One of the nicest celebrities I’ve had the pleasure to meet was Bob Eubanks.

Robert Leland “Bob” Eubanks, born January 8, 1938, is best known for hosting the television game show The Newlywed Game on and off since 1966.

Eubanks received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his television work in 2000. The star is in front of Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre, where Eubanks worked during the first years of his broadcasting career.

In 2005, he received a lifetime achievement Emmy award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

In my 1985 interview with him, Eubanks credited veteran TV game show host Bill Cullen as his key mentor.

“He took me under his wing and helped me develop my own voice as a host,” Eubanks reminisced. “He was always warm and treated me with respect. What you saw on TV, he was like that in real life as well.”

“Bill was quick-witted, with a sly sense of humor, very intelligent, and he made anyone feel like the most important person in the room.”

In 1966, he received a phone call from Chuck Barris to host a new game show, The Newlywed Game, which premiered on ABC that same year. During its debut, it was an immediate hit, and the show’s popularity led the network to expand the prime-time lineup, where it had run on the air for five years.

Only 28 years old when he started hosting, Eubanks became widely popular for bringing a youthful energy to daytime television, pressing contestants into giving embarrassing and hilarious answers.

The Newlywed Game was also ranked as one of the top three daytime game shows, for five consecutive years, between 1968 and 1973, and was ranked in the top three prime-time game shows, also for five years, between 1966 and 1971.

While hosting The Newlywed Game, Eubanks was known for using the catchphrase “makin’ whoopee,” in reference to having sex. It was Eubanks who coined the term from the song of the same name, in an attempt to keep parents with young children from the need to explain the facts of life because of a television show.

While his network was comfortable with the term “making love,” they did not allow the use of the word “panties.”

“You know, I used to say, ‘Gosh, if I could just get a husband mad enough to take a swing at me,’ but I could never get it done,” he said. “The show is what it is, and we can’t take it too seriously. It’s a fun piece of fluff, and the nice thing about it is the answers on the show are relatable.”

Aside from his stint on TV, Eubanks is also known for being the music promoter that booked The Beatles’ 1964 Hollywood Bowl performances.

“When they did the Ed Sullivan Show, our phones just went off the hook,” he recalled. ” Then when they announced they were going to tour America, I called them up and said, ‘I’ve never done a concert before, but I’ll buy the Beatles.’ I didn’t have $25,000, so I borrowed it against my house… and presented Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964.”

Thanks to the group’s popularity, Eubanks was able to pay his debt, earn profit, and book the band once again for the next year.

He also produced artists such as Barry Manilow, The Supremes, Dolly Parton, Bob Dylan, Elton John, and Merle Haggard, with whom he had more than 100 concert dates per year for almost a decade.

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