This show debuted in 1971 and was a popular Canadian Television Network (CTV) game show hosted by prolific host Jim Perry. The smooth toned Dave Devall was the show's announcer between CFTO Channel 9 weather forecasts, for which he also became very well-known. I can remember carefree summers in my teens watching EYE BET religiously every weekday.
The EYE BET set was a veritable cornucopia of movie nostalgia, with huge posters and pictures of Laurel & Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire, Grace Kelly, etc. As I recall, Perry's podium, or those of the contestants, were made to look like huge bags of popcorn! In some brilliant way, the stage was set for good movie night fun.
Perry would introduce old Hollywood movie clips, which were then shown to the contestants and audience, then the contestants were invited to answer a question about something specific to each clip, testing their skills of observation. Most of the questions were "We see two men struggling with a gun in the opening scene. What was the blond woman doing behind the main action?", or "In the first scene, there is a scene showing a man in front of a big building. How many flags are visible in the background?" The films viewed were often forgettable "B" pictures featuring scenes with tacky bloopers, but often these were the most fun. For example, a woman reading a newspaper in one scene and in the next it would be folded up and resting on a table. Once, a scene showed a man swimming in the water, then climbing onto the side of a boat and in the next scene his clothes were bone dry. It was good, clean movie fun for the whole family that lasted for all too short a time.
Something I've often wondered. It occurs to me that Twentieth Century Fox, MGM, or Warner Brothers, etc. mightn't have received their fair share of royalties for the clips, because oddly I have never seen the idea, a sure-fire winning concept if there ever was one, used since.
