What a treat to see Arlene's first appearance as a panelist!. She added so much presence, class, and fun to the show. She looked so pretty and classy, as she did all through the years. Thank you for posting these...another time, another place that we won't be seeing again except in these wonderful films/videos.
@@belindaf4584 Was surprised by that, also. She seemed too elegant to smoke. If the director/producer had never modified WML, we would have been deprived of years of entertainment. I only watch these first episodes because they make me appreciate so much what WML became.
If this really was Arlene Francis' first appearance on WML, I'd say she began w/ a real bang, the very first contestant, too!!! It's funny that she was not acknowledged for this, on the show! It was a sign of how great a player she would always be, over the years, imho. She and Dorothy, each in their own way, amazed me, many a time!
Plus, she so brilliantly gets her very first Mystery Guest. What a great addition to WML...I'm sure the producers and cast felt the same. She truly brought a lot to that show, and contributed to its growth and longevity. Btw, ex-Governor Hoffman of NJ wasn't so bad, himself.
The earliest panel on WML was simply not what it needed to be. Dorothy Kilgallen was the only original panelist who was any good and adding Arlene Francis was a major improvement -- Arlene's presence on the panel was always an excellent thing, and she would be there until the original WML ended in 1967 and continue on the syndicated version that followed. I'd say the same for Bennett Cerf who showed up 8 months later and lasted until the end of the series in 1967 (and who appeared as a guest panelist from time to time on the subsequent syndicated version, until his unexpected death in 1971). My main complaint about the three men on the original panel -- Richard Hoffman, Louis Untermeyer and Harold Hoffman, is that they seemed rather stuffy to me. WML was at its best when the panelists were there to have a good time and share that with the studio and TV audiences. Here, they tried to be humorous during the "Walk of Shame" by having the contestant stand on on foot and touch her nose, and catch some keys tossed at her -- but I think they came off as jerks. When the panel finally consisted of Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf and anyone else, with John Daly as the moderator, things "clicked" and everything was so much more fun and entertaining.
I've seen other episodes with Untermeyer and think he would've been fine (in the Cerf vein) if he had stuck around, and that he was capable of developing comradery with other panelists. Unfortunately, HUAC and private orgs branded him a Communist, the Catholics organized protests at CBS, and they had to let Untermeyer go.
@@BurnRoddy Groucho had become a limelight hog. He knew he was finished in movies and was afraid nobody could strike sparks off him like his kin and La Belle Dumont. As a guest he hijacked shows and irritated his colleagues. He was okay in charge of non-celebs on 'You Bet Your Life', but nothing else he did after 'A Night in Casablanca' added to his luster. At least his closest female comparator, Mae West, had a brief belated comeback in 'Myra Breckenridge'.
I can only speculate that Governor Hoffman and Dr. Hoffman were simply obnoxious, rude and sexist, and the producers must have felt they could do better . . . . Dorothy Kilgallen was the only one of the original four who was any good -- adding Arlene was a huge improvement, and so was adding Bennett Cerf.
Absolutely agree. Arlene was the beating heart of WML all through: smart, warm, funny, sometimes a shade risque, never hitting a wrong note. Add John's prosy affability and Dorothy's formidable forensics and you had a formula that clicked pretty soon... and went on clicking for 15 years in prime time. No surprise that Miss Francis became the highest paid panelist on TV.
Arlene got blonder and blonder, as well as prettier and smoother of face as the years went by. Rumor has it she had a discreet facelift along the way - if that's the case, it sure was one of the best.
Arlene Francis was born Arlene Francis Kazanjian and was the niece of Dr. Varaztad Hovannes Kazanjian, whose "pioneering contributions to plastic surgery transformed the new discipline into an esteemed surgical specialty." www.countway.harvard.edu/chm/rarebooks/exhibits/plastic_surgery/page_2.html Your witness, Mr. Mason.
She was beatiful bombshell yet married to a fat short ugly man in Martin Gabel. That sort of thing never ever happens. If a guy like that gets a gal like her is because he made the world for her and made her simle/laugh every day. She must've been a very very happy lady. Here's a life fact for ya: A woman ages terribly when she loses her smile.
I take exception to your view of Martin Gabel, he may have been short, but he was neither fat nor ugly. It is also obvious that they adored each other.
I have to agree. That is the slowest-moving episode of WML? I have ever seen. Fortunately, they were given time to mature, and it became the marvelous panel show we now know and love. But Arlene smoking? Good God! I'm going out to buy a pack of cigarettes right now! Oops. Too late. I've been smoking a pipe for over 40 years. Blame Bing Crosby.
@@sharonrollings105. And quite racist. Notice the introduction... with negative, racist stereotypes following the White doctor. You have the lazy, sleeping Mexican, the Indian Chief impression of the Native American, and the all-White panel, all-White guests, and all-White audience. Back in the 1950s, America was not all-White. But if you watched TV, or listened to radio, or looked at any advertisement you'd think America was all-White. Really scary.
And she was already wearing her signature heart-shaped diamond pendant, a gift from her husband, Martin Gabel. I was dismayed to read that the pendant was stolen from her as she was exiting a taxi in 1988. Just as important, she had a keen mind to match her charms.
Thank you so much for these early WML shows! This is clunky for sure, but I was in diapers when my parents and I would've been watching this on our tiny, early television. I recently sold our custom made TV stand, bought around that time, after my dad died in 2010. Stores didn't sell anything specifically to put your TV on yet! I love seeing this show evolve. Arlene, Dorothy, Bennet, et al were "the grownups" and they are an indelible part of my childhood. The memory of All That....
Jonh Daly, earned a very special place as a true gentleman. I should have loved to meet him in person, seems the kind of fellow one would enjoy to sit and have a wonderful chat with.
I love What’s My Line but, thank goodness Arlene started when she did. Otherwise, based on what I’m seeing here, I don’t think the show would have made it.
I agree with you, 100% and thank goodness the dissed that walk down to meet the panelists snd the free guess . And the "fat a closer look" at challenger. All changes for a better program.
Louis Untermeyer suffered major depression when he was booted off this show and became blacklisted. He never walked out of his home for a year. I feel for the guy because I know of others and myself who was clinically depressed to a point that seemed forever lasting. I hate the feeling. He must enjoyed this gig too. What's My Line might not fully came to be if wasn't booted though.
@@shirleyrombough8173 He was accused, probably unfairly, of being a Communist sympathizer. The sponsor of the show stuck with him for a while, but eventually there were so many demonstrators demanding his removal that the sponsor caved and fired him. Bennett Cerf talks about this in a 1968 interview: th-cam.com/video/kxA4UQ3gcbw/w-d-xo.html
So interesting to see how WML evolved from this early (and rather stilted - except for Ms Francis, of course!) stage. And what a time capsule with the early TV camera work, audio, and John Daly having a ciggie - wow! Glad they managed to improve the card flipping process! And Arlene's blindfold, too ;-)
I remember as a very little girl seeing the blindfolds and thinking they were so cool that I wanted to have the one with the eyes like she had... with eyelashes ☺️☺️☺️
Quite true! No one was quite sure how to proceed. Francis was seminal in opening things up; I suspect it was her more relaxed approach. The show became at once more formal and more natural in just a few years.
These early shows certainly lacked structure and direction, but then, all of television was new, not just the WML show. It looks like the camera men, directors, sound and title guys were still trying to refine their craft. I thought Louis Untermeyer had potential, but the other two men certainly lacked charm.
Freeze at 1:27 > > Arlene's legendary heart shaped diamond pendant premiered on WML with her. Louie mentioned that Arlene was a host. Like Dorothy she had both radio and TV broadcasting experience. She hosted "Your Big Moment" on TV as early as 1949. Hard of tell if any of that survived to the present in kinescopes.
That was a gift from her husband, Martin Gabel. It was stolen by a mugger in New York City in 1988. That must have been devastating for her, as Martin died in 1986.
