@@thejupiter2574 She was my favorite Catwoman as she seemed the most sexy and I love her voice. I stumbled on this clip by chance and this game is pretty cool. She's very pretty here.
Eartha Kitts daughter Kitt, was born November of that year, 1961, this episode was from July so Eartha was around 5 months pregnant during the filming of this episode! :) They mention it at 21:16 , when one of the men on the panel said, "You have some personal plans don't you?" This was referring to how she was expecting, but at that time the word "Pregnant" wasn't allowed to be said on television.
It is a bit rude to ask, "are you beautiful?" since it implies that you may not be. Also, it attempts to make the person into a catch 22 situation, since to say yes, means they are up themselves or if they say no, means they consider themselves ugly.
she could be the homeliest person "alive" and John yes would say yet (he ALWAYS says yes). That's why I'm glad I'M not a moderator. I can't say no cause I don't wanna be rude, but I'm a Christian, so I can't say yes if they're not either
I compiled a record of how many times each of the panel members guessed the line or the mystery guest, over all the years I could watch until Dorothy died. It turned out very close. Bennett Cerf had 323, Arlene Francis had 312, and Dorothy 299. Yes, Bennett does seem clueless at times, but he usually gets the mystery guest. I suspect that Dorothy missed more shows for one reason than another, which left her behind in this summation. Arlene continued on with the syndicate version, and was the lone star of the panel. The basic point is that the three of them were very smart, as, of course, was John Daley. I wish they could have a show like that now.
I had to smile when Dorothy mentioned Bennett's "Out on a Limerick" because my paperback copy of that book was on my bedside table, within arm's reach as I watched this video. The cover blurb calls it "more than 300 of the world's best printable limericks, assembled, revised, dry-cleaned, and annotated by Bennett Cerf."
@ 15:38 The incomparable Ms. Eartha Kitt singer of Santa Baby :) loved that lady, singer and actress Ms. kitt had one daughter named Kitt. Kitt McDonald Shapiro her daughter took care of Ms. Kitt in her final month of battling Colon Cancer in 2008 Ms. Kitt was always involved in some form of current entertainment in each decade from stage musicals and all her multi language records on up to one or two Disco songs and into the 80's pop as well and then she became enormously popular as a voice over actress for kids shows. so many kids have now grown up with her voice never knowing of her long singing/acting career previously. Kids know her best from the Disney movie Holes and a cartoon characters Yzma and as Queen Vexus and my fave when I was a kid, the sexy feline villain Catwoman, meowww.
YES that great image of hers started when she was a sexy catlike dancer in a dance troupe where she first started to sing when on tour in France like 1952 The stage had like three chase lounges and she would sing and purrrr French while slipping and sliding on n off of each couch. Think she also purrred in the musical play and movie Fresh new Faces of 1953? with Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostly, little Robert Clary and others that launched their careers My Christmas is never complete until I hear Kitt's Santa Baby meowww :)
+The Dark Angel As to the musical play: She did "purr" in Leonard Sillman's NEW FACES OF 1952, in such musical numbers as "Love Is A Simple Thing," "Bal, Petit Bal," and "Monotonous." Among the others besides Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Paul Lynde, and Alice Ghostley whose careers were launched by that edition of Sillman's annual show were June Carroll, Virginia de Luce, Ronny Graham, Rosemary O'Reilly, Joseph Lautner, and a young singer named Carol Lawrence (who would eventually star in the original Broadway productions of WEST SIDE STORY and SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING, among other shows).
I'll take Julie Newmar's catwoman any day. Pure sweetness, sexy..a touch of naughtiness..... In a playful bundle of wonderment. Eartha Kitt did a good job, but in my opinion only, Julie was and always will be the best.
IT was only 1961. Unless one lived back then, I was just a kid, one might not be able to know what it was to be an entertainer of color in America. There are so many stories of performers not being able to stay or hang around in a hotel where they had just performed. OR MAYBE she did not trust the backstage security or she was on her way out and didn't need to go back to a dressing room?
She was pregnant at a time that you couldn't say "pregnant" on TV. Watch how she happens to hold the purse between her and the camera. Kudos to WML for allowing her to appear while "in a delicate condition"
I would have thought that a female bus driver in those years would be very unusual, especially in a big city. Thinking about it, though, if she started 19 years before 1961, that would have been 1942, during WWII when so many men were going off to war that women were filling positions that had traditionally been filled by men. She may have been one of the few women who stuck with that kind of work for so long after the war.
1201NColombo That question is as irrelevant to this video as it is insensitive. I think she was a little bit starstruck and nervous about being on television, and she may have had a little trouble hearing some of the questions as well.
