I knew Steve Allen was funny but this program shows a whole different side of him. I'm too young to have seen it at the time and it's a shame we don't really have such talent now. Also, it was wonderful of him to point out Dorothy's dress as well as Arlene's "lemon drop" one in a previous episode. John Daly's reactions are hysterical. Another treasure!
I grew up watching Steve Allen; he was already big when I was born, and by the time I was 5 or 6 I loved watching him because so funny and such a quick wit. It was only later that I discovered how multi-talented and intelligent he was. And on top of everything else he was a truly decent man who, when he wasn't in front of the cameras or playing jazz piano, was incredibly introverted. That shocked me because he was so comfortable in front of the cameras. I've always had the highest respect for Mr. Allen - because of his intellect, his humor, and his musical talent. If you can find it on RUclips you should find the episode where he first introduced Frank Zappa to the world. Priceless.
There's an almost ethereal genius operating upon the segment regarding cocktail parties, stimulants and 'what it actually is'. This is like the comedy one experiences in the happenstance of ordinary life rather than designed and contrived by scriptwriters.....which is why we love it. WE are creating the comedy in our minds. Quite brilliant!
@@millenialboy1146 Yes , talk about longevity there was a I LOVE Lucy episode that revolved around seeing the Queen . They mentioned how she had so many prime ministers and met so many US presidents but I think the most impressive stat was that the Queen saw seven Popes , like her position usually a lifetime position , not a politician .
I just had to like this episode for the second contestant, the corset salesman, Mr. Gilgore. Hysterical! I was losing it during that second game! Priceless! I liked the MG segment with Nelson Eddy, especially when he showed Dorothy his hands and coat label. Too cool!
@Juanette Butts - It was common parlance to use that phrase for classical music and its associated musical forms back then. Men had worn relatively short hair for eons since the classical music period, so that music was referred to by the styles of men's hair when it was commonly being written in its famous periods of the 16thc., 17thc. & 18thc. No one was aware at the time that long hair was about to become common again for men and introduced most commonly through musicians once again. So, it made sense when a picture of Beethoven was what you associated with long hair on men, since your father, grandfather, great grandfather et al had had rather short hair.
It took me an emabarrassingly long time to find out it referred to classical music and not the psychedelic/progressive rock that was popular in the late 60's!
Steve Allen was really handsome when he was young. Very striking facial features and well groomed hair. Eyeglasses were perfect for him. Great humorist.
Too bad the kinescope of so many of the British WML episodes were destroyed. All but one episode, I think, and perhaps a couple of fragments of other episodes. I'd love to see the one with Arlene as a guest panelist.
@@paacer”Kinescopes were used to make records of live television programs before videotape recording was practical. They were in common use in the late 1940s, and were replaced in the 1950s by videotape.”
I watched a UK version from 1957, it was so painfully boring and stuffy I could not bare more than 6 minutes. There was not a single laugh in that 6 minutes. It was awful. Watching paint dry would be more amusing.
Nelson Eddy as a "single," or along with his long-time co-star, Jeanette MacDonald, was always wonderful. Mr. Eddy was devastated when his (rumored) love, Jeanette, suddenly died in January 1965. Nelson carried on with very successful nightclub concerts (far and wide) for the next couple of years. In early 1967, just after a concert tour in Australia, Mr. Eddy told an interviewer that he would continue to sing "until he dropped." Just a week after this interview, Nelson Eddy would drop dead (in mid-song) on the stage - in a swank Miami Beach hotel. Though this story might seem sad (and it is) I do love the idea that Nelson Eddy got to fully live out his life as he saw fit. RIP dear sir.
Nelson Eddy was a classically trained baritone and had a budding career in opera before making musical films. In fact, he still appeared on the opera stage after his film career began, until movies were taking up so much of his time he couldn't continue with his work in opera. (I'm guessing he made more money in the movies.) He had great crossover appeal in the 1930's thanks to films -- fans of operatic music liked his singing, but so did younger people -- there were teenaged girls who adored him in the movies. He ended up doing work in nightclubs as a singer thanks to his popularity in films, and he also appeared on the concert stage. Of course, he's very much remembered, even today, for the eight musical films in which he starred with operatic soprano Jeanette MacDonald. Eddy and MacDonald sang the duet "Indian Love Call" in the 1936 black-and-white film adaptation of Rudolf Friml's operetta _Rose Marie_, which they recorded for release on a 78 rpm phonograph record. That number was a huge hit. One strange thing about that 1936 film is the make-up they had on Nelson Eddy -- you can see eyebrow pencil, eye shadow and mascara in his closeups. I think they were using stage makeup in the movies at that point, at least some of the time. I can understand the eyebrow pencil because Nelson Eddy was blond enough that his eyebrows may not have shown up well, especially on black-and-white film, and perhaps the mascara was necessary for this blond eyelashes to show up. The eye shadow is just weird, though. Here's a link to their famous duet: ruclips.net/video/f8KesxHBVOU/видео.html
+ToddSF 94109 There were probably very few teenage girls and young women of that era who weren't imagining Nelson Eddy singing to them instead of to Jeanette MacDonald.
Blonds usually lose their looks sooner, but Nelson was an amazing exception. In 1937 he played a West Point cadet in 'Rosalie' when he was in his late thirties. Here he is 16 years later looking hardly older.
dang it, why could`nt at least the British WML episode with Arlene Francis still exist. It`s too bad that just about all of their episodes are gone for good
Barbara was quite unknown in Canada, though when her husband’s career declined in the U.K., he had a television show in Canada on Global TV in the mid-70s. It was consumer affairs, well presented, and I remember watching it. Didn’t last long though. A lot of British TV personalites, and some Americans, tried that in the 1970s. Frankie Howerd, Graham Kerr, and Don Adams come to mind. Sadly nobody in Canada knew who Howerd was, and didn’t get his racy humour. Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet, did well until he got religious. Don Adams, once known to Canadians as Maxwell Smart, was given a terrible starring role as a grocery store manager in Check It Out, which was too painful to watch.
This episode features one of two times I am aware of when a panelist used the word "brassiere." Years later, Arlene speculated about cow brassieres on live TV. Both times, you could practically hear the TV censors bite through the stems of their pipes. Sunday night WML, so far as I can remember, never had a contestant what did anything with bras. Apparently too sexy for TV in those days.
