What's My Line? - Paul Ford; PANEL: Henry Morgan, Mary Lindsay (Mar 6, 1966)
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- MYSTERY GUEST: Paul Ford
PANEL: Arlene Francis, Henry Morgan, Mary Lindsay, Bennett Cerf
NOTE: Closing credits added from an older rerun pre-GSN-credit-crunching.
Many thanks to Steve M. Russo for providing this episode in much higher quality than the version I had previously. Folks interested in high quality, well packaged, well-edited DVDs of WML (and other game shows) can contact him directly for more information at RetroTVFestival@comcast.net.
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Bless 'What's My Line', a great refuge in the times I live in now (2022). Robert, UK.
What's My Line has helped me through my grief at the loss of my husband. It is always good for a laugh and lifts me out of my depression
Paul Ford was hilarious in Bilko. The interactions with Bilko were legendary.
He also played the mayor in Music Man.
Paul Ford was an excellent actor!
After her entrance, where she seemed nervous and out of her element, the mayor's wife actually played it out OK. The child columnist was adorable., as was the panel reaction to her exposure. Never saw Henry Morgan on panel before, but he was entertaining and played well.
How much did Mary Lindsay contribute to her husband's destruction of New York City?
Paul Ford, the wonderful Colonel Hall from The Phil Silvers, Sgt. Bilko series.
Wow, I miss Dorothy Kilgallen so much
It is scary to think one can be disposed of so easily if one goes against or disturbs the powerful forces of the dark side. Nothing was done about her mysterious death. So unfair.
I want to watch the series all over again instead of going on from here without her. She and my mother were close to the same age, and my mother used to copy her dress styles--and Arlene's hair styles.
That show just isn’t the same without Dorothy Kilgallen 😢
What’s really scary is that the ‘powers that be’ dispose of anybody that steps too far into the JFK mystery
Me too
Rock and roll is here to stay, Bennett. Let it go.
Thank heaven the production staff thought to put titles under the images of Suzy, Digby Wolfe, and Mary Lindsay -- for I bet no one had a clue about these people west of the Hudson.
With Christina Vogt being a pre-teen in 5th grade when she appeared on the show, that would mean that WML had been on the air for 5+ years when she was born. I wonder how many people appeared on the original WML who had not been born yet when the show started its run in February 1950?
Radford E. DuBois Jr. turned 39 the day before this episode aired. He met an untimely death 5 years and one month later, being survived by both of his parents, his wife Sara (a former beauty queen and teacher), his five children and two of his three siblings. If I have interpreted the abbreviation correctly, he received a Bronze Star for his service in Korea (Date of Action 3/25/52).
www.koreanwar.org/html/2011_2id_go_award_individual.html?key_2id=12039
According to his wife's obituary, Radford was also a teacher. The one thing I wasn't able to determine was the cause of his untimely death.
Lois Simmons 5 years after this would have put it in the middle of the Vietnam War.
@@Heres_Johnny. In 1971 the war was winding down and Radford would have been 44 years old. Since he commanded a Mississippi National Guard unit, it's possible that he and his unit were called up to duty. But I would have thought that an honorable cause of death in military service would have been mentioned somewhere.
Even so, I am not an unreasonable person. I found a web site that lists the casualties of the Vietnam War by state. His obituary lists Yazoo City, MS as his final resting place. And he identified himself as being from Mississippi on this episode. I downloaded the PDF for Mississippi casualties. He is not on the list.
www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-lists/state-level-alpha.html
@@loissimmons6558 I suspect being in the national guard doesn't qualify as US military service.
@@loissimmons6558thanks for the information, always curious about former contestants!
I normally don't really mind the Wolf whistles, but were they really necessary for the 2nd contestant?
She was a 5th grader (10-12 years old) for crying out loud!
They should be ashamed of themselves. She seemed like such a sweet little girl.