The reason Elliot's answer about being married drew a laugh was because he was married 5 times. He never went to college and refused to go to Harvard . During ww2 he won several important medals, including 12 air medals. He flew 89 combat missions, and claimed he was in the chase plane when Joe Kennedy, Jr. was killed. Roosevelt was discharged at the end of ww2 as a Brigadier General. He wrote 22 mystery novels with the main character being his mother as the detective. He was involved in several scandals' in his life time, but never found guilty of wrong doing. He lived a very interesting life and lived to be 80 years old.
He was married to Faye Emerson, who later was a regular panelist on WML's low brow sister show "I've Got A Secret". According to stories of the time, while she was Roosevelt's wife, she attempted suicide. I guess that was one of the scandals.
What's My Line? I know, right? Great stuff.. it's kinda like a historical journey through times... As a European I never saw this show so for me it's very educational as well as entertaining ;)
How are you doing thus far? I am also making that endeavour, but am already quite familiar with the series. It was a little trying for me, this time, it gets so much better after 1954.
Lars Rye Jeppesen You are made off stronger stuff than many of us, I liked him most of the time, but sometimes....pushed the envelope a tad farther than it needed to go. He would have been better suited to 'MatchGame' in the 1970s, or even 'What's My Line' after it was syndicated in 1968. Shame they didn't bring him back for a second chance, every so often, but I gather he turned off comedy once being fired, going into business.
My gosh this panel is totally ridiculously absurd. There is no doubt why Arlene Francis was the only one kept on the panel. She was the only one who knew what she was doing.
I think I remember my parents saying their mortgage on the house we had first (1950 I think) was $40/month and that Dad only made about the same $40 per week!!! We had lots of Mac and cheese!!!
My mother had a similar heart shaped necklace that she wore on special occasions. Everytime I see Arlene I think of my dearly departed mother. We buried her with that necklace. RIP mom.
Other than Arlene, that panel was duller than a bag of hammers during a snowstorm in January. And I swear - when Arlene introduced that former governor, I was certain she had called him a racketeer not a raconteur! He looked like a crook to me!
A gem from the dawn of the television era! Interesting how close the panel was to the host and how every time Daly turned his head, his voice was faint. The imperfections of early TV from a time when so few owned a set. Seeing Francis and Daly smoking was a "treat" in a wierd sort of way ya know. No sponsors and no commercials!
OMG, seeing how the show developed over the years, this episode was almost chaotic!😂 I think the radio had a large deal of influence in the early years of television.
Three people to my right, there is someone else named Hoffman. How dumb and confusing was that? It isn't as if they were major celebrities. And they weren't very good. If the psychiatrist was supposed to make the panel more formidable by getting inside of the heads of the guests to figure out their professions, he was a big flop at it, at least in this episode.
John M I'm not worried about you being a stalker. There are a few regulars on the WML channel that I have exchanged a number of posts with. And the majority of them are men. (Of course, one is in Israel, one would appear to be in SF, and I think another one might be in the SF Bay Area as well. and the channel owner is in AZ.) Anyway, I am well aware of the rudimentary technical aspects of the early broadcasts. And with the show in b&w, I am not basing on how flattering an imagined color might be. When I made my rare comment on Arlene's unflattering dress, I based it solely on style, whether it flattered her figure (as much as one can see), and even did it fit the mood that WML was trying to set in the way John Daly and the other panelists were attired. One of my talents is that I have a pretty good eye for women's clothing: what works and what doesn't. I've picked out outfits for female friends on numerous occasions and they come back telling me about the compliments they receive. All I can say is if I had discovered a time portal and found myself doing a quantum leap into Arlene's dressing room that evening, I would have told her, don't wear it ... either donate it or burn it! Of course, that might have changed history as we know it. Edith Keeler would have lived and the Enterprise would vanish ... oh wait, that's a different show.
John M You wrote, "I think I love you." Oh, John! This is so sudden! I hardly know you. Why I declare, I believe I am positively getting the vapors. Then again, as far as I know, there is no one in the Partridge Family named John. :-)
Neither the audience nor the producers knew at the time there was an irony with ex-Governor Hoffman sharing the stage with an income tax collector. When Hoffman died in 1954, his survivors discovered embezzled money in a safety deposit box. Aside -- for years, most states elected governors to two-year or four year terms. New Jersey's governor was elected to a three-year term. 3. Unique. Hoffman's three years corresponded to the Richard Hauptmann trial for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping on New Jersey territory. Hoffman thought the trial was unfair, which was true enough. Hoffman interviewed Hauptmann himself.
Thank you for posting all these episodes!!! I'm really enjoying them! .... Poor Arlene was even having some difficulty with her mask trying to keep it on without falling.
Marie Katherine Sorry-- what was fast? In any event, I'm delighted to read that your parents enjoyed the video. Assuming I'm interpreting you correctly, that is.
What's My Line? She started a new thread, but I think she was referring to your quick response to her question about Mr. Jim Walsh, who sold garbage cans for Wheeling Steel.Marie Katherine Is Mr. Walsh your father? We WML fans are always interested in hearing from people who may have been or have known contestants on the show. If you have the time to respond, I'm sure we'd all love to hear more about his experiences as a contestant and perhaps a little something about what he's been doing since then.
Great stuff from over three years before I was born...and the term disk-jockey was already in use! (I'd guess it was at least ten years before it found it's way east pond, though I may be wrong)...and I love the way it's casually proved that Dorothy Kilgallon didn't invent the handshake routine as part of her allegedly ruthless approach to the show...and there's even a guy there who sounds a bit like Bennet Cerf....thanks as ever for troubling to track down and post this stuff...it's wonderful...
After the live airings of episodes 2 and 3, the original regular panel of Dorothy Kilgallen, Louis Untermeyer, Arlene Francis, and Hal Block was established. It would stay that way, until March 1951.
They really cleaned up the interactions, this is the earliest show I seen. I'll have to see how episodes were in 1951...in 1952 they did a great job tightening up the questioning and how it's done. Lots of petty talking on this show, definitely ruins the mood....1952 and on always kept a smile on my face.
Strange to see Arlene smoking. And seeing the difficult job John Daly had bringing it all together in those early days. It became a much smoother show.
Holy Smokes! If What's My Line had kept those three lunkheads this show would have never lasted as long as it did! thank goodness they kept Arlene Francis though!
This is such a treat! Thank you so much for uploading these; I hope the millennials and teens take notice of how TV programs used to be; no foul language, great manners and great entertainment!
What is it about some people that they can't just appreciate a thing without having to knock the current generation of it? TV shows, music, movies - time and again, if it's an older example, there will be some jerk who can't just praise it but has to put down newer incarnations in the process. There is much about these early episodes that is delightful and genteel. There is also much about these early episodes that is narrow-minded, classist, sexist or unhealthy. I'm a big, big fan of this show, but I don't feel the need to put down all modern programming by extension. ETA: For what it's worth, incidentally, I'm not taking offense as a member of either of the groups you just slammed. I'm at the older edge of Generation X, nearly a Boomer, simply sick and tired of people knocking whatever the youngest generations are in any given moment.
@@tejaswoman : It wasn't my intention to slam an entire generation. However having said that, this generation of young people, especially teens, don't know what it's like to exist without smartphones, etc. It is vital that they learn from history. Too many of them are becoming narcissistic and only focused on themselves. They need to realize that there's more to interacting with people than just what they're fed on a daily basis. For example, social media and its influencers. There was a time when society functioned very differently, and they need to know that.
Although he wasn't as charming as the panel we are used to seeing, I still like Untermeyer. He even gave Arlene a peck on the cheek when she got the right answer! LOL. He seems a nice man who's not got a TV personality.
stlmopoet I agree. I like Untermeyer on the panel. Even Arlene wasn't the Arlene we came to know as the show progressed. If he'd been able to stick around, I think Untermeyer would have become a fine panelist. Unfortunately, most of the shows with him on the panel are lost.
