I went to Berlin and visited the old 1936 Olympic Stadium from Jesse Owen's time and stood in the spot where he received his Gold Medals. It was so cool and was on my bucket list. I wish that I could have met him. He was born to do exactly what he did.
Back in 1969, my classmates and I had the distinct pleasure of seeing and hearing Mr. Owens as he appeared at our high school in Ohio for an assembly program. He was RIVETING and encouraging to us young adults! I wish I'd had the FULL significance of what he stood for back in 1969 as I learned later in my life. Bless you and your encouragement, Mr. Owens ;-)
This particular episode Is MASSIVE. I can see the old film stars anytime but I've never seen Jesse Owens at repose in such detail, speaking. WHAT a legend....and I LOVE Serf's reaction. I would've done exactly the same as Bennett, glasses back on, rest my head on hand and just watch in wonder! "My oh my, the great Jesse....OWENS!" I've actually got tears in my eyes as the segment closes and he gets up to leave. Such a powerful legacy left by such a cool, measured man.
Jesse Owens was particularly good at handling himself on live television and had lots of experience in the media, articulate, friendly, and intelligent. He was a true star with bags of personality.
I share your sentiments and recommend the 11/17/72 WML episode when he delivered a great short speech in the wake of the tragic events at the Munich Olympics.
Here I am in Nov 2022 and I'm a Canadian! I've seen the Jesse Owens story and I've watched newsreels of his wins. What a legend and a truly humble man.
+100marymich Did anyone know, what kind of a radioprogram Owens had? He had such an pleasant voice. Must be a great pleasure to listen to his program. A very fine man, indeed.
It seems Hitler didn't shake *any* athletes' hand after the first day. He wanted to only congratulate only some athletes but the IOC said he couldn't do that so he refused to shake anyone's hand. He gave Jesse Owens a wave or slight nazi salute, depending on what you read.
When you think of the unfamiliarity & downright hostility that Owens & Jackie Robinson were asked to deal with while still being expected to compete at the highest level, and yet succeed the way they did------True American heroes. The perfect examples of how to meet adversity with resolve, discretion, and class. Lessons learned, but unfortunately forgotten by way too many.
What you have to say here, in your comments (above), are beautifully articulated and captivating; they are an obvious result of your love for language eloquence and a deeper kind of thinking .
@@andrescott1883You have to remember this was Segregation-Era America. At the 1936 Olympics which were in Nazi-controlled Germany he stayed in the same hotel as white athletes which was something that he couldn't do in the US. He was also never called or invited to the Whitehouse by FDR, and to get to a ceremony being held in his honour, he had to use a freight elevator because the regular one was Whites-only. He was well-loved by the American people but not by the American establishment.
@@andrescott1883 so, in other words, you actively choose to disbelieve people in strict relation to, and on the sole basis of, their race. I'm sure "you" wouldn't call that racism, not at all, but I'm willing to tell you you're pathetic.
Jesse Owens was an amazing athlete, and admired more than I can express. He is a true legend, and I'm thrilled to enjoy this broadcast. Thank you so much!!!
Jesse's handwriting is beautiful. My mother always took pride in her handwriting and said it tells alot about how a person carries themselves. Jesse had no worries in that area of life. True Hero
Initially, I was going to challenge you on your word, "cluey," as used in your comments (above), but I looked the word up and learned something new this evening: It's actually a word, and it has specific meanings. So thank you for introducing this new word to me (even though I don't particularly like the way this word sounds, the way it strikes the hearing "nerve center").
To first have his Track and Field coach, then the great man himself makes this episode iconic. Tony Randall comes across as brilliant, by the way, almost as deductively incisive as Dorothy.
Ironically, Jesse Owens was idolized in Europe after World War II. His demeanor, and willingness to be accessible made him well treasured around the world.
3 things I noted about Jesse Owens' appearance on the show.. 18:59 Jesse's handwriting is absolutely impeccable. 21:42 Bennett Cerf's expression of wonder at discovering it's Jesse Owens. 23:44 Arlene Francis primping her hair whilst looking longingly at Owens.
Same here. I found out when I decided to check her background. Scary how anyone can be killed or eliminated when coming into dangerously revealing information.
The Vietnam War meant a huge amount of money for the corporations involved. When Kennedy decided to start ending the war.... he was assassinated. 2 years later Dorothy had dangerous information about the magnicide. She was assassinated. 3 years later, Robert Kennedy as a candidate for President announced his intention of ending the war in Vietnam. He was assassinated during his campaign. The war lasted enough to make some people very, very rich. Something similar happened with Irak. The difference was that the corporations (oil & weapons & military supplies) were INSIDE the White House (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) and not outside....
@@m.c.b.4323 You hit the nail on the head; look at the sweetheart deal (no bid contract) that Halliburton got to "rebuild" Iraq before the war started. Dick Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton.
It's just thrilling to see Jesse Owens, who beat hitler against all odds. Who humiliated him actually. Bravo to What's My Line for having this American hero on as mystery guest.
Kind of strange that John Daly announces that the first guest had been the coach of Jesse Owens and then minutes later Jesse Owens is the mystery guest.
