Here is a season 3, week 8 episode of What's My Line? Wally Bruner is the host. Panel is Soupy - Sandy Duncan - BENNETT - Arlene. MG: Peggy Fleming.1st contestant is John Chambers.
THIS is the What’s my Line that I remember seeing as a child. The b&w episodes that I’ve seen here UA-cam have been a real eye opener for me. I love them. 💕
The good thing about this newer version is the time spent with the guests after their occupations were revealed. It would have been fantastic to have had this happen in the 50's with Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Sammy Davis Jr, Judy Holliday, Paul Newman etc etc etc.
This is sad and depressing without John Daly. he was and always will be the greatest host they have ever had on a game show and I'm glad that Bennett Cerf and Arlene Francis got a chance to be together again .
@@Celisar1 I appreciate your thought. But that's what I loved about John Daly was that wonderful pampas way and his marvelous use of the English language. It was so intricate that the panel looked at each other sometimes LOL LOL I love John Daly I think he was great. But once again I can understand your feeling's.
So TRUE. It seems the ORIGINAL IS ALWAYS BETTER, except when it comes to Jazz where many of the performers took songs to NEW HEIGHTS, the way Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis did with old standards like surrey with the fringe on top and it Could Happen To You.
dance4joy7@hotmail.com Seattle I never cared one bit for John Daly, a pompous man, often talking more than the guests. But Dorothy Kilgallen is sorely missed and likewise another great 4th panelist, Steve Allen. These two new panelists have no chemistry/charisma and the woman’s voice is unpleasant imo.
Multi tiered Investor She loosened up a lot and despite always being on the more serious side she had so many charming interactions with the other panelists, especially with Arlen Francis.
Celisar1 She was sweet and caring, but not a good fit according to Bennett Serf. He thought she was too uptight. She may have been killed due to inside information about John F Kennedy’s assignation. That accusation was made, but not investigated.
I like em all!! I’m from a country in Southeast Asia and we only gotTV in 1963. So these episodes were what we got to eventually see. The 5O’s and 60’s episodes are marvelous for me to catch up on. But I got here looking for Bennett Cerf in the later episodes. He remained charming to the end!
Arlene was my favorite! she was charming, Kind, witty, and funny! Dorothy was too serious and loved the Camera time. I loved Bennett too. He was distinguished. I think he and Arlene would've been an attractive couple.
In Bennett Cerf’s obituary at “The New York Times” website, it stated that a few months before his death, he “had underwent major abdominal surgery”. Translation: Bennett Cerf died of colon cancer.
Bennett looks just like he did in the 50's. Arlene looks just a little bit older, but still good for 20 years after. Even from her first appearance on the show in the early 50's, Arlene was very good at guessing the occupations and mystery guests - a bright woman. Yes, I like the B&W versions of the show much better. This has that corny feel of Match Game and other such 70's shows. This host really makes me appreciate John Charles Daly.
When the prime-time version of the show debuted in 1950, it took place at a time when only older, upper-middle class people could afford to buy television sets. The show at that time was primarily focused for an older, more well-educated television audience. That generation of TV fans were dying off by the time the show ended in 1967. In 1968, when the syndicated version of the show debuted, the mission of the show had changed. It had to be less formal, more casual, and more faster-paced, in order to appeal to a younger generation of TV viewers coming up during the Vietnam War Era. John Daly was educated in an upper-class academy. Wally Bruner had a common middle-class public education. Those two types of people are from two entirely different worlds of experience, and never the two shall meet. This is a “working class” version of the show. You have to understand that, in order to appreciate this revival of the series.
Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf were my absolute favorite contestants looking back on this show throughout the 50's and 60's. I adored BOTH OF THEM. I was born in late 1960, but I grew up watching this show into re-runs and I loved them all, especially Dorothy Kilgallen, who was murdered in the 60's under mysterious circumstances! It was such a warm and humble show when the contestants wished each other "Goodnight" to each other! The amazing Performers who tried to hide their lines, while the panel were blindfolded was my absolutely favorite part of this wonderful show! "May the Contestant come in and SIGN IN PLEASE!"
Yes!. But i'm not really sure for the Dorothy Kilgallen murdered cause you know that she was suffering of insomnia & she used a lot of goofballs (barbiturate) & alcohol & when you mixed both overdosed where very common in the 60's. Perhaps it was a sad accident. But very strange indeed!