What's My Line? You know what? I like Hal Block too, and to my knowledge, I do mean he was underrated as a comedy writer, and I didn't like the way B. Hope treated him either. I don't mind his "bloopers" on the panel, he was just a big boy, and personally I couldn't care less about his remarks there. :)
SuperWinterborn I defend Hal Block sometimes, too, to be clear. He was a very funny guy, and he could play the game well. But I do think he was all wrong for the show.
I am glad they did away with that walk through at the beginning. Didn't really made me uncomfortable 🤦😂. It might be fun at a house party but I don't know, on TV it just gave me the creeps lol 😅 I do love this show though. I'm having the best time. I was born in 1960 so it's fun seeing the actors too from that basic era and back.
Man, that was awkward...the entire show! Arlene and John were the only saving graces. They add that flicker of casual charm to an otherwise painful viewing experience. I'm sure the psychiatrist fellow didn't help. What a creep.
Nor did ex-Gov. Hoffman's wolf-whistle at the last contestant. Did they ask Miss Archer to turn around and face the audience so he could get a good look at her behind?
This was a very fine experiment and tweaking of this type of show. It really evolved as they put in different panelist. Society was going through rapid changes during the1950's. Very interesting to watch. Mr. Daly and Miss Frances look so young here.
Pah, right! Rapid changes... We were literally best off in the 1930's, the 1950's was the contentment period, the 1960's was when we became the vacation country with a slightly more riled amount of vigor.
This is the last episode with the host's desk attached to the panel's. "To Tell the Truth" with Bud Collyer, in contrast, underwent a somewhat different change. Originally, the panel was to Bud's left, and the contestants were to his right. This was changed in 1960 to the more familiar setup of the other way around. When that show came back in 1969 with Garry Moore, the hosts' desk was attached to the panel (on Garry's right), and every version of TTTT after that would follow suit.
I just noticed: Arlene is smoking! I never saw that before! I can't pin the time down, but it is during her questioning of the last player, Karen Archer.
23:10-23:18 That was so uncalled for. Gov. Hoffman was worse than Hal Block. People rightfully complain about the loss of manners on contemporary television, but this would be impossible today.
The heart neckless she has on was bought for her by her husband there was 25 diamonds in the heart. It was stole off her neck in New York City, Ny. By a man that grab it off her neck in daylight hours she was elderly up in her 70-80 it was never found. She never took it off after her husband put it on her. She died a lonily hurt lady at 83 years old. In her apartment in NY City. Why any one would steel from an old lady like that is a poor excuse for a person. She was very up set over that lost of the neckless. The person that took it may have taken the diamonds out of the setting and sold them. What a shame because that was a Icon for her and this show.
@@michaelhasenstein7838 Her son lives in Calif. Still does. I miss her and all the ones on What My Line it was a show you could watch with the family and not worry that you had to send the kids out of the room or turn it off for cussing and sex. Was not in the show all though at times there was some real close calls on it. But never went so far as to say it.
I agree that Arlene added zip and warmth to the panel. Louis Untermeyer, with his distinct NY accent, sounded like a combination of Ed Wynn and Bert Lahr. Also, note that the men did not wear more formal bow ties at that time. Thank you for posting this. Great job.
I’ve always enjoyed the mystery guests from the old days as we are given the chance to see people we only know in newsreels, etc. Although I actually remember seeing Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 along with that Nixon guy who I didn’t like at age 5 and still didn’t like many years later😳😳
Good thing epaddon has the original version of this episode. When this episode last aired (in 2008), GSN edited out Game 4, in order to make way for a commercial break.
Years later, if Arlene or anyone had actually mentioned the line in passing, John was not quite stoic enough (especially here) to not have them guess it right away.
I love this show! There's something about it that is engrossing! It's one of the only shows where the contestant isn't the one playing the game and that makes it so unique and fun.
So little of Louis Untermeyer's WML work survives to the present day, it is hard to tell. I wonder if he did some sort of deliberate absent-minded professor schtick on this program.
Sure there's a studio audience-- who do you think's laughing and applauding? :) WML had a live studio audience for its entire run, since the first episode.
@@debrareisdorf309 Smoked for ten years. Started at 15 back in late 50s. What a nasty habit. Don't understand why anyone today would take up the habit with all the warnings.
Elsie M. You're the latest victim of an inexplicable bug in the YT/B+ comments system, in that there is no way to reply to the comment you left elsewhere on this video, so this is really more of a reply to that comment than this one. I personally relish the awkwardness of early TV (and for that matter, early radio and early silents and early talkies!) Dr. Hofman was the dead weight here, I thought. I still say Untermeyer could have been a fine panelist if he'd not been fired due to the blacklist. We don't have too many examples of shows with him to go by, but I find him funny and personable. Arlene did great immediately, though. She brought such a sparkle to even this painful "growing up" phase of the show. She also zeroed in on the first guest's line in her first round of questioning ever. :)
What's My Line? It's interesting to see how the show grew and matured, Gary. But you're not saying you would have continued to watch if all of this preamble to the game continued, are you?
Joe Postove Oh no, I'm not trying to argue that the show should have remained awkward and uncomfortable. It wouldn't have been WML if it hadn't far outgrown its initial awkwardness. I was just saying that I genuinely enjoy the awkwardness of early material, in any media. It illuminates how entertainment grew to be put together more professionally later, and it's also partially just a kick, in the sense of "Well, you'd never see *that* a year later."
What's My Line? I agree with you 100%. But watching them all, is kind of like watching a bunch of old soap operas. Everything about a soap opera from say, 1959 is exciting. The fact that it's live, the staging, organ music, the harsh lighting. But a few is enough. Now it depends on the show. When I discover my cache' of Jack Paar Tonight shows, I shall be so transfixed that I will never go hungry again (or words against that effect). In exiting, I am enjoying the old WML's and I hope you enjoy my criticism. IWWBWS (I wonder what Bennett would say)?
I'll say. I had no idea it was so difficult to come up with a "yes or no" question. And when they did, some of them were so vague, for example, "Does your job involve other people?" They certainly had to work the kinks out and select some better panelists based on what I saw on this episode.
Terrible camera work. 8:20 -- stuff off stage 18:00 -- a person behind the sign- in board. I like the art deco desk. Hard to tell if the lighting is dark or if it is the kinescope that is dark. However the second show improves the first in that the mystery guest comes third. In the first show, Phil Razuto was so completely at the end, Daly had to hurry him off.
soulierinvestments I think it's the kinescope. You can see that often when a new camera shot is taken, it starts off very dark and underexposed and then "self-adjusts" within a few moments. That's not studio lighting, that's a result of the rough early kinescope process.
soulierinvestments I noticed a problem with the sound, too. John's and the contestant's microphone were all the way over to their left, as most talking would be done facing the panel, but while John was facing the standing contestant, he was off mike.
I don't know. They seemed to veer into government/ statistics/ taxes with that guy awfully quickly. Makes you wonder if the panel was tipped off earlier.
Mr. Roosevelt and one of the Hoffmans combine to make a Julius Caesar reference, around 19:16 ("Are you ambitious?" "I am ambitious in my fields of endeavor." "You should be made of sterner stuff.")
He ignored it because Arlene did not ask a direct question, "Are you a lady wrestler?" Arlene frequently does this throughout her entire tenure on WML. She waltzes right up to the answer and then hands it off to another panelist after she did the detective work; and the other panelist correctly guesses it, based upon Arlene's paving the way. It's as if she can't bear to get the correct answer! I find this irritating about her, not charming. She isn't "ladylike" if she shows a competitive spirit. I prefer Dorothy's no nonsense approach. She wants to win and makes no bones about it.
This was mostly not well known but the guests were paid $500 and the panelists $750 for the first few years but as the show grew the panelist made more - so the pissy little $5 is really irrelevant.
