I enjoy listening to Arlene Francis : she enunciates and articulates so clearly, so distinctly, so pure, she caresses all the consonants and vowels. It's an immense pleasure hearing her ... above all for a non native speaker of English like this humble person is.
Gable praising Dorothy's intelligence was great to hear. I was impressed on how she came up with her answer on figuring it out that the guest was a judge. Dorothy was so pleased with Gable's compliment.
I agree with the sentiments shown here!!This show is an absolute joy to watch,and I'm from England...thank you for showing these wonderful episodes to us all!!❤
Decades later and Random House is still going strong. Bennett Cerf was a true visionary. An extraordinary wit, a towering intellect and a genuinely nice guy.
Tallulah was such a hoot! She must have been a lot of fun in real life. She would not let other "stars" get away with thinking and acting that regular people didn't have real worth. Most likely a down to earth lady...
Randy Sills Ms Bankhead was an alcoholic and drug user (Cocaine etc). She may have been fun.. but she was also a narcissist and beyond promiscuous so much that she almost died. Unfortunately, I see her as a troubled human being.
+travis7310 There was sort of an "unwritten rule," the panelists used for celebrities, if they knew who they were right off, they'd let it go for one round, just to keep the game entertaining, so that "MIGHT" have been a factor here.
Oh, just to add to my comment of five years back, the date of June 6, 1965 suddenly jumped out at me - it was (June 6, 1965) the very day that the incredibly talented Judy Holliday passed on at age 41 from cancer. That was a tough one - probably the biggest shock of any Hollywood celebrity demise since Marilyn's - close to three years earlier.
Being from Alabama, her political kin were hardcore Jim Crow segregationists and had a long record of promoting white supremacy policies in Alabama and in Congress. Ms Bankhead was the family blacksheep, heroically breaking from their backwards attitudes - often publicly - and shouldering the backlash from racists and family that came with it. Lead don't follow. Well done, Ms. Bankhead.
The first guest Joan Dempsey Klein is still a judge! Although after 51 years on the bench she declined to run for re-election this year. She's retiring in January of 2015
+Antony Edwards That's amazing as he must have been around 90 years old. She graduated from college in 1947 which would put her birth date around 1925.
But the ideal of best looking has changed. Tattoos on women, BMIs > 25 and beard stubble for men are now preferred. Even more sartorial changes with jeans that cost as much as suits and casual dress in general being preferred over gown and tux. Admittedly not to many of the folks watching half a century old WML black and white returns, but to most of the world.
This was taped in 1965. When the 1970s started styles began to decline. Around 1976, the style was to look as bad as possible. 1976 to 1979 was a horrible time for fashion and style.
Judge Joan Klein retires effectively today (1-5-15) from her most current position as presiding judge of the Second District Court of Appeal in California. A position she had for nearly 37 years!
+brtherjohn Her retirement date is pretty amazing as she must have been around 90 years old. She graduated college in 1947 which would put her birth date around 1925.
Memory is an interesting process. I remembered the panel identifying Tallulah of the Alabama Bankheads at 2 questions. In reality -- 4. She was politically active, which is no surprise given that her father was Speaker of the House in the 1930s and her uncle was a senator. Talu I think did remarkably well to live to the age of 68 given the scope of her alcohol and drug use. The next year, she made her final appearance as "Black Widow" in "Batman" and died two years later. Too bad she did take better care of herself. She would have been interesting in certain 1970s parts. Harold and Maude comes to mind.
It's Amazing how well dressed and spoken and respectful both the panelist and the guest are, not dressed in meat slabs and miles of tattoos and piercings, we not only lost respect for others but sadly for ourselves. No wonder people yearn for the good old days.
Wow that first guest! So much from the panel and the guest and John. What a great thing to watch, what a shame that it may fade and be forgotten. However lets hope that UA-cam 2050 is still around.
John Daly mentions in the introduction that he was at the Miss USA pageant. I just checked, and the winner, Sue Downey, is alive as of this writing at age 78.
Tallulah Bankhead promoted the horror movie "Die! Die! My Darling!", also known as "Fanatic". In 2010 the production of this movie was used as a setting in the Broadway play "Looped". Based on a real event, "Looped" takes place in the summer of 1965, when an inebriated Tallulah Bankhead needed eight hours to redub, or loop, one line of dialogue for the movie. Valerie Harper played Tallulah. The infamous line was: "And so Patricia, as I was telling you, that deluded rector has, in literal effect, closed the church to me." Not an easy line to learn. :)
***** A real-life priest who was a major theatre fan sent Valerie Harper flowers after one show. The accompanying note stated, "Congratulations. This is one rector who will never close the church to you. (Signed) Father Jim Paisley."
A joy to watch. We never had a TV. For ages, and then it was rented. That was what we did in those days, very little money. Have a happy New Year wherever you are in the world. X
Re.: Martin about fleas being animals - Everything alive is either in the Animal Kingdom or the Plant Kingdom, unless maybe you want to add a kingdom for fungi, which doesn't make any difference in the case of fleas.
Louis Jourdan effectively covered up his French accent by wildly exaggerating it on April 26, 1964; it sounded about as stereotyped as Mel Blanc voicing Pepe LePew. Here Tallulah tries the same approach, but she really can't quite reach a lower register than she uses naturally anyway. No matter, it's lovely to see her here, retaining her charm and most of her beauty despite her legendary excesses. And it's wonderful to see how she is received by the audience and the panel with such affection. I hadn't seen her last films, knowing her from 1930s and 1940s movie appearances, especially "Lifeboat", and her 1952 autobiography.
there are certain actors that could not do these shows because they have very distinctive speaking voices n u will know them as soon they open their mouths....
2:55 Dorothy, Martin and Arlene truly appalled at how bad Bennett's pun is hahaha. These 4 had fun together. I wish Martin had been the permanent 4th panelist.
I saw Hitchcock's Marnie recently. Martin played a rather unpleasant creepy guy. I found it hard to believe it was him. On WML he just seems like the most wonderful person. Yeah, I know it was just a character. He and Arlene seen so perfectly suited.
She looks SO different than in 'Die, Die, My Darling'. It's more than makeup. It's her entire essence, her face, her weight. She was rail thin looking in the movie, but fleshy looking here, and in Batman. I suppose that's what makes a superior actress.
Makeup lighting and the camera angles all contributed to the evil ugly old character seen in the movie. At the press screening Bankhead stood up and apologized to the audience for looking like “God’s wet nurse.”
We never missed watching What's My Line. I remember watching this episode. It is impressive how mannered, well-dressed, courteous, and polite everyone was.
ZoneFighter1 There's no reply link on your comment, so this is the only way I have to respond to you. You wrote, ":( looks I have to wait for you to get more episodes. :(" I have no idea what you're referring to-- I've been posting a new episode every day for many months now. Huh?
Always a joy to see Martin Gabel in the panel! If there was a "Martin Gabel Fan Club", I would be its President. :) But I disagree with him when he states that insects aren't animal 16:31 and 17:22. :(
In general the panel was ignorant about science (although they were up on much of the technology of the space program and aviation), and they were especially ignorant about biology. They often considered animal to mean mammal.
Agreed about Martin Gabel in Marnie. He was also excellent as a twisted stalker spying on handsome young Richard Chamberlain with his girlfriend in a Thriller episode called The Watcher. Creepy!
SciFiGirl007 ~ Ohhhh okay. Yeah, you never can tell from the outward persona these stars project. All too often it’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation...especially when you read books written by their children.
@@SciFiGirl007 totally and completely unfair judgmental comment. She was a complex person whose behavior often ran to extremes. But she had the capacity to be a wonderful human being and often demonstrated those aspects of her personality away from the camera. She certainly could be a lady when she wanted to be. No doubt she could also be insensitive and hurtful toward others but she also brought joy to many and at the end of her life her biggest victim was herself.
The mystery guest segment here, in which Tallulah parodies herself, is absolutely the most hilarious mgs I've ever seen on any WML episode-I always laugh so hard my stomach hurts! Glad to see it, as well as the whole episode, back on YT!
James Vaughan I was honestly a bit surprised her tactic of "imitating herself", so to speak, didn't work better than it did. When Dorothy did identify her, it was in the form of asking whether it could be the real thing or the best imitation she ever heard. Ironic considering Tallulah was clearly parodying her own voice!
What's My Line? There is a radio series, "The Big Show" that Tallulah did for two years for NBC starting in 1950. It was an attempt, a valiant one, to combat TV's monopolization of the evening hours (even though this was NBC Radio in competition with NBC TV, they thought that there was still a place for big time radio). Quoting from Wikipedia " featuring 90 minutes of top-name comic, stage, screen and music talent, was aimed at keeping American radio in its classic era alive and well against the rapidly growing television tide. For a good portion of its two-year run (1950-52), the show's quality made its ambition seem plausible". Fred Allen was on many of the programs, and legendary orchestra leader Meredith Wilson was the band leader on the show. A running gag had Wilson referring to Miss Bankhead as "sir". Check it out. It is, perhaps, an example of what radio could have been if television hadn't left much of it as beached as a whale. An indication of how serious NBC was in making a success of "The Big Show" is that they spent, reportedly $100,000 per program.
Joe Postove Well, thanks for the heads up you've given to virtually anyone else, but you're forgetting who you're talking to here. :) The Big Show is one of my all time favorite radio shows, and almost every episode that's been available in mp3 form was encoded and shared by yours truly. You couldn't really have thought I would be unaware of a radio show that featured Fred Allen in every 4th week, and had several guest appearances by Groucho every year? (Not to mention, the head writer was one of my comedy idols, Goodman Ace, though I don't expect you'd have heard of him.) I'm still waiting for more news about the second season episodes which are supposed to be getting released this month by a guy named Martin Grams, Jr. He's hard to pin down, but he said he's releasing them and I'm beyond excited about it. Up till now, there were only two episodes from the second season available, and one was incomplete.
What's My Line? I was thinking exactly the same thing about the fact that Tallulah's ruse of parodying herself didn't work to throw the panel off the track. I was hoping someone would say something like, "Am I correct in assuming that you are *NOT* Tallulah Bankhead?" and then get a big laugh and a "no" answer! As for "The Big Show," where and how is it available in mp3 form? It definitely sounds like something that's worth a listen!
CBS originally broadcasted this episode three days before my 9th birthday, and I remember seeing it. My parents probably had to explain who the mystery guest was. I remember specifically being confused as to why a mystery guest would use her actual voice when it was so obviously her actual voice. Only time I can think of that a mystery guest references vomiting -- on live TV.
Martin Gabel is getting a little old and unusually talkative for some reason here. In earlier shows, he seemed quite reserved. As always, Dorothy is an incredible player.
This episode felt a little different from the others I've seen. Arlene was a little more feisty than usual and everyone was much more chatty! And my God, I could barely understand a thing Tallulah said. haha
It's interesting how the meaning of the word "animal" has changed over the past 50 years or so. You can see it here in the dispute between Martin and John over whether fleas qualify as animals. It seems that in earlier times, "animal" in popular usage meant mammals only, and it excluded fish, birds, insects, and probably also reptiles and amphibians. Today, "animal" is generally understood to include all of those groups (and perhaps others that I omitted).
I still don't believe insects qualify as animals and have usually never heard it otherwise until now. Insects are insects, animals are rather a form of animal.
You can always tell which celebrity guests the panel admires most. Directly proportional to the radians to the dexter their heads rotate as the mystery guest walks offstage. Miss Welch nearly caused several neck injuries when she appeared.
Today is Pi Day (March 14) 2021, an appropriate day to ask what’s are “radians to the dexter?” Radians to the “degrees” is a known conversion ( 1 radian = 57.3 degrees) but doesn’t fit in this context
Tallulah Bankhead with John Lennon & Paul McCartney on a well-known lost episode of "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in May 1968, just 7 months prior to her death. And yes, that's Joe Garagiola filling in for Carson. Lennon & McCartney were there to promote the launch of Apple Records. www.beatlesinterviews.org/john.lennon.paul.mccartney.tonight.show.1968.jpg
Interesting two shot of Dorothy and Martin at the beginning. Dorothy's movie reference is to "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines." It is well worth seeing 50 years later. It had a theme you cannot get out of your head and used full-scale ancient flying machines.
Notice the change of use of the terms “anything whatever to do with” and “anything what so ever to do with” between the 50’s episodes and the 60’s episodes.
Speaking of which, Stefanie Powers recently starred in a play called "Looped", which was about a true story that happened during the making of that film. During the looping process (a common post-production aspect, usually done by the original on-set actors, also known in the UK and Europe as "Post-Sync"), Bankhead was having trouble redubbing a particular word. But I have no idea what it was. Maybe epaddon would know, since he is a Stefanie Powers fan.
***** Check out the post by +Johan Bengtsson, towards the top of this page. (At least it's near the top right now, as I write this.) --Oh, never mind; I see you've done that already, and now I understand your "mystery solved" comment!
Rafael Storm Final proof Stefanie replaced Valerie: www.playbill.com/news/article/valerie-harper-pulls-out-of-looped-tour-stefanie-powers-will-play-tallulah--201973
Talk about a larger than life personality! And very opinionated and outspoken. She was a brilliant stage actress, but her Hollywood career never took off although she did have a few good roles ("Lifeboat" is one).
I'm thinking it might possibly be to do with shaking hands with the flea circus owner. If you notice, Bennet also dusts his hands off around this point; they might have been concerned about catching fleas haha!
Surprised Tallulah didn't get a bigger pop. And poor John. He stresses the point about insects vs. animals over and over, to the point where we think he's been more than clear, and he still gets a question about it later. He so often repeated his points on this show ad nauseam, but now we see a good example of why.
Judge Joan Dempsey Klein is the presiding judge of Division Three of the Second District Court of Appeal in California. She will retire in January. judgepedia.org/Joan_Klein
What's My Line? This is the new century. People are making Wikipedias on pretty much everything now. I will give them credit: At least they are not as increasingly-strict as the regular one.
Martin's admiration of Dorothy is so adorable and charming. He was always on her side and in her corner. He seems like such a good man. It has been documented that the rest of the panel didn't really get along with Dorothy outside of "work" and one wonders if Arlene was secretly a little jealous of Martin's fondness for Dorothy. I sometimes wonder if it went beyond the confines of the show and they had a little secret something on the side. Arlene seems to be a little harsh and condescending at times to Martin (even in jest there is truth).
This is off topic, but can someone tell me why Bennett Cerf was always traveling around America? What was he doing? The president of a publishing house would usually be too busy to leave New York all the time.
Joe Postove they were neighbors and very close friends. Bennett gave her the heart diamond necklace that Ms Francis wears. I'm sure both families had pool parties.
the lady judge, @ 6:01 notice the mocking laugh in the audience to cerf's "non-profit" question, followed by laughter. a joke even in 1965... it's much worse today, many municipalities are running "debtor prisons", if you can't pay you are incarcerated, the fines mount, creating a vicious cycle of debt. many police departments today are running "revenue generators, rather than policing with "public safety" in mind. mayberry rfd doesn't exist anymore.
One of many examples of which is red light cameras which decrease safety (rear end collisions) but attempt to increase revenue. Some cities, Sunrise, FL for example, run drug sting operations in which drugs are offered at bargain prices, resulting in dangerous shoot outs, for the purpose of seizing assets.
![What's My Line? - Art Linkletter; Steve Allen [panel] (Jun 13, 1965)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sXtCWgsOdng/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Art Linkletter; Steve Allen [panel] (Jun 13, 1965)](/img/tr.png)
![What's My Line? - Olivia De Havilland; Martin Gabel & Carol Channing [panel] (Aug 8, 1965)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/l4VYeZjSdhU/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - George Hamilton; Jim Backus [panel] (Jun 20, 1965)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/x5PkTEu53QE/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Trini Lopez; Steve Lawrence [panel] (Jul 4, 1965)](/img/n.gif)
Talula's impersonation of herself was hysterical... 😆
John is a truly elegant man and he unfailingly maintains the highest standard in everything he does.
Apart from his sexism
@@krystonjones, It was the Mad Men era.
You said it !!!
Love Tallulah Bankhead!
At least he tries to be fair, in my opinion.
I enjoy listening to Arlene Francis : she enunciates and articulates so clearly, so distinctly, so pure, she caresses all the consonants and vowels. It's an immense pleasure hearing her ... above all for a non native speaker of English like this humble person is.
She is wonderful. I cringe when I hear people speaking today. Our language is mangled beyond repair and no one cares.
She has the mid-Atlantic accent that many performers perfected in the early years of show business.
Her command of the French language was beautiful as well !!!!
She worked hard at it. Her speech is indicative of a theater person. It comes off as affected. She is a genuinely nice person.
Gable praising Dorothy's intelligence was great to hear. I was impressed on how she came up with her answer on figuring it out that the guest was a judge. Dorothy was so pleased with Gable's compliment.
I think they were being sarcastic but played it off to the well to the audience.
These people had such class! A joy to watch.
I re-watch ed this. It's so cute the way that Tallulah goes back to kiss those that she hadn't kissed before!
Wouldn’t want those lips anywhere near me!!!
I looked into her and apparently she probably had sex about as much as Wilt Chamberlain and that's an alarming amount of partners.
I agree with the sentiments shown here!!This show is an absolute joy to watch,and I'm from England...thank you for showing these wonderful episodes to us all!!❤
Martin was so right about Dorothy. I think she was by far the best player. And Bennett, Arlene, and Martin were very good.
It was certainly a lovely compliment, and Dorothy did have a talent of figuring things out.
The panelists were really on top of their game tonight.
Dorothy was murdered .😢
No one can be like Tallulah.NOBODY
If you haven't seen her in UA-cam's "A Royal Scandal" you're in for a treat. Amazingly funny movie.
Jeannie Robinson
Love her sexy voice, and personality
@@lloydkline3265 Sexy? Sexy man.
Ask Chico Marx, he'll tell you!
Decades later and Random House is still going strong. Bennett Cerf was a true visionary. An extraordinary wit, a towering intellect and a genuinely nice guy.
Yeah he was ok i suppose.
Well, it's outright owned now by one German family, but yeah, it's still in business.
He was egotistical and full of stupid quips and also very sexist and tried to compliment pretty women but was very embassessing.
I met Cerf once, and had a fascinating talk with him. Very intelligent and a gracious gentleman.
@@RonGersteinA fascinating ingraciating social climber.
Tallulah was always a class act, the way she went out of her way to kiss them all....
yessssssssssss
She should have been more "classy" regarding her sexual exploits. Yikes, she (admitedly) got around with everyone!
@@cookielady9995 So?
Very sweet, polite and kind
@@cookielady9995 Oh, shut up.
Tallulah was charming! I loved her recognition of the audience. 😀
Miss Kilgallen: "It's either she, or the best imitation we've ever heard."
Miss Francis: "Oh, that's the real McCoy".
Tallulah was such a hoot! She must have been a lot of fun in real life. She would not let other "stars" get away with thinking and acting that regular people didn't have real worth. Most likely a down to earth lady...
Randy Sills Ms Bankhead was an alcoholic and drug user (Cocaine etc). She may have been fun.. but she was also a narcissist and beyond promiscuous so much that she almost died. Unfortunately, I see her as a troubled human being.
So often Personal pain generates great art. She was a superb actress.
She was bisexual ofcorse she was a lot of fun 😂❤
I'm surprised they didn't guess her after the first question. Her voice was a dead giveaway, dahhhhlinngggg!
+travis7310 There was sort of an "unwritten rule," the panelists used for celebrities, if they knew who they were right off, they'd let it go for one round, just to keep the game entertaining, so that "MIGHT" have been a factor here.
+Markxxx Ah, I see. That's something I never knew. I learn something new every day.
@@markxxx21 Trudat.
@Just a Girl Where did I say that? Nowhere!
@Just a Girl You must be fun at parties huh? 😒
Oh, just to add to my comment of five years back, the date of June 6, 1965 suddenly jumped out at me - it was (June 6, 1965) the very day that the incredibly talented Judy Holliday passed on at age 41 from cancer. That was a tough one - probably the biggest shock of any Hollywood celebrity demise since Marilyn's - close to three years earlier.
She was far too young...
Ms. Bankhead was the daughter of the Speaker of the House and the niece of a Senator.
And granddaughter of another Senator.
Being from Alabama, her political kin were hardcore Jim Crow segregationists and had a long record of promoting white supremacy policies in Alabama and in Congress. Ms Bankhead was the family blacksheep, heroically breaking from their backwards attitudes - often publicly - and shouldering the backlash from racists and family that came with it. Lead don't follow. Well done, Ms. Bankhead.
The first guest Joan Dempsey Klein is still a judge! Although after 51 years on the bench she declined to run for re-election this year. She's retiring in January of 2015
+Antony Edwards That's amazing as he must have been around 90 years old. She graduated from college in 1947 which would put her birth date around 1925.
ohhhh !!! Interesting.
@Jeff Vaughn
August 18, 1924.
She died at age 96 in 2021
What a time. When women and men took the time to look their best.
But the ideal of best looking has changed. Tattoos on women, BMIs > 25 and beard stubble for men are now preferred. Even more sartorial changes with jeans that cost as much as suits and casual dress in general being preferred over gown and tux. Admittedly not to many of the folks watching half a century old WML black and white returns, but to most of the world.
Ha ha 😄.Nice one
@@igkoigko9950
No it hasn't.
Slob is not a style.
This was taped in 1965. When the 1970s started styles began to decline. Around 1976, the style was to look as bad as possible. 1976 to 1979 was a horrible time for fashion and style.
Judge Joan Klein retires effectively today (1-5-15) from her most current position as presiding judge of the Second District Court of Appeal in California. A position she had for nearly 37 years!
+brtherjohn Her retirement date is pretty amazing as she must have been around 90 years old. She graduated college in 1947 which would put her birth date around 1925.
Memory is an interesting process. I remembered the panel identifying Tallulah of the Alabama Bankheads at 2 questions. In reality -- 4. She was politically active, which is no surprise given that her father was Speaker of the House in the 1930s and her uncle was a senator. Talu I think did remarkably well to live to the age of 68 given the scope of her alcohol and drug use. The next year, she made her final appearance as "Black Widow" in "Batman" and died two years later. Too bad she did take better care of herself. She would have been interesting in certain 1970s parts. Harold and Maude comes to mind.
Nearly everyone of her generation smoked and drank. Most of the male actors didn't live past 60 (Cooper, Gable, Power, Bogart, Flynn, etc.).
I love how Ms Bankhead went back & kissed all the panelists ! What a fun episode ! THANKS so much for uploading for us to enjoy !! :-)
This was filmed on my birthday dahlings
Joan Dempsey Klein was a well-known judge in Los Angeles for many years.
Tallu : in a class of her own !! Unique.
She was so funny whe she did the Lucy Desi Comedy Hour !
One of the best pieces of comedy ever for TV!
The dinner scene is classic.
This is the same voice (Johnny?) from The Price Is Right (Bob Barker)...
Wow.. I never knew he had been around THIS long.... #Respect
=M=
Nice try Tallulah ! Lucy did a mighty good imitation eight years earlier face to face with the one and only.
It's Amazing how well dressed and spoken and respectful both the panelist and the guest are, not dressed in meat slabs and miles of tattoos and piercings, we not only lost respect for others but sadly for ourselves. No wonder people yearn for the good old days.
Wow that first guest! So much from the panel and the guest and John. What a great thing to watch, what a shame that it may fade and be forgotten. However lets hope that UA-cam 2050 is still around.
If I live to 2050, I will certainly looking for these old gems of of a more gentle and polite society, full of classy entertainment 😀
John Daly mentions in the introduction that he was at the Miss USA pageant. I just checked, and the winner, Sue Downey, is alive as of this writing at age 78.
Tallulah Bankhead promoted the horror movie "Die! Die! My Darling!", also known as "Fanatic". In 2010 the production of this movie was used as a setting in the Broadway play "Looped". Based on a real event, "Looped" takes place in the summer of 1965, when an inebriated Tallulah Bankhead needed eight hours to redub, or loop, one line of dialogue for the movie. Valerie Harper played Tallulah.
The infamous line was: "And so Patricia, as I was telling you, that deluded rector has, in literal effect, closed the church to me." Not an easy line to learn. :)
Johan Bengtsson Well, there we have it folks. Mystery solved. :)
And with that, you win the award for the most interesting piece of WML-related trivia we've seen in a good while!
Valerie Harper as Tallulah. Not something I would have predicted, but that could have been very, very interesting.
***** A real-life priest who was a major theatre fan sent Valerie Harper flowers after one show. The accompanying note stated, "Congratulations. This is one rector who will never close the church to you. (Signed) Father Jim Paisley."
What's My Line? The show only lasted for two months but Valerie Harper was nominated for Best Actress in a Play.
A joy to watch. We never had a TV. For ages, and then it was rented. That was what we did in those days, very little money. Have a happy New Year wherever you are in the world. X
Re.: Martin about fleas being animals - Everything alive is either in the Animal Kingdom or the Plant Kingdom, unless maybe you want to add a kingdom for fungi, which doesn't make any difference in the case of fleas.
Louis Jourdan effectively covered up his French accent by wildly exaggerating it on April 26, 1964; it sounded about as stereotyped as Mel Blanc voicing Pepe LePew. Here Tallulah tries the same approach, but she really can't quite reach a lower register than she uses naturally anyway. No matter, it's lovely to see her here, retaining her charm and most of her beauty despite her legendary excesses. And it's wonderful to see how she is received by the audience and the panel with such affection. I hadn't seen her last films, knowing her from 1930s and 1940s movie appearances, especially "Lifeboat", and her 1952 autobiography.
there are certain actors that could not do these shows because they have very distinctive speaking voices n u will know them as soon they open their mouths....
2:55 Dorothy, Martin and Arlene truly appalled at how bad Bennett's pun is hahaha. These 4 had fun together. I wish Martin had been the permanent 4th panelist.
I saw Hitchcock's Marnie recently. Martin played a rather unpleasant creepy guy. I found it hard to believe it was him. On WML he just seems like the most wonderful person. Yeah, I know it was just a character. He and Arlene seen so perfectly suited.
She looks SO different than in 'Die, Die, My Darling'. It's more than makeup. It's her entire essence, her face, her weight. She was rail thin looking in the movie, but fleshy looking here, and in Batman. I suppose that's what makes a superior actress.
Makeup lighting and the camera angles all contributed to the evil ugly old character seen in the movie. At the press screening Bankhead stood up and apologized to the audience for looking like “God’s wet nurse.”
We never missed watching What's My Line. I remember watching this episode. It is impressive how mannered, well-dressed, courteous, and polite everyone was.
I love how Tallulah only signed her first name. No last name needed, there was only one Tallulah!
Mar Thivierge I heard she was named after the Tallulah gorge in Georgia a beautiful area of our country!!
@@janeiwasduncan8463 she was named after her paternal grandmother who was the original Tallulah Bankhead. Her grandmother was named after the gorge.
Tallulah was a delight to see AND hear.
ZoneFighter1 There's no reply link on your comment, so this is the only way I have to respond to you. You wrote, ":( looks I have to wait for you to get more episodes. :(" I have no idea what you're referring to-- I've been posting a new episode every day for many months now. Huh?
This episode is worth viewing, if for no other reason to see Arlene’s expression of thespian admiration for Tallullah.
Always a joy to see Martin Gabel in the panel! If there was a "Martin Gabel Fan Club", I would be its President. :) But I disagree with him when he states that insects aren't animal 16:31 and 17:22. :(
***** That's pretty much what he said to Tony Randall in the show where Tony challenged him on it!
I also am a big fan of Martin. He seems to be a bit of a cold fish emotionally but he's clever, smart and has a wry sense of humor.
In general the panel was ignorant about science (although they were up on much of the technology of the space program and aviation), and they were especially ignorant about biology. They often considered animal to mean mammal.
So good in "Marnie."
Agreed about Martin Gabel in Marnie. He was also excellent as a twisted stalker spying on handsome young Richard Chamberlain with his girlfriend in a Thriller episode called The Watcher. Creepy!
Love Tallulah Bankhead!
A true legend and icon!!
Tallulah was such a true lady ❤️
No. Far from it. Read more about her life
SciFiGirl007 ~ Ohhhh okay. Yeah, you never can tell from the outward persona these stars project. All too often it’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation...especially when you read books written by their children.
@@SciFiGirl007 totally and completely unfair judgmental comment. She was a complex person whose behavior often ran to extremes. But she had the capacity to be a wonderful human being and often demonstrated those aspects of her personality away from the camera. She certainly could be a lady when she wanted to be. No doubt she could also be insensitive and hurtful toward others but she also brought joy to many and at the end of her life her biggest victim was herself.
That's what you call a real"star"... Tallulah... Not the crap we have today..
+begs54 Yes!!!!! Her voice is so sultry and sexy. WOW.
love the black and white film stars
The mystery guest segment here, in which Tallulah parodies herself, is absolutely the most hilarious mgs I've ever seen on any WML episode-I always laugh so hard my stomach hurts! Glad to see it, as well as the whole episode, back on YT!
James Vaughan I was honestly a bit surprised her tactic of "imitating herself", so to speak, didn't work better than it did. When Dorothy did identify her, it was in the form of asking whether it could be the real thing or the best imitation she ever heard. Ironic considering Tallulah was clearly parodying her own voice!
The Alabama Foghorn! And she gives everyone in the panel a kiss! So sweet! :) 21:55
What's My Line? There is a radio series, "The Big Show" that Tallulah did for two years for NBC starting in 1950. It was an attempt, a valiant one, to combat TV's monopolization of the evening hours (even though this was NBC Radio in competition with NBC TV, they thought that there was still a place for big time radio). Quoting from Wikipedia " featuring 90 minutes of top-name comic, stage, screen and music talent, was aimed at keeping American radio in its classic era alive and well against the rapidly growing television tide. For a good portion of its two-year run (1950-52), the show's quality made its ambition seem plausible". Fred Allen was on many of the programs, and legendary orchestra leader Meredith Wilson was the band leader on the show. A running gag had Wilson referring to Miss Bankhead as "sir". Check it out. It is, perhaps, an example of what radio could have been if television hadn't left much of it as beached as a whale. An indication of how serious NBC was in making a success of "The Big Show" is that they spent, reportedly $100,000 per program.
Joe Postove Well, thanks for the heads up you've given to virtually anyone else, but you're forgetting who you're talking to here. :) The Big Show is one of my all time favorite radio shows, and almost every episode that's been available in mp3 form was encoded and shared by yours truly. You couldn't really have thought I would be unaware of a radio show that featured Fred Allen in every 4th week, and had several guest appearances by Groucho every year? (Not to mention, the head writer was one of my comedy idols, Goodman Ace, though I don't expect you'd have heard of him.)
I'm still waiting for more news about the second season episodes which are supposed to be getting released this month by a guy named Martin Grams, Jr. He's hard to pin down, but he said he's releasing them and I'm beyond excited about it. Up till now, there were only two episodes from the second season available, and one was incomplete.
What's My Line?
I was thinking exactly the same thing about the fact that Tallulah's ruse of parodying herself didn't work to throw the panel off the track. I was hoping someone would say something like, "Am I correct in assuming that you are *NOT* Tallulah Bankhead?" and then get a big laugh and a "no" answer!
As for "The Big Show," where and how is it available in mp3 form? It definitely sounds like something that's worth a listen!
CBS originally broadcasted this episode three days before my 9th birthday, and I remember seeing it. My parents probably had to explain who the mystery guest was. I remember specifically being confused as to why a mystery guest would use her actual voice when it was so obviously her actual voice. Only time I can think of that a mystery guest references vomiting -- on live TV.
Delighted to see this, thank you so much.
Martin Gabel is getting a little old and unusually talkative for some reason here. In earlier shows, he seemed quite reserved. As always, Dorothy is an incredible player.
I've never understood how a large audience can even see the tiny fleas doing their tricks in a flea circus.
This episode felt a little different from the others I've seen. Arlene was a little more feisty than usual and everyone was much more chatty! And my God, I could barely understand a thing Tallulah said. haha
I loved her Lucy episode. She was magic along with the great Lucille Ball
It's interesting how the meaning of the word "animal" has changed over the past 50 years or so. You can see it here in the dispute between Martin and John over whether fleas qualify as animals. It seems that in earlier times, "animal" in popular usage meant mammals only, and it excluded fish, birds, insects, and probably also reptiles and amphibians. Today, "animal" is generally understood to include all of those groups (and perhaps others that I omitted).
I still don't believe insects qualify as animals and have usually never heard it otherwise until now. Insects are insects, animals are rather a form of animal.
Arlene looks rather fetching in her outfit tonight.
TALLULAH , KISSES FOR ALL.
You can always tell which celebrity guests the panel admires most. Directly proportional to the radians to the dexter their heads rotate as the mystery guest walks offstage. Miss Welch nearly caused several neck injuries when she appeared.
Today is Pi Day (March 14) 2021, an appropriate day to ask what’s are “radians to the dexter?” Radians to the “degrees” is a known conversion ( 1 radian = 57.3 degrees) but doesn’t fit in this context
My Grandparents loved this show.
Tallulah Bankhead with John Lennon & Paul McCartney on a well-known lost episode of "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" in May 1968, just 7 months prior to her death. And yes, that's Joe Garagiola filling in for Carson. Lennon & McCartney were there to promote the launch of Apple Records.
www.beatlesinterviews.org/john.lennon.paul.mccartney.tonight.show.1968.jpg
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Wow!
Joe Garagiola once did hardware commercials on the radio. Loved hearing him talk! 📻
Interesting two shot of Dorothy and Martin at the beginning. Dorothy's movie reference is to "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines." It is well worth seeing 50 years later. It had a theme you cannot get out of your head and used full-scale ancient flying machines.
Music by British film composer Ron Goodwin.
Notice the change of use of the terms “anything whatever to do with” and “anything what so ever to do with” between the 50’s episodes and the 60’s episodes.
Always start my day with WML.
Speaking of which, Stefanie Powers recently starred in a play called "Looped", which was about a true story that happened during the making of that film. During the looping process (a common post-production aspect, usually done by the original on-set actors, also known in the UK and Europe as "Post-Sync"), Bankhead was having trouble redubbing a particular word. But I have no idea what it was. Maybe epaddon would know, since he is a Stefanie Powers fan.
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Check out the post by +Johan Bengtsson, towards the top of this page. (At least it's near the top right now, as I write this.) --Oh, never mind; I see you've done that already, and now I understand your "mystery solved" comment!
Rafael Storm But didn't Stefaine at least replace Valerie later on.
Rafael Storm Final proof Stefanie replaced Valerie:
www.playbill.com/news/article/valerie-harper-pulls-out-of-looped-tour-stefanie-powers-will-play-tallulah--201973
Yes Powers replaced Harper in “Looped”
Talk about a larger than life personality! And very opinionated and outspoken. She was a brilliant stage actress, but her Hollywood career never took off although she did have a few good roles ("Lifeboat" is one).
R I P Tallulah .
Bennett Cerf had an obsession with asking questions about animals, food and drinks.
Tallulah ❤️ such a daaaaahling
Arlene appears to be giving John some sort of hand signal at around the 18:14 mark. I wonder what that was about?
I'm thinking it might possibly be to do with shaking hands with the flea circus owner. If you notice, Bennet also dusts his hands off around this point; they might have been concerned about catching fleas haha!
Aisha Hussain
you could very well be right. I had never noticed Bennett dusting his hands off until you mentioned it.
Arlene points to her hand and the gentleman, then mouths the word "oil" to John. The guest must have had some kind of oil on his hands.
2:27 What's a HOASE? 😅
Martin Gabel looked as though he crawled out of a crypt. YIKES!
2:17 Bennett Cerf needs to be drawn and quoted for THIS pun! 😋😋
Bennett, you ain't right!!!! Loved yer stoopidd pun, B.C.
There is no way that Tallulah Bankhead can try to disguise her voice and NOT give it away. Her voice range will not allow her to do that.
What a CLASS ACT!
Totally got the Miss. USA Miss America joke
Arlene Francis is so cute...as well as being very bright...
Why is there even a hint of doubt whether fleas are animals? Of course they are. And so are fish. WML seems to exist in its own world of definitions.
Surprised Tallulah didn't get a bigger pop.
And poor John. He stresses the point about insects vs. animals over and over, to the point where we think he's been more than clear, and he still gets a question about it later. He so often repeated his points on this show ad nauseam, but now we see a good example of why.
Oh sure, fleas are plants... oh, no, that’s right, they are rocks.
Tallulah was so beautiful, and adorable.
That judge had quite a figure. And more groundbreaking in her field, than an actress
Extraordinary comment.
Judge Joan Dempsey Klein is the presiding judge of Division Three of the Second District Court of Appeal in California. She will retire in January.
judgepedia.org/Joan_Klein
I can't get over the fact that there's such a thing as Judgepedia.
What's My Line? This is the new century. People are making Wikipedias on pretty much everything now.
I will give them credit: At least they are not as increasingly-strict as the regular one.
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What do you mean by "increasingly strict?"
SaveThe TPC They seem to be very picky on how you cite sources.
***** They are, indeed. I find contributing content to Wikipedia a very frustrating experience.
I love how Tallulah didn't even BOTHER to try to disguise her voice!! LOL
Dorothy is amazing.
Luv ya!! Tallulah r.i.p.
The '65 episodes are always a little sad for me knowing dorothy will not be around much longer.
"its either she or the best imitation ive ever heard" 😂
Love my Tallulah !!!
Charm lady and sexy voice
Martin's admiration of Dorothy is so adorable and charming. He was always on her side and in her corner. He seems like such a good man. It has been documented that the rest of the panel didn't really get along with Dorothy outside of "work" and one wonders if Arlene was secretly a little jealous of Martin's fondness for Dorothy. I sometimes wonder if it went beyond the confines of the show and they had a little secret something on the side. Arlene seems to be a little harsh and condescending at times to Martin (even in jest there is truth).
This is off topic, but can someone tell me why Bennett Cerf was always traveling around America? What was he doing? The president of a publishing house would usually be too busy to leave New York all the time.
He was in demand as a speaker, and he also traveled to promote his own books as they were published. He wrote quite a few humorous books.
Tallulah a fabulous name just like Zsa Zsa.
Has Bennett ever seen Arlene in a bikini?? At 58 years old, I'll bet she looked pretty good.
Joe Postove they were neighbors and very close friends. Bennett gave her the heart diamond necklace that Ms Francis wears. I'm sure both families had pool parties.
@@SciFiGirl007 No, Martin Gabel gave her the heart diamond necklace on their first anniversary
@@SciFiGirl007 No, that famous heart necklace was a gift from her husband, Martin.
Is a seal an animal? Of course it's an animal.....geez!
Any idea why Vivian Vance was never the mystery guest?
Eric Stuart did they often have 2nd bananas?
@@teriannebeauchamp254 The ultimate second banana, other than maybe Ed McMahon, Art Carney was MG on several occasions.
She should have been. She had an Emmy and could certainly hold her own with New York’s literati.
It continues to astound me how many of the panelists skipped basic Biology.
Dorothy Kilgallen was so smart!
When she was doing an episode of I Love Lucy, Ball said she was difficult to work with.
Dorothy the Drama Critic expects a kiss from actress Tallulah and no nonsense.
+poetcomic1 Dorothy wasn't actually a dramatic critic, though-- she was a gossip columnist and crime reporter.
Wow, that Tallulah Bankhead was quite a character!
I got her autobiography in the mail yesterday and it is a very interesting book...❤
the lady judge, @ 6:01 notice the mocking laugh in the audience to cerf's "non-profit" question, followed by laughter. a joke even in 1965... it's much worse today, many municipalities are running "debtor prisons", if you can't pay you are incarcerated, the fines mount, creating a vicious cycle of debt. many police departments today are running "revenue generators, rather than policing with "public safety" in mind. mayberry rfd doesn't exist anymore.
One of many examples of which is red light cameras which decrease safety (rear end collisions) but attempt to increase revenue. Some cities, Sunrise, FL for example, run drug sting operations in which drugs are offered at bargain prices, resulting in dangerous shoot outs, for the purpose of seizing assets.
If you can't pay your debts, file bankruptcy. That will end that quick.