What's My Line? - Senator Karl E Mundt; Phyllis Cerf [panel] (Jun 27, 1954)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ต.ค. 2013
- MYSTERY GUEST: Senator Karl E Mundt
PANEL: Dorothy Kilgallen, Steve Allen, Phyllis Cerf, Bennett Cerf
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That was quite a hat the first contestant was wearing!
The hat was in style back then 😊
I also love how the women stand to greet the older contestant, as a mark of respect to an elder lady.
Mrs. Cerf was very respectful to the newspaper lady and Senator Mundt.
As an old sci-fi movie buff, I enjoyed Steve Allen's free guess for the second contestant "I think he bought the Broadway show PICNIC, and of it, made the movie called THEM". THEM, of course, being about giant, mutant ants. Get it? Ants at a picnic. I doubt that very many members of the audience appreciated that one. Although there was some scattered laughter. Steve certainly had a quick wit.
LOA1955 I think your wit was as quick as his. I would never have figured that one out
Victoria Sage I didn't get it either till LOA1955 explained it here. :)
I got it too!
moontheloon5
Ah. A kindred spirit. "Make me a sergeant and charge the booze!" ;-)
LOA1955 Perhaps he had "Picnic" on his mind. He wrote the lyrics to the movie's theme song. Nonetheless, it was a good zinger.
Today, January 21, 2018, I searched the name of "Beverly Beman" and, sadly, found an obituary from 2007 that said she died that year. However, it added, "She was born on January 21, 1933 in Ottumwa Iowa to Earle and Margaret Beman." Happy Birthday, Miss Beman. Gone but not forgotten.
I'm delighted to see Phyllis Cerf on the panel in this episode. Nice to have an experience of the woman to whom Bennett Cerf was married for so long.
She's prettier than him.
I was struck by the resemblance of Phyllis Cerf to her cousin, Ginger Rogers.
That's one heck of a hat Mrs Conard has!
Helen Brown Nichols had relatives related to the women who became "Rita Hayworth" and "Ginger Rogers". She took the stage name "Phyllis Fraser." She certainly married well. Twice. She first married Bennett, foremost book publisher in New York, in 1940. 4 years after his death, she married Robert Wagner, a former US Representative and former New York City mayor. She outlived them both. In her book publishing career, she help discovered Dr. Suess.
Mrs. Conard was a very sharp lady, right on top of the answers and never confused. Yes, she had trouble hearing, but as soon as Mr. Daly repeated any question she had trouble hearing, she answered immediately and correctly.
Nina Conard was one of the most delightful guests they've had and she really seemed to enjoy herself.
In this time period, Dorothy appeared with her husband Dick Kollmar and Arlene appeared with her husband Martin Gabel in one memorable episode. Phyllis and Bennett's wherabouts were anybody's guesses. Phyllis appeared as a mystery guest with other spouses in Dec 1960 and Feb 1965. In 1957, she appeared as a contestant with Edith Young, her co-author of a book of games, published by Random House. Bennett was not bamboozled. "I am married to one of you creatures?" he asked to huge laughs.
Once again, the women stood when shaking hands with Nina Conard, no doubt in deference to her status as a senior citizen. I note that women on the panel would even stand for men of advanced age, such as when Frank Lloyd Wright was a mystery guest at age 89.
Phyllis Cerf collaborated with and promoted the Dr Suess series and published them. She also wrote and published books on Games. She had a brilliant mind and her second husband counted on her as the premier hostess in NYC in the 1970's
Robert collins Wow! I didn't know that. Thanks!
Wow! Indeed! This is the first time I encountered her on the panel. It was nice how they interacted.
I enjoyed Steve's, "would you like to see my lapel?," a gentle jab at the walk of shame ritual.
Yes, according to the log I have, this was her only appearance as a panel member. But she was a guest 3 times, two of those times as part of a group--all the spouses of the panel members.
I love how the ladies stood up for the first contestant.
Every last of them on the panel -- a panel of writers.
soulierinvestments - Hey that’s right! Good catch. :)
I recently found a used copy of Steve Allen’s “Bigger Than a Breadbox” book... it’s a lot of fun. What a mind he has; it amazes me how quick he is with an ad-lib on this show.
During a free guess, Bennett mentioned the Philadelphia A's. It would be their last season in Philadelphia. They finished dead last, 60 games out of first with 51-103 record (plus 2 ties). The next year they would be in Kansas City, a way station en route to Oakland. And maybe they'll stay there. Or maybe they'll move to San Jose.
