He was doing an imitation of Tommy Riggs who was a radio personality in the 30's and 40's. Riggs did a high pitched voice for a character called "Betty Lou". If I'm not mistaken Tommy was a regular guest on Rudy Vallee's radio show "The Fleischman's Yeast Hour".
Arlene Francis and Darrin McGavin are The Shape of Things to Come tonight. Five years into the future almost to the month, Arlene and Darrin were cast in the Broadway revival of "Dinner at Eight." He was involved in that memorable mystery guest spot in late 1966 when the entire cast of "Dinner of 8" showed up and Arlene introduced them to the audience. McGavin's "Password" reference is to the first season of the new Goodson-Todman production of the daytime "Password" game show. Dorothy appeared a few times in 1961 in that new production. She and McGavin squared off the week of 13 November.
Man, the audiences were fairly well trained by this time! I just watched a bunch of the first episodes from 1950 and they would start clapping at even a close guess. The fact that Bennett mentioned the subject of the first guest's line and John was able to spin it away for another round of questions was a testament to the audience not spoiling it. Arlene seemed to have the finest tuned radar for audience reaction but Bennett and Dorothy could read them as well.
Darren McGavin was good in anything he did! He should have been a bigger star. But he always worked, I think. See him in "Summertime" with Katherine Hepburn (1955).
Double post, but thanks to WML, I was able to learn that these celebrities/mystery guests are left-handed: Kim Novak Hope Lange Eva Marie Saint Peter Fonda Rudy Vallee Judy Garland Jane Powell Jean Shrimpton James Brown (Syndicated revival) Anthony Perkins Eddie Albert
Harold Lloyd? I can't determine through cursory research if he was left handed all his life, but certainly after the accident that all but destroyed his right hand, he would have had to learn to become left-handed (at least I would think!) The WML show with him isn't posted yet, but it will be at the end of August.
What's My Line? Gary, I forgot to mention Joey Heatherton (the mystery guest on Dorothy's final episode). She, too, is left-handed. Dick Smothers of the Smothers Brothers comedy duo is also left-handed, as well.
+Vahan Nisanian I knew that Anthony Perkins was left-handed because he portrayed baseball player Jimmy Piersall in "Fear Strikes Out". Piersall was a right-handed batter and Perkins looked very awkward in the scenes where he had to swing the bat.
The first contestant, Kerpal Singh (Rocket Designer), had appeared on the 11/6/55 program as a Marine Engineer. I guess they liked the turban. We can't see his kirpan, but it's probably under his clothes.
People have remarked that Kellogg and Allstate still get exposure for their businesses today through these videos, long after they paid to sponsor WML. But times have not been kind to other sponsors. Stopette isn't coming back and neither are Polaroid Land Cameras. Yet in the 1960s and 1970s, Polaroid was one of the hottest businesses in the country.
@tinwoods No, commercials for businesses that still exist today as gaining some benefit from ads here is a point that others raised. My point is that for any business that in theory gets useful but small exposure today through these videos, there is at least one other one that is long gone.
At 13:10 Bennett mentions John Knight of the Akron Beacon-Journal. He began acquiring other papers in the 1930s and later merged his group with another to form Knight-Ridder, familiar to me for a long time as the owner of the San Jose Mercury News, my local paper. In recent years McClatchy bought out Knight-Ridder, so younger folks may not perk up their ears when John Knight is mentioned here.
Darren McGavin was married either two or three times, depending upon whether you believe IMDB or Wikipedia. His final wife, with whom he was married until her death, was Kathie Browne. Among her many roles, she was cast in a recurring role on Bonanza's fifth season (1963-64) as the fiance of Adam Cartwright. Normally romances with any of the Cartwright men led to immediate misfortune for the ladies, but Miss Browne lasted for four episodes as Laura Dayton (after playing two different roles in earlier episodes). While NBC (who owned the show) took great pains to divide billing, lead roles and camera time among their four co-stars, by the fifth season Pernell Roberts was expressing increasing dissatisfaction with his role. The plan was to have Adam become attracted to the young widow Dayton (with the obligatory cute daughter who becomes attached to Adam). It was to culminate with a wedding and then Adam moving "East" with his new family to practice the field he studied in college: engineering. Soon Guy Williams arrives on the scene, a cousin to the Cartwright clan. He was the next phase of the plan: someone with smoldering dark features (already famous for his role of Don Diego/Zorro and well able to replace Roberts in the public's mind) deciding to settle down and stay at the Ponderosa. But then Roberts threw a curve ball. He decided he wanted to stay for the sixth season. So the plot line was changed. Soon a love triangle develops. And in the end, Laura marries Cousin Will Cartwright, not Adam, and the couple moves away. Although Ben's three wives are shown in retrospective roles, I believe that Kathie Browne is the only actress who became a Mrs. Cartwright of that famous clan in a current role. This was 5½ years before she was married to McGavin. While it may have cost Kathie Browne a recurring role on a long-running show that still had many years left (if Roberts was willing to do a couple of guest shots each season), it turned out that Roberts was just as dissatisfied in season 6. While the door was left open for Roberts to return when Adam went to sea and is mentioned occasionally, he never returned. Instead of Guy Williams, David Canary eventually becomes the dark-featured man (Candy) in the Bonanza story lines, although his personality is not similar to that of Adam Cartwright. Kathie Browne never found a path to meaty roles and was generally typecast as a secondary character who was pleasing to the eye. She was second lead during the only season of "Hondo", but found herself more and more shoved aside, getting screen credit without actual appearance. She had one memorable guest shot on Star Trek and another on Kolchak with her husband. But by 1980 at age 50 and knowing those roles were drying up, she had it with the business and retired, content to be Mrs. McGavin. She died in 2003 after 33+ years of marriage (her only marriage). A breast cancer survivor, they had no children together, although McGavin had four children during his 25-year marriage to Melanie York. McGavin passed away in 2006.
