Wow, totally awesome era. what fun they must have had off Camera. Never knew of Arlene Dahl until this episode. Great to be able to see so much of the best times of years ago. All the best to all in Our New Year Coming,, 2022.
At 13:49 we see once again that John Daly can keep track of the questions and answers better in his head than the panelists can do it on pencil and paper. Of course, he has the advantage of being able to remember how the questions relate to an occupation that he knows about. Still, he is very impressive because he remembers the questions so precisely and so consistently, at the same time that he is focusing on new questions and watching the clock.
I was going through one of WML’s playlists, picked an episode at random, googled Arlene Dahl because I hadn’t heard of her… and she just passed a few days ago!! … Wow. 😳
Arlene Dahl had some challenges & difficulties during the filming of Journey to the Center of the Earth, but the end result was a spectacular movie. James Mason lost patience with her whining, as their raft was cascaded by stormy water, and rocked violently.. Some many decades ago, I watched it, and enjoyed every moment of it.
Embarrassed yes, but not really wanting to bolt. It was a joke on herself to express acknowledgement of her gaffe. It's similar to making your hand to a gun, point it at your head, sometimes say an explosion sound, then flick your fingers on the other side of your head.
Dorothy just got caught up in the game and had a bit of a bad evening - she apologized to Bennett and seemed mortified at the end of it all for asking questions out of turn - I'm sure we can all relate to putting our foot in our mouths once in a while
This was a time when women were publicly referred to as *BROADS* or 'girls' by men. This was also a time when almost EVERY FAMOUS WOMAN ACTRESS (whether they admit it or not) had sex with studio brass at one time or another to get a significant part or a leading part in high budget movie or Broadway play. Men and women would act sophisticated and proper in public but whored around in private, cheated on their spouses, and looked down on each other. Dorothy Kilgallen was cheating on her husband while filming the show and her husband had numerous sexual flings while married to her. Dorothy would drink heavily and used various drugs for depression and to rest. This was also a time of EXTREME racism in the entire nation (including New York) Nat King Cole stated in an interview, when asked about being on WML, that he had to come into the theater at the back entrance and remain in a dirty room the size of a small closet until his guest appearance at the end of the show. ALL the famous African American guests had to stay in a small, dirty dressing room until called to the show at the end.
Arlene Dahl had a very popular nationally syndicated newspaper column (1950's into the 60's) which dealt with health and beauty tips. She was the perfect person to showcase a question/answer column, as she did.
At 15:15 Dorothy first asks about a toolkit, then stretches it to include "special equipment." As John and Miss Tackett have their small conference, Dorothy asks if John heard the "fudging part of her answer" (she means "part of her question" -- another of the slips on this episode). So she's aware of what she's doing and knows that it pushes the rules of the game just a little.
Among the "guests" on this episode, two spent time in their careers as models. But one did it before their primary career and the other did it after their primary career. As has been true for many attractive actresses,. Miss Dahl did some modeling before making it big on the silver screen. After high school in her native Minnesota, she did modeling for local department stores. Charlie Conerly served as a spokesmodel for Marlboro cigarettes (but was not the Marlboro Man cowboy) after his playing career in pro football ended. Chris Schinkel narrates this commercial which shows Conerly going to a locker with his football jersey hanging up in it as well as some game footage from the 1956 NFL Championship game. The Giants beat the Bears that day, 47-7, and much of the credit was given to the GIants decision to wear sneakers on an icy field instead of football cleats, reminiscent of how the Giants had beaten the Bears in the 1934 championship game. The footage shows Conerly throwing a TD pass to Frank Gifford (another WML guest years earlier) in the third quarter to increase the Giants lead to 40-7. ruclips.net/video/-e5cHg8ydPI/видео.html Wearing #42 with the Giants, Conerly was one of the last QB's to continue wearing a number higher than 19. (The last was John Hadl before the NFL adopted the rigid numbering system in 1973 that would make it impossible.) Many pro football QB's wore high numbers at one time, but most QB's changed by the early 1950's. For example, Y.A. Tittle, who replaced Conerly with the Giants, started his pro career in 1948 (same year as Conerly) wearing #63 and then #64 in his first year in San Francisco, before switching to his more familiar #14 in 1952.
hopicard , all the more funny because that episode was on almost immediately following one of the first telecasts on CBS of 'The Wizard Of Oz' - " Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" LOL!!
I'm guessing that we're all assuming that the man behind the curtain was Charlie Conerly, trying to get a peek at his wife and not realizing that his hand would be in camera view.
I'm surprised that Bennett at 6:45 doesn't pick up on Dorothy's 'not bigger than a typewriter' discovery to ask if it *is* a typewriter, but he leaves it for Arlene to ask when it comes around to her.
Arlene is quite funny and dreamy too at 5:00, making a pun on Charlie's football passes and romantic passes. Probably, though, Charlie was making football passes as a youth long before he met Perian, so she's being more clever than accurate.
The panel right away recognizes the wife of then NY Giants quarterback Charley Conerly. This was the point in time when the Giants were finally exploding in popularity in New York and their stars were becoming as well-known as the baseball stars. That was something you couldn't have said just five years or so before this program!
Arlene was witty when it came to the first constant, the joke about football passes and making passes at the wife, along with, If it is what I think it is, I probably do some of my best work in that room, were both funny 😄
When I saw Mrs. Conerly sign in as "Perian" I didn't sound it out in my mind as "Perry Ann" as she pronounced it! I'm sure the spelling is attributable to her parents, so no reflection on her. But in names like "Marian" the last syllable is unaccented, and that was what I would have expected for Perian too.