One of my most embarrassing appearance in my family's 8mm home movies was me running away from the ocean waves at Atlantic Beach in Nassau County on Long Island. It was no more than 2-3 years after this episode aired. That said, I'm surprised that no one considered that the last challenger's occupation had anything to do with the water. When time ran out, you can hear Bennett conjecturing that it was swimming. That was close but no cigar, a day late and a dollar short (and any other cliche you wish to add). As Atlantic Beach is the first beach on the south shore of Long Island that is east of New York City (in particular Far Rockaway's beaches in the borough of Queens), it should have been well known to any of the panelists other than Miss Kelly, although even to her, the word "Beach" in the last challenger's home town would be a clue.
First game. A stimulant put into. Wow. Too bad Steve did not realize how funny he was with that gambit. Then Steve is hugely funny spontaneously with Dorothy . . . Barbara Kelly then gets big laughs spontaneously.
Steve Allen ALWAYS has the best sexual innuendo lines. I feel strongly that give the year, the producers would give him sample questions to elicit the desired effect. The end result is SO funny....I can almost forgive them. In the later shows after the game show scandals, you can tell the panelists didn't usually ask such 'innocent' leading questions. But always a great show nonetheless.
Precisely. We know, for a fact, that such questions were suggested to Hal the Blockhead, so it stands to reason that practice continued with Steve Allen. At least he was more subtle than”Mr. Dimples,” who got shown the door after one too many blatant sexual innuendos. Block should have been fired immediately after he forced himself on that very new and inexperienced Miss America. What a boor!
At 8:22 Bennett compliments Mr. Gilgore on his "corporation" using an old-fashioned sense of the word that isn't in some modern dictionaries. It means a potbelly or paunch, and comes from the Latin root meaning "body" just as the business definition does. Before the health risks of obesity were fully understood, a prominent abdomen was often considered a sign of prosperity and thus worthy of compliment. I wonder if Mr. Gilgore was himself wearing a corset? His figure appeared firm as well as full, and even a well-tailored suit like his is not always enough to give that effect.
...but often gets more money, at least on camera, "by default" due to running out of time. It's conjectured that all contestants actually got the full $50, no matter the score during the round.
@@peternagy-im4be As a verb, it is used informally to mean 'understand' or 'take notice of something', and also, very informally 'to like. ' These slang meanings can sound dated in some circles, but some people still use them. You'll hear it in 50's and early 60's TV and film.
25:20 Barbara Kelly, "Of course, while I envy Miss Kilgallen's witnessing the crowning of our queen, my trip to New York has some wonderful memories for me, too." I've wondered since seeing her here last week what she thought of being sent to New York on assignment. It was an attractive idea to swap panel members between the two shows, but I've thought Ms. Kelly might resent missing the big event. And the week in between the shows--did she hie off to Canada, or was she the toast of New York?
I saw the look on Barbara's face when they were showing Dorothy's dress. To me it looked like an ice-cold stare. Wish they wouldn't have shown the dress.
+miss_midge_6515 In response to your post, I went back to look at it again. Most of the time, Barbara is smiling and quite interested in the dress (as most women would be, which Steve Allen noted). But when the camera is on you but you aren't doing anything, you can reach a point where you aren't quite sure what to do. Here and there I saw a blank look, but never "an ice-cold stare". I will say that Bennett was quite attentive however. He looked like he enjoyed every second of it, but from a quite different perspective than Barbara would have, most likely.
As I understand it, film copies of the BBC's Coronation coverage were flown to America by two of the US networks and processed en route while Canadian TV got copies directly from the BBC transported over on RAF Canberra bombers. Barbara Kelly might just have been able to see the big event on TV
At 18:29, John says, “Miss Kilgallen just got a weenie.” This was the 10th use of the term. An obvious ear tug at 5:18 is followed by Dorothy’s eyes widening. She was not venturing into a risqué topic, so John must have been signaling something else. Perhaps he thought Dorothy was close to guessing and the segment was going too quickly, so he wanted her to prolong it. Maybe he wanted the other panelists to have more air time. He might even have wanted Mrs. Sells to win more _“prizes.”_
Following up on ToddSF94109's comment, If you could get ahold of any episodes from foreign English-language shows, it would be interesting to see those
This episode proves that you can have humor with a mild sexual connotation without being vulgar at all. The corset bit was hilarious and easily survives the test of time. Nobody had to say anything silly, silence was the key.
Just for the record, Mrs. Sells' first name is possibly Essie. (There's all kinds of genealogical confusion, and I found an obituary for her from 1948, so either she's a time traveler, or this is Mr. Sells' second wife, except there's no second wife listed anywhere. So maybe the newspaper got it wrong. I suspect I could figure it out, given more time, but, time is finite.)
Love Dorothy's Queen Elizabeth lookalike costume and tiara. Barbara Kelly was married to fellow-Canadian Bernard Braden and was a big name at the BBC. Women in England watched her look the same way American gals studied Arlene. Bennett Cerf was straight, but his faintly bitchy manner, esp. in joshing with Daly, and his squeaky voice always reminded me of Truman Capote. What pleasant, well-mannered company to relax with over coffee, brandy and a good Havana (cigarillo for the lady) after supper on Sunday night.
I'm sorry to disagree with everybody but after looking at the last round with the last contestant every time Dorothy came on I still seem to see the pearls in her dress especially around her shoulder line. And I can see them sparkling. I think she just wore a see through shawl as was indicated to cut down on the glare of the pearls and that she merely disposed of the tiara. Dhe didn't change her dress as far as I can see.
Every now and then they'll show a photo of "next week's contestant" and ask if, walking down the street I'd know their line. From the state of some of these photos, I don't think I'd know their species!
***** That's because the clips of segments of the show have been up for literally *years*. The full shows, for the most part, have only been posted in the last year on this channel.
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+What's My Line? I haven't watched the Bloopers compilation yet, so I don't know if it involves a wheenies section; if it doesn't, are you still collecting mentions of them? (Because there is one here, at about 18:33 or so.)
