WASHINGTON — There were high notes and real stinkers on the 70’s-era Gong Show, but there was no one who could get the audience going like Gene Gene the Dancing Machine.
Gene Patton, 82, died in Pasadena, Calif., on Monday, his family announced.
Anyone old enough to remember this TV variety show classic, will note how the scene got even wilder than usual when Gene Patton brought his game to the stage at the encouragement of impish host Chuck Barris. According to The Hollywood Reporter:
At a random moment during the game show, Barris would introduce Patton, and the curtain would part, bringing the shuffling stagehand with the painter’s cap onstage to the sounds of “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” a jazz tune made popular by Count Basie. His dance sent everyone on the set — Barris, the judges, the cameramen, the audience — into an uncontrollable boogie.
See some of that here:
Patton also appeared as himself in the The Gong Show Movie (1980) and in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), which was about Barris. By then, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Patton had lost both his legs to diabetes.
Patton is survived by 4 children, 9 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren, according to the obituary posted by his family.
