Editing Johnny Gilbert (section)

===Hosting===
Gilbert went to [[New York City]], where he quickly signed with the [[William Morris Agency]] and in 1958 received his first job on national television—as the host of a newly created game show, ''Music Bingo''.<ref name="Milwaukee Sentinel" /> The show ran for three years, airing first on [[NBC]] and then on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]].<ref name=officialbio/> His popularity on that show led him to record an album and several singles. Gilbert went on to emcee the local game show ''Words and Music'' on [[KTLA-TV]] in Los Angeles.<ref name= officialbio/>

Gilbert was later contacted by [[Avco Broadcasting]] to host his own local talk/variety show, ''The Johnny Gilbert Show'', which aired on WLWD-TV (now [[WDTN]]) in [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], Ohio, and three other Avco stations in Ohio and Indiana. The show was a 90-minute, live telecast running 5 days a week. It included celebrity guests and a 60-person studio audience. He hosted it for two years until he left Dayton on short notice for New York, where he became the host of the [[Metromedia]]-produced game show ''[[Fast Draw (game show)|Fast Draw]]''. His slot was then given to [[Phil Donahue]], who at that time was a reporter in WLWD-TV's news department.<ref name= officialbio/>

After his year-long run on ''Fast Draw'', Gilbert was contacted by [[Bing Crosby Productions]] to host the game show ''[[Beat the Odds]]'', produced in Los Angeles by [[Bill Carruthers]].<ref name= officialbio/> After that, he hosted a local, weekday version of ''[[Dialing for Dollars]]'' on Los Angeles's [[KCOP-TV]].<ref>"Talent Flourishes at Queen's Arms", ''[[Los Angeles Daily News|Van Nuys Valley News]]''. October 25, 1974.</ref>