How Bob Eubanks Got Caught in Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner’s Split

THE NEWLYWED GAME - — ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

What To Know

Bob Eubanks had a diverse early career as a child model, musician, and popular Los Angeles DJ before TV.
Beyond hosting, Eubanks was a significant figure in the music industry.

“What’s the strangest place you’ve ever had the urge to make whoopee?”

Ask pretty much any boomer that question, and they’re as likely to picture a certain affable, occasionally bemused host, Bob Eubanks, of TV’s The Newlywed Game as they are to recall a more personal memory. But there’s a lot more to the life and career of Robert Leland Eubanks than an iconic game show.

The only child of John and Gertrude Eubanks, Bob spent most of his youth in Pasadena, Calif., where he worked as a child model in print ads and played guitar in a country-western band. Upon graduation from high school, he was set to follow his father into an aviation career, but after seeing a coworker die of a heart attack on the job, Eubanks changed gears and headed for Hollywood.

Luminaries including Elizabeth Taylor and Gary Cooper crossed his path during his stint as a doorman for Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre. In 1960, he landed a position with KRLA, one of only two Los Angeles radio stations that played rock ‘n’ roll, and eventually became one of the city’s most popular DJs.

Still in his 20s, Eubanks began booking and promoting shows featuring top musical acts such as Stevie Wonder, the Supremes, and the Beach Boys, even mortgaging his home in ’64 to bring the Beatles to the Hollywood Bowl. He established the Cinnamon Cinder club chain for teen audiences in Southern California.

His first TV appearance was as host of the live music program The Cinnamon Cinder Show, and at the end of its run, Chuck Barris enlisted Eubanks to emcee his new show, The Newlywed Game. Though contestants were quizzed on various personality quirks, the sly focus on bedroom activities frequently sparked the most laughs (and embarrassment). As for the famous euphemism referenced above, Eubanks borrowed it from a jazz standard because of a network prohibition on anything more explicit.

Eubanks launched a second career in music while hosting The Newlywed Game, managing country stars Dolly Parton and Barbara Mandrell and producing concerts by Merle Haggard, George Jones and Marty Robbins. In fact, it was Eubanks who took Dolly when she wanted to leave Porter Wagoner and branch out solo.

In an interview with music journalist Lyndsey Parker, he said he went to Nashville to speak with Porter’s agent about buying some tour dates, and while Porter was on stage, Dolly approached him about wanting to leave Porter and have Eubanks as her manager.

In the interview, Eubanks revealed, “Dolly came to me, and she said, ‘I’m leaving Porter, and I want you to manage me.’ Oh man, the fit hit the shan! I said, “I’ll take it!” Porter got pretty upset, but I managed Dolly for two years.”

He also worked on several more game shows (though none ever matched Newlywed‘s popularity), appeared as himself in several TV comedies, and in 2004 published his autobiography, It’s in the Book, Bob! Now 88, the twice-married father of four is still going strong and making people laugh as a highly popular keynote motivational speaker, and he most recently toured with his multimedia event, “Backstage with the Beatles.”