The thing I love about What's My Line is how many of the guests had unusual jobs for their ages or gender. It was a great way of breaking stereotypes and showing that women are perfectly capable of doing stereotypically "male" jobs (e.g. bus driver, anything in the sciences, hard labour, etc) and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a man doing a stereotypically "female" job (e.g. fashion, menial labor, etc)
I've been waiting for someone to make a comment like this! I've often had that same thought. It would have been great for some kid in those days to see a WML guest doing a job atypical for their gender and to know "I could do that too...".
John Daly uses the term "New York City Transit Company". It was actually the "New York City Transit Authority". Mrs. Tvedt's bus route, the Q3A, originally was a Bee Line Bus route which began service in 1923. Bee Line routes were taken over by the North Shore Bus Company in 1939. If she had always driven that route, they would have been her original employer, a private company. North Shore went bankrupt in 1947 and that's when NYC took over the bus route, first as the NYC Board of Transportation and then renamed the NYC Transit Authority (or the TA) in 1953. The Q3A was renumbered on 12/11/1988 as the Q83 and its route adjusted somewhat. The rarity of women bus drivers (and truck drivers) was not primarily a matter of safety (although some employers might have held that prejudice against women drivers). It was a matter of strength. Until power steering became commonplace, it would be difficult for anyone lacking upper body strength (woman or man) to steer such large vehicles. To this day, buses have large steering wheels to make it easier to steer in the event the power steering fails. There are exceptions, of course, but generally speaking it is in upper body strength where women are at the greatest disadvantage compared to men. Certain rituals have developed over the years to emphasize this fact and for men to impress women of their worthiness, such as a boy carrying a girl's books to and from school or a husband carrying his new bride over the threshold.
Followed later by "do you have a big mouth?" to Eartha Kitt! I kind of knew he was referencing Martha Rae, but still. He's like an adorable train wreck!
I dunno, I feel like a pro bus driver must have way more accidents than an ordinary driver just by law of averages, and any answer 19 or under would have been considered well done
It's funny. I never thought of Eartha Kitt as demure and quiet, but that's how she came across on this show. I've always thought of her more as vivacious, exciting, and outgoing. It doesn't help that my first exposure to her was as Catwoman on Batman.
Bennett Cerf can be such a pompous dude... the lady who drove a bus was simply very nervous... Asking Ms Kitt does she have a big mouth! I like him but he can be such a fool in his comments... eartha Kitt is a goddess! Such talent, beauty and class!
Martha Ray was a famous singer. Her nickname was "The Big Mouth." Yes, BC's attitude doesn't work today, but he was considered funny and charming in his day
And the audience SILENCE when asked of she was beautiful! A product of its time. Should be preserved, if only so we can be reminded of how far we've come. 🙂 I certainly think she was beautiful!
They found a theme that played on everyone's natural curiosity, gave the show a simple structure (refined over the years), emphasized intelligence over spectacle, and hired brilliant and charming people for the panel and moderator. Sounds easy in theory, but apart from I've Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth, also from Goodson-Todman, and a very few others, it's a hard act to follow.
It’s extremely difficult to create a game show panel with chemistry. It usually involves trial and error. It took WML about a year to find the right combination.
I know they had terrible sound problems in their makeshift studios, so most people most of the time had to ask for things to be repeated. Occasionally, Bennett would even comment on the noises from other parts of the building or echos that were interfering with the proceedings. However, this woman is in the running for the least aware of her own job or the English language of any contestant I've seen. And over my lifetime I've seen all of these in real time and watching them now on here. She just doesn't seem to be aware of the nature of her job in the broader city and what judicial and other terms mean that would not relate to public transit. They were very nice to her. I do also know that some people are scared silly when they appear.
I always think Bennett is so uncouth. Asking a woman directly if she's beautiful is so rude, and John Daly did NOT come to the defense of Peggy Cass or Carol Burnett when they were asked. It's distasteful to ask if a woman if she's beautiful. How rude. And his comment asking if she has a big mouth, a pliable mouth. WTF? I just can't believe that was all "ok" even back then. How dreadful annoying. The sexism is so rife with him. Most know when to tone it done but Bennet never does.
Isn't Bennet the oldest member of the panel? Maybe that accounts, at least in part, for his rather entrenched social and economic segregationist views. He seemed to be a pretty humanitarian person and might have undergone some attitude examination through the years. It was the fifties and sixties when this program aired.
Funny how I'm not reading your complaints when Arlene comments, a lot, on the handsomeness and physiques of male contestants. She did it even when her husband was on the panel then jokingly apologized to him. These were called compliments and harmless flirting. It was polite.