Lucinda Sommer Not sure how that's pertinent here-- we were talking about the term "cattle", because it came up in this program. None of those other more technical classifications were raised, except MY use of the word bovine to specifically refer to cows. My whole point was that the word cattle refers only to cows ("members of the bovine family"), not all livestock.
With Hollywood's preference for resurrecting old ideas I can't believe that they haven't tried to resurrect this show in the modern day. I'm wondering if perhaps whatever entity owns the rights to the concept won't allow a modern program to be created
Anyone know what Bennett Cerf was talking about when he said John Daly had pink BBD's? I know I've heard that term before but can't find anything on google
Johan Bengtsson I know of at least one other time. When Ann Landers was on in 1957, she signed in and was addressed as Mrs. Julius (last name.) She wasn't yet famous as an advice columnist and the panel was not blindfolded. I don't know your age, but Ann and her sister Abigail Van Buren were eventually two of the most famous advice columnists on the planet for decades.
+lemorab1 So funny that not only were Ann Landers & Abigail van Buren twins(born 17 minutes apart),but they were married together in a double wedding ceremony,as well as having, practically,the same careers for their entire lives. The universe works in some odd and mysterious ways.
+Johan Bengtsson It was unusual for a contestant to use a title in front of their name when signing in. But since she was identifying herself by her husband's first name, "Mrs." became necessary so it was clear she hadn't been given an unusual first name by her parents, or used Harry as a nickname for Harriet. In general, this was the custom for how married women properly identified themselves and were properly referred to in newspaper accounts, especially society columns (unless they were far more famous under their own name such as a stage name, and even then they might be referred to by their husband's name with their name in parenthesis). And this custom has finally died out in this country only fairly recently. A Christian organization that I joined in the early 1990's was still referring to their married female members in this fashion (and then added the woman's first name in parenthesis) until finally a younger generation took over and married women were known by their first names (and sometimes for clarity, her husband's name would be put in parenthesis). It seems strange to us now, but it wasn't so long ago that, in a day when marriages were supposed to last a lifetime and men were not only the breadwinners but often the sole support of the families while June Cleaver, Donna Stone et al were homemakers, women's identities were hidebound with their husbands. What I only learned fairly recently was that married women, even if they had their own careers, had a great deal of trouble getting their own credit. That's just one of many examples of how much American cultural norms have changed in the last 50-75 years.
In those days, up to the 70's, the married women in Sweden only used their husbands' last name, never their first name. She would have introduced herself or being addressed as "mrs Andersson" or "mrs Anna Andersson" - never "mrs John Andersson".
@Yvonne Xia There are several pronunciation guides online. Here's a link to one of them. :) www.learnersdictionary.com/audio?word=lin*ge*rie&file=linger05
Hair dye, I would presume. . . not at all uncommon for folks appearing before the public. I doubt John Daly's hair was as naturally jet black as it appeared through 17 years of the show, either. :)
Dorothy opened up the show in her coronation gown and tiara, but then 2 minutes later when the first contestant came out she was wearing a different dress. You can tell the difference because the 2nd dress had lacy/fluffy shoulders. There doesn't appear to be a commercial break between the intros and the first contestant so I'm trying to figure out when she changed. If she ran off stage to change during the other intros she's a quick change artist as it was only about 2 minutes. Or did she just don some sort of lacy shawl to wear over the dress?
Good catch +Jeff Vaughn She would have had time between when she sits back down and the camera turns back to Steve and when John sends the first challenger to the walk of shame. Quite frankly, it depends upon the length of the commercial (I would guess about 60 secs) as well as the other time allotted, but also upon the two dresses involved and how far Dorothy would have to walk to get to a private spot to make the change. With the help of a wardrobe mistress, the first dress could probably be unzipped in the back and fall to Dorothy's feet, which she could step out of fairly easily with some help. Then either step into another dress or put it on over her head (again something loose fitting and preferably sleeveless) through a shawl over her if necessary, deal with any stray hairs and poof, she's back in her seat. But yes, if there was too big a chance she would miss her cue, they could simply take off her crown and throw on a shawl. One thing was for sure, all those jewels in the tiara and the pearls were throwing lots of points of light at the camera.
Having just watched it again, that might be the reason that Steve Allen made a joke about Dorothy "taking off" to Fort Knox after the show. It would be a play on Dorothy taking off to go offstage and also on taking off her dress. It could be a coincidence as the joke is funny on his own, but that's the way Steve's mind worked.
I hadn't noticed so I watched the first parts several times. It LOOKS like she took off the tiara and had some sort of "addition" like a thin fabric "shawl" (sorry, not a fashion expert here) but the shoulder area of the dress LOOKS to be the same as before.
Bruce Alvarez You could very well be right. I hadn't really looked past the shawl and it does look like it could be the same dress under it which would make much more sense than her doing some sort of quick change act while the show was going on. Thanks for the insight!
Out of curiosity, why do so many women refer to Cerf as being "so handsome?" Is this being polite, or along the lines of Arlene being "charming"? It's uncommon. Not my type so maybe I just don't see it, but for 15-plus years, I heard many women introduce him this way.
@Merrida100 Well, he was not a bad looking older man, in my opinion, but even you might agree that he was quite handsome as a young man. Here's a link to a photo of him in the mid-1930s with his first wife, actress Sylvia Sydney. I've seen even more attractive photos of Bennett as a young man, but this was the best that today's Google search provided. See what you think. :-) www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bennett-cerf-and-his-wife-actress-sylvia-sidney-whose-next-news-photo/526891846?adppopup=true
@@hypolyxa7207 - we fixed it. It was one of the reasons why we left. First thing we did was write a dictionary with the correct spellings and pronunciations.
Isn't a corset something like a full slip? why wouldn't it be part of the Brazzer family? She didn't say was it a Bra, she just said was it part of the brazzer family. Why wouldn't it be?
6:40 John Daly really screwed up when he said that goats were in the "cattle family". He's been woefully inept on many other occasions, as we all know, but this is a new stretch.
Sarah Brandy Peters No, he wasn't. "Cattle" means members of the bovine family. "Livestock" is the term that would encompass the entire category of domesticated farm animals.