It’s been noted in biographies about her that she frequented Jazz clubs - the Copa Cabana etc and she held parties at her brownstone in nyc. They sometimes also share a tidbit or two in this series of their personalities off the camera, which is fun!
druidbros As Vanessa Braganza commented above, Dorothy was embarrassed about it afterwards and did apologize. I agree with her that Dorothy just got caught up in the moment, because Bennett said what had been on her mind that she had just ruled out, but she felt bad for saying it as soon as she'd said it.
During the Conerly goodnights at 10:19 or so, it looked as if Charlie was holding his left arm oddly. Seems that he had a back injury at the time, but I can't find mention of a shoulder injury, so I think I was imagining it.
The Giants, who had already clinched their division, had played earlier that day in Washington. Charlie Conerly played most of the game and although he wasn't sacked that day, quarterbacks do tend to get banged up.
It was funny at 17:38 Mr. Daly realized he was digging a hole explaining her work. He realized it and shut-up. The correct thing to do. Arlene Dahl loved weddings! She had 6 along with 5 divorces. Her son is Lorenzo Lamas who drives the girls crazy now. The only movie I recognized was Journey to the Center of the Earth. Loved that film.
@@wyatt_kincaid …Arlene Dahl was Lorenzo’s mother. He was born in ‘58. Arlene and Fernando were married from ‘54 - ‘60, and Fernando didn’t marry Esther Williams until New Years Eve 1969.
Yes, she does. Speaking of hyperbole (discussed below pertaining to Bennett) the biggest example of it on this show is when Dorothy praises "Journey To The Center Of The Earth," calling it worthy of an Academy Award. That would be equivalent now to nominating a mediocre action movie, say a 3rd or 4th sequel, for an Oscar. (I don't know enough about them to name one specifically.) I saw JTTCOTE in 1959, as a kid, and we knew that it was fair to middling even at that age and that time. Forgettable entertainment for a Saturday afternoon.
@@lemorab1 Funny I saw it as well in 1959, going alone to the cinema as a kid in Baltimore, Maryland and found it dazzling but perhaps lacked the critical acumen to discern that the special effects of that era were rudimentary, it all seemed quite scarily plausible to me. All too easy at that age to to "suspend disbelief". Also too young to care whether it warranted an Oscar, if I knew what an Oscar was, at that age. I don't recall that I did.
Answering Bennett's question about the machine being used in any particular part of the house rather than all over the house, I think John makes a wrong ruling, or at least explains it wrong as an answer to 'all over' which Bennett mentioned in 'rather than' terms. I got the impression that Perian was thinking of bathrooms and John was eager to get away from that implication. Of course, Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker in the movie "Laura" is shown in the bathtub, typing on a machine placed on a board across the top of the tub, so even that is possible.
TBBMusicBlog Are you referring to Arlene Francis or Arlene Dahl? I thought they both looked good, performed well and enjoyed themselves, so it could be either one!
That is a good point. Also, sometimes when the panel member are blindfolded, John has a conference without telling them about it, so they wonder why they are not hearing anything from him.
Dorothy has her issues, but she reminds me so much of me (or how I used to be) with the overly competitive spirit and the need for perfection that her embarrassed reaction (and thus a subconscious way of narcissistically drawing MORE attention to herself) would totally be something I would have done in her place.
From the score of the 1966 Broadway musical, "Its a Bird Its a Plane Its Superman" - Daily Planet Gossip columnist Max Mencken dictating: "Don't interrupt...first paragraph...the midtown scene as seen by Max...Arlene Dahl, looking Dahlicious, drawing wolf whistles as she hops in a cab..."
@@gregmoorhead7203 As a graphologist, what's your opinion on the house painter's signature at 11:05? Her capital "T" in "Tackett" looks to me like the cursive "Q" that I was taught in school.
@@neilmidkiff May I jump in here? I have studied handwriting since high school and learned long ago that people that love numbers/ are good with numbers/ make a living with numbers/etc. sometimes have "numbers" pop up in their handwriting. An example is a lower case "g" written looking like an "8" or a capitalized "E" looking like a "3". (The possibilities are endless, truly.) Though this person is a painter, a love of numbers or a former line of study may be filtering into the signature, making the capitalized "T" look like a "2".
There seems to be a tiny audio glitch at 8:55, so this may not be the way it originally sounded, but it sounds to me as if John mistakenly called her "Gerianne" or "Jerry Ann" rather than Perian.
Dorothy's comment "I didn't know she did anything other than get breakfast for Mr. Connerly" was a little on the chauvinistic side, .that is if a lady can be chauvinistic.
I agree that it was inappropriate. It also seemed inappropriate that Dorothy identified her as Charlie Connerly's wife, information that could have helped identify her line and that the WML staff might not have expected the panel to know. Then again, after I watched it, they seemed to be so familiar with her husband that they probably were acquainted with her.
Jeff Vaughn -- There's no doubt that a lot of women bought into male chauvinism. Many still do. How demeaning of Dorothy K. to characterize another woman as no better than a menial for her husband, and how hypocritical, considering that Dorothy herself had a career. They should have given Mrs. Connerly's profession as writing a football column for newspapers while Dorothy Kilgallen is getting dinner together for Richard Kollmar.
