50th Anniversary of CBS in 1978

I only recognise MTM.

That's a cool photo.

I LOVE Alison Marino. I heard her on a podcast and she knows everything about LA. If you grew up here or spent any time here, she knows every bit of minutiae about LA and it's fascinating. She knows every store, every restaurant, even the carpeting styles in different movie theaters in the 80's.

I see Jean Stapleton, Cronkite and Hitchcock in the front row. Need to get my bifocals on for the rest

Oh, my God. I think I recognize 95% of those pictured. I'm old.

Surprised Vivian Vance got a more prominent spot than Lucy!

So many. George Burns, Rhoda's mom, Lucy right in the center (Gary couldn't talk her out of it...), George and Weezy, Hitchcock...

Here’s a video roll call

Not a minute in and we have a Cunt Lavin sighting!

Oh, damnit. This is going to make me cry.

Seeing Bea and then Lucy.....

Hi-res version that includes Lassie:

Danny Thomas! Protect your coffee tables....

VIVIAN VANCE!

If I'm confusing people I'm looking at the video at R6

[quote]Surprised Vivian Vance got a more prominent spot than Lucy!

Really?

By 1978 Lucy no longer had a show on TV

And Lucy was exactly "beloved" by her peers in the industry

Bonnie Franklin and her dangling earrings were the true shining stars of this ensemble.

^*wasn't

Sally Stuthers - hide your baked goods!

There are as many red-heads as non-whites.

Sally S., Linda Lavin, and Betty White on the same row in the Center!

I'd argue Lucy had the most prominent position - smack in the center of the picture.

Who's the woman standing in front of Loretta Swit?

LYNNIE FUCKING GREENE!!!!!

[quote]I'd argue Lucy had the most prominent position

Really,

Well thanks for sharing, Gary

Holy fuck, Vivian Vance, Linda Lavin, Bonnie Franklin and Beth Jarrett all in the same photo?! DL heads everywhere are exploding!

Bill Cosby is in the video but I don’t see him in the photos.

He must have been at the bar getting cocktails for the ladies.

Tonight on CBS.....

[quote]Surprised Vivian Vance got a more prominent spot than Lucy!

She is right in the center. I thought that was THE spot.

Is that Alfred Hitchcock 3rd from left front?

Also Carol Channing at the top? Bea Arthur, Linda Carter?

Gomer and Carol.

Are the people saying Lucy didn't have a prominent place look at the same picture as the rest of us? She is right smack dab in the middle, where you eye is immediately drawn, it is like the rest of them radiate out from her.

Ellen "Grandma Walton" Corby made it on the front row

between Mary Tyler Moore and Gene Rayburn

Lucy sandwhiched between Ed Asner and Don Knotts.

Barbara Bain (who is the worst, most wooden actress that ever existed but very likable). Also Martin Landau - both were in Space 1999 which I loved as a child.

This may have been CBS' 50th Anniversary technically

But most American families had only had TVs in their homes since the early to mid-1950s at this point

Who did Rayburn blow to get in the front row?

Correct R27. She is placed at the direct center of the image and the eye is drawn to her.

I assume Vivian Vance and Ellen Corby are up front because they couldn't or wouldn't climb the stairs.

SANDY DUNCAN!

How strange that I can recognize and identify more people in this photo from 1978 than I could if a similar photo was taken in 2021.

LYNNIE Greene?

Or Lorne Greene?

Video of the stars before the closing credits.

Where's Desi? Did Lucy veto his appearance?

Why are there so many Coloreds in this picture?

Are they servants?

DL would've melted down over this special: NO ONE FROM THE CBS SOAPS!

Cinnamon is an icon.

Who's the guy on the top right above Linda Carter? Looks like Rhoda's husband David Groh but I don't see Valerie Harper

They were all at Victor Newman’s anniversary gala R41.

This reminds me of a really bad Class Reunion

"So Mary, tell me did it hurt to fuck all those executives so you could steal my job as the co-host of this special, because my husband Gary Morton told me the job was going to be mine..."

But everyone had a radio before that, r31.

Valerie Harper is third row from the top near the center. She’s next to Jayne or Audrey Meadows. I always get them confused.

Desi, Redd Foxx and Jackie Gleason are the notable absences.

Woops Sanford and Son was on NBC.

I remember watching the special - I think it aired over 2 or 3 nights.

Love seeing Captain Kangaroo.

[quote]Love seeing Captain Kangaroo.

But he looks as if he's smelling something bad from Danny Thomas....

And Nancy Walker looks a little forlorn. Had she already seen the script for "Can't Stop the Music"?

Who would've predicted Dick Van Dyke, Ed Asner, and Betty White would still be alive?

Nice to see Arlene Francis, Ann Sothern, Ray Walston, Gary Moore, Steve Allen, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Art Linkletter...people know one knows any more. I see Dick Smothers but no Tom.

Who is the woman above and to the left of Vivian Vance. Looks like Gale Storm but I doubt it's her. Who is it?

I believe the “grand finale” was a montage sequence of all the pictured stars singing some really hokey song about how CBS was one big family that included all of us at home - “from you’re kissin’ cousin CBS…”. Variety really died a painful 70s death. And it was officially called “CBS - The First 50 Years.

R31 They included their radio years.

Ok, I guess I'm a bad gay - please tell me who are the people in the second row.

They could have at the very least thrown in Lisa from As The World Turns.

Damn, Carroll O'Connor has a big head! Or was he cut-and-pasted into the shot?

Or me R59!

I see lots of nameless Walton kids.

I’m not in the photo R55 because Mom and CBS always like Dick best.

[quote]Who would've predicted Dick Van Dyke, Ed Asner, and Betty White would still be alive?

Or Bob Barker?

I recognize almost all but forget the names of the Walton kids and also better at remembering the character’s names than their real names.

Why has no one mentioned Lassie

who is being held by Jean Stapleton on the front

Bert Convy ("Tattletales") and Bob Barker ("The Price is Right") are in the back, and Gene Rayburn ("Match Game") is right in front. I gotta look for Johnny Olson now.

Arguably from this picture CBS's biggest star is William Conrad.

The TV Guide from that week with Walter Cronkite and Mary Tyler Moore on the cover.

William Conrad is next to Eva Gabor in OP’s photo R67.

5 blacks, 0 asians

Thank you, r47. I can see her now that you've pointed her out but the resolution on her face seems especially blurry.

[quote]Arguably from this picture CBS's biggest star is William Conrad.

Chrissy Metz laughs at your post

This brings a tear to my eye. Honestly, too. So much talent and so many fond memories. Many of these folks were mainstays in my childhood, but you’ve also got Lucille Ball and George Burns etc. who my parents adored back in the Stone Age.

I won’t be here thirty years from now, but will anybody be feeling nostalgic about the Real Housewives of Wherever? Will anybody care what became of Kramer or Chandler or Ally McBeal?

R70, and Lynda Carter representing the Latinxs.

Ok, I will name who I know starting at top left. Here goes.