Thanks for your good research Lois! Kathie Browne also co-starred in one of my favorite episodes of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." It was entitled: "Bed Of Roses" - Kathie played a delightfully spoiled/wicked young ("Southern Belle") housewife. Cheers to all!
My grandpa had one of those Polaroid cameras. He complained about how expensive the film was. Never wanted to factor in the cost and delay of getting it developed at a local drug store. Ended up giving it to my father, who put it to good use.
Joe Postove I interpret it as being childlike rsther than smug though, don't you? He's like a little boy really is our Bennett....with his 'w' instead of an 'r', his naivete in being over-polite to women and not least, his propensity to cry occasionally. I like Bennett, bless im.
Since nobody else has mentioned it yet, I will..... The play in which Darren McGavin was then appearing on Broadway (and which Arlene Francis mentioned in her introduction of him), "Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole," by James Goldman and William Goldman, had a pretty short run on Broadway. It opened at the Morosco Theatre on Thursday, 5 October 1961, ran there through Friday, 8 December 1961, then re-opened at the Ambassador Theatre the next day (Saturday, 9 December 1961) and ran there for one more week, closing on Saturday, 16 December 1961 after a combined total of 84 performances. The play was set in "the supply room of Headquarters Company of an old established army post in the Middle West. Time: Indian Summer." Darren McGavin played the title character, 1st Lt. Stanley Poole. Also in the cast (alphabetically) were Hy Anzell, Reed Brown, Jr., Peter Fonda, Elizabeth Fraser, Richard Hamilton, J. Talbot Holland, John McMartin, Peg Murray, Nat Polen, Gene Roche, and Robert Weil. The production was directed by Jerome Chodorov, with sets and lighting designed by Donald Oenslager and costumes designed by J. Michael Travis. "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying," on the other hand, was, as we all know, a big, long-running hit on Broadway. It opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Saturday, 14 October 1961, and ran for 1417 performances there, closing on Saturday, 6 March 1965 (a run of 3 years and almost 5 months). Rudy Vallee played J.B. Biggley.
Many people know Jean Shepherd only because they have seen the 1983 film "A Christmas Story", starring Darren McGavin and based on Shepherd's stories. But, like you, I knew him already, having listened to him on radio station WOR. I listened to him, along with my college roommates, from about 1968-1970, when we all should have been studying. But my first exposure to him was around 1960, listening to my father's car radio on a long trip, when Shepherd was on for hours, talking about albino alligators that live in the sewers of New York City.
@@loissimmons6558 I went with my roommate from Columbia to see Jean Shepherd when he gave a live show at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.
Darren McGavin starred in "Riverboat" which was an adventure series on NBC in the early 60s that also included Burt Reynolds. McGavin portrayed a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River in the 1880s.
He also is most famous for his role in Night Stalker, which everyone seems to have missed. Considering X-files was basically a direct descendant of the show, I find this amazing.
"Will you enter mystery guest and sign in please?".....and then you see the Spanish Moss Monster come in ...and when Kolchak takes off his blindfold races across the room and kills it with a spear of bayou gum.
The banter about Bennett dancing in the street make me laugh as I envisioned him performing with Martha and the Vandellas in their great hit of that name. Of course, the song didn't come out until 3 years after this episode, but the image was great fun nevertheless.
I’m relatively but not completely sure Kirpal Singh married a woman named Esther and is still alive (in Roseville). She died in 2002. If it is him, then he has a kid, and was born in 1926. (I am not coming up with other information, alas.)
I don't know, but this is the first guest I've seen on the show who is from my area. I live a few miles from the Aerojet site, which recently moved its operations out of state after so many years in Rancho Cordova CA. In fact I have known some of their rocket engineers. Much of the ground left behind by Aerojet is toxic and is not being developed. The former employee recreation center, perhaps enjoyed by Mr. Singh, is now the property of the LDS church, which has a temple and meeting house there.
In his day, Rudy Vallee was a popular singer, heartthrob and noted Lothario. He boasts in his autobiography about having 50 lovers in his lifetime. Fast forward to Gene Simmons of the band Kiss who talks about having had sex with over 2,000 women. How times have changed.
When Bennett mentioned John Daly's new wife Virginia Warren, it made me wonder if John Daly and Virginia Warren had ever had any children. I noticed that they had 3 together, and he had 2 from his previous marriage. What struck me strange however, was that all four of John Daly's sons had the first name........ JOHN! Could this be correct?? I'm assuming that they all (or many of them) went by their middle names. How could anyone name all their sons by the same first name....?? Is this a mistake on Wikipedia?
