I, for one, totally agree. I'm a lifelong fan of Fred Allen for his writing and his radio work, but my favorite comic panelist on WML was, by far, Steve.
Me, too. Steve Allen was bright, played the game well, asked good questions, and was funny and witty. I love people who are funny because they are witty -- smart and funny is a great combination. Only Steve Allen could have come up with "Is it bigger than a breadbox?", which is both funny and alliterative. It became a cultural reference and still is to this day, at least among older folks like me. In fact, one reason to watch Steve Allen hosting a talk show or appearing as a guest on one was his ability to say funny and witty things, or even sing them while playing the piano.
I think its fasinating to see people like Ida Canter, eddy s wife, she was so sweet, funny and natural..I just love it......I adore this amazing show from the 1950's, it was almost like being in another world watching this, I wish people today were as kind and caring about each other as this show portrays..☺
I agree completely, and really identify with What's My Line. The way they speak and act towards each other, the clothing styles, even the way the contestants present themselves. They all have that healthy walk with the erect posture and proper arm swing. They are so much more attractive and well balanced than what you would see now.
Watching Steve Allen go down the garden path with wrong questions and looking over at the audience which continues to laugh more and more may very well be what I look forward to the most in this show.
I've always thought this was staged a little bit--not that Steve knew the answers, but I think he was given some clues as to what to ask for the humor of it. It happens all too often, not to be a bit suspicious along this line. It was forgivable, because it enhanced the entertainment without actually "cheating." A little of this seems to have occurred with Hal Block, too. The girls and Bennett never do this.
14:35- Steve Allen had the first distinctive laugh on TV that could make anyone laugh. Steve Allen and Johnny Carson's laugh could make people laugh anytime.
I don't really feel jobs have changed that much. What I think would be true is that many of the jobs where people were self employed in the shows have become commercialized, especially in the areas of services and manufacturing.
Not really. They wanted to raise the amount of the prizes to match other game shows later on and he wouldn't allow it! Threatened to quit if they raised the amount. He didn't want the game to be polluted with the prize becoming the focus. No, he was not being a good guy at all. He liked the power of giving when he felt like i.
@@maryblushes7189 If that's what you need to believe.. then have at it. However, Someone must have liked the idea because long after Daly was gone and the show rebooted in color, in the 70's... The prize money remained exactly the same.
@@princeharming8963 you should watch bennet cerf remembering... you would learn a lot about what went on. It is still my favorite game, but these people did have some flaws.
Ida Cantor, prior to watching this episode of WML, was completely unknown to me. One thing I find interesting in watching all these episodes of WML is when there's a mystery guest, on a very rare occasion, that is unknown to me.
+ToddSF 94109 There is nothing unusual about Ida Cantor being unknown to you because she wasn't a celebrity at all other than being Eddie Cantor's wife and the fact that Eddie used his wife and their five daughters as part of his shtick. (He usually referred to them as his five unmarriageable daughters, something which didn't always sit well with them.) Until I saw her name superimposed over her signature (one of the times you can see that they use what is known as an open-face letter board to create the graphics that are superimposed), I didn't know if Ida was sister, wife or daughter.
ToddSF 94109 Before I watch each new show, I love looking up each MG, whether I know of them or not. If they are known to me, I get to learn new things about the person or persons. And of course if they are unknown to me, I get the fun of "meeting" them for the first time!
Dorothy was amazing. She was responsible for guessing all three of the regular guests, even if she doesn’t get the official credit for the first guest.
My all-time favorite quiz show and what differentiates it from others is the audience that plays an integral part of the puzzle. If the audience made no noise at all, the panelists would have a lot more difficult time guessing. All love to all, -Al
what made this show so great aside from the historical aspect is the audience creating the joke... the dog collar inquiry was hilarious, oh how times have changed, arlene at 13:04. but the questioning prior by steve allen 10:59 might suggest something else...
I love What's My Line? and so much about the time that it's from. But one thing that I prefer about the 2020s is how much more social freedom, legal freedom, workplace freedom, and familial freedom, people now have to wear what they want to wear. We haven't yet reached the ideal, and I love fashions from so many times besides our own; but things are better now than they were seventy years ago. I remember being about six or seven years old in the mid 1980s and seeing a young woman shopping in a supermarket wearing what looked like a black dog collar. It fascinated me. More than thirty years later, I still admire her for her boldness: she made her own contribution to enhancing freedom for all of us.
Sometimes, when watching these 'older' shows, I feel somewhat cheated that I wasn't around to enjoy them when they were new. But, then I realize that 1961 wasn't such a bad year.
