Fun fact Pat Boone and Jose Ferrer have a Granddaughter in common who is now an actress on Grey's Anatomy. Her name is Tessa Ferrer and her parents are Pat's Daughter Debbie and Jose's Son Gabriel.
Thomas Schippers was indeed beautiful. (He died tragically young, at age 47, of lung cancer.) It's rare that Dorothy ever comments on a male contestant's attractiveness, yet it's the first thing out of her mouth this time; and I've never seen Arlene so enamored of a handsome man before, and she's been pretty vocal about it in other episodes I've watched! :)
Todd Brandt -- Movie star handsome, he was, and tall, too, about six feet or six foot one, judging by his height standing next to Mr. Daly. Thomas Schippers married a woman nine years his junior, Elaine Phipps, and she died in 1973 of cancer at age 34 -- Schippers died four years after that in 1977 at age 47, as you pointed out. Schippers was gay, but got married to Ms. Phipps in 1965, possibly for the sake of appearances, which wasn't uncommon in the 1960's.
+ToddSF 94109 From what I've read there was a genuine love relationship between Thomas Schippers and heiress Elaine Phipps, even though he was gay. I first saw Schippers conduct a performance of Der Rosenkavalier with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Metropolitan Opera in November 1964. Schippers later was the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony for several years before his too early demise. I believe Schippers left a good part of his estate to the symphony and other classical music organizations.
Agreed. He was beyond terrific in "The Caine Mutiny". His character didn't appear in the movie until halfway through, but he stole the show. A very underrated and under appreciated actor.
MisterNewOutlook Jose Ferrer sounds like Opera Man on SNL. Bravo. On the same episode as the actual opera man, Thomas Schippers. I am so sorry that he died the way he did. Tragic.
And what class - the diplomatic way in which he spoke of the critics who didn't particularly like this particular play. Today, there would be an expletive-laced feud. Oh, I miss those wonderful cultured and courteous times.
Two notes on the historical perspective of this episode. First, it took place on the 17th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Second, the chicken plucker was working his way through college: such a thing was possible in those days. With a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job in the summer, a person could earn enough to pay for college. In my case, that made for some interesting juxtapositions: one year, the job at school was working for a professor on a project about Kierkegaard and the summer job was as a millwright in a steel mill; another time, it was operating a dormitory switchboard during the school year and working in a grinding wheel factory for the summer. Nowadays, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to earn enough that way to pay the bills in full.
That was especially true for state funded universities whereby often 70% of a student's tuition and dorm expenses were covered by that state. Now it's the other way around.
The activism, socialism, and volunteerism that swept through campuses in the 1960s was antithetical to certain capitalist ideals, to the point where certain forces in American industry & politics decided to take action. (read the Powell Memorandum) Almost nothing happens in this nation by chance; tuition went up for a reason. Many students, especially those in public schools, who were most likely bent to socialism and activism, were saddled with debt intentionally. Left-wing professors were expunged, tenureship went down. "Freedom schools" were funded. Capitalist forces wanted to assure that another college educated Boomer generation did not happen.
Working summers and breaks between semesters I was able to pay for all my college expenses. (I was also smart enough to keep living at home, where meals magically appeared and my clothes were somehow washed. Thanks, Mom!) Today’s students could easily do the same thing for at least the first two years by attending their local community college before transferring to a state university, ending up with the same degree as those who went to the university straight off. Too many feel they must go to a very expensive college right out of high school, thereby incurring massive debt while majoring in largely useless fields ending with “Studies.”
Another fun fact: Tessa would also be related to Rosemary Clooney (since Gabriel Ferrer is the son of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney) and thus, be related also to George Clooney. Not a bad family tree, I gotta say.
This show is so much fun to watch .It helps to take one's self out of this world ,back to a time where people had great fun laughter and best of friends .Miss those days .
Well, I'm not sure how much this means coming from an Anonymous Internet Stranger, Ms. Buckner, but I would be happy to have some [good, clean, harmless] fun with you, to laugh with you, and to count myself among the best of your friends. ;-D Warm Regards and Best Wishes, -Ken
What a wonderful mystery guest ! Thanks so much for uploading for us to enjoy ! Love Jose Ferrer's marvelous smile, good nature & great sense of humor ! A shame the panel guessed who he was so quickly. 🤓❤👍
I suspect Larry French is the guy I just found, from Seminole, who was born in 1939, and died in 1978, was in the US Navy, and was probably a lawyer in Seminole. (They say he's from Norman on the show, but of course, that's where the University is.) Anyway, I mostly commented to marvel at Jose Ferrer's voice. Also, his amazingly diplomatic answer to Bennett.
Ferrer was enormously talented (certainly underrated for much of his career), multi-faceted, extremely personable, and a consummate gentleman. R.I.P. Miguel Ferrer
Yes, although Ferrer won an Academy Award for the title role in CYRANO DE BERGERAC, this immortal film was not even included in the AFI list of the 100 greatest films of all time. Yet one of the films on the list is BONNIE & CLYDE!!! What disgrace!
Milton Moore I got to late into the movies. After 15 years of fame he got too old for Hollywood. Another negative factor was he didnt make too many good movies and in an important role it was The Cain Mutiny the most memorable.
@miss_midge I did not know that, and that's the kind of thing that I find sort of fascinating in retrospect! I wonder if their fathers ever reminisced with their children and other family members about this meeting with each other on WML, which was likely the first time they met. Debby and Gabriel were only toddlers then, and I'm sure neither Pat nor Jose had any idea what the future had in store for them in terms of bringing their families together!
This is so fascinating, that Tessa can watch BOTH of her grandpas at the same time on one show, where they were 'playing' themselves as much younger men! Wow - family history lesson! I guess in showbiz it can be a small world.