Bennet's question wasn't "would you put this in the 'livestock' family?" it was "would you put this in the cattle family?". Daly was wrong. Mrs. Sells or her heirs are owed $5 ;)
Bruce Alvarez Yes! Let’s get working on that one!! I figure she deserves interest, don’t you think? If we figure 6% annually compounded over 65 years, she’s currently owed $220.72 Of course, John consulted with her before declaring that goats were cattle; so it might be more her mistake than his. She was the one raising the damn things, she ought to know better than the moderator!
I looked it up regarding goats: "Members of the cattle family are even-toed hoofed mammals. They are also known as bovids. This group includes cattle, sheep and goats and their relatives, and antelopes.
At least Dorothy took off her tiara after modeling her dress for the audience. I wonder if it's because it was annoyingly sparkly for the TV cameras or because she realized that to wear it was pretentious and made her look ridiculous.
She also took off her dress. The dress she's wearing later in the show doesn't appear to be the same one she wore to the coronation and that she wore to open the show. Actually I can't quite figure out when she changed. She wore the coronation dress to open the show yet she's wearing a different dress when the first contestant comes out and there doesn't appear to be a commercial break in there. You can tell the difference because the 2nd dress has lacy/fluff shoulders to it and the coronation dress didn't. Or maybe she just donned some sort of lacy shawl to wear over the dress?
Better yet, swap Dorothy for Barbara Kelly. Revenge for the King George abuses and War of 1812 Arlene is wonderful. Never noticed an egotistical trait or hubris concerning Arlene, but with her brains, beauty and personality it’s hard to conjure any degree of pride as being excessive.
Such grace and elegance in the way they all spoke and dressed. Truly a bygone era.,,,much missed
I knew Steve Allen was funny but this program shows a whole different side of him. I'm too young to have seen it at the time and it's a shame we don't really have such talent now. Also, it was wonderful of him to point out Dorothy's dress as well as Arlene's "lemon drop" one in a previous episode. John Daly's reactions are hysterical. Another treasure!
I grew up watching Steve Allen; he was already big when I was born, and by the time I was 5 or 6 I loved watching him because so funny and such a quick wit. It was only later that I discovered how multi-talented and intelligent he was. And on top of everything else he was a truly decent man who, when he wasn't in front of the cameras or playing jazz piano, was incredibly introverted. That shocked me because he was so comfortable in front of the cameras. I've always had the highest respect for Mr. Allen - because of his intellect, his humor, and his musical talent.
If you can find it on RUclips you should find the episode where he first introduced Frank Zappa to the world. Priceless.
I mourn the decline and fall of "The Tonight Show" to have gone from Steve Allen, and Johnny Carson, to Jimmy Kimmell.
@@wayneyadams It's Jimmy Fallon who hosts the Tonight Show. Kimmell is on ABC. You're right, though, Fallon is quite a big step down.
@@wharfrat7900 Neither one is worth watching, which I don't and explains why I can't tell one from the other and don't care.
There's an almost ethereal genius operating upon the segment regarding cocktail parties, stimulants and 'what it actually is'. This is like the comedy one experiences in the happenstance of ordinary life rather than designed and contrived by scriptwriters.....which is why we love it. WE are creating the comedy in our minds. Quite brilliant!
Time and time again through many decades I've thought Steve Allen was one of the greatest personalities ever seen on TV.
Ah Nelson Eddy - one of the best baritone performers ever.
Talk about Kilgallen"s coronation dress. After all all these years and all here are long gone Queen Elizabeth is still on the throne !
Agreed!
It seems over the top.for Dorothy to have such an elaborate dress and to be wearing a tiara. So American!
And Dorothy has been dead for 57 years 😵💫
She just died today may she RIP
@@millenialboy1146 Yes , talk about longevity there was a I LOVE Lucy episode that revolved around seeing the Queen . They mentioned how she had so many prime ministers and met so many US presidents but I think the most impressive stat was that the Queen saw seven Popes , like her position usually a lifetime position , not a politician .
Cute how Nelson Eddy showed Dorothy his hands and his coat label. He was a fan of the show obviously.
+poetcomic1 very very cute!
@poetcomic1 Good catch! I totally missed that, but I looked for it and found it at around the 19:28 mark in the video. :-)
It would have been interesting to see Arlene on the bbc version, fun exchange!
You'd be disappointed. The British version was void of fun and laughter. Watching a fingernail grow would be more humorous and fun.
Nelson Eddy... so handsome and so talented.
Steve always finds himself in the most humorous of predicaments.
I just had to like this episode for the second contestant, the corset salesman, Mr. Gilgore. Hysterical! I was losing it during that second game! Priceless! I liked the MG segment with Nelson Eddy, especially when he showed Dorothy his hands and coat label. Too cool!
My mother, who played classical music while I was growing up, always called it "long hair" music. How cool to hear someone else call it the same!
@Juanette Butts - It was common parlance to use that phrase for classical music and its associated musical forms back then. Men had worn relatively short hair for eons since the classical music period, so that music was referred to by the styles of men's hair when it was commonly being written in its famous periods of the 16thc., 17thc. & 18thc. No one was aware at the time that long hair was about to become common again for men and introduced most commonly through musicians once again. So, it made sense when a picture of Beethoven was what you associated with long hair on men, since your father, grandfather, great grandfather et al had had rather short hair.
It took me an emabarrassingly long time to find out it referred to classical music and not the psychedelic/progressive rock that was popular in the late 60's!
@JayTemple You should get outside more and stop living under a rock.
Steve Allen was really handsome when he was young. Very striking facial features and well groomed hair. Eyeglasses were perfect for him. Great humorist.
He landed Jayne Meadows.
Too bad the kinescope of so many of the British WML episodes were destroyed. All but one episode, I think, and perhaps a couple of fragments of other episodes. I'd love to see the one with Arlene as a guest panelist.
I know it's six years ago but I don't understand that first sentence at all . Please explain .
@@paacer”Kinescopes were used to make records of live television programs before videotape recording was practical. They were in common use in the late 1940s, and were replaced in the 1950s by videotape.”
@@paacerYou never thought of googling "kinescope", or are you too lazy and make others do your work.
I watched a UK version from 1957, it was so painfully boring and stuffy I could not bare more than 6 minutes. There was not a single laugh in that 6 minutes. It was awful. Watching paint dry would be more amusing.
