9th, the Gamesters of Triskelion scored another ace, this one on the father of public relations Edward Bernays, but they had company, five others including the Dada Sisters and C. Stanley going Wild for five... Mar. 14th, W. Dockum soloed for three as former "Today Show" news anchor Frank Blair signed off for five... Mar. 17th, Cassandra Bob sat in to solo with blues great Sunnyland Slim for two points... March 27h, Frozen Stiff soloed for three on character actor Paul Brinegar who played Wishbone on TV's "Rawhide."... Mar. 28th, Razor soloed for six on biologist Dr. Harold Weintraub and moved to 17 points, just four behind the leading Flatliners... Mar. 29th, L. Smith soloed for three on Carl Jefferson, founder of the Concord Jazz Festival and record label.
April '95
April 2nd, Lives in Jeopardy led six in scoring a point-in-one on golf guru Harvey Penick, author of "The Little Red Book"... Apr. 3rd, the Dada Sisters jumped several opponents with a four-pointer on checkers champ Marion Tinsley... Apr. 4th, the Last Trump and the National Health scored five on England's first shock jock, Kenny Everett, master of saucy end-of-the-pier innuendos... Apr. 9th, the boys of summer, Dr. Doux and Mr. Goodvibes, glided across the grass to gather in four points on baseball's Bob Allison, Rookie of the Year and two-time All-Star... Apr. 10th, La Petite Morte soloed for two on Chen Yun, Chinese Communist Party patriarch... Apr. 14th, Nanny's Dream Team led 37 gamesters in a spirited rendition of "Froggy Went a Courtin'", scoring two on singer and actor Burl Ives. The points moved Nanny alongside Razor at 17... Apr. 19th, four scored two on industrialist J. Peter Grace... Apr. 22nd, the Mellow Gnomas, C. Stanley and Sweeney Todd scored two on the founder of the Gray Panthers, Maggie Kuhn. Same day, 40 Whacks penned an intense six-point solo on Jane Kenyon, poet laureate of New Hampshire. Same day, Razor soloed for five on jazz pianist Don Pullen and took the lead at 22 points! ... Apr. 23rd, 70 scored three on broadcaster Howard Cosell, 14 scored one on Sen. John Stennis and seven picked up the Daily Double. Razor scored three on Cosell and moved to 25, with the Flatliners right behind at 24... Apr. 25th, 30 donned swirly white dresses and danced for two with Ginger Rogers. Leading the way in tap shoes were Lives in Jeopardy, taking the Perriman Pennant lead with eight hits.
May '95
May 2nd, the Fire Ants sculpted a one-point solo on Antonio Salemme, sculptor of a 1924 Paul Robeson nude that disappeared during WWII... May 11th, 40 Whacks soloed for two on Evelyn Lincoln, secretary to JFK and author of two memoirs... May 12, Razor led four gamesters in sacking college and NFL coach Tommy Prothro for three points and rose to 28 & 6... May 18th, Scorpio and Syd Lexic tallied one on actor Elisha Cook Jr., the last surviving cast member of John Huston's 1941 film noir classic, "The Maltese Falcon," in which Cook played Wilmer, the psychotic, baby-faced killer... May 21st, Nanny whipped a rolling pin out of her quick-draw apron and dropped Flatliners to third place, leading 13 other gamesters with Secretary of Defense Les Aspin. When the flour settled, Nanny's Dream Team was in second place at 25 & 5, just three points away from Razor... May 24th, DDT led four with three on former British PM Harold Wilson... May 26th, eight led by Boneyard Dog tallied two on Warner Bros. legend Fritz Freleng, who created Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam... May 29th, W. Dockum led 19 with an ace on Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in the House and Senate. Also scoring, Lives in Jeopardy, holding on to their lead in the Perriman Pennant race at nine hits... May 30th, 21 gamesters stepped up to the plate and hit a six-point liner past former Dodger outfielder Glenn Burke, the first man in sports to deliver a high-five (to Dusty Baker in 1977). The hit had special poignancy for Razor; Burke once punched him in the stomach on the playground. But not this time; the hit lifted Razor to 34 points, nine ahead of second place Nanny's Dream Team.
