Leslie Uggams was a marvelous entertainer and she is still with us at age 77. Notice how Tony Randall claps for all the mystery guests. Michelle Lee looked great here. Thanks for the video.
Leslie Uggams started in show business as a child in 1950, playing the niece of Ethel Waters on Beulah. Uggams made her singing debut on the Lawrence Welk Show and was a regular on Sing Along with Mitch.
I came here for beautiful Leslie. So fun to see whats my line with Mr Daly. Love game shows from my childhood when some shows were in black x white and some in color. Gorgeous lady and great talent.
The interesting thing about live TV are the little local New York vignettes that viewers in the west get -- like Daly's comment about horrid New York weather and be grateful if you have nice weather where you live. One of the better of Martin Gabel's introductions. Admirable roundness of style.
I checked the next day's Times online; it was unseasonably cold and rainy. The temperature on Sunday, May 7 ranged from 41 (at 3:55 p.m.!) to 44 degrees F., with 1.14 inches of rain between 7 am and 7 pm. Normal mean temperature for the date is 60 (average throughout the day). Coldest ever recorded on the date was 37F.
It must have been a nasty weekend on the east coast. On Friday May 5, the Astros played the Mets at Shea Stadium and the Dodgers played the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. No games between these teams were played on Saturday or Sunday, meaning that they were postponed due to weather. And I can imagine it would have been really chilly and nasty in southern New Hampshire where the Tilton School is located.
I noticed that when the occupation of the school bus driver (Judy Kochy) was superimposed over her face, the two "OO"s in the word school almost perfectly covered her eyes as if they were glasses. But I doubt that this was done on purpose. Just another weird WML moment.
They really got Leslie Uggams in just a few questions! Adolph Green (Phyllis Newman's husband) and Betty Comden wrote the play Leslie was in. We'll see them as Mystery Guests real soon!
Actually, Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote just the lyrics, not the book, for "Hallelujah, Baby!" Arthur Laurents wrote the book for that show. And Jule Styne wrote the music - as he and Comden and Green had collaborated on "Bells Are Ringing" and "Subways Are For Sleeping" before this show.
I remember when I saw a game show hosts week of Syndicated "Family Feud" (w/Richard Dawson) from 1983, and Leslie Uggams was on one of them. I was thinking what she had to do with game shows, and I find out that she hosted the short-lived "Fantasy" with Peter Marshall.
BV Yes, and he was one of the folks who dragged the intruder offstage in the earlier Melina Mercouri show, and he was shown on camera in the finale (I was reminded of all this by folks in the WML Facebook group.) Still, it's a rare on camera appearance.
The Broadway musical that Martin referred to - HALLELUJAH, BABY! (written by Jule Styne, Adolph Green, Betty Comden and Arthur Laurents) - was first written for and offered to Lena Horne with the lead role of Georgina in mind; but Horne declined.The part and musical were then rewritten for Leslie Uggams, who won a 1968 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical. The play itself, which ran for 293 performances from April 1967 to January 1968, won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Producer of a Musical, and also won a Tony for Lillian Hayman for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical...
When Michelle Lee asks if Gin is bought in a special type of store, I think John (particularly when he mentions rules and regulations, which Bennett would have picked up on immediately, I think) by explicating the various ways the product is packaged and marketed, he gives too much away.
Easier than constructing those buildings. I never heard of a window washier dying on those buildings but people were killed while they were being built. There are very famous pictures of construction workers sitting on beams 1000 feet off the ground and eating their lunch.
***** The only reason I spend time adding back in the closing credits when I have an alternate copy is so that people will have a chance to go to the bathroom between videos.
What's My Line? Guffaw! :) But seriously, I am among those who truly appreciate having the end credits back the way they belong. (I'm also one of those people who insists on staying to the very end of the credits of every movie I see either at home or in theaters -- much to the annoyance of my family! ;) )
SaveThe TPC I view the end credits of movies and TV shows as important, because they list all the people who came together to make them. The people who worked backstage on WML worked every bit of hard on them, as those in front of the camera.
That embarrassing moment when you come on "What's My Line?", hoping to promote your product and you hear your major competitor's products promoted first. I am familiar with Beefeater's, Gordon, Tanqueray, and Gilbey's brands of gin. My dad wasn't so much for martinis, but he would have a gin and tonic on occasion (as would I before I stopped drinking) or a Tom Collins on occasion. I can remember the bottles in his liquor cabinet (and the occasional print ad). The term that fascinated me for years was "sloe gin". Then I found out that it wasn't spelled with a "w".
Interesting. The last contestant from New Jersey has exactly the same haircut as Shirley MacLaine pictured on the album sleeve of the Sweet Charity soundtrack, sipping a coffee.....(the thing being set in Manhattan of course). Even down to the little flick of hair in front of the ears. I wonder if it had a name.....a 'Manhattan' or something. :)
Ms Uggams starred in "Hallelujah Baby!" wirtten by Arthur Laurents, Julie Styne, Adolph Green, and Betty Comden. It was about black civil rights in the early 20th century. It ran on Broadway a little under 300 performances. In 1967, probably it was too close to home and too close to the truth to be really entertaining.
