I don't think the other members of the What's My Line panel liked Dorothy Kilgallen, Part 9

Previous thread.

Why doesn't anybody like me?

Shelley Berman panelist.

When did June Allyson turn into Rose Marie? All that's missing is the bow.

Johnnie Ray liked you, Dorothy. Doesn't that count?

June introduced her new off the forehead hairstyle in her TV series.

I have to laugh at Shelley's laughing at the rocking chair maker. It's fun when his hysterics infect Dorothy too.

It's hard to imagine that if Johnnie Ray wasn't gay....the woman he'd be having sex with was Dorothy Kilgallen.

I always imagined her as a kind of Mrs. Robinson, convincing Ray that she could "straighten" him out...

Well, r8, I know Johnnie was deaf but was he also blind?

Plus when he speaks in the episode at the end of the last thread, 10 purses fall out of his mouth.

R7 and R9 ... what are you saying? Bennett and the male guest of the week always raved about how beautiful the "girls" of the panel were. Surely they couldn't have been lying!?

Arlene is a handsome woman with a sexy, coquettish way about her - more attractive at 50 than she was at 30, which might account for some of her relentless flirting (making up for lost time, that is).

Dorothy is no beauty, but she's not repulsive, either. She probably mothered Johnnie and made him feel protected and loved - plus they were probably both drunk as skunks when he fathered Kerry.

If you read Ray's bio at Wikipedia, it seems he remained emotionally attached to her and was deeply upset by her death.

Were any of Dorothy's vacancies due to visits to a "spa" for her drinking?

A new thread has to include the posting of my favorite contestant - Toni West.

Toni at work.

last Shelley Berman as panelist.

Johnny Ray makes me feel ill. I can not imagine anybody finding him attractive. Absolutely the most confounding star I have ever seen

1959 June

That Branch Rickey has the personality of a door.

[quote] Over the next few weeks, Ms. McGee showed off her skills on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “The Mike Douglas Show.” She was also on the game show “What’s My Line?,” where the actress Arlene Francis correctly guessed what Ms. McGee was known for before the three other panelists had a chance to ask any questions.

Patti McGee's WML appearance.

Here's the whole show.

Liza was only on the show that one time.

June Allyson 1960.

Dorothy's anecdote to June is a backhanded compliment. That woman has a pretty dress and a wonderful figure. It's June Allyson?!

Torps flea circus

Dorothy stands for a nun at the start of her segment.

ooh they all stood for her exit.

Kind of sad to watch Judy Holliday in that MG moment at r15. She had just opened on Broadway in a HUGE flop musical called HOT SPOT in which she played a daffy Peace Corp worker (I think) in Africa Terrible reviews after tortuous out of town tryouts and creatives being fired left and right. IIRC there was finally no director even listed in the Broadway Playbill. It was written by Mary Rodgers (daughter of Richard) but it was no ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, Mary's previous show. Mary didn't have the nicest things to say about Judy in her bio.

The run probably didn't last much longer than that WML appearance. But she and JCD and the panel put on good faces and talked about the show as if it was a triumph. Of course, Judy's performance probably was triumphant in any case, her final Broadway show, I think. A brilliant career cut short if there ever was one.

Hot Spot musical

I wonder if the pretty blonde dental technician from West Point at r23 didn't get any whistles or catcalls on her entrance because her Private 1st Class uniform intimidated the wolves in the audience. She was certainly more attractive than most contestants.

Maybe they were put off by the mole on her face.

Judy Holliday is also in the episode with Toni West and I think tries to parody Toni's sexiness. Big mistake!

The space airman is kind of cute in this other Judy Holliday episode.

Dorothy and Arlene both stood for Norman Vincent Peale as he exited. Did he write How to Make Friends and Influence People? Was that the title?

Did Toni West go on to perform in show biz? She was quite adorable.

Lots of dick jokes later in the segment with the bell hop.

[quote]Dorothy and Arlene both stood for Norman Vincent Peale as he exited. Did he write How to Make Friends and Influence People? Was that the title?

No, dear. That was Dale Carnegie.

NVP's big thing was the power of positive thinking.

There was a stripper named Norma Vincent Peel.

R34, have you ever heard of the newfangled thing-a-ma-jig that all the kids use called [bold]GOOGLE[/bold]?

Hint hint.

Why google when I have my dear friends here to answer my queries?

Donald Farrell in space

Toni West ... was quite adorable.

Arlene gets in a few quips about her.

Everybody stood for the 78 year old bartender lady too.

Everyone stood for Eleanor Roosevelt. Was she also a 78-year-old bartender lady?

I hate it when the camera stays on John Charles Daly rather than showing us someone exiting via the panel. And I hope whoever decided to insert that Look magazine ad during the exit of Dr. Norman Vincent was FIRED.

Bobby Darin

Got some chuckles from the cow mattress salesman segment though his hair is weird.

Episode with football player Raymond Nitschke

I like the bobby pin salesman too.

The bobby pin salesman looked like a footballer player, too. Kinda hot!

I had to look up Vaughn Meader. A novelty performer of the JFK era.

Vaughn Meader's JFK impersonation and comedy albums were quite popular for a brief period, but his career came to a crashing halt on November 22, 1963.

Popular? It was the biggest selling album of its time.

Not to sully this thread with talk of the election, but I know I'm going to continue to watch episodes of "What's My Line?" and fondly remember when America really was a smart nation.

Like the reindeer raiser.

The reindeer raiser could have played Popeye without prosthetics.

Arlene never looked as pretty as she did in that episode. Very refreshed!

r44: the tugboat chef was so delightfully charming, and the cow mattress manufacturer was hilarious. And Alan King was so sexy.

The porpoise trainer is a big gun.

Dorothy stood for Bette Davis' exit.

Dame Bette!

Art Linkletter as Mystery Guest.

Art exited BEHIND the panel - first time I have seen someone do that.

Linkletter had been a guest panelist numerous times.

Art first time as Mystery Guest 1956.

He played with children!

R54, Arlene looks great. Those fluffy 1960s hairstyles were flattering on her, and she’s wearing a beautiful dress she wore for several seasons – black (?) velvet (?) with a long, flowing skirt and mink-trimmed bodice. It’s a timeless silhouette and the mink sets it off nicely.

Maybe it was the lights or something about her makeup, but her face looks completely unlined and relaxed in that episode, r64. Yes, and she always rocked a halter strapped dress.

Art first panelist.

Art panelist

Maurine

Why do we keep focusing on episodes featuring old dowdies like Art Linklater, Jack E Leonard and Shelley Berman when so much hot beefcake in its prime appeared on WML? Where are Sean Connery, Hugh O'Brian, Jim Garner, Vince Edwards, Richard Chamberlian, Rober t Wagner, Tab Hunter, et. al??

R69, perhaps people are trying to post episodes that haven't been posted before. All of the men you mention have already made appearances over these many threads. However, since you asked for beefcake, here is hot-as-a-firecracker Ben Gazzara as the MG on September 3, 1961. He was also on the panel a couple of times. (This has definitely been posted before, but what the hell. He's gorgeous.)

[quote]perhaps people are trying to post episodes that haven't been posted before. All of the men you mention have already made appearances over these many threads.

If it weren't for repetition, we wouldn't be up to Part 9 and counting. We can hardly expect posters to comb through eight previous threads to try to avoid repeats. That said, this thread was created two weeks ago, and the pace has slowed down, understandably.

The play Martin was in rehearsal with in R67.

Poor John Charles works like mad to get that senate page boy to relax but fails.

I swear one of those pig raisers is in drag. Despite the tight dresses, not one wolf whistle.

It's interesting to see that some of the curvaceous attractive women did NOT get wolf whistles. The shipboard operator didn't, and she was a Scandinavian blonde bombshell.

Also, the very stylish Black Lincoln Tunnel toll collector but I wonder if that was intimidation by the color of her skin.

The female lifeguard in R70 is pretty in a lebensborn way.

