As I mentioned above, that was a brilliant casting move on Billy Wilder's part. By 1944, when "Double Indemnity" was made, many people thought of Edward G. Robinson as the actor who played gangsters. But he made a great "good guy" in "Double Indemnity">
In that role, he was so good he did not even appear to be acting. He seemed like they found a man who had been an insurance investigator for 25 years and cast him to play himself. Apart from being a sympathetic character, the role marked a change from leading man to character actor, one which Robinson was disinclined to make. It was necessary though, and prolonged his career, despite being graylisted. In addition, Arlene Francis mentioned Robinson's excellent art collection, which today would be priceless. However, shortly after this episode, Robinson divorced and had to sell much of his collection to pay the settlement.
I closed my eyes during Arlene's bit with Edward G. and yes, indeed when he quietly giggles, no wonder she went 'OH HO!'.....and naturally Bennett recognised too. I'm going to close my eyes more often with the mystery guest now and see just what vocal sound gives them away.
Edward G Robinson was born Emanuel Goldenberg. He was a fine actor and from all I could see in his appearances on what’s my line, he was a man of honor and integrity, and wasn’t ashamed of - and didn’t try to hide his background. And he acknowledged the audience.
I appreciate Mr. Farrar's whale geekery. John was very polite to Mrs. Joslyn. I approve. (The acoustics did not help matters.) Mrs. Joslyn was born in 1874, in Missouri. (So, frontier.) She was married to a gent named Riddle in 1900 "in Mexico," but since she was born in Mexico, MO, I'm going to assume they were married in her home town. (Though Mexico *was* a marriage destination spot, but mostly for richer people.) Anyway, they had five kids in 13 years, and then Mr. Riddle died; she moved to Sioux Falls in 1919. She remarried (after working as a waitress in various places) to Mr. Joslyn in 1928, and had I believe a daughter with him, and then he died in 1948. She then allied up with her daughter and did paper hanging, until 1963, when she retired. She died in 1968, age 94.
Hi Julie, I don't know how much you remember about Cora MJ but my memories are pretty vivid. She did not like Children! Funny, I still remember that she died on October 18, 1968. How I remember that is a bit of a story, I was only 7 at the time.
I think the whale counter had a very important job. Many whales are still on the verge of extinction. It's gratifying to see that some insightful people were doing something to save them 70 years ago.
I’ve watched so many of these and have totally LOVED them! I’m gonna be lost when I finish watching the last one available! I know!!- I could watch them all again to see if I remember their LINES! Brilliant! I think John Charles has the most charming persona! ❤
Love that when the second contestant, Mr. Farrar, is shaking hands with the panel, at around 10:44 Arlene asks him "How's Geraldine?" referring to the famous opera singer. :)
My grandmother (born 1887, for age reference) hated Edward G. Robinson in movies. She referred to him as "liver lips." Of course this meant he was an extraordinary villain as an actor. In her mind, he was type-cast, and when he played more sympathetic parts, she still suspected him of ulterior motives for good behavior.
The breadth of his roles is amazing-- he could so easily have been typecast as a gangster after his breakout role as "Little Caesar". Just take a look at his films with Fritz Lang to see how extraordinary Robinson's range was ("Scarlet Street" or "Woman in the Window").
JAY TERRY He was one of the best things in that film, yes. Did you know that Orson Welles wanted to cast Agnes Moorehead in Robinson's Nazi hunter role for "The Stranger"? What a different movie that would have been!
Indeed, Agnes and Orson would have been intense in the roles....Now I'll have to watch it with that in mind. Since I began your WML, I've got a list of movies. Thanks again for this series.
When Edward G. Robinson had signed in he put his fingers up like a machine gun and jokingly "aimed" at the audience. A reminiscence from his gangster movies. 17:30
I think that at first he pointed his cigar. A few other MG's were smoking cigars during their appearance. I've wondered if the panel could smell the odor. It would be quite different from the smell of John Daly's cigarette.
Arlene's hair is still getting lighter. She's looking more like I remember her. Bennett is still slicking on the dark hair dye. Fred looks "better" with eyeglasses. Dorothy looks very nice this episode.