In the 50s & 60s it was a weekly nationwide show. By the 70s it was syndicated and often times the panelists didn't know who the mystery guest was even after removing their masks.
The old black and white shows were more enjoyable. The panel were complete lady's and gentlemen. Seems like the newer shows were in a rush and pushing. Don't get me wrong it's nothing like today's which are complete time rush to push the commercials but the old ones were the best,the black and white
Righteous indignation, indeed. Had it been me, I would have further added that, at the risk of losing the letter writer's viewership, she was invited to come and be a panelist just once and try to match her intelligence of the game against Arlene's then twenty years of honest experience and integrity...
I checked out her wikipedia bio and found this: Her second marriage was to Dr. Thomas Calcaterra on January 10, 1973; it lasted until 1979. Duncan met Calcaterra when he was a consulting surgeon on her brain tumor surgery, after which they began dating. This marriage also failed, according to Duncan, because of the demands of her nightclub act that she toured with in 1978 and her refusal to stay at home and try to be a good "doctor's wife". That last line is coincidental because Peggy Fleming used almost exactly the same line in this WML show.
I also remember those days as well. When someone died suddenly, and the episodes were already taped, there was an announcement at the beginning of the episode. Case in point, when Wally Cox died from "The Hollywood Squares" the audio was silenced for a few minutes at the beginning and the announcer said, "This program has been pre-recorded" instead of waiting for this to pop up at the end. Times have changed.
Bennett's logic was spot on in the first line of questioning but then he got lost still in the first line. Then he guessed the cosmetics. He died within a year and I read he had dementia and played with toys so maybe he had a stroke or a huge decline.
The two seasoned pros, Bennett and Arlene ... both 20 years of experience each ... both came through !!! PS: Peggy Fleming is still married to her teenage sweetheart, Greg Jenkins, and they have two children and three grandchildren.
I read in Gil Fates' book about the "behind the scenes" stories of "What's My Line?", that was released in 1977, that when CBS was starting up a daytime version of the show for syndication, Bennett Cerf's health was starting to deteriorate, after years of smoking a pipe. He agreed to work on the show, on the condition that he would work a short work schedule. He, CBS, and Goodman-Todman Productions agreed to let him appear on the shows that aired on Mondays and Fridays. He would appear on two episodes that were videotaped back-to-back, and then he went home for the day (since they taped a week's worth of episodes in one day). Since most of the episodes were recorded during the Summer months, and the remainder of them completed midway through the Fall, the cast had the rest of the year off to rest. No "current events" were allowed to be referenced on the show, in order for the episodes to be aired at a later date. Gil Fates stated in his book, that when Bennett Cerf died in 1971, CBS had a problem, because almost half of the 1971-72 season's episodes were already "in the can", and they didn't want to have the added expense of making all-new episodes to replace the ones that the late Mr. Cerf had already appeared in. After some debate about what they should do, they decided to air the episodes with the late Bennett Cerf appearing in them. I remember watching those episodes as a young child. CBS presented a disclaimer card at the start of the program, which was read by an announcer, stating that the episode about to be aired featured the late Bennett Cerf, which was recorded in the weeks prior to his death. It was his final wish (but more likely the network's) that the episodes in which he appeared were to be shown in their entirety. Then, the episode of "What's My LIne?" was broadcast.
I grew up watching this version and had no idea there was an earlier version until I was in my 30s. Both are actually great and I'm sure everyone favors the show which is most familiar to them. Both fit nicely into their respective eras.
Whenever I see Sandy Duncan I think of the Dean Martin Roast of Sammy Davis Jr where Foster Brooks refers to him as "superstar of stars Sandy Duncan Jr"
I prefer the shows of the 50 ies and 60 ies. John Daily was really funny, they called each other Miss Francis etc., the clothing was breathtaking (women in evening gowns.. men in black ties) and of course there was Dorothy...when color TV was invented everything had to be colorful - no matter if it looked beautiful or nor..it needed to be colorful...(clothes, decoration etc.)...AND I think that the conversation with the guest is too long (in the old shows it was unfortunately inexistent - a mixture of both would have been perfect)
Ulrich Lehnhardt To each his own- I’ll take the 70’s. The early seventies TV shows are distinctively different from the late seventies. Etiquette laced with 50s nostalgia except with moppy hair (Soupy Sayles) and loud dresses (Arlene Francis.) Love the bright colors! The shows from the 50s seem formally stiff and phony. Sandy Duncan was in her prime then. Bennett Cerf died about a year after this broadcast.