Nelson Eddy as a "single," or along with his long-time co-star, Jeanette MacDonald, was always wonderful. Mr. Eddy was devastated when his (rumored) love, Jeanette, suddenly died in January 1965. Nelson carried on with very successful nightclub concerts (far and wide) for the next couple of years. In early 1967, just after a concert tour in Australia, Mr. Eddy told an interviewer that he would continue to sing "until he dropped." Just a week after this interview, Nelson Eddy would drop dead (in mid-song) on the stage - in a swank Miami Beach hotel. Though this story might seem sad (and it is) I do love the idea that Nelson Eddy got to fully live out his life as he saw fit. RIP dear sir.
Hilarious segment with the corset! 😂
Nelson Eddy was a classically trained baritone and had a budding career in opera before making musical films. In fact, he still appeared on the opera stage after his film career began, until movies were taking up so much of his time he couldn't continue with his work in opera. (I'm guessing he made more money in the movies.) He had great crossover appeal in the 1930's thanks to films -- fans of operatic music liked his singing, but so did younger people -- there were teenaged girls who adored him in the movies. He ended up doing work in nightclubs as a singer thanks to his popularity in films, and he also appeared on the concert stage. Of course, he's very much remembered, even today, for the eight musical films in which he starred with operatic soprano Jeanette MacDonald. Eddy and MacDonald sang the duet "Indian Love Call" in the 1936 black-and-white film adaptation of Rudolf Friml's operetta _Rose Marie_, which they recorded for release on a 78 rpm phonograph record. That number was a huge hit. One strange thing about that 1936 film is the make-up they had on Nelson Eddy -- you can see eyebrow pencil, eye shadow and mascara in his closeups. I think they were using stage makeup in the movies at that point, at least some of the time. I can understand the eyebrow pencil because Nelson Eddy was blond enough that his eyebrows may not have shown up well, especially on black-and-white film, and perhaps the mascara was necessary for this blond eyelashes to show up. The eye shadow is just weird, though. Here's a link to their famous duet: ruclips.net/video/f8KesxHBVOU/видео.html
+ToddSF 94109
There were probably very few teenage girls and young women of that era who weren't imagining Nelson Eddy singing to them instead of to Jeanette MacDonald.
Blonds usually lose their looks sooner, but Nelson was an amazing exception. In 1937 he played a West Point cadet in 'Rosalie' when he was in his late thirties. Here he is 16 years later looking hardly older.
dang it, why could`nt at least the British WML episode with Arlene Francis still exist. It`s too bad that just about all of their episodes are gone for good
I disagree. Go watch one of the full 1957 episodes available. Painfully boring. Not a single laugh in the 6 minutes I suffered through.
Whatever happened to elegant women like Dorothy. That gown was to die for!
Barbara Kelly was on the UK What's My Line, but she was actually Canadian.
That explains why she doesn't really have a British accent!!
@@teresal5174 Barbara Kelly and her husband Bernard Braden were both very famous in British TV and radio in the 50s and 60s.
Barbara was quite unknown in Canada, though when her husband’s career declined in the U.K., he had a television show in Canada on Global TV in the mid-70s. It was consumer affairs, well presented, and I remember watching it. Didn’t last long though. A lot of British TV personalites, and some Americans, tried that in the 1970s. Frankie Howerd, Graham Kerr, and Don Adams come to mind. Sadly nobody in Canada knew who Howerd was, and didn’t get his racy humour. Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet, did well until he got religious. Don Adams, once known to Canadians as Maxwell Smart, was given a terrible starring role as a grocery store manager in Check It Out, which was too painful to watch.
Barbara and her husband Bernard Braden were big stars in England on TV ,radio, stage and film
This episode features one of two times I am aware of when a panelist used the word "brassiere." Years later, Arlene speculated about cow brassieres on live TV. Both times, you could practically hear the TV censors bite through the stems of their pipes. Sunday night WML, so far as I can remember, never had a contestant what did anything with bras. Apparently too sexy for TV in those days.
soulierinvestments
Were those cows in the “cattle family”?
@@lottalady73 LOL!
One of my most embarrassing appearance in my family's 8mm home movies was me running away from the ocean waves at Atlantic Beach in Nassau County on Long Island. It was no more than 2-3 years after this episode aired.
That said, I'm surprised that no one considered that the last challenger's occupation had anything to do with the water. When time ran out, you can hear Bennett conjecturing that it was swimming. That was close but no cigar, a day late and a dollar short (and any other cliche you wish to add). As Atlantic Beach is the first beach on the south shore of Long Island that is east of New York City (in particular Far Rockaway's beaches in the borough of Queens), it should have been well known to any of the panelists other than Miss Kelly, although even to her, the word "Beach" in the last challenger's home town would be a clue.
I love Nelson Eddy with all my heart.
If i were on this show as a guest, I would chug beers, several.
First game. A stimulant put into. Wow. Too bad Steve did not realize how funny he was with that gambit. Then Steve is hugely funny spontaneously with Dorothy . . .
Barbara Kelly then gets big laughs spontaneously.
I watch anything with Steven Allen. 💋💕💋‼️😘🙏💥🙏💥
Wouldn't you love to see a newer version (with all the original class and intellectual humor) today?
I agree. It's a very simple but amusing game.
I would love it but I fear that the supply of class and intellectual humor available today would mean the show would be a one hour special at most.
Steve Allen ALWAYS has the best sexual innuendo lines. I feel strongly that give the year, the producers would give him sample questions to elicit the desired effect. The end result is SO funny....I can almost forgive them. In the later shows after the game show scandals, you can tell the panelists didn't usually ask such 'innocent' leading questions. But always a great show nonetheless.
Precisely. We know, for a fact, that such questions were suggested to Hal the Blockhead, so it stands to reason that practice continued with Steve Allen. At least he was more subtle than”Mr. Dimples,” who got shown the door after one too many blatant sexual innuendos. Block should have been fired immediately after he forced himself on that very new and inexperienced Miss America. What a boor!
It takes talent to use innuendo without crossing into vulgarity.
The introductions on this episode is charming, too bad that we could not see the color and pearls of Dorothy's beautiful gown.