Bennett mentioned 2nd base. The A's second baseman that year was Forrest "Spook" Jacobs, a rookie who batted .258 (second highest average on the team for a regular) and led the team with 17 stolen bases, but it no home runs. They had drafted him from the Dodgers organization over the winter. He is the only player to collect 4 hits in his first 4 at bats in his first major league game.
But he lost his job the following year as the A's were willing to sacrifice speed for more power. He played sparingly in 1955 and 1956 in the majors, and then finished his career in the minor leagues, hanging on until the early 1960's.
It was not a racist nickname. Jacobs was white. The nickname referred to his knack of spiriting a ball for a hit by blooping it over the heads and just out of reach of the infielders.
Wow, Radar O'Reilly's aunt!
20:59 The fourth contestant is from Radar O'Reilly's home town!
Getting Mundt was a coup, having just chaired the Army-McCarthy hearings.
Ironically, it was the first time in many weeks that no remarks that could be connected to the hearings in any way were made.
fishhead06
Amazing how quick they guessed him. But Bennett and sometimes Dorothy traveled in political circles.
@@libertyann439 Not really. The Army-McCarthy hearings were THE big news of the time. It was easy to guess that if they were going to bring in someone from the world of politics that month as the main mystery guest, it wasn't going to be some random person.
From 1932 to 1971, Senator Mundt was president of the National Forensics League...an organization for competitive speech and debate for high school students. I was happily a member and it was a thrilling and memorable experience for me....
I love Nina's hat!
Representin Iowa right here, WWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I live about 30 mins from Ottumwa.
The lady from Iowa was from the same town as Radar from MASH Kinda cool tho he was not a real person it was from the same year era
I noticed that too.
Dorothy Kilgallen was good.
Senator Karl E Mundt a great mind and a civil rights advocate fought hypocritical Democrats for years.
He murdered a housewife sadly
@@endme306 not true - lies and demos go together like Tweedledee And Tweedledum
@@adamodeo9320 it’s true it was in Kansas City but it got swapped under the rug because he had power
@@endme306 What a bunch of garbage. Even the rumor rag called Wikipedia that just loves to write nefarious and spurious insinuations about all kinds of people that are dead and cannot defend themselves doesn't even say such a thing.
This was the greatest times in history I lived in as a child total RESPECT
Wonderful uplifting edition!
SD resident checking in. Rip Senator
I have that 1957 episode, but I don't remember it at all, not even that great line you quotes by Bennett Cerf; I may not have actually watched it yet. I do also have that Dec 1960 show with the spouses of the panel members as mystery guests, but not the one from Feb 1965 (I don't have many episodes from the last few years of the CBS run). Anyhow, all the ones I do have will be posted eventually in the order they were aired. Thanks for your comments-- always interesting!
HOOAH! You do an outstanding job thank you so much for posting these shows.
@@stanmaxkolbe Of course, our dear channel owner wrote that shortly after this episode was posted 7 years ago. Since then, he has acquired and posted every one of the available CBS WML episodes to this channel -- over 750 of them!
Bennett certainly went for younger women. Phyllis was 24 and Bennett 42 when they married and his first wife was 12 years his junior. Just an observation. More power to him!
I don't know about more power to him. I find it very unseemly and more than a little creepy and gross.
Jeff Vaughn It's called an "age gap" marriage and was very common then, as it still is. It's the level of maturity, respect for each other and common interests that make for a good marriage. Go to TH-cam and search "age gap marriage" and you'd be surprised how many younger women like it. Imagine that, marrying a mature man.
A lot of women marry for the money--FACT!
Maybe he went for an unusually sharp mind.
That's your hang up, not his. They were married for a long, long time.@@danielfronc4304
1954..I was 9 years old...Love TH-cam,
Me, too
I wonder why the guesses were always started with Dorothy? It was a nice gesture.
Ladies first
This episode aired on my mom's 13th birthday growing up in The Bronx
Interesting that Mrs. Cerf stood to shake hands with the elderly female and with the Senator, while Dorothy only stood for the elderly female - one guess is Arlene would not stand for either of those guests, and Dorothy only stood for the elderly female since Mrs. Cerf did.
How nice to see Mrs. Phyllis Cerf on the panel. I had previously seen her mystery guest spot. Was this her only appearance on the panel?
Yes.