At first, I thought lebensborn might have been auto-correct for....well, you can guess what. But googled it and the lifeguard indeed was of the Lebensborn persuasion.

Art panelist

The running joke with Art is that he never does very well with the game guessing and he always looks so hurt when he gets a no.

Genevieve was very charming at r78. Did anyone in America ever figure out what she did other speak in a funny French accent? Whatever became of her?

Same episode, I couldn't figure out why JCD was, at least initially, so insistent that roller skates were not worn. Also thought it strange that he and the contestant said that men's and women's versions of the product looked the same. As a child in 1961, I remember women's skates were always white or beige and men's were black or brown.

Wiki on Genevieve.

She was an Edith Piaf type.

Her stepdaughter (Ted Mills' daughter), Alley Mills, starred in the TV series Wonder Years and was married to Orson Bean.

That’s making a full circle on the panel game show routine.

Genevieve had quite a luscious and powerful voice, as heard in r82. I'm sad her career didn't last longer. I had only thought of her as one of those personalities Jack Paar would have on constantly, just to chat and amuse.

Art panelist

Darren McGavin panelist.

Sam Yorty

Previous appearance of Mr. Singh.

Sam Yorty could not even properly pronounce the name of the city he governed. A hick.

The anesthetic doctor in R85 must have been under the gas when she did her hair for the show.

Darren McGavin is hot at R86. There was almost a glut of sexy men men in that late '50-early '60s era. I wish they could send some our way!

I love Dorothy's dress. McGavin is right - it's a dress made for doing the Twist, and I'll bet Dorothy was a champ.

Since this multi-volume thread has come to encompass the entirety of the Goodson-Todman oeuvre, the death of distinguished journalist of Jim Hoagland has a connection to the Goodson-Todman family. Hoagland's widow, Jane Stanton Hitchcock. is the daughter of Joan Alexander, a regular on The Name's the Same, an early '50s game show.

The Name's the Same.

the play Darren McGavin was in at the time of R86

I worked with Darren McGavin around 1990. By then he was just a gruff old man. Crotchety.

I'd had a daddy crush on him as a wee gayling from, I think, a TV series called River Boat.

R88 shows us there was a WML board game!

Of course there was, r96. Although it doesn't appear to be a board game.

Riverboat

OMG, Darren McGavin, Burt Reynolds and Aldo Ray all in one episode of Riverboat? How did Barbara Bel Geddes bear it??

Art panelist

Art finally guessed one right!

Like Fred in earlier years, Art hogs too much time for himself.

Art panelist

Poor Jackie Mayer… as a young wife she suffered a massive stroke and had to re-learn how to walk and talk.

Art hogs too much time for himself.

I think when someone is used to having their own TV show it's hard for them to be in an ensemble. Groucho was another one guilty of same.

[quote]OMG, Darren McGavin, Burt Reynolds and Aldo Ray all in one episode of Riverboat? How did Barbara Bel Geddes bear it??

Gallons of lube.

Zanuck may have been a brilliant businessman, but he had the personality of a brick. I saw an interview with Celeste Holm where she said the same thing.

Arlene was a bit tipsy in R103.

I can't remember the panel ever coming off as dim and clueless as they did at r103, led by Art Linklater, skirting around all the obvious clues to the first 2 contestants to little avail. Perhaps Arlene was a bit tipsy as even she didn't think she could be correct when she stumbled onto the female jockey.

They were finally somewhat redeemed by Bennett's correct guess at Miss America but, as we've discussed in many DL threads over the years, back then, becoming Miss America was practically akin to winning the Presidential election (for a woman, anyway). And she'd only been elected a couple of weeks prior to her WML appearance.

A somewhat painful episode to watch.

Mayer seemed like a very nice person. She graduated from Northwestern, so she was no dummy. She had her stroke after a Thanksgiving dinner, which would probably wreck anyone's cardio vascular health.

[quote]Art Linklater

LINKLETTER

DIANE

Art panelist 1963

John Charles mentions to Carol Lawrence they had her husband on recently.

r114 is the infamous episode in which Dorothy appears to have a mini-stroke as she attempts to introduce Bennett. Or perhaps she was trying very hard to stifle a sneeze. Or a yawn.

Also, fun seeing all those brilliant Englishmen Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Joanathan Miller and Alan Bennett when they were just the very beginning of their careers. Arlene raved so very highly of their newly opened Broadway show Beyond the Fringe, it really made me regret I never saw it. I wonder if the humor would still hold up.

Have a look

Bennett gives Dorothy a dirty look in the Mystery Guest segment when she asks two questions.

And Art LinkLETTER continues to annoy me with his obnoxious questioning......

Can't locate the Robert Goulet 1964 episode but here is his 1965.

C. Charles Nash.

Robert Goulet, Robert Goulet, my God, Robert Goulet!

Grouch was the worst panelist. I hated him. He could tone it down for a whole 22 minutes of filming?

Groucho was a funny man but had a huge inferiority complex because of his lack of education. So he had to be the smartest one in the room. This could be exhausting to witness.

Groucho is among the few, if not only, comic(s) from his generation I find funny.

[quote]Grouch was the worst panelist.

The dwarf? His name was Grumpy.

No comments on the mega-hunky sewer cleaner at r120?? I wish we could have seen him in a less baggy suit.

What is about Robert Goulet that he looks vastly more handsome at r119 than he did in his earlier appearance? Is it just the tan?

R126 - Arlene quips We must go into more sewers, Dorothy.

Arlene is funny with the cow manicurist.

1955 Rosemary Clooney.

Mrs. Strom at r130, the creator of "Brenda Starr" was delightful! She could easily have been a Goodson/Todman panelist herself.

I wondered if maybe Dorothy was pregnant during that episode and it's why the panelists didn't enter? Or were they never entering back in 1954?

I didn't know Dale Wessick was a pseudonym.

[quote]On April 24, 1955, she appeared on What's My Line? After Dorothy Kilgallen correctly identified her as a comic strip artist, the panel was given a full description of her real name, professional name and job as "illustrator" of Brenda Starr, Reporter.

[quote]On May 5, 1960, Messick appeared as a contestant on To Tell the Truth. None of the panelists correctly identified her.

[quote] She said in a 1986 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "I used to get letters from girl reporters saying that their lives were nowhere near as exciting as Brenda's. I told them that if I made Brenda's life like theirs, nobody would read it."

Dale Wessick was Mrs. Strom's maiden name, not quite a pseudonym.

Oops, sorry, I misspoke. Dale Wessick was indeed Mrs. Strom's pseudonym as she changed her first from Dalia to Dale to disguise the fact that she was a woman. There was something of a prejudice against women comic strips artists when she began.

Thank you to r133, who so generously provided the wiki with that info, which I should have read before posting.

Well,, r134, it was half a pseudonym that was meant to deceive.

Arlene had some bumbling with the tax collector at R29. See from 6.20.

[quote]I wondered if maybe Dorothy was pregnant during that episode and it's why the panelists didn't enter? Or were they never entering back in 1954?

The "parade of panelists" started sometime in '55 or '56 (I'm sure someone here will know exactly when), but after the April '55 episode at R130. Dorothy's last pregnancy was in '54. She gave birth to her son Kerry on March 19, 1954.

Around this time in early 1955 they eliminated the awkward walk of the contestants past the panelists - where it was never clear who would shake hands and who wouldn't - and the stupid, waste-of-time random guesses. All three changes were major improvements, which is presumably why they lasted until the end of the series.

[quote] I didn't know Dale Wessick was a pseudonym.

I thought she was a Protestant.

Here's November 1955 and they still are seated at the opening of the show.

No one ever expected or considered themselves worthy to expect Groucho Marx to be part of an "ensemble."

Starting with his brothers, about whom the same can be said.

Such low-end "reviewers" here, among so many great ones!

R140 has the appearance of the small conference paddle!

December 1955 and the panelist ENTER!

Interesting that both Arlene and Dorothy are without their white gloves there at r143. Dorothy continued to wear hers for her entrances well into the 1960s.