I couldn't believe that it was a little girl instead of a grown woman the men were whistling at. Even if this was the 60's, I find it to be very inappropriate. If she was 16-18 then it would've been alright.
Yes very inappropriate although the whistling was more of a bad joke than anything else.
I suspect that the people who were whistling were her own family and friends, who were probably doing it to make her feel good, and that she knew it.
SaveThe TPC If that's true, I can accept that.
Did this show ever really have pre-teens in the audience? I don't think there was a minimum age requirement for people in the audience.
2:15 Judging by Henry Morgan's facial expression, he wasn't having Bennett's nonsense, and I don't blame him. 😆
Paul Ford appeared in no fewer than 8 Broadway productions, winning a Tony for best actor in 1963. In movies my favorite line of his came from “the Music Man,” when as Mayor Shinn someone commented to him on the niceness of the day and he replied that it was if you wanted to go around in your drawers. “Three Bags Full: a comedy in two acts” landed on Broadway with a huge thud. It played for less than a month.
An absolutely perfect Mayor Shinn, hilarious while being dumb as a post. I still remember his announcement about the fireworks display on July 4, which, according to the Mayor, was called "The Last Days of Pompee-eye".
Only bettered by David Burns in the original Broadway production.
jmccracken1963 -- Anyone was better than Victor Garber in that godawful Disney remake for television. Everybody in it was horrendously bad -- I like Victor Garber a lot, normally. I can't imagine why they even bothered with that made-for-television exercise in mediocrity and boredom. They could have just aired the movie that Sunday night.
A Green Beret who sells green critters. As Arlene would put it, jolly good.
You can tell somebody from Kansas and somebody from outside of Kansas. I am from Kansas myself, and the little girl said she was from McPherson (pronounced Mc-Furson) and Daly corrected her incorrectly saying "Mc-fearson." I wish the little girl would have said "no, it's pronounced Mc-Furson." to be honest, the pronunciation of "Mc-Furson" Is all I knew growing up and wondered why everybody else pronounced it wrong all the time. Now I know it's us Kansans who pronounced it weird, but it's still Mc-Furson.
Mrs. Lindsay looks remarkably like Nancy Kulp, most famous as the banker's secretary in the Beverly Hillbillies.
First game: Arlene's summary is pretty funny.
From the Visual and Audible Information Available, the Kiddoe is a SweetHeart.. .🧸
Paul Ford was also Captain Block in the hilarious sitcom Car 54,Where Are You?
That was Paul Reed not Paul Ford.
Hey we got a West African Sideneck Turtle. Mr. Turtle.
Arlene passed to Henry who passed to mrs Lindsay who passed to Bennett who guessed that the MG was Paul Ford. :) 20:35
I think it's pretty rare that there would be 3 passes in a row like that. I vaguely recall another incident, in which everyone deliberately passed to the one panelist who seemed to know the answer (I think it was Bennett then too, but I wouldn't swear to it), but I don't remember the details.
Sad to report that play that PAUL FORD starred in only ran one month but HE got good notices, but the director and the rest of the cast did not!
Second game: WML had an affinity for employed kids. This one footnotes to Henry Makow in 1962 who also wrote an advise column, in his case to parents.
But in his case, if I'm remembering correctly, his line was guessed. Dorothy's brilliance is sorely missed on the WML panel. :(
As I recall, Tony Randall focused in on Henry Makow’s line, and Dorothy came up with a really funny question “Mr. Makow, do you give advise to the lovelorn? . . . it would be a ripping idea.”
soulierinvestments
plazebnik It's hard to read, but here's a contemporary newspaper article about Christina Vogt.
newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/hutchinson/hutchinson-news/1966/03-16/page-39
plazebnik
Thanks so much for that article! When I read your description of it, I thought you meant "current" by contemporary, but now I see you meant contemporary to the time of this episode. Very cool -- as would be a current article about her as well! It was indeed difficult to figure out how to read it, but I managed to zoom in on different parts of the article at a time to read them.