At 8:22 Bennett compliments Mr. Gilgore on his "corporation" using an old-fashioned sense of the word that isn't in some modern dictionaries. It means a potbelly or paunch, and comes from the Latin root meaning "body" just as the business definition does. Before the health risks of obesity were fully understood, a prominent abdomen was often considered a sign of prosperity and thus worthy of compliment. I wonder if Mr. Gilgore was himself wearing a corset? His figure appeared firm as well as full, and even a well-tailored suit like his is not always enough to give that effect.
One word that comes to mind is "corpulent"; could that be related?
@@quizmaster85 Yes, the Latin "corpus" meaning "body" is the ultimate root of both words.
The last guest always gets the short shrift.
...but often gets more money, at least on camera, "by default" due to running out of time. It's conjectured that all contestants actually got the full $50, no matter the score during the round.
“Is it the sort of thing that might make some people happy?” YES. Only an answer two men who never wore one would say yes to!!🤣🤣
Dorothy just came back the coronation? Hers?
Dig that crazy crown, man!
Dig?
@@peternagy-im4be As a verb, it is used informally to mean 'understand' or 'take notice of something', and also, very informally 'to like. ' These slang meanings can sound dated in some circles, but some people still use them.
You'll hear it in 50's and early 60's TV and film.
“Is it the sort of thing that might make some people happy?” YES. Only an answer two men who never wore a corset would say yes to!!🤣🤣
25:20 Barbara Kelly, "Of course, while I envy Miss Kilgallen's witnessing the crowning of our queen, my trip to New York has some wonderful memories for me, too." I've wondered since seeing her here last week what she thought of being sent to New York on assignment. It was an attractive idea to swap panel members between the two shows, but I've thought Ms. Kelly might resent missing the big event. And the week in between the shows--did she hie off to Canada, or was she the toast of New York?
I saw the look on Barbara's face when they were showing Dorothy's dress. To me it looked like an ice-cold stare. Wish they wouldn't have shown the dress.
+miss_midge_6515
In response to your post, I went back to look at it again. Most of the time, Barbara is smiling and quite interested in the dress (as most women would be, which Steve Allen noted). But when the camera is on you but you aren't doing anything, you can reach a point where you aren't quite sure what to do. Here and there I saw a blank look, but never "an ice-cold stare".
I will say that Bennett was quite attentive however. He looked like he enjoyed every second of it, but from a quite different perspective than Barbara would have, most likely.
Robert Melson
How come Miss Kelly doesn’t have one of those funny accents like the other England people do?
That would make it more fun!
Paul Bradford I believe that on the previous show or comments it was said she was Canadian.
As I understand it, film copies of the BBC's Coronation coverage were flown to America by two of the US networks and processed en route while Canadian TV got copies directly from the BBC transported over on RAF Canberra bombers. Barbara Kelly might just have been able to see the big event on TV
At 18:29, John says, “Miss Kilgallen just got a weenie.” This was the 10th use of the term.
An obvious ear tug at 5:18 is followed by Dorothy’s eyes widening. She was not venturing into a risqué topic, so John must have been signaling something else. Perhaps he thought Dorothy was close to guessing and the segment was going too quickly, so he wanted her to prolong it. Maybe he wanted the other panelists to have more air time. He might even have wanted Mrs. Sells to win more _“prizes.”_
On the last contestant: It IS a manufactured article - water skis! Geesh!
Following up on ToddSF94109's comment,
If you could get ahold of any episodes from foreign English-language shows, it would be interesting to see those
17:05 Well done, Mr. Cerf. The German word for eggs is indeed, "Eier".
This episode proves that you can have humor with a mild sexual connotation without being vulgar at all. The corset bit was hilarious and easily survives the test of time. Nobody had to say anything silly, silence was the key.
RIP to the Queen Sept., 8 2022
Just for the record, Mrs. Sells' first name is possibly Essie. (There's all kinds of genealogical confusion, and I found an obituary for her from 1948, so either she's a time traveler, or this is Mr. Sells' second wife, except there's no second wife listed anywhere. So maybe the newspaper got it wrong. I suspect I could figure it out, given more time, but, time is finite.)
Another 1940 census for Harry Sells, general farmer, in Duck Creek (near Chesterfield) lists his 54 year old wife named Hallie M.
Dorothy should have been crowned Queen of Ireland!
Love Dorothy's Queen Elizabeth lookalike costume and tiara.
Barbara Kelly was married to fellow-Canadian Bernard Braden and was a big name at the BBC. Women in England watched her look the same way American gals studied Arlene.
Bennett Cerf was straight, but his faintly bitchy manner, esp. in joshing with Daly, and his squeaky voice always reminded me of Truman Capote.
What pleasant, well-mannered company to relax with over coffee, brandy and a good Havana (cigarillo for the lady) after supper on Sunday night.
I wonder what Mrs Sells first name is . . it's not Harry I bet.
I'm sorry to disagree with everybody but after looking at the last round with the last contestant every time Dorothy came on I still seem to see the pearls in her dress especially around her shoulder line. And I can see them sparkling. I think she just wore a see through shawl as was indicated to cut down on the glare of the pearls and that she merely disposed of the tiara. Dhe didn't change her dress as far as I can see.
Every now and then they'll show a photo of "next week's contestant" and ask if, walking down the street I'd know their line. From the state of some of these photos, I don't think I'd know their species!
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was on Jun 2, 1953
GOAT FARMER
CORSET SALESMAN
WATER SKIING INSTRUCTOR
"He models corsets!"
I find it interesting that most of these episodes have several thousand views, yet this one has less than 1,000. Wonder why that would be?
"Forget it, Jake. It's RUclips."
Don't try to figure it out. ;)
The short version of this episode, featuring only the Nelson Eddy segment, has over 6,000 views.
***** That's because the clips of segments of the show have been up for literally *years*. The full shows, for the most part, have only been posted in the last year on this channel.
What's My Line? That's true. Thanks for the heads up. The Nelson Eddy single segment was uploaded Mar. 2, 2008.
It is now April 2021 and 50,000 views.
Nitrous oxide and party in context?! I bet Steve partied hearty
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+What's My Line? I haven't watched the Bloopers compilation yet, so I don't know if it involves a wheenies section; if it doesn't, are you still collecting mentions of them? (Because there is one here, at about 18:33 or so.)