I was just thinking that the amount of money that the contestants was paid never changed over the span of seventeen and a half years so there must have been more to it. The contestants were paid for their travel and probably accommodations while there. My guess is that the mystery guest entertainers "payment" was promotion for whatever they were working on at the time.
@@sophiemorrison9820 Many times the Mystery Guests were on the show to plug their latest TV Show/Movie/Concert Tour/Book or whatever. Not all the time, but many times.
21:55 "Did you ever sell Christmas Trees?" I can't find anywhere on the internet any video or audio of Elliot Roosevelt selling Christmas Trees. Does anyone have any clues on this?
Gil Fates wrote that he studied the first episode a half dozen times to figure out why CBS ever encouraged G_T to do a second episode. In the second episode as in the first, despite the troubles, there are plenty of flashes of wit, entertainment, and fun throughout.
soulierinvestments Perhaps a case of overstating his influence on the show? Odd, because obviously, his influence was considerable; there was no need for him knock the debut so harshly to show how drastically he changed everything around! And let's face it: the changes that were required to really turn WML into the show we think of today took literally *years* to be instituted. It's not as if the first 2 shows are so wildly different from the early, awkward shows that followed (based on the few surviving shows of the era to compare against, anyway. . . )
What's My Line? soulierinvestments My understanding is that after the first two shows, they were given an ultimatum RE the third show. It had to be good and it had to attract a sponsor, or the show would be canned. Someone on another post here comments about how Daley's desk was moved in the third episode, which was part of trying to smooth out all the kinks. You both probably know all about this, but perhaps others watching this episode won't.
stlmopoet If I'm not mistaken, Frank Heller, the director for the next 17 years, was also brought on for the third show. It was much improved, no doubt about that, but certainly not the night-and-day difference Fates described. E.g., it took 3 more years before the show had a well balanced panel (when Block was fired and Steve Allen brought on). The two most significant improvements to the format took until the mid 50s to be instituted: getting rid of the free guesses and eliminating the walk of shame. It was a gradual-- very gradual-- process of tweaking, certainly not an overnight transformation. Rough as these first two shows are, I can still easily see the seeds of the greatness to come.
So Mr Roosevelt didn't have five daughters , but in the long run he _did_ marry five women ( he divorced his third in 1950 ) src : wikipedia - quite a fascinating life
That having the contestants do stupid things before the panel was so demeaning and I'm glad that it was later discontinued. The male panelists have brooms shoved up where the sun doesn't shine. If you're just stopping by the later years are fabulous.
Great show but I hate that walk-past the guests had to do and often the panellists were not very sensitive and would ask them to do some quite degrading things. Fancy asking that man to roll up his trouser leg! Glad they stopped doing it later.
Dorothy and Arlene added uplifting tones to these monotonous men. IM sure it had taken trial and error all those years on tv. We all see who were the keepers until fate had taken Our intelligent Charming Dorothy away from us. Dorothy and Arelens Characters Compliment each other while also Challenging each other. A rare and entertaing combination. Still my Favorite Game Show.
![What's My Line? - Guy Lombardo; Betty Furness & Garry Moore [panel] (Dec 31, 1950)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/F7GW7dhealA/mqdefault.jpg)
Adding Arlene was a stroke of genius. She and Dorothy were marvelous, as was John.
It was a stroke of stupidity!!!!! I detest her!!!!!
What do these men even add? I didn't even notice they existed. Daly is a classy character but the rest come off as pompous blowhards.
And Bennet.
Arlene was a much needed breath of fresh air for that stiff panel.
Why did she marry a dork like Gabel?
have you seen the video of her playing the trombone! lol FUNNIEST VIDEO! 😂
I agree; glad they got away from governors and neuropsychologists as time passed!
Can’t believe he was smoking....different time and place.
Always.
What a treat to see Arlene's first appearance as a panelist!. She added so much presence, class, and fun to the show. She looked so pretty and classy, as she did all through the years. Thank you for posting these...another time, another place that we won't be seeing again except in these wonderful films/videos.
The latest fashion trend for men in 1950--elastic-top socks :)
These shows are a fantastic time capsule
With the debut of Arlene Francis, the pieces of the puzzle slowly started to come together.
I never knew that Arlene was a smoker. I guess most of the people in those days smoked on TV.
@@belindaf4584 Was surprised by that, also. She seemed too elegant to smoke. If the director/producer had never modified WML, we would have been deprived of years of entertainment. I only watch these first episodes because they make me appreciate so much what WML became.
If this really was Arlene Francis' first appearance on WML, I'd say she began w/ a real bang, the very first contestant, too!!! It's funny that she was not acknowledged for this, on the show! It was a sign of how great a player she would always be, over the years, imho. She and Dorothy, each in their own way, amazed me, many a time!
Plus, she so brilliantly gets her very first Mystery Guest. What a great addition to WML...I'm sure the producers and cast felt the same. She truly brought a lot to that show, and contributed to its growth and longevity. Btw, ex-Governor Hoffman of NJ wasn't so bad, himself.
It most definitely was her first; this is the second ever episode, and she wasn’t on the first.
@@RobJazzful m
By the time Arlene appeared on What's My Line, she had over a decade of radio/game show host experience. A seasoned pro & a master interlocutor.
All cadavers. Dead and burried.
The earliest panel on WML was simply not what it needed to be. Dorothy Kilgallen was the only original panelist who was any good and adding Arlene Francis was a major improvement -- Arlene's presence on the panel was always an excellent thing, and she would be there until the original WML ended in 1967 and continue on the syndicated version that followed. I'd say the same for Bennett Cerf who showed up 8 months later and lasted until the end of the series in 1967 (and who appeared as a guest panelist from time to time on the subsequent syndicated version, until his unexpected death in 1971). My main complaint about the three men on the original panel -- Richard Hoffman, Louis Untermeyer and Harold Hoffman, is that they seemed rather stuffy to me. WML was at its best when the panelists were there to have a good time and share that with the studio and TV audiences. Here, they tried to be humorous during the "Walk of Shame" by having the contestant stand on on foot and touch her nose, and catch some keys tossed at her -- but I think they came off as jerks. When the panel finally consisted of Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf and anyone else, with John Daly as the moderator, things "clicked" and everything was so much more fun and entertaining.
Well they struck gold with Groucho and Jerry Lewis if you ask me, and they weren't selected as permanent panelists.
BurnRoddy Jerry Lewis? Too egotistical!
The men on the panel were probably all born in the late 19th century or early turn of the century. Interesting backgrounds.
I've seen other episodes with Untermeyer and think he would've been fine (in the Cerf vein) if he had stuck around, and that he was capable of developing comradery with other panelists. Unfortunately, HUAC and private orgs branded him a Communist, the Catholics organized protests at CBS, and they had to let Untermeyer go.
@@BurnRoddy Groucho had become a limelight hog. He knew he was finished in movies and was afraid nobody could strike sparks off him like his kin and La Belle Dumont. As a guest he hijacked shows and irritated his colleagues.
He was okay in charge of non-celebs on 'You Bet Your Life', but nothing else he did after 'A Night in Casablanca' added to his luster. At least his closest female comparator, Mae West, had a brief belated comeback in 'Myra Breckenridge'.
She dominated the show! Can there be any question why only she, of these four, remained?
+ron a. Mr. Untermeyer got blacklisted by the Communist Witchhunt of the '50s so he got forced by protesters to get kicked out of the show...
I can only speculate that Governor Hoffman and Dr. Hoffman were simply obnoxious, rude and sexist, and the producers must have felt they could do better . . . . Dorothy Kilgallen was the only one of the original four who was any good -- adding Arlene was a huge improvement, and so was adding Bennett Cerf.
Absolutely agree. Arlene was the beating heart of WML all through: smart, warm, funny, sometimes a shade risque, never hitting a wrong note.