The syndicated shows are my favorites because I remember watching them with my grandmother, and because I remember the era (pants suits, wide ties, shag “Mrs. Brady” haircuts, lots of orange and brown, etc.). Watching them again makes me smile.
The last CBS season was originally in color, and Arlene and the female guest panelists did wear more colorful outfits according to references. The set however was still fairly plain- I’ve heard the walls behind the panel and John were powder blue, probably about the same shade as the surviving color To Tell the Truth episodes from that era.
Daly was wonderful, but Wally isn’t bad. This version simply isn’t as high-rent as the original, as indicated by Soupy Sales’ presence. The Mystery Guest on a weekday morning show isn’t going to be Sinatra.
I wonder what Bennett and Arlene felt when doing this show. It must’ve felt familiar, but also nostalgic because it reminded them of the old show. But at least they still had each other, it must have been even more lonely if everyone else had left and it was just one of them there. No doubt Dorothy Kilgallen would be there if the CIA hadn’t killed for trying to expose the truth of the JFK assassination
Pat Smith Bennett Cerf only did a few weeks here and there for the first two years of the revival before he passed away. He was not a regular panelist. Arlene was the only holdover from the original version.
They had fun with it. I know Arlene & Bennett had wanted more demonstrations and informal chatter in the original show but John Daly always refused so I'm sure the informal, less structured aspect was probably refreshing for them at this stage.
I'm surprised that no one on the panel asked Mr. Chambers if he was involved in movies since Burbank is the headquarters of both Warner Brothers and Disney.
+A Giordano I think when she was in her 80's (could be wrong) she was walking down a street in New York and someone tore her heart necklace right off her neck and ran with it.
+Eileen Harder She was robbed of the necklace while getting off the taxi in New York in 1988. Her husband - from whom Arlene had gotten the necklace back in 1946- had already been dead.
A Giordano she had it on under the pearls she wore those on the early shows too but had it on. Yes the neckless was ripped off her neck never found they either kept it or took the diamonds out of it and sold them apart that heart had 25 diamonds in it.
If I were to produce a revival of "What's My Line?", I wouldn't reveal the contestant's occupation until either the panel guessed it or when the game ended. This way, viewers can play along.
I cannot believe that Wally agreed to read that "Honest Question" on the air! What an insult. There is no way that Arlene ever peeked. I sometimes thought she threw in a "free question" and got away with it. No biggie there. But looking out of the corner of the mask? Not a chance.
I was never alive when this show aired but I got hooked watching every single episode uploaded on youtube of the original series and even I became annoyed hearing the host read such a ridiculous question. Arlene was clearly a class act her whole career and life. Unfortunate they had to end an episode on such an oddly sour note.
They were very intelligent so they didn't have to peek. They knew who was in town around that time, and could deduce from that. And yes, they would throw it around at least once or twice to give the person a chance to play. On the earlier episodes the producers would give lines of questioning to ensue hilarity, but they really don't need to cheat.
And what was the point of reading it? The person who wrote that comment would never be convinced by Arlene's self-defense and would not be embarrassed to have made the accusation. The only thing the question achieved was to humiliate and anger Arlene who did not deserved to be so disrespected.
Unfortunately, it was a sign of the times that there was great mistrust with game shows, and people wanted to know if it was honest. I'm glad they put it to bed.
You can tell, based on the contestants and the younger panel that this was the beginnings of a dumber society. No colorful grammar, just simple low vocabulary English. Also the charm was gone. Bennett and Arlene were the only ones intelligent on this show. Obviously. Is it any surprise that only Miss Francis and Mr Cerf got them all.
Bigger is not always better. The confining old set seemed more relaxing and less show business-y than this bigger, colorful and more expensive model. Overall, while it remained watchable, WML never really recovered after Dorothy Kilgallen died.