Dick Van Dyke, Jack Lord, Ralph Waite, Rob Reiner, Lynnie Greene, John Amos, Bob Barker, Bert Convy, Mike Connors, David Groh, Buddy Ebsen, John Forsythe, Steve Allen?, Carol Burnett, Jim Nabors, Bea Arthur, Loretta Switt, Ed Bradley, Andy Griffith, Demond Wilson, Lynda Carter, Ted Knight, Georgia Engel, Valerie Harper, Ken Berry, Mike Wallace, Sherman Helmsley, Isabel Sanford, Bob Denver, Carroll O’Connor, Will Geer?, Tony Randall, Bob Newhart, Jamie Farr, Vicki Lawrence, Don Knotts, Lucy, Ed Asner, Esther Rolle, Dennis Weaver, Ray Walston, Sally Struthers, Linda Lavin, Betty White, Ned Beatty, Charles Kuralt, Bonnie Franklin, William Conrad, Eva Gabor, Tim Conway, Danny Thomas, Bob Keeshan, Telly Savalas, Dale Evans, Roy Rogers, George Burns, Cicely Tyson?, Nancy Walker, DL patron saint Vivian Vance, Lassie, Jean Stapleton, Alfred Hitchcock, MTM, Gene Rayburn.

Glad to see Landau and Bain from Mission Impossible there - but Geez where are Peter Graves and Greg Morris? Lynda Day George should be there too. And - no soap stars? Mary Stuart of Search for Tomorrow and Eileen Fulton should have been included. Lassie outranks them?

R57 It’s Audrey Meadows. Her face was narrower than her sister Jayne’s.

^^ R47, not R57

Thank you R77

Redd Foxx did have a show on CBS… years later right before he died.

Nice to see so many familiar but forgotten folks: Red Skelton, Dwayne Hickman, Arthur Godfrey, Charles Kuralt, Garry Moore, Danny Kaye, Richard Crenna and Arthur and Katherine Murray( "Put a little fun in your life, try dancing") among so many others.

And a few that have completely fallen off the map: Ken Murray, Jackie Cooper, Douglas Edwards, Eric Sevareid

Who didn't they position Lassie next to June Lockhart?

John Forsyth looking his accustomed dapper self.

I think Ellen Corby looks the best of all the ladies. She cleans up real good.

^^^^ Apologies to KATHRYN Murray for misspelling her first name.

I remember an Arthur Murray Dance Studio in what is now Cherry Hill, NJ. At the time the location was Erlton, NJ. It's a bridal shop now.

A song was written due to Arthur's popularity: "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry." Sung to great effect by DL hyper-fave Betty Hutton.

Growing up, I had a beautiful dog who was a Doberman German Shepherd mix. He would stand on his hind legs and “dance” with my mom and I remember saying, “Arthur Murray Taught Him Dancing in a Hurry” whenever that happened.

You’ve brought back a nice memory R82.

Vivian Vance and Ellen Corby were likely down front because of their health—both had just had strokes and might have had canes; they could have collapsed if they were crammed into those bleachers, causing a domino effect of old stars flying and hips breaking.

[quote]And Nancy Walker looks a little forlorn

She headlined two flop sitcoms on ABC in '76-'77 and had to come crawlin' back to her guest shot on Rhoda, which had only about six months left to live at that point.

[quote]Redd Foxx did have a show on CBS… years later right before he died.

Redd Fox had a show on CBS *while* he died.

He collapsed and croaked on the set of The Royal Family in 1991.

* - Foxx

Margaret Houlihan looks stunning in this picture.

Mary Tyler Moore is in an awful wig. She must have already cut her hair short as seen in her ill-fated variety series that fall.

Lucy's head looks glued on.

How did all the Waltons kids get included but not Valerie Bertinelli or Mackenzie Phillips? Not even Pat Harrington.

It's hard to imagine the channels putting on something like this now.

[quote]How did all the Waltons kids get included but not Valerie Bertinelli or Mackenzie Phillips

The Waltons was an established six-season hit. ODAAT was still new.

At the same time, Bess Armstrong and Lynn Greene of the one-season wonder On Our Own were included...

Egomaniac Bonnie Franklin probably said, "It's me or them."

That is Dave Groh, r43.

Mary had TITS???

Who is the blonde next to Buddy Ebsen? I can't make her face out, it's too low-res.

[quote]I think Ellen Corby looks the best of all the ladies. She cleans up real good.

Isabelle Sanford looks absolutely beautiful, so does Lynda Carter but she's cut off the edge of the photo. Sally Struthers has a grim look on her face but her tux looks cute.

R95 sandy Duncan. What I wonder is how many of them are still alive?

[quote]Mary had TITS???

As much as Bonnie Franklin.

Is that really Sandy Duncan between Buddy Ebsen and John Forsythe?

Where did LEGENDARY IRONING BOARD MTM come up with that rack?

ODAAT was three seasons in at that point, r92

Looks like CBS had the all the biggest classic stars/shows.

Lassie’s mom, June Lockhart, is also among the still living.

[quote] ODAAT was still new.

By this point it was well into its 3rd season, so new isn't quite correct.

MacKenzie was passed out behind the bleachers.

[quote]Looks like CBS had the all the biggest classic stars/shows.

NBC did have Johnny Carson and Dean Martin. And if you count his not-so-special specials, Bob Hope.

The way they did this was just so well done, bringing out the performers by day.

You could tell Bea was over it.

If they did it now, it would be day after day of CSI casts

There was something to be said for the days of the three big networks ruling the roost. Moments like Who Shot JR? that became national sensations. 30 to 40 million people watching a show each week. Groups of people at school or work talking about it the next day.

And talented stars. Not a reality one in the bunch. Truly the cream of the crop.

Today is just so fucking lame in comparison.

R4, amazing; a poll on this pic could actually legit include VV as an option, a legit option!

She is nicely placed upfront, but I think there's something cool about LUCY being smack in the middle with her red hair and all.

She's the center of the action.

Sadly, not a daytime star in sight outside of Bob Barker; Angelica McDaniel recreated this pic a few years ago using all daytime stars; Bob Barker appeared in both photos, the only star to do so.

Here's a link to it; sadly, no Zimmer (I don't think) and no Grant so it's not what it could be; also could have used some serious ATWT vets, but what an amazing effort to get all those folks together for one shot.

Hi res version. Click to make it larger.

75% of these people are dead.

Julie Kavner was prettier than I remember.

[quote] 75% of these people are dead.

And the rest will be dead in another 40 years.

most of us will be dead in 40 years

It really is amazing that Dick Van Dyke, Ed Asner and Betty White, who were all getting close to standard retirement age back then, are STILL alive!

I missed the high-res version at r9, now that I see it I realize that's Michael Learned between Buddy Ebsen and John Forsythe, it's not Sandy Duncan. And now we can see James Arness!

R115, are you r54?

[quote]I believe the “grand finale” was a montage sequence of all the pictured stars singing some really hokey song about how CBS was one big family that included all of us at home - “from you’re kissin’ cousin CBS…”. Variety really died a painful 70s death. And it was officially called “CBS - The First 50 Years.

Oh, honey, that didn't even come close to this legendary catastrophe.

With legendary television star Toni Tennille at the helm.

I count six Black actors not five. Any Latinos/as, Native Americans, Asians?

It was a different world.

I wonder if people thought Redd Foxx was doing his old routine when he collapsed and died on the set.