Having been the Head Manager for the Cornell Track & Field Team from 1970-74, I have multiple connections to this episode of WML. Al Hall was still competing in his late 30's (and beyond) while I was at Cornell. We didn't see him in person very often, even though he competed for the New York Athletic Club, He trained in his native Massachusetts. But I did see his picture every time I went to "work" for the team, which was as much as 6 days a week during the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track seasons. A good estimate would be 150 times per academic year. His picture was among those of the many champions that Cornell has produced in the sport over the decades. Hall was the first of three U.S. Olympians from Cornell in the hammer throw, the others being Tom Gage (who beat out Hall for a spot on the 1972 Olympic team) and Rudy Winkler who competed in Rio in 2016, That means that Cornell hammer throwers have competed in the Olympics on every inhabited continent in the world. Hall and I are also members of the prestigious Quill & Dagger Society, a senior honorary society at Cornell. When the first challenger was being questioned, I wondered who was on the Olympic team from Cornell in 1960 and immediately I thought of Hall. Lo and behold, as soon as I saw the "W" for his middle name, I knew it was him. But Cornell also sent Irvin "Bo" Roberson to the 1960 Olympics in the long jump. When it was mentioned that Jesse Owens' record had stood for 25 years until it was broken earlier in 1960 by Ralph Boston (who would later be the first to jump greater than 27 feet). Roberson would go on to win the silver medal in the Olympics in what would have been a new Olympic record. Boston won the gold by 1 cm (less than ½"). When I was at Cornell, Jack Warner was the head track coach and Tom Pagani was the assistant coach. Warner, who primarily coached the track events, was the head coach of the Kenyan national track team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. I remember him always wearing the emblem that signified his participation in those games. Kenya had not yet achieved independence and their track & field program was in its infancy. They had 5 men competing in 8 events, with a 6th place finish in the 5000 meter run their best result. Pagani also competed in the hammer throw. The 1961 NCAA champion in the hammer (both Division I and II), he competed in the 1960 Olympic Trials but failed to gain a place on the team. He made it to the summer games in 1988 in Seoul as an assistant coach to the U.S. women's team. He still holds the school record for the hammer throw at his alma mater of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a record he set during 1960. He was a member of the 1961 U.S. team and also competed internationally in 1964 when he also competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials. Finally, the breaking of the 4 minute mile was mentioned during one of the segments. That actually occurred in 1954 by Roger Bannister. At the end of my senior year, I was rewarded for my four years of service by being included on the combined Cornell-Penn team that toured the British Isles with meets against a combined Oxford-Cambridge team, and also meets at Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin and Cork. While at Oxford, I had the opportunity to walk on the track at Iffley Road Stadium where Bannister (an Oxford student at the time) was the first to run the mile under 4 minutes in a sanctioned meet with official timing. And in another post, I mentioned how my path crossed with that of Jesse Owens.
It's a shame that the USA Olympic Track & Field Athletes couldn't become Professional and well compensated like today's Professional Track & Field Athletes. No WWII and Jessie could've competed in at least 1 more Olympic Games and most likely he would've run faster and jumped farther. Like Carl Lewis & Usaine Bolt, Jessie was in a league by himself. FDR refused to invite the 1936 Black Olympic Medalist to the Whitehouse. It's a shame that Eleanor Roosevelt wasn't President because she would've invited all the USA Olympic Medalist from the 1936 Olympic Games.
Unfortunately, Mr Hall did not have his best outing in Rome. He mentioned that he had thrown 214' in the trials but had a personal best of 220'. The gold medalist, a Russian, threw 220.1 ', the bronze medalist threw 215.4'. Hall would finish 14th.
The thing I love best about Jesse Owens is what John Daly said -- he competed in Germany in 1936 when the Nazis were in power and seriously annoyed Adolf Hitler by winning four gold medals, which tended to demonstrate that the Nazi doctrine of the "Aryan" "master race" was pure and unadulterated horsehockey.
Yes, Jesse was treated well during the 1936 Olympics, thanks to Max Schmeling. After Schemling beat Joe Louis in the boxing ring earlier that year, Hitler held him up as a paragon of Aryan supremacy, and he was treated like a god in Germany. Schmeling made Hitler promise to support and respect all of the non-Aryan athletes at the Olympics.
On the 1st day of the Olympics Hitler wanted to shake hands only with german winners, for which he was politely 'reprimanded' (it was against the olympic spirit i.e. the propaganda line); so he didn't shake hands - from then on - at all. Jesse Owens wrote a very moving account of his treatment in Germany and in the USA that year. On the one hand: an oblique courtesy by publicity-conscious propagandists and on the other hand... ...well, let's say: the usual don't-be-surprised-if-we-want-you-to-know-your-place attitude.
As Barry Lab pointed out, Roosevelt refused to invite the black Olympians to the White House. Owens finally made it there in 1976, when President Ford awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016 the descendants of those athletes who were snubbed in 1936 were invited to the White House in recognition of the honor they didn't receive earlier.
It was the long jump not the high jump and the German athlete's name was Lutz Long who walked arm in arm with Jesse around the track to the applause of over 100,000.
Dorothy's found a question lately ("if this were kept in the home would it be kept out of sight?") which in Steve Allen-style gets her a hearty laugh each time from the audience. Very nice!
At one point in the late 1930s Jesse Owens was over $1 million dollars in debt, which was serious money during the Great Depression. He did not go into bankruptcy; instead he joined the lecture circuit & slowly but surely paid off the entire debt!
I find that hard to believe because no bank during the 1930s was going to lend money to a black man of very little means. Even the great Joe Louis was only in debt $500,000 to the IRS because his mangers didn't pay the taxes on his earnings and he had to come out of retirement in order to pay the IRS back. Jessie & the other Black Olympic Medalist were never invited to the Whitehouse by FDR, and FDR never congratulated them via phone, western telegram and letter and in person.