It was a tradition in Daly's family to name all male children John and differentiate them using middle names, which is why he went by "John Charles Daly." www.nytimes.com/1991/02/27/obituaries/john-charles-daly-jr-the-host-of-what-s-my-line-dies-at-77.html
Twist music! No kidding, there was a variation of rock and roll of the time that was called "The Twist Beat". And course the top 40 Twisters like Chubby Checker and others who sang Twist songs. Late in 1961 and into 1962 the Twist, after being a big hit with teenagers made a come back (Chubby Checker had a #1 hit with "The Twist" in 1960 and 1962) this time with ADULTS, who adopted this teenage dance and made it into a grownup, cosmopolitan craze. All of the "jetset" and chi chi people in NYC eventually made their way to the Holy of Holies "The Peppermint Lounge" where the Twist was celebrated nightly. It was a lucrative thing too, not just for record sellers, but for all kind of paraphernalia that was in any way connected to the Twist. Put "Twist" on something and you could sell it. It was a cool bridge in the early 60's between the end of so many of the rock and roll stars of the 50's and the advent of the Beatles in 1964. It is remembered with great fondness even today. Chubby Checker, who is now nearly 73 still tours many months out of the year, and the Twisters, most of whom were not even born when he popularized it, are always out in force!
At the 2:22 mark when John Daly is welcoming Darren McGavin to the show.....doesn't it sound like he mispronounces "Darren"? McGavin even seems to have a funny look on his face as if he's trying to figure out if he said it correctly or not.
Rudy Vallee was a complete 'has-been' and his name a virtual joke in the industry WAY back in 1942! Then Preston Sturges had the genius to cast him in The Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert playing a deliciously comic role. He kept reinventing himself.
+poetcomic1 Oh, I loved Rudy Vallee as John D. Hackensacker III.( what a tremendously funny name!) He was very funny there, at least he gets one girl there, not when he was in the Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer as opponent to Gary Grant, also a graet funny performance. But he was a good singer to, Alice Faye had here first "solo performance" together with him back in 1934. He seems to be a funny person in private life to.
poetcomic1 Rudy called a has-been? Hahahaha! Nothing could be further from the truth. He was the first teen idol, in the late 1920's - 1930's. He was extremely talented and popular as a singer, actor, bandleader and on radio. He was active up until 1984. He would often sing through a megaphone, getting the nickname of "the megaphone crooner", starting off with a trademark "YOWZAA, YOWZAA, YOWZAA". He was to these new forms of entertainment what Charlie Chaplin was to film comedy. He was the idol of all those who followed him in entertainment. No, he worked heavily until the style of entertainment (like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra) came along. No, they weren't throwing him a bone nor did he need the measly scale wage they'd page. The man was the godfather of 20'th century entertainment, especially opening up the medium of radio to reach everyone for free. He was "The Man"!
I believe he recorded "Winchester Cathedral" in the 60's and was a "Batman" villain. Besides the Broadway Musical (How to succeed...) , he also performed in the movie of the same name with Robert Morse (Madmen). He was certainly well known to Baby Boomers, as well as the 2 previous generations. Yo-di-do-do!
We are in different times... this entertainment show gave 9 minutes to a Persian rocket designer in a turban. Never would happen today - -wou;dn't want to offend any political feelings, also questions touching on national security. We're much more sensitive to that now...
It still feels so funny that for so long we knew of john's first wife and kids, then suddenly without even a blip, just nothing, and we find out he's married to a brand new person and making more kids. Is this Warren related to Elizabeth Warren today?
I know we get to see the other spouses but do any episodes allow us to see John's wife? I remember looking him up and noting all of his son's were named John
No, indeed. Not a glimpse of John's family in the entire run of WML. It's one of the many subtle indicators of his reserved nature in private life, as opposed to the gregarious, avuncular image he projected on screen.
What's My Line? And all the more mysterious that makes him, I'm sure many fans of the show were eager to see her or his children just because they were mostly hidden. :-)
***** I was surprised when I first began digging around for articles to post to the WML group on Facebook that I found quite a few profiles of John in entertainment magazines that gave a good deal of background on his private life, along with photos of his family. By the time he married for the second time to Virginia Warren, you can find virtually no articles on his personal life at all.
Every single time I've seen a challenger sign their name in an Eastern language, such as here in Arabic, the audience laughs. I just don't get what is funny about Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese characters. Bizarre.
Ignorance and stupidity; like when I was in the USA Army and some one ask me why I wasn't in the Puertorican Army, when Puerto Rico has been part of the USA since 1898 and Puerto Ricans where granted citizenship in 1917.
The audience is anticipating John reading aloud these names on the blackboard, knowing full well that he can't. Similarly, the audience will laugh when a strange or outrageous occupation is revealed. They are not making fun of the challenger, but rather thinking of how tough it will be on the panel.
I never saw them laughing, but I have seen them ever single time show the greatest respect and friendliness to every foreign visitor. Maybe they think it looks like funny squiggles? This was 60 yrs ago
@@atronish and I suppose you know everything about everyone else's country. Don't think so. If you thought that about Americans, I wonder why you came. BTW, there is nothing unusual about different places having their own armies
Idiot please, lol...one guy with a job is your yardstick for measuring racism and prejudice? Meanwhile, millions of students are being blocked in the doorway of Public schools, Churches bombed by Proud Boy Klansmen, voting registration workers beaten and assassinated, all public accommodations legally segregated - but one Arab guy with a job to your brain signals no discrimination. lol Check your mirror...when you no longer see yourself, then maybe.
Dorothy has lost all her glamour of late, last couple of episodes. Her face is pudgey and white. The hair is lank and lifeless. Poor lass, she looks tired. She and Arlene go through patches like this. Meanwhile Bennett always looks fine, week after week!!