Btw, did anyone else here think that Christina looked a little bit like a female Ronny Howard or Billy Mumy? She did to me. ☺
Henry Morgan. Oh my yes. “Droll and witty” is an understatement even from Arlene. Some of the most wicked observations ever made on TV in this period he uttered. His radio program in the late 1940s was a landmark of humor, even though he tended to mock his sponsors. He was great on NBC Monitor. G-T and Fates liked Henry a lot: he brought the unpredictable to a show that had gotten very predictable. They used him irregularly in the last two years of WML-Sunday and also fairly regularly on syndicated-WML though on that venue never in connection with Bennett Cerf -- for reasons that will become obvious.
Soon we'll be seeing the episode where Henry Morgan mocks Bennett for his long introductions and John looks like he is going to give Henry a punch on his nose!
Johan Bengtsson soulierinvestments
Clearly you've both done some research on this! If the explosive incident between Henry and Bennett that you both referenced was in Fates's book, I don't recollect it. I think I'll just be patient and look forward to seeing it all unfold, rather than trying to look it up now. ;)
SaveThe TPC The incident is in Fates's book word for word. :) I saw it in one of these "Funny moments on WML" elsewhere here on YT but I have not seen the whole episode.
Stayed tuned. it is a fairly uncomfortable piece of WML.
I've never seen three panel members pass one after another. Any question could have saved the show from that clunking disappointment and taken the stress off Bennet Cerf who saved the day. I suspect that Arlene Francis showed her age or perhaps her tiredness at that point - her eyes looked a little baggy. What would have happened if Bennet C had passed?
If they had flipped a card on each pass, the panel, may have made an attempt, anyway. Love this show, anyway.
Usually they do their homework and would know what shows have opened lately. The panel is not as sharp as before.
Paul ford. Groovy sideburns
This audience is relentless. Lol! They even wolf whistle a small girl! 😆
I thought that was a little unnecessary. Unless it was her relatives doing it for encouragement.
paul ford played a great foil to bilko
Paul Ford, starring in...THE BAILEYS OF BALBOA!!
CLASSICALFAN100 Even better! My Fair Lady!!
@@marjoriemargel1567 Don't forget Paul Ford as the mayor of River City in the movie version of The Music Man.
The audience wolf whistling at a child is horrifying
She was such a sweet little angel.
Henry Morgan had a good comment Hurray; "this is harder " compared to I've got a secret....I think he's great on the secret show....don't know how they guess those peoples' secrets
*_RAISES AND SELLS TURTLES_*
*_WRITES ADVICE TO CHILDREN NEWSPAPER COLUMN_*
Curious what Christina is doing today…
Paul Ford Weaver (November 2, 1901 - April 12, 1976) was an American character actor and comedic actor who came to specialize in portraying authority figures whose ineptitude and pompous demeanor were played for comic effect, notably as Mayor George Shinn in the 1957 Broadway musical comedy play, followed five years later by repeating in the feature film version The Music Man (1962), (starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones), and on television as U.S. Army Colonel John T. Hall on several seasons of the military comedy The Phil Silvers Show(1955-1959).
If the challenger from Yazoo City (MS) had shared Henry Morgan's sense of humor, would he have possessed a Southern droll?
I love puns, but this one just has to be the Lois one of them all. 😁
@@rmelin13231 Reminds me of a journeyman goalie named Ron Low who bounced around with six different NHL teams in the 1970s and 80s. One of the years when he was struggling in net, one of the sportswriters wrote that he brought goaltending to a new Low.
Don't skip the ending, because Bennett fixes the pun punchline right at the very last moment of the program. It's still not funny, but at least it makes a modicum of sense. :-p
Thank goodness because I had no idea what Bennett was talking about.
MajorSeventh You are so right on both counts! :)
How many New York Mayors were there on WML?