Philadelphia NY and MS
Dorothy Kilgallen pronounces it "bi-cycle". Fascinating! (9:23)
Bi cycle correct pronunciation 70 years ago 😅
Phyllis Fraser in the movies was actually in a John Wayne movie in 1936. She was 5ft 3in and Wayne was 6 ft. 4 in., and she mar. Bennett who was 6 ft. 1 in.
JCD: "I don't think there is any other Philadelphia." Yes, there is, in upstate NY.
Both ladies stood to greet Mrs. Conard. (6th occurrence)
I guess they can’t do a show like that today. Politicians can’t appear on a game show if they’re in office.
Politics is one big game show, so it would be a conflict of interest 😏
And yes Bennett had a beautiful wife
I've never seen John flirt with a contestant as much as the final one on this show. Interesting choice considering the bombshells that were often seated next to him.
I suspect that maybe he felt less inhibited around a woman with "average" looks than around the knockout bombshell types, who may have been intimidating. Also, he had to consider his wife and children at home, not wanting to cause them feelings of uncertainty. (At one time in my life when guys who repeatedly asked me out on dates who were extremely good looking, I would tell them no thank you, from my fear of eventual rejection if I might become attached to them or dependent on them to act in a certain desirable way or treat me in a certain desirable way, fearing they eventually would let me down, with the ultimate let-down being rejection, then abandonment! These are somewhat complex human reactions. I suspect it's why so many mediocre-looking women are happily married! And the man doesn't have to worry so much about getting his heart crushed when someone might steal her away!)
Also, John Daly was in a rather unusually jolly mood during this whole episode, which may have contributed to his uninhibited flirtatiousness and compliments to everyone, it seemed. :)
I thought it was only Bennett Cerf who came up with the occasional peculiar pronunciation (like HEEL-o-cop-ter) but on this show it was Dorothy with bi-SIGH-cle.
The only time I ever hear bi sigh cle is from some of my ESL students.
@@Bigbadwhitecracker At least one of the English-speaking nations uses that pronunciation in the manner in which we would commonly say motorcycle, like the Ring Cycle of Wagner, rather than like popsicle. I just cannot at this stage recall which ones, but I know I heard it more frequently in my youth (I am fairly old) perhaps from relatives from the British Isles. I think, as well, that it is used in some eastern US mountain communities of Appalachia: again a British (Scots-Irish) influence. Further, I believe when referring to the act of bicycling that many more people use the "sigh" pronunciation for the second syllable. Note that bicycle is the only one we pronounce in that fashion, as we do say cycle, motorcycle and unicycle with the "sigh" pronunciation. Odd that that one word became more commonly differentiated from those 3 in our speech only.
@@philippapay4352 HOOAH!
@@stanmaxkolbe Hooah, which is not said in a manner to rhyme with either sigh or sick. LOL.
@@philippapay4352 You have no clue about the U.S. Army.
At about 9:40 there is a shadow of a boom microphone on the curtain above John Daley’s head.
Notice the panel did not complain that Bennett asked two questions of the second guest - he asked if it was at the beginning if the process, and then added did he stuff the gloves - it comes across as.Bennett was able to add to his question until he got a yes, as stuffing is not an early part of making a boxing glove. John should have just said yes, and not mentioned the guest stuffed the gloves.
From what I’ve seen of this show, that particular technicality was rarely observed. Once in a while John would make the panelist go back and make an official guess, but generally, if they guessed it, he would just give it to them. I assume this was usually in the interest of time as the shows aired live. And also, the audiences had a bad habit of giving it away, making it basically a moot point to make them restate the guess.
Dorothy Kilgallen was a very smart and talented lady.
Dorothy was a investigative reporter for years 😊
Dorothy Kilgallen, sharp mind indeed!
Dorothy was a investigative reporter for years 😊
Is there any area of the US that Bennett was not familiar with?
Fizz Ishen - Yes! He seems to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of what US cities and states are known for. Consistently surprising.
Fizz Ishen - He was a man interested in life and learning. However, his business was to promote reading and sell books. He, arguably, provided the greatest 1st Amendment case to the Supreme Court of the 20thc. due to his devotion to reading and learning. After the war, the economy was booming for even the middle class, people were able to travel and go to college, our public schools had given us a relatively cohesive, literate population, and he travelled weekly all over the nation to get his books in libraries and schools and bookshops. He probably did his homework, as the founder of Random House, and read-up on the locales he visited to be sure he was offering them the most pertinent publications for their lives to the folks he was visiting, so that he did not neglect their local concerns and livelihoods along with promoting the classics, etc. As a child, I learned a lot about my own nation from listening to Bennett Cerf while watching this show with my parents. They loved his books and columns, too.