They entered the week before too.

First show for entrances appears to be November 27, 1955.

Re R67 - who knew Tallulah was so nice?

Tallulah again.

Sad now to think what a big deal the Macy's-Gimbel's rivalry was. Everybody around the country knew about it, and many other cities had their own mini-version with competing department stores. There was something exciting about a big department store that shopping online or at Costco will never equal.

Also, re the IRS Commissioner: The top Federal income tax rate in 1955 was 91%. Anyone earning enough to be in the top bracket likely had various loopholes and dodges to reduce what they owed (there were even more back then than there are now), but still ... damn. 91%.

^^^Oops! R149 refers to the show at R143.

How nice for Martin to compliment Dorothy's power of analysis in R148.

R149 The chief chemist at Clairol also referenced does Macy's tell Gimbels. That was quite an interesting episode including two male models.

Watching a BuzzR TV overnight 1974 episode of TTTT from last night, one of the imposters was future actor Timothy Patrick Murphy, then a high school sophomore, who died of AIDS in 1988. His fellow imposter, another then-high school sophomore, was the future record producer Shep Pettibone.

Re R148 and the dresses of Arlene and Dorothy. Maybe because it's summer or the 1960s but the fabrics seem less formal.

Bennett was outspoken and highly dismissive of rock and roll stars, women's sacque dresses, Biblical epics and Henry Morgan.

Yet, R155, both Bennett & Henry aligned on their utter distaste of rock & roll.

....and Waiting for Godot.

Part 9 is drying up—

Two frumps and Green Acres.

Ben-Gay lotion penetrates.

Gay penetration has always worked for me!

Watching BuzzR TV overnight of an another 1974 episode of TTTT from last night, there was a principal, Kenny "Claude" Sacha, a female impersonator of Barbra Streisand & Bette Midler, who, too, would succumb to AIDS (in 1992).

More about Kenny "Claude" Sacha.

That was the only time Eddie Albert was on the show.

What took him so long?

His wife Margo was never on the show.

Name two Margo movies, r166.

The Leopard Man

Behind the Rising Sun.

[quote]His wife Margo was never on the show.

She was too busy helping her father behind the notions counter.

My favorite Margo movie was the original Frank Capra Lost Horizon.

Eddie and Eva at r159 are so sweet! How lovely for them to have such a late in career success with Green Acres.

JCD looks like death warmed over. He really aged rapidly in the mid-60s. Was 1966 the final year for WML's original run?

Suzy Knickerbocker always seemed so benign for a gossip columnist. Was she of a kinder breed than Dorothy, Hedda and Louella?

the end of its network run on September 3, 1967.

Suzy Knickers aka Aileen.

The *legendary* Aileen Mehle...

Was Suzy famous for ever breaking any scandals or stories?

Watching BuzzR TV's overnight 1974 TTTT episodes, I make it a point to see if I can learn what happened to the identifiable contestants. In just the last couple of weeks, two of the principals died very young. A 10-year old trapeze artist died at 16 in 1980 from a fall during a practice session, & an author of a book about plants also died in 1980, from cancer at the age of 34.

Suzy/Aileen New York Times obit

I remember Suzy's son once appeared as a special mystery guest. He was in the armed services, in uniform, and looked nothing like you might expect her son to look.

I'll leave it at that.

Her son was quit successful in his own right.

quite*

The son died just last month^

Suzy as panelist 1

Suzy as panelist 3.

Suzy was a very sharp player. I wonder if she would have become a permanent panelist had the show lasted longer.

I know R184 is a repeat with the handsome John T. Pennel.

Suzy as panelist 4

Larry Blyden was so cute ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[quote] [R114] is the infamous episode in which Dorothy appears to have a mini-stroke as she attempts to introduce Bennett. Or perhaps she was trying very hard to stifle a sneeze.

R115 The first time I saw that, I thought she was reacting either to the copious amount of “greasy kid stuff” in Buddy Hackett’s hair and/or the cologne he might have slathered on because he schvitzed so much that he wanted to cover the odor for the classy ladies he was sitting between!

[quote] I remember Suzy's son once appeared as a special mystery guest. He was in the armed services, in uniform, and looked nothing like you might expect her son to look.

R179 If I recall correctly, her son Roger had come home early from the service, unbeknownst to her. When she realized it might be him, she screamed out “Roger?” almost in disbelief.

I enjoyed Suzy’s visits on the panel. I thought she was camp and didn’t take herself and the game as seriously as Dorothy did.

R190

I see the lovely and talented Arlene Dahl was the mystery guest, and she mentioned she was appearing as Margo Channing in Applause. A little research revealed that the show had been recorded with Bacall for television but might not be available today. Any ideas where I can see this?

It's on YouTube, R192.

Tragique!

New for 1972, by Coty.

Arlene Dahl.

The beefy Ferry Boat Captain is sexy.

Anne Baxter in Applause

Arelene with Fernando.

I think the Professional Pickpocket and the Ferry Boat Captain would both be very welcome on our Fit-Fat Thread.

Arlene Dahl always had a beautiful face but a rather matronly figure.

There must have been a nicer way to describe the fat men's clothing store owner.

In R195 either the tape jumps or Arlene exits abruptly after she is guessed.

Arlene 1959.

Arlene “the living” Dahl.

r202 has the deliciously catty remarks between Dorothy and Arlene (Dahl). Dorothy just keeps digging deeper and deeper. Arlene won't hear of it.

*2* REDHEADS *2*

Charlie Conerly was handsome.

What episode is Charlie Conerly on? I thought I'd watched all the recent links but don't remember seeing him.

Never mind. I see him at r202. I had only watched the MG part of the show with Ms Dahl.

His wife is the first contestant in R202 as the newspaper columnist and then he appears at the end of her spot.

Fernando Lamas wasn't classically handsome but he OOZED sex appeal.

And once again, they put the most fun guest in 4th place and left little time for the panelists to have fun with her. I'm talking about r198. Bennett was really such a letch. He never would have survived the 21st century.

Arlene Francis has a great laugh when Fred quips Fernando appears to be a silent star.

R204 I don't get the sense that Arlene Dahl is being catty. But she certainly arrives with an attitude. See how she reacts against JCD when he wants to have a conference.

Poor Dorothy was only trying to throw Arlene Dahl a compliment about her silly sci-fi movie but when she foolishly gushed that Arlene would surely be Oscar-nominated for Journey to the Center of the Earth, Arlene was rather ungracious.

Was Arlene Dahl pissed that Dorothy guessed Rhonda Fleming by mistake? Is that why Arlene said I thought you saw the movie?!

My mistake. she said Maureen O'Hara.

David Niven's first appearance on the show as the MG seems to be not available. His first appearance on the panel was in 1956.

Bennett references Ben Grauer, a person I am not familiar with.

First contestant Charlie Robertson.

I loved the vivacious comedy writer lady at r216. I wish they'd had more time with her, she certainly was more interesting than the Reno card dealer.

What are the years of the missing WML episodes? 1951 & 1952?

Had to look up Jo Stafford's early days on film.

Jo had perfect pitch and impeccable musical taste.

There are some 1952 episodes on YouTube but not the David Niven as MG one.

David Niven as panelist again 1956.

Barbara Hammer became Barbara Avedon.

[quote] Jo [Stafford] had perfect pitch and impeccable musical taste.

R222 All the more reason why her alter ego, Darlene Edwards, who sang perfectly out of tune and with terrible musical style, was so funny.

[quote] Fernando Lamas wasn't classically handsome but he OOZED sex appeal.

R210 Lamas was also funny. During an interview on the Johnny Carson show, he was intimating about canoodling with some Hollywood starlets, and when Johnny asked how he handled that sort of thing with his wife Esther Williams, Lamas shouted, “Deny, deny, deny!” Carson, being a great straight man for comics, began to ask Lamas other questions about his questionable behavior, to which Lamas kept answering, “Deny, deny, deny!” The audience roared with laughter each time.