Jesse Owen's was so GREAT in the Olympics he defeated everyone and Hitler was FURIOUS because Lutz Long Germany's Great sprinter was suppose to beat them all but afterwards Lutz Long became a huge Owen's fan and they became GREAT friends although after Jesse returned to the US he never saw his friend Lutz again sadly Lutz Long was killed in action fighting in the German army. So very sad Lutz Long was a great athlete and a true gentleman withstyle and integrity. His loss was truly sad
I'm surprised how amazed they are to see Jesse Owens. This show got Alfred Hitchcock, Ed Sullivan, Walter Cronkite, Peter Paul and Mary, Walt Disney, Eleanor Roosevelt, yet it's Jesse Owens they were most excited to see
Yeah, I agree. He's observant, intelligent, humourous and he's got class. He fits right in. Steve Allen, Robert Q Lewis, Kitty Carlisle and Martin Gabel, likewise.
Tony Randall was one of the duo in a comedy show called the odd couple with Jack Klugman. Another one of the early shows which I still get to enjoy watching on youtube May they both RIP
Jesse's feelings about the '36 Olympics, the German people and how he was treated by the White House after his accomplishments at that Olympics were very complex and are not often talked about
Thanks for these wonderful shows. Been watching them all day. Love how soft-spoken & elegant was the awesome Mr. Jesse Owens. Love how polite & witty are all the panelists. Times have changed. It's so much fun to watch these programs. Thank for posting! :)
Jesse Owens....What a wonderful man, a true example of great history-making. His subsequent life, however, resulted in quite a degree of degradation. He died at 66 from lung cancer, having been a smoker for 35 years. Robert, 75, uk. (I'm not wagging a finger at him; I still smoke after 60 years).
The GREAT Jesse Owens......At Ohio State University Jesse set four World Records in one afternoon at the Big Ten Conference Track Championships. I believe three were individual and one a relay......Extraordinary!!!!!
Jesse Owens was certainly a very multi talented man and I really admire him. I also would give almost anything to be able to to write even half half as well as he did.
I think Arleen was very much smitten with Jesse Owens. I'm noticing Arleen's body language and how she plays with her hair after she shakes his hand. It's almost cute.
Of course I've heard of this gentleman before, you can know of sports without hearing this guys name at one time or another. I'm really impressed on how he carries himself, and handles himself. He seems more like a business man then an athlete. Anyway, he seems like the type of person anyone would want to know.
Arlene was twisting her hair while looking up at Jesse like a little school girl. Very sweet! Love everything about Arlene Francis...A TRUE CLASS ACT!!!
That historic Olympic event when Jesse Owens wiped the arrogant smiles off of of the NAZI faces happened well before I was born, but I remember learning about the event when I was young, and I was thrilled about it. My grandparents came here well before WWII, but they came from one of the countries that NAZI Germany invaded, and we still have some distant relatives there. Unfortunately, after WWII the Soviet Union enslaved my ancestral homeland. Jesse Owens's stellar performance against NAZI Germany showed that they weren't invincible. Neither was the Soviet Union. We watched with great excitement and joy as the Berlin wall was torn down. I am glad that I got to see Jesse Owen on What's My Line today in RUclips. Thanks for posting this!
@@dcasper8514 Yes. In my four years as track & field/cross country manager at Cornell, I walked past the picture of 4-time Olympian, Al Hall, as part of the locker room Wall of Fame, during the days when I was on duty. Hall was also a fellow member of the Quill & Dagger honorary society.
Albert Hall came in 12th in the qualifying round, and 14th in the finals, of the hammer throw at the 1960 Olympics. A significant event at those games was the winning of the gold medal in the light heavyweight division of boxing by a kid named Cassius Clay, later known to the world as Muhammad Ali.
A finer gentleman has never graced this planet... inside or outside of the sports world... than Jesse Owens. Courage and grace were his hallmarks throughout his distinguished life, and never more so than duting his performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
+fishhead06 At least outside of the Communist countries they were strictly amateur. In the Communist countries in 1960, their top athletes were heavily subsidized, given jobs in the military and other locations where they had access to the best coaching, training facilities, sports medicine and nutrition. The letter but not the spirit of the rules was observed.
@fishhead06 - The founders of the modern Olympic Games were European aristocracy with wealth and position who could afford to be expert at their sports and have all the appropriate equipment and access to the proper stadia in which to perform them. It could not have been achieved at that time by the lower classes. However, every effort was made to keep the games a rich boys' club by making certain they remained amateur. The folly of that became clear in the mid-20thc. in terms of civil rights' issues of various types and the problem of the athletes of the Soviet block and from other Communist nations who were amateur as a technicality only and did not have to earn a living. They were provided all they needed just to excel and win for the glory of the communist system. The silver lining, it could be said, was that this Soviet subterfuge broke the back of the discriminatory amateur system that prevented the best athletes from competing if they were relatively poor by comparison with the upper classes and could not afford to play because they had to put bread and butter on the table. Even later in the 20thc. in America there were middle or working class athletes of exceptional talent, like a Scott Hamilton, who had to have angels to provide for them in terms of training, transportation and all the things their parents could not afford nor could they as youths.
There has never been a classier athlete... or human being... than Jesse Owens. Always dignified, humble, and well-spoken, he justifiably earned the respect and admiration of all who knew him or learned of his remarkable life.
+richard joubert I actually had a chance to meet him and passed on it. In December 1978, I went to the baseball winter meetings in Orlando, looking into the possibility of getting an administrative job in baseball. Organized Baseball had hired Jesse Owens as a roving running coach available to all teams. (He had previously served in that capacity for the Mets.) One morning I came down to breakfast in the hotel and there he was at the counter eating breakfast and chatting with some baseball executive. Even though I had a background in track & field and knew people who had gone to the Olympics (even an acquaintance with an Olympic Gold Medalist and a teammate who won the Boston Marathon), I was not an athlete and had no reason to connect with him other than as a fan. Contacting celebrities purely as a fan is not my style, especially if they are eating or working. And he appeared to me to be doing both of those at that time. Within a year, he was diagnosed with cancer and died three months later.