Cerf ...founder of Random House publishing... Corrupt as the day is long , and in the old show , had advanced knowledge of what guest occupations were ahead of time ...just took his time to reveal ..as he still did here...🤔😣. He came across as a real stuffed shirt , seemed like not much fun to be around...All the preceding is Just my humble opinion...🤨
THIS is the What’s my Line that I remember seeing as a child. The b&w episodes that I’ve seen here UA-cam have been a real eye opener for me. I love them. 💕
So Missed .... John Daly and the old crew😢😢😢. So Good to see Bennett and Arlene👏🌹❤️
R.I.P. DOROTHY R.I.P. 🙏😢
The good old days are long gone and dead.
Without the erudition of J.C.Daly, too much was lost.
The good thing about this newer version is the time spent with the guests after their occupations were revealed. It would have been fantastic to have had this happen in the 50's with Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Sammy Davis Jr, Judy Holliday, Paul Newman etc etc etc.
Not the same without John. I miss the old gang...
This is sad and depressing without John Daly. he was and always will be the greatest host they have ever had on a game show and I'm glad that Bennett Cerf and Arlene Francis got a chance to be together again .
Billy Manners
I feel very differently. Daly was so pompous. There would have been better hosts to replace him than this one though.
@@Celisar1 I appreciate your thought. But that's what I loved about John Daly was that wonderful pampas way and his marvelous use of the English language. It was so intricate that the panel looked at each other sometimes LOL LOL I love John Daly I think he was great. But once again I can understand your feeling's.
@@Celisar1 He wasn't pompous at all. Maybe he comes across that way if one is not that intelligent.
CrazyWedz
I wouldn’t know but you seem to have experience in that matter.
I really like Wally Bruner, in fact he is my favourite host.
Nice...but it is just not the same as with John Daly and the old panel :)
So TRUE. It seems the ORIGINAL IS ALWAYS BETTER, except when it comes to Jazz where many of the performers took songs to NEW HEIGHTS, the way Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis did with old standards like surrey with the fringe on top and it Could Happen To You.
dance4joy7@hotmail.com Seattle
I never cared one bit for John Daly, a pompous man, often talking more than the guests.
But Dorothy Kilgallen is sorely missed and likewise another great 4th panelist, Steve Allen.
These two new panelists have no chemistry/charisma and the woman’s voice is unpleasant imo.
Celisar1 Thought the opposite. I liked John Daly, but thought Dorothy was unfunny with no sense of humor.
Multi tiered Investor
She loosened up a lot and despite always being on the more serious side she had so many charming interactions with the other panelists, especially with Arlen Francis.
Celisar1 She was sweet and caring, but not a good fit according to Bennett Serf. He thought she was too uptight. She may have been killed due to inside information about John F Kennedy’s assignation. That accusation was made, but not investigated.
A year before Bennett Cerf died. Love all of his performances.
I like em all!! I’m from a country in Southeast Asia and we only gotTV in 1963. So these episodes were what we got to eventually see. The 5O’s and 60’s episodes are marvelous for me to catch up on. But I got here looking for Bennett Cerf in the later episodes. He remained charming to the end!
Arlene and Bennett, together again.
Arlene was my favorite! she was charming, Kind, witty, and funny! Dorothy was too serious and loved the Camera time. I loved Bennett too. He was distinguished. I think he and Arlene would've been an attractive couple.
Yes! Notice the two seasoned pros, Bennett and Arlene ... both 20 years of experience each ... both came through !!!
Sadly, Bennett Cerf died the next year (1971). He was 73 when he died.
I could see Bennett's logic go off but he still guessed the cosmetics. He still would have gotten it on the first time.
Bennett died suddenly at his home in Mt. Kisco. He wasn't known to be in poor health.
In Bennett Cerf’s obituary at “The New York Times” website, it stated that a few months before his death, he “had underwent major abdominal surgery”.
Translation: Bennett Cerf died of colon cancer.
Bennett looks just like he did in the 50's. Arlene looks just a little bit older, but still good for 20 years after. Even from her first appearance on the show in the early 50's, Arlene was very good at guessing the occupations and mystery guests - a bright woman. Yes, I like the B&W versions of the show much better. This has that corny feel of Match Game and other such 70's shows. This host really makes me appreciate John Charles Daly.
With your permission, (blah blah blah) I would say this: This host really makes me appreciate John Charles Daly’s absence.