[quote] Bennett was really such a letch. He never would have survived the 21st century.

Why? It hasn’t hurt Trump.

r225, how did you make the connection between the two Barbaras? Unless I'm missing something (perfectly likely!), IMDb doesn't seem to list her former 1950s credits with her original name.

Yes her early credits are as Barbara Hammer on the IMDb from 1954 to 1962. Also her WML appearance is in her Self listing.

The girls stand for the Bishop's exit.

Well, if they stood for a lowly nun, they'd certainly stand for a celebrity Bishop.

Barbara Hammer Avedon co-founded "Another Mother for Peace" during the Vietnam War, with Donna Reed and soap actress Norma Connolly.

David Niven panelist 1958

Paul Butler

Meade Alcorn

The previous week of R233 and the other hula hoop maker.

If you were old enough in 1958, you'd remember the phenomena of the Hula-Hoop. Can you imagine the profit they made with an utterly simple product that probably costs less then 50 cents to manufacture? I had 3 of them and was able to keep them all revolving around my waist at the same time.

R237 We were easily entertained in those days. Remember the Slinky?

Silly Putty

John Payne says he owns six.

Play-Doh

Winky-Dink

Pick Up Stix

Candy Land

Mr. Potato Head (the closest I could get to a Barbie)

ed Sullivan putting on that mask is really bizarre.

Very off-putting, r242!

[quote]r241 = Mr. Potato Head (the closest I could get to a Barbie)

At least I had a Cooky Cucumber!

David Niven 1958 #2

I think we have seen the girls school nightwatchman before but he is cute.

David Niven 1959.

These last couple of posts announcing David Niven as a panelist have allowed me to shut my eyes when the MG comes out and try to guess along with the panel. Great fun, and I couldn't identify Paull Newman any better than the panel could. He looked quite delicious!

Last David Niven as panelist 1960

John Payne as MG in 1951 seems to be lost. His second appearance as panelist was in 1959. First was the above with Ed Sullivan.

Dorothy stands for Hedda Hopper but Arlene does not!

I think that was just a bitchy gossip columnist to bitchy gossip columnist kind of thing.

Hedda got a big welcome from the audience. How knew she was so popular?

I thought the same about Roy Rogers, r253. Knew he was wildly popular with kids in the 1950s but surprised that the WML studio audience would go so nuts.

I have to wonder how they sneaked in the MGuests so that the panelists could not see them before the show. Roy says he watched the show backstage before going on.

[quote]Knew he was wildly popular with kids in the 1950s

He was a B-movie star, r254, having made his first movie in 1935.

[quote]How knew she was so popular?

Hedda wielded a lot of power, r253, because she was *widely* read.

last of John Payne as panelist 1961.

On the evening of March 1, 1961, when Payne was 48, he suffered extensive, life-threatening injuries when struck by a car when he was crossing Madison Avenue in New York City. It had been raining, and the driver, future billionaire hedge fund manager Bernard Selz, claimed he had not seen Payne. Payne was tossed into the air, and came down face first into the car's windshield, which then shattered, causing extensive facial lacerations, including damaging both his eyes. His left leg was broken in five places, and he suffered a skull fracture.

Payne was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where he had facial surgery. He was in a hip cast for five-and-a-half months. He claimed his full recovery was due to doctors telling him that a patient's attitude is important, and he always remained optimistic.

One of Payne's first public appearances during this period was as a guest panelist on What's My Line? In the December 3, 1961, episode, regular panelist Dorothy Kilgallen introduced Payne by saying, "He's been in the hospital after a very bad accident. So it's good to see him fit as a fiddle and all in one piece." Regular panelist Bennett Cerf remarked, "Good to see you here, John. Glad to see you beat that car on Madison Avenue that bumped into you.

Repeat post….we know all about over multiple threads.

Janet Leigh talks about just getting back from Argentina where she'd been visiting Tony Curtis on the Taras Bulba set. Isn't that where Tony met his next wife Christine Kaufmann? Perhaps Janet should have stayed.....

[quote]Repeat post….we know all about over multiple threads.

These threads don't require a hall monitor.

Then don’t monitor.

First Janet Leigh

The girdle tester's Long Island accent is strong.

And the Viennese boiler factory gal looked just like Hedy Lamarr, also from Vienna. I was surprised none of them commented on that resemblance.

Girdles and cows seemed to be the most popular themes over the years.

R266 i observed that too.

Janet Leigh as panelist.

And another girdle contestant at r269. If you want to titillate your audience just mention the word girdle, I guess.

I have to laugh at how the girdle model asks if Janet remembers seeing her at the train station.

[quote]Janet Leigh as panelist.

I watched part of My Sister Eileen the other night. She walks out in her pajama top and it was like "Movie Star legs!".

Tony Curtis must have been the quickest MG they ever had.

Bill Talbert

The tennis threadz know who he is—very well-regarded. He ran the US Open for several years.

Bill Talbert is surely forgotten today except maybe by the most rabid of elder tennis fans. I can't remember ever hearing his name and I'm 75.

I didn't really get why JCD didn't allow Tony Curtis to participate in the game. It didn't seem like any of the panel knew he was there, did it?

I thought it strange Tony didn't kiss Janet for his exit.

Didn't he kiss her hand?

Maybe he knew better than to spoil her makeup.

And that was Tony's only appearance on the show!

R276 is deaf.

Janet Leigh as MG in 1960.

Ralph Houk.

Those male body suit models were something to see. (On the Marty Ingels episode.)

Marty in 1964

Girdles and cows seemed to be the most popular themes over the years.

Here's another one in R283. The second contestant who makes cow back scratchers.

Girdles and cows form the foundation of America, r287.

Dorothy stood for the exit of the 77-year-old chiropractor, but Arlene did not.

Martin Gabel's first show.

Starting the overnight hours of Tuesday (12/17) morning, GSN will be continuing its (probably contract-related) practice of showing network/syndicated episodes of WML for the remainder of the year (Tuesday-Saturday for these last two weeks). This year, they're coupling WML with IGaS. Often, these shows are used as tributes to panelists, mystery & celebrity guests who have died in the last year.

I watch on Buzzr since I don't get GSN

I've been watching some of the syndicated episodes on Buzzr. I had forgotten how incredibly annoying Soupy Sales could be. Arlene is really the only reason to watch these shows.

Not even Arlene can save the dreadful syndicated series. The syndicated TTTT is infinitely better.

The syndicated TTTT respected and trusted the original show. The syndicated "What's My Line?" did not. I saw one WML episode recently that seemed to use up half the air time with boring, pointless demonstrations based on contestants' occupations.

WML wanted to do the exhibitions during the network run, but John Daly wisely put his foot down, saying the show would have to get another host if that's where it was going.

[quote] The syndicated TTTT respected and trusted the original show.

And it didn't hurt that it had Garry Moore as its host.

When are they going to bring back "Beat the Clock"?

Was that the Truth, or just a Consequence?

[quote] The syndicated TTTT respected and trusted the original show.

Something that the Anthony Anderson-hosted network version did not. What an abomination.

Do we like the Italian gondolier?

I knew r301 must have been from 1956 because of Jayne Meadows' outrageous tiara which was a brief fad among well-bred ladies in imitation of Princess Grace Kelly who married that year. In spite of Arlene's rather uncharacteristic jibes about it, I think she donned one herself in a later episode that year.

The gondolier was passably cute. I loved the way he seemed to be nesting his back against JCD as the questioning continued.

Passably cute, perhaps, but he had a big-dick swagger that made him quite attractive. You just know he liked to fuck...

lots of laughs from the diaper salesman.

June Finlayson gets crowned.

Then-registered nurse Melba Tolliver, an occasional panelist on the syndicated WML as a then-NYC tv newswoman, was an imposter in the first game of this Sept. 1963 episode of TTTT, sponsored by Winston cigarette. The other imposter, Lauren Hutton, "a bunny at the New York Playboy Club, achieved an even greater future celebrity. As a footnote, the principal, singer Lulu Porter, was the wife of designer Bob Mackie from 1960-63. As an example a more insular era, "all-time football great Otto Graham," the principal in the second game, was unrecognized by the panel.