***** Well, I hope you see by the use of the dreaded emoticon I was only joshing. I just thought it was mildly amusing-- because the only video that would be directly related to the question would be the show which used the opening for the first time, and neither of us knows which one that was!
soulierinvestments Thank you! My favorite opening by far was the final one (horizontal mismatched puzzle pieces). It was also used on the Syndicated revival from 1968-1974.
There is a definite confusion is it scientific no ?rocket development not scientific huh ? Cerf seeks by ambiguous language to obfuscate rockets versus missile to distinguish a difference between the missile ie to hit something as in a definition as thrown or otherwise propelled to destroy or hit something. Then Daly attempts to keep Cerf involved by his you mean as in used as a Rocket, then both Daly and Cerf just use the word missile very fishy directed by Mr daly and allmost contrived. I know this show was not always on the up and up and somewhat staged for leading answers.
@@robertfiller8634 Why, my good friend Robert? because I happen to like phony antique TV programs from the 1950's and make boring comments to people like yourself here on TH-cam. It beats the hell out of working for a living Bob :-), Gotta go Bob I'm gonna go watch reruns of 'Bonanza' and make some annoying comments just to bug the viewers
![What's My Line? - Janet Leigh; John Payne [panel] (Dec 3, 1961)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-ODGQJvjuR0/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Janet Leigh; John Payne [panel] (Dec 3, 1961)](/img/tr.png)
![What's My Line? - Bob Hope; Martin Gabel [panel] (Nov 19, 1961)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/k-dRR1wYvqY/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Horst Buchholz; Buddy Hackett [panel]; Martin Gabel [panel] (Feb 18, 1962)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3pbKR6_i8EM/mqdefault.jpg)
Rudy Vallee doing an Elmo impression before Elmo existed.
It hardly gets mentioned; however, that vocal disguise of Rudy Vallee's is one of the most funny of that WML period.
soulierinvestments - Agreed! Love it. :D
He was doing an imitation of Tommy Riggs who was a radio personality in the 30's and 40's. Riggs did a high pitched voice for a character called "Betty Lou". If I'm not mistaken Tommy was a regular guest on Rudy Vallee's radio show "The Fleischman's Yeast Hour".
@@METALITHrevetments love that you added this tidbit!
I binge watch so many of these that I forget to comment! GREAT STUFF!!!
Arlene Francis and Darrin McGavin are The Shape of Things to Come tonight. Five years into the future almost to the month, Arlene and Darrin were cast in the Broadway revival of "Dinner at Eight." He was involved in that memorable mystery guest spot in late 1966 when the entire cast of "Dinner of 8" showed up and Arlene introduced them to the audience.
McGavin's "Password" reference is to the first season of the new Goodson-Todman production of the daytime "Password" game show. Dorothy appeared a few times in 1961 in that new production. She and McGavin squared off the week of 13 November.
Man, the audiences were fairly well trained by this time! I just watched
a bunch of the first episodes from 1950 and they would start clapping
at even a close guess. The fact that Bennett mentioned the subject of
the first guest's line and John was able to spin it away for another
round of questions was a testament to the audience not spoiling it.
Arlene seemed to have the finest tuned radar for audience reaction but
Bennett and Dorothy could read them as well.
They could also march in unison to "Babes in Toyland "
Darren McGavin, the original Night Stalker. A magnificent series that didn't run long enough.
Hi It's a shame every time theres good shows they take them off bringing in dumb ones orver the years. 5/20/24 2:10 Pm
Loved Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story.
I have always liked Darren McGavin - Kolchak: The Night Stalker ... have the cds here ...
Don't you mean DVD's instead? CD's are for music. I too was a big fan of Night Stalker.
"A Christmas Story"
Darren McGavin was good in anything he did! He should have been a bigger star. But he always worked, I think.
See him in "Summertime" with Katherine Hepburn (1955).
Double post, but thanks to WML, I was able to learn that these celebrities/mystery guests are left-handed:
Kim Novak
Hope Lange
Eva Marie Saint
Peter Fonda
Rudy Vallee
Judy Garland
Jane Powell
Jean Shrimpton
James Brown (Syndicated revival)
Anthony Perkins
Eddie Albert
and Judy Garland.
soulierinvestments Thank you again!
Harold Lloyd? I can't determine through cursory research if he was left handed all his life, but certainly after the accident that all but destroyed his right hand, he would have had to learn to become left-handed (at least I would think!) The WML show with him isn't posted yet, but it will be at the end of August.
What's My Line? Gary, I forgot to mention Joey Heatherton (the mystery guest on Dorothy's final episode). She, too, is left-handed.
Dick Smothers of the Smothers Brothers comedy duo is also left-handed, as well.
+Vahan Nisanian
I knew that Anthony Perkins was left-handed because he portrayed baseball player Jimmy Piersall in "Fear Strikes Out". Piersall was a right-handed batter and Perkins looked very awkward in the scenes where he had to swing the bat.
Back when both audiences and television were intelligent.
Yeo
The first contestant, Kerpal Singh (Rocket Designer), had appeared on the 11/6/55 program as a Marine Engineer. I guess they liked the turban. We can't see his kirpan, but it's probably under his clothes.
A trip to the barber and he could have been a movie star.