Add John's prosy affability and Dorothy's formidable forensics and you had a formula that clicked pretty soon... and went on clicking for 15 years in prime time.
No surprise that Miss Francis became the highest paid panelist on TV.
@@ToddSF Yeah, I didn't like Louis Untermeyer trying to take over Arlene's turn!
Arlene got blonder and blonder, as well as prettier and smoother of face as the years went by. Rumor has it she had a discreet facelift along the way - if that's the case, it sure was one of the best.
Arlene Francis was born Arlene Francis Kazanjian and was the niece of Dr. Varaztad Hovannes Kazanjian, whose "pioneering contributions to plastic surgery transformed the new discipline into an esteemed surgical specialty." www.countway.harvard.edu/chm/rarebooks/exhibits/plastic_surgery/page_2.html
Your witness, Mr. Mason.
Who cares? Classy woman miles above those of today.
She was beatiful bombshell yet married to a fat short ugly man in Martin Gabel. That sort of thing never ever happens. If a guy like that gets a gal like her is because he made the world for her and made her simle/laugh every day. She must've been a very very happy lady.
Here's a life fact for ya: A woman ages terribly when she loses her smile.
I take exception to your view of Martin Gabel, he may have been short, but he was neither fat nor ugly. It is also obvious that they adored each other.
@@romeman01 Very interesting info! And especially in Arlene's profession, a sensible thing to do. :))
Wow... This sure is awkward, and almost painful to watch! But very interesting to see the growing pains of WML.
I have to agree. That is the slowest-moving episode of WML? I have ever seen. Fortunately, they were given time to mature, and it became the marvelous panel show we now know and love.
But Arlene smoking? Good God! I'm going out to buy a pack of cigarettes right now! Oops. Too late. I've been smoking a pipe for over 40 years. Blame Bing Crosby.
I thought the same thing...
Quite sexist by 2021 standards, of course.
@@sharonrollings105. And quite racist. Notice the introduction... with negative, racist stereotypes following the White doctor. You have the lazy, sleeping Mexican, the Indian Chief impression of the Native American, and the all-White panel, all-White guests, and all-White audience. Back in the 1950s, America was not all-White. But if you watched TV, or listened to radio, or looked at any advertisement you'd think America was all-White. Really scary.
@@fredchester921 Scary? How do you even function?
Miss Arlene Francis in this case has never aged. She looks as beautiful in 1950 as she will look on match game.
And she was already wearing her signature heart-shaped diamond pendant, a gift from her husband, Martin Gabel. I was dismayed to read that the pendant was stolen from her as she was exiting a taxi in 1988.
Just as important, she had a keen mind to match her charms.
Who killed ms. Kilgalhan?
Plastic surgery works wonders.
@@edwardjtruskyjr1921 herself, accidentally
@@edwardjtruskyjr1921and Preppy: If you're really interested, check out with an open mind the Actual Facts in the books by Lee Israel and Mark Shaw.
Had growing pains in the beginning but developed into one of the best shows of the 50s and 60s
Arlene was astute from the start!
Astute from the start, cute but never a tart! ☺
Thank you so much for these early WML shows! This is clunky for sure, but I was in diapers when my parents and I would've been watching this on our tiny, early television. I recently sold our custom made TV stand, bought around that time, after my dad died in 2010. Stores didn't sell anything specifically to put your TV on yet! I love seeing this show evolve. Arlene, Dorothy, Bennet, et al were "the grownups" and they are an indelible part of my childhood. The memory of All That....
Jonh Daly, earned a very special place as a true gentleman. I should have loved to meet him in person, seems the kind of fellow one would enjoy to sit and have a wonderful chat with.
You should read the whole story about him.
Thank goodness they had the foresight to change the three men on the panel. I don't particularly care for them.
shakakaun1 they must have been known back then. I imagine.
I have no doubt you are correct. My comment was based that IMO they did not bring any personality or chemistry to the show. I found them boring.
The man with the glasses not half bad. But Arlene's head above them all, of course.
I love What’s My Line but, thank goodness Arlene started when she did. Otherwise, based on what I’m seeing here, I don’t think the show would have made it.
The combination of Arlene and Dorothy was the best.
Yes those other panellists in the earliest show were a bit wooden weren't they?lol🤣🎩
I agree with you, 100% and thank goodness the dissed that walk down to meet the panelists snd the free guess . And the "fat a closer look" at challenger. All changes for a better program.
Absolutely right!
💯 Agreed!
Louis Untermeyer suffered major depression when he was booted off this show and became blacklisted. He never walked out of his home for a year. I feel for the guy because I know of others and myself who was clinically depressed to a point that seemed forever lasting. I hate the feeling. He must enjoyed this gig too. What's My Line might not fully came to be if wasn't booted though.
You must be a wonderful person and friend, to be so insightful and thoughtful of those who suffer from depression.
Blacklisted. The Trumpanzees of 1950.
Stephanie McCoy - Why was Mr. Untermeyer blacklisted?
@@shirleyrombough8173 He was accused, probably unfairly, of being a Communist sympathizer. The sponsor of the show stuck with him for a while, but eventually there were so many demonstrators demanding his removal that the sponsor caved and fired him. Bennett Cerf talks about this in a 1968 interview: th-cam.com/video/kxA4UQ3gcbw/w-d-xo.html
Arlene was so special. This show was so slow moving. So glad it changed...
So interesting to see how WML evolved from this early (and rather stilted - except for Ms Francis, of course!) stage. And what a time capsule with the early TV camera work, audio, and John Daly having a ciggie - wow! Glad they managed to improve the card flipping process! And Arlene's blindfold, too ;-)
I remember as a very little girl seeing the blindfolds and thinking they were so cool that I wanted to have the one with the eyes like she had... with eyelashes ☺️☺️☺️
Quite true! No one was quite sure how to proceed. Francis was seminal in opening things up; I suspect it was her more relaxed approach. The show became at once more formal and more natural in just a few years.
These early shows certainly lacked structure and direction, but then, all of television was new, not just the WML show. It looks like the camera men, directors, sound and title guys were still trying to refine their craft. I thought Louis Untermeyer had potential, but the other two men certainly lacked charm.
If you look closely at the 24:15 mark, Arlene is smoking a cigarette, too.
They stayed on low budget $50. Maybe was significant sum in 1950 but not in 1960.
Freeze at 1:27 > > Arlene's legendary heart shaped diamond pendant premiered on WML with her. Louie mentioned that Arlene was a host. Like Dorothy she had both radio and TV broadcasting experience. She hosted "Your Big Moment" on TV as early as 1949. Hard of tell if any of that survived to the present in kinescopes.
That was a gift from her husband, Martin Gabel. It was stolen by a mugger in New York City in 1988. That must have been devastating for her, as Martin died in 1986.
The reason Elliot's answer about being married drew a laugh was because he was married 5 times. He never went to college and refused to go to Harvard . During ww2 he won several important medals, including 12 air medals. He flew 89 combat missions, and claimed he was in the chase plane when Joe Kennedy, Jr. was killed. Roosevelt was discharged at the end of ww2 as a Brigadier General. He wrote 22 mystery novels with the main character being his mother as the detective. He was involved in several scandals' in his life time, but never found guilty of wrong doing. He lived a very interesting life and lived to be 80 years old.
He was married to Faye Emerson, who later was a regular panelist on WML's low brow sister show "I've Got A Secret". According to stories of the time, while she was Roosevelt's wife, she attempted suicide. I guess that was one of the scandals.
I've just now started the endeavour of watching all the episodes.. thank you
You're in for quite a long-- and happy-- journey, then. :)
What's My Line? I know, right? Great stuff.. it's kinda like a historical journey through times... As a European I never saw this show so for me it's very educational as well as entertaining ;)
How are you doing thus far?
I am also making that endeavour, but am already quite familiar with the series.
It was a little trying for me, this time, it gets so much better after 1954.