My brother-in-law was an extra in the movie “Blood and Orchids”, which Jose Ferrer was in along with Kris Kristofferson. Jose told my brother-in-law to become a professional extra because they get paid more the regular ones. Good advice.
Yes, Ferrer won an Oscar for "Cyrano," (he was the first Hispanic actor to do so), and commenters have mentioned some of his other roles. But he stated that his best performance was his relatively short appearance in "Lawrence of Arabia."
Interesting how Jose Ferrer talks about his play, "Edwin Booth", for which he's listed as producer, director, and lead actor. Bennett sets him up asking how he feels about the New York drama critics (and Ferrer replies that he likes the critics and that they do a good job). He then says that even though his play has gotten bad reviews, that the audiences disagreed, and they'll continue to try to run the play for the audiences. The play closed 6 days later after a run of only 3 weeks.
Thanks for the insight. Regarding his response to the critics panning his play, had Ferrer chosen to have gone into politics, he would have been the perfect diplomat.
That's a pity about the play closing so soon, but thanks for letting us know, +Robert Melson. You saved me the effort of looking it up myself, which I was planning to do. Kind of a shame that it wasn't more successful, but I agree with @Milton Moore about Mr. Ferrer's amazing diplomacy, and I'm glad they were able to get him as a WML MG while the play was still running and receiving audience acclaim. This was a fun MG segment!
After Bennett's gaffe a few weeks prior about plucking sheep instead of shearing them, I wonder if the producers deliberately found a chicken plucker for this episode. It's too bad that Arlene said "de-feather" instead in her convoluted question...I was hoping for a little more verbal hilarity.
@Neil Midkiff I wished that John had picked up on the fact that she'd assumed that Mr. French had gotten the chicken _after_ it had been de-feathered and given Arlene a simple "no." Maybe Bennett would have had a better chance of guessing Mr. French's actual line if that had happened. And you're right that it would have been especially funny coming from him because of the sheep-plucking incident! :D (As it is, Arlene went through that list so quickly that I think John kind of missed that key assumption.)
certainly the chicken plucking was related to the "sheep plucking." It is manifest when John reveals that the guest plucked chickens by looking at Benett's face. He is not amused.
I have waiting for this episode to arrive because it was broadcast when I arrived into the world. My day of birth I was a mere few hours old when this was broadcast. I was alive when these people were it;s kind of odd feeling to see it
What's My Line? Yeah i know but i have been watching them n order of air date and knew it was coming up so hence the reason I mentioned waiting to see it. Keep posting this great stuff not only a fine show but a look into history thanks for your hard work in getting these in order and sharing them with us all
mrpuniverse2 I was 5 days old at the time. I can just imagine my Mom watching this show with a beer in one hand and a Winston in the other! Awesome mailbox!
Pat Boone ... a wonderful human being. And I just discovered an interesting connection between the Boone and Ferrer families that I hadn't known about before: one of Jose Ferrer's sons married Pat's daughter, Debby. Huh. One learns something new every day!
Schippers later took over the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and remains to this day a legendary figure to all who remember his time in Cincinnati. His 'Pictures at an Exhibition' recording with that orchestra - among others - was excellent.
Pat and Shirley Boone, Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrar, and Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher were all friends and their kids grew up together. They, along with other Beverly Hills families, refused to sign restrictive real estate covenants barring non-Caucasians from owning property there. This was the mid-1950's. When Carrie Fisher was preparing to audition for the part of Princess Leia, she rehearsed lines with Miguel Ferrar, who read the part of Han Solo.
Interesting to see how entrenched the panel is with Broadway. To be ignorant of a top notch conductor is revealing. Also there is some condescension that is prickly.
Jose Ferrer portrayed Cyrano de Bergerac in the 1950 film, and he was off the charts fantastic in it! I don’t think any critic would give him a bad rating in that movie. I love this show, by the way!
Near the close of the show, Jose Ferrer, prodded by Bennett, says a little about the critics' poor reviews of his play "Edwin Booth". (Ferrer not only starred as the title character, but also produced and directed). The play had opened on November 24, 1958, and, contrary to what Ferrer says here, was not particularly popular with audiences. The play would close on December 13, 1958, just six days after this episode of WML aired, after only 24 performances.
Arlene was a bit of a time hog with the chicken plucker. She took her time asking those questions. I think she did it on purpose because she did almost the exact thing Dorothy always did which was asking questions slowly when she may have already figured it out. However, the thing that makes it annoying when Dorothy does it is she asks the same question like 3 times in different ways and also she re-asks everyone else questions before she starts to ask her own.
Dorothy asked Schippers twice whether he was on stage and screen, and then following two qualified yeses, then she asked a third time whether he had ever appeared on a stage anywhere.
I'm very disappointed that Bennett did not pun with Mr French's name connected with his occupation. Seems like the perfect time of year for a "three French hens" joke.
At about 11:14, Arlene asks the chicken plucker, Mr. French, about his product: "Can it be found in any particular room in the house?" This was a very common question on WML, but for some reason John took issue with it this time. I think Arlene was right that he wasn't paying attention initially, because it was certainly a "yes or no" question, but instead of giving such a convoluted answer that she decided to change her question entirely, he could have just said something like, "well, it _could_ be, but it could be elsewhere too" or something like that. Maybe he wanted her to rephrase it to, "would it _usually_ be found in one particular room of the house" or something like that? I guess maybe his issue was that kitchen and dining room would be equally usual places for it to be. Arlene stays with the questioning a long time on this one, getting all "yeses" before ever getting a "no," but taking a long time to get close to the contestant's line, and then going right past it when her next turn comes around!