I know there was William O'Dwyer as Mystery Guest in 1950, and John Lindsay as panelist a few times, any others?
*****
I remember John Lindsay as a panelist once when he was a Congressman, but was he on WML again as mayor? (Btw, he was, in many people's opinions, one of the worst mayors NYC ever had.)
+Vahan Nisanian Mayor Robert F. Wagner appeared in the episode of January 3, 1954.
If only the show had still been on the air when Ed Koch became mayor. He would have been hilarious as a MG.
+Steven Ginsberg
I think Mayor Koch would have made a great panelist. And there was a time when he might have brought along Bess Myerson to be on the panel as well.
Mayor Wagner was on WML and after Bennet Cerf died, his wife Phyllis married Wagner.
I was a teen in the city when Lindsay was mayor.
"What'd he say?" lol!
We never heard the first name of Mayor Lindsay, it was Mary Anne.
"Mare" Lindsay :)
1-29-2023.
Time 20:40, did Arlene have a climax?
Bennett Cerf is always steps ahead of everyone else on the panel.
Damn they needed Dorothy!
Bennett's humor is a very mixed bag. He's quick and funny most of the time when he makes an impromptu quip; his joke books sold well and for the most part hold up pretty well when read today. But when he sets out to tell a joke it most often falls flat -- and not just when he leaves out a crucial word, as in this episode. I think it's mainly in his delivery, which is heavy and lacking in rhythm. Timing is everything, and he just hasn't got it. I'm reminded of the story about Mark Twain's wife trying to shame him into moderating his swearing: Twain cut himself shaving and let out a streak of profanity. Olivia repeated everything he had said, hoping that hearing the swear words in her voice would make him realize how bad it sounded. But he replied, "My dear, you know the words but you don't know the music." That's how I feel when Bennett tells a joke.
Bennett gave many speeches where he had the podium to himself for a protracted length of time. It would be interesting to know if he did a better job delivering a joke when he wasn't faced with a sense of time pressure of having to squeeze it into the short segment he was given to introduce John Daly.
Well Cerf was STILL funnier than Hal Block, and Block WAS a comedian (allegedly)
Neil Midkiff I think every viewer already realises Bennett isn't a natural joketeller (and no doubt everyone else on stage and in the audience).For the most part I think everyone just lets him have some slack with it. I certainly do. He's all the more endearing for his effort, I think.
@@loissimmons6558 See:
ruclips.net/video/J-zWzuc_oEI/видео.html
@@jackkomisar458 Interesting: I see a much longer note by you in my e-mail mailbox.
Anyone, it is the difference between being an off the cuff punster and a raconteur. There's no quibbling against the premise that Cerf was an accomplished raconteur. OTOH, as a punster, he was hit and miss.
Mrs. Lindsay seemed like as much fun as a double root canal
+Galileocan g Triple root canal
This is a three year old thread, but this comment is so funny I can’t stop laughing. A root canal indeed and her effect was like Novocain
Was she drunk?
lol!!!!
In the summer of 1973, when Yogi Berra managed the Mets and Mrs. Lindsay was still the mayor's wife, the two were in a convertible together in a parade. It was a scorching day, and the people in the car were sweating, but not Yogi, although he was wearing a coat and tie. Mrs. Lindsay said, "You're looking rather cool." Yogi replied, "You don't look so hot yourself."
Paul Ford got into acting late in life.
Cerf couldn't have been more wrong, JVL was the silk stocking district & high-rent 'burbs favorite because he was one of them - a phoney.
Normal people knew better.
He left office as an extremely unpopular mayor, and in addition to all his other failings, following his terrible fiscal mismanagement, the city became insolvent shortly after he left office. Today he is viewed as one of the worst mayors in the city's history.
Bennett asks the little girl, "What do you think of rock & roll?" What kind of an old fart question is that to ask in 1966?
Didn't you just answer your own question??
Yeah, he was still fighting the losing battle. It's actually funny.
