The Magnificent Marble Machine

Production

Jim Newton designed the set and its pinball machine after looking at pinball tables from the 1960s. Seven geometric windows on the back showed the prizes and a score display.

Construction took 60 days and over 2,000 man hours, with NBC’s Anton Schaub supervising. The marbles got a fresh coat of paint after every taping. When the set was taken apart, Newton kept one flipper and one ball.

Broadcast history

The Magnificent Marble Machine occupied its initial slot until late November 1975. It then moved to 12:30 PM, replacing Three for the Money, to allow Wheel of Fortune to run for an hour. This change shortened Marble to 25 minutes, as Edwin Newman anchored a national newscast at 12:55. After its January 2, 1976 broadcast, the show took a two-week break.

Returning on January 19, it adopted an all-celebrity format, which led to its cancellation. The final new episode aired April 9. A technicians' strike delayed its planned replacement, The Fun Factory, so repeats continued until June 11.

Did You Know?

• A brief clip from the show appears in the 1979 film The China Syndrome, showing celebrity guest Gary Burghoff playing the machine, though the original audio is replaced with music composed for the film.
• The film's credits do not mention the show, Burghoff, or Heatter-Quigley.
• This is one of the few Heatter-Quigley programs that Kenny Williams was not involved with.