Miley onDisney
Cerf looks really old here, but no shame in getting older.
@@Celisar1 we all do
Unfortunately, Cerf would pass away the next year.
When the prime-time version of the show debuted in 1950, it took place at a time when only older, upper-middle class people could afford to buy television sets. The show at that time was primarily focused for an older, more well-educated television audience. That generation of TV fans were dying off by the time the show ended in 1967.
In 1968, when the syndicated version of the show debuted, the mission of the show had changed. It had to be less formal, more casual, and more faster-paced, in order to appeal to a younger generation of TV viewers coming up during the Vietnam War Era.
John Daly was educated in an upper-class academy. Wally Bruner had a common middle-class public education. Those two types of people are from two entirely different worlds of experience, and never the two shall meet.
This is a “working class” version of the show. You have to understand that, in order to appreciate this revival of the series.
The 70's were my teenage years. I used to watch this show up in my bedroom at night.
Arlene is amazing in this forum.
Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf were my absolute favorite contestants looking back on this show throughout the 50's and 60's. I adored BOTH OF THEM. I was born in late 1960, but I grew up watching this show into re-runs and I loved them all, especially Dorothy Kilgallen, who was murdered in the 60's under mysterious circumstances! It was such a warm and humble show when the contestants wished each other "Goodnight" to each other! The amazing Performers who tried to hide their lines, while the panel were blindfolded was my absolutely favorite part of this wonderful show! "May the Contestant come in and SIGN IN PLEASE!"
Yes!. But i'm not really sure for the Dorothy Kilgallen murdered cause you know that she was suffering of insomnia & she used a lot of goofballs (barbiturate) & alcohol & when you mixed both overdosed where very common in the 60's. Perhaps it was a sad accident. But very strange indeed!
Bennett in color! :-D
R.D. Dragon In color and on videotape.Like homecoming for Mr.Cerf.
George Master hubba hubba lol
This show was so good in the 50s. But now...
In the 50s & 60s it was a weekly nationwide show. By the 70s it was syndicated and often times the panelists didn't know who the mystery guest was even after removing their masks.
Bennet and Arlene both aged very gracefully.
Boy this was so different. I can see a different time period.
The old black and white shows were more enjoyable. The panel were complete lady's and gentlemen. Seems like the newer shows were in a rush and pushing. Don't get me wrong it's nothing like today's which are complete time rush to push the commercials but the old ones were the best,the black and white
Yes, without that horrible music that I was sick of before the end of the first round. Bennet passed on the following year.
The classic show vastly diminished in the age of The Price is RIGHT.. Check out the pre 1965 shows. A different world.
Arlene Francis was" right on" to respond in the manner,she did! Good for her!!
It seemed to take her by surprise.
Righteous indignation, indeed. Had it been me, I would have further added that, at the risk of losing the letter writer's viewership, she was invited to come and be a panelist just once and try to match her intelligence of the game against Arlene's then twenty years of honest experience and integrity...
Wow... I'd forgotten all about Sandy Duncan. I had a HUGE crush on her back in the 70s. I can see why.
I checked out her wikipedia bio and found this:
Her second marriage was to Dr. Thomas Calcaterra on January 10, 1973; it lasted until 1979. Duncan met Calcaterra when he was a consulting surgeon on her brain tumor surgery, after which they began dating. This marriage also failed, according to Duncan, because of the demands of her nightclub act that she toured with in 1978 and her refusal to stay at home and try to be a good "doctor's wife".
That last line is coincidental because Peggy Fleming used almost exactly the same line in this WML show.
I also remember those days as well. When someone died suddenly, and the episodes were already taped, there was an announcement at the beginning of the episode. Case in point, when Wally Cox died from "The Hollywood Squares" the audio was silenced for a few minutes at the beginning and the announcer said, "This program has been pre-recorded" instead of waiting for this to pop up at the end. Times have changed.
No John Daly and no Dorothy Kilgallen. It's like The Beatles without Lennon and McCartney.
true
John Chambers was a legend in Hollywood circles.
Arlene and Bennett are/were great panelists :)
"It's the damndest thing I've ever heard." Lol!