June '95
June 3rd, Tim Ormortis soloed for one on Frank Waters, author of "The Book of the Hopi."... June 8th, Mac, Frozen Stiff and Pushing Up Prozac scored four on chemicals magnate Emerson Kampen... June 9th, Mr. Goodvibes came to the plate and ripped a five-point solo through the legs of Zoilo Versalles, 1965 AL MVP... June 10th, Chapter E, Morituri te Salutamus and Pine Boxer donned three-point plaid jackets for announcer Lindsay Nelson... June 13th, seven spanked five points out of Steve Silver, creator of "Beach Blanket Babylon," the longest running musical review in the USA. At the top, Razor led at 39 points and L. Smith cruised into second place at 27 with an eye-popping 5.4 QPA... June 15th, the learned D. Beach soloed for one on John Atanasoff who developed the concepts behind modern computing over several bourbons at a roadside bar in Illinois in 1937. Same day, Gratefully Dead soloed for four on Bronson Ingram, the only billionaire in Tennessee... June 19th, the National Health hit career solo #35, for two, on Group Captain Peter Townsend, the great love of Princess Margaret's life... June 21st, the National Health hit career solo #36, and #3 of 1995, for three on Tristan Jones, British author and sailor... June 23rd, 19 gamesters rolled up their sleeves for two jabs from Jonas Salk. In line were Nanny's Dream Team, moving into second place with L. Smith at 27, and W. Dockum with hit #9, challenging Lives in Jeopardy for the Perriman Pennant... June 24th, the Sick Puppies shouted "Stop the presses!" as they led seven in scoring five on James Batten, chairman of the Knight-Ridder newspapers. The Pups rolled to 27 points, joining the crowd in second place... June 25th, 12 led by Frank Merriwell donned pleated black robes for two on Chief Justice Warren Burger. Same day, Tim Ormortis blinded those standing nearby with his WILD CARD SOLO on Ernest Walton, who first split the atom. It was his tenth career solo, third Wild Card and first Wild Card Solo... June 27th, the awakening Flatliners and Cribdeath scored one on conductor Efrem Kurtz... June 29th, 34 scored three on Lana Turner. Leading the way in fetchingly snug sweaters were Nanny's Dream Team, the Sick Puppies and L. Smith, all moving to 30 and shaving Razor's lead to nine points... June 30th, Nanny's Dream Team led 13 in scoring two on the master of the slow burn, actor Gale Gordon. The deuce gave Nanny sole possession of second place at 32 points.
July '95
July 2nd, the Bluebirds of Paradise soloed for one on journalist George Seldes... July 4th, m.i. blue soloed for three on actress Eva Gabor of TV's "Green Acres" and the voice of Miss Bianca in "The Rescuers"... July 7th, Truck Savage soloed for two on Helene Johnson, the youngest of the Harlem Renaissance poets... July 8th, the Merry Little Breezes and Persephone riffled through their little black books and came up with four points on the Beverly Hills Madam, Alex Fleming a.k.a. Elizabeth Adams... July 16th, the Merry Little Breezes led four in scoring two on poet and novelist May Sarton. Same day, six led by La Petite Morte tallied two on poet and novelist Sir Stephen Spender... July 17th, Frank Merriwell led six in a two-point tribute to Juan Fangio, one of the greatest racing drivers ever. Same day, Flatliners and T. & J. James tallied four points on actor Harry Guardino; the hit moved the Flatliners to 32 points, right next to Nanny... July 22nd, the National Health, resplendent in cricket whites, took the measure of Harold Larwood, the fastest bowler of his day. He threw the cricket ball at more than 90 mph, but in one writer's words, "You didn't think of mathematics when you saw Larwood open the bowling; spectators thought of the poetry of rhythm and the panache of assault; batsmen thought of survival and, sometimes, of their wives and testamentary dispositions." The cleanly stroked hit was one point, but more importantly, solo #4 in 1995, just one away from Dr. Death's single season record... July 26th, SLY, M. Hamilton and Dead Guy tumbled into a Nash Rambler and moved up two spaces with George Romney... July 27th, Cassandra Bob soloed for two on film composer Miklos Rozsa... July 30th, the National Health hit solo #5, tying Dr. Death's single season record and setting a new career record of 38. And what a rockin' solo it was: seven points on Biggie Tembo of the Bhundu Boys, the King of Zimbabwean pop music, a blast that lifted the National Health to 24 points in an awesome display of style and power.