R305 has another stockbroker and the men commenting on the female contestant's looks.

But were any cows girdled, r308?

It was such a different mindset back then when men like Bennett Cerf could ogle the "girls" as he called them and thought he was doing them a favor by praising their looks.

[quote]r307 = As a footnote, the principal, singer Lulu Porter, was the wife of designer Bob Mackie from 1960-63.

Say WHAT???

It was a surprise to me, too, R311.

The Army Truck Driver is kind of hot.

but they misspelled Ann Sothern's name!

Ann Sothern 1965

Gee, writing a song seems so...easy.

Bennett describes Minnesota Fats as expansive.

Yeah, mid century America was pretty overt in calling out fat people. I just watched one recent game show if the era when a plump woman was called “jolly.”

The Store Window Dummy Maker Lady seems rather eccentric. I guess she is artistic.

Ann Sothern has her own expansion and jolliness going on.

The Army tank test driver was indeed hot. I always look at these contestants and try to imagine what they'd look like with today's grooming and fashions. I really wondered that about the lady private eye. She was a lady, right?

Ann Sothern was so charming. Though it was mentioned that she was starring then in her own TV series, and I believe Private Secretary was a big hit, they never mentioned the title or any specifics. I think it was on the same network as WML, CBS. Curious!

Loved the mannequin maker! They didn't come close to guessing. Because of her look I would surely have asked if her product was "artistic."

[quote]Ann Sothern was so charming. Though it was mentioned that she was starring then in her own TV series, and I believe Private Secretary was a big hit, they never mentioned the title or any specifics. I think it was on the same network as WML, CBS. Curious!

The series that Ann Sothern would have been doing in 1965 was "My Mother the Car," for which she provided the voice of the car. She also made several appearances on "The Lucy Show" in 1965 as Rosie Harrington, a.k.a. the Countess Frambroise, in what at the time appeared to be a test run for her to replace Vivian Vance. I don't think the idea of being a second banana really appealed to her. On WML, she also mentioned having done a movie. I thought it might have been her supporting role in Olivia de Havilland's "Ladty in a Cage," but that was a 1964 release.

Sal Mineo.

Ann Sothern also mentions being in the film Sylvia.

"Lady in a Cage."

Bette Ford the bullfighter.

I really wondered that about the lady private eye. She was a lady, right?

Yes she had a tranny look. And I had to laugh when JCD had to avoid her hat when they had a small conference.

r323, yes, but the appearance to which I referred, and you quoted was Ann's in 1953. Private Secretary was her current hit, and it was odd that the title of the show and its time slot was never mentioned. Though we do see that lack of PR often on WML, as though it might be vulgar to be promoting another project.

“Though we do see that lack of PR often on WML, as though it might be vulgar to be promoting another project.”

Nonsense. Most mystery guests were there for the very purpose of some gig in NY.

R329, I apologize for the confusion, but in her 1965 appearance, Ann Sothern also referenced an unnamed TV show and a movie.

[quote]The series that Ann Sothern would have been doing in 1965 was "My Mother the Car," for which she provided the voice of the car.

And MMTC was an NBC show.

But Private Secretary was part of the CBS line-up with I Love Lucy. Still, no mention of the show in the 1953 clip.

Sal Mineo sings, badly.

I had to laugh when one of the cameramen contestants is seen going back behind the camera.

I thought the gorilla babysitter was very cute at r335. Hard to imagine he'd be in his 80s today if he's alive at all.

Lew Hoad handsome tennis player

Odd with the beauteous cheesecake photographer that JCD only referred to her a s a photographer as if cheesecake was a distasteful phrase.

The Ball Bondsman Lady looks like Salome Jens.

Was there ever a worse panelist on TTTT than Ann Meara?

Bunny Yeager

[quote]Was there ever a worse panelist on TTTT than Ann Meara?

Was she as bad as Wally Cox was on "What's My Line"?

“Are you a he-man hero type?”

"Do you get the girl in the end?"

^ I think Sal Mineo got the double meaning of that.

Clearly, r345.

Sal Mineo could get me in the end anytime he wanted...

Hedy Lamarr on the panel.

Bennett makes a perv comment about the female hypnotist and Martin calls him such a humanitarian!

That's HEDLEY, R348!

The Norwegian whaler was handsome.

Pat Boone had prettier skin than Hedy Lamarr!

For all of its attention to whether female contestants were a Miss or a Missus, it’s interesting that Dorothy & Arlene are identified as Miss Kilgallen & Miss Francis, respectively.

Keeping with tradition of highlighting celebrities who died during the year, GSN’s end of the year inclusion of WML in its (overnight) schedule featured a 1962 episode with Bob Newhart as the MG.

In spite of inventing Wi-Fi, Hedy wasn't really all that bright, was she?

You could tell Dorothy really dressed in anticipation of Hedy Lamarr's guest panelist appearance. Can't remember her often wearing tight straight skirts and such a glittery low-cut bodice. Not to be outshone!

[quote]For all of its attention to whether female contestants were a Miss or a Missus, it’s interesting that Dorothy & Arlene are identified as Miss Kilgallen & Miss Francis, respectively.

Kilgallen and Francis were there professional names. "Mrs." would have been incorrect, and not to use their professional names would have been even stranger.

Hedy as Mystery Guest

The dog beauty salon runner is dressed outrageously!

Watching a 1962 episode in which JCD says he then weighed 168.5 lbs. He wasn’t in much shape so his low weight just shows how much thinner we were 60+ years ago.

Robert Mirabello

The show he was on

If I was a contestant on the original WML, that fact would be included in my obituary.

^^^ Because you've done nothing else of note with your life, R363?

Like most people, R364, I lead a life of quiet desperation.

Do we like the head rowing coach?

I've always wanted to be a head coach...

[quote]r363 = If I was a contestant on the original WML, that fact would be included in my obituary.

Naturally my appearance on $10,000 Pyramid will be included in mine, including mentions of Dick Clark, Lois Nettleton and Richard Moll.

I became friends in the latter part of her life with an accomplished woman who had been a longtime judge who also ran for higher office, & the part of her bio that most piqued by interest was that she had been a contestant on the network WML. She was my six degrees connection to Arlene, Dorothy, Bennett & John.

Shocking to think that a woman judge could have once been a novel profession.

She wasn’t even technically a judge, R370, when a contestant.

I always wondered why Dorothy's two older children didn't take in their younger brother when their father threw him out of the house at age 14 after Dorothy died because he wasn't his bio son.

The two older ones would have been in their mid/late 20s.

The dog catcher in R366 is wearing a flapper dress.

Dana Wynter was so lovely if not the quickest guest panelist.

I'd bet that most people living today have never heard of her. I remember her vaguely from a movie that was shown on TV a lot when I was a kid, I think it was called Something of Value, and it took place in Africa (maybe South Africa?) or Australia and dealt with race relations.

I'd also wager most people have also never heard of Gracie Fields, or like me, know her name but really couldn't tell you anything much about her.

And I'm 75, one year younger than the elderly lady contestant at the beginning of r366 who wanted to announce her age. I thought for sure she was going to say 100 but was only one year older than me. Yikes, people aged so rapidly back then!

R374, I’ve noticed that people as young as in their 70s were treated like exotic figures back in the day, inspiring such awe.

Dana Wynter is best known to me as the girl in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. She was also one of the wives of Hollywood stud Greg Bautzer.

Wynter was sort of in the same league as Barbara Rush--a few good co-starring roles, but lacked the distinctive charisma to be a major star. Went on to work regularly in guest roles in television.

And for those don't know, she pronounced Dana like Donna. And Wynter like.....winter.

R372 - I expect they didn't take their younger brother in out of fear of displeasing their father and getting cut out of his will.