***** I honestly don't recall a time when I was collecting weenies. . . but thanks. :)
What's My Line? Aha. OK. I shall simply be amused by them on my own, then.
I don't collect weenies, but I do enjoy pigs in the blanket now and then.
Barbara Kelly looks a bit like Arlene Francis I think. I'm missing Arlene's quick wit, but Barbara was very gracious and beautiful I believe.
Why did John say water skis are not "not manufactured"? They are.
Actually most were hand made including surf boards 😮
Are waterskis no mnaufactured products? What a great luck, they had no devices as videorecorders in the 50ies to rewind the tape and to control.
Since when is a goat in the cattle family?
+mh K Just another example of how little the otherwise impeccable John Daly understood about basic biology.
Sarah Brandy Peters Not true, Sarah. "Cattle" refers to members of the bovine family. You're perhaps thinking of the term "livestock".
+What's My Line? Caprine (or Caprinae) refers to goats. Bovine refers to cows. Bovidae refers to both.
Lucinda Sommer Not sure how that's pertinent here-- we were talking about the term "cattle", because it came up in this program. None of those other more technical classifications were raised, except MY use of the word bovine to specifically refer to cows. My whole point was that the word cattle refers only to cows ("members of the bovine family"), not all livestock.
+What's My Line? Have no clue as to why I misunderstood your comments. Sorry. Must be the heat.:)
Goats znd sheep were called lesser cattle
Stimulant put into..... oh boy! Dorothy could be a real kid here.
With Hollywood's preference for resurrecting old ideas I can't believe that they haven't tried to resurrect this show in the modern day. I'm wondering if perhaps whatever entity owns the rights to the concept won't allow a modern program to be created
It's almost like Steve knew about the man who sold corsets 🤦
Did Bill ever go into politics?
Anyone know what Bennett Cerf was talking about when he said John Daly had pink BBD's? I know I've heard that term before but can't find anything on google
BVD's were undies.
@@sandrageorge3488 lol thanks. That's what I was thinking but couldn't remember for sure
The first contestant signs in as "mrs Harry Sells". Never seen that before or after this show. 3:00
Johan Bengtsson I know of at least one other time. When Ann Landers was on in 1957, she signed in and was addressed as Mrs. Julius (last name.) She wasn't yet famous as an advice columnist and the panel was not blindfolded. I don't know your age, but Ann and her sister Abigail Van Buren were eventually two of the most famous advice columnists on the planet for decades.
+lemorab1 So funny that not only were Ann Landers & Abigail van Buren twins(born 17 minutes apart),but they were married together in a double wedding ceremony,as well as having, practically,the same careers for their entire lives. The universe works in some odd and mysterious ways.
I don't supposed they married brothers...
+Johan Bengtsson
It was unusual for a contestant to use a title in front of their name when signing in. But since she was identifying herself by her husband's first name, "Mrs." became necessary so it was clear she hadn't been given an unusual first name by her parents, or used Harry as a nickname for Harriet.
In general, this was the custom for how married women properly identified themselves and were properly referred to in newspaper accounts, especially society columns (unless they were far more famous under their own name such as a stage name, and even then they might be referred to by their husband's name with their name in parenthesis). And this custom has finally died out in this country only fairly recently. A Christian organization that I joined in the early 1990's was still referring to their married female members in this fashion (and then added the woman's first name in parenthesis) until finally a younger generation took over and married women were known by their first names (and sometimes for clarity, her husband's name would be put in parenthesis).
It seems strange to us now, but it wasn't so long ago that, in a day when marriages were supposed to last a lifetime and men were not only the breadwinners but often the sole support of the families while June Cleaver, Donna Stone et al were homemakers, women's identities were hidebound with their husbands. What I only learned fairly recently was that married women, even if they had their own careers, had a great deal of trouble getting their own credit. That's just one of many examples of how much American cultural norms have changed in the last 50-75 years.
In those days, up to the 70's, the married women in Sweden only used their husbands' last name, never their first name. She would have introduced herself or being addressed as "mrs Andersson" or "mrs Anna Andersson" - never "mrs John Andersson".
Silly question but why didn't Dorothy do the panel exchange as she was over here at the time for the coronation anyway.
Too busy, I assume?
Nelson Eddy 1901 - 1967
How do Americans pronounce lingerie? Is it LANG-JER-REY as Dorothy says it or has it changed over the decades?
I have always heard it pronounced lon-jer-ay. Dorothy is the only American I've heard using the French pronunciation.
@Yvonne Xia There are several pronunciation guides online. Here's a link to one of them. :) www.learnersdictionary.com/audio?word=lin*ge*rie&file=linger05
I don't get this. Bennett's hair was grayer in 1953 than in 1960? It looks like that.
(sorry, my English is not perfect)
Hair dye, I would presume. . . not at all uncommon for folks appearing before the public. I doubt John Daly's hair was as naturally jet black as it appeared through 17 years of the show, either. :)
+vbacs22 He looked great with the lighter hair!
So is mine.
Your English is perfect. Good job.
Barbara Kelly doesn’t seem to have a strong English accent, I wonder if she was brought up there?
Fantastic performer! Enjoy: ruclips.net/video/YX5BUXhikys/видео.html His "Willie the Whale" where he did all the parts!
Dorothy opened up the show in her coronation gown and tiara, but then 2 minutes later when the first contestant came out she was wearing a different dress. You can tell the difference because the 2nd dress had lacy/fluffy shoulders. There doesn't appear to be a commercial break between the intros and the first contestant so I'm trying to figure out when she changed. If she ran off stage to change during the other intros she's a quick change artist as it was only about 2 minutes. Or did she just don some sort of lacy shawl to wear over the dress?
Good catch +Jeff Vaughn
She would have had time between when she sits back down and the camera turns back to Steve and when John sends the first challenger to the walk of shame. Quite frankly, it depends upon the length of the commercial (I would guess about 60 secs) as well as the other time allotted, but also upon the two dresses involved and how far Dorothy would have to walk to get to a private spot to make the change. With the help of a wardrobe mistress, the first dress could probably be unzipped in the back and fall to Dorothy's feet, which she could step out of fairly easily with some help. Then either step into another dress or put it on over her head (again something loose fitting and preferably sleeveless) through a shawl over her if necessary, deal with any stray hairs and poof, she's back in her seat.