Matthew Laurence I am really enjoying it, although I must admit that unlike many, I miss cringing my toes over Hal's embarrasing lines .. ;)
Lars Rye Jeppesen You are made off stronger stuff than many of us, I liked him most of the time, but sometimes....pushed the envelope a tad farther than it needed to go. He would have been better suited to 'MatchGame' in the 1970s, or even 'What's My Line' after it was syndicated in 1968. Shame they didn't bring him back for a second chance, every so often, but I gather he turned off comedy once being fired, going into business.
My gosh this panel is totally ridiculously absurd. There is no doubt why Arlene Francis was the only one kept on the panel. She was the only one who knew what she was doing.
I used to think that $50 was no big deal but then I looked up what $50 in 1950 compares in 2019 and found it's over $500!
Arlene had $1000 per episode / maybe later?/ and the rest $500 per episode.
I think I remember my parents saying their mortgage on the house we had first (1950 I think) was $40/month and that Dad only made about the same $40 per week!!! We had lots of Mac and cheese!!!
Arlene got her heart shaped pendant from her husband and wore it on every show 'till she got mugged one evening and the robber stole it.
Did her husband replace it?
He did not replace it, he had been deceased two years. She was mugged in 1988 getting out of a taxi....
@@jrobertmoore9406 Terrible and El Tacko
My mother had a similar heart shaped necklace that she wore on special occasions. Everytime I see Arlene I think of my dearly departed mother. We buried her with that necklace. RIP mom.
@@scotnick59 Much better that her jeweled heart was taken and that her real life heart was not damaged. You can always buy another heart pendant.
Elliott has the voice inflection of his father. It reminded me of how FDR sounded when giving his fireside chats.
Other than Arlene, that panel was duller than a bag of hammers during a snowstorm in January. And I swear - when Arlene introduced that former governor, I was certain she had called him a racketeer not a raconteur! He looked like a crook to me!
+Galileocan g You are right. He was. When he was dying he wrote a confession that he had embezzled $300,000 from the state.
Galileocan g He made that attempted joke on the previous episode.
love the black and white oldies. show more shows thanks
Nick Mad, you didn't add gray color. For gray is more than the black or white.
A gem from the dawn of the television era! Interesting how close the panel was to the host and how every time Daly turned his head, his voice was faint. The imperfections of early TV from a time when so few owned a set. Seeing Francis and Daly smoking was a "treat" in a wierd sort of way ya know. No sponsors and no commercials!
I think if I watched this episode at the original airing I would never have watched another episode. Thank goodness for the change in panelists
OMG, seeing how the show developed over the years, this episode was almost chaotic!😂 I think the radio had a large deal of influence in the early years of television.
The show was definitely still finding its feet here lol🤣🎩
Arlene nailed it three times in a row.
The show had come a long and better presentation since these first shows.
Arlene is wearing the little diamond heart she wore so much of the time.
If we were blind we wouldn’t be watching, but thanks on behalf of the sight impaired, who are listening; this is something the world needs to know.
The heart was a gift from her husband. Later on life it was stolen when she was mugged. It was never recoverrd.
I’m glad the show improved through the years.
"And who's that on your right, Dr. Hoffman?" lol
Three people to my right, there is someone else named Hoffman.
How dumb and confusing was that? It isn't as if they were major celebrities. And they weren't very good. If the psychiatrist was supposed to make the panel more formidable by getting inside of the heads of the guests to figure out their professions, he was a big flop at it, at least in this episode.
John M I'm not worried about you being a stalker. There are a few regulars on the WML channel that I have exchanged a number of posts with. And the majority of them are men. (Of course, one is in Israel, one would appear to be in SF, and I think another one might be in the SF Bay Area as well. and the channel owner is in AZ.)
Anyway, I am well aware of the rudimentary technical aspects of the early broadcasts. And with the show in b&w, I am not basing on how flattering an imagined color might be. When I made my rare comment on Arlene's unflattering dress, I based it solely on style, whether it flattered her figure (as much as one can see), and even did it fit the mood that WML was trying to set in the way John Daly and the other panelists were attired.
One of my talents is that I have a pretty good eye for women's clothing: what works and what doesn't. I've picked out outfits for female friends on numerous occasions and they come back telling me about the compliments they receive. All I can say is if I had discovered a time portal and found myself doing a quantum leap into Arlene's dressing room that evening, I would have told her, don't wear it ... either donate it or burn it!
Of course, that might have changed history as we know it. Edith Keeler would have lived and the Enterprise would vanish ... oh wait, that's a different show.
John M You wrote, "I think I love you."
Oh, John! This is so sudden! I hardly know you. Why I declare, I believe I am positively getting the vapors.
Then again, as far as I know, there is no one in the Partridge Family named John. :-)
i know lol he just sat there like a stoop!
@@loissimmons6558 I always enjoy your remarks!
Surprised that they were able to guess any of the lines at all.
So glad the format improved over the years.
Neither the audience nor the producers knew at the time there was an irony with ex-Governor Hoffman sharing the stage with an income tax collector. When Hoffman died in 1954, his survivors discovered embezzled money in a safety deposit box. Aside -- for years, most states elected governors to two-year or four year terms. New Jersey's governor was elected to a three-year term. 3. Unique. Hoffman's three years corresponded to the Richard Hauptmann trial for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping on New Jersey territory. Hoffman thought the trial was unfair, which was true enough. Hoffman interviewed Hauptmann himself.
Thank you for posting all these episodes!!! I'm really enjoying them! .... Poor Arlene was even having some difficulty with her mask trying to keep it on without falling.
Thanks for posting this. We got our TV in about 1955.
Wow! That was fast! Thank you so much! It made my parents' 58th anniversary! 😊
Marie Katherine Sorry-- what was fast? In any event, I'm delighted to read that your parents enjoyed the video. Assuming I'm interpreting you correctly, that is.
What's My Line? She started a new thread, but I think she was referring to your quick response to her question about Mr. Jim Walsh, who sold garbage cans for Wheeling Steel.Marie Katherine Is Mr. Walsh your father? We WML fans are always interested in hearing from people who may have been or have known contestants on the show. If you have the time to respond, I'm sure we'd all love to hear more about his experiences as a contestant and perhaps a little something about what he's been doing since then.
SaveThe TPC Nice catch, TPC!!
Great stuff from over three years before I was born...and the term disk-jockey was already in use! (I'd guess it was at least ten years before it found it's way east pond, though I may be wrong)...and I love the way it's casually proved that Dorothy Kilgallon didn't invent the handshake routine as part of her allegedly ruthless approach to the show...and there's even a guy there who sounds a bit like Bennet Cerf....thanks as ever for troubling to track down and post this stuff...it's wonderful...
After the live airings of episodes 2 and 3, the original regular panel of Dorothy Kilgallen, Louis Untermeyer, Arlene Francis, and Hal Block was established. It would stay that way, until March 1951.
Hal Block was not someone I enjoyed watching - I’d call him a jerk among other words! I dint even know as of 2024 who he was!
Oh wow, this just went up, I picked a good time to discover this channel
It looks so rude for Daly to sit there while the contestants stand by him, especially the women. Stand up, already, & show some manners.
Arlene was so beautiful and her voice is so calming and soothing.
The men are very stuffy. If not for Arlene the show would have failed.
Im going to re watch....or try to re watch these episode again....Im sure it will take me months.
Elliott Roosevelt certainly had the most colorful life of the Roosevelt sons.
They really cleaned up the interactions, this is the earliest show I seen. I'll have to see how episodes were in 1951...in 1952 they did a great job tightening up the questioning and how it's done. Lots of petty talking on this show, definitely ruins the mood....1952 and on always kept a smile on my face.
I’m surprised in 1950 they didn’t pick out Elliott Roosevelt just cause of his voice. He sounds just like his father.