According to Della Reese, they did, R119.

There are 7 black people in the photo:

John Amos (Good Times)

Demond Wilson (Baby...I'm Back)

Ed Bradley (60 Minutes)

Isabel Sanford (The Jeffersons)

Sherman Hemsley (The Jeffersons)

Esther Rolle (Good Times)

Cicely Tyson (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman)

There are seven black members in the photo: John Amos, Demond Wilson, Ed Bradley, Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford, Esther Rolle, Cecily Tyson.

Lynda Carter is Latina. Telly Savalas is Greek. Jamie Farr and Danny Thomas are Lebanese, Blanche.

R118, I liked that. The song is catchy too.

Sorry, it's Cicely Tyson, I'm spelling everyone's name wrong today it seems.

I still don't know who the breads are in the Linda Lavin sandwich, but I feel like I should recognize the guy on the left.

R110 The soap stars you mentioned by name started on their CBS show(s) about 5 years after this event. But yes, none of the more traditional names (from #1 rated ATWT) were there. Soaps were the dirty stepsister that made the money but could never be seen in public with the master of the house.

R118 is a sloppy mess compared to CBS much more dignified presentation. And what's with the Toni Tennille voiceover that was clearly edited in post production?

But I like seeing DL Icon Susan Richardson getting down at 5:27

How much was John Wayne paid to be there?

The man to Linda Lavin's right is Garry Moore, the man on her left is from CBS News, but his name escapes me.

It’s nice they put Ted Knight and Georgia Engel together. From Ray Walston and Sally Struthers' expressions, I think Ray may be copping a feel.

Sally wasn't exactly Ray's type, R128.

I live on reclaimed land, I might be dead in 40 minutes😱

[quote]Bill Cosby is in the video but I don’t see him in the photos.

Unless I missed them, Tommy Smothers, Alan Alda, Phil Silvers, Jimmie Walker, Richard Thomas, Eve Arden and Fred MacMurray are also in the video but not the photo.

Richard Crenna in a beard looks like Bryan Cranston.

Thank you R128, the other guy is Douglas Edwards.

Speaking of Bill Cosby. He's free y'all. Hide your drinks.

R126 I wonder if because it was the year his wife died, Bill Paley, wasn't overseeing things as closely as he had. Because he liked soaps. I mean I don't know if he actually enjoyed the programming, but I've read he preferred soaps in daytime to gameshows because he felt dramas were more prestigious and fit better for the image of the "Tiffany" network.

I could probably name most of them--but a few are stumping me. Who's the woman between Viv and June Lockhart? And is the man at the far upper right Paul Winchell?

Looks like...Gale Storm? And top far right is James Arness.

The first sitcom:

*

Mary Kay and Johnny is an American situation comedy starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. It was the first sitcom broadcast on a network television in the United States. Mary Kay and Johnny initially aired live on the DuMont Television Network before moving to CBS and then NBC.

Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and Captain Kangaroo!! So many Waltons.

Wow!

Where are Lyle Waggoner ('Wonder Woman') and DL Fave, Suzanne Pleshette?

What about Peter Lupus, he would have been head and shoulders above everyone else.

Oh, Suzanne is by Andy Griffith and Lamont.

Why is John Forsythe there (not laying naked in a pool of honey) if his voice was on ABC at the time?

That’s Lee Meriwether between Andy Griffith and Lamont.

Where's Suzanne?!

Is that Suzanne on the other side of Lamont, next to James Arness?

The number of distinguished careers represented in that photo is mind boggling. Of course there’s Lucy and Carol Burnett and Walter Cronkite, but there are people we don’t think about anymore like Jack Lord, who had a hit show on CBS for a dozen years. Just amazing what CBS had.

Was Three's Company on CBS?

No, ABC.

R144, that's Lynda Carter by Lamont and James Arness.

WHERE is Suzanne????

Except for James Arness, r140.

Surprising that Gale Storm got put up in the front along with Viv and the others.

Gale was the biggest star there!

r141 John Forsythe starred in two sitcoms on CBS: Bachelor Father (which also ran on NBC and ABC) and To Rome, With Love.

R152 Actually from Bachelor Father alone, he could take part in the anniversary celebrations for CBS, ABC, and NBC, it is the only show to air on all three.

Where is the cast of "Dallas?" Or has that not yet premiered?

Dallas debuted in April of 1978 R154. Maybe the special was made before the Dallas premiere.

R122, and throw in Arlene Francis while you're at it. Miss Francis was Armenian.

It looks like Toni Tennille is asking them to jump into a pool at a party. Some of them are heavily pressured. Being forced to sing on a microphone after you jump into a pool is not a good look.

R154 Dallas didn't premiere until April 2, 1978. The specials aired a week or two prior.

Gale Storm was a HUGE TV star in the 1950s with two hit sit-coms on CBS: My Little Margie and Oh, Susannah! She was the MTM of that decade.

Well, maybe they each only lasted a season or two but they played in reruns for years and years.

But are we saying she's the lady with her hand on Viv's shoulder? I'm not so sure.

I can't imagine how they decided where each star would stand. A few big ones are justifiably standing in front but why is Carol Burnett in such a dismissive place?

She'd already left her show.

TV obscurities has a whole write up about this.

[quote]Mary had TITS???

Only after she got implants circa 1975.

On a guest appearance on "Rhoda", MTM's character said she had "gained a little weight" when the character asked why she looked so sexy in white pants and a clingy white turtleneck.

Telly Savalas- big star back then, totally forgotten today.

[quote]Is that really Sandy Duncan between Buddy Ebsen and John Forsythe?

R99, that's not Sandy Duncan

It's actually Michael Learned who played "Olivia Walton" on the CBS series "The Waltons"

Whew.

Who is the man standing next to Dick Van Dyke? He looks familiar but I can't place him.

I didn't look twice at Telly Savalas while he starred in Kojak. Boy, was I wrong.

Where were you, Playgirl?

Jack Lord, "Hawaii 5-0"

[quote]Jamie Farr and Danny Thomas are Lebanese, Blanche.

Lebanese, you mean like Dorothy's dykey friend Jean?

I counted 20 people who are still alive, but I don't know who everybody in that photo is so there could be others.

I guess Playgirl, like Talky Tina, just wasn't into him, r168.

Still alive as of right this minute (because some of them are old AF, and the others are no spring chickens either):

Dick Van Dyke, Rob Reiner, Lynne Greene, John Amos, Dan Rather, Lynda Carter, Loretta Swit, Carol Burnett, John Davidson, Julie Kavner, Bob Newhart, Lesley Stahl, Jamie Farr,, Adrienne Barbeau, Vicki Lawrence, Ed Asner, Betty White, Linda Lavin, Sally Struthers.

Everybody in the rows below Eva Gabor and DL legend Bonnie Franklin are dead.

R173 Dick Smothers is still alive.

Are we sure this wasn't just a big celebration for Gale Storm?

[quote] Telly Savalas- big star back then, totally forgotten today.

Very true.

Why is it that a mere glimpse of Bonnie Franklin makes me want to scream and throw something?

