Barry & Enright Productions
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Barry & Enright Productions (or simply referred to as: Jack Barry-Dan Enright Productions or Jack Barry & Dan Enright Productions), was a U.S. television production company that was formed in 1947 by Jack Barry and Dan Enright.
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[edit] History
In 1956 Barry & Enright created the game shows Twenty-One and Tic Tac Dough. The company, along with Robert Noah, also created and produced the original version of Concentration. Two years later Twenty-One was cancelled as part of the quiz show scandal, when it was revealed that the producers pre-arranged outcomes. The scandal led to Congressional legislation against the rigging of game shows. In 1959 Tic Tac Dough was also cancelled. Barry & Enright were forced to sell their game shows to NBC, including Concentration, and the company later ceased to exist.
In 1971 Dan Enright came back to television as executive producer for All About Faces. After an unsuccesful stint working with former rival Goodson-Todman, Jack Barry first staged a comeback as an emcee, replacing Dennis Wholey on the short-lived game show, The Generation Gap in 1969, then formed a production company and in 1971, sold The Reel Game to ABC (he also hosted the 13-week game show), and in 1972, permanently resurrected his career by hosting the hit game show The Joker's Wild, which he reputedly created while with Goodson-Todman.
In 1975 Enright rejoined his partner in Barry & Enright Productions, and their collaboration continued until Barry's death from a heart attack in 1984. Enright kept the company name and continued running the company. The company ended in 1991 after the 90s version of Tic Tac Dough was dissolved. Dan Enright died of cancer in 1992. Although the production company was primarily known for game shows, it also worked on other projects such as the comedy films, Private Lessons (1981) and Making Mr. Right (1987).
[edit] Ownership of properties
The Barry family, along with former Wheel of Fortune letter-turner and Enright's companion Susan Stafford, sold Barry & Enright Productions and its library of game shows to Columbia TriStar Television sometime in 1994, before the launch of Game Show Network on December 1 of that year.
Today, the pre-scandal library is owned by NBC Universal and the post-scandal library including the 1950s version of Tic Tac Dough is owned by Sony Pictures Television. There are two exceptions: the 1990 edition of Tic Tac Dough is held by Granada International through their accquisition of the ITC library, and the 1989 kids' version of Pictionary is held by NBC Universal through their ownership of the MCA library.
[edit] Known employees
Some known employees have included Susan Stafford who was vice president for public relations. Another noted staffer was Louis M. Heyward, who was vice president for development. Heyward is the father of Andy Heyward, who is chairman and chief executive officer of DiC Entertainment. Barry's sons Jonathan and Douglas Barry, Dan Diana, Chris Sohl, Gary Cox (who later joined Reg Grundy Productions) and Ron Greenberg were prominent employees of Barry & Enright.
[edit] Titles by Barry & Enright Productions
[edit] Owned by NBC Universal Television
- Twenty-One (1956-1958)
- Pictionary (1989)
- High-Low Quiz (1957)
- Dough Re Mi (1958-1960)
[edit] Owned by Sony Pictures Television
- Tic Tac Dough (1956-1959, 1990-1991)
- The Joker's Wild (1972-1975, 1975-1986) (this series was a property of Jack Barry Productions throughout the entire run)
- Hollywood Connection (1977)
- Break the Bank (1976-1977)
- The New Tic Tac Dough (1978-1986)
- Bullseye (1980-1982)
- Play the Percentages (1980)
- Hot Potato (1984)
[edit] Other productions
- Concentration (1958-1973) (now owned by The Fremantle Corporation and NBC)
- Blank Check (1975)