A group of young men from John Bartram HS in SW Philadelphia (Danny Rapp, Frank Maffei, Joe Terranova, and Dave White) had an answer for Bennett all the way back in 1958. And with the existence of computers, the Internet and sites like RUclips plus rock & roll's enduring popularity, these four HS kids proved to be more prescient than the erudite publisher of Random House.
ruclips.net/video/jXq8oQ5DNbQ/видео.html
Lois Simmons, this was delightful, but one of the comments telling of Danny Rapp’s early demise was profoundly sad. 😥😓
+VickyRBenson
Fame and fortune can be wonderful. But it doesn't inoculate celebrities against all of life's problems. Plus it can be fleeting. The fall from stardom, especially stardom achieved early in life, can be devastating. Many eventually learn to deal with it and move on, some to even better things. Unfortunately some cannot handle it.
I don't know the specifics as to why Danny Rapp took his life a month before his 42nd birthday. But when one becomes a star at age 16 and back to obscurity or a trivia item 25 years later, without a vision for the future life can look hopeless.
Just like with Ginger Rogers a few episodes back, I view Mary Lindsay the same way: Asked good questions, but they more often lead to incorrect answers.
Interesting (and a sign of the times) that her own first name was never mentioned. She was both introduced and captioned as "Mrs. John V. Lindsay."
Henry Morgan was good friends with the original IGAS host Garry Moore.
Henry was almost blacklisted during the early 1950's. But Garry Moore protested, saying that if he went, so would he.
The sponsors of IGAS listened, as did CBS and Goodson-Todman, and Henry Morgan stayed.
Wolf-whistling a little girl seems a little…err… inappropriate..?
Wolf whistles for an 11 yr. old girl !?
Well, she is older than me now. ;-)
John Lindsay turned out to be an awful mayor.
Henry Morgan was arrogant and annoying. I didn't like him at all. He was just downright nasty.
DK knew too much.
12:10 Cat-call whistles for a 5th grader, geez how creepy.
I think we've gone too far in the "me too" movement. With everything being shouted down as sexual harassment these days. That said, wolf whistling at a 5th grade girl seems pretty cringy to me even in 1966. O.o
The audience whistles may have been from her family, wishing to encourage her.
Doo boyce?!?.....at the end I thought he was going to say 'by the way, it's doo-bwaa'
I doubt it - where he came from was and still is a narrow minded area where foreign names are Anglicized for ignorant reasons.😞
Bennett was not exactly a prophet without honor in his own country in reference to his prediction about Mayor Lindsay. The former rep had an eye on the governor’s mansion, but he managed to alienate on a regular basis, so his political career went bung.
Wolf whistles for an eleven-year-old with freckles (probably)?? Normally I accept anachronistic behaviour when watching vintage television but I draw the line there. That is just very very weird. Unless maybe it's a group of mischievous schoolfriends copying what the adult males do with other guests?
There seems to be a lot of political favoritism on this show.
Heaven forbid I should speak ill of Mrs. Lindsay. His honor probably thought it would be great for the Lindsay family image to put his lovely spouse on WML. Two questions come to my mind. 1) Were Phyllis or Suzy unavailable? Did the production staff assume that the wife of a progressive New York mayor will naturally be interesting on TV? If a list of the worst panelists is ever assembled, well - there she is. Gil Fates should have gotten her husband out of the control room and down on the panel.
soulierinvestments
Note that in the "goodnights," John merely tells Mrs. Lindsay that it has been "an honor to have you with us," but does *not* add "come back again soon," as he does to Henry Morgan just a few seconds later. (23:48)
Henry outdid himself on this broadcast. Very amusing observations.
As I recall, Lindsey didn’t do anything useful for NYC…. And he just faded away..
Yogi reportedly had a classic line for Mrs. Lindsay.
i guesws in 66 it was ok to be a pedo ...i felt sorry for the little girl being sexualized by the audience