I think John Daly was wrong about the bus driver. Her service would most definitely be of "physical benefit", considering that the customer gets to RIDE the bus instead of having to WALK to wherever they were going. I never could understand his opinions sometimes.
Eartha did a mystery guest spot on this show in 1954 and used the same disguised voice.Dorothy guessed it was her that time.In this episode I'm surprised Dorothy didn't recognize her disguised voice from the last time she was on.
***** Did they pre-record these so far in advance because they were specifically anticipating Arlene's trip, or did they all want to take a summer vacation? In her memoir, Arlene mentions that during the filming of "One, Two, Three," she was to be in Munich for 10 weeks, but I don't think she mentioned that any programs during that period were prerecorded ahead of time.
It is hard to know, and I would not want to cast aspersions, but given how few celebs fooled the panel even once, and that here she was asked if she was blonde, they were unconsciously operating on the assumption that any woman guest would be white
She was the mystery guest on May 30, 1954, and Dorothy guessed her identity. She was the mystery guest again on June 12, 1959 and fooled the panel that time.
I enjoyed this show. J would've been a fan of the show and watched it religiously everyday without fail. Does anyone know if it comes on on any cable station today?
I find it interesting that several times, lady guests and contestants bring their purses on stage. Would there be no place backstage to keep them safely ?
+Rowan Smith I think that back in the day 50's and 60's the Woman's purse and gloves if she accessorized were part of a fashion statement maybe not on this episode per se but back then they coordinated everything and their purse was part of their appearance esp. celebrities I remember my mom always wearing gloves and matching purse in the hot weather of CA just a fashion statement and many wore hats, hats, hats, hats, looked soooo uncomfortable
We carried our purses then as part of our ensemble. I've seen Arlene carry a purse in the past but can't remember whether Dorothy did. I had purses made to match my pinafores when growing up, made from the same lace edgings as the pinafores. We wore white gloves too, as many of the ladies did on this show.
Lucinda Sommer I both admired and felt sorry for the ladies back in the day. They all looked beautiful with their hats and gloves all accessorized but I thought how uncomfortable and hot, just hot and inconvenient it must have been for the average woman to have to wear all that, the gloves and hats for the sake of appearances.
Were you in the studio audience? Kitty Carlisle always seemed so classy and so nice. I liked her in "A Night at the Opera" with the Marx Brothers, too.
This poor bus driver doesn't know who she worked for or what "penal" or "judicial" meant in the context of her job. I don't expect her to have known the intricacies of the organization or how the bills get paid - or how _she_ gets paid; after all she was hired to be a bus driver, not an accountant. But good lord, if you don't know you're working for a non-profit-making organization this does not speak well of her overall awareness. Let's just hope she knew her route.
These contestants who are saying YES when they should say NO and vice versa; what’s with them? Dorothy got that Sheep Shearer! You are missing Eartha! They couldn’t identify her!
It's alright, city buses are quite often slow anyway. But I think she just had a case of stage fright. She had been driving a bus for many years with no accidents. That's pretty darn good for a city like New York.
In a certain Honeymooners episode, Ralph Kramden is also tongue tied when he is a contestant on a game show. But on a different episode, he is given an award for being a safe bus driver (up and down Madison Avenue in the days when that thoroughfare in Manhattan had two way traffic).
I love these old shows... However...l do wish Dorothy would wear an ordinary blind fold like everyone else.. She invariably has trouble getting hers tied and untied.....and it obviously messes up her hair style and on occasion her false eyelashes..!!
The first contestant was a dimwit! She incorrectly answered the simplest questions about her occupation and gave the impression that she didn't even know what she did for a living.
Considering that some young women do that all the time! she did well. Didnt look all the time. She was nervous. Obviously hadn't been on TV either before.
Развлечения![What's My Line? - Nancy Walker; Johnny Carson [panel] (Jul 30, 1961)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TJ1MvPgNsUo/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Nancy Walker; Johnny Carson [panel] (Jul 30, 1961)](/img/tr.png)
![What's My Line? - Maria Fletcher; Alan King [panel] (Sep 10, 1961)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nk2z1a9uAWw/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Eartha Kitt; Martin Gabel [panel] (Jul 12, 1959)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TQNe6nM41PI/mqdefault.jpg)
![What's My Line? - Louella Parsons; Danny Kaye [panel] (Nov 5, 1961)](/img/1.gif)
Eartha Kitt was so classy - I love how she carried herself, how she spoke with elegance.
A charming, beautiful, classy lady with a distinctive "earthy" voice and demeanor!
She has a very distinctive voice. I liked her as Cat Woman as a child.
And how she spoke her mind.