@@philippapay4352 The case that led to the publication of "Ulysses" was tried in the federal district court and appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court never ruled in the matter. For many years, when Random House published "Ulysses, " the full opinion of the trial judge was printed as a preface to the work
@@preppysocks209 So glad you have written this refinement of what I wrote. I realized a day or two after writing it that I had mentioned the Supreme Court, to which Cerf was willing to pursue it, if need be. I could not recall under which program I had written the note requiring correction and so am grateful to you for doing so. Yes, I know of the addendum, as it were, to the book for years when they published it. And as a further amusement, I wrote this reply a few minutes ago, got distracted, have no idea if I sent it, but now cannot find it. So you may get this twice because I lost the initial "thanks for clarifying." Always good to get the data right.
That was back when newspapers told truth.
As far as we know, anyway.
Lady "Nye Nahh" certainly had a frivolous hat, making the "small conference" with John rather hazarddous for the nose. We all know since the famous Johnny Mercer song that Americans have an odd,way to pronounce things: so, they don't make "Nina" sound like in the "Lady Nina" song by Marillion, and their "bicycles" too sound different than in Queen's "Bicyle race", although I have to concede, here they are more logical than the British...
Does anyone know how old the first lady was? I didnt hear it mentioned. I'm guessing she was at least in her late 70's.
I noticed that Dorothy was the only one who did not stand for Senator Mundt. From what I remember about her various writings and later history, I doubt that even before they got out of hand she would have approved of the McCarthy hearings and shutting down the debate on Civil Rights in particular.
At 11;58 Steve Allen gave it away he had known what he did by saying "can it hit you in the head or whatever it does" Set up Id say
Dorothy picked up on that comment.
Yeah, that was definitely disappointing to hear him say...
Today's TH-cam Rerun for 2/23/16 (and 2/24!): Sorry I'm very late posting about today's rerun. In fact, it's almost midnight-- so the next rerun episode won't be till Thursday to give folks a proper chance to watch this one.
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Ty
John Daley nearly gave the newspaper delivery woman away 7:14.
WML Panels have many writers, but never guesses guests are writers. There could be something psychological about that phenomenon.
Yay! Stevie is back!
Back when people weren't defined by their politcs - either by their brethren or their detractors.
There are places named Philadelphia in the US in PA, IL, IN, MS, NY & TN. Amman, Jordan, is the ancient polis known as Philadelphia. Can't say I know of any others. There probably are some to be found.
Not exactly the same, but there is a New Philadelphia, Ohio.
Senator Mundt looks like Don Rickles.
Actually, the answers about the first contestant were somewhat misleading. She *delivered* newspapers, presumably to people who already had a subscription. She did not sell them.
519DJW - We read the "Philadelphia Evening Bulletin" at home in the era when we were watching these shows. I think Daly said she was salaried. I am not sure that was accurate. The paperboys/couriers/deliverers collected the monies for their newspaper routes. I think they may have been independent contractors. On the other hand, lo those many years ago, I also think I recall someone from the newspaper calling to renew the subscription. So, I am not certain how clear-cut that was. I think back then the delivery folks actually even wrapped all their own newspapers. It was not done by the corporation in event of rain, snow, sleet as it were. So, did she buy the papers from the publisher and then she did sell them to the individual householder and the monies were hers? And they did not make bad money. It's a real question.
@@philippapay4352I delivered papers 1940s and sold some in the bars 10 cents for delivery within a mile.😊
The Cerfs seem to have a different accent compared with Dorothy's or Steve's. In Bennett it is more pronounced. Does anyone know which accent it is? I'm not American and so I'm curious...
Iggie X I am not sure what Bennet's accent would be called. Formerly in the US, there were quite definite regional accents. With the homogenizing effect of radio, television, and now internet videos, our accents have become much less obvious.
Well he was born in Manhattan, and went to Colmbia, so I guess it would Upper Class New York. Steve was born in Chicago, so Mid Western for him.
Bennett was from Bahston.
Bennett definitely has a Boston, Massachussetts accent. I'm from So Calif, and in the 1990s on a cross-country trip, I got to Boston, and decided to visit the grocery store to see if Bostonians REALLY spoke the way they do (like Pres. Kennedy, for example) and I was surprised to learn that they really DO speak by altering their vowel sounds so much!! ;) ie: "I'm goin to paaak the caaa". (I'm going to park the car.")
@@lorihansen8674 No, Bennett was born, raised, and educated in New York City. It was John Daly whose family was from Boston (though he was born while his father was working in South Africa).