Robert W Hall was so real. Jesse Owens was a big treat! Not just because of showing up Hitlers propaganda but also the racism in America at the time. Not to be political, but just human. 💁🏼♂️
Bennett seemed a bit perturbed about his "Olympics" question, but he apparently forgot that he asked if the mystery guest was competing in the Olympics this year (Rome) and of course Jesse was long past competing. What tripped the panel up was Jesse's answer of "some" in terms of his relationship to sports and it all went downhill from there.
love dorothy's line of questioning at 12:32, so witty (johns look @ 13:50). the last fellow, donald bragg won the gold in pole vaulting, he was asked twice to play the role (wiki) of tarzan but was injured and unable to do it both times.
I went to Berlin and visited the old 1936 Olympic Stadium from Jesse Owen's time and stood in the spot where he received his Gold Medals. It was so cool and was on my bucket list. I wish that I could have met him. He was born to do exactly what he did.
Back in 1969, my classmates and I had the distinct pleasure of seeing and hearing Mr. Owens as he appeared at our high school in Ohio for an assembly program. He was RIVETING and encouraging to us young adults! I wish I'd had the FULL significance of what he stood for back in 1969 as I learned later in my life. Bless you and your encouragement, Mr. Owens ;-)
This particular episode Is MASSIVE. I can see the old film stars anytime but I've never seen Jesse Owens at repose in such detail, speaking. WHAT a legend....and I LOVE Serf's reaction. I would've done exactly the same as Bennett, glasses back on, rest my head on hand and just watch in wonder! "My oh my, the great Jesse....OWENS!"
I've actually got tears in my eyes as the segment closes and he gets up to leave. Such a powerful legacy left by such a cool, measured man.
I was going to say, WOW what a great legend. But, I can't top what you said, what a true role model for people to look up to.
Jesse Owens was particularly good at handling himself on live television and had lots of experience in the media, articulate, friendly, and intelligent. He was a true star with bags of personality.
I share your sentiments and recommend the 11/17/72 WML episode when he delivered a great short speech in the wake of the tragic events at the Munich Olympics.
I love the respect they all gave Jesse Owens!
Everyone had a look of awe when Jesse was introduced
Respect to a man of dignity & integrity. Shame he was a smoker and died from lung cancer. My dad died from smoking also. Glad I quit in 1999 !! 🙏
What a treat and for us to see Jesse Owens here!
Here I am in Nov 2022 and I'm a Canadian! I've seen the Jesse Owens story and I've watched newsreels of his wins. What a legend and a truly humble man.
Jesse Owens a true athlete and a man of true class!
+100marymich
Did anyone know, what kind of a radioprogram Owens had? He had such an pleasant voice. Must be a great pleasure to listen to his program. A very fine man, indeed.
I couldn't agree more.
It seems Hitler didn't shake *any* athletes' hand after the first day. He wanted to only congratulate only some athletes but the IOC said he couldn't do that so he refused to shake anyone's hand. He gave Jesse Owens a wave or slight nazi salute, depending on what you read.
I know I'm kind of randomly asking but do anybody know a good site to watch newly released movies online ?
Mr Owens is very gracious on this show. Nice personality.
Mr. Owens is class, courage, competitiveness (in its best sense), and a whole bunch of other good things personified into one remarkable human being.
The chicken feed salesman cracked up at Arlene's comment about a lot of chicken feed. I loved it!
Wow, I can’t believe they had Jesse Owens on WML!!! :) This is so fabulous! He won his four gold medals the year my Mom was born. ☺️
I love Bennett’s face as he was in AWE of Jesse Owens and was very pleased to be in his presence.
Great to see Jesse Owens getting great applause in 1960.
It's NY, not AL or GA.
Jesse Owens was a true American Hero, and a gentleman. R.I.P. Mr. Owens.
When you think of the unfamiliarity & downright hostility that Owens & Jackie Robinson were asked to deal with while still being expected to compete at the highest level, and yet succeed the way they did------True American heroes. The perfect examples of how to meet adversity with resolve, discretion, and class. Lessons learned, but unfortunately forgotten by way too many.
To the eternal shame of the U.S.for the treatment of Jesse Owens.
What you have to say here, in your comments (above), are beautifully articulated and captivating; they are an obvious result of your love for language eloquence and a deeper kind of thinking .
I'm sure you have heard this a lot, but I just wanted to thank you for putting these fine programs on you tube. Much appreciated.
It's always nice to hear! Thanks for taking the time to leave a note of appreciation, and for watching. :)
What's My Line? Are u obsessed with wats my line? Me too
And I'm living in Sweden and watch WML ...love it
When Jesse Owens signed his name it gave me chills
His penmanship was beautiful. One of the loveliest signatures I've seen.
That was because he got such an applause from the audience...
I was very impressed with his signature as well! He definitely has great muscle control with large and fine motor skills which is very unique!
Truly a beautiful signature. I gotta step up my game! 😜
@@KudukUngol I noticed that too....written so neatly
Definitely have to give Owens credit, as poorly as he was treated by his own country, he still maintained class and dignity. A very admirable man.
Was that true? It looks like he was treated well.