Years ago, I had a soft rubber frog sponge holder next to my kitchen sink. A friend stuck a cigar in its mouth, and made it "talk" like Edward G. Robinson.
The paper hanger, Cora Joslyn was my Great Grandmother. Her daughter Nadine who was my Grandmother also worked with her in that business and I worked with my Grandmother hanging paper in the late 70s. She was 80 yrs old by that time.
@@brucekepford3685 Ah, so her name was Cora, and not Cara? JCD got it wrong? So nice to read comments from relatives and/or friends of guests. While I like the Mystery Guest segments, the show was "What's My LINE", and I generally find the non-Mystery Guest segments the most enjoyable. Your gr-grandmother was a joy to watch. Thanks for sharing info.
That hike in front of the panel was so ridiculous and undignified. Thank goodness somebody had the good sense to change that. They also thank goodness, changed having the guests who weren’t celebrities exit behind John Charles Daly.
Yes, Dorothy asked a good question, how does the whale guy know that he might be counting the same Whale. I have a big collection of Robinson's movies. He should have at least have won an Oscar for his role as KEYS in 'Double Indemnity.' The Asian woman was super shy. I also remember an Elevator operator on the show and seemed frightened to death. Why do they get on the show that might scare them ? Is $50. like winning $500 these days ? "Don't go after that paper hanger, John." What did he mean by that statement ? P.S. Robinson made me laugh with that Russian or Romanian accent, he also made me feel good, just seeing one of my favorite actors, he was the best. (He was born in Romania, which by the way are considered Latin.)
Should have won an Oscar for "Double Indemnity"? Perhaps. The Oscars are not a meritocracy, however. It is not merely an oversight that Robinson never won an Oscar. The more preposterous reality is that Robinson was never NOMINATED for an Oscar. They did give him one of the early lifetime achievement Oscars very shortly before his death (it was actually presented posthumously as I recall).
Being a child of the 50's and 60's, I often make note of the differences in what was considered normal acceptable behavior as an excuse for some of the remarks made. That said, with today's sensitivities, I found the first challenger's segment and the introduction of Arlene in reference to her trip to Japan especially cringe worthy.
Sometimes I think we as a culture have grown overly sensitive to matters of race, but then I hear something like Arlene and Fred's insensitive comments and I'm glad we've largely gotten beyond that.
The play Edward G Robinson would be in would be "Middle of the Night", about a fifty-three year-old man and a much younger woman played by Gena Rowlands. He got good reviews, the play didn't.
Thanks for mentioning the name of the play. Fredrick March & Kim Kovak play those folks on the screen. I have the movie. PADDY always write some great stuff; MARTY, THE CATERED AFFAIR etc.
It didn't seem likely that someone would produce a failed play for the big screen, so I looked this up on Chayefsky's Wikipedia page. ---"The seventh season of Philco Television Playhouse began September 19, 1954 with E. G. Marshall and Eva Marie Saint in Chayefsky's Middle of the Night, a play which relocated to Broadway theaters 15 months later; In 1956, Middle of the Night opened on Broadway with Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands, and its success led to a national tour. It was filmed by Columbia Pictures in 1959 with Kim Novak and Fredric March.
The first guest wrote her name in Hangul, which is Korean... That was rather awkward, they kept assuming she was Japanese and she just went along with it...
She wrote five letters on the board. The second letter is neither Korean nor Japanese. She does not know Korean letters well. She might have wanted to write "Sue Ford." The first letter can be read "Sue." But even if the second letter were Korean, it could be read "ko??". So my conclusion is that she wrote her name in Japanese, not in Korean. I know both Japanese letters and Korean letters very well.
I'm surprised that Arlene and Edward G. didn't converse a little about the fact that they were in a 1948 film together.. a very excellent one too.. "All My Sons"
She was my Great Grandmother. She hung wallpaper as did her daughter, my grandmother Nadine. Cora died in 1968 and her daughter Nadine worked in the business until she was 84. I hung paper with her in the late 70s and could hardly keep up with her. She was a spry 80 yr old at that time.