Wow! Bennett: “damndest thing I’ve ever heard of” that was a shocker 😮
Bennett's logic was spot on in the first line of questioning but then he got lost still in the first line. Then he guessed the cosmetics. He died within a year and I read he had dementia and played with toys so maybe he had a stroke or a huge decline.
thanks for posting, I really like Sandy Duncan
The two seasoned pros, Bennett and Arlene ... both 20 years of experience each ... both came through !!! PS: Peggy Fleming is still married to her teenage sweetheart, Greg Jenkins, and they have two children and three grandchildren.
I saw Ms. Fleming at O'Hare Airport about 20 years ago. She was STUNNINGLY beautiful. I am quite sure she still is.
It's crazy that the young female panelist is an 80 year old now in 2019 if she is still alive, if not may she R.I.P
Hi 🙂. Do you mean Sandy Duncan? She died ...😒😩😰Rest In Peace Sandy Duncan🙏💔💙🌷🏵️🌻🌹🌸🌺💐
Sandy Duncan is 74 now and is still alive.
It is all good!
Does Bennett ever age?
+Daria Wells Well poor guy died in 71.
I read in Gil Fates' book about the "behind the scenes" stories of "What's My Line?", that was released in 1977, that when CBS was starting up a daytime version of the show for syndication, Bennett Cerf's health was starting to deteriorate, after years of smoking a pipe. He agreed to work on the show, on the condition that he would work a short work schedule. He, CBS, and Goodman-Todman Productions agreed to let him appear on the shows that aired on Mondays and Fridays. He would appear on two episodes that were videotaped back-to-back, and then he went home for the day (since they taped a week's worth of episodes in one day). Since most of the episodes were recorded during the Summer months, and the remainder of them completed midway through the Fall, the cast had the rest of the year off to rest. No "current events" were allowed to be referenced on the show, in order for the episodes to be aired at a later date. Gil Fates stated in his book, that when Bennett Cerf died in 1971, CBS had a problem, because almost half of the 1971-72 season's episodes were already "in the can", and they didn't want to have the added expense of making all-new episodes to replace the ones that the late Mr. Cerf had already appeared in. After some debate about what they should do, they decided to air the episodes with the late Bennett Cerf appearing in them. I remember watching those episodes as a young child. CBS presented a disclaimer card at the start of the program, which was read by an announcer, stating that the episode about to be aired featured the late Bennett Cerf, which was recorded in the weeks prior to his death. It was his final wish (but more likely the network's) that the episodes in which he appeared were to be shown in their entirety. Then, the episode of "What's My LIne?" was broadcast.
Daria Wells
I don’t think so myself!
To be fair he definitely looks a lot older in these color ones and you can tell by his voice as well. Love the guy just the same.
Daria Wells
I came here because I saw him in the thumbnail and thought: dear god, did he get old!
Oooh! After all these years of seeing sweet Arlene, remind me not to get on her bad side . . . Tiger Woman! Good for her!!! I love a tough broad!
I grew up watching this version and had no idea there was an earlier version until I was in my 30s. Both are actually great and I'm sure everyone favors the show which is most familiar to them. Both fit nicely into their respective eras.
It's weird to see Bennett in color...
This was distressing. I feel I need a nap...or an antacid.
the music is loud and irritating.
Omg.. 50s 60s joyable 😳 This is not what the show really was about. And John Daly is a genius so let's turn back to the older ones 🤔
Whoops! Mr. Chambers said Roddy McDowell’s name but then corrected himself. McDowell did not appear in Beneath.
I’d rather watch the 50s episodes.
Bennet was great. Unbelievable he would be dead in a year.
Not only that, but he was afflicted with dementia the final few months of his life. Sad.
Yeah he seemed just fine here. Dying at 73 is being a little short changed I think.
I never knew that. Bennett Cerf looked healthy as a horse on here.
Silly kids better be honored to have WML's veterans in their panel!
I just wish we could find these from one date to the next rather than having to scramble to find one.