People have remarked that Kellogg and Allstate still get exposure for their businesses today through these videos, long after they paid to sponsor WML. But times have not been kind to other sponsors. Stopette isn't coming back and neither are Polaroid Land Cameras. Yet in the 1960s and 1970s, Polaroid was one of the hottest businesses in the country.
@tinwoods No, commercials for businesses that still exist today as gaining some benefit from ads here is a point that others raised. My point is that for any business that in theory gets useful but small exposure today through these videos, there is at least one other one that is long gone.
At 13:10 Bennett mentions John Knight of the Akron Beacon-Journal. He began acquiring other papers in the 1930s and later merged his group with another to form Knight-Ridder, familiar to me for a long time as the owner of the San Jose Mercury News, my local paper. In recent years McClatchy bought out Knight-Ridder, so younger folks may not perk up their ears when John Knight is mentioned here.
Rudy Vallee was the Elvis Presley of his day...
Don't think so.
@Mark Richardson More like the Frank Sinatra of his day.
Was he Arthur Godfrey's twin brother?
Um... NO he wasn't!
@@rogerpropes7129: Seriously??
Darren McGavin was married either two or three times, depending upon whether you believe IMDB or Wikipedia. His final wife, with whom he was married until her death, was Kathie Browne. Among her many roles, she was cast in a recurring role on Bonanza's fifth season (1963-64) as the fiance of Adam Cartwright. Normally romances with any of the Cartwright men led to immediate misfortune for the ladies, but Miss Browne lasted for four episodes as Laura Dayton (after playing two different roles in earlier episodes).
While NBC (who owned the show) took great pains to divide billing, lead roles and camera time among their four co-stars, by the fifth season Pernell Roberts was expressing increasing dissatisfaction with his role. The plan was to have Adam become attracted to the young widow Dayton (with the obligatory cute daughter who becomes attached to Adam). It was to culminate with a wedding and then Adam moving "East" with his new family to practice the field he studied in college: engineering.
Soon Guy Williams arrives on the scene, a cousin to the Cartwright clan. He was the next phase of the plan: someone with smoldering dark features (already famous for his role of Don Diego/Zorro and well able to replace Roberts in the public's mind) deciding to settle down and stay at the Ponderosa. But then Roberts threw a curve ball. He decided he wanted to stay for the sixth season. So the plot line was changed. Soon a love triangle develops. And in the end, Laura marries Cousin Will Cartwright, not Adam, and the couple moves away. Although Ben's three wives are shown in retrospective roles, I believe that Kathie Browne is the only actress who became a Mrs. Cartwright of that famous clan in a current role. This was 5½ years before she was married to McGavin.
While it may have cost Kathie Browne a recurring role on a long-running show that still had many years left (if Roberts was willing to do a couple of guest shots each season), it turned out that Roberts was just as dissatisfied in season 6. While the door was left open for Roberts to return when Adam went to sea and is mentioned occasionally, he never returned. Instead of Guy Williams, David Canary eventually becomes the dark-featured man (Candy) in the Bonanza story lines, although his personality is not similar to that of Adam Cartwright.
Kathie Browne never found a path to meaty roles and was generally typecast as a secondary character who was pleasing to the eye. She was second lead during the only season of "Hondo", but found herself more and more shoved aside, getting screen credit without actual appearance. She had one memorable guest shot on Star Trek and another on Kolchak with her husband. But by 1980 at age 50 and knowing those roles were drying up, she had it with the business and retired, content to be Mrs. McGavin. She died in 2003 after 33+ years of marriage (her only marriage). A breast cancer survivor, they had no children together, although McGavin had four children during his 25-year marriage to Melanie York. McGavin passed away in 2006.
Yawn...
About half way thru I lapsed into a coma. I'm sorry, though I appreciate the research
I very much appreciate the commentary and the TV history.
How could you possibly miss the Night Stalker series.
Thanks for your good research Lois! Kathie Browne also co-starred in one of my favorite episodes of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour." It was entitled: "Bed Of Roses" - Kathie played a delightfully spoiled/wicked young ("Southern Belle") housewife. Cheers to all!
John slipped up when he let Arlene have two questions just before she figured out it was Rudy. That was a great voice he used.
My grandpa had one of those Polaroid cameras. He complained about how expensive the film was. Never wanted to factor in the cost and delay of getting it developed at a local drug store. Ended up giving it to my father, who put it to good use.
Bennett always got that "cat having gotten into the milk grin" whenever he thought he was on to something.
Joe Postove I interpret it as being childlike rsther than smug though, don't you? He's like a little boy really is our Bennett....with his 'w' instead of an 'r', his naivete in being over-polite to women and not least, his propensity to cry occasionally. I like Bennett, bless im.
Not just then. He always grinned broadly and warmly whenever the line was revealed and at many other moments. I think he was just a nice, smiley guy.
Can't stand him
@@davidsanderson5918 You have a good point, Dave. I would prefer that you are right. I love Bennett!
@@icturner23 Avuncular!
Since nobody else has mentioned it yet, I will.....