Weren't Dorothy's older kids in college at the time of her death? How could they have taken the youngest one in?

Fred Astaire is very sweet.

In this 1956 Person to Person interview with Dorothy and her family at her home she says her son was 14, daughter 12 and baby Kerry 22 months. So when Kerry was 14, her brother would have been approx 26 and his sister approx 24 and so probably both out of college. Cruel no one took the kid in even if only temporarily.

I suspect r379 who said the siblings probably didn't take him in so the father wouldn't cut them out of his Will is probably correct.

[quote]The dog catcher in [R366] is wearing a flapper dress.

She's wearing a popular '50s style, r373.

The WML contestant even wears a long strand of pearls to go with her faux flapper low-waisted dress. I remember these styles from my childhood. My mother was a teenager in the 1920s and loved their comeback.

Is her hair ribbon another 1920s look?

Stop with the 20s. It was the 50s. She wore a dress of the 50s.

It was definitely a dress of the 50s, the crisp fabric was typical of the era, but the silhouette was hearkening back to the 20s, to appeal to middle aged women who remembered it fondly.

The contestant's hairstyle OTOH was definitely of the 1950s, reminding me of the iconic look Schultzy, played by Ann B. Davis, sported on Love That Bob! (The Bob Cummings Show) as Bob's Girl Friday.

Thanks Lucille-Myrtle

Wonder if the hair style of the Uniformed Doorman in R381 was inspired by Jean Seberg's pixie cut in Saint Joan.

The uniformed doorman was extremely vivacious! Surely a would-be actress or comedienne.

I assumed the teacher of horse players was teaching couples how to perform in a horse costume. Silly me!

Charles Boyer, Raymond Berry football player.

Goodness, that was one of the most boring games in the history of WML ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^!

Dorothy was on fire guessing the lady men's barber.

Raymond Berry was the epitome of nerd hot.

You could sense the great physique under his nerdy sack suit, r394.

He was aged 25 on the show.

Notable hair ribbons of the French secretary to Duchess of Windsor.

Arlene in love with the incredibly hot symphony conductor.

Thomas Schippers was GORGEOUS! Was he gay? Was he a protege of Lenny Bernstein by any chance?

Do you think Arlene and Dorothy preferred to sit at the first seat or in third position? I wonder which was preferable.

When Dorothy told the audience that she was thrilled to have America's latest best-selling author on her left, I didn't expect Pat Boone. He sure was a cutie, a great alternative to Elvis Presley.

Bennett always liked to show off and show his (supposed) knowledge of a contestant's hometown but it rarely got him anywhere, as with the Norman, OK chicken plucker.

According to his Wikipedia page, Thomas Schippers, although married to an heiress, was reputed to be gay & have had a relationship with Leonard Bernstein. He died of lung cancer in Dec. 1977 at the age of 47.

Arlene in love with the incredibly hot symphony conductor.

I have to laugh when JCD has a long small conference and she says Alright John. That's for us!

The Flea Powder maker looks a bit like a Kennedy.

A teeny, tiny bit…

Schippers’s NYT obituary described him as “6 foot 3 inches tall and handsome as a Hollywood leading man.”

He was hot. He seems to have realized it but not given it a lot of importance. I hate hot people who deny it instead of just saying thank you to a compliment. LOL Dorothy: a great waste of attractiveness.

Have to wonder if Schippers' lung cancer was from Lenny's secondhand smoke.

The conductor episode, is the state of Florida on the score cards?

The conductor and his wife. No matter what the relationship might have been they were a beautiful couple.

Jack Lemmon was a great guest panelist. I'm surprised he was doing the show at this point in his career. I've always liked him. He's one of those people that are better looking than he is.

Jack.

Jack Lemmon played the perfect version of post-war existentialism over and over again. My father died in 1996:; I see a bit of my dad in almost every Lemmon performance —eerie that he captured the enigma of the American man so well across so many movies.

At his young death, Schippers was the conductor laureate of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

He's one of those people that are better looking than he is.

Huh?

Arlene was referencing his photo from a recent newspaper article & expressing that he looked better in the flesh.

The R409 pic made me laugh. It looks like she is grabbing onto him and he wants to pry her off.

Thomas’s wife died of ovarian cancer in 1973, four years before his own death.

The wife looks like Jennifer Anniston in a retro wig.

The women's charm school runner in R411 is handsome.

Yes, that was the outline of Florida on the cards, because the Florida orange juice producers were the sponsors

The men in the audience whistle wildly for the anesthetist in R411 though she is not that pretty.

Standards weren’t very high back then, R421. Some things never change.

Also, the whistles are immediate and based on a flashy va va va voom figure (very different from today's aesthetic) and a showy hairdo. I don't think the face is carefully scrutinized when the catcalls begin.

[quote]Yes, that was the outline of Florida on the cards, because the Florida orange juice producers were the sponsors

Was Anita Bryant ever a mystery guest or panelist?

I think I can hear Arlene laughing at the all the whistling as the woman signs in.

the museum butterfly mounter is a prettier girl but she gets less whistles.

Well, I thought r403's Flea Powder seller, while not literally looking like a Kennedy, did give off a certain RFK Sr. vibe.

Maria Schell was an enchanting guest. Didn't she leave show business not long after that appearance?

I guess Jack Lemmon had no idea that he was about to work with MG Fred MacMurray in one of the most famous films of his career that night. Or that he was about to become one of the biggest Hollywood stars of the next 2 or 3 decades.

I have to laugh at how Fred Mac dismisses the question that he is on TV series when he will make My Three Sons the next year!

There was a time that film actors wouldn’t think of lowering themselves to work in television.

Maria Schell was an enchanting guest. Didn't she leave show business not long after that appearance?

She made Cimarron in Hollywood and then some films in England and Europe.

She went nuts.

I was confused by JCD insisting that the blonde bombshell anesthetist didn't deal with a specific part of the body. Wouldn't mouths be a specific part of the body for an anesthetist? How was anesthesia performed/applied in the 1950s?

The charm school owner/former pro football player was so hot! Was that at r411?

Surprised there aren't more comments about him here.

[quote]How was anesthesia performed/applied in the 1950s?

Surprise anal.

The large bridal consultant.

Arlene calls him plump.

Martin says it is a splendid girth.

This is the famous episode where Dorothy guesses Johnny Mathis as someone who autographed her shoes.

I like when Dotty asked a guest if they lost their address book because it had fallen out of a helicopter in Greece.

And she asked that a lot, r440, never achieving any success.

Has there ever been a more dissected TV show on DL than What's My Line? Jesus fuck. Nine threads.

The trapeze artist is guessed in the wild guesses!

[quote]Has there ever been a more dissected TV show on DL than What's My Line? Jesus fuck. Nine threads.

We'll be needing a 10th before we know it.

I don't know why the Bridal Garter man says they don't come into contact with the body.

Red Buttons #2

Ruby Goldstein

In R443 Red Buttons says he is not in motion pictures but he had made 3 films.

You just want to punch Red Buttons in the face.

I love the rare times Eammon Andrews hosted WML. He moved things along so much faster than JCD and without any of those letchy "conferences" with the ladies.

I'd prefer to punch Red Skelton in the face.

The last contestant spot in R446 gets a few laughs from how outraged the panel is by Eamonn's strictness.

Well, I for one appreciated Eamonn's strictness. He keeps things moving and because of his swift hosting there was more than enough time for that 4th guest, the Southern belle false teeth saleslady, who was hilarious.

Unguessable Eartha Kitt.

Eartha's first appearance.

TEMPTATION!

How does this thread persevere…

Because it's smaller than a breadbox, R457.

The cow false teeth seller is handsome.

Good lord Julie London was gorgeous. There was no hiding that voice though.

r449 = The delicate, some say flower-like, Miyoshi Umeki

I don't think the panel enjoyed Julie London's playing with them at all. Especially Miss Dorothy.

The Russian interpreter wasn't half-bad either! All in all, an attractive lineup of contestants.

