Let's Be an episode of What's My Line

We're the blindfolds with the pearls or jewels around the edges that the female panelists wear.

I'm the legitimate theater.

I'm Dorothy Kilgallen's missing chin

I’m Dr. Jules Montenier, renowned cosmetic chemist and creator of Stopette, a delightful deodorant and a frequent WML sponsor!

I'm the Nembutal Dorothy enjoyed just a little too much!

I'm the high-tech chalk board used to "Sign in, please"

I'm Arlene Francis, America has no idea who I am, but I look like a famous celebrity

I'm the whistles and catcalls every time a halfway attractive female walks out.

I'm the entire panel dressed to go to the theater, but just stopped by to play this silly game

I'm the flip cards that John Charles Daly likes to flip over all at once when his idiot panel can't figure out the contestant's job

I'm John Charles Daly's comb-over which he also likes to flip over.

I'm Dorothy's wiglet. I appear in all parts of her hairdo over the years, but always happily distracting you from her lack of a chin.

I'm Bennett Cerf and all the kids at home like to snicker and call me "Bennett Surfboard"

I’m Ginger Rogers a “relative” of Bennett’s via his wife Phyllis. Every time I’m on the show, that son of a bitch guesses me in the first minute. Fuck him.

I'm the top prize of $50 this lame-ass show would give out. Ooh, I can now take this stupid job and shove-it

[quote]I'm Arlene Francis, America has no idea who I am, but I look like a famous celebrity

America was well aware of Arlene Francis before WML debuted.

I'm Sue Oakland, America has no idea who I am, but I look like a famous celebrity

^ Who are you?

I'm IMDb and Arlene Francis had exactly 19 credits covering a lifespan of 93 years. If she had been a Mystery Guest on WML no one would have gotten it

The prize was a prize, not an instant retirement plan, idiot.

^ Here's $50, go away

$50 back then was equal to over $500 in today's money. It's not a downpayment on a house or anything, but $500 is a nice dinner at an exclusive restaurant or 2 nice dinners at a nice restaurant or 50 dinners at Outback.

I'm the somber Nov. 14, 1965 episode paying tribute to Dorothy Kilgallen's death.

I'm Johnny Olson, whipping the studio audience into a frenzy to applaud the panelists as they swoop in. I can go across the street for a gin & tonic until they need me to come back to do the same for the Mystery Guest 15 minutes later.

I'm Arlene's diamond heart pendant.

^ That was ripped from her neck by a New York mugger

I wonder who got all those celebrity autographs signed on black paper with chalk.

I'm the Mystery Guest. I'm terrified that no one on the panel will identify me, therefore giving the impression I'm not as famous as I used to be. At six down and four to go, I let my comical fake voice slip and name drop one of my most famous roles.

I am the beautiful handwriting of of the guests.

I'm Arlene Francis heart-shaped pendant necklace. Someone stole me from her neck later on.

I'm the mark on the stage floor in front of the sign-in board that half the contestants overshoot and have to be scooted back by John.

I'm the fabulous fashions of 1966.

I'm Tony Randall sitting at home two blocks from the studio every Sunday night waiting for the phone call asking me to fill in for a missing panelist or mystery guest. It never comes.

I'm Mr. Ed and I'm still in a stew because they never had me on. But Francis, oh for Francis that clod-hopping mule it was no problem.

I'm Betty White wondering why I'm not a regular panelist.

I'm the Transatlantic accent spoken by the host and panelists.

I'm the lazy contestant coordinator who never met a bullfighter, diaper salesman or woman cop who didn't belong on the show.

I'm the "gambit," where one panelist -- often Steve Allen -- has been tipped off about the guest's occupation so he can veer off in an amusingly backwards line of questioning.

I'm the Random House Webster's Dictionary you pestered mom to buy you for your birthday. You took it to college and now you still have it, stacked up there on your bookshelf.

I'm the closeted lesbian contestant who was compelled to answer that she was a "Miss" when John Charles Daly greeted her with, "Is it Miss or Missus?"

I'm Arlene's eyepatch. I make several appearances over the years.