That was fantastic, R162. I can see why some people were in the photo but not the special and vice versa, since it was a week-long event that took a month to film in advance, and many must have had to travel back to LA from where they were currently working, like Cronkite.

Lauren Bacall co-hosted the Friday CBS anniversary celebration!

People old enough to remember who Telly Savalas was still think he was cool as hell. Some younger people might know him because of that clip of his ghost story segment that went viral a while back.

r173 June Lockhart is still alive.

[quote][R122], and throw in Arlene Francis while you're at it. Miss Francis was Armenian.

So is Mike Connors ("Mannix"; top row.)

Just think, June Lockhart was in "Meet Me In Saint Louis".

Lynda Carter will be 70 this month!

Jeff Stryker is also Armenian but I guess he didn't make the cut.

Sandy Duncan is alive and so are Jim Bob or whoever those Walton kids are.

Sandy Duncan isn't in the photo. Someone said she was earlier but they were mistaken.

R186 She's next to Telly and behind George Burns

Why is Tony Randall in the photo? The Odd Couple aired on ABC on Friday nights.

Is Doris Day in there? Her show ran on CBS for five seasons.

What about Chad Everett of Medical Center?

Sonny and Cher?

With names

Linky stinky r190, though I do appreciate your effort.

Tony Randall is there because his sitcom “The Tony Randall Show” was on CBS that season. It had started on ABC the prior year and moved to CBS for its second and final season. Since it only ran two years, it’s unlikely that it’s ever seen the light of day again since it went off the air. He played a judge in Philadelphia and the scenes moved back and forth between his home family and his work family. It was an MTM production, so it had the class that was typical of the comedies they produced in the 70’s, but this one just never took off. The bailiff character was played by Barney Martin, who went on to play Jerry Seinfeld’s father.

You're right r187. Makes it even weirder that someone earlier mistook Michael Learned with Sandy Duncan.

[quote]Is Doris Day in there? Her show ran on CBS for five seasons.

Doris Day pretty much retired from public life after her show ended in 1973. That show was her last acting credit. She had a few talk show appearances until 1976, and didn't resurface until her chat show in '85 which today is infamous for one of the final appearances of a very ill Rock Hudson.

r191 I put r190's image at this link, it's hard to read but if you enlarge it you can probably figure out the names.

r187 Read the damn thread. It's been mentioned SEVERAL TIMES that it's Michael Learned, NOT Sandy Duncan.

So is that Gale Storm on the lower left with her hand on Vivian Vance's shoulder? I can't read the damn fine print.

Telly Savalas was hot. He wasn't on my radar as a kid but now, I would totally let him stick it in.

No, R196, Sandy Duncan really is over by Telly Savalas.

Someone earlier said Sandy Duncan was next to Buddy Ebsen but that's Michael Learned.

A poster appears to be for sale on eBay.

I thought about it for a second but almost $200 is a bit rich for me.

Isn't Sandy Duncan next to Telly Savalas?

^^^ However that listing does have a list, not sure how comprehensive, of the names of those in the photo.

That looks like a reprint r200, I wouldn't pay that much for a reprint. If I was really into television memorabilia I might pay $100 for an original poster like the one linked from Worthpoint.

Where is Suzanne Pleshette?

That's MISS Michael Learned to you, bitches.

You mean Barney (Amos) Martin, r192.

Where is Bea Benadaret??

Dead for 10 years R207. Oh, and it is Benaderet.

[quote] Where is Bea Benadaret??

Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery. She died in 1968.

She ain't at the Junction no more.

Choo Choo!

Variety shows need to make a comeback.

We already have them R211. They are now called reality shows.

Thanks for starting this thread, OP. Lots of happy memories.

R213 *tips hat*

John Amos walking....damn you can tell he's packing a big one the way he struts

Gays are represented by Jim Nabors and Sherman Hemsley. I've heard the Walton grandparents Ellen Corby and Will Geer were at least bi. Any others?

Game show hosts in the last row - only Bob Barker is still alive. The Betty White Syndrome - who would have guessed?

MGM was regarded as the most prestigious of the film studios in the golden age of film and CBS always regarded itself as the MGM of networks. For years MGM took an annual photo of its stars and CBS was copying that tradition. Here's the most famous of the MGM photos, from 1943.

^ The cake is there in that photo because it was officially MGM's 25th year.

One of MGM's mottoes was "More stars than there are Heaven!"

Those are two famous show biz photos and Lucy is prominently featured in both.

If there are game show people there, they really should have included Mary Stuart, Eileen Fulton, and maybe Charita Bauer.

r221 What am I -- chopped liver?

Desi Arnaz died in 1986, correct? Did he and Lucy ever do brief reunion publicity together...of any kind through the years?

Supposedly Cher was sick and Cloris had a deal with ABC who wouldn't allow to her appear on another network.

Missing Jackie Gleason. And where's Marlo Thomas?

Marlo was under the glass topped table with Daddy.

R224 Desi and Lucy were both on CBS Salutes Lucy: The First 25 Years, in 1976.

R225 That Girl was on ABC as were her specials.

I can't believe Bob Barker is still alive. I used to watch the Price Is Right when I was a kid and he looked like an old man even way back then. What is he now, 125?

That's Technicolor Tessie for you, r221!

[quote] Why is it that a mere glimpse of Bonnie Franklin makes me want to scream and throw something?

Gingerphobia.

The irony of that iconic anniversary photo of MGM is that when it was taken in 1943, several of the studio's biggest stars didn't appear, including: Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Myrna Loy, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. There are probably a few others. Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo had all left the studio a year or two before.

Bonnie's flapjack titties are a-flapping in that dress

I wonder if Linda Lavin made it so that if she appeared no one else from Alice could come. Polly Holliday had already broken out as a star at that time, and it seems odd that she's not there in the finale rooftop lineup. Adrienne Barbeau and Julie Kavner were there. Polly and Vic could have easily been there as well.

WTF is with Bonnie Franklin mugging for the camera all the time? Probably another one who demanded no one else show up because she was the star.

r233 you're probably right. Linda and Bonnie didn't want their costars there.

Linda Lavin was allegedly furious that Polly Holliday became so popular, she wasn't expecting that.

Mary Astor is there, R231, fourth row far right.

Thank you, R187, for clearing up the confusion about Sandy Duncan, who is indeed standing next to Telly Savalas, behind George Burns and Nancy Walker

I didn't recognize Sandy Duncan with that unflattering "Flock of Seagulls" hairstyle

(Also Danny Thomas pinched my ass and asked me to have "coffee" with him - I was so shocked my glass eye popped out; it rolled over to where that cunt Bonnie Franklin was tap dancing. Bonnie screamed and slip on her tits. Lassie scampered over and ate it - that bitch!)

(Luckily, I overheard Valerie Harper talking about her newly-planned Lorimar sitcom on NBC. So I called my agent and we worked out a plan to have him pitch me as a replacement for Valerie at a reduced fee - so I'm looking forward to taking that from her)

Sandy was indeed blind in one eye but she never had it replaced. One dead eye but never a glass eye.

What I'd like to know is,

"Are you in the legitimate theatre?"

[quote]Sandy was indeed blind in one eye but she never had it replaced. One dead eye but never a glass eye.