17:19 “Disqualify myself on ignorance.” That’s hilarious! 😂
No one has ever had a voice like Eartha’s.
or a better Catwoman.
@stumack9755
which is subjective. (🫠)
If Not (completely) incorrect. 😁🫠🫠🫠😎😉
@@stumack9755 I think each person who played Catwoman brought something unique to the role, and it's hard to judge one as "better" than the others.
Eartha Kitt - Absolutely Stunning!
+GodsFavoriteBassPlyr Kitt was meowwwwww Loved her as The Catwoman on Batman :)
@@thejupiter2574 She was my favorite Catwoman as she seemed the most sexy and I love her voice. I stumbled on this clip by chance and this game is pretty cool. She's very pretty here.
Eartha Kitts daughter Kitt, was born November of that year, 1961, this episode was from July so Eartha was around 5 months pregnant during the filming of this episode! :) They mention it at 21:16 , when one of the men on the panel said, "You have some personal plans don't you?" This was referring to how she was expecting, but at that time the word "Pregnant" wasn't allowed to be said on television.
You must be mistaken, her daughters name wasn't Rachel it was Kitt Shapiro!
She named her daughter Kitt Kitt? How embarrassing.
@@letolethe3344 No she named her daughter Kitt and her daughter had her father's last name McDonald before she married. Now she is Kitt Shapiro.
Bennett: "Are you beautiful?"
Daly: "Yeah!"
Aww!
He always says yes to such questions, it would be rude to say otherwise.
Well, shouldn't it be just as rude to ask the question??
It is a bit rude to ask, "are you beautiful?" since it implies that you may not be. Also, it attempts to make the person into a catch 22 situation, since to say yes, means they are up themselves or if they say no, means they consider themselves ugly.
Sue 99 well she certainly was beautiful
she could be the homeliest person "alive" and John yes would say yet (he ALWAYS says yes). That's why I'm glad I'M not a moderator. I can't say no cause I don't wanna be rude, but I'm a Christian, so I can't say yes if they're not either
Eartha is beautiful.....and that voice! She make a killing in voice over work today
Eartha, my favorite Catwoman
Nobody purred like Eartha
Dorothy has long been the smartest one on the panel, or any panel.
I agree. And Bennett always seemed slightly clueless and befuddled.
?
I compiled a record of how many times each of the panel members guessed the line or the mystery guest, over all the years I could watch until Dorothy died. It turned out very close. Bennett Cerf had 323, Arlene Francis had 312, and Dorothy 299. Yes, Bennett does seem clueless at times, but he usually gets the mystery guest. I suspect that Dorothy missed more shows for one reason than another, which left her behind in this summation. Arlene continued on with the syndicate version, and was the lone star of the panel. The basic point is that the three of them were very smart, as, of course, was John Daley. I wish they could have a show like that now.
@@scottpardee6303 Our current society could never have such a show, we are sliding away at a rapid pace
I believe the first lady that drove a city bus was really nervous. She was so indecisive about the simplest questions.
I thought so, too. It was like she was not even hearing the questions....
She may know her bus route, but she was sure lost on that stage.
She looked mortified 😳
Purrfect!
Dorothy Kilgallen and Arlene Francis were really smart. ❤
I had to smile when Dorothy mentioned Bennett's "Out on a Limerick" because my paperback copy of that book was on my bedside table, within arm's reach as I watched this video. The cover blurb calls it "more than 300 of the world's best printable limericks, assembled, revised, dry-cleaned, and annotated by Bennett Cerf."
Eartha Kitt signs he name the fastest I’ve ever seen of anyone.
@ 15:38 The incomparable Ms. Eartha Kitt singer of Santa Baby :) loved that lady, singer and actress
Ms. kitt had one daughter named Kitt. Kitt McDonald Shapiro her daughter took care of Ms. Kitt in her final month of battling Colon Cancer in 2008 Ms. Kitt was always involved in some form of current entertainment in each decade from stage musicals and all her multi language records on up to one or two Disco songs and into the 80's pop as well and then she became enormously popular as a voice over actress for kids shows. so many kids have now grown up with her voice never knowing of her long singing/acting career previously. Kids know her best from the Disney movie Holes and a cartoon characters Yzma and as Queen Vexus and my fave when I was a kid, the sexy feline villain Catwoman, meowww.
Ms. Kitt also had another daughter named DeeDee Belson as well.
she is extremely GORGEOUS !!!!!!
Who, Dorothy Kilgallen? I totally agree with you.
@ both are beautiful
As time goes on I’m getting to know and like Joey Bishop.