I'm the question "Are you known for occasionally raising your voice in song?"

I'm the crocodile tears on the faces of John, Arlene, & Bennett when they paid their respects to Dolly when she died earlier that week.

I'm bigger than a breadbox.

I'm the real tears on the faces of John, Arlene, & Bennett when they paid their respects to Fred Allen who died 24 hours earlier.

I'm the introduction "And now, the delightful star of stage and television, Miss Arlene Francis!"

I'm the son-in-law of the sitting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

[quote] I'm bigger than a breadbox.

I’m something good to eat. I know where you’re going, R44

They never told any of the panel what a contestant’s occupation actually was, r38. They would occasionally suggest questions for them to ask that would theoretically lead to big laughs since the audience would know what thd job was.

But after the Quiz Show Scandals brought down Charles Van Doren et Al, they stopped doing that. As of mid-1957, the questions were all from the panel without any coaching.

R49 They may have vainly tried to keep their virginity in place by carefully wording the tipoff: "Think ladies' underwear, Steve" instead of "He sells girdles" but it's a meaningless distinction. In retrospect watching those shows now it's obvious what's happening.

And I'm the zipper manufacturer who gave Steve and Arlene 10 minutes of unbridled 1950s laughter trying to guess my occupation.

I'm the 1964 contestant who, some 40 years later, befriended this DLer, who was fascinated to be in the presence of someone who had been in the company of our WML legends.

^ Are you the 90 year old zipper maker?

I'm the Tilton School. John, God bless him, always made it sound like he'd gone to someplace like Exeter or Choate.

I am a fun gameshow unlike the game shows today.

It wasn't so much fun as classy. Just compare the original with the Wally Bruner follow-up. Poor Arlene looked like she was slumming it on that show.

You can never have that kind of classy today. Pop culture in the US is trash and ghetto now.

One of the major delights of the original show is that they were able to attract most the biggest stars in Hollywood to appear as the Mystery Guest, people who never appeared on TV in the 1950s like Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Kim Novak, Tyrone Power, Joan Crawford, Doris Day, Jimmy Stewart, Ava Gardner, Robert Taylor, Hedy Lamarr, and so many others, and it was always fun to see them reveal a comic side, otherwise hidden from public view, as they tried to stump the panel by disguising their voices. Or, in Charlton Heston's case, a demeanor entirely devoid of humor (but he was a hottie).

I am 1953 mystery celebrity Eleanor Roosevelt.

I think Eleanor Roosevelt, Cardinal Spellman, Marian Anderson and the occasional nun with a sideline job were the only guests who could get Dorothy and (sometimes) Arlene to stand up when they exited.

Cardinal Spellman never appeared on WML. The show had standards.

You're probably thinking of Bishop Sheen.

I am both of these: I am the chemise gown, with arrows, worn by Miss Arlene Francis, in the show's final season. And I am also elegance in the voice of Miss Arlene Francis.

I'm Sal from Queens. I ran an elevator at the Empire State Building and was contacted to be a guest on What's My Line in May, 1966. I told all my family and buddies I was going to be on TV, and they all tuned in that Sunday to see me in the $50 suit I bought special for the show.

But when I showed up at the studio they said I was scheduled as the fourth guest. I knew what that meant, so I sat there glum as John and Bennett jabbered away running out the time for my slot.

Only wore that suit again once, at my Dad's funeral.

Sal from Queens, I get it that a local person would be scheduled as an if-needed fourth guest, but how come you weren't asked back - if even as if-needed fourth guest - during the remaining CBS season. Oh, that $50 suit in 1966 would cost you $433.87 today.

I was scheduled in late May right before they took their summer break using shows taped before.

Bought the suit at that Bond Store in Times Square. Mom said I looked good in it.

Sal, if I may ask: how old are you?

^He's in his 70s at least.

I'm the job like shoelace seller and funhouse attendant that men could actually support a family with in the 1950s.

Eating assholex for hours on end

I am Robert Q. Lewis, who had to arrive an hour early each time I was a guest panelist so the makeup man would have enough time to fill in my massive pockmarks.