I don't remember Temptation! at all. What a dumb game.

Dorothy asked those multi-part questions that really aren't easy to answer.

The Naval Academy Football Coach

Wayne Hardin

Watch Dorothy's mind at work when she asks questions of the gun seller.

Dorothy asked those multi-part questions in her ferocious attempt to get a YES answer no matter what.

That lady gun-seller segment was a classic moment in the series, I thought. So odd watching it now in retrospect.

Esther Williams had broader shoulders than the Naval Academy coach. I can now imagine Jeff Chandler (possibly!) trying on her dresses.

I thought there was something oddly unpleasant about her.

Her attempt at a Southern accent fell flat.

[quote]Esther Williams had broader shoulders than the Naval Academy coach.

Years of constant swimming.

I thought there was something oddly unpleasant about her.

But she redeemed herself by sitting on Bennett's lap on the way out.

That was PARTICULARLY unpleasant, r474.

I thought Esther was beautiful and she had some of the finest cock around. Including Lex Barker and Buster Crabbe.

Phyllis Frasier Cerf Wagner!

Lex Barker, r476?

Are you confusing Mrs. Fernando Lamas with Arlene Dahl?

The Astronaut Space Suit Maker has a weird mo.

Arlene pronounces astronauts as OSTRO-nauts.

Watch Dorothy again on fire guessing the men's barber.

[quote]r464 = I don't remember Temptation! at all. What a dumb game.

You didn't like the "Mountain O' Merchandise"? I thought the canned hams were quite enticing.

I only watch on buzzer, and there are too many repeats, which is weird considering there were about 6000 episodes.

Should I switch to To tell the truth?

Yes, R483. Not only does BuzzR play the same WML episodes ad nauseam, but the syndicated TTTT is so vastly superior to its WML counterpart.

The syndicated "To Tell the Truth" holds up quite well next to the original. (Kitty Carlisle is still fabulous and doesn't seem to wear ball gowns from "Traviata" quite so often,) The syndicated "What's My Line" is a pale imitation of the original. Soupy Sales isn't even the worst thing about it, although he comes close sometimes.

[quote]Kitty Carlisle is still fabulous and doesn't seem to wear ball gowns from "Traviata" quite so often,

Kitty said that she had a "collapsible" figure and was always able to fit into her old gowns.

YouTube has nearly every episode of WML. Watch at your leisure. I think I enjoy TTTT more the WML but WML is a better show. If that makes sense. I guess I like the fun and format of TTTT a little more. I just wish they gave each round a little more time. I love Peggy Cass. I really like Orson Bean though I agree he can be a bit of a shit. TTTT is best when Dina Merill is a guest panelist. Especially if it's politics or a society type thing. Dina zooms in. I have to thank WML for turning me on to TTTT. I never heard of the show until threads like these. .

An eppy with Dina.

Yeah, just go to youtube.com and search for What's My Line? any year or mystery guest that interests you and you'll see scores of episodes with few if any commercial interruptions. Easiest way to watch them all.

Don Ameche played TTTT like a Red Chinese trying to get information out of a captured American soldier during the Korean War.

Yes, R489, but Ameche was invariably wrong in his votes.

[quote] Yeah, just go to youtube.com and search for What's My Line? any year or mystery guest that interests you and you'll see scores of episodes with few if any commercial interruptions. Easiest way to watch them all.

I'm more of a Truth fan. Most of the (original) network nighttime shows are on YouTube, but less so than WML. It's always a (rare) treat to come across one that I've yet to see. Only a few daytime shows seem to be available. I'd like to see many more. I'd like to see more of the original syndicated shows, hosted first by the standard, Garry Moore, & then Joe Garagiola. I have no interest in the subsequent syndicated & network shows, dating back to 1980.

I prefer Bud over John.

So do I, R492. And Garry, as the network IGaS host & original syndicated host of TTTT, over both of them.

Has anyone who's been recently viewing IGaS finding it unwatchable? LOVED that show as a kid (yes, I'm ancient!), adored Betsy Palmer and Bess Myerson, but looking at it all now, it's just so dumb and silly compared to WML and TTTT.

PS: I worked with Betsy Palmer in the early-1980s when I grew up and can report she was just as sweet and delightful and sincere as she appeared on IGaS. Sadly, never met Bess who, in our Jewish family, was revered. Maybe just as well.

Paulette Goddard on panel.

R494, yes, IGaS was often banal but I like Garry Moore & the panel. There were many references to the panel being regularly voted as the favorite panel on television. And if I’m not mistaken, the show consistently drew better ratings than WML & TTTT.

I like early IGaS. It's my least favorite of the panel shows but Betsy was my favorite panelist of all the shows. Though Polly Bergen is right up there too. The episode which had Betsy's first employer on it was one of the sweetest things.

How early, R497? The first few years, when Garry would regular describe it as a “snoopy” kinda show, was very earnest, with pretty nondescript secrets. I, too, like Betsy, but I prefer Polly.

Paulette enters the wrong way!

Jayne Meadows and Fay Emerson were the original lady IGaS panelists before Betsy and Bess, but I couldn't tell you how long they were there.

Paulette was a good player and soooooo glamorous. Dorothy seemed a bit tetchy and off her game. Perhaps she was overwhelmed by Miss Goddard?

Didn't Oscar Hammerstein die not long after The Sound of Music opened? He couldn't have had many weeks left after his WML appearance, I guess. Sad.

The horse shoer at the end was very cute and didn't look like a horse shoer.

Oscar died August 23, 1960.

The female window washer was built like a brick shithouse.

[quote]Jayne Meadows and Fay Emerson were the original lady IGaS panelists before Betsy and Bess, but I couldn't tell you how long they were there.

r500...

Joan Collins on panel.

Goodness! The way Jayne Meadows talks about herself you'd think she was a combination of Eleanor Roosevelt, Lucille Ball and Amelia Earhart. I can't imagine her being courted for all those TV projects after she left IGaS. She always seemed like one of those celebs who was merely famous for being famous.

Sorry, R483. Right after I recommended that you watch the ‘70s TTTT on BuzzR, the channel started showing the 1990 version. Ugh.

Dragon Lady

[quote]She always seemed like one of those celebs who was merely famous for being famous.

I still recall her initial New York Times online obit confusing Jayne Meadows with her more talented sister, Audrey, and crediting Jayne with play Alice on "The Honeymooners." How did no one catch that before it appeared?

I don't know if there are any other available episodes of the syndicated TTTT with panelist Bennett Cerf.

^I posted a moment too soon.

^There appear to be two more. This one ...

^ My bad. The last one I'd already posted. This one, though, has not been posted from Bennett's one week on TTTT.

Here's the last of the four available Bennett TTTT episodes.

^My bad again. Here's the one - with the dreamy Peter Beard - that I meant to post.

The Sardine Taster looks like Ann Reinking.

In R495 Paulette stood for Rodgers and Hammerstein but Dorothy did not.

I also noted that r,517. Paulette was a good gal! You could just tell. Bennett was smitten, of course.

I think the Secret Service Agent blew his cover.

Paulette seemed to have that effect on men, r518.

The Skin Diver reminds me of Maria Callas.

Monocled Martyn Green.

I’ve never got the point of monocles. And they look so uncomfortable to wear.

I would never be without mine, R523.

No thank you...

A lorgnette is not a monocle.

Who said it was, r526?

I was watching TTTT and Bud was out for a while and they had Robert Q. Lewis replace him while he was gone. I really liked him.

Dina Merrill .... oh for the days when Mar-A-Lago had a classy owner.

I don't know why but I can't tell you how deep my brief obsession with Dina Merrill was.

R528, I believe Bud’s extended absenses were related to the cancer that would eventually take his life in 1969 at the relatively young age of 61.

The American Indian who designs Valentine Day Cards.