Daly's interview with Jose Farrer is one of the better post-mystery guest game discussions of that period. I cannot figure out why New York audiences would not want to see Ferrer in a play about Edwin Booth.
One of the few ongoing frustrations I have with this show I love so much is how quickly the Mystery Guests generally leave after the questioning is over. Even when they don't scamper off right away, they often get little chance to talk, as John Daly would generally wax rhapsodic about their talents or current projects for a minute or two and send them off. It was usually only at he insistence of a panel member shouting a question that we got any more than that!
Rowan Smith Not really true. . . if they chose to, they could have taken some time with most of the mystery guests, rather than squeezing in a final contestant and rushing the game to the point that it's impossible for the panel to get anywhere, It's a conscious choice they made-- or most likely John Charles Daly made-- to keep the conversation afterward to a minimum as a rule. It's a shame, too, because often the most memorable moments happen in the rare cases where a guest is allowed to, you know, actually talk. :)
@@WhatsMyLine Agreed. But I, and possibly the audience and the MG, appreciated the additional background info, achievements and adoration John attached to the personality that the star himself probably wouldn't. And he did frequently ask pointed questions to draw out the guests.
I think of Jose Ferrer when he was much older - for example, playing a role in "Lawrence of Arabia" in which he told his fellow soldiers "beat him", directed at Lawrence, played by Peter O'Toole.
Smart cookie that Arlene. She nearly solved the whole second game almost by her lonesome. Arlene, I thought, looked longingly tonight at both boy contestants. There was another broadcast, about two years before this one, when a very handsome boy exercise instructor appeared in a very funny game in which Arlene gazed at him as if she wanted to ask him out for drinks after the broadcast. "Do you want us to leave the stage?" John asked -- for Arlene looked as though she would have jumped his bones given half a chance. Dorothy on that occasion also looked as though she was ready to clear off her Tuesday afternoon schedule for . . . instructions
Arlene, bless her, interrupted John's largely pointless comments again to be sure that the mystery guest's work was acknowledged properly and what he was there to promote got promoted so his publicist would not have heart failure. Sometimes Dorothy would to that, too, and often Martin Gabel did, even occasionally Bennett. Daly too often totally neglected to mention their current play or new book and that was the point of their being on there that he missed.
I’m shocked that the panelists did not recognize the conductor of the Met. Didn’t they go to the opera? Oops, and I googled Thomas Schippers an he died in 1977, 47 years old. Sad ending for a great conductor.
There were several others. James Levine was the chief conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and its music director for many years. Levine made his debut there around 1972 and several years later was appointed music director. Thomas Schippers was never the chief conductor nor the Met's music director. The Metropolitan Opera normally has around a dozen conductors on its roster; the Met's season runs around nine months and has performances Monday through Saturday evenings, plus a matinee on Saturdays. Thomas Schippers was one conductor of several performing at the Metropolitan Opera. Schippers left the Metropolitan Opera and became the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony. There were quite a few conductors at the Met before James Levine made the Met opera scene. BTW, James Levine's home town is Cincinnati, Ohio. I saw several operas at the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Thomas Schippers from 1964 through 1968. Schippers sadly died at an early age as did his socially prominent and heiress wife; I believe he left the bulk of his estate to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
I think both women were the most intelligent and best of the panelists by and large, though most of the men at this stage were so fine as to be equals or in the running for the title. I think Arlene had a bit more book learning and polish. Dorothy had the shrewdness of a brilliant reporter. Both were excellent at the game with Dorothy being perhaps a bit more focused on nailing the win due to her journalistic competitiveness while Arlene was ever the entertainer who would play the bon mot to entertain the audience never losing sight of the point of her presence. One bad thing about some panelists who were good performers was that they were disruptive panelists because they could not stop hogging the spotlight and keep the game moving which is what the audience was there for no matter how good they were. Groucho Marx and Victor Borge were two who really went around the bend when panelists.
@gcjerryusc I saw Borge live on stage several times and was a big fan of his own shows, but I agree with you that he's not funny as a panelist on WML. He was funny as a mystery guest, but on the panel he didn't seem interested in the game, only in hogging attention to his own antics.
I am also a fan of Groucho in his Marx Brothers movies, and I cannot watch him on WML. He ruined the shows where he was a panelist. Ditto the talk shows he did in his old age.
@@neilmidkiff Yes, but I think he felt compelled to stay in character to please the producers and audience. VB was, afterall, an "icon" of timing as VB. They all had their schtick. Miltie's and Lewis' moues to the audience were more appropriate for the show
1:27 What is going on with Pat Boone's tie (or lack thereof)? I've never seen anything like it. Was that some short-lived fad or an attempt at being outre or something? Arlene makes a comment about Bennett's black tie when she introduces him that may have been sparked by Pat Boone's dress.
He grew up in Nashville, attended college in Denton Texas, his first steady job was in Fort Worth, Texas for a C&W station (WBAP) Was a regular on the Ozark Jubilee and was the son in law of a huge country & western star of the era. (Red Foley) His cousin Richard Boone's AKA Paladin had one of the most popular shows on television at the time. All of which made the western style tie extremely appropriate.
Robert Melson David Harris I was intrigued by your cousins comment so I looked it up. They were sixth cousins so I am not sure they even knew they were related according to the three websites I found
Another time. It took a lot more back then for folks to be aware and amused at construible sexual connotations than it does now. Arline Francis was whip-smart. Pat Boone was not stupid, but was slow for this crowd. The Ferrer segment is toward the end. I see on the sidebar there are lots of other segments here, like this one, from about fifteen years before I was watching then-new episodes. I should watch some. I find watching the panelists here much more interesting than the kind of interviews celebrities do on talk shows, and I think WML skewed strongly toward celebrities who were genuinely interesting characters.
