The Remarkably Bizarre / Bizarrely Remarkable Life Of Elaine "Match Game" Joyce.

I did not know she was Brett's nemesis, what happened? Who else didn't Brett like or is that another thread? I don't think there was any love lost between Brett and Richard Dawson.

Love Boat, Murder She Wrote, so many shows. I had no idea she was so young at the time. Must have been the hairdo.

Tattletales, the Banana section.

Starred on Broadway in 1972 in “Sugar”, the musical version of “Some Like It Hot”. She had the title role, opposite Robert Morse and Tony Roberts.

Also a supporting role in Otto Preminger’s excellent “Such Good Friends”, with a screenplay by Elaine May.

I have a magical fame-seeking pussy, OP.

It's served me better than "talent."

Meh.

Musical comedy GOLD.

Lucie Arnaz live streamed the Broadway dimming ceremony for Neil on Facebook.

No sign of Elaine, nor did Lucie list her among the attendees.

Pretty legs...

... and great big knockers.

I think my Dad thought she was hot during her Match Game era.

Elaine having a Gloria Swanson moment, but a super-hot-n-sexy one...

JEAH, baby!

Getting weepy over Bobby . . .

Fewer photos, more dish, please!

j d salinger liked that ??????? hell no.

Bump?

Was a chorus girl in "Funny Girl" and was featured in one of the lobby cards that was displayed in theaters poster frames.

She was at the Actors' Fund Benefit in February with Lucie, so I'd think if she had been at the dimming of the lights, Lucie would have said.

It's also very possible that the family was somewhere private to watch the dimming of the lights, or maybe just wasn't up to attending.

Did she steal Bobby from his first wife? That’s what my mom intimated when we saw her on some game show in the seventies. She didn’t like Elaine, but not sure if for that or for just her being Elaine.

Bobby filed for an annulment just a week after he and Joyce were married claiming fraud and non-consummation. Apparently Joyce wasn't an easy lay. But they worked it out and went on to have a seemingly happy 12 year union.

*I* am the ONLY Joyce that matters.

THAT’S interesting, R20, I never knew that!

[quote]Bobby filed for an annulment just a week after he and Joyce were married claiming fraud and non-consummation.

It happens.

R23, Ya got that right.

R18, Lucie did mention that Marsha Mason attended Neil's service and the dimming.

I loved Elaine Joyce.

She also was in the chorus of the movie of Bye Bye Birdie

Wow, fun facts R17 and R27.

As a theater-mad junior high schooler, I had the cast album of “Sugar” and loved it.

The Salinger thing is odd. This was after Joyce Maynard. He liked Joyces, heh. Both weird couples though.

I didn’t realize she was married to Neil Simon. It’s almost lime she was more of a personality than a real actress type. But she was always so entertaining. I would love to see an interview with her now or read a biography with her.

From a Route 66 episode....

Wow! Thank you R30!

She was on some talk show and discussed how she coped with Bobby Van's death. She said she just dated everyone and anyone. She said she dated a man so rich he had a house bigger than Neiman Marcus but she just hated him. She dated a motorcycle guy that she implied gave her the best sex she ever had. What surprised me was she had dropped all that dumb blonde persona and was very smart and charming. Very beautiful as well and I could see why guys would fall for her.

Ask Walter Bobbie!

Everyone who worked with Neil Simon, apparently a major asshole himself, truly hated Elaine, who became her elderly and infirm husband's gatekeeper. I mean HATED!

R34, I don't doubt it, but when you're the gatekeeper for an elderly and infirm husband, you pretty much have to be a major asshole.

I assume she's wearing Mackie....

Elaine Joyce is the DL spirit animal.

I used to watch Match Game and Tattle Tales after school. She seemed so old to me then and she probably was only about 30

Oh my gawd, R36 - she can’t sing OR dance??!!

[quote] r35 When you're the gatekeeper for an elderly and infirm husband, you pretty much have to be a major asshole.

Especially when they’re rich as g-damn Croesus.

She must have been a giraffe in another lifetime because DAMN her neck is long. It's like her head is on a stalk.

Whoever did her nose job was exceptionally talented. That’s one of the best I’ve seen.

