Burt Dubrow is frank. A Game Show Network (GSN) executive asked him what show he’d produce, if he had no limits. Dubrow said a gay version of “The View.”
A clever revival of a 1950s game show arose from his remark. The show, “I’ve Got a Secret,” aired on GSN, in 2006. The key move was finding a vibrant, all-gay panel,
The panellists had a matchless chemistry. This is the secret to any game show, says Dubrow, chemistry. Viewers love to watch good-natured teasing.
Burt Dubrow succeeds with ease. This is a rare gift. He suggests his winning creation, “The Jerry Springer Show,” popped up on a regular a day at the office.
“Howdy Doody,” the puppet, which enthralled children in the 1950s, is the Dubrow muse. “Howdy” and his adult friend, “Buffalo Bob” Smith, were fad and fashion in the 1950s. Their images appeared on lunch buckets and children wore check shirts, as did “Howdy.” This is a puppet treated as a religious icon.
When talking about “Howdy Doody,” a different Dubrow awakens. His pace slows. His voice softens. He recalls “Howdy” nuance and minutia at lightning speed, blithely. Talk of puppets takes Dubrow to a higher, simpler, more innocent world.
A live show, featuring a “Howdy” episode and “Buffalo Bob” Smith, toured college campuses in the 1970s. Its success was remarkable. Dubrow dropped out of college to work the tour as the emcee and road manager.
Success, for Dubrow, lies in an odd union of muse and passion, “Howdy Doody” meets “Jerry Springer.” Creativity is joining unalike parts in a flourishing union. The question is how the road winds from “Howdy” to Springer.
Dubrow is unapologetic. On Springer, he admits, we exploited guests to keep the show going, but we revealed a hidden part of America, too. Americans need to know about the lives of the guests on Springer.
Dubrow imprints his style. He’s the force that propels his television shows. Auteur, an adjective most often applied to filmmakers, fits Burt Dubrow, legitimately and to a tee.
Still, he bangs his own drum lightly. Dubrow delights in the excellence of others. The auteur takes pride in his art.
The success, of “I’ve Got a Secret,” he says, lies with the panellists: they found a unique chemistry. Sally Jessy Raphael did “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” for adults, knowingly and superbly. Springer, remaining calm, eases the pulse of an expectant, loudly complaining and, too often, violent America.
Dubrow knows, too, the golden past of American television. As he lunges into the future, he’s eager to reflect on the past, a fact perhaps shrouding his larger purpose: our future loses much if we don’t know or learn from the past. Dubrow echoes Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, among others.
In this interview, exclusive to Grub Street, Dubrow, as pop culture artist, cuts a wide swath. His message confirms age-old advice: follow your dream and do what you love, the rest will take care of itself. Thus, it does for Burt Dubrow.
Click here to read the complete interview, with Burt Dubrow.