+ToddSF 94109 I'm aghast at comments like this. In those days it was considered honorable to be a housewife, mother, cook, etc. We girls were the ones taking Home Economics in school. Our upbringing was done with the goal of our becoming wives who would raise children to become valuable members of society. I couldn't have children but never felt demeaned when I was married by doing necessary things for my husband & myself, like ironing, cooking, cleaning. We can see what our so-called civilization has become by the attitudes of those describing as "menial" the work of fine women who were raised to be good mothers & wives. Children have no role models in this sex-saturated, me-first world where basic family care is called "menial." How many women are truly happier these days, I have to wonder. Children today are selfish in their goals, w/money as their god, vulgar in their speech, & have very little direction in how to be good parents to future generations.
And maybe the biggest verbal slip of all this time (other than Dorothy's naming the wrong red-haired actress) at 16:23 John addresses David Niven as "Mr. Service." (Better than "Mr. Product," I guess; at least Service is a real surname, as in the poet Robert W. Service.)
David Niven was very good at playing the suave and debonair gentleman in lighthearted comedies in the 40’s and 50’s, but never really got to grips with this panel show. He seemed awkward when constructing pertinent questions and his knowledge of celebrities was very slight.
I have to stick with Dorothy,Bennett,and Arlene.Shortly after Dorothy passed, it was not the same.A couple of years later, the show ended..They should bring this back on primetime..It may still be interesting.
A big to do was made of Bennett Cerf's hyperbole in acknowledging the beauty of Joan Collins, perhaps dissing absent panel member Arlene Francis in the process. Here Bennett's hyperbole extends to the quarterbacking skills of Charlie Conerly (Bennett calls him "the best"). While Conerly was good, his 14 year career was not good enough to win him an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he is in the college version). Conerly did have one of his best years in 1959, despite missing two games. On the other hand, Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts was the winning QB for the second year in a row against Conerly. He was league MVP and passing yardage leader in 1959. And he is most certainly in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, rated one of the best quarterbacks of all time by experts (with the difficulty, of course, in comparing players of different eras). There were 12 teams in the NFL at this time. The AFL was still one season away from beginning play. Of the remaining 10 teams, the following starting QB's would also make the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Norm Van Brocklin (Eagles), Bobby Layne (Steelers), Bart Starr (Packers), and Y.A. Tittle (49ers). Of these players, only Unitas and Starr were younger QB's still in the process of making their reputation (although Unitas was clearly at the top by 1959). The rest were contemporaries of Conerly. By 1961, the Giants had traded for Tittle to platoon with Conerly. Tittle quickly won the job and led the Giants to three straight Eastern Division championships in his four seasons in NY. Conerly retired after the 1961 season. Interesting that there was no to do in the WML comments about Bennett's hyperbole this time. So I understand something of Bennett's nature in saying such things. And yes, I do agree that it was awkward for him to have said it in front of Arlene Francis's husband the week before.
The Giants had just beaten the Washington Redskins that day, 24-10 in Washington to complete the season with a 10-2 record, the best in the NFL. Charlie had thrown for 207 yards and two scores. But the Giants were defeated by the Colts in Baltimore, 16-31, for the NFL championship two weeks later.
Since I'm on my "hobby horse" of mystery guests using phony foreign accents to give their answers, I wish that Arlene Dahl had tried a pseudo-Scandinavian one when giving answers in this episode. As she is a Norwegian heritage, I think it might have been more fun for those panelists who always want to know, "May I take it that you are not from (fill in the blank of some country's or region's name)?
519DJW -- I note that when Edgar Bergen (né Edgar Berggren) was a Swedish-American and he not only put on a Swedish accent when he appeared as a mystery guest with his daughter Candice Bergen, he spoke Swedish and answered "Ja" and "Nej" and, I think, when someone asked if he were German, he said something like, "Nej, jag är svensk!" My point being, if Arlene Dahl had put on a Norwegian accent, the panel might not have known it was Norwegian.
Jim Elliott -- His birth name was Edgar John Berggren, one of those many Swedish names formed from two nouns (like Nordström or Lindquist). Berggren pronounced the Swedish way is something like "berry-grenn" and Americans would tend to say "burg-grinn". I think he changed it to Bergen just to make it a little bit easier for Americans to pronounce without that second "r" in it.
+ToddSF 94109 I think Lawrence Welk was once the mystery guest, but can't remember how he disguised his voice. Welk was born in a German-speaking community in North Dakota, and he never completely lost his accent. (Such communities were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries--especially the plains states. They were so isolated that the language of the first generation remained that of their children.) I don't know if that was Edgar Bergen's case with Swedish, but I find it an interesting bit of trivia. :)
Son of the north, no. Nordström means "north stream", actually. As I said, there are a ton of Swedish names combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun. Lindquist, for example, means "linden twig," Berggren means "mountain branch" (as in the branch of a tree), Björklund means "birch grove". I had a cousin whose last name was Sundvall, which means "sound bank" as in the body of water like Long Island Sound or Puget Sound, and bank as in a riverbank. Some of the seem to go together and some seem to be more random such as Hammarlund which would mean "hammer grove" or Brännholm which means "burn islet" where burn means to light on fire. Swedish patronymic surnames all end in -son (meaning "son") and typically have a double "s" as in Svensson, Bengtsson, Olsson, Petersson, Jannson, where that first "s" is possessive or genitive -- meaning Sven's son, Bengt's son, Jan's son, etc. (The Danish and Norwegian patronymics use -sen and no genitive s, such as Olsen, Petersen, Jansen, etc.) I note that Norwegians and Danes have those names combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun, too.
Dahl perhaps not the greatest of actresses, but stunning in beauty on film. Her personal life and career were rather rocky, but she did still live to 96.