@MrYfrank14. Other orange juice sellers added water in order to make more profit - - the Florida Orange Growers Association wanted to MAKE SURE you knew association members were not allowed to do that. Food labeling laws became more of a thing along with the post war baby boom. Hence the rise of Ralph Nader.
@@williamlynnroden - the show really is a time capsule. I keep hearing words i never heard before and have to look them up. Or words pronounced differently. Funny how words and thier meanings change. Or they refer to some historic event and i have to look it up because i never heard of it.
@@MrYfrank14 . I know exactly what you mean. I am always looking up people I've never heard of, or knew to little of. A singer named Frankie Laine was a complete surprise! Wow! What a powerful voice he had, all the way up to age 92!
Not too bright? From Wikipedia: He primarily attended David Lipscomb College, and later Lipscomb University in Nashville. He graduated in 1958 from Columbia University School of General Studies magna cum laude[9] having previously attended North Texas State University, now known as the University of North Texas, in Denton, Texas.
From what I've read, Pat Boone became quite a racist, hateful and discriminatory individual considering his "Christian" personna...Hope his daughter Debbie isn't as judgemental as her father appears to be in recent years
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Fun fact Pat Boone and Jose Ferrer have a Granddaughter in common who is now an actress on Grey's Anatomy. Her name is Tessa Ferrer and her parents are Pat's Daughter Debbie and Jose's Son Gabriel.
Another Fun Fact: It was Jose that suggested that George Clooney look into acting as a career.
That's what i get for NOT reading the comments prior to making one of my own. Pardon me, please.
Re watching old episodes again and looked up how old Debby and Gabriel were at the time this was aired. Debby was two and Gabriel was only one.
The families grew very close four years later when Jose Directed Pat in State Fair.
That is what I thought of them being on the show together. You have me work on seeing how old Gabriel and Debby were. It's fun.
The audience were so respectful, giving the same applause to the orchestra conducter and the chicken plucker.
*The audience was *conductor
Great episode! But, I can't help watching Dorothy Kilgallan how beautiful she was and how tragically she was murdered. Sad. Rip to the cast.
Thomas Schippers was indeed beautiful. (He died tragically young, at age 47, of lung cancer.) It's rare that Dorothy ever comments on a male contestant's attractiveness, yet it's the first thing out of her mouth this time; and I've never seen Arlene so enamored of a handsome man before, and she's been pretty vocal about it in other episodes I've watched! :)
Todd Brandt -- Movie star handsome, he was, and tall, too, about six feet or six foot one, judging by his height standing next to Mr. Daly. Thomas Schippers married a woman nine years his junior, Elaine Phipps, and she died in 1973 of cancer at age 34 -- Schippers died four years after that in 1977 at age 47, as you pointed out. Schippers was gay, but got married to Ms. Phipps in 1965, possibly for the sake of appearances, which wasn't uncommon in the 1960's.
+ToddSF 94109 From what I've read there was a genuine love relationship between Thomas Schippers and heiress Elaine Phipps, even though he was gay. I first saw Schippers conduct a performance of Der Rosenkavalier with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Metropolitan Opera in November 1964. Schippers later was the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony for several years before his too early demise. I believe Schippers left a good part of his estate to the symphony and other classical music organizations.
Ferrer is one of the best mystery guests - what brio!
I love how diplomatic and classy Jose Ferrer’s answer to Bennet’s question is at the end.
He handled that very diplomatically.
Jose Ferrer may not have the same lasting legacy of other classic stars, but he's still one of my all-time favorite actors.
Agreed. He was beyond terrific in "The Caine Mutiny". His character didn't appear in the movie until halfway through, but he stole the show. A very underrated and under appreciated actor.
MisterNewOutlook Jose Ferrer sounds like Opera Man on SNL. Bravo. On the same episode as the actual opera man, Thomas Schippers. I am so sorry that he died the way he did. Tragic.
And what class - the diplomatic way in which he spoke of the critics who didn't particularly like this particular play. Today, there would be an expletive-laced feud. Oh, I miss those wonderful cultured and courteous times.
He was brilliant in "Cyrano."
@@mikejschin Loved it when he told the accused officers that he'd rather be prosecuting than defending them.
Oh bravo. The director of the Metropolitan Opera. I wish they had more opera performers on this program.
Two notes on the historical perspective of this episode. First, it took place on the 17th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Second, the chicken plucker was working his way through college: such a thing was possible in those days. With a part-time job during the school year and a full-time job in the summer, a person could earn enough to pay for college. In my case, that made for some interesting juxtapositions: one year, the job at school was working for a professor on a project about Kierkegaard and the summer job was as a millwright in a steel mill; another time, it was operating a dormitory switchboard during the school year and working in a grinding wheel factory for the summer. Nowadays, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to earn enough that way to pay the bills in full.
That was especially true for state funded universities whereby often 70% of a student's tuition and dorm expenses were covered by that state. Now it's the other way around.
The activism, socialism, and volunteerism that swept through campuses in the 1960s was antithetical to certain capitalist ideals, to the point where certain forces in American industry & politics decided to take action. (read the Powell Memorandum) Almost nothing happens in this nation by chance; tuition went up for a reason. Many students, especially those in public schools, who were most likely bent to socialism and activism, were saddled with debt intentionally. Left-wing professors were expunged, tenureship went down. "Freedom schools" were funded. Capitalist forces wanted to assure that another college educated Boomer generation did not happen.
@@bluecamus5162 "Left-wing professors were expunged"? Have you seen what passes for education today?