Sandy Duncan is such a sweetheart -
Whenever I see Sandy Duncan I think of the Dean Martin Roast of Sammy Davis Jr where Foster Brooks refers to him as "superstar of stars Sandy Duncan Jr"
I prefer the shows of the 50 ies and 60 ies. John Daily was really funny, they called each other Miss Francis etc., the clothing was breathtaking (women in evening gowns.. men in black ties) and of course there was Dorothy...when color TV was invented everything had to be colorful - no matter if it looked beautiful or nor..it needed to be colorful...(clothes, decoration etc.)...AND I think that the conversation with the guest is too long (in the old shows it was unfortunately inexistent - a mixture of both would have been perfect)
Ulrich Lehnhardt To each his own- I’ll take the 70’s. The early seventies TV shows are distinctively different from the late seventies. Etiquette laced with 50s nostalgia except with moppy hair (Soupy Sayles) and loud dresses (Arlene Francis.) Love the bright colors! The shows from the 50s seem formally stiff and phony. Sandy Duncan was in her prime then. Bennett Cerf died about a year after this broadcast.
Yep, no comparison, the original CBS version was more entertaining, better quality host and panelists, and not surprisingly .... more successful.
The syndicated shows are my favorites because I remember watching them with my grandmother, and because I remember the era (pants suits, wide ties, shag “Mrs. Brady” haircuts, lots of orange and brown, etc.). Watching them again makes me smile.
Ulrich Lehnhardt I do miss Dorothy Kilgallen
The last CBS season was originally in color, and Arlene and the female guest panelists did wear more colorful outfits according to references. The set however was still fairly plain- I’ve heard the walls behind the panel and John were powder blue, probably about the same shade as the surviving color To Tell the Truth episodes from that era.
Sadly, Bennett Cerf died the next year (1971)
Daly was wonderful, but Wally isn’t bad. This version simply isn’t as high-rent as the original, as indicated by Soupy Sales’ presence. The Mystery Guest on a weekday morning show isn’t going to be Sinatra.
I wonder what Bennett and Arlene felt when doing this show. It must’ve felt familiar, but also nostalgic because it reminded them of the old show. But at least they still had each other, it must have been even more lonely if everyone else had left and it was just one of them there.
No doubt Dorothy Kilgallen would be there if the CIA hadn’t killed for trying to expose the truth of the JFK assassination
Pat Smith Bennett Cerf only did a few weeks here and there for the first two years of the revival before he passed away. He was not a regular panelist. Arlene was the only holdover from the original version.
They had fun with it. I know Arlene & Bennett had wanted more demonstrations and informal chatter in the original show but John Daly always refused so I'm sure the informal, less structured aspect was probably refreshing for them at this stage.
I'm going back to watching the black-and-white episodes they're more intelligent. these are kind of juvenile an infantile
I agree
Agreed. And we don't have to look at that ugly set. And those colors. Eww.
Soupy Sales? He jumped the shark his first day in television and went down from there.
I'm surprised that no one on the panel asked Mr. Chambers if he was involved in movies since Burbank is the headquarters of both Warner Brothers and Disney.
lol arlene in camoflauge(?!) lol
From the week of November 2 - 6, 1970.
Different without John Dally
Arlene must've left her diamond heart necklace back in 1963... she always had it in the original b/w shows.
+A Giordano I think when she was in her 80's (could be wrong) she was walking down a street in New York and someone tore her heart necklace right off her neck and ran with it.
Eileen Harder OMG that's terrible!! Hopefully b/c of its notoriety they couldn't sell it.
+Eileen Harder She was robbed of the necklace while getting off the taxi in New York in 1988. Her husband - from whom Arlene had gotten the necklace back in 1946- had already been dead.
A Giordano she did wear that all the time didn't she.
A Giordano she had it on under the pearls she wore those on the early shows too but had it on. Yes the neckless was ripped off her neck never found they either kept it or took the diamonds out of it and sold them apart that heart had 25 diamonds in it.
Can see in the 70s how they loved orange.
John Chambers was credited decades later in the movie Argo, his fake movie helped release Americans in Iran, in 1979.
If you wanna hear Bennett sing, play George Olson's "Say Young Lady" (not really, but sounds like him and it's funny because of that)
Hmmm , I do agree somewhat with the letter writer, it usually appears Arlene doesn’t have the same snug fitting blindfold as the others.
Please! put some more episode.
If I were to produce a revival of "What's My Line?", I wouldn't reveal the contestant's occupation until either the panel guessed it or when the game ended.
This way, viewers can play along.
Mr. Cerf died the following year August 1971.
The second contestants looked more like twins than sisters-in-law.
