Universal Studios in Florida Is Earning Its Last Name Again

Phyllis and Melvin Miles, visiting Universal Studios here from Seabrook, Md., are squealing happily while they bounce several inches off the ground.

“Who knew we would be taking ‘bouncing lessons’ on our vacation in Orlando?” said Phyllis Miles, a 47-year-old music teacher.

“They really want you to show enthusiasm if you win, and my bouncing needed some work,” added her husband, Melvin, 46, a jazz pianist.

The Mileses were contestants at the taping of a revival of “Beat the Clock,” a game show that harks back to 1950s origins with host Bud Collier. The program is being taped at Universal Studios in July and August to air on the Pax TV channel for 13 weeks starting in September.

“Having this show has a big impact at Universal. It’s putting more than 70 people to work and it gives us an extra attraction for guests, who can be part of the live audience or even audition as contestants and win cash and other prizes,” said Paul Meena, vice president and general manager of studio production at the attraction.

The show is corny in the tradition of its genre, with contests that include stacking huge empty cardboard boxes. But it’s a real working-studio show, and that’s a novelty lately to Orlando tourists.

Although both Universal and Walt Disney World’s Disney-MGM Studios opened more than a decade ago billed as working centers for filmmaking, the theme parks haven’t been able to keep that promise.

Competition from Canada--which offers sizable economic incentives to such projects, and Miami, with more glamorous location sites--has nipped a once-budding Orlando screen-entertainment industry.

For its part, Pax is delighted to find rental space in Orlando, with Universal providing free audiences. “If you were doing this in California, you’d have to pay people,” said S. William Scott, programming president.