Working summers and breaks between semesters I was able to pay for all my college expenses. (I was also smart enough to keep living at home, where meals magically appeared and my clothes were somehow washed. Thanks, Mom!) Today’s students could easily do the same thing for at least the first two years by attending their local community college before transferring to a state university, ending up with the same degree as those who went to the university straight off. Too many feel they must go to a very expensive college right out of high school, thereby incurring massive debt while majoring in largely useless fields ending with “Studies.”
And its only 7 or 8 years after Mr ferrer became the first hispanic american to win an oscar
Another fun fact: Tessa would also be related to Rosemary Clooney (since Gabriel Ferrer is the son of Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney) and thus, be related also to George Clooney. Not a bad family tree, I gotta say.
This show is so much fun to watch .It helps to take one's self out of this world ,back to a time where people had great fun laughter and best of friends .Miss those days .
Well, I'm not sure how much this means coming from an Anonymous Internet Stranger, Ms. Buckner, but I would be happy to have some [good, clean, harmless] fun with you, to laugh with you, and to count myself among the best of your friends. ;-D
Warm Regards and Best Wishes,
-Ken
And we could watch people fully dressed...
What a wonderful mystery guest ! Thanks so much for uploading for us to enjoy ! Love Jose Ferrer's marvelous smile, good nature & great sense of humor ! A shame the panel guessed who he was so quickly. 🤓❤👍
I suspect Larry French is the guy I just found, from Seminole, who was born in 1939, and died in 1978, was in the US Navy, and was probably a lawyer in Seminole. (They say he's from Norman on the show, but of course, that's where the University is.)
Anyway, I mostly commented to marvel at Jose Ferrer's voice. Also, his amazingly diplomatic answer to Bennett.
Jose Ferrer was a treasure. What a voice! And his late-career turn as a recurring character in Newhart (as Stephanie's father) was a hoot.
Ferrer was enormously talented (certainly underrated for much of his career), multi-faceted, extremely personable, and a consummate gentleman.
R.I.P. Miguel Ferrer
Yes, although Ferrer
won an Academy
Award for the title
role in CYRANO DE
BERGERAC, this
immortal film was
not even included
in the AFI list of the
100 greatest films
of all time. Yet one
of the films on the
list is BONNIE & CLYDE!!! What disgrace!
Milton Moore I got to late into the movies. After 15 years of fame he got too old for Hollywood. Another negative factor was he didnt make too many good movies and in an important role it was The Cain Mutiny the most memorable.
@@miltonmoore7687 For better or worse, Bonnie and Clyde was a landmark film that ushered in a new era of filmmaking in Hollywood.
Yes, he was! 🤣
Kinda wished I had experienced the 1950's.
Brooke Hanley ... I did but was just a kid then. The 60’s & 70’s were more memorable for me.
@@dianefiske-foy4717 zzzz-
The years 1951 - 1956 were mostly wonderful. I was a small child and the people on WML were The Grownups.
We were a better nation then
We'd be dead then
But same!
Rest In Peace to Mr Ferrer's son Miguel Ferrer. Father and son rest with God. 🙏
Miguel chose to be buried in Puerto Rico next to his father. Rosemary Clooney is interred in her hometown of Maysville, Kentucky.
Arlene was in rare form for this one. She was at the top of her game.
Name dropper "Joe Ferrer".
For some people who may or may not know, Pat Boone's daughter Debbie is married to Jose Ferrer's son Gabriel.
Who cares????
Yes, I knew.
@miss_midge I did not know that, and that's the kind of thing that I find sort of fascinating in retrospect! I wonder if their fathers ever reminisced with their children and other family members about this meeting with each other on WML, which was likely the first time they met. Debby and Gabriel were only toddlers then, and I'm sure neither Pat nor Jose had any idea what the future had in store for them in terms of bringing their families together!
This is so fascinating, that Tessa can watch BOTH of her grandpas at the same time on one show, where they were 'playing' themselves as much younger men! Wow - family history lesson! I guess in showbiz it can be a small world.
Jose was having so much fun! 😊😊😊
You speak the truth Kemo Sabe !!
When the chicken gets piano lessons--I literally cracked up so much that tears were streaming down my face!
My brother-in-law was an extra in the movie “Blood and Orchids”, which Jose Ferrer was in along with Kris Kristofferson. Jose told my brother-in-law to become a professional extra because they get paid more the regular ones. Good advice.
Schippers is so handsome
Yes, Ferrer won an Oscar for "Cyrano," (he was the first Hispanic actor to do so), and commenters have mentioned some of his other roles. But he stated that his best performance was his relatively short appearance in "Lawrence of Arabia."
What a charismatic young man Schippers is, much more interesting than the next guys!
He was having a grand time.
Interesting how Jose Ferrer talks about his play, "Edwin Booth", for which he's listed as producer, director, and lead actor. Bennett sets him up asking how he feels about the New York drama critics (and Ferrer replies that he likes the critics and that they do a good job). He then says that even though his play has gotten bad reviews, that the audiences disagreed, and they'll continue to try to run the play for the audiences. The play closed 6 days later after a run of only 3 weeks.
Thanks for the insight. Regarding his response to the critics panning his play, had Ferrer chosen to have gone
into politics, he would have been the
perfect diplomat.
Milton Moore his grandfather was an advocate for the Puerto Rican independence.
That's a pity about the play closing so soon, but thanks for letting us know, +Robert Melson. You saved me the effort of looking it up myself, which I was planning to do. Kind of a shame that it wasn't more successful, but I agree with @Milton Moore about Mr. Ferrer's amazing diplomacy, and I'm glad they were able to get him as a WML MG while the play was still running and receiving audience acclaim. This was a fun MG segment!
