Peggy Cass and Kitty Carlisle

Kitty used Peggy’s dressing room as her personal litter box.

I think they did.

This thread is kind of a surprising coincidence - I recently started watching "To Tell the Truth" episodes again.

I first watched episodes from the early 1960s on a streaming service, and I was so captivated, I searched for and started watching other seasons and episodes on YouTube.

I was surprised to see that Hildy Parks and Polly Bergen were female regulars before Kitty joined the panel in about 1957.

Peggy didn't join the panel as a regular until about 1963 or 1964.

Brett Somers said once in an interview how wonderful it was to be a regular on "Match Game" She loved the once a week shooting schedule, the income, and she got a clothing allowance.

I think both Kitty and Peggy knew they had a pretty good gig on TTTT - and neither seemed as bitchy or alpha as Arlene Francis.

Peggy Cass was a gauche harridan who used to eat fried chicken in between takes and lick her fingers after doing so. And she winked at any woman who looked like she might be a gym teacher.

I think Kitty prided herself on getting along with everyone, even if it was in her own sincerely phony way (the way she laughed at the very unfunny Orson Bean, for instance).

Peggy would sometimes self-deprecate as a passive-aggressive way of commenting on Kitty's highfalutin ways, particularly when it came to royalty — "but whaddaya I know about that? I'm from BAAAHSTANNN!"

As for the other regular or semi-regular female panelists:

Betty White was, of course, smart as a whip.

Polly Bergen was bright but laid on the ditzy "oh, I don't KNOW" act a bit thick.

Dina Merrill looked like the complete society bitch but radiated a genuine warmth.

Peggy had credentials from her work. Kitty had credentials from her early work but mostly from her marriage. They didn't clash. They were different types with well-developed schticks that weren't offensive.

The biggest cunt was Orson Bean. I'd still stomp his homophobic, hateful face if I knew what nursing home he was in.

OP, didn't you read Scotty's account of the three- way he had with them?

I liked Orson on Dr. Quinn. But he said something nasty about Mindy Cohn on the old Bob Costas late night show. Isn't it funny what sticks in your head.

Peggy Cass was grating. Kitty was class.

Haha .

Ms. Cass was MENSA, seriously. Messrs Poston and Bean and Miss Francis were also Bostonians.

Miss Carlisle was a New Yerkah chorus goil who married well. Loved them all.

Kitty 'became' the consummate New Yorker and international jet setter through her husband and their own early Power Couple status.

But Kitty actually grew up in New Orleans, the daughter of a doctor, who died when she was a teenager.

Her overbearing mother took Kitty to Europe, pushing for a "good marriage". Ultimately Kitty found a career through her music, in theaters, and in movies. She'd done relatively well for herself (in spite of her mother's fears and lack of confidence) by the time she married Moss Hart.

Kitty retained some of her southern charm; she was always gracious, sort of the good hostess taking care of her guests on TTTT.

Orson Bean (real name is Dallas Burrows) was originally from Burlington, Vermont and was a shirttail relation to Calvin Coolidge. Tom Poston was from Columbus, Ohio and Kitty Carlisle was originally from New Orleans, but her mother fancied herself more than what she was and wanted to marry her daughter off to European royalty or aristocracy. They both spent a lot of time in Europe with Kitty getting at least some of her education there. She wrote an autobiography which is quite interesting and revealing. Arlene Francis also wrote a very readable autobiography. Her paternal grandparents were killed in the Armenian genocide by the Turks in 1915. Her father happened to be in Paris at the time and decided to emigrate to the USA. I think he married a woman of Irish extraction and Arlene was the result. A lot of her early work was on the radio.

Was Tom Poston bisexual?

Orson Bean is an extreme right winger whose sil was Breitbart. Fuck him in the ass.

He might like that too much r12...would you be willing to do the fucking? Actually though, I never knew that about him. Watching him on TV over the years I sort of was neutral about him but had an impression that was vaguely disagreeable but couldn't put my finger on it. I guess you identified it.