I cannot believe that Wally agreed to read that "Honest Question" on the air! What an insult.
There is no way that Arlene ever peeked. I sometimes thought she threw in a "free question" and got away with it. No biggie there. But looking out of the corner of the mask? Not a chance.
I was never alive when this show aired but I got hooked watching every single episode uploaded on youtube of the original series and even I became annoyed hearing the host read such a ridiculous question. Arlene was clearly a class act her whole career and life. Unfortunate they had to end an episode on such an oddly sour note.
They were very intelligent so they didn't have to peek. They knew who was in town around that time, and could deduce from that. And yes, they would throw it around at least once or twice to give the person a chance to play. On the earlier episodes the producers would give lines of questioning to ensue hilarity, but they really don't need to cheat.
And what was the point of reading it? The person who wrote that comment would never be convinced by Arlene's self-defense and would not be embarrassed to have made the accusation. The only thing the question achieved was to humiliate and anger Arlene who did not deserved to be so disrespected.
Unfortunately, it was a sign of the times that there was great mistrust with game shows, and people wanted to know if it was honest. I'm glad they put it to bed.
I’m glad the question was read. We got to see a rare side of Arlene, certainly not one to be reckoned with.
That's the hottest I've ever seen Sandy Duncan look.
John Chambers later of "Argo" fame.
You can tell, based on the contestants and the younger panel that this was the beginnings of a dumber society. No colorful grammar, just simple low vocabulary English.
Also the charm was gone.
Bennett and Arlene were the only ones intelligent on this show. Obviously.
Is it any surprise that only Miss Francis and Mr Cerf got them all.
Dorothy was a skilled questioner, too. Yes, the "dumbing down" of America.
Good call. I grew up in the early 60s but raised by grandmother born in 1898. She was a word ace, taught me to "go look it up in the dictionary"
Did anyone notice Johnny Olson take off the ape mask at the end of the show?
Only if Dorothy Kilgallen were alive to see this syndicated version of WML
Not a patch on the original
I like it and am happy to see Bennett Cerf and Arlene Francis, but I miss Dorothy Kilgallen and Steve Allen and Host John Charles Daly.
Bigger is not always better. The confining old set seemed more relaxing and less show business-y than this bigger, colorful and more expensive model. Overall, while it remained watchable, WML never really recovered after Dorothy Kilgallen died.
terrible theme music...who the hell is wally? not the same without John Charles
"I hope they don't make me wear that all the time" lol
No thanks ! I prefer the old B/W WML....
I thought Peggy Fleming had a few no questions, but no cards were flipped
Maybe this is a new twist with mystery guests ?
Soupy Sales’ hair is very Planet of the Apes looking.
October 1970
Fish and chips in newspaper, yeah this must be an old show
Where'd they get that host at?
Was this out of New York?
Never heard Bennett cuss before.
Sadly Bennett passed away a year later.
two groups of panel from two generations. older one was funny but still looked elegant and classy, the newer one was funny but in a comical way.
Peggy Fleming broke "Snoopy's" heart when she got married'
Arlene pizzzed! Why would they even use that on the show?
Perhaps they censored that word when the show was taped for the 1970-71 season.
It's nice to see Sandy Duncan although I always used to see her on TV as a blonde. I wonder if she's still alive.
She is. She's 74
Nope, i cant watch the syndicated show. Going back to black and white. Fun to see Bennett and Arlene in color though. The vibe is non existent.
Can't stand this theme song.
Perky and annoying.
@@TheNomadicview Like one of the panel.
Agree.
Bennett Cerf would die the very next year. ☹️
Wow! Nostradamus.
Cerf ...founder of Random House publishing... Corrupt as the day is long , and in the old show , had advanced knowledge of what guest occupations were ahead of time ...just took his time to reveal ..as he still did here...🤔😣. He came across as a real stuffed shirt , seemed like not much fun to be around...All the preceding is Just my humble opinion...🤨
@@jmason2838 Didn't you here Arlene?
I can’t watch this show with John Charles Daly 🙅🏻♀️
Wally what?
Soupy is screaming at Johnny Olson
Soupy thinks he is a know it all
The Barney & The Backyard Gang Mom in the Panel.
It’s so strange to me seeing him write left handed
So weird to see Arlene and Bennett in colour