Then what made that cunt Bonnie Franklin scream and slip on her tits during her big tap dance routine?

Bonnie's incompetence.

[quote]Bonnie's incompetence.

Oh David, hold me!

Why is Ned Beatty in this photo?

When did he appear on a CBS series?

Where's Aunt Bea and Miss Helen Crump, Pa?

He was the lead in the TV series Szysznyk R243. 15 episodes from 1977 to 1978. He also guest starred in other CBS shows.

Sad there's no....

didn't Dallas take the timeslot of Carol Burnett?

Carol was Saturdays. Dallas Fridays

I believe Will Geer passed away within 8 weeks of this Feb '78 taping

Will Geer passed away within 8 weeks of this Feb '78 taping. He looks pretty chipper!

Andy Griffith following Arthur Godfrey ... ironic in that 50's Kazan's FACE IN THE CROWD was Andy doing a fictional Godrey ..... a folksy ego driven meglomaniac .....

[quote]Will Geer passed away within 8 weeks of this Feb '78 taping. He looks pretty chipper!

He knew he would never have to see Bonnie Franklin or Linda Lavin again. Death came as a blessed release.

Why is Bren Dad Ickson not prominently featured in this photo as she is single-handedly responsible for the entirety of CBS's success.

That is a tired old meme R253. Try to be creative.

R253 No, that was ME!

It's very racist and sexist they didn't feature me. Never mind I didn't join the show until a decade later, they should have known.

[quote] That is a tired old meme [R253]. Try to be creative.

Eat my cunt, r254. It's from Europe.

It stinks to high heaven for anyone to be interested in it R256.

That Brenda Dickson shit is beyond tired. She was an internet meme about 15 years ago. Move on FFS.

Well Hello, Welcome to my 50th anniversary photo shoot.

r258= Zombie Bill Bell

I don't even understand the reference r260

[quote]Will Geer passed away within 8 weeks of this Feb '78 taping. He looks pretty chipper!

I just watched an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation last night and Geer's ex-wife Herta Ware played Picard's mother!

Geer does look particularly chipper considering he was in end stage respiratory failure by this point.

Dallas started on Sundays, and moved to Fridays in its 2nd season.

Has anyone mentioned the bizarre exclusion of Eve Arden, the star of CBS's hugely popular OUR MISS BROOKS?

She was in the walk in video r264. She didn't stand on the bleachers, apparently. 1978 was the same year she appeared as the principal in Grease.

Danny Thomas invited Bonnie Franklin back to his dressing room. Bonnie thought he wanted to watch her tap dance, but Danny wanted to watch her do something else....

Someone that was missing and should’ve be there, I wonder if he was on the actual show, was Gale Gordon. He costarred on four very popular CBS hits, Our Miss Brooks, Dennis the Menace, The Lucy Show, and Here’s Lucy.

I guess Kim Fields was not there because she was too young. She played Demond Wilson’s daughter on [italic]Baby I’m Back[/italic].

They needed to bring in some stars they left out in place of all those Walton kids. They were merely filler. Richard Thomas is the only one I'd have invited. He's the only one who's had a career off of Walton's Mountain.

The ending made me cry.

Back when we had hope.

Where was Bonnie Ebsen? Multiple guest star on Barnaby Jones? Hell where were Max Baer, Donna Douglas, Meredith McRae, Lori Saunders and Lynda Kaye Henning?

So...CBS was always the geriatric network, I see. Compare this to the ABC anniversary around the same time - the average age was about half.

Still, I recognize an embarrassingly high number of stars in that photo.

You shouldn't just be embarrassed, r272, you should be dying of shame.

Cute, r272.

R272, CBS was once called "The Tiffany Network" during William S. Paley's tenure because of its high-quality programming and respected news division. Naturally, it drew in showbiz veterans to its stable and attracted audiences that skewed older and moneyed.

And had been on the air for twice as long as ABC so some of its stars were going to be from shows that were on before ABC existed and therefore older.

R276 from 1928 - 1953? Pretty much everyone pictured was from the 50s/60s/70s so it is comparing apples to apples. The network just did skew much older - I was gonna say even then but especially then. Just about every current (ie 70s) star and supporting actor if you look was in their 40s or 50s, which is pretty amazing. Even on CBS you wouldn’t see that now.

R276 Yes and no. ABC counts 1943 as it's founding date and 1948 for ABC TV. But, in actuality ABC goes back to 1927. ABC started out as NBC BLUE in 1927. The Government decided that NBC having two national networks was an anti-trust violation and made them sell one. NBC kept NBC RED, which became NBC, and sold NBC BLUE to Edward J. Noble the cofounder of Lifesavers.

I know that. The ABC special r272 referred to only counted the previous 25 years as ABC. Not its previous incarnation.

R112, I always thought Julie Kavner was pretty in an understated, non-cheerleader way. This anniversary took place during production of S4 of Rhoda, after she lost weight, got a more flattering haircut, and was no longer written as Rhoda's frumpy, perpetually single kid sister (she had two love interests that year!).

MTM could look a little too severe for my taste at times, but she is gorgeous here.

I love Nancy Walker's longer, lighter hair, and Cicely Tyson looks fantastic (and much younger than her 53 years).

Amazing how many middle-aged and older people were big stars back then. Today, most network shows skew a lot younger.

R279 that little intro ditty probably went thru a gazillion rehearsals and revisions to make sure Penny and Cindy each had the same number of lines.

From what I could tell of the ABC anniversary intro, Fred MacMurray and Ed Asner were at both ABC and CBS's events.

Has anyone mentioned Mark Goodson and Bill Todman's phenomenal success as the producers of WHAT'S MY LINE?, I'VE GOT A SECRET, PASSWORD, THE PRICE IS RIGHT, TO TELL THE TRUTH, and many others, all long-playing on CBS. Those inexpensively produced yet highly profitable shows were mainstays throughout the 1950s and 60s and beyond.

It appears only Arlene Francis and Garry Moore are there to represent them. Where are Betsy Palmer, Bess Myerson, Bill Cullen, Kitty Carlisle, Peggy Cass, Henry Morgan, et. al?? Dorothy Kilgallen, of course, had died in 1966 and maybe Bennett Cerf and John Charles Daly by 1978.

I had to google THE MATCH GAME and it tells me that it was not one of their shows. Is Wiki correct?

[quote]CBS was once called "The Tiffany Network" during William S. Paley's tenure because of its high-quality programming and respected news division. Naturally, it drew in showbiz veterans to its stable and attracted audiences that skewed older and moneyed.

You can tell the huge difference just by looking at clips from the two anniversary specials.

CBS just seems more classier and refined. It's programming more esteemed.

ABC just seems trite and lightweight by comparison. Of course, this was the era of the Garry Marshall shows, Three's Company and stuff like Charlie's Angels and The Love Boat.

But I don't think ABC as a whole has ever reached the creative heights that CBS and NBC managed.

It also shows how much CBS really went to shit around the time Les Moonves took control. Even in the 80's., CBS still tried to work that refinement in its programming. Moonves greatly dumbed it down.