Orson Bean is married to Alley Mills, who was the mother on "The Wonder Years." She's 67; he's 90.

Tom Poston was married to Suzanne Pleshette.

Yes, but Mama Cass and Belinda Carlisle hated each other.

Betty White has lived through too much.

Don’t know what his politics are now but you should cut Orson Bean some slack for his role as the trick in the somewhat remarkable Forty Deuce.

Tom Poston talks about his young daughter on the shows from the early 1960s. I don't know about his sexuality but I assume that means he was married at the time.

I knew Tom only from the Newhart show. But watching him on TTTT has made me appreciate him even more. He comes across as a gentle guy with a wonderful quirky sense of humor.

Orson seems more like an overgrown frat boy, who has a practiced patter guaranteed to get him the attention he craves so desperately, even at the cost of being often mean-spirited.

Orson also comments on the physical appearance of the female guests and generally displays a kind of sexism that is cringe-worthy by today's standard.

I didn't know "Orson Bean' was his stage name until recently - it seems like a odd-enough name to have been his actual birth name.

On a show from the early/mid 1960s I watched recently, the guest was Orson's father George Burrows, who was a security guard at Harvard University, and who referred to himself as the father of Dallas Burrows in the opening statement read by the host.

As the questioning of the guests begins, Kitty confessed the audience that she had turned to Orson, who was seated on her right on the panel, and whispered to him, "Who in the world is Dallas Burrows?"

She tells the story with a kind of self-deprecation that was funny and made me love her even more.

Orson Bean also seems to enjoy mocking and generally annoying Peggy Cass on TTTT in a way that makes him seem like a bully

Even before I knew about his right-wing views.

As it relates to gay issues, Bean is also fiercely anti gay marriage.

That's OK -- I'm anti-intergenerational marriage, so we're even.

[quote]Orson also comments on the physical appearance of the female guests and generally displays a kind of sexism that is cringe-worthy by today's standard.

He's also prone to making quips and running off at the mouth in a way he thinks is oh-so-witty that sometimes he doesn't even get in a question before the bell.

Poor dear Peggy. People kept mistaking her for Fanny Flagg.

Did Kitty know if I was the one telling the truth?

who was the fourth panelist? Was it Tom Posten? I remember Bill Cullen being on it.

Bill Cullen was a regular panelist on "I've Got a Secret," along with Henry Morgan, Bess Myerson and Betsy Palmer.

Johnny Carson was also an occasional guest panelist on "To Tell the Truth," and he could be as obnoxious as Orson Bean. He was often very condescending to the people trying to stump the panel.

My favorite episode.

[quote] The biggest cunt was Orson Bean. I'd still stomp his homophobic, hateful face if I knew what nursing home he was in.

He's not there yet. .. He and his wife live on a three-house compound located on along the canals of Venice, Calif. (of all communities! .. usually considered very liberal). They get local press due to their involvement in community theater and work at a local Lutheran church. This article mentions him having been in a 12-step program when he became Christian. Was he drinking when he was on TTTT?

Kitty seemed to lead a wealthy stylish life. Where did she get the money? Hart died in '61 and was a notorious spendthrift. Did he have a piece of MFL and Camelot in his contract as director?

And are the royalties from the Kaufman/Hart plays substantial? Didn't Loewe leave her his MFL royalties and why? They were that close?

Strangely Hart gets no credit in the My Fair Lady film credits when he was such an integral part of the musical's success. 'Directed on the Broadway Stage by...' That kind of thing.

Even Gower Champion gets it in the film of BBB.

Kitty would have gotten substantial royalties from Hart's estate, including "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot," plus the Kaufman and Hart plays. He also wrote screenplays (Judy's "A Star Is Born") and his autobiography, "Act One," which was made into a film (starring George Hamilton, of all people).