But yes, if there was too big a chance she would miss her cue, they could simply take off her crown and throw on a shawl. One thing was for sure, all those jewels in the tiara and the pearls were throwing lots of points of light at the camera.
Having just watched it again, that might be the reason that Steve Allen made a joke about Dorothy "taking off" to Fort Knox after the show. It would be a play on Dorothy taking off to go offstage and also on taking off her dress. It could be a coincidence as the joke is funny on his own, but that's the way Steve's mind worked.
I hadn't noticed so I watched the first parts several times. It LOOKS like she took off the tiara and had some sort of "addition" like a thin fabric "shawl" (sorry, not a fashion expert here) but the shoulder area of the dress LOOKS to be the same as before.
Bruce Alvarez
You could very well be right. I hadn't really looked past the shawl and it does look like it could be the same dress under it which would make much more sense than her doing some sort of quick change act while the show was going on. Thanks for the insight!
That walking in front of the panel was so ridiculous. I’m glad they got rid of that silly portion of the show.
How much is $50 in today’s money?
About $700
@@keithhyttinen8275$50 was a weeks pay, or a house payment 😊
Not a trace of an accent on Barbara Kelly.
@Wayne Adams That's because she was born and raised in Canada.
@@savethetpc6406 LOL
Her accent is Canadian!
Out of curiosity, why do so many women refer to Cerf as being "so handsome?" Is this being polite, or along the lines of Arlene being "charming"? It's uncommon. Not my type so maybe I just don't see it, but for 15-plus years, I heard many women introduce him this way.
@Merrida100 Well, he was not a bad looking older man, in my opinion, but even you might agree that he was quite handsome as a young man. Here's a link to a photo of him in the mid-1930s with his first wife, actress Sylvia Sydney. I've seen even more attractive photos of Bennett as a young man, but this was the best that today's Google search provided. See what you think. :-) www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bennett-cerf-and-his-wife-actress-sylvia-sidney-whose-next-news-photo/526891846?adppopup=true
I think they are being polite. And they probably wanted to be invited to his swanky dinner parties that all the celebrities attended.
Arlene was charming. And beautiful
People were nice to each other back then. That's long gone.
Bennett has a gorgeous smile. Maybe that's it.
lift operator.
i beg your pardon.
two nations separated by a common language.
Seperated by Americans ruining the English language.
@@hypolyxa7207 - we fixed it.
It was one of the reasons why we left.
First thing we did was write a dictionary with the correct spellings and pronunciations.
I have always been charmed by those differences!
I never liked the looking at the hands bit.
Rough hands meant a labor intensive job 😊
Although a little wooden on the screen, Nelson demonstrated he was very personable and funny in-person.
Corset.
How unfortunate for Britain that Arlene Francis is appearing on What's My Line version in England!
She probably ruined the Coronation.
Goodson and Toddman were sure cheapskates with the “prizes”
Actually in those days $50 was a weeks pay. Or house payment 😊
Isn't a corset something like a full slip? why wouldn't it be part of the Brazzer family? She didn't say was it a Bra, she just said was it part of the brazzer family. Why wouldn't it be?
No a completely different item!!😮
Steve Allen wearing his glasses over his mask had already worn out its welcome. Snore!
Just a quibble, and thecfurstbcontestant should hVe know: goats are more vlosekybrekated tonsherpmthan to cattle.
You need to have your sentence edited: too many merged words.
6:40 John Daly really screwed up when he said that goats were in the "cattle family". He's been woefully inept on many other occasions, as we all know, but this is a new stretch.
+Robert Melson I guess he was thinking "cattle" means an animal you'd find on a farm? Yeah, John was REALLY terrible at biology!
Sarah Brandy Peters No, he wasn't. "Cattle" means members of the bovine family. "Livestock" is the term that would encompass the entire category of domesticated farm animals.
Bennet's question wasn't "would you put this in the 'livestock' family?" it was "would you put this in the cattle family?". Daly was wrong. Mrs. Sells or her heirs are owed $5 ;)
Bruce Alvarez
Yes! Let’s get working on that one!!
I figure she deserves interest, don’t you think? If we figure 6% annually compounded over 65 years, she’s currently owed $220.72
Of course, John consulted with her before declaring that goats were cattle; so it might be more her mistake than his. She was the one raising the damn things, she ought to know better than the moderator!
I looked it up regarding goats: "Members of the cattle family are even-toed hoofed mammals. They are also known as bovids. This group includes cattle, sheep and goats and their relatives, and antelopes.
At least Dorothy took off her tiara after modeling her dress for the audience. I wonder if it's because it was annoyingly sparkly for the TV cameras or because she realized that to wear it was pretentious and made her look ridiculous.
She also took off her dress. The dress she's wearing later in the show doesn't appear to be the same one she wore to the coronation and that she wore to open the show. Actually I can't quite figure out when she changed. She wore the coronation dress to open the show yet she's wearing a different dress when the first contestant comes out and there doesn't appear to be a commercial break in there. You can tell the difference because the 2nd dress has lacy/fluff shoulders to it and the coronation dress didn't. Or maybe she just donned some sort of lacy shawl to wear over the dress?
It was month of coronation. Very important event back in 1953. Try to go back in time.
Except for Dorothy's gown this was not an interesting program.
Would the panel always be this coldly blunt "are these animals eaten?" Come on Steve, there ARE other ways to phrase that question.
🙄
That woman who guessed nelson Eddy , look like her mask wasn't on good.
I miss Arlene, her replacement is rather cold.
I wish they could have kept Barbara Kelly and left the egotistical Arlene Frances in England.
Better yet, swap Dorothy for Barbara Kelly. Revenge for the King George abuses and War of 1812 Arlene is wonderful. Never noticed an egotistical trait or hubris concerning Arlene, but with her brains, beauty and personality it’s hard to conjure any degree of pride as being excessive.
Arlene's speaking voice annoyed me on many occasions.
I love all three of them. Trade Bennett for Barbara lol