After Bennett's gaffe a few weeks prior about plucking sheep instead of shearing them, I wonder if the producers deliberately found a chicken plucker for this episode. It's too bad that Arlene said "de-feather" instead in her convoluted question...I was hoping for a little more verbal hilarity.
Cyrano de Bergerac and Moulin Rouge are enough.An Oscar and a nomination.
@Neil Midkiff I wished that John had picked up on the fact that she'd assumed that Mr. French had gotten the chicken _after_ it had been de-feathered and given Arlene a simple "no." Maybe Bennett would have had a better chance of guessing Mr. French's actual line if that had happened. And you're right that it would have been especially funny coming from him because of the sheep-plucking incident! :D (As it is, Arlene went through that list so quickly that I think John kind of missed that key assumption.)
certainly the chicken plucking was related to the "sheep plucking." It is manifest when John reveals that the guest plucked chickens by looking at Benett's face. He is not amused.
Jose Ferrer was a great talent! Loved his acting in many different ways... Movies big & small screen. Fabulous.
I have waiting for this episode to arrive because it was broadcast when I arrived into the world. My day of birth I was a mere few hours old when this was broadcast. I was alive when these people were it;s kind of odd feeling to see it
This was posted last year. :)
What's My Line?
Yeah i know but i have been watching them n order of air date and knew it was coming up so hence the reason I mentioned waiting to see it. Keep posting this great stuff not only a fine show but a look into history thanks for your hard work in getting these in order and sharing them with us all
mrpuniverse2 I was 5 days old at the time. I can just imagine my Mom watching this show with a beer in one hand and a Winston in the other!
Awesome mailbox!
mrpuniverse2 That's funny... I do the same when I see the date that they aired and think of what my family members were doing on that date.
I was born on a Monday, December 1, 1958 at 11:27pm. Shame I didn't have a VCR or something comparable (back then, if they existed). :)
Arlene is on fire this evening. ❤️
I experienced fifties.
Our golden years
Pat Boone ... a wonderful human being. And I just discovered an interesting connection between the Boone and Ferrer families that I hadn't known about before: one of Jose Ferrer's sons married Pat's daughter, Debby. Huh. One learns something new every day!
Jose Ferrer always added a touch of class to any film he was in.
Thomas Schippers of the Metropolitan Opera! How wonderful! This program had it all. I wonder if they ever had Maria Callas or Giuseppe di Stefano.
No
George Clooney's Uncle by marriage, Best Actor Academy Award Winner Jose Ferrer. :)
Schippers later took over the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and remains to this day a legendary figure to all who remember his time in Cincinnati. His 'Pictures at an Exhibition' recording with that orchestra - among others - was excellent.
Pat and Shirley Boone, Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrar, and Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher were all friends and their kids grew up together. They, along with other Beverly Hills families, refused to sign restrictive real estate covenants barring non-Caucasians from owning property there. This was the mid-1950's. When Carrie Fisher was preparing to audition for the part of Princess Leia, she rehearsed lines with Miguel Ferrar, who read the part of Han Solo.
It's 'Ferrer.' God, I hate auto-correct!
Yes, Miguel was one of Carrie's closest friends.
@@lemorab1 Do what I do - never use auto-correct. Never have, never will.
Jose Ferrer was the first choice to play the Joker in the 1960s Batman series before Cesar Romero was cast.
Interesting to see how entrenched the panel is with Broadway. To be ignorant of a top notch conductor is revealing.
Also there is some condescension that is prickly.
Anyone else curious about the big favor Pat Boone wanted to mention but JCD said there wasn't enough time?
No. And I don't care for pat Boone either.
Yes, I really wish he had had enough time.
Jose Ferrer portrayed Cyrano de Bergerac in the 1950 film, and he was off the charts fantastic in it! I don’t think any critic would give him a bad rating in that movie. I love this show, by the way!
Near the close of the show, Jose Ferrer, prodded by Bennett, says a little about the critics' poor reviews of his play "Edwin Booth". (Ferrer not only starred as the title character, but also produced and directed). The play had opened on November 24, 1958, and, contrary to what Ferrer says here, was not particularly popular with audiences. The play would close on December 13, 1958, just six days after this episode of WML aired, after only 24 performances.
Arlene was a bit of a time hog with the chicken plucker. She took her time asking those questions. I think she did it on purpose because she did almost the exact thing Dorothy always did which was asking questions slowly when she may have already figured it out. However, the thing that makes it annoying when Dorothy does it is she asks the same question like 3 times in different ways and also she re-asks everyone else questions before she starts to ask her own.
Dorothy asked Schippers twice whether he was on stage and screen, and then following two qualified yeses, then she asked a third time whether he had ever appeared on a stage anywhere.
Yes ur very right as Cerf in an interview-said the same thing
17:11 defeathered would be the same as plucked.
"There's nothing like shredded poultry!"
@Becca Lachowicz _LOL!_ That was a funny line, but there are actually recipes that call for it, I think. ;)
Nearly every Mexican restaurant I know serves some dish with shredded chicken... tacos, enchiladas, etc.
I don't get the joke either.
it is real food.
I have seen it in BBQ chicken sandwiches.
I shred chicken to put in chicken&dressing.
I'm very disappointed that Bennett did not pun with Mr French's name connected with his occupation. Seems like the perfect time of year for a "three French hens" joke.