The play in which Darren McGavin was then appearing on Broadway (and which Arlene Francis mentioned in her introduction of him), "Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole," by James Goldman and William Goldman, had a pretty short run on Broadway. It opened at the Morosco Theatre on Thursday, 5 October 1961, ran there through Friday, 8 December 1961, then re-opened at the Ambassador Theatre the next day (Saturday, 9 December 1961) and ran there for one more week, closing on Saturday, 16 December 1961 after a combined total of 84 performances. The play was set in "the supply room of Headquarters Company of an old established army post in the Middle West. Time: Indian Summer." Darren McGavin played the title character, 1st Lt. Stanley Poole. Also in the cast (alphabetically) were Hy Anzell, Reed Brown, Jr., Peter Fonda, Elizabeth Fraser, Richard Hamilton, J. Talbot Holland, John McMartin, Peg Murray, Nat Polen, Gene Roche, and Robert Weil. The production was directed by Jerome Chodorov, with sets and lighting designed by Donald Oenslager and costumes designed by J. Michael Travis.
"How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying," on the other hand, was, as we all know, a big, long-running hit on Broadway. It opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Saturday, 14 October 1961, and ran for 1417 performances there, closing on Saturday, 6 March 1965 (a run of 3 years and almost 5 months). Rudy Vallee played J.B. Biggley.
The greatest voice I ever heard by a mystery guest, Right Dorothy ?
Also, Andy Williams and Tony Randall were also very good.
So many did so including Shelly Winters, Spring Bryington and others
BUMPUSES!!!
(Yes, I was a big fan of Jean Shepard, discovering his radio show on WOR-AM and becoming an avid listener when I was in high school.)
Many people know Jean Shepherd only because they have seen the 1983 film "A Christmas Story", starring Darren McGavin and based on Shepherd's stories. But, like you, I knew him already, having listened to him on radio station WOR. I listened to him, along with my college roommates, from about 1968-1970, when we all should have been studying. But my first exposure to him was around 1960, listening to my father's car radio on a long trip, when Shepherd was on for hours, talking about albino alligators that live in the sewers of New York City.
@@jackkomisar458 1968-70 was when I listened to him in high school. And I saw him live one time when I was going to college at Cornell.
@@loissimmons6558 I went with my roommate from Columbia to see Jean Shepherd when he gave a live show at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.
John Daly called Darren "Darrell"; very gentlemanly, Darren didn't correct him
Twice!
sure did, good catch
Darren McGavin starred in "Riverboat" which was an adventure series on NBC in the early 60s that also included Burt Reynolds. McGavin portrayed a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River in the 1880s.
he's also in A Christmas Story 🙂 He would've been 100 this year. May he rest in peace.
He also is most famous for his role in Night Stalker, which everyone seems to have missed. Considering X-files was basically a direct descendant of the show, I find this amazing.
@@timd4524: It was mentioned above in a post from 7 years ago.
"Will you enter mystery guest and sign in please?".....and then you see the Spanish Moss Monster come in ...and when Kolchak takes off his blindfold races across the room and kills it with a spear of bayou gum.
The banter about Bennett dancing in the street make me laugh as I envisioned him performing with Martha and the Vandellas in their great hit of that name. Of course, the song didn't come out until 3 years after this episode, but the image was great fun nevertheless.
I wonder if John Daly knew who Darren McGavin was? He, at least at the halfway point has called him "Darryl" twice, I think!
Wouldn't know him if they fell on each other
@@joeambrose3260 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’m relatively but not completely sure Kirpal Singh married a woman named Esther and is still alive (in Roseville). She died in 2002. If it is him, then he has a kid, and was born in 1926. (I am not coming up with other information, alas.)
I don't know, but this is the first guest I've seen on the show who is from my area. I live a few miles from the Aerojet site, which recently moved its operations out of state after so many years in Rancho Cordova CA. In fact I have known some of their rocket engineers. Much of the ground left behind by Aerojet is toxic and is not being developed. The former employee recreation center, perhaps enjoyed by Mr. Singh, is now the property of the LDS church, which has a temple and meeting house there.
* whistles *
Oh Dorothy! It's about time she went for the one sided strap look
Darren McGavin...Liked him in Mike Hammer TV show..
Mike would have figured it out sooner.
Oh yeah, I remember the first time that rocket designer was on WML.... oh boy...
@tinwoods Just that I felt old, having watch all episodes since the beginning... :)
thank YOU
The first contestant, Kerpal Sing must have been nervous when he buttoned the wrong button on his coat.
In his day, Rudy Vallee was a popular singer, heartthrob and noted Lothario. He boasts in his autobiography about having 50 lovers in his lifetime. Fast forward to Gene Simmons of the band Kiss who talks about having had sex with over 2,000 women. How times have changed.
In the opening intros, I swear that Mr. Daly said, Darryl McGavin! And again at 15:06.
Ok I'll say it...."fra-jeeee-lay"
YOU USED UP ALL THE GLUE ON PURPOSE!!!
“I won a major award!”
".....Must be Italian"
@@chrisfinch8637 "Not a finger!!!!"
Love Darren McGavin on A Christmas Story
John mentioned the year 1955. I was in first grade at Mt. Carmel Grammar School.
*_ROCKET DESIGNER_*
*_DOES UNDERWATER ACT IN NIGHTCLUBS_*
1:07 22 years later, he was a turkey fiend.
When Bennett mentioned John Daly's new wife Virginia Warren, it made me wonder if John Daly and Virginia Warren had ever had any children. I noticed that they had 3 together, and he had 2 from his previous marriage. What struck me strange however, was that all four of John Daly's sons had the first name........ JOHN! Could this be correct?? I'm assuming that they all (or many of them) went by their middle names. How could anyone name all their sons by the same first name....?? Is this a mistake on Wikipedia?