I always wince whenever a guest signs in using another language (here, Japanese) or has a “foreign” name and the audience laughs uproariously and/or panelists joke about it. I’m glad this attitude has changed, though we’re still not perfect by a long shot.
It would be 11 years after WWII, still close in history. It would be good Arlene Francis can enjoy going to Japan. It's nice that the panel can be comfortable having camaraderie about Japanese culture and cuisine. It's a sign of how quickly bitter enemies became fast friends. It's a moment of time lost where people didn't choose to be offended for the sake of being offended and be able to have a good time.
I've lived over half my life in Japan, and don't think there was anything xenophobic about John Daly having a bit of fun pretending he could read Sue Ford's name, when she wrote it in katakana: スーフォード.
@@ihatey0utube yeah I feel kinda bad saying it! I'm sure she was a very nice person. In playing the game though it seems like she will ask a question and keep extending her question with or's and and's to milk out more information. That seems unfair and is difficult to listen to for me.
![What's My Line? - Margaret Truman; Jack E. Leonard [panel] (Jul 8, 1956)](/img/n.gif)
I love watching WML it’s like they are still alive
It is.
I never, ever think of them any other way.
😊
To witness Mr. Robinson's incredible acting ability and versatility, all one needs to watch is "Double Indemnity".
+LOA1955 Just about my favorite Robinson role.
As I mentioned above, that was a brilliant casting move on Billy Wilder's part. By 1944, when "Double Indemnity" was made, many people thought of Edward G. Robinson as the actor who played gangsters. But he made a great "good guy" in "Double Indemnity">
Yes, and he was fantastic in a "good guy" role in The Stranger--great actor!
In that role, he was so good he did not even appear to be acting. He seemed like they found a man who had been an insurance investigator for 25 years and cast him to play himself. Apart from being a sympathetic character, the role marked a change from leading man to character actor, one which Robinson was disinclined to make. It was necessary though, and prolonged his career, despite being graylisted.
In addition, Arlene Francis mentioned Robinson's excellent art collection, which today would be priceless. However, shortly after this episode, Robinson divorced and had to sell much of his collection to pay the settlement.
He was also good in My Geisha with Yves Montand and Shirley Maclaine
I closed my eyes during Arlene's bit with Edward G. and yes, indeed when he quietly giggles, no wonder she went 'OH HO!'.....and naturally Bennett recognised too. I'm going to close my eyes more often with the mystery guest now and see just what vocal sound gives them away.
Edward G Robinson was a wonderful versitile actor...He's so funny
Fred: John, do you think if ignorance was catching that I would be a carrier?
I love Fred Allen.
What a great actor !!!! THE ORIGINAL TOUGH GUY
Edward G Robinson was born Emanuel Goldenberg. He was a fine actor and from all I could see in his appearances on what’s my line, he was a man of honor and integrity, and wasn’t ashamed of - and didn’t try to hide his background. And he acknowledged the audience.
You must watch THE STRANGER.
Edward G and Orson Welles together in a terrific drama. What more could anyone wish for!!!
I appreciate Mr. Farrar's whale geekery.
John was very polite to Mrs. Joslyn. I approve. (The acoustics did not help matters.)
Mrs. Joslyn was born in 1874, in Missouri. (So, frontier.) She was married to a gent named Riddle in 1900 "in Mexico," but since she was born in Mexico, MO, I'm going to assume they were married in her home town. (Though Mexico *was* a marriage destination spot, but mostly for richer people.) Anyway, they had five kids in 13 years, and then Mr. Riddle died; she moved to Sioux Falls in 1919. She remarried (after working as a waitress in various places) to Mr. Joslyn in 1928, and had I believe a daughter with him, and then he died in 1948. She then allied up with her daughter and did paper hanging, until 1963, when she retired. She died in 1968, age 94.
Hi Julie, I don't know how much you remember about Cora MJ but my memories are pretty vivid. She did not like Children! Funny, I still remember that she died on October 18, 1968. How I remember that is a bit of a story, I was only 7 at the time.
