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You and Me Babe
Book by Chuck barris
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published November 30, 1973
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About the author
Chuck Barris
15 books21 followersCharles Hirsch "Chuck" Barris was an American game show creator, producer, and host. He is best known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. He is also a songwriter, who wrote the hit "Palisades Park", and the author of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a story about himself that became a film directed by George Clooney.
Barris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Drexel Institute of Technology where he was a columnist for the student newspaper, The Triangle. He graduated in 1953.
Barris got his start in television as a page and later staffer at NBC in New York City, and eventually worked backstage at the TV music show American Bandstand, originally as a standards-and-practices person for ABC. Barris soon became a music industry figure. He produced pop music on records and TV, but his most successful venture was writing "Palisades Park". Barris also wrote or co-wrote some of the music that appeared on his game shows.
Barris was promoted to the daytime programming division at ABC in Los Angeles and was put in charge of deciding which game shows ABC would air. Barris told his bosses that the pitches of game show concepts were worse than Barris' own ideas. They suggested that he quit his ABC programming job and become a producer.
Barris formed his production company Chuck Barris Productions on June 14, 1965. Barris first became successful during 1965 with his first game show creation, The Dating Game, on ABC. The show would air for eleven of the next fifteen years and be revived twice in the 1980s and 1990s.
The next year Barris began The Newlywed Game, originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir, also for ABC. The combination of the newlywed couples' humorous candor and host Bob Eubanks's sly questioning made the show another hit for Barris. The show is the longest lasting of any developed by his company, running for a total of 19 full years on 'first run' TV, network and syndicated.
Barris created several other short-lived game shows for ABC in the 1960s and for syndication in the 1970s, all of which revolved around a common theme. Barris also made several attempts through the years at non-game formats, such as ABC's Operation Entertainment; a CBS revival of Your Hit Parade; and The Bobby Vinton Show. The latter was his most successful program other than a game show.
Barris became a public figure in 1976 when he produced and served as the host of the talent contest spoof The Gong Show. The show's cult status far outstripped the two years it spent on NBC (1976–78) and the four years it ran in syndication (1976–80).
Barris continued strongly until the mid-1970s, when ABC cancelled the Dating and Newlywed games. This left Barris with only one show, his weekly syndicated effort The New Treasure Hunt. But the success of The Gong Show in 1976 encouraged him to revive the Dating and Newlywed games, as well as adding the $1.98 Beauty Show to his syndication empire. He also hosted a short lived primetime variety hour for NBC from February to April 1978, called The Chuck Barris Rah-Rah Show, essentially a noncompetitive knock-off of Gong.
In Barris's biography, he claims to have worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an assassin in the 1960s and the 1970s. A 2002 feature film version, directed by George Clooney and starring Sam Rockwell, depicts Barris as killing 33 people. Barris wrote a sequel, Bad Grass Never Dies, in 2004.
Barris published Della: A Memoir of My Daughter in 2010 about the death of his only child, who died in 1998 after a long struggle with drug addiction.
Barris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Drexel Institute of Technology where he was a columnist for the student newspaper, The Triangle. He graduated in 1953.
Barris got his start in television as a page and later staffer at NBC in New York City, and eventually worked backstage at the TV music show American Bandstand, originally as a standards-and-practices person for ABC. Barris soon became a music industry figure. He produced pop music on records and TV, but his most successful venture was writing "Palisades Park". Barris also wrote or co-wrote some of the music that appeared on his game shows.
Barris was promoted to the daytime programming division at ABC in Los Angeles and was put in charge of deciding which game shows ABC would air. Barris told his bosses that the pitches of game show concepts were worse than Barris' own ideas. They suggested that he quit his ABC programming job and become a producer.
Barris formed his production company Chuck Barris Productions on June 14, 1965. Barris first became successful during 1965 with his first game show creation, The Dating Game, on ABC. The show would air for eleven of the next fifteen years and be revived twice in the 1980s and 1990s.
The next year Barris began The Newlywed Game, originally created by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir, also for ABC. The combination of the newlywed couples' humorous candor and host Bob Eubanks's sly questioning made the show another hit for Barris. The show is the longest lasting of any developed by his company, running for a total of 19 full years on 'first run' TV, network and syndicated.