@@andrescott1883You have to remember this was Segregation-Era America. At the 1936 Olympics which were in Nazi-controlled Germany he stayed in the same hotel as white athletes which was something that he couldn't do in the US. He was also never called or invited to the Whitehouse by FDR, and to get to a ceremony being held in his honour, he had to use a freight elevator because the regular one was Whites-only. He was well-loved by the American people but not by the American establishment.
@@themajesticham2247 I have a hard time believing stories black people tell about the present, so stories about the past are really suspect.
@@andrescott1883 so, in other words, you actively choose to disbelieve people in strict relation to, and on the sole basis of, their race. I'm sure "you" wouldn't call that racism, not at all, but I'm willing to tell you you're pathetic.
SAME HERE@@andrescott1883
Jesse Owens was an amazing athlete, and admired more than I can express. He is a true legend, and I'm thrilled to enjoy this broadcast. Thank you so much!!!
Jesse's handwriting is beautiful. My mother always took pride in her handwriting and said it tells alot about how a person carries themselves. Jesse had no worries in that area of life. True Hero
I was thinking the same thing, it's like art.
Nonsense. I carry myself quite well but can't always control my hands and the letters may come out misshapen...but not always.
That is an old wives' tale!
By any measure of the tape Jesse Owens was a great athlete and a great man and a shining example of his race, the human race...
Beautifully said!
Only Carl Lewis has duplicated what Jessie did in the Olympic Games with 4 Gold Medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay.
Thanks from Montreal. It impresses me how articulate and clear everyone is. So much garbling on TV these days - nice to see these oldies. Thanks again
Jesse Owens is a true legend!I like Arlene on the panel,she's not only elegant but very cluey and I like Dorothy too.
Love Arlene's remark about the 'sixty minute mile,' a goal we probably could all achieve.
Initially, I was going to challenge you on your word, "cluey," as used in your comments (above), but I looked the word up and learned something new this evening: It's actually a word, and it has specific meanings. So thank you for introducing this new word to me (even though I don't particularly like the way this word sounds, the way it strikes the hearing "nerve center").
To first have his Track and Field coach, then the great man himself makes this episode iconic. Tony Randall comes across as brilliant, by the way, almost as deductively incisive as Dorothy.
Tony was an intelligent man who sired several kids when he was over 90 years old. Excellent Genetics..
@@richardmilliken8705 you have your facts wrong.for one thing Mr Randall died at age 84.
@@paulmorin6569 I stand corrected...
@@richardmilliken8705 And it was two children.
@@richardmilliken8705 Good sense of humor!
I've always loved Jesse Owens who my dad went to school with at East Technical High School. He was a marvelous man and athlete!
I love how eloquent Tony Randall always is.
I definitely agree!
What see is what you get with him
Jesse was a dear and close friend of my father
This was great! Jesse had class all the way!
I love Jesse Owens' beautiful script writing, especially with a chalkboard!
Jesse Owens winning with class in Nazi Germany is one of the greatest feats of all time.
Ironically, Jesse Owens was idolized in Europe after World War II. His demeanor, and willingness to be accessible made him well treasured around the world.
3 things I noted about Jesse Owens' appearance on the show..
18:59 Jesse's handwriting is absolutely impeccable.
21:42 Bennett Cerf's expression of wonder at discovering it's Jesse Owens.
23:44 Arlene Francis primping her hair whilst looking longingly at Owens.
Lol i saw that too, with the hair....
Ha ha! Man, that was SO obvious! I noticed that she gave that same look at Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong as he made his exit as the mystery guest.
He had a big schlong..
@@latanyajenkins4380 LOL!!! She wanted to primp a little bit for Mr. Jesse Owens.
I've grown to love the persona of Dorothy Killgallen. When I think of her early death it breaks my heart to think that anyone would hurt her.
Tony Cevallos - did you see what she wrote?
Same here. I found out when I decided to check her background. Scary how anyone can be killed or eliminated when coming into dangerously revealing information.
The Vietnam War meant a huge amount of money for the corporations involved. When Kennedy decided to start ending the war.... he was assassinated. 2 years later Dorothy had dangerous information about the magnicide. She was assassinated. 3 years later, Robert Kennedy as a candidate for President announced his intention of ending the war in Vietnam. He was assassinated during his campaign. The war lasted enough to make some people very, very rich. Something similar happened with Irak. The difference was that the corporations (oil & weapons & military supplies) were INSIDE the White House (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) and not outside....
@@m.c.b.4323 You hit the nail on the head; look at the sweetheart deal (no bid contract) that Halliburton got to "rebuild" Iraq before the war started. Dick Cheney was the former CEO of Halliburton.
@@essile_1938 She was neither killed nor eliminated.
Jesse is so eloquent and gracious.
It's just thrilling to see Jesse Owens, who beat hitler against all odds. Who humiliated him actually. Bravo to What's My Line for having this American hero on as mystery guest.
So nice to see literally living legends!!!
I see what you mean but they are not living
I love the way the panel are always in awe and admiration of the sports heroes.
Jesse Owens was an outstanding athlete and person.
What's fascinating and cool to me is that Jesse's stature and majesty is in no way diminished by appearing on a TV show like wml
One of the few times that the mystery guest gets mentioned in an early game itself.
Yes, I noticed that. And it must have been that the Ohio State coach was Jesse Owens's coach too. Am I right, Mr. Soulier Investments?
Kind of strange that John Daly announces that the first guest had been the coach of Jesse Owens and then minutes later Jesse Owens is the mystery guest.