How could she have died at age 94 when she was 86 twelve years earlier?
She was 86 in Jan of 56. Couldn't have been 94 in 68.
She bore a child at 54 years old?
Did they establish that the Asian contestant was from Japan?
I think the whale counter had a very important job. Many whales are still on the verge of extinction. It's gratifying to see that some insightful people were doing something to save them 70 years ago.
Edward G. was a great actor.
Watched it last night… for the fifth time!! Yes, EGR is great!!!❤
I’ve watched so many of these and have totally LOVED them! I’m gonna be lost when I finish watching the last one available! I know!!- I could watch them all again to see if I remember their LINES! Brilliant! I think John Charles has the most charming persona! ❤
In 1960 John will divorce his wife, and marry a 15years younger woman 😊
Legend and nice person!!
An 86 year old paper hanger; "old people doing stuff;" yes indeed!
Love that when the second contestant, Mr. Farrar, is shaking hands with the panel, at around 10:44 Arlene asks him "How's Geraldine?" referring to the famous opera singer. :)
Edward G. Robinson's last film was "Soylent Green," which I have in my DVD collection.
Arlene Is stunning as usual
Gorgeous woman 😊
Edward G. Robinson was the MG on 10/11/53. He had even more trouble disguising his voice that time. And WML would bring him back again as the MG.
MG?
@@susanslack6347 Mystery Guest
My grandmother (born 1887, for age reference) hated Edward G. Robinson in movies. She referred to him as "liver lips." Of course this meant he was an extraordinary villain as an actor. In her mind, he was type-cast, and when he played more sympathetic parts, she still suspected him of ulterior motives for good behavior.
That's funny. Just proves what a great actor he was.
"there was that one instance deal involving getting into ...". Jonah?
Yep. And the fact that the audience caught on says something for how Biblically literate most people were then.
Dorothy does pose a good question; how do you know if you are not counting the same whale twice.
Tag 'em?
I don't think they did it then, but now instead of tagging they can identify a lot of animals by markings.
MAKES PIZZA PIES IN ITALIAN RESTAURANT
COUNTS WHALES
PAPER HANGER
Great Actor
The breadth of his roles is amazing-- he could so easily have been typecast as a gangster after his breakout role as "Little Caesar". Just take a look at his films with Fritz Lang to see how extraordinary Robinson's range was ("Scarlet Street" or "Woman in the Window").
What's My Line? My favorites, don't forget "The Stranger".
JAY TERRY He was one of the best things in that film, yes. Did you know that Orson Welles wanted to cast Agnes Moorehead in Robinson's Nazi hunter role for "The Stranger"? What a different movie that would have been!
Indeed, Agnes and Orson would have been intense in the roles....Now I'll have to watch it with that in mind.
Since I began your WML, I've got a list of movies. Thanks again for this series.
JAY TERRY My pleasure-- thanks for the comments. :)
Frustration when Volume is so low have to strain yourself to hear. INCREASE THE VOLUME!!!
Some videos were filmed with a lower sound😢
@@robertjean5782 Luckily, there's a volume equalizer in playback for these videos.
When Edward G. Robinson had signed in he put his fingers up like a machine gun and jokingly "aimed" at the audience. A reminiscence from his gangster movies. 17:30
I think that at first he pointed his cigar. A few other MG's were smoking cigars during their appearance. I've wondered if the panel could smell the odor. It would be quite different from the smell of John Daly's cigarette.
Arlene's mask is fabulous!
She's gorgeous 😊
Arlene's hair is still getting lighter. She's looking more like I remember her.
Bennett is still slicking on the dark hair dye.
Fred looks "better" with eyeglasses.
Dorothy looks very nice this episode.
Fred always looks like Howdy Doodie.
Both Arlene and Dorothy are thin here and look fabulous.
@@El_OpheliaFRED will die in a few weeks 😢
@@robertjean5782 I know. I remember his death on the show, and they were definitely quite sad about it.