It was a tradition in Daly's family to name all male children John and differentiate them using middle names, which is why he went by "John Charles Daly." www.nytimes.com/1991/02/27/obituaries/john-charles-daly-jr-the-host-of-what-s-my-line-dies-at-77.html
check out George Foreman's children !
Galileocan g Makes it easier to call them all for dinner and also to get one in particular.
I had a friend named William and he named all 6 of his sons Willam. All mostly went by their middle names.
What became of this old-fashioned American courtesy?
Its sort if surprising that neither of John's wives stopped the conferences.
What do you mean? Told him not to speak privately, while onscreen, to a guest?
Fra-gil-lee!
Rudy Vallee was 0 for 6 June 15-19 1964 on his Price Is Right panel appearances. (Johnny Gilbert hosted.)
Rodney Dangerfield was Rudy Vallee's conceptual progeny.
Dorothy's hot litte dress!
Ooh, how did Arlene Francis guess that was him? That was an ingenious voice disguise.
Persia no longer exists. It is now Iran.
What a dress on Dorothy.
It looks like she just came from the Peppermint Lounge (Twist Headquarters).
Joe Postove
I guess that explains why Darren McGavin makes that reference at the end of the show (24:34).
SaveThe TPC What was the date of this, it must be late '61 or early '62. One cannot underestimate the mania of the Twist in those days.
Joe Postove
It's Nov.26, 1961 -- good call. I thought Dorothy detested rock & roll, though. To what kind of music would she dance the twist? :)
Twist music! No kidding, there was a variation of rock and roll of the time that was called "The Twist Beat". And course the top 40 Twisters like Chubby Checker and others who sang Twist songs. Late in 1961 and into 1962 the Twist, after being a big hit with teenagers made a come back (Chubby Checker had a #1 hit with "The Twist" in 1960 and 1962) this time with ADULTS, who adopted this teenage dance and made it into a grownup, cosmopolitan craze. All of the "jetset" and chi chi people in NYC eventually made their way to the Holy of Holies "The Peppermint Lounge" where the Twist was celebrated nightly. It was a lucrative thing too, not just for record sellers, but for all kind of paraphernalia that was in any way connected to the Twist. Put "Twist" on something and you could sell it. It was a cool bridge in the early 60's between the end of so many of the rock and roll stars of the 50's and the advent of the Beatles in 1964. It is remembered with great fondness even today. Chubby Checker, who is now nearly 73 still tours many months out of the year, and the Twisters, most of whom were not even born when he popularized it, are always out in force!
John keeps calling Mr McGavin Darrell ...
My father was a master at cursing....
Thus is hilariously competitive hahaha
WOW A Polaroid of Little Debbie!
At the 2:22 mark when John Daly is welcoming Darren McGavin to the show.....doesn't it sound like he mispronounces "Darren"? McGavin even seems to have a funny look on his face as if he's trying to figure out if he said it correctly or not.
Daly calls him Darrell three times in total, but later calls him Darren correctly twice.
you're right....in the outtakes...Darren smiles and says....my name isn't Darren...its Kolchak and then proceeds to nail a wooden stake into him
Rudy Vallee was a complete 'has-been' and his name a virtual joke in the industry WAY back in 1942! Then Preston Sturges had the genius to cast him in The Palm Beach Story with Claudette Colbert playing a deliciously comic role. He kept reinventing himself.
+poetcomic1 Oh, I loved Rudy Vallee as John D. Hackensacker III.( what a tremendously funny name!) He was very funny there, at least he gets one girl there, not when he was in the Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer as opponent to Gary Grant, also a graet funny performance. But he was a good singer to, Alice Faye had here first "solo performance" together with him back in 1934. He seems to be a funny person in private life to.
poetcomic1 Rudy called a has-been? Hahahaha! Nothing could be further from the truth. He was the first teen idol, in the late 1920's - 1930's. He was extremely talented and popular as a singer, actor, bandleader and on radio. He was active up until 1984. He would often sing through a megaphone, getting the nickname of "the megaphone crooner", starting off with a trademark "YOWZAA, YOWZAA, YOWZAA". He was to these new forms of entertainment what Charlie Chaplin was to film comedy. He was the idol of all those who followed him in entertainment. No, he worked heavily until the style of entertainment (like Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra) came along. No, they weren't throwing him a bone nor did he need the measly scale wage they'd page. The man was the godfather of 20'th century entertainment, especially opening up the medium of radio to reach everyone for free. He was "The Man"!
I believe he recorded "Winchester Cathedral" in the 60's and was a "Batman" villain. Besides the Broadway Musical (How to succeed...) , he also performed in the movie of the same name with Robert Morse (Madmen). He was certainly well known to Baby Boomers, as well as the 2 previous generations. Yo-di-do-do!
We are in different times... this entertainment show gave 9 minutes to a Persian rocket designer in a turban. Never would happen today - -wou;dn't want to offend any political feelings, also questions touching on national security. We're much more sensitive to that now...
There's a bit of Ed Harris about Darren McGavin's looks
It still feels so funny that for so long we knew of john's first wife and kids, then suddenly without even a blip, just nothing, and we find out he's married to a brand new person and making more kids. Is this Warren related to Elizabeth Warren today?
no, another politician named Warren, Earl Warren, earlier Gov of Calif and at this time Chief Justice, was the father of John's second wife
😄😄😄😄😄😄
I know we get to see the other spouses but do any episodes allow us to see John's wife? I remember looking him up and noting all of his son's were named John
No, indeed. Not a glimpse of John's family in the entire run of WML. It's one of the many subtle indicators of his reserved nature in private life, as opposed to the gregarious, avuncular image he projected on screen.