August '95
August 3rd, Blunt Instrument soloed for three on actress and director Ida Lupino... Aug. 5th, M. Hamilton and Dr. Tom(b) scored three on international financier Hasan Abedi, founder of BCCI, a multi-billion dollar house of cards. Same day, six lists scored one as they paid tribute to one of our favorite couples -- she showed you don't have to be thin to be attractive and he proved you don't have to be young. But their Cinderella tale came to an end with the untimely death of oil mogul J. Howard Marshall, doting husband of model Anna Nicole Smith... Aug. 9th, 34 Deadheads led by, no, it can't be, yes, Nanny's Dream Team whipping off the ruffled apron to reveal a tie-dyed granny dress as she tallied five on Jerry Garcia and moved to 37 & 9, just two points off Razor whose lead was shrinking like a cheap suit in a downpour. And of course, Gratefully Dead scored... Aug. 11th, Frank Merriwell went Wild and led a gaggle of ten gamesters on a two-point tune-in of radio star Phil Harris... Aug. 12th, 17 led by Bambi caught Mickey Mantle in the last run-down and tallied four... Aug. 15th, six took a licking and kept on ticking with two points on Timex pitchman John Cameron Swayze... Aug. 16th, Truck Savage and Of Corpse scored one on Oveta Culp Hobby, WWII WAC leader and first secretary of HEW... Aug. 17th, the Fire Ants dropped their QPA another notch with screenwriter Howard Koch, whose credits included "Casablanca," "The Sea Hawk," "The Best Years of Our Lives" and the radio script for Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast. Also scoring, Lives in Jeopardy with hit #11 and Rig R. Mortis, perhaps planning some Clete's Cup action of their own at an improbable but threatening 3 & 3... Aug. 21st, the Gamesters of Triskelion and Yule Iggy set a new record for the length of a hit's name, scoring two points on Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Nobel prize winner and discoverer of white dwarf stars... Aug. 23rd, 19 gamesters scored on famed photographer Alfred Eisenstadt. Going Wild were Fade to Black, and Skulls Away becoming the 200th gamester to score a Wild Card since its introduction in 1971. Using the ace to its fullest advantage were Fire Ants, dropping to 1.13 and Gomez to 1.25. For Lives in Jeopardy, it was hit #12 as they continued to lead in the race for the Perriman Pennant. And for Rig R. Mortis, it was hit #4 for a total of four points. Hmmm... Aug. 29th, five scored on David Perry, director of "David & Lisa." Lives in Jeopardy scored hit #13. Same day, Gomez soloed for one on Selma Burke, a sculptor in the Harlem Renaissance, lowering his QPA to 1.22... Aug. 30th, OPEC soloed on Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison for five points... Aug. 31st, Deus ex Machina soloed for one on John Erik Jonsson, founder of Texas Instruments and former mayor of Dallas.
Also in August of 1995, Game Central began notifying wired gamesters of each hit via e-mail. An initial group of 25 subscribers took advantage of the new service.
September '95
September 4th, four scored three on attorney William Kunstler... Sept. 7th, Razor was caught by a punch he never saw as the ham-fisted Sick Puppies soloed on slugger Buster Mathis for five and moved into a tie for first place at 39 points. It was career solo #25 for the Pups whose den already held six Gran Prix trophies... Sept. 9th, Rep. Jamie Whitten, who spent more than 50 years in the House of Representatives, lavished two points each to 11 open-handed constituents led by Dr. Tom(b). Taking hit #14 was Lives in Jeopardy... Sept. 15th, Razor got up off the canvas and scored three points to retake sole possession of the lead at 42 points. The pick, shared with three others, was Michio Watanabe, leader of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party... Sept. 19th, Orville Reddenbacher popped up two fresh points for nine gamesters including Nero Wolf scoring for the first time ever after 627 days of play... Sept. 25th, the Mellow Gnomas soloed for one on author Bessie Delany. Same day, four tallied four on Dick Steinberg, GM of the New York Jets. Leading the way was Razor, moving to 46 & 10 and stretching his lead to seven over the panting Pups.
October '95
October 2nd, four strapping lads bulled through the line with S.F. 49er John Ayers, starting guard on two Super Bowl teams. Putting up six points were Razor, moving to 52 & 11, L. Smith moving into second at 41 & 8, Frank Merriwell at 36 & 10, Perry Mason at 25 & 5 and Dr. Doux at a hairy 20 & 3... Oct. 7th, Sweeney Todd hit the gas pedal of a sleek one-pointer, Louis Meyer, first three-time winner of the Indy 500 ('28, '33, '36). It was career solo #9 for the begoggled Sweenster... Oct. 8th, Ghostwriter and the Merry Little Breezes paired with six points on conductor Christopher Keene of the NYC Opera and Spoleto Festival USA. For Ghostie, it was hit #5 and a 6.0 QPA, tying his single-season QPA record and taking the lead in the battle for the 1995 Reaper Ribbon... Oct. 9th, the National Health shattered Dr. Death's 22-year-old mark of five solos in one season with 1995 solo #6, a one-pointer on a former Prime Minister, Lord Home. Doc's record had been tied twice, once by Pontius in 1988 and once by the Fire Ants in 1990, but had held for more than two decades of play... Oct. 13th, Frank Merriwell led seven in tallying two on author Henry Roth... Oct. 21st, Iron Maiden scored the first solo of her career with a boogie-woogie three-pointer on Maxene Andrews of the singing Andrews Sisters... Oct. 24th, Alibi and Frozen Stiff pinned a voodoo two on Emil Jonassaint, former puppet president of Haiti who believed the island was the last remnant of Atlantis and that the US was invading to locate the Philosopher's Stone... Oct. 25th, Dead Ernest and Demented Debutante scored three on actress Vivica Lindfors. Same day, the Sick Puppies led 17 over the net after beating Bobby Riggs three-love. The Pups drew to within four of Razor and Demented Debutante tallied a Lindfors/Riggs Daily Double!... Oct. 30th, rookie Willie's Will doubled his score with a one-point violin solo on Erica Morini.