This was a very unusual episode in that all 3 guests were women. In virtually all episodes, the WML producers cast guests of each gender. I can only recall one previous episode in which all the guests were of one sex; in that instance they were all men. And of course the panel always consists of two men and two women.
The GREAT Chuckin Charley Conerly, who led the New York Giants to the NFL Championship in 1956, is the GREATEST QB not to be in to be in the Hall of Fame and it is a shame since he was better than most that are in the H of F
With further thought... considering her profession and the fact she took it so seriously...probably made it hard for her to miss a fact or say something incorrectly, even in a GAME, hard to take. She knew she was being seen nationwide. I suddenly understand!
@Shirley Rombaugh They're filthy rich and likely had just vacationed in the Florida Keys or the Caribbean or .. well, the list of places I'll never see goes on and on.
Dorothy was rmotionally immature. Her laugh was that of a silly little girl & we see how childish she was in this episode. Wonder what Daly said to Ms Dahl about her - whatever Ms Dahl agreed. And Dorothy blaming David Niven!
It appears that most of the women in the fifties wore their hair short, with a few exceptions for a few glamour girls. I guess it wasn't until the sixties that women started wearing their hair long. How did we do without our hair?
There he goes flipping over those STUUPID cards again when the person ALREADY had a significant amount of money (I hadn't seen him do that in a while, I thought he got over THAT)!
A woman who has never played actual football is writing about it? Wrong answer. Go get tackled or tackle someone then come back and write, when your wind returns, that is.
![What's My Line? - Maureen O' Hara; Martin Gabel [panel] (Dec 27, 1959)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sso3PL-sLbk/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Maureen O' Hara; Martin Gabel [panel] (Dec 27, 1959)](/img/tr.png)
![What's My Line? - Peggy Lee; Ben Gazzara [panel]; Martin Gabel [panel] (Feb 28, 1960)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ohpIY004gZE/mqdefault.jpg)
So entertaining & soothing to watch these shows. What a delight!
I’m so glad Arlene is back! The show is not the same without her and her charm!
Wow, totally awesome era. what fun they must have had off Camera. Never knew of Arlene Dahl until this episode. Great to be able to see so much of the best times of years ago. All the best to all in Our New Year Coming,, 2022.
Arlene Dahl was great. She passed away a few months ago, hard to believe her and the panel are all gone now...
Arlene Dahl also founded a very successful beauty & cosmetics company. She only died just recently as I write this in May of 2022.
@@maureengauvin1768 It couldn't have been very successful. She filed for bankruptcy in the early 1980s.
At 13:49 we see once again that John Daly can keep track of the questions and answers better in his head than the panelists can do it on pencil and paper. Of course, he has the advantage of being able to remember how the questions relate to an occupation that he knows about. Still, he is very impressive because he remembers the questions so precisely and so consistently, at the same time that he is focusing on new questions and watching the clock.
I’ve also admired how he can do exactly that. He’s the perfect moderator.
8
I'm amazed at his fixation on the spot in front of the black board
This show aired on my first birthday. Funny thing is, I don't remember it at all. Must have been a wild party. :)
Arlene Dahl is impossibly Beautiful. Impossibly so!
Each Arlene is beautiful and appear to be blessed with equally attractive personalities
Gone are the days when America was still classy ... these shows are so refreshing.
This first aired the night I was born.
Please post proof pronto
Did you watch it?
Sassy, sassy Arlene tonight. Loved it.
Never seen a woman as beautiful as Arlene Dahl, incomparable, unmatched, not real, just a dream..💃🧚🌹🌠💎♥✨!!!!!!
I was going through one of WML’s playlists, picked an episode at random, googled Arlene Dahl because I hadn’t heard of her… and she just passed a few days ago!! … Wow. 😳
She lived to be 96 before passing.
The woman was STRIKINGLY beautiful.
Thanks for posting these shows!
Mrs. Conerly is still alive as of June 27, 2020 and she's 93 years old.
Whow! Amazing!
Died 6/17/21
Arlene Dahl just passed away two days ago. 1925-2021 (96 years old)
@@youminholastransit3218 😭 sad news.
@@operadog2000 They weren't cheated of life.
I sooo want Arlene's dress!!!!!! Wonderful!!!!
Arlene Dahl lived till the young age of 96. Rest In Peace. Overdue condolences to the family for your loss.
😔💐
This was broadcast the day I was born
David Nevin is as dashing as always. Great actor as well Arlene Dahl what can you say about her. She is absolutely gorgeous
Arlene Dahl had some challenges & difficulties during the filming of Journey to the Center of the Earth, but the end result was a spectacular movie. James Mason lost patience with her whining, as their raft was cascaded by stormy water, and rocked violently.. Some many decades ago, I watched it, and enjoyed every moment of it.
Arlene and Dorothy were stylish and beautiful.
Arlene was stylish and beautiful. Dorothy was stylish.
funny that Dorothy was so flustered/embarrassed by her "Maureen O'Hara" gaff she was ready to bolt from the panel
Embarrassed yes, but not really wanting to bolt. It was a joke on herself to express acknowledgement of her gaffe. It's similar to making your hand to a gun, point it at your head, sometimes say an explosion sound, then flick your fingers on the other side of your head.
Arlene Dahl just passed away at 96
Dorothy just got caught up in the game and had a bit of a bad evening - she apologized to Bennett and seemed mortified at the end of it all for asking questions out of turn - I'm sure we can all relate to putting our foot in our mouths once in a while
I think Doro is buzzed.
@@keithhyttinen8275: I think Arlene Francis was! :D
This was a time when women were publicly referred to as *BROADS* or 'girls' by men.