R36 damn that shit is INCREDIBLE thank you so much for sharing. Not only is Elaine entirely lovely, but I would always suck Bobby van off.

You weren't kidding R39. She fared slightly better but Van was lousy. I'd never seen him perform but I just assumed he was fantastic but that was strictly Amateur Hour.

R36 indicates how weird 70s variety shows were. Anybody would perform anything, no matter how unlikely the marriage of artist and material.

Joyce was god awful in Sugar. Without any charm whatsoever. And Sugar should not be pretty in a TV game show way. Really how did she get the role? Maybe she was visiting Styne back then.

I like Van in some things. See the Tony excerpt from Nanette with Gallagher but in Lost Horizon he has to be seen to be disbelieved.

Simon was probably incredibly bitter because he had the agent from hell who had him sell off the rights to Barefoot for a chunk of money which is still done all over the place so he or now his estate gets nothing from that and all the non stage rights to Odd Couple. I'm not sure if he got any of the profits from the film, possibly not, but he got nothing whatsoever from the TV show first run or syndication. Paramount owned it lock stock and barrel. He was probably pretty angry about that for the rest of his life. Like throwing away not one but two winning lottery tickets.

Bobby, bubie.....

Yikes. That Bacharach-David song at R47 is all over the place, and Van's Vegas casino-style vocals are a really bad match. He's working hard, though.

[quote]Robert Jack Stein (December 6, 1928 – July 31, 1980), better known by the stage name Bobby Van, was a musical actor, best known for his career on Broadway, in films and television from the 1950s through the 1970s. He was also a game show host and panelist. Van was born to Jewish vaudeville parents in The Bronx, New York City,[1] and grew up backstage, witnessing many memorable Depression-era acts.

He had an oily charm and a pleasant enough voice. He could move. Sexy in his way but not really handsome enough to ever take the lead. Van reminds me of any number of straight actors in music theater who work a lot (regardless of their talent level) because they give off that strong whiff of "regular dude" testosterone when so many of their peers do not. Peter Gallagher had that career on Broadway for a while, for example.

Van was only 51 when he died. Way too young.

I always found her coarse.

Elaine lettin' it rip on that Route 66 episode.

Sugar....

***

Elaine really wasn't that pretty, even after all the (admittedly good) cosmetic surgery. She kept that sexy dancer's body, though. I wonder if she ever had her breasts done, as so many dancers tend to be flat-chested.

In the MATCH GAME era, Elaine's a triumph of 70's style appeal: big teeth, good hair, and perkiness. And legs and tits, of course.

THIS was Bobby Van's chef d'oeuvre.

Bobby, baby....

Here's the IMDB for her Route 66 episode. She played....Maxine.

she had it really bad for rock hudson. They made a movie togther in the early 60 s and he treated her very well in typical gay/fag hag manner, and spent all his off camera time with her going out to eat etc etc etc and initially she thought it was going to be a romance. They remained close for the rest of their lives.

Clean out your eyes and ears with You Can Dance With Any Girl which really shows you what Broadway professionalism once was. It sure wasn't the community theater you get these days. Too bad the you tube video is so fuzzy. Why can't they get tapes with clear sharp images? Turkey Lurkey and Always Mademoiselle are similarly bad. What is up with the terrible Tony clips of great classic numbers?

She's 4 years older than she says she is.

R53 why do you feel the need to speak so ill of Mrs Joyce? You are a horrible person!

R42, Debbie Reynolds wrote in one of her books that Bobby Van had a nose job.

Debbie was a blabbermouth.

I was a contestant on the $10,000 pyramid back in the day, and Elaine Joyce was my celebrity partner. She was a good player and charming to be with, but I messed up the clue giving and didn't win anything except $25 worth of Palmolive dishwashing liquid and Swiss Miss chocolate mix

I have desperately wanted to find a certain TV special but I can't remember the show's name.

It was a variety special with 3 married couples & all the wives were pregnant.

Two of the couples were Bobby & Elaine, Sonny & Cher and I can't remember the third couple.

Anyone remember this?

I did better than you, r63, but not by much. Who was your other celebrity partner? Remember you switched midway.

It was Tony Randall...!

Lois Nettleton and Richard Moll

What's Elaine up to right now?