Having been the Head Manager for the Cornell Track & Field Team from 1970-74, I have multiple connections to this episode of WML. Al Hall was still competing in his late 30's (and beyond) while I was at Cornell. We didn't see him in person very often, even though he competed for the New York Athletic Club, He trained in his native Massachusetts. But I did see his picture every time I went to "work" for the team, which was as much as 6 days a week during the cross country, indoor track and outdoor track seasons. A good estimate would be 150 times per academic year. His picture was among those of the many champions that Cornell has produced in the sport over the decades.
Hall was the first of three U.S. Olympians from Cornell in the hammer throw, the others being Tom Gage (who beat out Hall for a spot on the 1972 Olympic team) and Rudy Winkler who competed in Rio in 2016, That means that Cornell hammer throwers have competed in the Olympics on every inhabited continent in the world.
Hall and I are also members of the prestigious Quill & Dagger Society, a senior honorary society at Cornell.
When the first challenger was being questioned, I wondered who was on the Olympic team from Cornell in 1960 and immediately I thought of Hall. Lo and behold, as soon as I saw the "W" for his middle name, I knew it was him. But Cornell also sent Irvin "Bo" Roberson to the 1960 Olympics in the long jump. When it was mentioned that Jesse Owens' record had stood for 25 years until it was broken earlier in 1960 by Ralph Boston (who would later be the first to jump greater than 27 feet). Roberson would go on to win the silver medal in the Olympics in what would have been a new Olympic record. Boston won the gold by 1 cm (less than ½").
When I was at Cornell, Jack Warner was the head track coach and Tom Pagani was the assistant coach. Warner, who primarily coached the track events, was the head coach of the Kenyan national track team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. I remember him always wearing the emblem that signified his participation in those games. Kenya had not yet achieved independence and their track & field program was in its infancy. They had 5 men competing in 8 events, with a 6th place finish in the 5000 meter run their best result.
Pagani also competed in the hammer throw. The 1961 NCAA champion in the hammer (both Division I and II), he competed in the 1960 Olympic Trials but failed to gain a place on the team. He made it to the summer games in 1988 in Seoul as an assistant coach to the U.S. women's team. He still holds the school record for the hammer throw at his alma mater of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a record he set during 1960. He was a member of the 1961 U.S. team and also competed internationally in 1964 when he also competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Finally, the breaking of the 4 minute mile was mentioned during one of the segments. That actually occurred in 1954 by Roger Bannister. At the end of my senior year, I was rewarded for my four years of service by being included on the combined Cornell-Penn team that toured the British Isles with meets against a combined Oxford-Cambridge team, and also meets at Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin and Cork. While at Oxford, I had the opportunity to walk on the track at Iffley Road Stadium where Bannister (an Oxford student at the time) was the first to run the mile under 4 minutes in a sanctioned meet with official timing.
And in another post, I mentioned how my path crossed with that of Jesse Owens.
You have your own legacy.
It's a shame that the USA Olympic Track & Field Athletes couldn't become Professional and well compensated like today's Professional Track & Field Athletes. No WWII and Jessie could've competed in at least 1 more Olympic Games and most likely he would've run faster and jumped farther. Like Carl Lewis & Usaine Bolt, Jessie was in a league by himself. FDR refused to invite the 1936 Black Olympic Medalist to the Whitehouse. It's a shame that Eleanor Roosevelt wasn't President because she would've invited all the USA Olympic Medalist from the 1936 Olympic Games.
Unfortunately, Mr Hall did not have his best outing in Rome. He mentioned that he had thrown 214' in the trials but had a personal best of 220'. The gold medalist, a Russian, threw 220.1 ', the bronze medalist threw 215.4'. Hall would finish 14th.
Jesse Owens is one of the greatest individuals in United States of America history.
Thank you for these GREAT SHOWS. I think I have watched at least 30 or more. 🇺🇸😎
Just love the way Arlene Francis says to Tony Randall..."Good luck with your picture with Marilyn Monroe!" LOL
Jesse was a truly gracious gentleman.
The thing I love best about Jesse Owens is what John Daly said -- he competed in Germany in 1936 when the Nazis were in power and seriously annoyed Adolf Hitler by winning four gold medals, which tended to demonstrate that the Nazi doctrine of the "Aryan" "master race" was pure and unadulterated horsehockey.
+ToddSF 94109 Read Jesse autobiography. He was betrayed in Usa. Germany and Hitler himself were pretty warm with him
Yes, Jesse was treated well during the 1936 Olympics, thanks to Max Schmeling. After Schemling beat Joe Louis in the boxing ring earlier that year, Hitler held him up as a paragon of Aryan supremacy, and he was treated like a god in Germany. Schmeling made Hitler promise to support and respect all of the non-Aryan athletes at the Olympics.
On the 1st day of the Olympics Hitler wanted to shake hands only with german winners, for which he was politely 'reprimanded' (it was against the olympic spirit i.e. the propaganda line); so he didn't shake hands - from then on - at all.
Jesse Owens wrote a very moving account of his treatment in Germany and in the USA that year. On the one hand: an oblique courtesy by publicity-conscious propagandists and on the other hand...
...well, let's say: the usual don't-be-surprised-if-we-want-you-to-know-your-place attitude.
As Barry Lab pointed out, Roosevelt refused to invite the black Olympians to the White House. Owens finally made it there in 1976, when President Ford awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016 the descendants of those athletes who were snubbed in 1936 were invited to the White House in recognition of the honor they didn't receive earlier.
It was the long jump not the high jump and the German athlete's name was Lutz Long who walked arm in arm with Jesse around the track to the applause of over 100,000.