Catwoman herself! Her voice is unmistakable, but she fooled them with that squeak. :-)
YES that great image of hers started when she was a sexy catlike dancer in a dance troupe where she first started to sing when on tour in France like 1952 The stage had like three chase lounges and she would sing and purrrr French while slipping and sliding on n off of each couch. Think she also purrred in the musical play and movie Fresh new Faces of 1953? with Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostly, little Robert Clary and others that launched their careers
My Christmas is never complete until I hear Kitt's Santa Baby meowww :)
+The Dark Angel As to the musical play: She did "purr" in Leonard Sillman's NEW FACES OF 1952, in such musical numbers as "Love Is A Simple Thing," "Bal, Petit Bal," and "Monotonous." Among the others besides Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Paul Lynde, and Alice Ghostley whose careers were launched by that edition of Sillman's annual show were June Carroll, Virginia de Luce, Ronny Graham, Rosemary O'Reilly, Joseph Lautner, and a young singer named Carol Lawrence (who would eventually star in the original Broadway productions of WEST SIDE STORY and SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING, among other shows).
I'll take Julie Newmar's catwoman any day. Pure sweetness, sexy..a touch of naughtiness..... In a playful bundle of wonderment. Eartha Kitt did a good job, but in my opinion only, Julie was and always will be the best.
Did anyone notice her cat's left eye at19m57s? Not any cat... HER left eye .
sorry, that should be 19m 55s
Why do I love that Eartha had her purse with her?
I was just thinking the same thing I don't remember anyone else having one. 👜
IT was only 1961. Unless one lived back then, I was just a kid, one might not be able to know what it was to be an entertainer of color in America. There are so many stories of performers not being able to stay or hang around in a hotel where they had just performed. OR MAYBE she did not trust the backstage security or she was on her way out and didn't need to go back to a dressing room?
She was pregnant at a time that you couldn't say "pregnant" on TV. Watch how she happens to hold the purse between her and the camera. Kudos to WML for allowing her to appear while "in a delicate condition"
@@enriquesanchez2001 Boy, you went off on a useless tangent and you didn't even have the answer.
@@snugglyshadow2049 Thank you!
15:39 Fastest signature ever!
I thought the Same thing
RIP Eartha Kitt. Condolences to the family :-(
Eartha kitt is gorgeous love her
Dorothy was an amazing player... she could pull a game, seemingly lost, out of a hat! "Are you a sheep shearer?"
Earrrrrrrtha Kit
+Purple Capricorn meowwwwww our Catwoman :)
Eartha Kitt 15:37
Thank you!
I would have thought that a female bus driver in those years would be very unusual, especially in a big city. Thinking about it, though, if she started 19 years before 1961, that would have been 1942, during WWII when so many men were going off to war that women were filling positions that had traditionally been filled by men. She may have been one of the few women who stuck with that kind of work for so long after the war.
1201NColombo That question is as irrelevant to this video as it is insensitive. I think she was a little bit starstruck and nervous about being on television, and she may have had a little trouble hearing some of the questions as well.
1201NColombo Black in the 50's I'd say terrified.
The thing I love about What's My Line is how many of the guests had unusual jobs for their ages or gender. It was a great way of breaking stereotypes and showing that women are perfectly capable of doing stereotypically "male" jobs (e.g. bus driver, anything in the sciences, hard labour, etc) and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a man doing a stereotypically "female" job (e.g. fashion, menial labor, etc)
I've been waiting for someone to make a comment like this! I've often had that same thought. It would have been great for some kid in those days to see a WML guest doing a job atypical for their gender and to know "I could do that too...".
Earths Kitt. Soooooooooo fucking GORGEOUS
I was born in the eighties... but this is quite interesting. I am indeed interested.
John Daly uses the term "New York City Transit Company". It was actually the "New York City Transit Authority".
Mrs. Tvedt's bus route, the Q3A, originally was a Bee Line Bus route which began service in 1923. Bee Line routes were taken over by the North Shore Bus Company in 1939. If she had always driven that route, they would have been her original employer, a private company. North Shore went bankrupt in 1947 and that's when NYC took over the bus route, first as the NYC Board of Transportation and then renamed the NYC Transit Authority (or the TA) in 1953. The Q3A was renumbered on 12/11/1988 as the Q83 and its route adjusted somewhat.
The rarity of women bus drivers (and truck drivers) was not primarily a matter of safety (although some employers might have held that prejudice against women drivers). It was a matter of strength. Until power steering became commonplace, it would be difficult for anyone lacking upper body strength (woman or man) to steer such large vehicles. To this day, buses have large steering wheels to make it easier to steer in the event the power steering fails.
