From Hill House to Hollywood

When was the last time a Penn student went to an event in Houston Hall with some friends, listened to a man impersonate Elmo, and a few months later found himself being driven around by chauffeurs, shaking hands with Carmen Electra and having his face projected on national TV? Ask Evan Silverstein. The College freshman will fight to defend the honor of the Ivies in the Hollywood Square's College Tournament at 7:30 p.m. on CBS. From the time that he was a kid, Silverstein had Nickelodeon Slime and Bob Barker on his mind. "This is something you dream about," he says about the game show genre. "I started off with Nickelodeon's Guts as a kid and then moved up to The Price is Right." When Nursing freshman Cassie Long heard about her hallmate's big break, she "wasn't surprised at all." "He's very dynamic in that way," Long says. His parents, however, beg to differ. "He's always been the quiet type," says his mother, Lynn Silverstein, adding that while it is true he has done bold things -- like designing a roller coaster for his high school senior project and dancing with a group of guys to N'SYNC's "Dirty Pop" in a talent show -- his father asserts that such things are "part of his personality that we don't see often." "We look at each other," Robert Silverstein says, "and say, 'Is that our son?'" Silverstein first heard about the Penn tryouts for Hollywood Squares from his graduate associate in Hill College House. "He's from L.A.," laughs Silverstein. "So he's always trying to push us to be movie stars." He immediately affixed a post-it note with the event information to his desk and anticipated the day. Picturing myriads of Penn students pushing through the doors to wait for their chance at fame, Silverstein was rather shocked when he finally arrived at the tryouts and, "Lo and behold, there were like seventeen people there." The tryouts involved many stages, and Silverstein was sure he had not done well. When the Hollywood Squares staff ran mock games, complete with one staff member pretending to be different stars in all of the squares, Silverstein not only lost the first round, but bombed the call back. He believes that he was redeemed when they asked him to say a little about himself, and he broke into the "Chili's Baby Back Ribs" jingle to display the bass tone quality that he utilizes in Penn's a cappella group "Shabbatones." The lady taking notes during the interview cracked up, leaving Silverstein with some hope after his sub-par game performance. Shortly after, the Hollywood Squares staff left with a "Don't call us, we'll call you," and two months later, Silverstein's phone was ringing in the middle of telling friends a story in one of Hill's lounges. "I almost didn't answer it," he says. "But my friends convinced me to see who it was and finish the story later." When the Hollywood Squares representative gave him the good news, Silverstein was "absolutely in hysterics," he says. "We were all screaming," says Long. Silverstein flew to Los Angeles on Jan. 16 for the show's taping and discovered a chauffeur waiting for him with a sign that said Evan Silverstein. Not knowing exactly how to respond to this situation, he said, "Yo, I'm Silverstein" and the next thing he knew, he was heading to his hotel room in The Beverly Plaza Hotel with over $100 in spending money, compliments of Hollywood Squares. He and the 14 non-Ivy college contestants were brought to the studio at 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 18 and were watched by show officials so that they would not sneak around to talk to the celebrities or wander on stage before it was their turn to go. In the meantime, Silverstein was more than content waiting in The Price is Right studio. A few hours later, he was tossed a Penn sweatshirt and headed out on stage to play his round with Kathy Griffin, Joan Rivers and Carmen Electra. The rest is history in the making, to be viewed tonight.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.