In 1959, James Aubrey became President of CBS, and he took the Tiffany Network and turned it into "The Hillbilly Network" or " The Country Broadcasting Station" with his lineup of country bumpkin shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, etc. Paley HATED this low-brow programming and he and Aubrey bickered over this, but the these shows were ratings hits.

I bet Babe was a huge "Hee Haw" fan.

By the end of the '60s, however, the naïve rube stories and become so far removed from what was happening in the big cities of America, that CBS's incoming president Robert Wood ordered a "rural purge" and brought in more modern and urban oriented programming, like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, MTM Show, Maude, etc.

*had become...

Jacqueline Susann's "The Love Machine" is a great chronicle of how the TV business was run at this time in history. The lead character, Robin Stone, was directly based on James Aubrey. Even though it's a work of fiction, the inner workings of the television network in the novel are true to how the Big Three networks were being run at the time. It's a very good read.

I can only imagine how the urbane, sophisticated and cosmopolitan William Paley hated the country bumpkin shows on the network he was president of. He must've felt embarrassed by all of it.

That was THREE Anniversary specials, you cheap whores!

R285 ok but the ABC celebration looked a lot more fun. And I’m sure a lot more drugs to go around.

For you soap fans that noticed no soap actors were in the CBS special or ABC special....

The NBC 50th did not appear to feature any either, but the 60th for NBC in 1986 featured Deidre Hall, Gloria Loring and *gasp* Mary Stuart.

Julie Kasner!!!

[quote] By the end of the '60s, however, the naïve rube stories and become so far removed from what was happening in the big cities of America, that CBS's incoming president Robert Wood ordered a "rural purge" and brought in more modern and urban oriented programming, like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, MTM Show, Maude, etc.

But by the end of the decade they split the difference and gave us [italic]The Dukes of Hazzard[/italic] and [italic]Dallas[/italic] while later in the 1980s [italic]Designing Women[/italic] was one of their only hit sitcoms.

[quote] In 1959, James Aubrey became President of CBS, and he took the Tiffany Network and turned it into "The Hillbilly Network" or " The Country Broadcasting Station" with his lineup of country bumpkin shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Hee Haw, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, etc. Paley HATED this low-brow programming and he and Aubrey bickered over this, but the these shows were ratings hits.

The problem when you look at the actual shows, not what they have become in the zitergist. It really wasn't fair to call them low-brow programming. First of all Andy Griffith, is separated for the most part because unlike the Henning shows and Hee Haw, TAGS was a critical and commercially successful show, also unlike the others CBS seems to still claim them as one of the jewels in the crown of the Tiffany Network.

But, if you actually watch the Henning shows. The Beverly Hillbillies, especially in the first few seasons, was a satire not of the Hillbillies but of the rich of Beverly Hills, and Green Acres became the first truly surreal situation comedy on television, which was itself groundbreaking.

Also, let's not forget that after the "rural purge" CBS's big prestige drama hit in the 1970s was The Waltons.

The fact is that by the time of the "rural purge" all the shows, except Hee Haw, was well past their prime But, Hee Haw did much better in syndication than it ever would've on the Network.

The thing I remember about CBS is the Friday night lineup when I was a kid. The Duke Boys at 8. Dallas at 9 and Falcon Crest at 10.

I often wondered how Friday and Saturday nights went from big TV nights to rerun zone. Because I'm sure that people were going out on Friday and Saturday nights back in the day.

ABC canceled Lawrence Welk the same year.

R299 And like Hee Haw he was able to do well in syndication.

R248 those were the traditional nights but it looks like at the end Carol was moved to Sundays at 10 and when she went off JR and the Ewings took the 10 PM timeslot.

My memory scares me sometimes.

r301 isn't it amazing what we remember? Trivial bullshit that is permanently in our brains and you think "why the fuck do I remember that?"

Perry Mason was a CBS show that lasted 9 seasons. I'm surprised they didn't have Raymond Burr or Barbara Hale.

Raymond Burr would’ve taken up too much of the podium.

[quote] ABC counts 1943 as it's founding date

Oh, dear!

The Walton actors, including the kids, hosted a whole night of anniversary programming, which is why they all ended up in the photo. I'm sure it made sense at the time but in retrospect there were plenty of people who should have been there instead.

Fat jokes are not funny R304. Really shows how low class you are.

R70, indeed, but old people too, old people aren’t allowed on television now

r307 types fat.

[quote] The Duke Boys at 8. Dallas at 9 and Falcon Crest at 10. I often wondered how Friday and Saturday nights went from big TV nights to rerun zone. Because I'm sure that people were going out on Friday and Saturday nights back in the day.

R298, the difference is that cable was in its infancy in the 1980s, so most people only had 3-4 main channels to watch. The Friday and Saturday night viewing audience wasn't necessarily larger; it was just more focused with fewer viewing options.

That makes perfect sense R310. Thanks!

Fat jokes ARE funny and it is deeply offensive to compare them to racism, R307. Offensive enough to actually make you a racist.

And yes, you type fat. So fat I'm surprised you can even type one letter at a time.

You two are fucking idiots R309 and R312.

Sorry you're morbidly obese, r313. :(

[quote]Where was Bonnie Ebsen?

Jed Clampett transitioned?

[quote]Really shows how low class you are.

This is classist hate speech. Another reason fat jokes are justified. If you don't like it, go buy a whole row of seats on Southwest Airlines and go home to your mother and cry into your 2-liter jug of Diet Rite over it.

george burns told fat jokes

That's because he was old enough to remember when they were first invented.

No, that was Jethro, r315.

I still don't see vivian vance

Vivian Vance is at the bottom, right behind Jean Stapleton and Walter Cronkite.

It's like Lucy is at the center of a heart!

I'm surprised at how many of these people I can name. I was but a wee child when this photo was taken and by the time I hit my formative years, many of these people were either dead or had been out of the public eye for years.

r321, holy shit, she looks like she's going to pass out

r324 she was very ill at the time and died the following year.

shucks, I'm crying as I type this now

Lynnie Green is standing about three feet from Beatrice Arthur. In ten years, both of them would play the character of Dorothy Zbornak.

So many costars are standing far apart from each other. There are a few exceptions though. Valerie Harper and and TV sister Julie Kavner are standing next to each other. So are Ted Knight and Georgia Engel.

Wow...Don Knotts standing beside Lucille Ball.

rob reiner and sally struthers are far apart

Funny how cruel show business can be, though. Five years after this photo (and the special) were made, some of these people couldn't have gained admittance to the commissary !

[quote]rob reiner and sally struthers are far apart

They needed to balance the weight of the podium.

[quote]rob reiner and sally struthers are far apart

So are Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton.

Bonnie Ebsen actually is the name of Buddy Ebsen's daughter, and she had a short-lived NBC show around the same time:

Who's the guy with his head turned sideways -- above Bob Denver and below Steve Allen. It looks sort of like Ed Sullivan (but he died in 1974) or Charles Collingwood, but I can't tell.

I see Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether, but where is Mark Shera?

In my preteen fantasies in 1978, R334!

R333, it is indeed Charles Collingwood.

Fuck ton of stars I don’t recall being on a TV show

r337 Examples, please?

Is it true that Jethrine is being considered as Caitlyn's Lt Governor?

You really think Caitlyn would want the competition in the looks department, r339???