There are exceptions, of course, but generally speaking it is in upper body strength where women are at the greatest disadvantage compared to men. Certain rituals have developed over the years to emphasize this fact and for men to impress women of their worthiness, such as a boy carrying a girl's books to and from school or a husband carrying his new bride over the threshold.
Maybe "company" was an instinctive response (instead of "authority"): think of the "City Coach Co.", say.
Eartha Kitt was a brilliant singer and entertainer.
Oh, Bennett - "How many accidents have you had?" Unless he knew the answer, that was rather crass.
Followed later by "do you have a big mouth?" to Eartha Kitt! I kind of knew he was referencing Martha Rae, but still. He's like an adorable train wreck!
Agreed.
His sarcastic tone and look seem to me that he was expecting a female to be a poor driver. I was very happy that she had None !
I dunno, I feel like a pro bus driver must have way more accidents than an ordinary driver just by law of averages, and any answer 19 or under would have been considered well done
@@michaeldanello3966 Exactly. He would not have even though to have asked a man that question.
Singer, dancer, actor, recording artist. What a dynamo.
She did it all!!!❤❤❤❤
Ooooohhh. When she made the claws, she actually looked great!
I met Eartha Kitt in the 70’s. Classy lady!
Orson Wells put it best, Ms Kitt the most exciting woman in the world. I do not think anyone would disagree. Just read about her and you will agree!
She's so stunning and gorgeous!!!!!! Oh to travel back in time when people were decent, proper, respectful.......
Thandie Newton could play Eartha Kitt life story..
Roger Winters I totally agree😊
Spot on!
She lacks the charisma and vibrancy. I also don't think she can sing.
@@thebeatnumber Well I think she could pull it off, Angela Bassett did not sing and she pull it off, she could do it if they don't wait to long.
I think Rosie Perez is a dead ringer for Eartha Kitt and would be my number one choice in a possible biopic!
I loved her as catwoman and in movies and tv and the song santa baby.
Kitt!!!!!!
I wish I could've met her. She was so lovely.
It's funny. I never thought of Eartha Kitt as demure and quiet, but that's how she came across on this show. I've always thought of her more as vivacious, exciting, and outgoing. It doesn't help that my first exposure to her was as Catwoman on Batman.
Bennett Cerf can be such a pompous dude... the lady who drove a bus was simply very nervous... Asking Ms Kitt does she have a big mouth! I like him but he can be such a fool in his comments... eartha Kitt is a goddess! Such talent, beauty and class!
I agree about Bennett. He's a bit crass. He's been rude about weight before too.
Martha Ray was a famous singer. Her nickname was "The Big Mouth."
Yes, BC's attitude doesn't work today, but he was considered funny and charming in his day
What a sign of the times! They didn’t even consider that it might be a black woman.
And the audience SILENCE when asked of she was beautiful!
A product of its time. Should be preserved, if only so we can be reminded of how far we've come. 🙂 I certainly think she was beautiful!
My dad was so in love with Eartha.
Although my aunt was white, Eartha Kitt looks so much like my aunt Christine. ❤
Mark Richardson, It's not silly. This show is black and white, and so was my aunt and Eartha. 👍😉
Mark Richardson 😊ok☺
@@hiyapal7719 Yes and Eartha Kitt is mixed. she is black and white, so of course she will have white features too
@@AikoSilver Makes sense, because my aunt was mixed too. Her great grandma was full blooded Cherokee.
Game shows are usually so dinky. How is it that this game show is so addictive? 😮
They found a theme that played on everyone's natural curiosity, gave the show a simple structure (refined over the years), emphasized intelligence over spectacle, and hired brilliant and charming people for the panel and moderator. Sounds easy in theory, but apart from I've Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth, also from Goodson-Todman, and a very few others, it's a hard act to follow.
@@neilmidkiff 😊👍
@@neilmidkiff Well stated comment. I particularly agree with "emphasized intelligence over spectacle" as a major key to its success.
It’s extremely difficult to create a game show panel with chemistry. It usually involves trial and error. It took WML about a year to find the right combination.
I know they had terrible sound problems in their makeshift studios, so most people most of the time had to ask for things to be repeated. Occasionally, Bennett would even comment on the noises from other parts of the building or echos that were interfering with the proceedings. However, this woman is in the running for the least aware of her own job or the English language of any contestant I've seen. And over my lifetime I've seen all of these in real time and watching them now on here. She just doesn't seem to be aware of the nature of her job in the broader city and what judicial and other terms mean that would not relate to public transit. They were very nice to her. I do also know that some people are scared silly when they appear.