What's My Line? And all the more mysterious that makes him, I'm sure many fans of the show were eager to see her or his children just because they were mostly hidden. :-)
***** I was surprised when I first began digging around for articles to post to the WML group on Facebook that I found quite a few profiles of John in entertainment magazines that gave a good deal of background on his private life, along with photos of his family. By the time he married for the second time to Virginia Warren, you can find virtually no articles on his personal life at all.
What's My Line? Perhaps Virginia was more private and therefore was the driving force of their non-limelight
Bambi Harris, I wonder if it had anything to do with the fact that she was the daughter of Chief Justice Earl Warren.
Every single time I've seen a challenger sign their name in an Eastern language, such as here in Arabic, the audience laughs. I just don't get what is funny about Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese characters. Bizarre.
Ah yes things your average Americans were familiar with in the 50s. Hell I giggle like a fool being introduced to mundane things everyday.
Ignorance and stupidity; like when I was in the USA Army and some one ask me why I wasn't in the Puertorican Army, when Puerto Rico has been part of the USA since 1898 and Puerto Ricans where granted citizenship in 1917.
The audience is anticipating John reading aloud these names on the blackboard, knowing full well that he can't. Similarly, the audience will laugh when a strange or outrageous occupation is revealed. They are not making fun of the challenger, but rather thinking of how tough it will be on the panel.
I never saw them laughing, but I have seen them ever single time show the greatest respect and friendliness to every foreign visitor. Maybe they think it looks like funny squiggles? This was 60 yrs ago
@@atronish and I suppose you know everything about everyone else's country. Don't think so. If you thought that about Americans, I wonder why you came. BTW, there is nothing unusual about different places having their own armies
Not Necessarily Always but *Of COURSE* Rockets are/can be Dangerous ! 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨😬😶
So much for american racism and prejudice an Indian making sure the defense is combat ready to defend against any foe attack .
Idiot please, lol...one guy with a job is your yardstick for measuring racism and prejudice? Meanwhile, millions of students are being blocked in the doorway of Public schools, Churches bombed by Proud Boy Klansmen, voting registration workers beaten and assassinated, all public accommodations legally segregated - but one Arab guy with a job to your brain signals no discrimination. lol Check your mirror...when you no longer see yourself, then maybe.
Dorothy has lost all her glamour of late, last couple of episodes. Her face is pudgey and white. The hair is lank and lifeless. Poor lass, she looks tired. She and Arlene go through patches like this. Meanwhile Bennett always looks fine, week after week!!
There is a consistent pattern. Arlene goes from very good to great looking; Dorothy from bad looking to worse.
Off-topic, but when exactly did the opening with the man juggling on a unicycle debut? That one is my second-favorite of the WML openings.
I don't know off hand myself-- but I had to comment to ask, how is this question off topic on a WML video? :)
Because it was not directly related to the video. Maybe I should have said "kinda" in my sentence?
***** Well, I hope you see by the use of the dreaded emoticon I was only joshing. I just thought it was mildly amusing-- because the only video that would be directly related to the question would be the show which used the opening for the first time, and neither of us knows which one that was!
The animated opening with the juggler and back end of the horse started on 8 April 1962.
soulierinvestments Thank you! My favorite opening by far was the final one (horizontal mismatched puzzle pieces). It was also used on the Syndicated revival from 1968-1974.
Kirpal Singh in Persian/Shahmukhi rather than Gurmukhi! Wahjiwah!
Here he is in November 1955, (after Harry Belafonte): th-cam.com/video/mm92bgXrrQA/w-d-xo.html
It is amusing how makeup was left off on panelists' ears; they have very pale ears compared to their faces. Looks spooky.
I think you may be the only viewer watching WML who stares at ears.
There is a definite confusion is it scientific no ?rocket development not scientific huh ?
Cerf seeks by ambiguous language to obfuscate rockets versus missile to distinguish a difference between the missile ie to hit something as in a definition as thrown or otherwise propelled to destroy or hit something. Then Daly attempts to keep Cerf involved by his you mean as in used as a Rocket, then both Daly and Cerf just use the word missile very fishy directed by Mr daly and allmost contrived. I know this show was not always on the up and up and somewhat staged for leading answers.
Persian? On the other show it was Urdu, wtf? And he has a Punjab name, wtf?
TruthfulImmigrant I agree the letters are Arabic, writes right to left as Arabic is, he's not Persian
Rudy Vallee was an obnoxious and miserable person.
This program was so phony.....come on they knew who the mystery guest (ha!) was before he or she even came out
If you find it so phony, why are you watching it? And, why are you boring us with your comments?
@@robertfiller8634 Why, my good friend Robert? because I happen to like phony antique TV programs from the 1950's and make boring comments to people like yourself here on TH-cam. It beats the hell out of working for a living Bob :-), Gotta go Bob I'm gonna go watch reruns of 'Bonanza' and make some annoying comments just to bug the viewers
@@spactick Fair enough! Sorry I was nasty with you. You have a good sense of humor and strike me as a genuine nice guy.
@@robertfiller8634 ha! no prob dude, remember it's only TH-cam, we're not drafting a new constitution