Strange to see Arlene smoking. And seeing the difficult job John Daly had bringing it all together in those early days. It became a much smoother show.
Holy Smokes! If What's My Line had kept those three lunkheads this show would have never lasted as long as it did!
thank goodness they kept Arlene Francis though!
Three stuffed shirts. Fortunately for them they turned to comedians.
This is such a treat! Thank you so much for uploading these; I hope the millennials and teens take notice of how TV programs used to be; no foul language, great manners and great entertainment!
With creepy men no less *wink*
When sentences weren't laced with the "f" word as their only adjective!
@Helen Weinstock. I agree.
What is it about some people that they can't just appreciate a thing without having to knock the current generation of it? TV shows, music, movies - time and again, if it's an older example, there will be some jerk who can't just praise it but has to put down newer incarnations in the process. There is much about these early episodes that is delightful and genteel. There is also much about these early episodes that is narrow-minded, classist, sexist or unhealthy. I'm a big, big fan of this show, but I don't feel the need to put down all modern programming by extension.
ETA: For what it's worth, incidentally, I'm not taking offense as a member of either of the groups you just slammed. I'm at the older edge of Generation X, nearly a Boomer, simply sick and tired of people knocking whatever the youngest generations are in any given moment.
@@tejaswoman : It wasn't my intention to slam an entire generation. However having said that, this generation of young people, especially teens, don't know what it's like to exist without smartphones, etc. It is vital that they learn from history. Too many of them are becoming narcissistic and only focused on themselves. They need to realize that there's more to interacting with people than just what they're fed on a daily basis. For example, social media and its influencers. There was a time when society functioned very differently, and they need to know that.
Although he wasn't as charming as the panel we are used to seeing, I still like Untermeyer. He even gave Arlene a peck on the cheek when she got the right answer! LOL. He seems a nice man who's not got a TV personality.
stlmopoet I agree. I like Untermeyer on the panel. Even Arlene wasn't the Arlene we came to know as the show progressed. If he'd been able to stick around, I think Untermeyer would have become a fine panelist. Unfortunately, most of the shows with him on the panel are lost.
What's My Line? I like Untermeyer too. he has a quiet, warm sense of humour, that shines through all the 'chit-chat' around him...
SuperWinterborn So there are some of us-- I haven't even see as many positive comments about Untermeyer as I have about Hal Block!
What's My Line? You know what? I like Hal Block too, and to my knowledge, I do mean he was underrated as a comedy writer, and I didn't like the way B. Hope treated him either. I don't mind his "bloopers" on the panel, he was just a big boy, and personally I couldn't care less about his remarks there. :)
SuperWinterborn I defend Hal Block sometimes, too, to be clear. He was a very funny guy, and he could play the game well. But I do think he was all wrong for the show.
I am glad they did away with that walk through at the beginning. Didn't really made me uncomfortable 🤦😂. It might be fun at a house party but I don't know, on TV it just gave me the creeps lol 😅
I do love this show though. I'm having the best time. I was born in 1960 so it's fun seeing the actors too from that basic era and back.
Man, that was awkward...the entire show! Arlene and John were the only saving graces. They add that flicker of casual charm to an otherwise painful viewing experience. I'm sure the psychiatrist fellow didn't help. What a creep.
I should clarify, though, that I always enjoy revisiting these early episodes, regardless of their absurdity at times!
Nor did ex-Gov. Hoffman's wolf-whistle at the last contestant. Did they ask Miss Archer to turn around and face the audience so he could get a good look at her behind?
This was a very fine experiment and tweaking of this type of show. It really evolved as they put in different panelist. Society was going through rapid changes during the1950's. Very interesting to watch. Mr. Daly and Miss Frances look so young here.
Pah, right! Rapid changes...
We were literally best off in the 1930's, the 1950's was the contentment period, the 1960's was when we became the vacation country with a slightly more riled amount of vigor.
This is the last episode with the host's desk attached to the panel's.
"To Tell the Truth" with Bud Collyer, in contrast, underwent a somewhat different change. Originally, the panel was to Bud's left, and the contestants were to his right. This was changed in 1960 to the more familiar setup of the other way around.
When that show came back in 1969 with Garry Moore, the hosts' desk was attached to the panel (on Garry's right), and every version of TTTT after that would follow suit.
I just noticed: Arlene is smoking! I never saw that before! I can't pin the time down, but it is during her questioning of the last player, Karen Archer.
Faith Adams, about 27:20.
Some of these early panelists were born in 1885. Geez.
23:10-23:18 That was so uncalled for. Gov. Hoffman was worse than Hal Block.
People rightfully complain about the loss of manners on contemporary television, but this would be impossible today.
The heart neckless she has on was bought for her by her husband there was 25 diamonds in the heart. It was stole off her neck in New York City, Ny. By a man that grab it off her neck in daylight hours she was elderly up in her 70-80 it was never found. She never took it off after her husband put it on her. She died a lonily hurt lady at 83 years old. In her apartment in NY City. Why any one would steel from an old lady like that is a poor excuse for a person. She was very up set over that lost of the neckless. The person that took it may have taken the diamonds out of the setting and sold them. What a shame because that was a Icon for her and this show.
I had never heard this story that makes me so sad 😞
@@michaelhasenstein7838 Her son lives in Calif. Still does. I miss her and all the ones on What My Line it was a show you could watch with the family and not worry that you had to send the kids out of the room or turn it off for cussing and sex. Was not in the show all though at times there was some real close calls on it. But never went so far as to say it.
Arlene Francis died at the age of 93 on May 31, 2001 in San Fransisco, from Alzheimer's and cancer.
The panel is brilliant
I agree that Arlene added zip and warmth to the panel. Louis Untermeyer, with his distinct NY accent, sounded like a combination of Ed Wynn and Bert Lahr. Also, note that the men did not wear more formal bow ties at that time. Thank you for posting this. Great job.
I’ve always enjoyed the mystery guests from the old days as we are given the chance to see people we only know in newsreels, etc. Although I actually remember seeing Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 along with that Nixon guy who I didn’t like at age 5 and still didn’t like many years later😳😳
Good thing epaddon has the original version of this episode. When this episode last aired (in 2008), GSN edited out Game 4, in order to make way for a commercial break.
Years later, if Arlene or anyone had actually mentioned the line in passing, John was not quite stoic enough (especially here) to not have them guess it right away.
How odd the final contestant's occupation wasn't revealed to the studio and TV audiences.
I listened to the last part three times, and still don't know what her occupation was.
@@slaytonp She taught dancing.
I love this show! There's something about it that is engrossing! It's one of the only shows where the contestant isn't the one playing the game and that makes it so unique and fun.
Since John Qard sent me, I'm highly addicted to this show.
I didn’t think Arlene was a smoker.
"Do you deal with peoples money that is not your own?"
"No"
He's a tax collector..... so glad John Daly took control of that stuff later on.
So little of Louis Untermeyer's WML work survives to the present day, it is hard to tell. I wonder if he did some sort of deliberate absent-minded professor schtick on this program.
Elliott's favorite charity was actually the USSR, but it might have been a bit much to say that on national television.
No studio audience yet. What year did they start using one? Miss Arlene got prettier as time went on.
Sure there's a studio audience-- who do you think's laughing and applauding? :) WML had a live studio audience for its entire run, since the first episode.
. . . and I agree about Arlene!
The most striking thing about these shows is the lack of music. I wonder when they start having a theme.
It's funny to see John Daly smoking on the set :D
Yes, it was a surprise but back then smoking was prevalent. So glad that has changed!!!
@@debrareisdorf309 Smoked for ten years. Started at 15 back in late 50s. What a nasty habit. Don't understand why anyone today would take up the habit with all the warnings.
I could do without Louis Untermeyer on this panel, especially the way he interrupted Arlene and tried to take over the questioning from her.
This walk of shame is so degrading. imagine; asking a grown man to roll up his pants. What's next pushing a peanut with your nose?