@@kathyodom5372 Cold war, fallout shelters everywhere including back yards, the red menace, duck and cover, segregation, lynchings, etc. But there were good things, too. It's always that way.
In regard to a comment which I saw on this page before I logged in but which I cannot see now: Probably many people come to watch these What's My Line? programs because they offer clean fun, one might even say wholesome entertainment, that seems so lacking in the world today. Might it not be nice to try to think of ways of adding value to that cleanness rather than seeking any and every opportunity to detract from it? Just a thought.
I hate to be obvious but romeman01 writes “wholesome entertainment....lacking in the world today,” but that can’t be correct. Assuming NEW wholesome entertainment is unavailable, we can still enjoy these older, wholesome programs. In fact, going a step further, the availability of older wholesome programs at negligible cost, is a disincentive to produce new wholesome programs. Why compete with WML, if WML is freely available.
When Bennett was interviewed, after the show was cancelled, he complained that Dorothy often asked question after question to prolong her time in the spotlight, even though the answer had become abundantly clear. I see what he means when she questions the dog collar man.
Yes, doing it to a degree is fine to make sure you in fact have the right product, but I almost felt like John was going to yell, "Just say a collar!" at the end.
Yes, she just wasted 2 minutes from 14:11 where she could have just asked obvious question whether it was a leash or collar.. Sometimes she can be so irritating. . I was shouting ask if it is a collar. So much for beating around the bush.
This is the first time that Bennett includes "Croghan" in introducing John. He mispronounces it as Cro-gan. John corrects him in later episodes, telling him that it is pronounced Crow-an. To add an additional bit of confusion, in a novel that I'm reading there is an Englishman whose last name is Croghan, and he tells people that it is pronounced Crawn.
Arlene and Dorothy didn't usually stand for women unless they were particularly distinguished guests, like Eleanor Roosevelt. Perhaps Mrs. Cantor preferred the ladies not to stand as doing so might make her look or feel more like a "little old lady" than she wished.
Pretty sure no one knew her by sight (in the audience) but Eddie never stopped talking about her on the radio, so she was well known. They had five daughters, who provided comic fodder for Cantor's longtime running gag, especially on radio, about his five unmarriageable daughters. My Mom always preferred Cantor to Jack Benny. Oh, well. But I think in his prime, in vaudeville and in the early days of radio in the 30's, he was a bigger star than Jack.
Cantor and Benny were pretty comparably "big". Eddie did a lot more legitimate Broadway productions than Jack, who was primarily a vaudeville star and emcee. I don't know exactly when Jack's radio show started taking first place in the national ratings, but I believe by 1934 or 1935 he was already at the top of the heap and pretty much stayed there (with one low point around WWII). Cantor, on the other hand, faltered a number of times after his early radio success. There's a story which I'm hazy on that Jack was instrumental in helping Eddie get his show back on the air after one of his cancellations.
What's My Line? At the 1939 New York World's Fair, Cantor publicly denounced anti-Semitic radio personality Father Charles Coughlin and was dropped by his sponsor, Camel cigarettes. A year and a half later, Benny was able to get him back on the air. Cantor was less shy about his Jewishness than Jack Benny and George Burns, but I have only listened to a handful of his shows. He really seemed to always be a vaudeville act and never really matured the way Jack and George and many other stage stars did in radio. By the way, if you have ever seen the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" about organized crime in Atlantic City, you'll see a fictionalized Cantor in a handful of the shows, which intimate that he was involved with gangsters.
Miss Woodbury and Miss Flory (a guest in a previous episode) could pass for sister. They are both soft spoken and have the same smile. 😌😃 Miss Flory was on the same episode as Jackie Gleason. Be well, stay kind and blessings to all ~
Starting at 14:00, a prime example of Dorothy at her screen hogging, time wasting worst. She *clearly* has "dog collar" (or leash) in mind already, but it takes her a full *2 minutes* to just come out and ask the danged question. This type of behavior on her part was said to have annoyed Arlene considerably, and I don't blame her for being annoyed. To be fair, I've noticed that Dorothy did this a lot less as the series went along, hardly at all in the 1960s.
I'll bet she got a good talking to! Dorothy demeaned herself a little bit by going through that contortionist routine when, as you say, Gary, she had the answer. Who does she think she is anyway, John Daly? Besides, if I was a viewer I would be flipping around by now...hey wait a minute. I AM a viewer!
Joe Postove I've often wondered if the reason Dorothy didn't do this as much as the series went on was specifically because she was talked to about it, either by the producers or Arlene or John, someone. She did it *all the time* in the '50s, when she was much more "together", so to speak, than she was in the '60s!
What's My Line? As I mentioned else where besides causing the other panelists frustration, it was bad TV. I'll bet they finally told her to just cut it out!
The way John said "Mr. _Plummer,"_ then cleared his throat, and asked the panel if they got that, I expected Mr. Plummer would have been from Flushing.
Was the radio series live (lots of radio was on tape by 1953) and I wonder if all of the elements of the show were the same for radio as they were for television. Too bad all but one seems to be lost. They gotta be somewhere!
No, the radio series was not live. I doubt *all* of the discs survive, but I'm confident that there are a lot more surviving shows than just the one. The question is who has them and whether they'll turn up.
The audience laughs when Steve asks if Ida was a "producer" of any kind because she had five girls. Eddie Cantor had a popular radio show and guest starred on just about everyone else's radio show and the running joke throughout his radio career is how he wanted to marry his daughters off. Ida often appeared on those radio shows with her husband in small accompanying parts.
I only have the one copy of this episode from epaddon, so I don't know. I would presume since this is a film splice that this is the condition of the film and therefore the way it's always been aired.
Didn't we have a "dog collarist" just a program or so ago (in our time of course)? Is there a list in Fates book or anywhere of the lines of the contestants who appeared on the show? I think that would cast a lot of light on whether or not GT was also in the dog collar or lady wrestling business. Actually it would be veeeeery interesting.
Joe Postove Gil Fates making such a list in his book? That would be a producers fall from the top.. There were too many cow washers, lady wrestlers, truant officers and tax collectors to make it funny, even as a Post Memorial to a show. No, Joey! We have to do the dirty job ourselves! You start, and when you have made a list from the first half of Gary's playlists, I'll it take over from there ;D
This page game.shows.angelfire.com/whats_my_line.html has a brief summary of most of the What's My Line? episodes of the John Daly era. It is particularly useful for the purposes that you mention: a brief resume of the content of each episode. Of course it only speaks of those episodes for which kinescopes survived and were in the hands of the author of the page, so it is not a complete summary of every episode.
SuperWinterborn SW, romeman01 source (above) looks pretty promising. I hate to do extra work when someone can do it for me. But it looks like a project, huh?
You could see how steamed Bennett was getting, and rightfully so, with Dorothy's excessive and unnecessary length of questions about the dog collar. She knew, everyone knew, but she had to have more screen time. She tries to stretch every question out and ask them in different ways just to keep the camera on her. Bennett was visibly irked with her.
Interesting John did not provide the time to watch the following week's TV show. Not sure if this was on purpose or was an oversight, as the time changed to savings time in New York the following week - apparently, at that time, only some US locations had savings time.
This is at least the second pogo stick maker that was a guest … Who knew?! Funny also about human beings not wearing dog collars … how times have changed!
I can't help thinking of Dorothy Sayers' novel "Gaudy Night" in which the students and masters of a women's college at Oxford are being menaced by an attacker whose attempts include strangulation. Lord Peter Wimsey buys Harriet Vane a heavy leather dog collar to wear when out at night detecting, as a protection against the strangler.
Why has the previous show no.50 been blocked? Crazy, thoughtless and inconsiderate. These shows are an important part of TV history enjoyed by thousands! KAN 12.19 UK
On the pogo stick, Dorothy asked if it was small enough to hold in her hand, and the answer was no. I would question that answer. I had a pogo stick long time ago, and I could pick it up and hold it in my hand, so why couldn't she?
They were inconsistent as to how they defined that. Sometimes they used it for anything that could be carried, and sometimes only for things that fit entirely in the hand. At least that's the impression I got. Could be wrong.
Funny how Daly always asks a blindfolded panel if all blindfolds are in place when the panel, being blindfolded, cannot see if they're all in place...and with Daly being the only one unblindfolded and, thus, the only one who CAN see...yet, as I said, asks the ones who cannot see if all blindfolds are in place!
They usually knew who the mystery guest was very quickly and had to prolong the suspense so as not to leave John with too much time to fill. Dorothy always wanted to be the one to name the guest and Bennett loved face time most.
wholeNwon So far I'm finding mostly John runs out of time and has to deny the last guest a proper game. I think if anything they inadvertently overrun rather than intentionally prolong the mystery guest.
Dorothy was close with hush puppies re the man who made dog collars. Hush puppies are shoes in the UK. The food seems to be the same as corn fritters are in the UK. EDIT Cerf seemed to think the very slim & elegant lady window cleaner was Bawston Brahmin😂 & was gushing at her. He even still looked cross at the end that he was so mistaken by his own snobbery. She obviousky was born With Class & not just Into it.