Barris created several other short-lived game shows for ABC in the 1960s and for syndication in the 1970s, all of which revolved around a common theme. Barris also made several attempts through the years at non-game formats, such as ABC's Operation Entertainment; a CBS revival of Your Hit Parade; and The Bobby Vinton Show. The latter was his most successful program other than a game show.
Barris became a public figure in 1976 when he produced and served as the host of the talent contest spoof The Gong Show. The show's cult status far outstripped the two years it spent on NBC (1976–78) and the four years it ran in syndication (1976–80).
Barris continued strongly until the mid-1970s, when ABC cancelled the Dating and Newlywed games. This left Barris with only one show, his weekly syndicated effort The New Treasure Hunt. But the success of The Gong Show in 1976 encouraged him to revive the Dating and Newlywed games, as well as adding the $1.98 Beauty Show to his syndication empire. He also hosted a short lived primetime variety hour for NBC from February to April 1978, called The Chuck Barris Rah-Rah Show, essentially a noncompetitive knock-off of Gong.
In Barris's biography, he claims to have worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an assassin in the 1960s and the 1970s. A 2002 feature film version, directed by George Clooney and starring Sam Rockwell, depicts Barris as killing 33 people. Barris wrote a sequel, Bad Grass Never Dies, in 2004.
Barris published Della: A Memoir of My Daughter in 2010 about the death of his only child, who died in 1998 after a long struggle with drug addiction.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 10, 2019
Es un libro entretenido que realmente no deja espacio para pensar mucho, es sencillo y con un buen lenguaje básico (al menos mi versión en español y vieja) y me parece que rompe con el estereotipo de "romance y desamor" modificandolo de una manera que se siente fresco h además como dato curioso te hace pensar si fue una "biografía" de el romance de Chuck Barris.
Es una pena que el libro ya no lo editen en español porque cada escena es buena, es ligero y llevadero
Es una pena que el libro ya no lo editen en español porque cada escena es buena, es ligero y llevadero
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May 23, 2022DNF - I just literally do not care 🙃 this was a cover buy for me super cheap at a library book sale. I thought it would be a cute little throwaway read for when I don’t want to focus on a big plot, but I’m just not interested in reading about a guy marrying a girl just for money lol. it may end up turning out better, but I’m not forcing myself through it when I can be reading something I’ll actually enjoy.
July 16, 2018
I read this book many years ago and have never forgotten it. I always recommend this book because it is so poignant, even more so now that Chuck Barris has passed away. The insights into game shows really interested me back when I first read it and game shows were so popular. The relationship at the core of the book is touching, funny and sad. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
October 11, 2019
Super readable, chatty and funny, bittersweet love story. Definitely old-fashioned.
March 3, 2023
Me gusta por qué no es el típico final que te esperas en una historia de amor y narra de forma muy cómica las etapas y vivencias y notas como poco a poco se va desgastando
April 30, 2025
the ache of lost love that never goes away
March 15, 2011
Looking like a classic book, i was expecting it to have a classic tale...and, i was wrong. Do not judge a book by it's cover folks, how many times do we have to be told. Haha!
Anyway, the story line isn't old-ish at all, it has a modern feel to it, maybe because the things that the protagonists went through are real life modern world dilemmas: Money, Family & Love. I guess things never change when it comes to the three, no matter how much time has passed. People are always divided between what is more important to them, what they need and what they only want, there's just too much to consider especially if we start facing some hardships. It's a real challenge. No matter what we choose, however, we must remember that the outcome may not be what we expect, it could be better, it could be worse.
Tommy really knows how to push his luck and take risks, of course with help from Sammy; as long as it's "You and me, babe". How long can such mentality last?
Even though the story line seemed so normal, Chuck Barris really knew how to make a twist with everyday living, or maybe the book just really felt personal, for me anyway. Like a true story, you can really picture it happening in our world today, we just don't know it. There could be a Tommy and Sammy right across the street.