I just watched an episode of WML with Fred Allen on the panel. I really, really liked him. Don't know a darn thing about anything he's ever done but he was a nice mix of funny and wit. I also watched an episode with Graucho Marx and it was just fucking horrible. The episode was completely ruined. He needed to take his shtick down about a 1,000 notches. Also corny but I like the chemistry between Arlene and the puppet. LOL

[quote] I believe Bud’s extended absenses were related to the cancer that would eventually take his life in 1969 at the relatively young age of 61.

Are we sure it wasn't kryponite?

The film Peter Lorre plugs.

We commented on the Kennedy-esque PE director at the women's college in R521 last time around.

Charles Laughton doesn't seem happy to be there but then relaxes when he is guessed and chats with JCD.

Laughton was so charming! Oh, to imagine seeing him in LEAR and MIDSUMMER at Stratford and Olivier and Paul Robeson who also appeared that same summer. I wonder if he played Bottom?

Only in real life

He was Bottom in the TV version of Midsummer Night's Dream which he speaks of on the show.

The Canadian Matchmaker reminds me of Lesley Manville. Is that the zipper at the back of her dress that we see?

It looked like the zipper catch had a long decorative tassel attached so the lady could unzip it more easily. I think that might have been a brief fashion trend for a while back then. She seemed very pleased with herself.

I actually laughed at something Steve Allen said when he asked Mr. Pfister about his sister in R532.

Dorothy calls Peggy Lee honey.

Just picturing Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton in front of their TV set on Sunday nights throughout the 1950s watching WML, no doubt after an evening of Ed Sullivan and Bonanza.

Shame Elsa never appeared as a MG. She would have been a hoot. Or did she?

No.

Those glasses do the livestock auctioneer no favors.

And they don't help her exit!

Do we like the Maternity Clothes Designer?

I don't know why John Q Lewis wore those goggles. Usually glasses don't bother me but he was really attractive without them.

^ A mash-up of John L. Lewis & Robert Q. Lewis. The latter was the one on WML.

I thought the maternity clothes designer was yummy! Great dimples. And might very well have been gay. Made me think of gay businessmen (who looked straight) in 1960 and what their lives were like in NY.

So wonderful to see young beautiful Jane Fonda at the very beginning of her career and not looking all that different from today. Funny how she said she thought the panel might not recognize her even with their masks off. I think Tall Story was her first film though I believe she'd already done a Broadway show or 2 by then.

That Census Taker is snooty.

Jane Fonda's voice is easily recognizable but maybe now only in retrospect. At the time she had just been on Broadway in There Was a Little Girl (Feb 29, 1960 - Mar 12, 1960).

and Tall Story had not yet opened.

I think Jane Fonda had also done Strange Interlude with Geraldine Page and Invitation to a March with Celeste Holm around the time of her WML appearance. She was a Broadway gal! I wonder if her looks were initially considered too unconventional for Hollywood ingenues in the late 1950s?

Strange Interlude was in 1963.

Invitation to a March was later in 1960 and then 1961.

I said AROUND THAT TIME. Which was April 1960. So, I was at least half right.

Can't believe will be finishing up thread #9 in another week or so.

And, the funny thing is, now that I'm watching all these clips constantly, Dorothy doesn't seem so bitchy and unlikeable.

She's darling.

OH, she was still a bit of a cunt, R560...

OK, then let's hope for a Part 10!

It would be nice for the number of these threads to hit the two digits.

One of the most clueless questions ever from a regular panelist at 20:36. The mystery guests are Robert Sterling and Anne Jeffreys, a married couple who starred in the TV show Topper, but Bennett can’t figure it out. He asks Dorothy if Liberace is married. Her reaction is priceless.

R533, I totally agree about Groucho. He was the worst, most annoying guest panelist – even worse than Wally Cox in my opinion. He turns WML into The Groucho Marx Show. I’m amazed John put up with it, but he seems to enjoy it.

R528, I like Robert Q. as well. On WML, he's an excellent player - as good as any of the regulars, and that's rare for a guest. My favorite guest panelist is Martin because he's such a gentleman, always warm and kind, and because he and Arlene are so cute together, but Bob is probably my second-favorite of those who appeared often.

Has anyone else noticed Martin has a skin tag on the right side of his face?

The chiropractor formerly a Ross sister.

Ah the episode with Arlene's Easter hat.

I'm sure Bennett was fully joking when he asked Doroty if Liberace was married. Though it may have been a stupid joke.

Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling were a very handsome and charming couple. They seemed to adore each other. I loved TOPPER (in morning reruns) as a kid. I wanted to be invisible, too!

The baseball scout at r57 didn't seem to know what his job entailed.

[quote]Ah the episode with Arlene's Easter hat.

I could write a sonnet, about her Easter bonnet. Dorothy's had was much more understated. Actually, almost too understated for Easter.

I wonder why Sterling left Ann Sothern.

The Egg Breaker reminds of Virginia Christine.

What I truly love about Datalounge: That what happened to the marriage of Robert Sterling and Ann Sothern is a topic of conversation.

New thread, for when this one goes the way of Stopette.

The Texas Plumber is rather masculine.

Doing a quick wiki search I found out that Ann Sothern was 8 years older than Robert Sterling, so maybe that had something to do with their eventual marital troubles. His career as a handsome young leading man at MGM, where he met her, was building in the early 1940s, but after he returned from an enlistment in the Armed Forces, it never regained traction, and he never got beyond supporting roles at the studio.

But his marriage to Anne Jeffreys in the early 1950s lasted for 55 years until his death in 2006 and produced three sons. He had one daughter with Sothern, actress Tisha Sterling.

They were both B-movie people who went into television. She had the bigger hit, though. I'll bet he got a hoot out of her doing "My Mother, The Car" and "Lady in a Cage". even if he didn't have much of a career at that point. Tisha Sterling was a sort of "me, too Mia Farrow", although she'd been acting for awhile. Whereas Farrow made a career out of playing waifs, Sterling never had a niche.

Though Ann Sothern was probably most popular as the star of the MGM B movie MAISIE series, she also made several big A pictures including PANAMA HATTIE, CRY HAVOC, WORDS AND MUSIC, LADY BE GOOD, in which she introduced the Oscar-winning song "The Last Time I Saw Paris" and A LETTER TO THREE WIVES, among others, in a long career that spanned several decades.

Anne Southern was fat.

[quote]They were both B-movie people who went into television. She had the bigger hit, though. I'll bet he got a hoot out of her doing "My Mother, The Car" and "Lady in a Cage". even if he didn't have much of a career at that point. Tisha Sterling was a sort of "me, too Mia Farrow", although she'd been acting for awhile. Whereas Farrow made a career out of playing waifs, Sterling never had a niche.

Tisha Sterling plays the younger yersion of Ann Sothern's character in "The Whales of August," Sothern's final film.

Did she play a whale?

The Stunt Skin Diver is a big glass of water.

No comments on Mrs. Boots Gaydar who manufactures electric back scratchers? I thought she was hilarious.

Wende Wagner became an actress.

JCD makes reference to Dr. Dubious in the previous week so here it is.

I think the Women's College Biology Teacher may be gay.

A reminder that Part 10 has already been created.

Christmas Day 1960.

I'm really getting into TTTT now. I think I've exhausted all or most of WML. I owe it all to these threads. I'm liking TTTT a little more than WML right now. They have a sense of play and fun that WML doesn't. Plus TTTT uses guest panelists much more to their advantage. Don't get me wrong. On a scale of 1 to 10 they are both tens.

Wrapping up this thread here's one of the fave contestants. The Rocking Chair Maker that has Shelley Berman crying with laughter.

Miss Ann Sothern (her screen credit for "My Mother the Car") introducing "The Last Time I Saw Paris" in "Lady Be Good" (1941).

Call Porter sure had a way with lyrics. And music.

The Bill Collectors are cute.

As cute as the garbage collectors?

The partners segment is interesting. Martin kisses Dorothy goodbye but not Arlene. And Tony Randall does a weak wrist action to his wife.

Another fave - Rosalind Russell

Closing out Part 9.