November '95
November 4th, eight led by DDT scored three on Israel's Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated at a rally... Nov. 7th, four scored three on comedian Slappy White.
Nov. 17th, the focus shifted to the duel for Clete's Cup, a year-long tussle between Fire Ants and Gomez, until an unlikely team appeared at the back door with a one-point solo on Sidney Amber, the oldest man in San Francisco who regaled diners at Sears Famous Foods with his memories of the 1906 earthquake and celebrated his 109th birthday reciting poetry on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. The score belonged to Rig R. Mortis, who had fielded an otherwise youthful list of drug users, rock stars and heads of state in war-torn nations, but who just happened to score their first five hits on five one-pointers for a suddenly stunning 1.00 QPA, the lowest in Game history! If they could just keep everyone else on that list alive for 42 more days, they'd snatch Clete's Cup and go into the record books with a record that could never be beaten, while Fire Ants and Gomez howled at the moon. Wow!
Nov. 18th, the city by the bay produced another ace, this one on Arnold Batliner, money launderer who appeared on "You Asked For It" and stumped the panel on "What's My Line?". Beginning in 1938, he washed and dried $17 million in change so it would not darken ladies' white gloves at San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel. The solo was hit #14 for the Mellow Gnomas and moved them into a tie for the Perriman Pennant with Lives in Jeopardy!... Meanwhile, Nov. 23rd, two funky gamesters reached into the closet for a sequined purple jacket, picked up a gold sax and slid out on their knees playing "Shotgun" with a five-point duet on Junior Walker. Our rockin' All Stars were Razor, moving to 57 & 12, stretching his lead to 15 points, and Moss, picking up his share of the funk and glory. Same day, Surgin' General scored a very tasteful solo on film director Louis Malle for four points... Nov. 24th, Truck Savage and Worm Meat scored two on actor Jeffrey Lynn, a fixture in Warner Bros. films of the 30's and 40's... Nov. 26th, Styx & Stones put up a three-point solo on Maurice "Footsie" Bright, who played for the Detroit Lions and won the nation's top honors for bravery in WWII... Nov. 28th, Legion of Doom soloed for three on former Senate chaplain Richard Halverson.
December '95
December 1st, the Dada Sisters soloed for four on Gen. Maxwell "Mad Max" Thurman who led the 1989 invasion of Panama... Dec. 2nd, five literary lights scored two on Canada's Robertson Davies... Dec. 6th, Mac soloed for two on editor and columnist James Reston... Dec. 9th, aviator Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan found his way to the Hereafter whereupon Mr. Dit, Scorpio and C. Stanley pulled down their goggles and shouted "Flaps down!" for two points each... Dec. 14th, the Morbo Chucks awoke from their autumn slumber and tallied a three-point solo on sportswriter Al Stump... Dec. 18th, Tim Ormortis soloed for two on Konrad Zuse, the very last name on the Master List and a pioneer in the world of computers... Dec. 22nd, OPEC led 11 gamesters in scoring two on actress Butterfly McQueen. The deuce lifted Fire Ants' QPA to 1.22 and into a tie with Gomez at 9 & 2, although both trailed Rig R. Mortis who clung to their 5 & 5, rock bottom 1.00 gem... Dec. 25th, 82 gamesters looked under the tree and what did they find but a frosted ice bucket and three points from singer, actor, original Dean Martin. The scoring started right at the top and rolled all the way down into Club Nula. Razor moved to 60 points. In the Perriman Pennant race Lives in Jeopardy and the Mellow Gnomas moved together to 15 hits, and only The Last Roundup and Montressor remained in Club Nula. But those eerie wails you heard came from none of the above. Sobbing and barking like seals into large white towels were both members of Rig R. Mortis who saw their 1.00 QPA blown to smithereens with the trey on Dino just six days before they would have made Game history. Instead, they rose like a dead carp to 1.33 and left the Clete's Cup lead to Fire Ants and Gomez at 1.22. And that was the end of the scoring in 1995.
And so it ended, with Razor winning the Gran Prix (60 points), Lives in Jeopardy and the Mellow Gnomas the Perriman Pennant (15 hits), Ghostwriter the Reaper Ribbon for High QPA (6.00), Fire Ants and Gomez Clete's Cup (1.22), Passing Fancy Rookie of the Year, and The National Health Doc's Diploma for Class List with his record-breaking six solos in one year.
Let's look at the Top Ten for 1995.
Take me on to 1996.
Take me back to Play-by-Play.