Leslie Uggams won a Tony for her performance. Despite the fame of the composer and lyricist, when I saw the list of the songs from the show, I had never heard of any of them.
soulierinvestments Yes, the empire waist was very popular in the late 60s, and a good choice for mature women, compared to the mini-skirt/dress. Unfortunately many mature women found a new youth in wearing mini-skirts, which made me, even as a child, turn my head away, embarrassed on their behalf. I'm maybe old-fashioned, but I still don't find mini-skirts to be elegant or classy at all. Not even if you have legs to wear such things.
if I were the Empire State Building I would say "just leave the top floors dirty, the rain will clean them. It's too dangerous for you guys". I wonder if anyone was ever killed washing windows there?
+Joe Postove Only King Kong. Turns out that airplane attack on him was all a huge misunderstanding. He was only trying to get a smudge off of Fay Wray's window.
***** I think she was an excellent panelist -- perhaps even better than Sue Oakland, whom I also like. I was confused by Martin's introduction of her, though and decided to do a little research to try to figure it out. He mentions the Huxley family, who, according to Wikipedia, "is a British family of which several members have excelled in scientific, medical, artistic, and literary fields. The family also includes members who occupied senior public positions in the service of the United Kingdom." By "the Cecils" he may be referring to a long line of British nobility, though I'm less sure about that. Again, according to Wikipedia, "The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military." However, Michele Lee has nothing to do with that Lee family, and in fact, Lee isn't even her family name! She was born "Michele Lee Dusick," but, much like Arlene Francis Kazanjian, decided to use her first and middle names as her stage name.
Jeff Vaughn I noticed that she and Stefanie Powers look alike, and have a few things in common. 1) Both women were born and raised here in Los Angeles. 2) Both women first started working in the 1960's. 3) Both women are fairly tall. 4) Both women are of Eastern European descent. 5) Both women starred in Disney films of the Herbie series. ("The Love Bug" and "Herbie Rides Again" respectively")
+Larry Teren That's what I thought as well. Nixon is now considered part of Edison (NJ) and part of the NYC metro area. I live about 25 miles north of Edison as the crow flies and in a similar suburban area. I was in high school in May 1967 and it was mixed in my county at this time: some school districts outsourcing their bus service to private companies and some providing bus transportation on their own. But the trend has been towards outsourcing. It is a rare school district now that has its own fleet of buses.
@@loissimmons6558 It is a bad trend. When districts own their own buses, they can provide transportation following after school activities. The schools that I am familiar with that use contractors for bus service cannot afford to pay for more than runs at the beginning and end of the school day. With parents not home and unable to drive their kids home, students have to leave at the end of the day and cannot participate in extracurricular activities at school. Harms low income students the most, as do so many ways that schools operate.
This show looks old-fashioned and conservative due to the men's bow ties and dinner jackets and the ladies remaining seated to shake hands, but it was progressive in presenting female bus drivers and black performers without making a big fuss about either - it seemed normal. I wonder if there's an issue of unequal pay for men and women who do work of equal value in the USA? It's not the job of this show to explore that - I was just thinking out loud!
I notice that John uses the phrase now and then "oh heavenly days". This was once a very famous "catch phrase" but by 1967 it was losing it's punch as it was more nostalgic, even than it was 20 years before. Without looking, can you people refer to it's once popular usage and name where it's from? I'll give you a clue: Radio.
I can't wait. It was Fibber McGee And Molly! One of the most popular shows ever on radio. It was on for 25 years! Why do I feel like an old cowboy listening to the sound of the breeze of a deserted saloon at my back?
So..after all this promotion of TR's record, did he manage to bring back vaudeville? Or did he put the last nail in it's coffin? I wonder if as late as 1967 the old vaudeville chains (Keith, Albee, others) were still operating in any form at all?
My impression is that the last vestiges of vaudeville died in the late 1940s, with the phenomenal growth of and attention to a product called "television." After all, why pay to see what you can see for free on TV?
Vaudeville was pretty much killed off, dead, by talkies. Even the Palace Theater, the most important vaudeville theater in the country, had basically stopped having primarily live revues in favor of showing films by the early 1930s. There was a whole army of former vaudevillians who were displaced from show business by talkies and the end of vaudeville. Fred Allen was known as one of the easiest touches in the world when it came to helping former vaudevillians. He was a wealthy man, but led a very modest life with Portland, preferring to give his money to people who needed it, whether they be street beggars, or folks who appeared on a bill with him once in Kansas City in 1923.
Gibley's title superimposed over the board is hand made. I suspect somebody misspelled the professionally-prepared card and had to make a new card. Or someone forgot . . .
SaveThe TPC Come to think of it, "Hand lettered" may be a better way to express it. Compare the font style and spacing between letters of the Gibley card superimposed over the sign -in board with the font and letter spacing on the card used to reveal his line. For a good look at what a professionally-prepared card looked like, refer to Maurice Chavalier's 1963 WML mystery guest appearance where he actually shlepped across the stage and signed the art work card off to the side.
+soulierinvestments The shape of the letters leads me to believe that this sort of title is done with movable white plastic letters on a black cloth backing which is "corrugated" in horizontal folds; on the back of each letter there's a tab which is inserted into the slot between two folds of the black backing. This kind of sign used to be common in places like hotels for display boards telling what group was in each meeting room. Every one of those I can remember used these squarish letter shapes with corners chopped at 45-degree angles instead of being rounded. By the way, speaking of misspellings, the guest and the gin are Gilbey, not Gibley.
What do you think Martin means when he introduces Michele Lee as being part of a great (theatre) family? I can’t find any evidence that she was part of a theatre or entertainer family.
I’m wondering if he meant family as in a married couple, Possibly referring to the fact that both she and her husband(James Ferrentino) were great theatre actors. I don’t think he meant her family of origin
RE: Martin's comment about his private life being his own. And the laughter about his limited knowledge of liquor. I read a biography of Irwin Shaw that in its chapter about "Children at Their Games" pretty much implied -- how you say? -- an "alcohol problem."
I had heard some totally unsubstantiated rumors to this effect, but I didn't know there was anything in a book that said it directly. Always nice to see a source cited when people offer information like this; otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, it's just spreading gossip about people who aren't alive to defend themselves.
Well . . . . this =is= spreading gossip about Martin who is not alive to defend himself. I have never seen another printed source that claimed such about Martin. Still, Arlene's gesture after his comment was pretty darned funny
soulierinvestments Well, what I mean is, it's one thing to leave a comment saying simply, "I've heard Martin had a drinking problem". It's different-- to me at least-- when a source is actually cited. That means people can evaluate the truth of it for themselves if they want to. You also didn't claim it was necessarily true. You simply said that there's a book which reported this. This may seem like hair splitting to some people, but these distinctions make all the difference to me between gratuitous trash talking, and reasonable discussion about potentially negative topics.
Why is it in B&W? I thought CBS switched to color for a lot of their primetime shows in 1965. I know some daytime soaps were still in B&W up until 1968.
The final season of WML aired in color, but the videotapes were never preserved. What we have, instead, are B&W kinescope films of these color broadcasts from the final year. There's a bit of a different look to the B&W kinescopes from the color shows-- they're significantly lower in contrast and a bit softer in detail.
Actually quite a few more - Frank Lloyd Wright, Bishop Fulton, Margaret Chase, a lady who was the US Ambassador to Iceland. I know of at least half a dozen others. Incidentally, Dorothy Kilgallen stood less often than Arlene Francis when they were together.
The women on the panel stood for most elderly guests out of respect. Two other instances come to mind: Senator Margaret Chase Smith, and the world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
I think Martin and Tony were a bit tipsy on this show, at least towards the end!! One can presume that Tony was drinking the gin that the first contestant brought!!
And so what anyway? They were a deeply devoted couple, and one assumes that was the case from the time they first met. Strange to relate, sex (even before marriage) was not invented in the 1960s.
+Comfortably Numbskull Peter Gabel's birth date was January 28, 1947. He was born within 10 days of 9 months. That is certainly within the range of a normal birth cycle.
Ahhh this is the very first time in many many years of episodes where it was so obvious someone knew about the guest's line before they came on and they pretended they didn't. There is NO WAY whatsoever that Arlene's line of questionning to the window cleaner would begin in the manner it does at 14:10 with the gathered information to that point. Her prior knowledge was really poorly disguised there.
I was waiting for Michelle Lee to start waving around a glass of gin, but no such luck. She did mention the ladies room, so that does have some relationship to gin.
Where were the bathrooms for the panel? If someone had to make a wild dash for the can could they have done it, or would they be punished by John by having to hold it in because they forgot to go at the gas station before they got to the studio?
+Joe Postove Good luck finding a gas station anywhere close to the Ed Sullivan Theater in midtown Manhattan. With the cost of real estate in the midtown Manhattan business district and pert near impossible to utilize air rights above a gas station, one better make sure that you have filled up the tank before driving around in midtown or downtown Manhattan. Whatever gas stations exist are along either the East River or Hudson River on less desirable properties (because of old piers and nearby highways) and often double as marine fuel filling stations. And the prices are sky high compared to what you would pay in the outer boroughs, upper Manhattan, Nassau, Westchester or NJ. (And yes, Joe, I know you were joshing.)
Washing windows is a craft? Like plumbing? I mean, I know it's a hard job (Yikes on the Empire State building) but c'mon, c'mon, smear some soap and water and wash the windows. It's not like he operated an elevator or made stool.
It's weird that you can watch black guests getting respect and still make a blanket indictment of the whole country. Did you live through that era, or were you just taught that racism was universal back then? I'm just old enough to remember Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech, and remember my parents emphasizing his point about the content of a person's character being more important than the color of his or her skin. Yes, there was racism then - real estate agents wouldn't show houses in my neighborhood to black families, for instance - but there were also many people of good will who were working for progress. Somehow my parents overcame the racism prevalent in their parents' generation and taught us better, so that we didn't even think of black people as "other", let alone inferior. We didn't have black students in our local school, but we swam at a family Y that had multiracial membership, and summer music camps had students from the whole city, so at least we had some chance to know black kids our age, and I don't remember a single instance of anyone objecting to these being integrated, or indeed any racially motivated incident. I'm talking about Kansas City in the late 1960s, so in retrospect I know this was no racial utopia; as a boy I probably wasn't aware that the inner city schools weren't as well funded, for example, nor was I exposed to clashes that might have existed in other, rougher environments. We did see news of die-hard segregationists clinging to the last vestiges of Jim Crow practices in the south, but were taught that they were old-fashioned and wrong. Was there racism in America in 1967? Of course, far too much. Was America "such a racist country" then? Not universally, not the part I saw, and not the part you see on this show.
+Neil Midkiff I often enjoy your posts and I am grateful that you are watching these later episodes a little ahead of me so I can read your comments. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and I appreciate the balanced and accurate portrayal of the times that you explain in your post on this thread. I will even go further to say that my parents generation and my generation didn't always live up to the ideals that were taught. After all, none of us is perfect. But at least the ideal was taught and passed on.
i find it hard to believe that the network was the reason for the end of this wonderful show goodson had more money than god perhaps there were other reasons or certainly could have change the time slot maybe too much of that big ol queen tony randall
The Neilson ratings were low for all CBS prime-time panel game shows, so every one of the game shows (WML, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret) were canceled.
Leslie Uggams was gorgeous and a very talented singer too!
Barbara Ludena And still gracing television until this day on "Empire."
Leslie Uggams is still gorgeous and talented, God Bless her.
Ms. Uggams, just as gorgeous today at 76.. married 55 years. Brilliant entertainer... a Star.
And married to a white man, no doubt! How many interracial marriages can say they've been married that long?
@@SomethingSomethingg - "no doubt"?? You're not sure?
I don't really care about her marital status. I was just commenting on her talent.
John Charles Daly and the panelists treated all the contestants with respect, regardless of their profession.
Leslie Uggams was a marvelous entertainer and she is still with us at age 77. Notice how Tony Randall claps for all the mystery guests. Michelle Lee looked great here. Thanks for the video.
I always liked her; she has style and class as well as talent.
Leslie Uggams started in show business as a child in 1950, playing the niece of Ethel Waters on Beulah. Uggams made her singing debut on the Lawrence Welk Show and was a regular on Sing Along with Mitch.
Wasn't she in Roots???
@@janeiwasduncan8463 Yup, as Kizzy.
My parents were at the Apollo theater the night she won on amateur night as a child singing pennies from heaven
@What's My Line? Thanks so much for your youtube and FB pages.
Loye Ruckman Thanks for the thanks. :)
I second that... ty ever so much
I came here for beautiful Leslie. So fun to see whats my line with Mr Daly. Love game shows from my childhood when some shows were in black x white and some in color. Gorgeous lady and great talent.
Leslie Uggams is still around (12/1/24) and is now 81 years old and still acts (Deadpool & Wolverine).
Michele Lee is strikingly beautiful here.
Binging this, it's sad not to see Dorothy
Very nice seeing Ms Uggams.
❤
The interesting thing about live TV are the little local New York vignettes that viewers in the west get -- like Daly's comment about horrid New York weather and be grateful if you have nice weather where you live.
One of the better of Martin Gabel's introductions. Admirable roundness of style.
I checked the next day's Times online; it was unseasonably cold and rainy. The temperature on Sunday, May 7 ranged from 41 (at 3:55 p.m.!) to 44 degrees F., with 1.14 inches of rain between 7 am and 7 pm. Normal mean temperature for the date is 60 (average throughout the day). Coldest ever recorded on the date was 37F.
It must have been a nasty weekend on the east coast. On Friday May 5, the Astros played the Mets at Shea Stadium and the Dodgers played the Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. No games between these teams were played on Saturday or Sunday, meaning that they were postponed due to weather. And I can imagine it would have been really chilly and nasty in southern New Hampshire where the Tilton School is located.
Leslie Uggams, what a charming and beautiful Lady! :)
Martin and Arlene celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary. 1:06
LOVE this. the audience giving her love... being treated with respect... remember... this is 1967... well done, WML!!
I always thought "Uggams" was such an ugly name for such a beautiful, talented lady.
I noticed that when the occupation of the school bus driver (Judy Kochy) was superimposed over her face, the two "OO"s in the word school almost perfectly covered her eyes as if they were glasses. But I doubt that this was done on purpose. Just another weird WML moment.
LOA1955
20:48 -- You're right -- how funny! :)
I noticed that too!
They really got Leslie Uggams in just a few questions!
Adolph Green (Phyllis Newman's husband) and Betty Comden wrote the play Leslie was in. We'll see them as Mystery Guests real soon!
Actually, Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote just the lyrics, not the book, for "Hallelujah, Baby!" Arthur Laurents wrote the book for that show. And Jule Styne wrote the music - as he and Comden and Green had collaborated on "Bells Are Ringing" and "Subways Are For Sleeping" before this show.
I saw Leslie Uggams in "Hallelujah, Baby!" A totally exciting performance.
I remember when I saw a game show hosts week of Syndicated "Family Feud" (w/Richard Dawson) from 1983, and Leslie Uggams was on one of them. I was thinking what she had to do with game shows, and I find out that she hosted the short-lived "Fantasy" with Peter Marshall.
Rare shot of Johnny Olson at 19:10. This may be the only time he ever appeared on camera on WML.
What's My Line? Except for the other times he appeared on camera.
What's My Line? LOL
Actually Johnny Olson was a Mystery Guest in 1965 - used multiple voices and completely fooled the panelists!
BV Yes, and he was one of the folks who dragged the intruder offstage in the earlier Melina Mercouri show, and he was shown on camera in the finale (I was reminded of all this by folks in the WML Facebook group.) Still, it's a rare on camera appearance.
Its very rare that the WML camera focuses on anything other than Daly and the panel. I can think of three times.
I saw Leslie in concert recently, and she was great. Just as bubbly and fun as she was here.
The Broadway musical that Martin referred to - HALLELUJAH, BABY! (written by Jule Styne, Adolph Green, Betty Comden and Arthur Laurents) - was first written for and offered to Lena Horne with the lead role of Georgina in mind; but Horne declined.The part and musical were then rewritten for Leslie Uggams, who won a 1968 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical. The play itself, which ran for 293 performances from April 1967 to January 1968, won Tonys for Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Producer of a Musical, and also won a Tony for Lillian Hayman for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical...
I saw it. It was wonderful!
When Michelle Lee asks if Gin is bought in a special type of store, I think John (particularly when he mentions rules and regulations, which Bennett would have picked up on immediately, I think) by explicating the various ways the product is packaged and marketed, he gives too much away.
Agree. He all but cited the 21rst Amendment which gives individual states more power to make rules and regulations for alcohol than other products
The last contestant was from Nixon, New Jersey, which primary feature is the Henry Cabot Lodge.
the Henry Cabot Lodge in Nixon, New Jersey...probably a comfortable place at the end of the day to resign.
Leslie is still living..played in Roots..
Ryan Schroer Kizzy yes
8:49 I cracked up when Arlene mentioned two of Mr. Gilbey's rivals before naming him. And Martin mentions another one.
Tony and Martin on the same panel. My two favorite guest panelists.
Sad to see only one regular panelist here.
Being a window wisher for the Empire State Building is a beyond-tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.
Easier than constructing those buildings. I never heard of a window washier dying on those buildings but people were killed while they were being built. There are very famous pictures of construction workers sitting on beams 1000 feet off the ground and eating their lunch.
When I visited the 9/11 museum, the exhibits stated that it took two months to wash all the windows on the original WTC.
Thank you, GSN, for leaving the end credits alone!
***** LOL!
***** The only reason I spend time adding back in the closing credits when I have an alternate copy is so that people will have a chance to go to the bathroom between videos.
What's My Line?
Guffaw! :)
But seriously, I am among those who truly appreciate having the end credits back the way they belong. (I'm also one of those people who insists on staying to the very end of the credits of every movie I see either at home or in theaters -- much to the annoyance of my family! ;) )
SaveThe TPC I view the end credits of movies and TV shows as important, because they list all the people who came together to make them.
The people who worked backstage on WML worked every bit of hard on them, as those in front of the camera.
+SaveThe TPC I only stay for the credits to the movie 'Airplane'.
IN MY VIEW
Leslie Uggams was born to be a gift to the world. Beautiful. Talented. Genuine.
Tony Randall always claps for the mystery guest. Michele Lee was a babe.
It's seems to me that there a fair amount of Tony Randall in Felix unger.
You can see scenes from the musical on TH-cam at the Tony Awards for that year.
My dad had a crush on Miss Uggams..... I can see why
I believe John Gibley was the last Mr. or Miss X on the original "What's My Line?".
It was pretty embarrassing that Arlene kept guessing Mr. Gibley's competitors instead of his own brand!
+SaveThe TPC Gilbey's was a relatively new gin for England!
She is gorgeous
I really wish the mystery guests weren’t playing in town so it would be a more of a challenge to guess who they were, they should’ve changed this🤘🏻
I find it fascinating that Leslie Uggams was also in Deadpool roughly 50 years later from this episode.
Michele Lee’s hair had its own zip code.
She’s pretty. Her makeup was bomb💄
That embarrassing moment when you come on "What's My Line?", hoping to promote your product and you hear your major competitor's products promoted first. I am familiar with Beefeater's, Gordon, Tanqueray, and Gilbey's brands of gin. My dad wasn't so much for martinis, but he would have a gin and tonic on occasion (as would I before I stopped drinking) or a Tom Collins on occasion. I can remember the bottles in his liquor cabinet (and the occasional print ad).
The term that fascinated me for years was "sloe gin". Then I found out that it wasn't spelled with a "w".
Really smooth of John to have jumped in before they continued to flounder for his name!
7:41 Arlene’s reaction/gesture 😂
I wouldn't go so far as to say the window washing is a craft. Perhaps John didn't want to embarrass the fellow.
I think it was just a polite way to ask if he was involved in a trade. No shame there; my plumber makes over twice my salary.
Interesting. The last contestant from New Jersey has exactly the same haircut as Shirley MacLaine pictured on the album sleeve of the Sweet Charity soundtrack, sipping a coffee.....(the thing being set in Manhattan of course). Even down to the little flick of hair in front of the ears.
I wonder if it had a name.....a 'Manhattan' or something. :)
Michelle Lee is gorgeous.
The director has discovered the name plates again.
I would wear Mrs. Kochy's whole outfit! Adorbs!
20:48- the double O's cover her eyes
Ms Uggams starred in "Hallelujah Baby!" wirtten by Arthur Laurents, Julie Styne, Adolph Green, and Betty Comden. It was about black civil rights in the early 20th century. It ran on Broadway a little under 300 performances. In 1967, probably it was too close to home and too close to the truth to be really entertaining.
Leslie Uggams won a Tony for her performance. Despite the fame of the composer and lyricist, when I saw the list of the songs from the show, I had never heard of any of them.
Wow, Bellmore, he didn't live to far from me and yet, I dont know him.
I have never seen so many empire waist gowns on Arlene Francis. Was it in style in 1967?
soulierinvestments Yes, the empire waist was very popular in the late 60s, and a good choice for mature women, compared to the mini-skirt/dress. Unfortunately many mature women found a new youth in wearing mini-skirts, which made me, even as a child, turn my head away, embarrassed on their behalf. I'm maybe old-fashioned, but I still don't find mini-skirts to be elegant or classy at all. Not even if you have legs to wear such things.
if I were the Empire State Building I would say "just leave the top floors dirty, the rain will clean them. It's too dangerous for you guys". I wonder if anyone was ever killed washing windows there?
+Joe Postove Only King Kong. Turns out that airplane attack on him was all a huge misunderstanding. He was only trying to get a smudge off of Fay Wray's window.
Two episodes that night (the next one was taped before this one).
Like I said, I don't mind Michele Lee on the panel.
*****
I think she was an excellent panelist -- perhaps even better than Sue Oakland, whom I also like. I was confused by Martin's introduction of her, though and decided to do a little research to try to figure it out. He mentions the Huxley family, who, according to Wikipedia, "is a British family of which several members have excelled in scientific, medical, artistic, and literary fields. The family also includes members who occupied senior public positions in the service of the United Kingdom." By "the Cecils" he may be referring to a long line of British nobility, though I'm less sure about that. Again, according to Wikipedia, "The Lee family of the United States is a historically significant Virginia and Maryland political family, whose many prominent members are known for their accomplishments in politics and the military." However, Michele Lee has nothing to do with that Lee family, and in fact, Lee isn't even her family name! She was born "Michele Lee Dusick," but, much like Arlene Francis Kazanjian, decided to use her first and middle names as her stage name.
I think she is a big asset. I wish she had been on earlier.
+Vahan Nisanian Yes, she did a really nice job. She was only 24 years old when this show was done.
Jeff Vaughn I noticed that she and Stefanie Powers look alike, and have a few things in common.
1) Both women were born and raised here in Los Angeles.
2) Both women first started working in the 1960's.
3) Both women are fairly tall.
4) Both women are of Eastern European descent.
5) Both women starred in Disney films of the Herbie series. ("The Love Bug" and "Herbie Rides Again" respectively")
*****
You left out that both were very pretty. ;)
i'm guessing the school bus driver works for a contracted company which is why she said her employers were for-profit.
+Larry Teren
That's what I thought as well. Nixon is now considered part of Edison (NJ) and part of the NYC metro area. I live about 25 miles north of Edison as the crow flies and in a similar suburban area. I was in high school in May 1967 and it was mixed in my county at this time: some school districts outsourcing their bus service to private companies and some providing bus transportation on their own. But the trend has been towards outsourcing. It is a rare school district now that has its own fleet of buses.
@@loissimmons6558 It is a bad trend. When districts own their own buses, they can provide transportation following after school activities. The schools that I am familiar with that use contractors for bus service cannot afford to pay for more than runs at the beginning and end of the school day. With parents not home and unable to drive their kids home, students have to leave at the end of the day and cannot participate in extracurricular activities at school. Harms low income students the most, as do so many ways that schools operate.
This show looks old-fashioned and conservative due to the men's bow ties and dinner jackets and the ladies remaining seated to shake hands, but it was progressive in presenting female bus drivers and black performers without making a big fuss about either - it seemed normal. I wonder if there's an issue of unequal pay for men and women who do work of equal value in the USA? It's not the job of this show to explore that - I was just thinking out loud!
At least the panel was past the days when Dorothy Kilgallin would ask "Would you be out of place in a production of Porgy and Bess?"
I knew the British gentleman gin distiller was ex forces. His whole manner screams officer class. He even bows to the ladies on the panel.
I notice that John uses the phrase now and then "oh heavenly days". This was once a very famous "catch phrase" but by 1967 it was losing it's punch as it was more nostalgic, even than it was 20 years before. Without looking, can you people refer to it's once popular usage and name where it's from? I'll give you a clue: Radio.
Well, I know. Apparently no one else does. . .
What's My Line? I know you would know...let's give another day before we shock everyone (oh gee).
I can't wait. It was Fibber McGee And Molly! One of the most popular shows ever on radio. It was on for 25 years! Why do I feel like an old cowboy listening to the sound of the breeze of a deserted saloon at my back?
Joe Postove And here I thought you meant "Duffy's Tavern".
What's My Line? Really Gary, you thought it was Duffy's Tavern? Gosh 'a mighty!