No family!

But Mom never stopped telling me I could wear that suit at my wedding.

R47, Who left his wife and children to marry a girl young enough to be his daughter.

R47, Did y'all like me in "Bye, Bye Birdie"?

R27, Some of them were selling on eBay a while back.

I'm the picture currently running on Broadway -- or am I?

And, R72, how about in the pilot episode of Green Acres? In color.

And R69, I'm Robert Q. Lewis - Arthur Godfrey said the "Q" stood for "queer" - & I would engage in over-the-top drooling whenever a dishy dame was a contestant.

I'm Dr. Jules Montenier, inventor of Stopette, the primary sponsor for years. I DEMANDED Hal Block be fired when, instead of saying "Poof! There goes perspiration," he said "Turn your arm pit into a charm pit." How vulgar he was!

Fun Facts . . .

Unknown to the public, mystery guests were paid $500 as an appearance fee, whether they won or lost the game. This was in addition to the maximum $50 game winnings, which guests sometimes donated to charity. Guest panelists were paid $750 as an appearance fee.

The regular panelists were under contract and were paid much more $750.00 per show. In an interview Bennett Cerf gave after the show ended in 1967, he admitted that the amount of money he, Arlene and Dorothy were paid each week was ridiculously high.

The original panelists more than deserved those "ridiculously high" salaries as they totally made the show. And other than their salaries there was almost nothing to spend any money on, especially hearing about how little the Mystery Guests were paid. That must have been considered an insanely successful show financially speaking.

R79, I'm surprised the mystery guests were paid an appearance fee, unless that was a union requirement.

Almost all were on to promote something and they were receiving free publicity on a highly rated prime time network show.

Pay attention , r50. The shit began to hit the fan for the game shows in December, 1956. By the summer of 57 Goodson & Todman laid down the law about revealing anything ahead of time to the panel. The scandal spelled the end of ten different game shows. CBS and G&T didn’t want to risk anything, even though WML was not one of the shows that was investigated.

The panelists used to meet before the broadcast and review who the MG might be that evening.

It was no secret which celebrities were in NYC to promote a film or appearance or what Broadway shows had just opened or were about to.

R81 Have no idea what you're queening on about. Yes they stopped the gambits at some point but only because of outside events. It's not like G-T woke up one morning and thought, "This is wrong, let's stop it."

To her credit, Arlene I recall never did a gambit, Bennett only once or twice in his early appearances. But Prim John was obviously in on it from the start.

I'm the lack of people of color.

Actually, for segregated America of the time, WML was pretty advanced, especially with mystery guests.

R84, there was no colour; it was black and white. So, you little woketard snowflake, you're ignoring the fact that it was BLACK and white. Unless you're joking, wh. I find amusing.

R86 The final season was broadcast in color, though the tapes have been lost.

I'm the movie star who was riding with Dorothy Kilgallen in a helicopter when my address book dropped out the window. No one ever found out who I was because I never appeared as the Mystery Guest.

R88 And I'm the never-was who studied dentistry.

I'm the post-Dorothy panelist Sue Oakland, who seemed to have no credits other than being beautiful. One suspects I may have been fucking Goodson or Todman.

Arlene is frosty to me on air.

One of the things I hope happens before I die is they find a color episode of the 1950-1967 WML?

For years and years WML? was live every single Sunday. No reruns. And John Daly was always there every single Sunday, 52 weeks a year for ten years, save for a couple of times when Bennett or Damon Andrews took over. In the Summer, it would be unbearably hot, but they still went on.

Finally, someone invented videotape, and they were able to take a few weeks off here and there, because they videotaped episodes for the can. In the last season they were in color. I HAVE to think at least ONE of those color videos survived.

It would even be cool to see a black and white video. All we have now are crummy kinescopes. They even kinescoped the videotaped episodes.

It's weird that b&w copies of the last season survived, but not the color ones.