Indeed Dynamite Robinson
Years ago, I had a soft rubber frog sponge holder next to my kitchen sink. A friend stuck a cigar in its mouth, and made it "talk" like Edward G. Robinson.
Sometimes sweet, sometimes sour.
you still recognize his voice
The Academy Awards are not a meritocracy. Edward G. Robison not only never won a competitive Oscar, he was never nominated for one.
86. Wow, that means that last guest was probably born in 1869, unless she had very recently had a birthday
The paper hanger, Cora Joslyn was my Great Grandmother. Her daughter Nadine who was my Grandmother also worked with her in that business and I worked with my Grandmother hanging paper in the late 70s. She was 80 yrs old by that time.
@@brucekepford3685 Ah, so her name was Cora, and not Cara? JCD got it wrong? So nice to read comments from relatives and/or friends of guests. While I like the Mystery Guest segments, the show was "What's My LINE", and I generally find the non-Mystery Guest segments the most enjoyable. Your gr-grandmother was a joy to watch. Thanks for sharing info.
@@rmelin13231I appreciate the background details😊
Mr. Daly's joke about Jonah and the whale made me giggle
The last contestant, "paper hanger" means she hangs wallpaper.
Edward G. Robinson was born in Romania.
That hike in front of the panel was so ridiculous and undignified. Thank goodness somebody had the good sense to change that. They also thank goodness, changed having the guests who weren’t celebrities exit behind John Charles Daly.
The walk could give the panel a clue of their line😊
It would be nice to hear this.
Some videos were related a lower volume😢
Second game. Educational WML at one of its high point.
thank you Arlene for putting the image of propagating whales in my mind. Now what?
Perhaps Arlene was referring to sperm whales!
Fred Allen strikes again. 😂
you know what that was an incredible guess though I could've never guessed that,,
Listening closely for clues, and having a Intuitive mind 😊
Cora Joslyn, the lady at the end of the show was my Great Grandmother. Mean old lady, that one.
She appears to be totally clueless. Sorry..
"How"s the foundation going?" LOL
Betty Ford... 😊😊😊
Yes, Dorothy asked a good question, how does the whale guy know that he might be counting the same Whale. I have a big collection of Robinson's movies. He should have at least have won an Oscar for his role as KEYS in 'Double Indemnity.' The Asian woman was super shy. I also remember an Elevator operator on the show and seemed frightened to death. Why do they get on the show that might scare them ? Is $50. like winning $500 these days ? "Don't go after that paper hanger, John." What did he mean by that statement ? P.S. Robinson made me laugh with that Russian or Romanian accent, he also made me feel good, just seeing one of my favorite actors, he was the best. (He was born in Romania, which by the way are considered Latin.)
Should have won an Oscar for "Double Indemnity"? Perhaps. The Oscars are not a meritocracy, however. It is not merely an oversight that Robinson never won an Oscar. The more preposterous reality is that Robinson was never NOMINATED for an Oscar. They did give him one of the early lifetime achievement Oscars very shortly before his death (it was actually presented posthumously as I recall).
$50 Was a weeks pay or mortgage payment 😊
Being a child of the 50's and 60's, I often make note of the differences in what was considered normal acceptable behavior as an excuse for some of the remarks made. That said, with today's sensitivities, I found the first challenger's segment and the introduction of Arlene in reference to her trip to Japan especially cringe worthy.
Yeah that was hard to watch. So much casual racism. Although I believe times were better back then, I'm glad we did away with that.
Sometimes I think we as a culture have grown overly sensitive to matters of race, but then I hear something like Arlene and Fred's insensitive comments and I'm glad we've largely gotten beyond that.
The whale counter looks like John Turturro
That paper hanger doesn't look 86
The play Edward G Robinson would be in would be "Middle of the Night", about a fifty-three year-old man and a much younger woman played by Gena Rowlands. He got good reviews, the play didn't.
Odd that they didn't actually mention the name
Thanks for mentioning the name of the play. Fredrick March & Kim Kovak play those folks on the screen. I have the movie. PADDY always write some great stuff; MARTY, THE CATERED AFFAIR etc.