Anyway, the story line isn't old-ish at all, it has a modern feel to it, maybe because the things that the protagonists went through are real life modern world dilemmas: Money, Family & Love. I guess things never change when it comes to the three, no matter how much time has passed. People are always divided between what is more important to them, what they need and what they only want, there's just too much to consider especially if we start facing some hardships. It's a real challenge. No matter what we choose, however, we must remember that the outcome may not be what we expect, it could be better, it could be worse.
Tommy really knows how to push his luck and take risks, of course with help from Sammy; as long as it's "You and me, babe". How long can such mentality last?
Even though the story line seemed so normal, Chuck Barris really knew how to make a twist with everyday living, or maybe the book just really felt personal, for me anyway. Like a true story, you can really picture it happening in our world today, we just don't know it. There could be a Tommy and Sammy right across the street.
August 11, 2014
Sammy. What?
Tommy. I love you.
You and Me, Babe explores love that endures. We begin with an innocent adventurous love that young lovers experience. As time passes, that once innocent love is tested through hardships and is masked with frustration from both sides. When we think things have come to a stand still, that same love brings Sammy and Thomas together across different states and countries. Pass the hurt and mistakes, it ultimately is the love that stands the test of time.
Tommy and Sammy are characters you grow along with from their youth to their latter days. Through Barris's simple storytelling we get glimpses of life's hi's and lo's. They are just as real as the new couple who moved in, worrying about their future and what will bring them. "As long, as it's you and me, babe", in then end Sammy and Tommy are reconnected with the nostalgic love of being at the same place and time with those you love.
Tommy. I love you.
You and Me, Babe explores love that endures. We begin with an innocent adventurous love that young lovers experience. As time passes, that once innocent love is tested through hardships and is masked with frustration from both sides. When we think things have come to a stand still, that same love brings Sammy and Thomas together across different states and countries. Pass the hurt and mistakes, it ultimately is the love that stands the test of time.
Tommy and Sammy are characters you grow along with from their youth to their latter days. Through Barris's simple storytelling we get glimpses of life's hi's and lo's. They are just as real as the new couple who moved in, worrying about their future and what will bring them. "As long, as it's you and me, babe", in then end Sammy and Tommy are reconnected with the nostalgic love of being at the same place and time with those you love.
March 16, 2020
The narrator, recently fired from his job selling cue-card machines to TV stations, married for money and is mingling with the Greenwich gentry. From pages 170-171:
The gala was a fundraiser for the university.
"What are you doing now, Tommy?" asked the woman's totally uninterested husband.
"I'm with the CIA."
"You're not supposed to tell people you're with the CIA, are you?" asked the husband.
"Not really. But I know you can keep a secret."
I don't know if this was in the original edition, pre-"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," or in the revised version, post-"Confessions." But clearly an important clue for Barris scholars.
The gala was a fundraiser for the university.
"What are you doing now, Tommy?" asked the woman's totally uninterested husband.
"I'm with the CIA."
"You're not supposed to tell people you're with the CIA, are you?" asked the husband.
"Not really. But I know you can keep a secret."
I don't know if this was in the original edition, pre-"Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," or in the revised version, post-"Confessions." But clearly an important clue for Barris scholars.
July 12, 2007
I just loved this book when I read it in the 70s. It's a quirky love story by The Gong Show's Chuck Barris. I always wished he'd written more like this but it's rumored to be autobiographical so maybe nothing else this nice ever happened to him. Sweet, funny, and romantic, it reminds me of the love story at the heart of the movie Arthur. It's very hard to find this kind of love story that isn't sappy or obnoxious or silly. I must find a copy and see if it's held up after all these years.
December 2, 2015
Tan entretenido como trágico. Uno de los libros que más he leído y que volveré a leer cada que pueda. De pobre oportunista a solitario millonario, la historia de Thomas Christian nos narra las peripecias de una vida de auto engaño. ¿Cómo podría alguien amar a una alcohólica asmática que tiene un tic en el ojo? ¡Fácil: únicamente por todo su dinero!
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September 10, 2010If you'd like to know what I thought of this book, please contact me directly and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.
All the best,
- TB
All the best,
- TB
July 17, 2014
Excelente libro que te va llevando del amor al desencanto y de la tragedia a la comedia. La traducción al español es muy buena y conserva sus tonos sarcásticos y sardónicos.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews