What's My Line? - Cast of "Dinner at Eight"; PANEL: Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows (Sep 25, 1966)
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2015
- MYSTERY GUEST: Cast of "Dinner at Eight"
PANEL: Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Arlene Francis, 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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This show is one of the best things on You Tube.
because it was one of the best things on television, in an era that produced many fine shows
I'm so thankful for all these. My family has been watching, in order from the very beginning, one episode every night for well over a year now. Love every one of them!
what does that say about the state of affairs.... ain't nothin coming down the pike.
@@CherrySlush1 how wonderful!
Easily.
Jayne Meadows was an excellent guest panelists - one of the very best I've seen.
Arlene was the epitome of CLASS.
I am continually aware of how impressed I am with the high caliber of folks that grace this “stage.” Wow.
How elegant, how clever, how gracious these people are. Great roles models in any era.
Arlene is one of the most gracious ladies I have ever seen....absolutely beautiful.
She is. Always slim too.
I totally agree. I would have loved to have had her as a friend..
And i love that shewas born Arline Francis Kazanjian to an Armenian father and American mother.
@@sbalman Arlene was the best...
Gorgeous inside and out.
Only Steve Allen would come up with an idea that somebody might "letter a barber pole". Had me on the floor!
I just love Arlene - she's such a good player!
Wow! Jayne was good at this too!
And she used hubby's breadbox!
The window washer was adorable... so cute.
and with bobbed hair, like from the 1920s!
Gee, I could watch this show every night. Oh, that's right, I am. I think it's every bit as enjoyable to read the comments as it is to watch the show. Keep those comments coming! You contributors add so much to the overall experience.
Me too.
I watch several every day. Loved how Arlene introduced her "Dinner at Eight" cast.
I love Arlene's laugh. At 16:45, she just explodes at the irony of her own question.
Me too! ❤
Arlene was so gracious introducing her costars. And her gown was gorgeous.
Walter Pidgeon was a superb actor.
I LOVE how the men always stand up every time a woman comes by! Such chivalry!
Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows are such an amazing couple.
>
Jayne was an absolutely beautiful woman at that age. And had a great sense of humor.
@@robertsprouse9282 I saw some photos of her not over made up, not over-dressed and without the elaborate hair. She was a NATURAL beauty and it is a shame she didn't let it show.
@@poetcomic1
You just described Audrey...
Jayne without the makeup.
"Then it's Ajax the foaming cleanser." I love it!
Lololol
I discovered this program on this site, very entertaining, I have seen several and the charismatic and intelligent Dorothy Kilgallen is truly missed.
That cast of Dinner at 8 is pretty impressive.
Darren McGavin later starred on the cult TV series Kolchak, The Night Stalker. Classic movie star Walter Pidgeon was great in Forbidden Planet. The late Pamela Tiffin (passed away in Dec. 2020) was memorable in Harper (with Paul Newman).
When movie stars were TRUE stars. Such grace & respect.
21:25 Arlene looks stunning what a jaw dropping outfit she has on!
We've lost so many shining stars. This is like meeting with friends when you grow up seeing them.
Wow Jane meadows looks beautiful!!
Yes, in her 50's appearances she really got overly made up, but looks fantastic here with minimal makeup.
@@ernestbrown9660 I really loved Steve and Jayne. Such a Great Couple.
Arlene Francis had such a wonderful jolly way about her brilliant
Miss Meadows looks wonderful with her beautiful hair down. I'm used to seeing her with her hair up.
she is knockout beautiful. I remember these shows in the 60s and loved to feel I was learning with humor from people of integrity to me. thank you kindly 🐬
RIP Jayne Meadows. Long overdue condolences to the family :-(
they've been wondering why they hadn't heard from you
That was quite a star cast for Dinner at Eight!
I've only got to meet these actors recently....as being a very young fellow at the time in the late 50s & early 60s I usually was in bed when this show was on.....its like seeing these shows for the 1st time.... There's something pleasant about their demeanor and down to earth quality
I would have loved to have seen this show in person!
Absolutely brilliant show so entertaining I enjoy it so much lolx 😀❤😀
One of the best words to say on Arlene Franscis... class!!!!