This was also a time when almost EVERY FAMOUS WOMAN ACTRESS (whether they admit it or not) had sex with studio brass at one time or another to get a significant part or a leading part in high budget movie or Broadway play.
Men and women would act sophisticated and proper in public but whored around in private, cheated on their spouses, and looked down on each other.
Dorothy Kilgallen was cheating on her husband while filming the show and her husband had numerous sexual flings while married to her. Dorothy would drink heavily and used various drugs for depression and to rest.
This was also a time of EXTREME racism in the entire nation (including New York) Nat King Cole stated in an interview, when asked about being on WML, that he had to come into the theater at the back entrance and remain in a dirty room the size of a small closet until his guest appearance at the end of the show.
ALL the famous African American guests had to stay in a small, dirty dressing room until called to the show at the end.
I believe that Dorothy is always so proper in performance
Arlene Dahl had a very popular nationally syndicated newspaper column (1950's into the 60's) which dealt with health and beauty tips. She was the perfect person to showcase a question/answer column, as she did.
At 15:15 Dorothy first asks about a toolkit, then stretches it to include "special equipment." As John and Miss Tackett have their small conference, Dorothy asks if John heard the "fudging part of her answer" (she means "part of her question" -- another of the slips on this episode). So she's aware of what she's doing and knows that it pushes the rules of the game just a little.
Among the "guests" on this episode, two spent time in their careers as models. But one did it before their primary career and the other did it after their primary career.
As has been true for many attractive actresses,. Miss Dahl did some modeling before making it big on the silver screen. After high school in her native Minnesota, she did modeling for local department stores.
Charlie Conerly served as a spokesmodel for Marlboro cigarettes (but was not the Marlboro Man cowboy) after his playing career in pro football ended. Chris Schinkel narrates this commercial which shows Conerly going to a locker with his football jersey hanging up in it as well as some game footage from the 1956 NFL Championship game. The Giants beat the Bears that day, 47-7, and much of the credit was given to the GIants decision to wear sneakers on an icy field instead of football cleats, reminiscent of how the Giants had beaten the Bears in the 1934 championship game. The footage shows Conerly throwing a TD pass to Frank Gifford (another WML guest years earlier) in the third quarter to increase the Giants lead to 40-7.
ruclips.net/video/-e5cHg8ydPI/видео.html
Wearing #42 with the Giants, Conerly was one of the last QB's to continue wearing a number higher than 19. (The last was John Hadl before the NFL adopted the rigid numbering system in 1973 that would make it impossible.) Many pro football QB's wore high numbers at one time, but most QB's changed by the early 1950's. For example, Y.A. Tittle, who replaced Conerly with the Giants, started his pro career in 1948 (same year as Conerly) wearing #63 and then #64 in his first year in San Francisco, before switching to his more familiar #14 in 1952.
Adding to the verbal slips in this episode, Miss Tackett refers to the panel as "fans of mine" at 11:22 rather than the other way around.
R.I.P Arlene Dahl
Love Arlene's dress!
which Arlene? Dahl or Francis?
I have personally seen this version of journy to the center of the earth 🌎 many times
I like the action behind the curtain at 3:05 :)
hopicard , all the more funny because that episode was on almost immediately following one of the first telecasts on CBS of 'The Wizard Of Oz' - " Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" LOL!!
"NOT NOW!"
I'm guessing that we're all assuming that the man behind the curtain was Charlie Conerly, trying to get a peek at his wife and not realizing that his hand would be in camera view.
I'm surprised that Bennett at 6:45 doesn't pick up on Dorothy's 'not bigger than a typewriter' discovery to ask if it *is* a typewriter, but he leaves it for Arlene to ask when it comes around to her.
Arlene is quite funny and dreamy too at 5:00, making a pun on Charlie's football passes and romantic passes. Probably, though, Charlie was making football passes as a youth long before he met Perian, so she's being more clever than accurate.
Rest in peace, Arlene
The panel right away recognizes the wife of then NY Giants quarterback Charley Conerly. This was the point in time when the Giants were finally exploding in popularity in New York and their stars were becoming as well-known as the baseball stars. That was something you couldn't have said just five years or so before this program!
Three years before Frank Gifford was a guest and not a mystery guest - no blindfold.
Arlene was witty when it came to the first constant, the joke about football passes and making passes at the wife, along with, If it is what I think it is, I probably do some of my best work in that room, were both funny 😄
When I saw Mrs. Conerly sign in as "Perian" I didn't sound it out in my mind as "Perry Ann" as she pronounced it! I'm sure the spelling is attributable to her parents, so no reflection on her. But in names like "Marian" the last syllable is unaccented, and that was what I would have expected for Perian too.
Refreshing to see Dorothy let loose and have some fun - make a few mistakes. She displayed bits of her notorious "party girl" reputation.
"Party girl" reputation? I think not
Dorothy Kilgallen had a reputation as a party girl? I have never heard that.
It’s been noted in biographies about her that she frequented Jazz clubs - the Copa Cabana etc and she held parties at her brownstone in nyc. They sometimes also share a tidbit or two in this series of their personalities off the camera, which is fun!
Dorothy commits one of her biggest blunders when even after the right movie is named, she guesses the wrong redhead!
What I find interesting is that two weeks later Maureen O'Hara was the mystery guest. I wonder if that was in direct response to Dorothy's blunder.
The best ‘small conference’ ever 😅
Boy, Mrs. Conerly was beautiful and charming.
Well, as of March 4th, 2021 Wikipedia says she’s still alive AND has a Facebook page!