Her gown was divine

Please don’t mention that name.

I like the look

[quote]I like the look

But I hate "spunk"

Linda Lavin’s cleavage is the true center of this photo.

You just know that Bea, Jim and Carol were saying some really cunty things about everyone under their breath.

And Lynda Carter is a STAH! That face!

beauty

[quote]Linda Lavin’s cleavage is the true center of this photo.

I thought so too.

Lynda Carter was fucking gorgeous. She looks shy and uncomfortable in that photo.

Ann Sothern looked like a dimestore floozie!

a common whore

[quote]a common whore

Not so much a common one as an overweight one...

She's used to covering up all those folds with Marabou feathers

She and Viv had to stand near the front so they could roll their eyes at Lucy's cunty behavior

It's the LucyMAME reunion we never asked for.

yes, very strange that Perry Mason was a No Show.....

DL icon Arlene Francis, fifth row from the top on the far left.

Who is Ms. Cheekbones above Gene Rayburn’s shoulder?

Gene Rayburn was fingering Ellen Corby.

Are there any articles that describe how this shot was set up and where everyone was asked to stand? I wonder if there were some walk outs because of dissatisfaction with the way a celeb felt they were mistreated? Eve Arden, perhaps?

Ellen Corby only got fingered by other ladies. She was a gold star dyke.

r355, I believe that's Barbara Bain of Mission Impossible. I can't imagine why she isn't standing next to her husband Martin Landau.

R357, I remember reading that Sally Struthers fell off her platform shoes and had to be carried out on a stretcher.

Lucy hid her lit cigarette behind her back, burning Carroll O'Connor's balls right through his pants.

By 1978, Raymond Burr was an NBC star, having appeared for 8 seasons in Ironside and several NBC TV movies and miniseries.

No Red Skelton?

Red Skelton is there.

this original photo really should have had Eileen Fulton, Charita Bauer...Jeanne Cooper...who else was big in soaps on CBS in the late 70s?

Helen Wagner, Don McLaughlin and Don Hastings.

Nobody gives a fuck r365

R366 = today's network execs who oversea daytime.

^oversee

In addition to Arlene Francis, John Daly should have been there after hosting WML? for 17 years on CBS.

The most fuckable guy in that 1978 photo was David Groh.

John Daly was a staunch conservative who was appointed director of Voice of America by LBJ in 1967, but quit in a huff a year later because he disagreed with LBJ's Democratic policies. Daly went to work for the far right American Enterprise Institute in the 1970s, hosting their "debates." He may very well have had political complaints about CBS by 1978 and not wanted to participate.

I recognize everyone except the black woman between George Burns and Arthur Godfrey and the tall guy on the end directly in front of Tony Randall and Bob Newhart. All I remember about him was that he read the news. Anyone?

Eric fucking Sevareid. Knew I'd remember eventually.

R372, The tall guy is Eric Sevareid. The black woman might be Cicely Tyson, who starred in the CBS series "East Side/West Side" with George C. Scott in 1963.

R374 Thanx re Sevareid. I finally remembered about 5 min ago. Yep, definitely Cecily Thyson. Also had trouble recognizing Ed Bradley, between Loretta Swit and Andy Griffith.

R371, He was also Earl Warren's son-in-law.

Sally Struthers had gorgeous hair.

R371, John Daly was a bit of a diva. He once threatened not to host WML? when he had learned that Mike Wallace was to be the mystery guest that evening. Daly was upset with something Wallace had said or done and refused to appear alongside him.

Pleaase! It's John CHARLES Daly, our panel modewator.

Yes, you were, R379, as you died in 1971.

[quote]Bennett Cerf, was I dead by 1978?

Very much so, yes.

R381, And then his widow Phyllis up and married Robert Wagner, the former Mayor of NYC.

Lyle’s brother?

John Charles Daly had an interesting career on tv that could never happen today. While hosting the hit panel show What’s My Line on CBS, he was also the news anchor and an executive VP of ABC. In addition, he also managed to, at times, guest anchor Today on NBC.

We’re slowly watching What’s My Line in chronological order on YouTube (at January 1965 now, so only 10 months left for Dorothy. Not looking forward to her absence). Anyway John Daly is a windbag in love with himself. If I had a quarter for each time he mentioned that he his alma mater was the Tilton School I could retire right now.

R385 if you go back and read about his radio career, he had earned the right to be a "windbag in love with himself."

Does he have a biography or autobiography book available, r386?

I’d love to read that.

R387 I don't know. Before my last move I had a book about the men that covered WWII for radio, and he was right up there with Edward Murrow and the others. He was the first to announce Pearl Harbor had been bombed.

Didn’t know that history and wouldn’t denigrate his service. I feel ashamed of my post as I didn’t know that much about him as a newsman. Duly scolded. His bringing up the Tilton School all the time is still amusing, if that’s OK.

You know, it's perfectly okay to say that Daly was a self-satisfied right wing diva. He was. Just because he happened to be the first person who announced Pearl Harbor was being bombed doesn't make him a good person who gets a pass on bad behavior.

R389 I don't care, just pointing out he did a lot of interesting things. Also, Tilton must have had as a high regard of him as he did of them. Apparently they still give an award in his honor.

[quote]He was the first to announce Pearl Harbor had been bombed.

We all knew Pearl was a lush, but that was just nasty gossip.

Leave it to the DL to have a hotheaded argument about newscasters from sixty years ago

Everything about What's My Line? bordered on the elitist and that was a big part of its appeal. All of the panelists were NY snobs, pompous Bennett Cerf, tenacious Dorothy Kilgallen and even darling witty Arlene, who were weekly taken down a notch asking blind-sided questions about girdle makers, cow blanket knitters, nudist colony managers, female motorcycle cops, aged wrestling champs and the like.

The long list of stars who appeared as the weekly Mystery Guest was truly stellar and was often the first and/or rare TV appearance some of those stars ever made. In its early years when a Mystery Guest appeared who was the star of a TV series the panelists would often feign ignorance because they actually didn't watch much TV (e.g. Gale Storm was humiliated).

I loved the show as a kid when I was allowed to stay up late on Sunday nights and have come to really adore it now, watching all the episodes multiple times on youtube. It's truly a fascinating glance into America and the entertainment world of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Though the show has had DL threads in the past, it's perhaps ready for another before all of us eldergays here die.

Bennett Cerf was the ultimate elitist snob, sneering at rock 'n' roll and lamenting how the sack dress was the end of Western civilization.

Those cunts sure knew how to troll

Well, you've done it, I've gone and bought the Bennett Cerf autobiography, the one posthumously published in 1977.

I'm wondering if there was any backlash from conservative WML? viewers when Daly divorced his wife of 22 years in 1960 so he could marry Earl Warren's daughter, who was 14 years younger than him.

Nelson Rockefeller basically did the same thing and it was believed to have cost him the Presidency.

R397, There must have been an agreement between Bennett and the WML? producers that his first wife, Sylvia Sidney, would never be a mystery guest.

During the 17 year run of WML?, she was active in films and on Broadway, making her mystery guest eligible.

What's My Line is an interesting time capsule of a world that has completely vanished.