I was only 11 years old when this episode of WML aired. I don't recall ever having seen an episode back then, but with good reason. It was on at 10:30 pm on a school night!
However, I did watch many of the talk and game shows that were on in the late afternoon and early evening back in the sixties. And I knew almost all of the panel members, as well as many of the mystery guests from either the movies or other TV shows from back then.
No matter what mood I'm in, whenever I watch an episode of WML, I almost always laugh out loud several times, and it just brightens up my day! I can't think of any other TV show that has aired during my lifetime that is consistently as jubilent and entertaining as WML.
It's been so great to have had the opportunity to watch these episodes, first on GSN a few years back, and now on RUclips.
Hopefully, this great show will continue to find an appreciative audience for many years to come.
I was born in '54. I was allowed to watch this show during the summer months when school was out. I received special dispensation from my parents to watch Star Trek, which showed at 8:00 pm on NBC, in the fall of '66. I love Dinner at Eight. Watched the movie several times. I wish I could get in a time machine to go back to see Arlene and gang perform on Broadway.
Me too!
I was younger than that, when I was allowed to stay up late just to watch this show. Lucky me!
I was a window washer for over 30 years.
Mainly residential... but great views of Puget Sound.
They needed their windows washed !
June Havoc!
"My name's Dainty June! What's yours?"
As a southpaw myself, I would hazard a guess that the window washer wrote her name vertically so as to not smear the chalk with her hand.
That makes a lot of sense. I'm ambidextrous, but my penmanship is better left-handed. I have had a problem with smearing my writing or I would get ink on my hand. Lol. If I'm in a hurry, I'll write right-handed.
Leonardo da Vinci was left-handed and wrote from right to left, with each letter reversed, in a script that is most easily read with a mirror. Nobody knows why he did it, but some scholars (e.g., Frank Zollner) believe he wrote that way to avoid smearing the ink.
I wondered why she did that. That wouldn’t have occurred to me, but I’m also not a southpaw
Edna Ferber, who died a couple of years later, was something of an industry to herself. Anybody who wrote both "Showboat," "So Big," "Dinner at 8," and "Giant" cannot be all bad. She was active practically to the end.
I loved the way that Bennett Cerf showed off his knowledge of two words that aren't used very often. I agree that John Daly is loquacious, but he doesn't use a lot of gobbledygook when he speaks. I always enjoy the puns that the panel and John Daly use. Lol. They can really be wags! Yes, the word "wag" can be used as a noun.
One of my greatest laments is the almost complete lack of wit in everyday life for most people. For decades now, the apparent epitome of humor and "wit" is a facility for profanity. While I realize the greater one's education, especially in languages, the better ones ability to "play with words", and many do not have the advantage of being well educated, but still...As Cyrano decided Bergerac said, " Oh, sir, but what you could have said!" We may not be able to reach Banner Fred's level of erudition, but we can at least try.
I don't remember ever seeing Jayne Meadows so young! She was a television perennial for decades.
Jane Meadows was born in 1919, so in 1966 she was 47.
Arlene 's Broadway revival of the comedy Dinner at Eight by George Kaufman and Edna Ferber performed for near four months, closing in January 1967. The large, illustrious cast, in addition to Ms. Francis, included Walter Pidgeon, June Havoc, Pamela Tiffin, Darren McGavin, Jeffrey Lynn, Blanche Yurka and Ruth Ford. Arlene has the showy role of Carlotta Vance, a fading actress/star played by the great Marie Dressler in the 1933 film classic.
Darren McGavin went on to star as Ralphie Parker's father in one of all-time great holiday films, "A Christmas Story"!
I know the movie well and have to identify the characters by the actors who played them. Arlene Francis's role was perhaps the juiciest. Walter Pidgeon got Lionel Barrymore's part as Oliver. Darren McGavin got John Barrymore's part as the suicidal has-been, Larry Renault. I would've loved to see the play.
According to some of the very early episodes of WML, Bennett had published an earlier unabridged dictionary and seems to have published a new one in 1966. At 260,000 words, English has the most words of any language. It is an incredible language and was very fortunate in its development to be the language of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and to have been the subject of the dictionary by Dr. Samuel Johnson. All of those words mean that there are more rhyming words in English. And it allows shades of meaning and versatility not available in other languages. For instance, one of the greatest works of literature in any language is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude." That work was translated into English by Gregory Rabassa. The translation was so good that Garcia Marquez stated that when he went back to re-read the book, he preferred Rabassa's English translation to his own original Spanish. Obviously that meant that Rabassa was an excellent translator. But I don't think any other language than English would permit something to be "gained in translation,." especially given how great was the original Spanish. (Rabassa also translated sentence by sentence as he went along, not having read the book before he started translating).
Well stated and interesting facts.
Samuel Johnson's dictionary was one of the greatest intellectual achievements ever. In a 7 year period, he read virtually everything that had ever been written in English, deduced definitions (often many finely distinguished definitions for a single word), and organized the whole work into an alphabetical dictionary. I visited his house in London many times in the 1990s. Once was enough to gain an understanding and appreciation of the place, but fascination with it kept pulling me back. I was lucky enough to find a facsimile edition of his dictionary in a quaint little bookshop just around the corner from his house. It is one of my prized possessions.
I also had a copy of Bennett's "American College Dictionary", which was my graduation gift when I finished high school in 1969. It was not nearly as highly valued as Dr. Johnson's, so it fell by the wayside somewhere between then and now.
June Havoc, whom Arlene introduces, is the real life sister of the real Gypsy Rose Lee
Read her autobio. She was astonishing. Did WHATEVER she had to do to survive even marathon dancing.
Cool. Gypsy had class
Loved watching this show Sunday nights growing up..
I'm so lucky to have been born in time to watch this show throughout its entire run, every Sunday night.
"Dinner At Eight" opened September 27, 1966 at the Alvin Theatre. Closed January 14, 1967 after 127 performances.
Joe Postove Mindy Carson (born: 7/16/1927) and Pamela Tiffin (born: 10/13/1942) are the only cast members still alive.
***** Yes, in 2002. Opened December 19, 2002 (after 28 previews), closed January 26, 2003 after 45 performances.
Joe Postove
I believe it was a limited run at Lincoln Center Theater. The movie is still wonderful.
***** There were two: One in 1933 with Jean Harlow,and one for television in 1989 with Lauren Bacall.
And six days after the play closed, on Friday evening, 20 January 1967, an outstanding (and long-lived) new production of Benjamin Britten's PETER GRIMES opened at the Metropolitan Opera, staged by Sir Tyrone Guthrie (who staged this revival of DINNER AT EIGHT) and designed (sets and costumes both) by Tanya Moiseiwitsch. Conducted by Colin Davis, and featuring Jon Vickers, Lucine Amara, Geraint Evans, Jean Madeira, Lili Chookasian, Paul Franke, Robert Schmorr, Norman Scott, Gene Boucher, and Raymond Michalski in the cast. This production was, far and away, the most successful production of a modern opera in Sir Rudolf Bing's 22-year tenure as General Manager of the Met - and it was still in use at the Met 31 years later.
It was this production which truly sold U.S. audiences on the great worth of this wonderful opera, far and away Britten's greatest - and Jon Vickers did an outstanding job as Peter Grimes hither, thither, and yon (including Chicago, San Francisco, London, and Houston as well as the Met) for the next 17 years.
Love Jayne's laugh!
The comments here are fabulous. So erudite and helpful. They eally contribute to the enjoyment of watching the WML videos.
I like how Jayne Meadows had her hair done in this one.
The dress was a LITTLE bit much but for once she is not too overdone with makeup and hair.
Somehow, to me at least, she looks more like Audrey with her hair like that.
+poetcomic1
Similar to Phyllis Newman the week before, it appears that Jayne was going with a very modern style in part to make good use of the advent of color telecasts of the program.
@gcjerryusc Her weight is just fine.
WML is a nice program, and I started watching these many years ago back when I had gsn. Nice to have seen the entire b&w era again. I remember being somewhat disappointed when I found out that these 1966-67 eps werent saved in color. It's too bad that people aren't more interested in trying to colorize this stuff. I know how rare it is to see Mr Daly in color.
I love John's face reactions 💖💯...
Arlene’s charm is irresistible to me.
"Dinner at 8" had a pretty good runs both in 1932 and in 1966. I would not judge the play "Dinner at 8" based on the 1933 film adaption, because the Ferber-Kaufman script got somewhat worked over for the film adaption. In fact that famous last coda between Jean Harlow (Pamela Tiffin character) and Marie Dressler (Arlene Francis character much more glamourous) was written by Donald Ogden Stewart for the movie. It would be interesting to know if the 1966 revival put that finale in the play somehow.
Men standing when women stand❤️
that was always an awkward pain in the neck ... glad it's passe' now
@21:20 both Steve and Bennett stand when Arlene stands - they know to stand when a lady stands - such class.
I like Janes Long hair and her good looks too. I didn't look to see what she did but I got it right that she was a window washer.
Although he was not on this show, one of her costars in Dinner at Eight was future Days of Our Lives Villan Joseph Mascolo (Stefano DiMera)
Love seeing Darrin McGavin.
Bumpuses!!!
Steve and Jayne must have been sore at each other, they took some subtle shots at each other there. This was a great episode, thank you 🙏
Not a foul word the panel and host are like a BIG happy family the manners people had then the upmost respect for everyone .
Amen to that. I also appreciate the fact that contestants didn't win lots of cash or a new car or a trip to the Riviera! Today's game shows are so much different.
Arlene's little nose twitch when she and Steve look at each other, LOL.
G-T should have sprung for at least a half dozen color videotapes for the archive; this episode should have definitely been preserved on color videotape. I bet the gowns were stunning.
soulierinvestments And look at the lips of Jayne Meadows. I'm sure they were colored red in order to go with the new color technology.
I'm betting that Arlene wore yellow.
soulierinvestments ...videotapes from that time are VERY rare, and are mostly deteriorated beyond usefulness. What we see are mainly Kinescopes, films of television monitors.
It would be nice if there were a contestant who grew dandelions.Bennet Cerf would have a field day.
Both of the Meadows sisters...
Goodness...
Please explain?
I just love them - my favorite panel members and of course moderator - but I really miss Dorothy.
Dorothy really made the show.
Yes she did. I watch the episodes after the dreaded "perp walk" and before she was murdered.
And of course I loved Arlene. She was really gracious to the mystery guests. But so funny!
Shirley Rombough Yes, Arlene was also good and so witty!
OMG. Prell. Shampoo!!!! Geez do I remember THAT stuff. Lol......boy , do I MISS this show!!!
One of my favorite shows and wish it was on DVD
This was a great show - I don't know if the US version was shown in the United Kingdom, (there was of course a British version), but it certainly should have been if it wasn't. If only television were as good as this nowadays. A simple format, probably not very expensive to do, but it worked.
Sorry for the late reply, but I do know that the UK host Eamonn Andrews appeared on the panel of this version a few times. He even filled in as the moderator in place of John Charles Daly for one episode in 1959.
I love the gowns!
Binge watching is my problem and I forget to comment! Great thanks!
It seems with the 1st contestant Jayne was the reincarnation of Dorothy(compliment)
According to an interview I saw with Jayne Meadows, although her parents were missionaries, many of her relatives were attorneys. She believed that she inherited their aptitude for the field and that helped her be a skilled panelist on IGAS and occasionally when she appeared on WML.
Steve Allen was also a very intelligent person and I have to surmise that Jayne's intelligence was part of the attraction for him.
Another episode that originally aired in color. See an episode of WML from the 1965-66 TV Season, followed by an episode from the 1966-67 TV Season and you can see the difference of the kinescope film for each episode..
Classic!❤️
Bennett looks damn good here for a 68 year old in 1966.
Did he have a regular exercise and/or diet regimen?
Arlene was always G R E A T..... FOREVER MISSED😢🙏❤️
Johnny Olson is the show's announcer.
Of the stars of "Dinner At Eight" on stage tonight Mindy Carson and Pamela Tiffin are still alive.
now it's 2024 and only Mindy Carson survives and she's nearing 100!
I didn't catch the name of the last woman Arlene introduced from the cast of Dinner At Eight -- a short-haired, youngish brunette. Jeffrey Lynn can be seen (as Ashley) with Joan Bennett, Paulette Goddard and other actresses in screen tests for Scarlett in GWTW. Blanche Yurka played Madame DeFarge in "A Tale Of Two Cities" in the 1930's. I think Donald Woods and Ronald Coleman were the stars. Pamela Tiffin starred with Arlene in "One Two Three" in 1961, a very funny Billy Wilder satire on the Cold War. She also starred with Laurence Harvey and Geraldine Page in "Summer and Smoke" in 1961.
The first guest made powder puffs. I haven't seen one in years. We always had them in the powder container when I was growing up. I wonder if they still make powder puffs??
I've seen them, but I am old - girlfriends.
I would have loved to go shopping with Mrs. Crowell just to see the look on the faces of the clerks when she wrote out a check or signed the credit card slip to pay for her purchases.
Look how well the cast
Dressed up...
Yes, gowns and tuxes!
This show was I think..a watershed show, a turning point for TV because there has not, and there wasn't before, been a show where the respect reflected, whether actually held or not..who knows?..but the respect reflected toward every single person on the show including the non-celebs, showed just how attitudes were back then..in public, if not necessarily in private.
Since, and before, there has been no other program like it.
And, I think we're all the more lacking because no one really anymore, well..I should rephrase that, not many anymore, based on observation of the culture and the society through all sorts of methods and media/info. portals, that I consume, show public respect to others in general anymore, and I am just referring to respect of people as people, not respect as it would be toward people of accomplishment, or people that you love.
And, I am not trying to say that a TV show should be put up on some greater pedestal, but for whatever reason, WML reflected that value system, and I am sure that the general public attitudes most of the time, not all, but most, then, were the genesis of that vibe portrayed by the show.
It was truly a watershed, crossroads show because it would not take long before being friendly toward strangers in public, or toward people you know, was considered archaic, the stuff of naivete', with openly displayed distrust, no longer considered a taboo.
And, I think people yearn for that showing of respect, and folks of all ages, love WML, because they just want to see it on display, no matter when it happened.
There is no question innocence has been lost, and I am not speaking of foolish innocence, rather, benefit of the doubt, non-cynical innocence toward our fellow humans aa a whole.
And, as we grow more cynical, we slither back closer to our reason vacating and lacking, animal roots..and we are not the better for it.
That's my take on it.
Arlene was asked to introduce the cast of "Dinner at Eight" to the audience and the panel. Then Bennett told her to stand up and get a bow for herself. Nice of him! 23:42
Nice touch. Bennett was a classy guy.
Joe Postove Yes, you can say a lot of Bennett but he often paid honour to whom honour was due.
Joe Postove
Yes, sometimes he is surprising
Did you notice that when Arlene stood up to go introduce her fellow cast members who were the mystery guests, Bennett and Steve stood up, too, and then sat down once Arlene had left the panel desk. They certainly had manners -- the same rule that once said that gentlemen at the dinner table stood up when one of the ladies took her leave.
ToddSF 94109 They did it without thinking, it was a natural response. I have never seen a man stand up when a woman has entered a room or left a table. Even I haven't ever done that. If I would have done that today people would have thought it was something wrong with me...
Arlene Francis and John Charles Daly mentioned the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, which was first published in 1966. I have never seen this dictionary on the dictionary stand in any public or academic library. That place always went to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, published in 1961 (If the library had a copy of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary, it stayed on the shelf). The Random House dictionary had 315,000 entries, while the Webster dictionary had 476,000 entries. Webster's judgments about words, such as whether or not they were colloquial, were controversial because they were influential. I don't think the Random House dictionary has ever had nearly as much influence.
Yeah I was thinking the lady window washer wrote her name sideways so it could be squeegeed off.
Wow Ruth Ford lived till 98! And Mindy Carson is still alive at 90!
freeze at 5:53, 5:49, 6:24, 7:37, 7:55, 9:16 -- with the advent of the new cameras, the director can get fairly close shots of the panel with their name plates not only visible but readable. During most of the 1960s, the name plates in close up showed up only once in a great while.
I'm thinking that when "WML?" moved from Studio 52 to the color-equipped Studio 50/Ed Sullivan Theater, they might have added a camera for those "two-shots".
Also added: a closeup of the contestant's face when introduced.
I would've liked to shake Bennett Cerf's hand to congratulate him for completing his unabridged dictionary and say "may I wish you the most suphiculous of fortunes with it."
What does "suphiculous" mean?
Very humbling and a good idea to have had contestants who performed such humble professions as window washing - quite the opposite of the privileged celebrities of their day.
I will say that they always treated everyone with respect by shaking their hands and the men standing up, etc.
Arlene Francis was so smart. Period I believe she got Alzheimer’s at some point or some sort of dementia.
Darrin McGavin was the dad in 'The Christmas Story'
This show was great because of John Charles Daly. He didn't allow them to turn it in to a sponsored segment, or dumb it down, while he was on. He straight up told them he would leave if they inserted another sponsor. After him they learned not to let one man become so beloved that he could call the shots
I can't BELIEVE that Arlene played Carlotta Vance in Dinner at Eight. I thought for sure she would be in the Billie Burke role. But if you can find some stills she plays the 'old broad' with lusty gusto.
I love Bennett Cerf! To me he is sexy because he is so intelligent!!💓💟
Annoying how he consistently spoiled the game with his insider knowledge and need to demonstrate his intellect.
I met Bennett once, back in the 60s, and had a lengthy conversation with him. Extremely intelligent and a total gentleman. And very funny.
Wow! Pamela Tiffin was quite beautiful and talented.
Just to think, less than 3 years after this show NASA [with all of its great technology] went to the Moon and back! However, today (over half of a century later with thousands of times more advanced technology) they just don't have the technology to repeat their amazing journey again.
Jayne Meadows absolutely stunningly beautiful. Steve Allen was a most lucky man.
She lived to 95 or 96. Born 1919, croaked 2015.
Miss ........ Dorothy😢
Blanche Yurka made few films but she was a terrific Madame DE Farge in the 1930s Tale of Two Cities
Pamela Tiffin was stunning.
I looked up the cast of the play. What were they thinking? I expected Arlene to be the society hostess wife, Mrs. Jordan, the role played by Billie Burke in the 1933 film. No, they cast her as Carlotta Vance, the Marie Dressler role, the aging impoverished actress. Wouldn't Blanche Yurka have been the obvious choice for that? I don't get it. Walter Kerr in the Times listed Arlene among the "obviously agreeable performers hired for the wrong occasion" in his review, so he may have had similar thoughts.
Neil Midkiff Arlene never got the recontion that she should have gotten she did all parts no matter what they were. But the big wigs didn't really like her. Even tho she was a house hold name from TV What My Line and other game shows in the 50s&60s. She was very good on game shows.
Get outta here! I ASSUMED that Blanche Yurka was Carlotta Vance and Arlene the society wife as well. Surely Pamela Tiffin played the Jean Harlow role.
Arlene looked really pretty here.
Since when did a Powder Puff itself become considered "makeup"?? A Powder Puff is an object. What's on the Powder Puff is makeup. You wouldn't call a paint brush a form or type of paint. I think had the panel not had been misled, they may have had a better chance of solving the first guest's line.
Neither John nor the challenger ever said that it was makeup. All they said was that it was applied to the face and that it was in the cosmetics line (i.e. one would buy it in the cosmetics department of a store). The panelists assumed that it was makeup and continued to do so even after Steve asked if it was makeup and the answer was "no". (6:50)
Jeffrey Lynn was a serious contender for the part of Ashley Wilkes in "Gone with the Wind".
He was very personable in his Warner Brothers movies of the 1940s but I hadn't seen him older than he was in "A Letter to Three Wives," where he was the husband who had the affair. He lived almost another 30 years after this show but he aged considerably between 1949 and 1966.
@@preppysocks209 so did everyone else!
@@Marcel_Audubon Arelene aged a lot better!
Blanche Yurka was 75 when this was filmed.