Dorothy's found a question lately ("if this were kept in the home would it be kept out of sight?") which in Steve Allen-style gets her a hearty laugh each time from the audience. Very nice!
At one point in the late 1930s Jesse Owens was over $1 million dollars in debt, which was serious money during the Great Depression. He did not go into bankruptcy; instead he joined the lecture circuit & slowly but surely paid off the entire debt!
I find that hard to believe because no bank during the 1930s was going to lend money to a black man of very little means.
Even the great Joe Louis was only in debt $500,000 to the IRS because his mangers didn't pay the taxes on his earnings and he had to come out of retirement in order to pay the IRS back. Jessie & the other Black Olympic Medalist were never invited to the Whitehouse by FDR, and FDR never congratulated them via phone, western telegram and letter and in person.
So great to see our legendary athletes. This was absolutely wonderful! Thank you for airing this amazing piece of history!!!
Historically he beat so many odds. Love this.
The reaction of ALL the panellists was amazing.
Jesse Owen's was so GREAT in the Olympics he defeated everyone and Hitler was FURIOUS because Lutz Long Germany's Great sprinter was suppose to beat them all but afterwards Lutz Long became a huge Owen's fan and they became GREAT friends although after Jesse returned to the US he never saw his friend Lutz again sadly Lutz Long was killed in action fighting in the German army. So very sad Lutz Long was a great athlete and a true gentleman withstyle and integrity. His loss was truly sad
Jesse Owens was such a good sport. R.I.P
My, how much class this hero had! Imagine... the thrill of shaking his hand!
I'm surprised how amazed they are to see Jesse Owens. This show got Alfred Hitchcock, Ed Sullivan, Walter Cronkite, Peter Paul and Mary, Walt Disney, Eleanor Roosevelt, yet it's Jesse Owens they were most excited to see
This is really random, but I think that Tony is a really good panelist. He's very focused on getting it right and not just making jokes.
Love Tony Randall!
Yeah, I agree. He's observant, intelligent, humourous and he's got class. He fits right in. Steve Allen, Robert Q Lewis, Kitty Carlisle and Martin Gabel, likewise.
I love his laugh.
And apparently knows more biology than the rest!
Tony Randall was one of the duo in a comedy show called the odd couple with Jack Klugman. Another one of the early shows which I still get to enjoy watching on youtube
May they both RIP
what a wonderful man Jesse Owens, a gentleman complete. :)
Kathleen - I loved John's comment about Jesse Owens's cramming his win down Hitler's throat.
@@shirleyrombough8173 Hitler aside, the German fans loved him. Hero written large.
Much respect for the 4-time gold medal winner.... what class.
Jesse's feelings about the '36 Olympics, the German people and how he was treated by the White House after his accomplishments at that Olympics were very complex and are not often talked about
his handwriting is beautiful
Jesse was so accomplished in so many fields, much more than athletics. A great, great man.
Jesse Owens was simply charming, loved his smile! ❤️
Jesse was a superb athlete and a real gentleman.
Thanks for these wonderful shows. Been watching them all day. Love how soft-spoken & elegant was the awesome Mr. Jesse Owens. Love how polite & witty are all the panelists. Times have changed. It's so much fun to watch these programs. Thank for posting! :)
"I Would Have to Say here, With Your Permission, .."
What Absolutely Superb, Exquisite, (Sorely Missed) Erudite Elocution and Diplomatic Class.
👏👏🎨👏👏👏
Jesse Owens....What a wonderful man, a true example of great history-making. His subsequent life, however, resulted in quite a degree of degradation. He died at 66 from lung cancer, having been a smoker for 35 years. Robert, 75, uk. (I'm not wagging a finger at him; I still smoke after 60 years).
The GREAT Jesse Owens......At Ohio State University Jesse set four World Records in one afternoon at the Big Ten Conference Track Championships. I believe three were individual and one a relay......Extraordinary!!!!!
Wow this programme has so many legends
Jesse Owens was certainly a very multi talented man and I really admire him. I also would give almost anything to be able to to write even half half as well as he did.
I loved watching the Olympics on T. V. back in the day. Thanks for the video, brings back memories.
Jessie was a hero when many of our heroes were dying. We need his kind of hero in times of strife and sorrow! ❤️♥️💕🌅🎆🎇
We have a long wait.
my favourite runner is Jesse I ♥ u jesse
I 💘 the expressions on Dorothy's face when the audience starts laughing
I think Arleen was very much smitten with Jesse Owens. I'm noticing Arleen's body language and how she plays with her hair after she shakes his hand. It's almost cute.
Yeah, I saw that too with her head cocked to the side as Mr. Owens was walking...LOL
Of course I've heard of this gentleman before, you can know of sports without hearing this guys name at one time or another. I'm really impressed on how he carries himself, and handles himself. He seems more like a business man then an athlete. Anyway, he seems like the type of person anyone would want to know.
Arlene was twisting her hair while looking up at Jesse like a little school girl. Very sweet! Love everything about Arlene Francis...A TRUE CLASS ACT!!!
Wow. I was today years old when I first ever heard Jesse Owens speak on film. I only ever saw snippets of him at the Olympics.
Jesse Owens was such a distinguished gentleman.
That historic Olympic event when Jesse Owens wiped the arrogant smiles off of of the NAZI faces happened well before I was born, but I remember learning about the event when I was young, and I was thrilled about it. My grandparents came here well before WWII, but they came from one of the countries that NAZI Germany invaded, and we still have some distant relatives there. Unfortunately, after WWII the Soviet Union enslaved my ancestral homeland. Jesse Owens's stellar performance against NAZI Germany showed that they weren't invincible. Neither was the Soviet Union. We watched with great excitement and joy as the Berlin wall was torn down.
