Art James (born Arthur Simeonovich Efimchick; October 15, 1929 – March 28, 2004) was an American game-show host, best known for shows such as '' The Who, What, or Where Game''; '' It's Academic''; and '' Pay Cards!'' He was also the announcer and substitute host on the game show ''

Concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'', ...

.''

Biography

James was born in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

, to Russian immigrants (fluent in Russian, he taught English to Russian immigrants). He attended

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

in nearby

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, where he studied engineering. He worked as an announcer for the

Armed Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...

while stationed in Germany after World War II. An old Army friend, who was an executive with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

, asked James to audition for a new game show, ''Concentration,'' hosted by Hugh Downs, which needed an announcer. ''Concentration'' ran from 1958–73, and was NBC's longest-running game show. He went on to either announce or host over a dozen game shows, including '' Say When!!''; ''It's Academic''; ''The Who, What, or Where Game''; ''Pay Cards!''; ''

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''; '' The Joker's Wild''; '' Blank Check''; ''

The Magnificent Marble Machine ''The Magnificent Marble Machine'' is an American television game show. Contestants partnered with celebrities to answer trivia questions and gain control of an oversized pinball machine. The program premiered on NBC on July 7, 1975 at 12:00 pm ...

''; ''Concentration''; ''

Catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

''; and '' Tic-Tac-Dough''. He also made an appearance in

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. He came to prominence with the low-budget buddy comedy film ''Clerks (film), Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted i ...

's movie ''

Mallrats ''Mallrats'' is a 1995 American buddy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Jason Lee, Jeremy London, Shannen Doherty, Claire Forlani, Priscilla Barnes and Michael Rooker. It is the second film in the View Askewnive ...

''. He started Art James Productions in 1975 with his business partner and producer, Dan Cross. Their joint company staged game shows that were specially created to communicate marketing and corporate strategies to key stakeholders of Fortune 500 companies. One episode of ''Say When!'' included a classic blooper by James while doing a live in-show commercial for Peter Pan peanut butter; during the sales pitch, he dropped a knife into the near-empty glass jar, breaking out the bottom and causing the knife to fall through. Though he struggled to keep from laughing, and because a retake was impossible, James still finished the commercial. The gaffe has been shown on many blooper specials.

Later years and death

James was a frequent contributor to ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'', writing about the world of game shows. He was living in Chaska, Minnesota, at the end of his life, and died of unspecified natural causes during a visit to his brother in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

References

External links

* 1929 births 2004 deaths Game show announcers American game show hosts Wayne State University alumni American people of Russian descent Fordson High School alumni Television personalities from New Rochelle, New York Television personalities from Detroit {{US-tv-bio-stub