Every television show goes through a testing phase before making it to air. The first episodes, called pilots, are designed for producers and network execs to judge if a show is good enough for broadcast or if there are any changes that need to be made. Some shows go through multiple pilots and still never see the light of day. NBC took a big chance in the 70’s and made a big score picking up the now classic game show Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Fortune scores with a premise as simple as hangman. Spin the wheel, pick a letter, and solve the puzzle. I did a full blogumn on the show’s origins a few years ago. Wheel, like many other shows, went through multiple pilots and hosts before making it to air. For the first time ever, portions of these test episodes have been leaked to the general public. The original premise for Wheel was to be a Shoppers Bazaar. In the first test pilot, shot in 1973 with a very different set was actually named Shoppers Bazaar. This unusual and clumsy pilot featured a very different version of the now classic wheel. Take a look a portion of this test episode that, until now, only NBC executives have seen. Look at the wheel! It’s right out of Las Vegas casino floor or a church bazaar. The show took way too much time in set up and all the prizes on the set got in the way. Plus, the contestants were not in control of the wheel, they were simply told to say, “STOP THE WHEEL!”  That premise would have gotten old fast. The puzzle board itself was also a very early working prototype. While it was mechanized, it was very small, and rather unattractive. Chuck Woolery, who did eventually get the job as...

Resorts International opened as the first casino outside of Nevada to legally allow full casino gambling in the United States. The Atlantic City landmark has a long history that goes back way before blackjack was legal.  From it’s time as a hospital to it’s new found fame thanks to HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and a naked circus, Resorts has a colorful past that’s all tied together thanks to the spin on the of Wheel of Fortune! The block Resorts currently occupies started off as two separate three story boarding houses during the early days of Atlantic City, New Jersey’s vacation boom era.  The Chalfonte House opened in 1868 and The Haddon House opened a year later on both sides of North Carolina Avenue. In 1896, Haddon House was expanded into a full hotel and took on a new name, Haddon Hall.  The Chalfonte was reconstructed as well and welcomed their first guests as a modern hotel on July 2, 1904.  Haddon Hall would continue to add new wings and expand their room count throughout the 20’s.  Shortly thereafter, the entire complex was bought and merged into one large complex and renamed.  The new Chalfonte-Haddon Hall and was connected via a pedestrian sky bridge and at the time of the merger, the count was a whopping 1,000 rooms making it the largest hotel in the city. During the early part of the 20th century, Atlantic City was one of the premiere vacation destinations in the US and vacationers were packing the hotels, especially in the hot summer months.  The long boardwalk, numerous hotels, amusement piers, and easy train access would welcome visitors for long stays to enjoy the shore.  Only a few of the numerous hotels that were operational during that time still survive today, including part...