It didn't seem likely that someone would produce a failed play for the big screen, so I looked this up on Chayefsky's Wikipedia page. ---"The seventh season of Philco Television Playhouse began September 19, 1954 with E. G. Marshall and Eva Marie Saint in Chayefsky's Middle of the Night, a play which relocated to Broadway theaters 15 months later; In 1956, Middle of the Night opened on Broadway with Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands, and its success led to a national tour. It was filmed by Columbia Pictures in 1959 with Kim Novak and Fredric March.
@@Sylvander1911Edward did😊
The first guest wrote her name in Hangul, which is Korean... That was rather awkward, they kept assuming she was Japanese and she just went along with it...
henjutsu1 awkward? how?
She wrote her name in Japanese, not in Korean.
I thought that looked familiar. I know a bit of Hangul but nothing of Japanese.
She wrote five letters on the board.
The second letter is neither Korean nor Japanese.
She does not know Korean letters well.
She might have wanted to write "Sue Ford."
The first letter can be read "Sue."
But even if the second letter were Korean, it could be read "ko??".
So my conclusion is that she wrote her name in Japanese, not in Korean.
I know both Japanese letters and Korean letters very well.
Yeah that whole part was full of passive racism. I cringed at the chopstick question.
I'm surprised that Arlene and Edward G. didn't converse a little about the fact that they were in a 1948 film together.. a very excellent one too.. "All My Sons"
WML. Wasn't a talk show😊
@@robertjean5782 They often had bits of brief talks amongst each other on the show, and no, of course, it wasn't a talk show.
So what is a ”PAPER HANGER” (last segment)?
Some one who wallpapers rooms
Colin Harris ah thanks👍
A paper hanger hangs wallpaper.
there is an old expression that someone is as busy as a one-armed paper hanger
She was my Great Grandmother. She hung wallpaper as did her daughter, my grandmother Nadine. Cora died in 1968 and her daughter Nadine worked in the business until she was 84. I hung paper with her in the late 70s and could hardly keep up with her. She was a spry 80 yr old at that time.
I always wince whenever a guest signs in using another language (here, Japanese) or has a “foreign” name and the audience laughs uproariously and/or panelists joke about it. I’m glad this attitude has changed, though we’re still not perfect by a long shot.
Wendy Darling yeah, today is so much better when we’re sensitive to EVERYTHING...........
It would be 11 years after WWII, still close in history. It would be good Arlene Francis can enjoy going to Japan. It's nice that the panel can be comfortable having camaraderie about Japanese culture and cuisine. It's a sign of how quickly bitter enemies became fast friends. It's a moment of time lost where people didn't choose to be offended for the sake of being offended and be able to have a good time.
I think the panel wrongly assumed that a Japanese guest had been brought in to tie in with Arlene's return from Japan.
I've lived over half my life in Japan, and don't think there was anything xenophobic about John Daly having a bit of fun pretending he could read Sue Ford's name, when she wrote it in katakana: スーフォード.
Wendy Darling, please get normal and get over this crap!!! People are sick of it!!!
I just finished watching The Ten Commandments. His character should have died with Ramses's soldiers when Moses quit parting the sea.
bubblinbrownsugar616 Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.
Why couldn't they have put the lady paper hanger on first?
Better than the whale counter.
Jeepers!
No volume.
Try close caption 😊
This first lady was really shy. She seemed nice, but why do let people on the show if they don't wanna talk?
Because they don't necessarily have to talk. It's their "line" that's important.
This was early Television. Some people probably just froze up when they went out there.
@@MrRwk314and this was broadcast live. 😀😀
@@MrRwk314Exactly 😊
Arlene Francis irritates me I hate to say...
how come, if i may ask?
@@ihatey0utube yeah I feel kinda bad saying it! I'm sure she was a very nice person. In playing the game though it seems like she will ask a question and keep extending her question with or's and and's to milk out more information. That seems unfair and is difficult to listen to for me.
@@robbycan - Cerf & Dorothy do It too -to me , Dorothy Is the worst
@@robbycanDon't listen, all panelist did the same 😊