I am glad that I got to see Jesse Owen on What's My Line today in RUclips. Thanks for posting this!
Almost 60 years ago....so much class compared to today's talk shows etc.
Tony Randall at 4:45 is ahead of his time. He could have played the title role in "My Cousin Vinny".
On this same video, was an Olympic hammer thrower from Cornell University.
@@dcasper8514 Yes. In my four years as track & field/cross country manager at Cornell, I walked past the picture of 4-time Olympian, Al Hall, as part of the locker room Wall of Fame, during the days when I was on duty. Hall was also a fellow member of the Quill & Dagger honorary society.
He Rocked!!! Way back in 36... A Great American Athlete!!!
Albert Hall came in 12th in the qualifying round, and 14th in the finals, of the hammer throw at the 1960 Olympics. A significant event at those games was the winning of the gold medal in the light heavyweight division of boxing by a kid named Cassius Clay, later known to the world as Muhammad Ali.
Jessie Owens, as fine a man that ever represented his country.
A finer gentleman has never graced this planet... inside or outside of the sports world... than Jesse Owens. Courage and grace were his hallmarks throughout his distinguished life, and never more so than duting his performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
So nice to see the man himself, mr. Owens.
Such a great American hero.
Jesse Owens is a class act. Loved this one!
Bless him and Mr Owens, hope they both are training and running in heaven.
Back when Olympic competitors were actually amateur athletes.
fishhead06 time don’t tell lies time show not amateur in track
+fishhead06
At least outside of the Communist countries they were strictly amateur. In the Communist countries in 1960, their top athletes were heavily subsidized, given jobs in the military and other locations where they had access to the best coaching, training facilities, sports medicine and nutrition. The letter but not the spirit of the rules was observed.
@fishhead06 - The founders of the modern Olympic Games were European aristocracy with wealth and position who could afford to be expert at their sports and have all the appropriate equipment and access to the proper stadia in which to perform them. It could not have been achieved at that time by the lower classes. However, every effort was made to keep the games a rich boys' club by making certain they remained amateur. The folly of that became clear in the mid-20thc. in terms of civil rights' issues of various types and the problem of the athletes of the Soviet block and from other Communist nations who were amateur as a technicality only and did not have to earn a living. They were provided all they needed just to excel and win for the glory of the communist system. The silver lining, it could be said, was that this Soviet subterfuge broke the back of the discriminatory amateur system that prevented the best athletes from competing if they were relatively poor by comparison with the upper classes and could not afford to play because they had to put bread and butter on the table. Even later in the 20thc. in America there were middle or working class athletes of exceptional talent, like a Scott Hamilton, who had to have angels to provide for them in terms of training, transportation and all the things their parents could not afford nor could they as youths.
There has never been a classier athlete... or human being... than Jesse Owens. Always dignified, humble, and well-spoken, he justifiably earned the respect and admiration of all who knew him or learned of his remarkable life.
Jesse Owens = classiest of acts. Icon!
Picture of Mr. Snyder & Mr. Owens in 1969, because I feel like it: kb.osu.edu/dspace/handle/1811/57755
(Snyder retired in 1965, and died in 1982.)
that is a very nice picture :)
Thank you for "feeling like it", and posting the link.
Pole vaulting before the Fosbury flop1!!11 Great show, thanks for posting!
Great show!
i about spit out my coffee when John mentioned Jesse Owens' name, considering he was going to be the, "mystery guest."
Jesse Owens was a class act in the 1936 olympics, and a great human being,it would have been a honer for me if i ever had the chance to meet him
+richard joubert
I actually had a chance to meet him and passed on it.
In December 1978, I went to the baseball winter meetings in Orlando, looking into the possibility of getting an administrative job in baseball. Organized Baseball had hired Jesse Owens as a roving running coach available to all teams. (He had previously served in that capacity for the Mets.)
One morning I came down to breakfast in the hotel and there he was at the counter eating breakfast and chatting with some baseball executive. Even though I had a background in track & field and knew people who had gone to the Olympics (even an acquaintance with an Olympic Gold Medalist and a teammate who won the Boston Marathon), I was not an athlete and had no reason to connect with him other than as a fan. Contacting celebrities purely as a fan is not my style, especially if they are eating or working. And he appeared to me to be doing both of those at that time.
Within a year, he was diagnosed with cancer and died three months later.
great restraint!
So wonderful that Black Americans were guests on this show.
Robert W Hall was so real.
Jesse Owens was a big treat! Not just because of showing up Hitlers propaganda but also the racism in America at the time. Not to be political, but just human. 💁🏼♂️
Magnificent Jesse!
Incredible and classy man... what a beautiful handwriting
Bennett seemed a bit perturbed about his "Olympics" question, but he apparently forgot that he asked if the mystery guest was competing in the Olympics this year (Rome) and of course Jesse was long past competing. What tripped the panel up was Jesse's answer of "some" in terms of his relationship to sports and it all went downhill from there.
Bennett often argues that he asked a question other than what he actually asked.
@@preppysocks209 I know he’s a renowned Random House publisher with many books but he leaves me cold and he’s not funny or witty.
@@alexforest1 I like him but....he frequently makes sexist remarks about women...He is, I guess, a product of his time....
Beautiful signature Jesse.
love dorothy's line of questioning at 12:32, so witty (johns look @ 13:50). the last fellow, donald bragg won the gold in pole vaulting, he was asked twice to play the role (wiki) of tarzan but was injured and unable to do it both times.
What a classy man. They don't make them like they used to.