I have enjoyed these programs since childhood in the 50s, but it is rather sad that none of Dorothy's friends ever questioned her death or the bogus coroner's report, which was controlled at the time by the mafia.
Today's RUclips Rerun for 10/6/15: Watch along and join the discussion! This episode features Dorothy at her screen hogging, time wasting worst in round two. ----------------------------- Join our Facebook group for WML-- great discussions, photos, etc, and great people! facebook.com/groups/728471287199862/ Please click here to subscribe to the WML channel if you haven't already-- you'll find the complete CBS series already posted, and you'll be able to follow along the discussions on the weekday "rerun" videos: ruclips.net/channel/UChPE75Fvvl1HmdAsO7Nzb8w
Years later in syndication, a product was presented to the panel disassembled. Arlene solved all by herself that it was an inflatable pogo stick. One of the most dangerous objects ever demonstrated on WML.
I love the Panelists, however, I do call ‘Foul’ on them at 8:20 on holding an ‘unauthorized conference’ during Mr. Daly and Mr. Parker’s conference- - Especially after Mr. Daly had just ‘reprimanded’ Mrs. Kilgallen and Mr. Allen of exactly that at 7:30. I would have thought Mr. Daly would have flipped over a few more cards, if not given Mr. Parker the whole prize once he had a second to think about what the panel had done. I’m sure, in that moment, everyone may have thought Arlenes comment was funny and what the panel had done was ‘cute’, but as Mr. Parker comes to realize what was done, his facial expressions changed noticeably. 🤔🤨🙃 Be well, stay kind and blessings to all ~
At present I'm not seeing any direct answer, so I'll note that Bennett was born and raised in New York City. There are a few "east coast" speech markers that are common to New York City and Boston, which may be what you are noticing, but there are at least as many differences in accent. Actually Arlene is the Bostonian on this panel, and John Daly's family was also from Boston, although he was born in South Africa while his father was working there as a geologist.
I really ruined myself for this show. I wish I wouldn't have the read the "behind the scenes" info about this show. It is well known that Steve Allen (and before him, Hal Block) were actually FED questions to ask. They weren't told what the product was but they were indeed told what questions to ask to get more laughs. I HATE that I know this.
Joe Postove Ida Lupino, Director (1918-1995) Ida B. Wells, Civil Rights Leader (1862-1931) Ida Tarbell, Journalist (1857-1944) Ida Goodson, Singer (1909-2000) Ida Husted Harper, Author (1851-1931) Ida Rosenthal, Entrepreneur (1886-!973) Ida Haendel, Violinist (85 years) Ida Kavafian, Violinist (61 years) and some more...
Joe Postove " I had no *Ida* you knew..." Too bad there's no emoticon for a shaking head ;) IDA is a very popular name in Scandinavia. Check the name and the meaning(s) of it here: wiki.name.com/en/Ida
Ida'nt know that. (SW's head is shaking so vigorously that she is being investigated for excessive moving)! Actually it is a beautiful name, I wish more girls in the west were named Ida. But it seems like Bethany and Agnes rule the name world.
Dog collars are NOT, in my experience of dogs, more likely to be worn outdoors than indoors, because all the dogs I've ever known wore their collars all the time, except when getting a bath or being sprinkled with flea powder or sprayed with flea spray. No need to take off a dog's collar and put it back on again, over and over and over when there isn't any need to remove it.
At 6:44, Steve asks, “Is it larger than a breadbox?” He asks the same question again at 23:54. These would be the sixth and seventh times the term was used.
Astronauts should of used those! Actrice is very connect to Entertainment.... What is so difficult with "in a way" ? They often so into "anything with", "remotely". Even all fast still no time for last, do they cancel sometimes?
I liked Steve Allen's appearances as much as the next person BUT often he did waste time & most of the times he got those reaction because of gambits. Also, when there is another contestant after the celebrity guest they should have bypassed the meet & guess(though the contestant didnt mind almost always winning the full prize by default)
She was on an episode of "The Big Show" that Eddie guested on. That's the only appearance I'm aware of, but I'm no Eddie Cantor expert. I've heard other shows where Ida was a *character*, but played by an actress (there's at least one Burns and Allen radio show in this category).
This is the extent of Ida Cantor's on screen time, whether big screen or small, at least to the extent that IMDB is accurate: www.imdb.com/name/nm1553450/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"Is it bigger than a breadbox," started in 1953, the same year as this episode, and the phrase will continue to be used forever, SO IT HAD NOT WORN OUT ITS WELCOME.
