1970s Version (The New Treasure Hunt)
Producer Chuck Barris bought the U.S. Treasure Hunt format in the 1970s and revived the game in weekly syndication in 1973. This version, called The New Treasure Hunt, involved women (the producers did not allow male contestants; see below for reason; men were allowed to sit in the audience for support) competing to select one of 30 boxes (also known as "Surprise Packages"), with a top prize of $25,000 hidden in one of them. Jan Murray received a "created by" credit during the show's closing credits.
Geoff Edwards hosted The New Treasure Hunt with Johnny Jacobs as the announcer. Models on the series included Siv Aberg (who would resurface after the 1970s version's finale on Barris's The Gong Show), Naome DeVargas, Jane Nelson, and actress Pamela Hensley. For a number of reasons, the studio maintained extremely tight security, and thus did not allow cue cards for Edwards to use. Therefore, Edwards, who had prior acting experience, was required to memorize every skit.
Each episode would begin with all studio lights off except the ones lighting the stage with the gift boxes. The TV viewer saw a silhouette of Emile Autouri, and then Johnny Jacobs would announce (against a "heartbeat" background sound effect), "This bonded security agent (referring to Autouri) has hidden a check inside one of these boxes worth $25,000 on..." as Autouri exited the stage. Once Autouri was gone, the lights would come on and Jacobs would end in an excited tone with, "...The New Treasure Hunt!"
The opening theme, closing theme, and the klunk cue were composed by Chuck Barris himself (Barris is an accomplished songwriter). However, the melodic closing theme of the 1970s Treasure Hunt, also occasionally used as a winners' cue, is formally credited to Elmer Bernstein. Some of Barris's other music used on previous game shows, such as the unsold pilot for Cop-Out!, was recycled in order to save money; this was a common practice among packagers in the 1970s.
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