At about 11:14, Arlene asks the chicken plucker, Mr. French, about his product: "Can it be found in any particular room in the house?" This was a very common question on WML, but for some reason John took issue with it this time. I think Arlene was right that he wasn't paying attention initially, because it was certainly a "yes or no" question, but instead of giving such a convoluted answer that she decided to change her question entirely, he could have just said something like, "well, it _could_ be, but it could be elsewhere too" or something like that. Maybe he wanted her to rephrase it to, "would it _usually_ be found in one particular room of the house" or something like that? I guess maybe his issue was that kitchen and dining room would be equally usual places for it to be. Arlene stays with the questioning a long time on this one, getting all "yeses" before ever getting a "no," but taking a long time to get close to the contestant's line, and then going right past it when her next turn comes around!
Daly's interview with Jose Farrer is one of the better post-mystery guest game discussions of that period. I cannot figure out why New York audiences would not want to see Ferrer in a play about Edwin Booth.
One of the few ongoing frustrations I have with this show I love so much is how quickly the Mystery Guests generally leave after the questioning is over. Even when they don't scamper off right away, they often get little chance to talk, as John Daly would generally wax rhapsodic about their talents or current projects for a minute or two and send them off. It was usually only at he insistence of a panel member shouting a question that we got any more than that!
What's My Line? Usually it's a timing thing. If the game runs long, they don't have enough time to chat
Rowan Smith Not really true. . . if they chose to, they could have taken some time with most of the mystery guests, rather than squeezing in a final contestant and rushing the game to the point that it's impossible for the panel to get anywhere, It's a conscious choice they made-- or most likely John Charles Daly made-- to keep the conversation afterward to a minimum as a rule. It's a shame, too, because often the most memorable moments happen in the rare cases where a guest is allowed to, you know, actually talk. :)
soulierinvestments Amos and andy
@@WhatsMyLine Agreed. But I, and possibly the audience and the MG, appreciated the additional background info, achievements and adoration John attached to the personality that the star himself probably wouldn't. And he did frequently ask pointed questions to draw out the guests.
He was great in Cyrano .
Yes that's funny many years later his son married Debbie Boone, saw pictures of the wedding like 1979 1980
I wonder if Pat Boone is the earliest panel member to still be living; June 2024.
Pat Boone as of this writing is still with us. 88. Shows what clean living can do!
His son, Miguel, looks a lot like him.
R.I.P. Miguel Ferrer.
I think of Jose Ferrer when he was much older - for example, playing a role in "Lawrence of Arabia" in which he told his fellow soldiers "beat him", directed at Lawrence, played by Peter O'Toole.
There's no wit that even comes close to Arlene's with today's actors and actresses. Oh, how she makes me laugh and smile! So refreshing, too.
Sometimes I wonder about Bennett's mind. After Arlene's line of questioning why on earth would he guess snake?
not a 4 legged creature, so he tried no legs, but not too many people eat snakes
I mean there are quite a few snakes in Oklahoma
Bennett was a snake freak
Tessa plays one of the new young interns Dr, Leah Murphy.
Arlene distinctly said 'defeathered' and they totally ignored her.
“I have a very broad body”
Arlene on top form!
The pleasant chicken plucker was a very entertaining round!
Smart cookie that Arlene. She nearly solved the whole second game almost by her lonesome. Arlene, I thought, looked longingly tonight at both boy contestants. There was another broadcast, about two years before this one, when a very handsome boy exercise instructor appeared in a very funny game in which Arlene gazed at him as if she wanted to ask him out for drinks after the broadcast. "Do you want us to leave the stage?" John asked -- for Arlene looked as though she would have jumped his bones given half a chance. Dorothy on that occasion also looked as though she was ready to clear off her Tuesday afternoon schedule for . . . instructions
She's very outgoing and flirty. Why aren't there more women like her on this planet!?
I remember the exercise instructor.
You're right about their reactions!
Arlene knew the orchestra conductor's 'line' from the start.
He was awesome in Dune.
It's interesting to see people of the past laugh and joke. Shows they're people like us
Holy Cow! I didn't realize that football was such a big deal back then too! Oh..should say I am from Oklahoma. 😁
Arlene, bless her, interrupted John's largely pointless comments again to be sure that the mystery guest's work was acknowledged properly and what he was there to promote got promoted so his publicist would not have heart failure. Sometimes Dorothy would to that, too, and often Martin Gabel did, even occasionally Bennett. Daly too often totally neglected to mention their current play or new book and that was the point of their being on there that he missed.
I’m shocked that the panelists did not recognize the conductor of the Met. Didn’t they go to the opera? Oops, and I googled Thomas Schippers an he died in 1977, 47 years old. Sad ending for a great conductor.
And I see that his wife died at 34 years old, in 1973. All the sadder.
Was James Levine the immediate successor of Thomas Shippers, or were t here 2-3 other conductors before James Levine made the MET opera scene ?
There were several others. James Levine was the chief conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and its music director for many years. Levine made his debut there around 1972 and several years later was appointed music director. Thomas Schippers was never the chief conductor nor the Met's music director. The Metropolitan Opera normally has around a dozen conductors on its roster; the Met's season runs around nine months and has performances Monday through Saturday evenings, plus a matinee on Saturdays. Thomas Schippers was one conductor of several performing at the Metropolitan Opera. Schippers left the Metropolitan Opera and became the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony. There were quite a few conductors at the Met before James Levine made the Met opera scene. BTW, James Levine's home town is Cincinnati, Ohio. I saw several operas at the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Thomas Schippers from 1964 through 1968. Schippers sadly died at an early age as did his socially prominent and heiress wife; I believe he left the bulk of his estate to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
I'm use to seeing Jose with hair on his face.
George Clooney’s uncle as the mystery guest. Jose Ferrer and Rosemary Clooney were married twice.
Fun fact: a publisher of books made fun of someone's extensive vocabulary.
Wow had no idea Pat Boone wrote books!
i think ARLENE is the most intelligent of the gang...
what say you.....anyone?