Arlene Dahl passed in early 2022.
I can not believe Dorothy thought it was ok to tell Bennett not to ask a question.
druidbros
As Vanessa Braganza commented above, Dorothy was embarrassed about it afterwards and did apologize. I agree with her that Dorothy just got caught up in the moment, because Bennett said what had been on her mind that she had just ruled out, but she felt bad for saying it as soon as she'd said it.
During the Conerly goodnights at 10:19 or so, it looked as if Charlie was holding his left arm oddly. Seems that he had a back injury at the time, but I can't find mention of a shoulder injury, so I think I was imagining it.
The Giants, who had already clinched their division, had played earlier that day in Washington. Charlie Conerly played most of the game and although he wasn't sacked that day, quarterbacks do tend to get banged up.
I enjoy the Sunbeam "commercials", seeing what the new and popular products of yesteryear look like.
Mrs Conerly cuts a pretty good figure.
May Mrs cornely live to a hundred and five
RIP, Arlene Dahl.
It was funny at 17:38 Mr. Daly realized he was digging a hole explaining her work. He realized it and shut-up. The correct thing to do.
Arlene Dahl loved weddings! She had 6 along with 5 divorces. Her son is Lorenzo Lamas who drives the girls crazy now.
The only movie I recognized was Journey to the Center of the Earth. Loved that film.
+rick charles Well at least there are six lucky men in this world.
Esther Williams is Lorenzo Lamas' Mother
@@wyatt_kincaid …Arlene Dahl was Lorenzo’s mother. He was born in ‘58. Arlene and Fernando were married from ‘54 - ‘60, and Fernando didn’t marry Esther Williams until New Years Eve 1969.
@@wyatt_kincaid: She is not, but he said she was more of a mother figure to him than Arlene Dahl was.
I felt so bad for Dorothy during the MG segment. And she obviously felt bad about it too. No harm done, Dorothy. A simple mistake.
*_Writes Football Column For Newspapers_*
*_House Painter_*
RIP Arlene Dahl. That was a long road travelled.
Arlene is simply beautiful and funny!
Francis or Dahl? Or both?
@@rmelin13231 YES!
Arlene Dahl looks much younger here than she does in "Journey to the Center of the Earth."
Yes, she does. Speaking of hyperbole (discussed below pertaining to Bennett) the biggest example of it on this show is when Dorothy praises "Journey To The Center Of The Earth," calling it worthy of an Academy Award. That would be equivalent now to nominating a mediocre action movie, say a 3rd or 4th sequel, for an Oscar. (I don't know enough about them to name one specifically.) I saw JTTCOTE in 1959, as a kid, and we knew that it was fair to middling even at that age and that time. Forgettable entertainment for a Saturday afternoon.
Maybe because of the black and white?
@@lemorab1 Funny I saw it as well in 1959, going alone to the cinema as a kid in Baltimore, Maryland and found it dazzling but perhaps lacked the critical acumen to discern that the special effects of that era were rudimentary, it all seemed quite scarily plausible to me. All too easy at that age to to "suspend disbelief". Also too young to care whether it warranted an Oscar, if I knew what an Oscar was, at that age. I don't recall that I did.
The previous two episodes had no Arlenes. This episode had two Arlenes. An attempt to have Arlene regress to the mean?
Answering Bennett's question about the machine being used in any particular part of the house rather than all over the house, I think John makes a wrong ruling, or at least explains it wrong as an answer to 'all over' which Bennett mentioned in 'rather than' terms. I got the impression that Perian was thinking of bathrooms and John was eager to get away from that implication. Of course, Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker in the movie "Laura" is shown in the bathtub, typing on a machine placed on a board across the top of the tub, so even that is possible.
Not sure what it is -- but I feel like Arlene was "on" in this episode. She looked to be having fun, she was quick witted, and she looks quite good.
TBBMusicBlog
Are you referring to Arlene Francis or Arlene Dahl? I thought they both looked good, performed well and enjoyed themselves, so it could be either one!
Sorry. I met Arlene Francis. But yes, you're also quite right.
funny, when john in conference john covers with his hand even when the panel is blindfolded
That is a good point. Also, sometimes when the panel member are blindfolded, John has a conference without telling them about it, so they wonder why they are not hearing anything from him.
In addition to blocking vision, a hand muffles sound
He's blocking his mouth from the microphone.
Dorothy has her issues, but she reminds me so much of me (or how I used to be) with the overly competitive spirit and the need for perfection that her embarrassed reaction (and thus a subconscious way of narcissistically drawing MORE attention to herself) would totally be something I would have done in her place.
Dang, Arlene was a living Dahl !
You mean doll
@@lopa2828
U gotta b kiddin'
@@lopa2828: He was making a joke. A pun. Arlene Dahl.
From the score of the 1966 Broadway musical, "Its a Bird Its a Plane Its Superman" - Daily Planet Gossip columnist Max Mencken dictating: "Don't interrupt...first paragraph...the midtown scene as seen by Max...Arlene Dahl, looking Dahlicious, drawing wolf whistles as she hops in a cab..."
Interesting how Arlene Dahl signs her name, capitalizing the "L" of her first name, not the "a".
@@gregmoorhead7203 it is an unusual way to write ones signature. But I find it very attractive
@@gregmoorhead7203 As a graphologist, what's your opinion on the house painter's signature at 11:05? Her capital "T" in "Tackett" looks to me like the cursive "Q" that I was taught in school.
@@gregmoorhead7203 - or maybe she just has lousy handwriting.
sometimes a cigar...
