MARSHALL OF THE SQUARES TO OPEN THEATER-IN-ROUND

It’s been several years since Peter Marshall parlayed silly questions and almost unending chitchat with the likes of Paul Lynde, Rose Marie and Wally Cox into prime-time prominence on the original “Hollywood Squares.”

For more than 15 years, the popular game show occupied almost the same niche of celebrity now reserved for “Wheel of Fortune,” that syndicated half-hour of innocuous gab and wordplay that commands an unparalleled spot in the nightly ratings.

But when “Hollywood Squares” was canceled in 1981 and other television projects had short runs, the show’s longtime host didn’t see it as the end of the road but just a time to shift directions. Marshall turned to live performing, particularly musical theater, and has become something of a regular in touring shows.

Marshall, 56, was most recently part of a road production of “La Cage aux Folles,” which closed in Denver in October after engagements in San Diego and other cities. And now he will be starring in a new production of “42nd Street” opening today to inaugurate the Freedman Forum in Anaheim, the 2,300-seat theater-in-the-round where the musical is scheduled to run for four weeks.

As affable and talkative as when he chatted with Lynde before millions of viewers, Marshall looked back on the cancellation of “Hollywood Squares” with little regret. The show’s lengthy run, while not surprising to Marshall, was unusual in television, and he realized it could not go on forever.

“Frankly, I was ready for some changes and was prepared for it,” Marshall said before a recent rehearsal of “42nd Street.” “I really didn’t, and don’t, miss that ‘TV star’ thing; it really wasn’t that important to me.

“What I do miss are the wonderful people I got to work with. There was Lynde, Vincent Price, Tony Randall, Betty White, Cox . . . just a great group. They made the show special because they all had style, the type of thing that separates the entities from the nonentities in this business.”

Does Marshall feel slighted by not being given his old job back on the new syndicated edition of “Hollywood Squares,” whose host is John Davidson? He shook his head emphatically, “No, I don’t think I could make it a blockbuster. You really can’t go back in this business anyway. Look at Lucille Ball (her recent “Life With Lucy” series failed). You have to move forward.

“I honestly think the new show is fine and John is adorable, but it’s certainly not like the original. I don’t think (the current producers) wanted to make it much like the old show because they knew they couldn’t.”

Besides, he says he’s happy with current projects. Marshall said there’s always work, and he rarely turns down an assignment. Between the end of the “La Cage aux Folles” run and rehearsals for “42nd Street,” Marshall was host to activities surrounding the Fiesta Bowl football game (“it was one party after another. A great job, and I’m glad Penn State won”) and concluded negotiations to play Georges in “La Cage aux Folles” at Broadway’s Palace Theatre beginning in February.

He said his eclectic and busy career, which has included singing with big bands, Las Vegas revues and comedy work, can be traced to his growing up in a New York show business family during the Depression. His father occasionally sang in a minstrel act, and his sister Joanne (later the screen beauty Joanne Dru) was a showgirl at the Copa Club. Money was hard to come by and everyone looked for opportunity everywhere.

“One of the reasons I work a lot is because, being a Depression kid, I have a hard time saying no,” Marshall said, laughing. So when the Freedman Forum called, Marshall didn’t hesitate for long. “You get into the habit of accepting things because it feels so good to work.”