Indeed! "Do you mind standing on one heel for a moment?" Uh, yeah, I do, Mr. Creepo Psychiatrist.
Elsie M. You're the latest victim of an inexplicable bug in the YT/B+ comments system, in that there is no way to reply to the comment you left elsewhere on this video, so this is really more of a reply to that comment than this one. I personally relish the awkwardness of early TV (and for that matter, early radio and early silents and early talkies!) Dr. Hofman was the dead weight here, I thought. I still say Untermeyer could have been a fine panelist if he'd not been fired due to the blacklist. We don't have too many examples of shows with him to go by, but I find him funny and personable.
Arlene did great immediately, though. She brought such a sparkle to even this painful "growing up" phase of the show. She also zeroed in on the first guest's line in her first round of questioning ever. :)
What's My Line? It's interesting to see how the show grew and matured, Gary. But you're not saying you would have continued to watch if all of this preamble to the game continued, are you?
Joe Postove Oh no, I'm not trying to argue that the show should have remained awkward and uncomfortable. It wouldn't have been WML if it hadn't far outgrown its initial awkwardness. I was just saying that I genuinely enjoy the awkwardness of early material, in any media. It illuminates how entertainment grew to be put together more professionally later, and it's also partially just a kick, in the sense of "Well, you'd never see *that* a year later."
What's My Line? I agree with you 100%. But watching them all, is kind of like watching a bunch of old soap operas. Everything about a soap opera from say, 1959 is exciting. The fact that it's live, the staging, organ music, the harsh lighting. But a few is enough. Now it depends on the show. When I discover my cache' of Jack Paar Tonight shows, I shall be so transfixed that I will never go hungry again (or words against that effect). In exiting, I am enjoying the old WML's and I hope you enjoy my criticism. IWWBWS (I wonder what Bennett would say)?
Interesting -- this early in the series it seems the panel is still trying to figure out how to play the game, i.e. how to phrase questions, etc.
I'll say. I had no idea it was so difficult to come up with a "yes or no" question. And when they did, some of them were so vague, for example, "Does your job involve other people?" They certainly had to work the kinks out and select some better panelists based on what I saw on this episode.
Arlene seemed to start as though she'd been on the panel for 17 years already. Left the chauvinists in the dust. Brava!
Terrible camera work. 8:20 -- stuff off stage 18:00 -- a person behind the sign- in board. I like the art deco desk. Hard to tell if the lighting is dark or if it is the kinescope that is dark. However the second show improves the first in that the mystery guest comes third. In the first show, Phil Razuto was so completely at the end, Daly had to hurry him off.
soulierinvestments I think it's the kinescope. You can see that often when a new camera shot is taken, it starts off very dark and underexposed and then "self-adjusts" within a few moments. That's not studio lighting, that's a result of the rough early kinescope process.
soulierinvestments I noticed a problem with the sound, too. John's and the contestant's microphone were all the way over to their left, as most talking would be done facing the panel, but while John was facing the standing contestant, he was off mike.
I don't know. They seemed to veer into government/ statistics/ taxes with that guy awfully quickly. Makes you wonder if the panel was tipped off earlier.
Mr. Roosevelt and one of the Hoffmans combine to make a Julius Caesar reference, around 19:16 ("Are you ambitious?" "I am ambitious in my fields of endeavor." "You should be made of sterner stuff.")
Wait... At 5:18 Arlene Francis says, 'If you were a lady wrestler.' So she got it. Why did Daly just ignore that?
He ignored it because Arlene did not ask a direct question, "Are you a lady wrestler?" Arlene frequently does this throughout her entire tenure on WML. She waltzes right up to the answer and then hands it off to another panelist after she did the detective work; and the other panelist correctly guesses it, based upon Arlene's paving the way. It's as if she can't bear to get the correct answer! I find this irritating about her, not charming. She isn't "ladylike" if she shows a competitive spirit. I prefer Dorothy's no nonsense approach. She wants to win and makes no bones about it.
Arlene almost guessed right away! But talk about sexist...making the guy roll up his pants!
This was mostly not well known but the guests were paid $500 and the panelists $750 for the first few years but as the show grew the panelist made more - so the pissy little $5 is really irrelevant.
I've only ever seen that it was the mystery guests who were paid. Do you have a good source that says all guests were paid?
I was just thinking that the amount of money that the contestants was paid never changed over the span of seventeen and a half years so there must have been more to it. The contestants were paid for their travel and probably accommodations while there. My guess is that the mystery guest entertainers "payment" was promotion for whatever they were working on at the time.
I think the mystery guests were expected to donate their money to charity.
@@sophiemorrison9820 Many times the Mystery Guests were on the show to plug their latest TV Show/Movie/Concert Tour/Book or whatever. Not all the time, but many times.
Interesting late Art Deco look in the logo on the front panel of the panel booth.
21:55 "Did you ever sell Christmas Trees?"
I can't find anywhere on the internet any video or audio of Elliot Roosevelt selling Christmas Trees. Does anyone have any clues on this?
Jesus Pete. The camera angles make Miss Weston look like she has SERIOUS 5 o'clock shadow.
Wow, what a SMOOTH operation! lolol
Gil Fates wrote that he studied the first episode a half dozen times to figure out why CBS ever encouraged G_T to do a second episode. In the second episode as in the first, despite the troubles, there are plenty of flashes of wit, entertainment, and fun throughout.
soulierinvestments Perhaps a case of overstating his influence on the show? Odd, because obviously, his influence was considerable; there was no need for him knock the debut so harshly to show how drastically he changed everything around! And let's face it: the changes that were required to really turn WML into the show we think of today took literally *years* to be instituted. It's not as if the first 2 shows are so wildly different from the early, awkward shows that followed (based on the few surviving shows of the era to compare against, anyway. . . )
What's My Line? soulierinvestments My understanding is that after the first two shows, they were given an ultimatum RE the third show. It had to be good and it had to attract a sponsor, or the show would be canned. Someone on another post here comments about how Daley's desk was moved in the third episode, which was part of trying to smooth out all the kinks. You both probably know all about this, but perhaps others watching this episode won't.
stlmopoet If I'm not mistaken, Frank Heller, the director for the next 17 years, was also brought on for the third show. It was much improved, no doubt about that, but certainly not the night-and-day difference Fates described. E.g., it took 3 more years before the show had a well balanced panel (when Block was fired and Steve Allen brought on). The two most significant improvements to the format took until the mid 50s to be instituted: getting rid of the free guesses and eliminating the walk of shame. It was a gradual-- very gradual-- process of tweaking, certainly not an overnight transformation. Rough as these first two shows are, I can still easily see the seeds of the greatness to come.
What's My Line? The third episode is much better than the previous two, IMO, but as you say, nothing like what it would become.
Goodson must have had sadistic streak to keep that walk of shame for so long.
So Mr Roosevelt didn't have five daughters , but in the long run he _did_ marry five women ( he divorced his third in 1950 )
src : wikipedia - quite a fascinating life
Arlene Francis was on Match Game 75 and looked great
Dorothy was needed to liven things up
That having the contestants do stupid things before the panel was so demeaning and I'm glad that it was later discontinued. The male panelists have brooms shoved up where the sun doesn't shine. If you're just stopping by the later years are fabulous.
Great show but I hate that walk-past the guests had to do and often the panellists were not very sensitive and would ask them to do some quite degrading things. Fancy asking that man to roll up his trouser leg! Glad they stopped doing it later.
Yessssss 👍
Dorothy and Arlene added uplifting tones to these monotonous men. IM sure it had taken trial and error all those years on tv. We all see who were the keepers until fate had taken Our intelligent Charming Dorothy away from us. Dorothy and Arelens Characters Compliment each other while also Challenging each other. A rare and entertaing combination.
Still my Favorite Game Show.
I find these early episodes to be fascinating and bizarre.