R399 The marriage only lasted six months and divorce was still taboo to many people, so I can see a "classy" show like WML just not going there.

What is interesting is that they had Johnnie Ray on a few times, and an author later made the claim that Dorothy Kilgallen had an affair with Johnnie apparently he was bi instead of gay? or at least got it up enough to father Ms. Kilgallen's youngest child. She had the affair after finding her own husband having sex with another man in their home.

R401, One look at Kerry Kollmar today and there's no doubt that Johnnie Ray was his biological father.

I’m not so sure about Daly’s politics, at least as they were during the WML run. My understanding was that the trio of Francis, Cerf & Daly had issues with Dolly stemming from her right-wing politics.

As a young kid watching her on WML, I never really "got" Arlene Francis, but watching her in the reruns of the show now I can appreciate her spontaneous and rather bawdy wit and charm. Her unflappable personality was truly ideal for live TV. What a fun friend she must have been!

Though she was involved with 2 accidental deaths, neither were actually her fault. The first incident involved a small barbell sitting on a window sill that her maid had shifted and clumsily dropped on a passing pedestrian from Arlene's Park Ave. apartment. The second death occurred on a rainy highway but was the fault of the other driver, not the car Arlene was traveling in.

Always thought To Tell the Truth (syndicated 1969-1978) was classier than What's My Line? mostly for Kitty Carlisle, Bill Cullen and Peggy Cass, who had a noxious New York accent even though she was born in Boston and went to Harvard. Frequent guest panelists included Tom Poston, Nipsey Russell (gosh how I miss him), Larry Blyden and Joe Garagiola among others.

I agree, I loved that show

R405, Peggy Cass never attended Harvard or any other college.

Bill Cullen was a regular panelist on another Goodson/Todman game show I'VE GOT A SECRET, not TO TELL THE TRUTH (though he may very well have filled in as an occasional replacement).

And Peggy Cass had a strong BOSTON accent, not a noxious New York one.

R408, as R405 correctly notes, Bill Cullen WAS a regular on the Garry Moore-hosted, syndicated version of Truth. And, R405, it must have been quite the come-down for Nipsey Russell, our poet laureate, to resort to game shows to make a buck. If memory serves correctly, I believe he read a poem at JFK’s inauguration.

R410 oh wow seriously? Then yes his game show career must have been a serious comedown because to me he was just some D list joke (and never a good game player, either). I thought the poetry stuff was just some unfunny schtick he did.

Amazing that she didn't have a lengthy film career, r385.

Educate yourself, r404, on Arlene Francis...and her ilk.

R410 I can't find anything about his reading a poem at the inauguration, maybe it was part of the Joey Bishop hosted celebration instead of the actual inauguration?

What I would've loved to have seen, was Nipsey teaming up with Archie Campbell for a show. He was a country comedian with a very similar shtick. Between the two of them it would have been surreal, crazy, and wonderful. But, if I was a moderator, I would NEVER want them on the same panel.

[quote] it must have been quite the come-down for Nipsey Russell, our poet laureate, to resort to game shows to make a buck. If memory serves correctly, I believe he read a poem at JFK’s inauguration.

Well it’s so easy to confuse Nipsey Russell and Robert Frost.

R415, It's even easier to confuse Nipsey Russell with Nipsey Hussle.

Doris, I contributed many tid-bits to that delicious thread!

hHe syndicated versions of To Tell the Truth and especially What's My LIne? are so beneath the quality of their originals that I wouldn't even call them the same programs.

Bill Cullen was the original host of the NBC 1960s iteration of "The Price is Right."

Arlene subbed for him, r419. I believe she was the first woman to host a game show.

R418, while I absolutely agree with you about the syndicated WML, the ‘70s version of Truth, while maybe not at the level of the original network show, was still good. Garry Moore was a superb host & the regular panelists of Carlisle, Cass & Cullen were very good.

Sorry, R414, for sending you on a wild goose hunt. My tongue was firmly implanted in my cheek.

Tonight on The Andy Griffith Show:

*

Andy's jealous when a handsome new doctor (George Nader), who seems to have an eye for Ellie, sets up practice in town. Ellie: Elinor Donahue. Barney: Don Knotts. Aunt Bee: Frances Bavier.

Andy looks concerned.

Gomer might be the best candidate, R423.

Tonight's Gomer Pyle, USMC episode, r425, is:

*

A TV dating show leads to romantic complications for Gomer. Wendy: Jeanine Riley. Parker: Dick Patterson. Carter: Frank Sutton. Lou Ann: Elizabeth MacRae. Bunny: Barbara Stuart.

Tonight on Dick Van Dyke:

*

The Lady And The Tiger And The Lawyer S3 E1

Rob and Laura play Cupid for the new neighborhood bachelor. Arthur: Anthony Eisley. Rob: Dick Van Dyke. Laura: Mary Tyler Moore. Donna: Lyla Graham. Sally: Rose Marie. Buddy: Morey...

*

Luckily Sally doesn't end up with him. He ends up being...a wife beater.

I'm shocked there was no representative from The Jack Benny Program. Mary Livingstone Benny, Dennis Day, Don Wilson, Mel Blanc, Frank Nelson were all alive in 1978.

Jack Benny was too cheap to pay for their travel R428

And too dead, R429.

Was CBS the geriatric channel back then as well?

I still miss Valerie Harper.

R431 clearly yes.

Arlene Francis is there, but where’s To Tell the Truth’s own Kitty Carlisle?

R43 it’s LYNDA CARTER not Linda Carter!

I don't know anyone in the second row

R428 Mary Livingstone suffered from severe stage fright. She was only able to make her appearance on the Jack Benny 20th Anniversary special in 1970 because Lucy agreed to play her maid and basically hold her hand the whole time.

Who’s the person with the cheek implants you can see from space? (I didn’t know they had those back then)

I even remember the jingle for the season, it went :woah, woah, who’s the best? Whoah, woah, CBS!

Here, r432, a reminder...

Arlene & Kitty

Thanks, R441, that's some brilliant dialogue there. I would've thought Arlene was already afflicted with Alzheimer's at this point. But maybe not.

R442 She was mugged and her famous heart pendent necklace stolen in 1988, which is when her decline started. Maybe this was filmed prior to that incident.

R443, It was torn from her neck by some punk who stopped her on a NYC sidewalk to speak with her.

R440, thanks.

Vivian Vance looks high.

I wonder when in 1978 that photo take taken, I looked for the cast of WKRP in Cincinnati which came out on CBS in Sept of 1978 but I don't see any of them so not sure they weren't the because the show was new or because the photo was taken before the show premiered.

The special aired in March 1978, r447. Photo likely taken around the same time.

The link below has a very detailed look at such network anniversary specials.

Arlene Francis popped up on As the World Turns in early 1986 as herself, apparently, having her own talk show in which she interviewed Barbara 'Simply Barbara' Ryan about her fashion designer success.

at 25:01 there's Arlene Francis interviewing Tom and Simply Barbara on ATWT.

"Little" touches like this made characters going from the Midwest to the Big Apple so much more believable.

Was Robert Conrad in the pic? Wild Wild West and Hawaiian Eye were both CBS.

r451 "Hawaiian Eye" was on ABC.