Dig that hat
Most of the time, boxing-gloves touch the body above the upper chest? Most of their contact with the body is with the hands that they surround.
The arms, including the hands, count as above the chest, because the arms are connected to the body at the shoulders which are above the chest.
@@wharfrat7900 , and yet I can say "Keep your hands below your waist" and you can do it.
The neck is part of the spine, and the spine includes the tailbone, and that is below the top of the pelvis, which means it's below the waist, so obviously you wear a necklace or a bowtie or a collar below the waist most of the time.
Was Senator Mundt related to Ronnie Mundt?
You can tell that the panel KNEW the occupation of newspaper on the first contestant, but they wanted her to win because she was old and all that.. you can just tell... very nice.. glad they did..
I don't think they had a clue what her line was. It's not easy to pretend not knowing and asking the "right" questions. Because we know the answer we sometimes can't understand how slow the panel can be in their thinking. I have tried and listen to the show without knowing the line and everytime I feel very stupid and confused. :)
I agree with Johan Bengtsson I did not get the impression at ALL that they KNEW (as you SAY). Although I would say that she was one of the most annoying guests ever (although to her credit, she was not a "whistler," someone who whistles when they speak, who are people I cannot even. One of the episodes had two whistlers right in a row, oy vey.)
Adam CC I can't stand people who chew gum when they talk. :)
I got that impression too, especially since John Daly practically gave it away with his "you can put it in the door" slip.
Also, the panel were clearly misled by the idea that she "sells" something
People were so genteel back then.
The panel actually are not very smart when you think about it because they could totally think about the words they use and get around John Daly's games. Instead of asking "CAN" a😅 person wear this to bed? Instead say "is this product intended to be worn to bed?" Is this product intended to be used such and such? Another example: if the product was, let's say a swimming suit, and someone asked if it could be worn to the grocery store, smart alec John Daly would definitely say "yes," but if the person asked "is the intended use of this product that it be warned to the grocery store, John would have to say no.
DELIVERS NEWSPAPERS
STUFFS BOXING GLOVES
GREETING CARD VERSE WRITER.
It just hit me that it's been ages since I heard "How do you do?" in life. Only on this show do I ever hear the phrase.
I think you mean, "How do you do? "WHO do you do?" would have very different implications.
How do you do 😅
@@preppysocks209 Corrected; thanks.
The first lady doesn't "sell" anything despite their use of that term over and over...she delivers papers. She doesn't sign up new subscribers...
Actually, as one who delivered papers in my youth, she may very well have signed up new subscribers. The more subscribers he delivered to the more money she made. I don't know about the system there but I had to go around and collect the subscription money every couple of weeks. Now everything is done online and subscribers never see the carrier.
I wonder if the last contestant knew Radar.
At the very end, Bennett says "I get to sit next to the nicest girls on this show." Sounds like a slam against Dorothy. It's no secret that she annoyed him, but it definitely seems like Arlene is the favored female on the panel.
+Andrew M
Based on the inflection of his voice, I didn't take it that way. What I heard could be restated as: "While on this show, I get to sit next to the nicest girls." The remark was not meant to exclude any female members of the panel. Rather it was meant to laud the opportunity provided to him by the show.
And as it happens, when Hal Block was in the fourth chair and Bennett was part of the panel, he did sit next to Dorothy.
I think Bennett generally liked Dorothy but didn't like when she wrote about him and was more liberal in politics than she was.
@@loissimmons6558 I agree. He just meant to say he got to sit next to a lot of nice girls. Plus she was his wife.
@@loissimmons6558 I thought I remembered that.
The acoustic must be shit in this theatre..
The stage was above a train station, it was continually noisy!😢
Dorothy didn't stand to greet the exiting Senator Mundt? Surprising and incredibly poor manners for back then or for anytime. Who would you have to be for her to show respect? The Vice-President or President?
Dorothy had her dislikes among many people! She would write in her columns and destroy careers 😢
She can't hear them?! SERIOUSLY? At least THEY spoke up.
She was an elderly woman who was hard of hearing. You can't honestly be mad at her, can you?
Has anyone else noticed how many of the contestants have alliterative names? Bev Beman and Doris Day most recently, but I’ve noticed that it seems like nearly 20-30% of the contestants. Just an interesting bit of trivia.
Between a quarter and a third of guests were celebrities. Many celebrities, like Doris Day, used stage names. There is likely a higher incidence of alliterative names among stage names than actual names.