@@neilmidkiff
May I jump in here? I have studied handwriting since high school and learned long ago that people that love numbers/ are good with numbers/ make a living with numbers/etc. sometimes have "numbers" pop up in their handwriting. An example is a lower case "g" written looking like an "8" or a capitalized "E" looking like a "3". (The possibilities are endless, truly.)
Though this person is a painter, a love of numbers or a former line of study may be filtering into the signature, making the capitalized "T" look like a "2".
There seems to be a tiny audio glitch at 8:55, so this may not be the way it originally sounded, but it sounds to me as if John mistakenly called her "Gerianne" or "Jerry Ann" rather than Perian.
Dorothy's comment "I didn't know she did anything other than get breakfast for Mr. Connerly" was a little on the chauvinistic side, .that is if a lady can be chauvinistic.
I agree that it was inappropriate. It also seemed inappropriate that Dorothy identified her as Charlie Connerly's wife, information that could have helped identify her line and that the WML staff might not have expected the panel to know. Then again, after I watched it, they seemed to be so familiar with her husband that they probably were acquainted with her.
Jeff Vaughn -- There's no doubt that a lot of women bought into male chauvinism. Many still do. How demeaning of Dorothy K. to characterize another woman as no better than a menial for her husband, and how hypocritical, considering that Dorothy herself had a career. They should have given Mrs. Connerly's profession as writing a football column for newspapers while Dorothy Kilgallen is getting dinner together for Richard Kollmar.
+Jeff Vaughn It was 1959. More often than not women still did not have careers. Just a product of the times.
Agreed. More than once i have heard the panelists ask "Do more men than women do what you do?"
+ToddSF 94109 I'm aghast at comments like this. In those days it was considered honorable to be a housewife, mother, cook, etc. We girls were the ones taking Home Economics in school. Our upbringing was done with the goal of our becoming wives who would raise children to become valuable members of society. I couldn't have children but never felt demeaned when I was married by doing necessary things for my husband & myself, like ironing, cooking, cleaning. We can see what our so-called civilization has become by the attitudes of those describing as "menial" the work of fine women who were raised to be good mothers & wives. Children have no role models in this sex-saturated, me-first world where basic family care is called "menial." How many women are truly happier these days, I have to wonder. Children today are selfish in their goals, w/money as their god, vulgar in their speech, & have very little direction in how to be good parents to future generations.
12:21 Dorothy looks pissed, then fires at David there. What did he say?
11:20 Daly: "Miss Tackett may I present the panel?" Tacket: "They're very nice fans of mine." Daly: "What did you say?" lol
Arlene Dahl wasn’t just pretty, she was striking!
And maybe the biggest verbal slip of all this time (other than Dorothy's naming the wrong red-haired actress) at 16:23 John addresses David Niven as "Mr. Service." (Better than "Mr. Product," I guess; at least Service is a real surname, as in the poet Robert W. Service.)
The biggest verbal of all this time was when Dorothy asked if the contestant had sex -- when Groucho was the guest panelist.
David Niven was very good at playing the suave and debonair gentleman in lighthearted comedies in the 40’s and 50’s, but never really got to grips with this panel show. He seemed awkward when constructing pertinent questions and his knowledge of celebrities was very slight.
I feel he was still charming on the show, but his insecurity came out. His self effacing jokes reflect that.
It’s clear that Dorothy wasn’t used to being anything but in her element on this programme.
Lays Claim to Oneofthe PRETTIEST OnScreen Kisses EVER, with a Mr James Mason.🎨🎨🎨.
(Journey to the Center of the Earth)
Arlene never looks at Dorothy when she's introduced.
I have to stick with Dorothy,Bennett,and Arlene.Shortly after Dorothy passed, it was not the same.A couple of years later, the show ended..They should bring this back on primetime..It may still be interesting.
I dont think Dorothy could handle being that close to David Niven.
I think she got too excited and couldn't concentrate.
Can you blame her?
Perian Conerly death announced today 6/19/21
Sorry to read that, but it was a long life at least.
i think they were all drunk during arlene dahl's segment.
A big to do was made of Bennett Cerf's hyperbole in acknowledging the beauty of Joan Collins, perhaps dissing absent panel member Arlene Francis in the process.
Here Bennett's hyperbole extends to the quarterbacking skills of Charlie Conerly (Bennett calls him "the best"). While Conerly was good, his 14 year career was not good enough to win him an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he is in the college version). Conerly did have one of his best years in 1959, despite missing two games.
On the other hand, Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts was the winning QB for the second year in a row against Conerly. He was league MVP and passing yardage leader in 1959. And he is most certainly in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, rated one of the best quarterbacks of all time by experts (with the difficulty, of course, in comparing players of different eras).
There were 12 teams in the NFL at this time. The AFL was still one season away from beginning play. Of the remaining 10 teams, the following starting QB's would also make the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Norm Van Brocklin (Eagles), Bobby Layne (Steelers), Bart Starr (Packers), and Y.A. Tittle (49ers). Of these players, only Unitas and Starr were younger QB's still in the process of making their reputation (although Unitas was clearly at the top by 1959). The rest were contemporaries of Conerly. By 1961, the Giants had traded for Tittle to platoon with Conerly. Tittle quickly won the job and led the Giants to three straight Eastern Division championships in his four seasons in NY. Conerly retired after the 1961 season.
Interesting that there was no to do in the WML comments about Bennett's hyperbole this time. So I understand something of Bennett's nature in saying such things. And yes, I do agree that it was awkward for him to have said it in front of Arlene Francis's husband the week before.