Of course, it started again almost immediately in syndication, and that version was in color. It didn't have John Daly, but it did have Arlene, and Bennett appeared in a couple of episodes at least. I think Steve Allen did, too. It didn't have the zing of the original, and Wally Bruner was a dull host (Larry Blyden took over and was much better). And sure enough, they had the obligatory episode where the mystery guest is Arlene's son.

The syndicated version had awful Soupy Sales and some B-level glamourpusses like Dina Merrill, Joanna Barnes, and Dana Valery.

Melba Moore was on occasionally and was very good.

The syndicated version also had the very BIG stigma of being shown in the afternoon, and 5 afternoons a week at that!. Total frau catnip. A completely different vibe from the original on Sunday eves with the men in tuxes and the ladies in glamorous gowns swooping in. There was really no comparison, Arlene or not.

R13- Bennett Cerf - was he a HOMOSEXUAL?

R93, you’re confusing Melba Tolliver, an occasional panelist & NYC news woman, & then-Broadway star Melba Moore, who WAS a mystery guest on the syndicated show, but not a panelist. I also don’t recall Dina Merrill, who was an occasional panelist on the original TTTT, as a panelist on the syndicated WML, although she, too, was a mystery guest on this version.

I'm Mystery Guest Brian Epstein. I can't believe those cunts guessed me!

If you were going to do an updated version of What's My Line and wanted to recapture some of the feel of the original show ...who would you cast for the panel? For the host?

I could imagine Martha Stewart, maybe someone like Willie Geist on the panel?

Ideas?

I'm the current copy of "Variety" that Bennett Cerf was known to read religiously, especially the pages that listed what celebrities were flying into New York from L.A. or London or elsewhere abroad. He also kept abreast of what celebs were in town doing publicity for new movies. So he had some idea of who might be appearing as Mystery Guest.

R98, the concept of “celebrity” is so diffuse now that the mystery guest part of the show - the real attraction - would be problematic. If Dancing with the Stars is any indication, I could see the celebrity being a minor reality “star.” And a big part of the original show relied on the then-stereotypical gender roles that no longer exist. There’s a reason why a reboot’s never gotten off the ground.

I'm John Daly trying to control my erection when a beautiful woman sits next to him.

I'm DL fave Leslie Uggams

Some people are cast members of shows on various streaming channels which are too numerous for almost anyone to keep up with. At the time of WML, there were CBS, NBS ABC and later PBS, with some local channels in bigger markets. Celebs would have to be reasonably famous for all the panel to have a chance. Some might even be mystified who they are after they took off their blindfolds, too.

the concept of “celebrity” is so diffuse now that the mystery guest part of the show - the real attraction - would be problematic. If Dancing with the Stars is any indication, I could see the celebrity being a minor reality “star.”

What's My Line isn't the same as Dancing With the Stars. The latter format requires a time commitment that really big stars can't make.

Weird and perhaps often refreshing about the original series was the Mystery Guest not having anything to plug, but just in town visiting. Sometimes they barely even talked after they were revealed......they just said their goodbyes and left.

I'm Miss Tab Hunter!

R105 Those were the ones probably that Bennett Cerf was all at sea about.

It was especially fun watching the panelists try to deal with guessing the identities of the new swoon-worthy teen idols like Tab, Fabian and Ricky Nelson.

And in the early1950s episodes the panelists could be extremely snobby about not guessing the identities of TV stars appearing as the Mystery Guest, saying they were never home in the evenings watching TV. I remember they were particularly rude to poor Gale Storm of My Little Margie and Oh, Susannah! fame.

Barbra Streisand appeared not once but TWICE as The Mystery Guest!

R104, it’s still the case that the number of celebrities with universal fame is nowhere what is once when there were just 2-3 major television networks (remember that ABC wasn’t a major player until the 1960s) & most movie stars were under contract by a few studios.

[quote]the concept of “celebrity” is so diffuse now that the mystery guest part of the show - the real attraction - would be problematic. If Dancing with the Stars is any indication, I could see the celebrity being a minor reality “star.” And a big part of the original show relied on the then-stereotypical gender roles that no longer exist. There’s a reason why a reboot’s never gotten off the ground.