So..after all this promotion of TR's record, did he manage to bring back vaudeville? Or did he put the last nail in it's coffin? I wonder if as late as 1967 the old vaudeville chains (Keith, Albee, others) were still operating in any form at all?
My impression is that the last vestiges of vaudeville died in the late 1940s, with the phenomenal growth of and attention to a product called "television." After all, why pay to see what you can see for free on TV?
Vaudeville was pretty much killed off, dead, by talkies. Even the Palace Theater, the most important vaudeville theater in the country, had basically stopped having primarily live revues in favor of showing films by the early 1930s. There was a whole army of former vaudevillians who were displaced from show business by talkies and the end of vaudeville. Fred Allen was known as one of the easiest touches in the world when it came to helping former vaudevillians. He was a wealthy man, but led a very modest life with Portland, preferring to give his money to people who needed it, whether they be street beggars, or folks who appeared on a bill with him once in Kansas City in 1923.
Gibley's title superimposed over the board is hand made. I suspect somebody misspelled the professionally-prepared card and had to make a new card. Or someone forgot . . .
soulierinvestments What do you mean by "hand made," and how can you tell?
SaveThe TPC
Come to think of it, "Hand lettered" may be a better way to express it. Compare the font style and spacing between letters of the Gibley card superimposed over the sign -in board with the font and letter spacing on the card used to reveal his line. For a good look at what a professionally-prepared card looked like, refer to Maurice Chavalier's 1963 WML mystery guest appearance where he actually shlepped across the stage and signed the art work card off to the side.
soulierinvestments
Aha! I see it now, around 3:48. It looks as if it might have been done with some kind of stick-on letters.
That would be my guess, too.
+soulierinvestments The shape of the letters leads me to believe that this sort of title is done with movable white plastic letters on a black cloth backing which is "corrugated" in horizontal folds; on the back of each letter there's a tab which is inserted into the slot between two folds of the black backing. This kind of sign used to be common in places like hotels for display boards telling what group was in each meeting room. Every one of those I can remember used these squarish letter shapes with corners chopped at 45-degree angles instead of being rounded. By the way, speaking of misspellings, the guest and the gin are Gilbey, not Gibley.
As soon as I saw the name Gibely I thought of gin.
Hence, Mr X
Mrs Kochy could be a relative of Shirley MacLaine....
Judy Kochy is a pretty woman.
What do you think Martin means when he introduces Michele Lee as being part of a great (theatre) family? I can’t find any evidence that she was part of a theatre or entertainer family.
I’m wondering if he meant family as in a married couple, Possibly referring to the fact that both she and her husband(James Ferrentino) were great theatre actors. I don’t think he meant her family of origin
I miss Bennett
He will be back next week.
WOOOW! he didn't flip the cads for the first guy that had 40 points, but he did for the one who had 35. WOW!
RE: Martin's comment about his private life being his own. And the laughter about his limited knowledge of liquor. I read a biography of Irwin Shaw that in its chapter about "Children at Their Games" pretty much implied -- how you say? -- an "alcohol problem."
I had heard some totally unsubstantiated rumors to this effect, but I didn't know there was anything in a book that said it directly. Always nice to see a source cited when people offer information like this; otherwise, as far as I'm concerned, it's just spreading gossip about people who aren't alive to defend themselves.
Well . . . . this =is= spreading gossip about Martin who is not alive to defend himself. I have never seen another printed source that claimed such about Martin. Still, Arlene's gesture after his comment was pretty darned funny
soulierinvestments Well, what I mean is, it's one thing to leave a comment saying simply, "I've heard Martin had a drinking problem". It's different-- to me at least-- when a source is actually cited. That means people can evaluate the truth of it for themselves if they want to. You also didn't claim it was necessarily true. You simply said that there's a book which reported this.
This may seem like hair splitting to some people, but these distinctions make all the difference to me between gratuitous trash talking, and reasonable discussion about potentially negative topics.
Point taken. And it was a distinction I taught my college students over and over with varying degrees of success.
soulierinvestments Well, you follow the principles you taught! :)
Why is it in B&W? I thought CBS switched to color for a lot of their primetime shows in 1965. I know some daytime soaps were still in B&W up until 1968.
The final season of WML aired in color, but the videotapes were never preserved. What we have, instead, are B&W kinescope films of these color broadcasts from the final year. There's a bit of a different look to the B&W kinescopes from the color shows-- they're significantly lower in contrast and a bit softer in detail.
Lovely Leslie was luscious
Was there ever a guest for whom the female panelists stood?
Eleanor Roosevelt comes to mind.
flaggerify Anna Magnani (Italian actress).
Alice Browning
Actually quite a few more - Frank Lloyd Wright, Bishop Fulton, Margaret Chase, a lady who was the US Ambassador to Iceland. I know of at least half a dozen others. Incidentally, Dorothy Kilgallen stood less often than Arlene Francis when they were together.
The women on the panel stood for most elderly guests out of respect. Two other instances come to mind: Senator Margaret Chase Smith, and the world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The school bus driver's surname is Kochy, pronounced Coachy?? How about that!!