Lois Simmons
Lois, You are a true aficionado of early American Football!
👍
The Giants had just beaten the Washington Redskins that day, 24-10 in Washington to complete the season with a 10-2 record, the best in the NFL. Charlie had thrown for 207 yards and two scores. But the Giants were defeated by the Colts in Baltimore, 16-31, for the NFL championship two weeks later.
Since I'm on my "hobby horse" of mystery guests using phony foreign accents to give their answers, I wish that Arlene Dahl had tried a pseudo-Scandinavian one when giving answers in this episode. As she is a Norwegian heritage, I think it might have been more fun for those panelists who always want to know, "May I take it that you are not from (fill in the blank of some country's or region's name)?
519DJW -- I note that when Edgar Bergen (né Edgar Berggren) was a Swedish-American and he not only put on a Swedish accent when he appeared as a mystery guest with his daughter Candice Bergen, he spoke Swedish and answered "Ja" and "Nej" and, I think, when someone asked if he were German, he said something like, "Nej, jag är svensk!" My point being, if Arlene Dahl had put on a Norwegian accent, the panel might not have known it was Norwegian.
Jim Elliott -- His birth name was Edgar John Berggren, one of those many Swedish names formed from two nouns (like Nordström or Lindquist). Berggren pronounced the Swedish way is something like "berry-grenn" and Americans would tend to say "burg-grinn". I think he changed it to Bergen just to make it a little bit easier for Americans to pronounce without that second "r" in it.
+ToddSF 94109 I think Lawrence Welk was once the mystery guest, but can't remember how he disguised his voice. Welk was born in a German-speaking community in North Dakota, and he never completely lost his accent. (Such communities were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries--especially the plains states. They were so isolated that the language of the first generation remained that of their children.) I don't know if that was Edgar Bergen's case with Swedish, but I find it an interesting bit of trivia. :)
Son of the north, no. Nordström means "north stream", actually. As I said, there are a ton of Swedish names combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun. Lindquist, for example, means "linden twig," Berggren means "mountain branch" (as in the branch of a tree), Björklund means "birch grove". I had a cousin whose last name was Sundvall, which means "sound bank" as in the body of water like Long Island Sound or Puget Sound, and bank as in a riverbank. Some of the seem to go together and some seem to be more random such as Hammarlund which would mean "hammer grove" or Brännholm which means "burn islet" where burn means to light on fire. Swedish patronymic surnames all end in -son (meaning "son") and typically have a double "s" as in Svensson, Bengtsson, Olsson, Petersson, Jannson, where that first "s" is possessive or genitive -- meaning Sven's son, Bengt's son, Jan's son, etc. (The Danish and Norwegian patronymics use -sen and no genitive s, such as Olsen, Petersen, Jansen, etc.) I note that Norwegians and Danes have those names combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun, too.
+Jim Elliott Caligula
Why does Dorothy usually come into view looking like someone shoved her from behind?
Loved Art Carney. Never rwaluzed the breadth of his talent. These shows really give you a glimpse into these stars talents.
Dorothy is so bossy! lol
Definatly an "A" type personality!
Dahl perhaps not the greatest of actresses, but stunning in beauty on film. Her personal life and career were rather rocky, but she did still live to 96.
the show was done on sunday night…i think the panel, especially dorothy, drank before the taping.
This was a very unusual episode in that all 3 guests were women. In virtually all episodes, the WML producers cast guests of each gender. I can only recall one previous episode in which all the guests were of one sex; in that instance they were all men. And of course the panel always consists of two men and two women.
The GREAT Chuckin Charley Conerly, who led the New York Giants to the NFL Championship in 1956, is the GREATEST QB not to be in to be in the Hall of Fame and it is a shame since he was better than most that are in the H of F
Niven has a most prodigious toupee.
But, not so much John Daly.
Is Arlene Frances still alive?
Was Dorothy getting flustered because of David Nevin? I think she was
Dorothy always had a problem with her blunders. Someone else always
"had her confused," etc.
With further thought... considering her profession and the fact she took it so seriously...probably made it hard for her to miss a fact or say something incorrectly, even in a GAME, hard to take. She knew she was being seen nationwide. I suddenly understand!
It's December. Why are they so tan?
@Shirley Rombaugh
They're filthy rich and likely had just vacationed in the Florida Keys or the Caribbean or .. well, the list of places I'll never see goes on and on.
TV makeup. You're welcome.
Dorothy was rmotionally immature. Her laugh was that of a silly little girl & we see how childish she was in this episode. Wonder what Daly said to Ms Dahl about her - whatever Ms Dahl agreed. And Dorothy blaming David Niven!
She had a gorgeous son, Lorenzo!!
It appears that most of the women in the fifties wore their hair short, with a few exceptions for a few glamour girls. I guess it wasn't until the sixties that women started wearing their hair long. How did we do without our hair?
Arlene look like she didn't like it when the men said good things about other women on the panel.
There he goes flipping over those STUUPID cards again when the person ALREADY had a significant amount of money (I hadn't seen him do that in a while, I thought he got over THAT)!
I wish you'd get over that. He's just being generous and not hurting anyone or anything.
Dorothy was smart, but a drip! Homely!
Nice. Sheesh.
Somehow Cerf’s compliments are always self serving
A woman who has never played actual football is writing about it? Wrong answer. Go get tackled or tackle someone then come back and write, when your wind returns, that is.
John talks too much.
You type too much.
Arlene dressed up to much for this show. Guess wanted to show off her cloths and jewelry. 🤦