She seemed to be drawn to the panel like she was in awe. Didn’t seem bright
I always think Bennett is so uncouth. Asking a woman directly if she's beautiful is so rude, and John Daly did NOT come to the defense of Peggy Cass or Carol Burnett when they were asked. It's distasteful to ask if a woman if she's beautiful. How rude. And his comment asking if she has a big mouth, a pliable mouth. WTF? I just can't believe that was all "ok" even back then. How dreadful annoying. The sexism is so rife with him. Most know when to tone it done but Bennet never does.
Isn't Bennet th FCC
Isn't Bennet the oldest member of FCC jh since
Isn't Bennet the oldest member of the panel? Maybe that accounts, at least in part, for his rather entrenched social and economic segregationist views. He seemed to be a pretty humanitarian person and might have undergone some attitude examination through the years. It was the fifties and sixties when this program aired.
Funny how I'm not reading your complaints when Arlene comments, a lot, on the handsomeness and physiques of male contestants. She did it even when her husband was on the panel then jokingly apologized to him. These were called compliments and harmless flirting. It was polite.
“I think it’s a bird” lol
I think John Daly was wrong about the bus driver. Her service would most definitely be of "physical benefit", considering that the customer gets to RIDE the bus instead of having to WALK to wherever they were going. I never could understand his opinions sometimes.
I think his comments were clues . Lol He talked too much. 😆
The panel was having fun that night
I love Erthas face. She’s a goddess, plus that sultry voice.. woo🐺
All I can say is DIVA!!!
Eartha did a mystery guest spot on this show in 1954 and used the same disguised voice.Dorothy guessed it was her that time.In this episode I'm surprised Dorothy didn't recognize her disguised voice from the last time she was on.
That Dorothy! She's spot on!
I only knew of her as (I believe) Batman's first Catwoman. And that was only one episode in her life.
Don't think she was the "first" Catwoman...believe that title belongs to Lee Meriwether.
No, it was Julie Newmar.
Do we think Bennet thought Eartha Kitt was Marilyn or Carol Channing?
Bennett Cerf could be quite rude in his questioning of female guests.
He tried so much to be articulate about it asshole 😂🤣🤷🏿♂️☝🏿 .....
Agree.
Not agree.
He had his own ideas of what was appropriate for women to do.
Eartha Kitten
so wishing mystery guest had been asked about TV shows BUT OF COURSE it was recorded 4-5 years before Cat-Woman's appearance on Batman
Eartha Kitt was the bomb
"I think it's a bird." --- HIRALIOUS!
16:26 Eartha is so cute!😊🥰
She was pregnant
She was bringing her speaking voice (quite easily) up to a coloratura high D throughout this segment.
Recorded on May 14, 1961.
That explains how Arlene was on the panel. It was confusing me, she's in Europe summer of 1961!
Dixie Alexander I'll be sure to point out the taping dates of the pre-recorded episodes, everytime they come up from here on out.
*****
Did they pre-record these so far in advance because they were specifically anticipating Arlene's trip, or did they all want to take a summer vacation? In her memoir, Arlene mentions that during the filming of "One, Two, Three," she was to be in Munich for 10 weeks, but I don't think she mentioned that any programs during that period were prerecorded ahead of time.
SaveThe TPC I guess you could say a little bit of both.
*****
I was glad to see that John Daly explained about all the pre-recorded summer episodes in the first live episode after the vacation.
Eartha Kitt was pregnant with Kitt at this time.
It was hot in NY in July 1961.
She would later star as Catwoman in the Batman series
Wow! She played madam zeroni on the Disney movie “Holes” didn’t know that was her
Bennett Cerf's bad puns and degrading comments mostly elicit a response of "fu@# off" than laughter from me.
My sentiments exactly!
YES!
I thought this was the second time she was a mystery guest and fooled them before.
It is hard to know, and I would not want to cast aspersions, but given how few celebs fooled the panel even once, and that here she was asked if she was blonde, they were unconsciously operating on the assumption that any woman guest would be white
She was the mystery guest on May 30, 1954, and Dorothy guessed her identity. She was the mystery guest again on June 12, 1959 and fooled the panel that time.
Eartha was 8 months pregnant at the airing of the show.
Eartha Kitt , had the right name to be Catwoman (Kitt, hope you get it.)
Yep, we got it, both times.
She was Preggo with daughter KITT💋💋💋💋💋
I enjoyed this show. J would've been a fan of the show and watched it religiously everyday without fail. Does anyone know if it comes on on any cable station today?
Not sure.. but the Game Show Network might still air them. I know they have in the past.
7:24 I love how Dorothy pronounces the h in "wheels".
lol, what kind of vehicle DOESN'T have wheels?