*_MAKES GIN_*
*_WASHES WINDOWS IN EMPIRE STATE BUILDING_*
*_DRIVES SCHOOL BUS_*
I think Martin and Tony were a bit tipsy on this show, at least towards the end!! One can presume that Tony was drinking the gin that the first contestant brought!!
Sometimes I think the mystery guest segment was rigged!!! That was pretty quick correct guess after what 4 undistinguishable yeses!!
If I did the math correctly:
Arlene + Martin = May 1946
Arlene + Martin = Son Peter January 1947
May + January = 8 months.
Did you ever hear of a premature baby?
And so what anyway? They were a deeply devoted couple, and one assumes that was the case from the time they first met. Strange to relate, sex (even before marriage) was not invented in the 1960s.
+Comfortably Numbskull
Peter Gabel's birth date was January 28, 1947. He was born within 10 days of 9 months. That is certainly within the range of a normal birth cycle.
If those two didn't have sex before marriage I'll eat my hat
You don't have to be married to get pregnant..
Judy Kochy today: www.classmates.com/people/Judith-Kochy/8685819465
She looks good!
Why have guests? It's the John Daily Show.
Ahhh this is the very first time in many many years of episodes where it was so obvious someone knew about the guest's line before they came on and they pretended they didn't. There is NO WAY whatsoever that Arlene's line of questionning to the window cleaner would begin in the manner it does at 14:10 with the gathered information to that point. Her prior knowledge was really poorly disguised there.
Scraping the barrel with Michelle Lee she was utterly dreadful.
I was waiting for Michelle Lee to start waving around a glass of gin, but no such luck. She did mention the ladies room, so that does have some relationship to gin.
soulierinvestments
?
SaveThe TPC Cross referencing the huge laughs she got during her first WML appearance.
Where were the bathrooms for the panel? If someone had to make a wild dash for the can could they have done it, or would they be punished by John by having to hold it in because they forgot to go at the gas station before they got to the studio?
+Joe Postove
Good luck finding a gas station anywhere close to the Ed Sullivan Theater in midtown Manhattan. With the cost of real estate in the midtown Manhattan business district and pert near impossible to utilize air rights above a gas station, one better make sure that you have filled up the tank before driving around in midtown or downtown Manhattan. Whatever gas stations exist are along either the East River or Hudson River on less desirable properties (because of old piers and nearby highways) and often double as marine fuel filling stations. And the prices are sky high compared to what you would pay in the outer boroughs, upper Manhattan, Nassau, Westchester or NJ.
(And yes, Joe, I know you were joshing.)
Washing windows is a craft? Like plumbing? I mean, I know it's a hard job (Yikes on the Empire State building) but c'mon, c'mon, smear some soap and water and wash the windows. It's not like he operated an elevator or made stool.
Joe Postove yes, there’s an art to washing windows
Yay! No Bennett!
Steve Stites Huh?
@@Kat-fw9seBennett Cerf is a regular on the panel since 1951 and was away this episode.
It's weird that America was such a racist country at the time yet black guests got so much respect.
It's weird that you can watch black guests getting respect and still make a blanket indictment of the whole country. Did you live through that era, or were you just taught that racism was universal back then? I'm just old enough to remember Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech, and remember my parents emphasizing his point about the content of a person's character being more important than the color of his or her skin. Yes, there was racism then - real estate agents wouldn't show houses in my neighborhood to black families, for instance - but there were also many people of good will who were working for progress. Somehow my parents overcame the racism prevalent in their parents' generation and taught us better, so that we didn't even think of black people as "other", let alone inferior. We didn't have black students in our local school, but we swam at a family Y that had multiracial membership, and summer music camps had students from the whole city, so at least we had some chance to know black kids our age, and I don't remember a single instance of anyone objecting to these being integrated, or indeed any racially motivated incident. I'm talking about Kansas City in the late 1960s, so in retrospect I know this was no racial utopia; as a boy I probably wasn't aware that the inner city schools weren't as well funded, for example, nor was I exposed to clashes that might have existed in other, rougher environments. We did see news of die-hard segregationists clinging to the last vestiges of Jim Crow practices in the south, but were taught that they were old-fashioned and wrong. Was there racism in America in 1967? Of course, far too much. Was America "such a racist country" then? Not universally, not the part I saw, and not the part you see on this show.
+Neil Midkiff
I often enjoy your posts and I am grateful that you are watching these later episodes a little ahead of me so I can read your comments. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and I appreciate the balanced and accurate portrayal of the times that you explain in your post on this thread.
I will even go further to say that my parents generation and my generation didn't always live up to the ideals that were taught. After all, none of us is perfect. But at least the ideal was taught and passed on.
my first super-crush. My racist father didn't approve cuz I'm white and she's black.
My dad had a crush on her
Good to see a working man and woman guests rather than a summertime pig raising student.
This was of course back in the day before the all-white panel would have recognized their own privilege. (sarcasm)
i find it hard to believe that the network was the reason for the end of this wonderful show goodson had more money than god perhaps there were other reasons or certainly could have change the time slot maybe too much of that big ol queen tony randall
The Neilson ratings were low for all CBS prime-time panel game shows, so every one of the game shows (WML, To Tell the Truth, I've Got a Secret) were canceled.