The Price We Pay

 Some people will want to talk about Bob Barker's turn in Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore. It's a funny bit. It takes the familiar game show host and turns him into a tough guy. For laughs. Infinitely more amusing than the former game show host who decided to act like a tough guy by running for president. 

Robert William Barker went to that big showcase in the sky over the weekend, and multiple generations mourned his passing. He was the host of Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1975, a nineteen year long gig. He followed that up by hosting The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007. If you're tracking that right, he had a three year overlap where he was the presenter of not one but two of the cornerstones of American Game Show history. 

He was also one eighth Sioux, growing up on the Rosebud Reservation in Mission, South Dakota. He attended Drury College in Missouri on a basketball scholarship. When he returned home from a stint with the United States Navy Reserve, he married his high school sweetheart and moved to Florida to build on his broadcasting career. In 1950, the couple moved to California where things really took off. Ralph Edwards picked Bob to replace Jack Bailey as the daytime host of Truth or Consequences. In 1972, The Price is Right came calling and he never looked back. 

In 1982, he began closing each episode by saying,  "This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered." His love of animals was backed up by action, not the least of which was his purchase of a ship that would interdict whaling in Japan. He was in Washington DC to testify before Congress regarding proposed legislation that would ban captive elephants from traveling shows, such as circuses when his health began to fail. A  carotid endarterectomy sidelined him for less than a month. A stroke slowed him down for a bit three years later, and as the new century rolled on, age caught up to him. 

But it wasn't until 2023 that the reaper finally came closest to the actual retail price of Robert William Barker. The Happy Gilmore bit was nice, as I mentioned, but what I will remember most about Bob Barker is the soda crackers and ginger ale. When I was home from school, that was what my mother served me while I was propped up in my parents' bed, watching daytime television. Daytime television that featured one solid hour of games and prizes geared toward the terrifically mundane price of a can of peas to that of an Audi R8 Spyder. Bob was my host for stomach flu and the Showcase Showdown. It might not have been the chicken soup that made me better. I think it was probably Bob Barker stomping on the Terra around Television City in Hollywood. 

He will be missed.