Rhianna would be great playing eartha kitt in a movie was it orson Welles who called kitt the most exciting woman in the world
I was taught to do that by my sixth grade teacher. I don't always succeed in pronouncing it, but I try, especially when I sing. :)
9:51 Bennett asking the bus driver how many accidents he's had in 19 years. Pardon my french, but WTF???
I find it interesting that several times, lady guests and contestants bring their purses on stage. Would there be no place backstage to keep them safely ?
+Rowan Smith I think that back in the day 50's and 60's the Woman's purse and gloves if she accessorized were part of a fashion statement maybe not on this episode per se but back then they coordinated everything and their purse was part of their appearance esp. celebrities I remember my mom always wearing gloves and matching purse in the hot weather of CA just a fashion statement and many wore hats, hats, hats, hats, looked soooo uncomfortable
We carried our purses then as part of our ensemble. I've seen Arlene carry a purse in the past but can't remember whether Dorothy did. I had purses made to match my pinafores when growing up, made from the same lace edgings as the pinafores. We wore white gloves too, as many of the ladies did on this show.
Lucinda Sommer I both admired and felt sorry for the ladies back in the day. They all looked beautiful with their hats and gloves all accessorized but I thought how uncomfortable and hot, just hot and inconvenient it must have been for the average woman to have to wear all that, the gloves and hats for the sake of appearances.
Were you in the studio audience? Kitty Carlisle always seemed so classy and so nice. I liked her in "A Night at the Opera" with the Marx Brothers, too.
It's an accessory. It's more for show than anything.
When I think of Catwoman, I think of Eartha Kitt.
July 61? I was almost 3 years old.
King's of battle creek
Related to Kellogg's?
Related to Kellogg's?
I'm not gonna lie I had such a crush on Eartha Catwoman when I was a kid..gee..I wonder why lol.
Dorothy's hair looks a mess tonight. She seems to be wearing a "fall" on top toward the front. It is not very becoming on her.
I like Dorothy, but her hair almost always looks messed up
I don't think she cares now.
@@RobertLofrano Well of course not, she's been dead for 55 years. It was just an observation.
The bus-driver lady didn't have a clue
Arlene Francis is also very smar6
Interesting that Patricia Janis Broder went on to have an entirely different career as an author and expert on American Indian and Western art.
This poor bus driver doesn't know who she worked for or what "penal" or "judicial" meant in the context of her job. I don't expect her to have known the intricacies of the organization or how the bills get paid - or how _she_ gets paid; after all she was hired to be a bus driver, not an accountant. But good lord, if you don't know you're working for a non-profit-making organization this does not speak well of her overall awareness. Let's just hope she knew her route.
Well, she had no accidents, so there's that.
She didn't have a single solitary clue about anything.
How many accidents have you had? Sometimes Bennett asked the most inappropriate questions.
No he didn't.
LOL couple of double entendre moments when Bennett asks if she has a big, pliable mouth and Daly says "that's a hard one"
These contestants who are saying YES when they should say NO and vice versa; what’s with them?
Dorothy got that Sheep Shearer!
You are missing Eartha! They couldn’t identify her!
She did not know what "penal" and "judicial" mean.
I wouldn't have wanted to be a passenger on her bus. She seems slow to comprehend.
It's alright, city buses are quite often slow anyway. But I think she just had a case of stage fright. She had been driving a bus for many years with no accidents. That's pretty darn good for a city like New York.
The first guest, the older lady that drove the city bus.
In a certain Honeymooners episode, Ralph Kramden is also tongue tied when he is a contestant on a game show. But on a different episode, he is given an award for being a safe bus driver (up and down Madison Avenue in the days when that thoroughfare in Manhattan had two way traffic).
How many accidents have you had ? Dead people have no matters SMH
I wonder how they found these people!
Some, I know, wrote to the show, or friends or relatives wrote to the show suggesting them.
I love these old shows...
However...l do wish Dorothy would wear an ordinary blind fold like everyone else..
She invariably has trouble getting hers tied and untied.....and it obviously messes up her hair style and on occasion her false eyelashes..!!
So many of the contestants have little knowledge of their job.
The first contestant was a dimwit! She incorrectly answered the simplest questions about her occupation and gave the impression that she didn't even know what she did for a living.
Utterly brain dead.
The bus driver lady wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed she needed to look at john to answer just about every question
And yet people ask why does Daily do some of the answering, this is the perfect example.
She might have been hard of hearing.
I think she was just very ill at ease and out of her comfort zone.
P.s. you will notice she became more vocal towards the end as she became more at ease.
Considering that some young women do that all the time! she did well. Didnt look all the time. She was nervous. Obviously hadn't been on TV either before.
lol. That’s why she’s a bus driver. Lol.