If we are doing an imaginary version of an update, then the mystery guests would be Leo DiCaprio, Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie, Dwayne Johnson, Lady Gaga,...etc and etc. There are plenty.

And exactly what stereotypical gender roles were on display in the original version? Certainly the cat-calls would not happen today, but what else?

So many of the “lines” were then-unusual jobs/professions for men & women.

Yes, it would be hard to find any jobs that are shockingly funny now, even if performed by a little old lady.

R113 There are PLENTY of jobs out there today that are weird and wacky. Probably more today than then.

^Probably more today than today.

Ugh...sorry for the screw-ups. Rushing.

There are weird jobs but most people don't find them funny or shocking any more. Most people aren't shockable these days.

R117 No one was "shocked" at the jobs back then either. They were funny, curious.

Just as they are today.

I'm Estée Lauder, and all my products sold only in cheap pharmacies that I'll never let you forget about (along with Wally Cox either, of course)...!

A good modern panel:

Host: Anderson Cooper

Kal Penn

Rashida Jones

Joel McHale

Mayim Bialik

^ That would be fun

The nostalgic appeal of this show is largely with the older baby boomers. The universally known big-time stars in this group aren’t enough to comprise the ready supply of mystery celebrities you’d need to make a reboot successful.

Was Bennett the inspiration for Elmer Fudd? His voice was funnier than his cornball puns.

R93 Dina Merrill was both a panelist and a mystery guest on the original show. Her fame in that era came less from her acting than from her background of great wealth. She oozed money and class and fit perfectly the show's image.

Joanna Barnes, she of the ping pong game with Bunnie Bixler, wasn't rich herself but also gave off those classy vibes.

The truly awful Dorothy-wannabe was Suzy Knickerbocker, with a voice that would start dogs barking.

R124, Suzy's real name was Aileen Mehle and while not in Dorothy Kilgallen's league, her column was widely syndicated and popular. She died in 2016 at age 98.

I’m the simple folding table and chairs hidden behind the sheet of plywood that was painted by the art department with the name of our show and sponsor. That painted board is the height of sophistication for 1950s television.

The set was incredibly stark and simple compared to game shows today.

Oops . . .

Another view of the set.

I'm Bennet Cerf's pronunciation of Los Angels with a hard G.

Los Angeles****

I'm the studio acoustics, which made it impossible for a contestant to clearly hear a panelist sitting 15 feet away. I wasted vast amounts of airtime as questions were repeated.

[quote] If you were going to do an updated version of What's My Line and wanted to recapture some of the feel of the original show ...who would you cast for the panel? For the host?

You could never capture the feel of the original, since the panelists were actually erudite. Anyone who is bright would not be popular with the audience. The panel would all be "comedians" and the host would have to be black. There would be no charm to the show, merely cheap laughs, as the panelists try to outdo each other. Panelists:

1. Yvette Nicole Brown 2. Susie Essman 3. Anthony Jeselnik 4. Tracy Morgan

Host: David Allen Greer

^Grier

The show's big attraction was seeing famous people in their real-life personas, because that was rare at the time. Now, anyone who'd consider being a mystery guest would already have been well-exposed on the talk shows. No mystery about them.

I fear a rebooted WML would look more like the egregious, rebooted, TTTT.

Did Bennett, Arlene or John Daly ever buy into the alleged theory that Dorothy was "murdered"?

If they did, they were too smart to ever say so.

Because they might well have been persons of interest.

[quote] Of course, it started again almost immediately in syndication, and that version was in color. It didn't have John Daly, but it did have Arlene, and Bennett appeared in a couple of episodes at least. I think Steve Allen did, too.

I don't believe Steve Allen was ever a panelist on the syndicated version. At a time when he was hosting the awful syndicated version of IGaS. But he was a mystery guest.

He wasn't sporting it in '69, but when did Steve Allen start wearing that ridiculous toupee?

I'm the broadcast-quality video tape of the era. I was expensive and bulky, so usually erased and re-used. That's why you've only got kinescopes of WML.

R141, Around the same time wife Jayne Meadows began wearing those bargain basement wigs.