Dorothy was also
I think both women were the most intelligent and best of the panelists by and large, though most of the men at this stage were so fine as to be equals or in the running for the title. I think Arlene had a bit more book learning and polish. Dorothy had the shrewdness of a brilliant reporter. Both were excellent at the game with Dorothy being perhaps a bit more focused on nailing the win due to her journalistic competitiveness while Arlene was ever the entertainer who would play the bon mot to entertain the audience never losing sight of the point of her presence. One bad thing about some panelists who were good performers was that they were disruptive panelists because they could not stop hogging the spotlight and keep the game moving which is what the audience was there for no matter how good they were. Groucho Marx and Victor Borge were two who really went around the bend when panelists.
@gcjerryusc I saw Borge live on stage several times and was a big fan of his own shows, but I agree with you that he's not funny as a panelist on WML. He was funny as a mystery guest, but on the panel he didn't seem interested in the game, only in hogging attention to his own antics.
I am also a fan of Groucho in his Marx Brothers movies, and I cannot watch him on WML. He ruined the shows where he was a panelist. Ditto the talk shows he did in his old age.
@@neilmidkiff Yes, but I think he felt compelled to stay in character to please the producers and audience. VB was, afterall, an "icon" of timing as VB. They all had their schtick. Miltie's and Lewis' moues to the audience were more appropriate for the show
In relation to Edwin Booth, the play José Ferrer is in at this historical moment en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Booth
*_Conductor of Metropolitan Opera_*
*_Chicken Plucker_*
7:55 She _would_ be in another seven years!
Martin Landau from Mission Impossible shares a resemblance to Thomas Schippers
JOE? I Thought his name was Jose Ferrer.
What disreputable thing do they mean? Someone “outed” as a communist or something?
At 3:42, it sounded like there was a siren in the background.
If Arlene thought the notion of shredded chicken was funny she obviously was not very familiar with Mexican food.
Oh, plucker!
Dorothy was smart
1:27 What is going on with Pat Boone's tie (or lack thereof)? I've never seen anything like it. Was that some short-lived fad or an attempt at being outre or something? Arlene makes a comment about Bennett's black tie when she introduces him that may have been sparked by Pat Boone's dress.
I have seen many Southern gentlemen wear this type of tie, also some military uniforms have a similar tie.
He grew up in Nashville, attended college in Denton Texas, his first steady job was in Fort Worth, Texas for a C&W station (WBAP) Was a regular on the Ozark Jubilee and was the son in law of a huge country & western star of the era. (Red Foley) His cousin Richard Boone's AKA Paladin had one of the most popular shows on television at the time. All of which made the western style tie extremely appropriate.
Robert Melson David Harris I was intrigued by your cousins comment so I looked it up. They were sixth cousins so I am not sure they even knew they were related according to the three websites I found
Another time. It took a lot more back then for folks to be aware and amused at construible sexual connotations than it does now. Arline Francis was whip-smart. Pat Boone was not stupid, but was slow for this crowd. The Ferrer segment is toward the end.
I see on the sidebar there are lots of other segments here, like this one, from about fifteen years before I was watching then-new episodes. I should watch some. I find watching the panelists here much more interesting than the kind of interviews celebrities do on talk shows, and I think WML skewed strongly toward celebrities who were genuinely interesting characters.
Belold the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
full strength orange juice.
was too strong orange juice a problem in 1958 and they had to water it down for some people?
@MrYfrank14.
Other orange juice sellers added water in order to make more profit - - the Florida Orange Growers Association wanted to MAKE SURE you knew association members were not allowed to do that.
Food labeling laws became more of a thing along with the post war baby boom.
Hence the rise of Ralph Nader.
@@williamlynnroden - thank you. I never heard of this before.
@@MrYfrank14 .
You are quite welcome.
Glad you are enjoying this program and its little slice of history.
@@williamlynnroden - the show really is a time capsule. I keep hearing words i never heard before and have to look them up. Or words pronounced differently. Funny how words and thier meanings change. Or they refer to some historic event and i have to look it up because i never heard of it.
@@MrYfrank14 .
I know exactly what you mean.
I am always looking up people I've never heard of, or knew to little of.
A singer named Frankie Laine was a complete surprise!
Wow! What a powerful voice he had, all the way up to age 92!
You know I used to like Arlene but sometimes she is condescending of the country guests and I hate that snobbery
Pat Boone isn't the sharpest blade in the knife block, I gather.
+ToddSF 94109 Celebrity guests are often not adept at this. Do not have the regularity to get good at this game.
I believe Pat Boone is a Columbia University graduate as was Bennett Cerf and is Barack Obama.
We’re all intelligent in different ways.
at boone HID his bowtie under his collar!!! no one saw that ?..
+genius mchaggis
His continental style bow tie was visible, but barely so under a very high and full collar.
This tie is still fashionable in the Deep South.
@@maryzorn3365
wow!...thanks for that mary!
i had no idea...ill be watching in future
Francis was obviously under the influence of alcohol in this episode.
I never liked Pat Boone, too holier-than-thou and not too bright.
Not too bright? From Wikipedia: He primarily attended David Lipscomb College, and later Lipscomb University in Nashville. He graduated in 1958 from Columbia University School of General Studies magna cum laude[9] having previously attended North Texas State University, now known as the University of North Texas, in Denton, Texas.
Did you know him personally?
I have read that he is homophobic...
@@randysills4418 oh well you “read” it somewhere.
🙄
From what I've read, Pat Boone became quite a racist, hateful and discriminatory individual considering his "Christian" personna...Hope his daughter Debbie isn't as judgemental as her father appears to be in recent years