According to various newspaper articles, between 2,000 - 2,500 people showed up at Dorothy's funeral.

[quote] According to various newspaper articles, between 2,000 - 2,500 people showed up at Dorothy's funeral.

And in keeping with the WML theme. the celebrities among them came wearing masks.

It looks like Steverino could've kept his toupees under Jayne's wigs for safekeeping when they were not in use.

I believe there are 2 or 3 years worth of episodes from the early 1950s that have been lost. Not the first year (1950) or 2 (thank God!) but a bit later.

I loved the show as a child but loved I've Got a Secret even more because I crushed on panelists Betsy Palmer and Bess Myerson.

Now I find IGAS unwatchably boring and silly and adore WML especially because of the charms of Arlene and Dorothy.

[quote] Now I find IGAS unwatchably boring and silly and adore WML especially because of the charms of Arlene and Dorothy.

I would rank the three nighttime network shows today in this order of watchability: 1. TTTT, 2. IGaS, & 3. WML.

R148 Yea, as a child I was influenced by my parents and thought Dorothy unbearably snippy but now she seems adorably cute.

Yikes, R150. Never.

I’m the city & state of each contestant that, upon hearing, John Charles Daly would immediately repeat.

I'm Arlene's mask. The one specially designed so she could turn her head and peek out of me to catch a glimpse of a famous mystery guest who wasn't being identified. Her last-minute id of FLW was a classic.

I'm the panelist who is disqualifying himself tonight. I accidentally ran into the mystery guest backstage.

FLW?

I give up,

R155, Frank Lloyd Wright

I am a young and attractive female contestant who hopes John Daly is not going to want a "conference" with me.

I'm Phyllis Newman, wondering what I have to do to Mark Goodson to have him name me Dorothy's permanent replacement.

I am Sylvia Sidney, who will never be a mystery guest because I was the first Mrs. Bennett Cerf.

I am Phyllis and I was not going to spend the rest of my life as the Widow Cerf after Bennett died out on me. So I transformed myself into Mrs. Robert Wagner and had a grand old time, outliving Bennett by 35 years.

R102: I am also the audible, "Yeah!" as Miss Uggams , signs in.

I'm John Charles Daly and damnit as a reporter I broke two of the biggest news stories of the 1940s. It was I who told America Pearl Harbor was being bombed and they learned from me FDR died. And now to the very few who know my name it's only because of some lousy Goodson-Todman game show. They have put me on the same level as Jack Narz or Bert Convy.

I am Marilyn Maxwell, who angered the CBS censors and was never asked back as a MG because I responded "Last time I looked." to the question "Are you a girl?".

We are the black mystery guests Pearl Bailey, Leontyne Price, Bell Carter, Mahalia Jackson and Ella Fitzgerald. Watch how John Daly barely lets us get a word in edgewise after we have been identified by the panel. He asks us a question and completes the answer himself before we have even spoken three words. Does he think we are stupid, inarticulate, illiterate and incapable of carrying on a casual conversation in polite company?

*Eartha Kitt, not "Bell Carter". WTF did I type Bell Carter? ^

R162, Bert Convy was no John Charles Daly, but, as an accomplished Broadway star, he was also no Jack Narz.

I used to love the way Johnny Olsen would say "Jack Narz" when he guested on Match Game. I had no idea who Jack Narz was, but it was great.

Jack Narz was the older brother of Tom Kennedy.

Tom Kennedy was cute! I had a crush on him.

I wonder if r162 meant to type Bert Parks, not Bert Convy?

I'm Ernie Kovacs questioning mystery guest, industrialist Henry Kaiser.

I'm Groucho showing how to play this game

I'm Gore Vidal as always absolutely certain I'm absolutely right as I guess the mystery guest with great pride and confidence only to rip off my mask and find sitting across from me not Joanne Woodward but Barbra Streisand.

R171 I'm John Charles Daly trying desperately to keep the show going as Groucho destroys my genteel game with his irreverent and hilarious ad-libs. I haven't laughed so hard at a game show episode in my life.

I’m the unlikely nudist camp director.