2:00 can I see your inside jacket pocket? just want to see if you have a pen? so glad these walk byes were done away with next it'll be give me your wallet, just wanna see if you have any cash!
***** What's My Line? SuperWinterborn Joe Postove soulierinvestments +*Anyone else who might have any interest in playing along!* JasmineSurreal and I have started a game of "What's My Line?" in which she is attempting to guess *my* line. You are all cordially invited to join the panel as well by asking me questions on this thread. (I extend apologies to Gary for partially hijacking this comments page, but I figure anyone who has no interest in this can just skip this whole thread. I hope this is okay with you.) So far, the score is 1 down, 9 to go. The first question (posed by *****) was: "Are you a copy editor?" The answer was "no."
Even though she got a "no," there was nobody else playing yet, so ***** asked a second question on the thread where this idea first got started: "I reckon the job you do is not copy editing. Am I right?!" *Yes, you are correct.*
SuperWinterborn said: " +SaveThe TPC Hey! We haven't seen your hands, neither had a peak at the label in your jacket! But well...I guess it isn't any need for such nonsense... Do you work indoors?" You know, I debated telling you whether I was salaried or self-employed, deal in a product or a service, but I decided that since I started this on a 1953 episode I should go by the 1953 rules. But you're right that in that case, it's not fair that you don't get the embarrassing "walk down the panel." So if you really want me to answer the other questions without you having to ask them, just let me know, and I will. But for now.... *Yes, I work indoors.*
SaveThe TPC No apology necessary. But I will point out, this is the kind of thing that works much better on Facebook than it ever will here, honestly. We played a round of WML so folks could try to guess what the ???Mystery Show??? to be posted tomorrow is going to be. On YT, e.g., I have no idea where the original thread where this started is, and yet as channel owner, I have a *far* easier time than anyone else possibly can in keeping up with all the comments. There's no way for viewers to know about new threads/comments except ones directly replying to them, which is going to make this very difficult, I think. But give it a shot!
That's the term they used on WML in those days. When I was in school in the 1960's and 1970's we had this as one of the jobs I always wanted to do. I worked for a company that prepared the meals, real meals, that went on the flights, so I wanted to be a 'stewardess,' as it was called then. I have to get updated on many new words. Thanks for letting me know this updated term. The language is evolving.
Seriously, John? You give the young lady all of $10 as a consolation prize when the panel, collectively, and excluding your undisclosed take, makes a whopping $2,500 per show? How decidedly penurious and niggardly, my good fellow.
LOL Not really. They just wanted to see if they were blue collar or white collar to help them ascertain their job. Someone who worked in a mineshaft is obviously not going to have smooth hands and a manicure. And someone who works a desk job is not going to have rough dirty calloused hands with chipped fingernails.
Steve Allen was SUCH a genius! He can make anything sound funny! He was made for this show.
I, for one, totally agree. I'm a lifelong fan of Fred Allen for his writing and his radio work, but my favorite comic panelist on WML was, by far, Steve.
Me, too. Steve Allen was bright, played the game well, asked good questions, and was funny and witty. I love people who are funny because they are witty -- smart and funny is a great combination. Only Steve Allen could have come up with "Is it bigger than a breadbox?", which is both funny and alliterative. It became a cultural reference and still is to this day, at least among older folks like me. In fact, one reason to watch Steve Allen hosting a talk show or appearing as a guest on one was his ability to say funny and witty things, or even sing them while playing the piano.
+
I, on the other hand, found him less than entertaining. To each his own.
@@WhatsMyLine - How about when they had the zipper manufacturer on, and he asked, "Would a proficient secretary be adept at operating one of these?"
I think its fasinating to see people like Ida Canter, eddy s wife, she was so sweet, funny and natural..I just love it......I adore this amazing show from the 1950's, it was almost like being in another world watching this, I wish people today were as kind and caring about each other as this show portrays..☺
I agree completely, and really identify with What's My Line. The way they speak and act towards each other, the clothing styles, even the way the contestants present themselves. They all have that healthy walk with the erect posture and proper arm swing. They are so much more attractive and well balanced than what you would see now.
@@beverlybryington7337 In other words - NORMAL Not very pop word today.
Watching Steve Allen go down the garden path with wrong questions and looking over at the audience which continues to laugh more and more may very well be what I look forward to the most in this show.
What about me? LMAO 🤣😅🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I've always thought this was staged a little bit--not that Steve knew the answers, but I think he was given some clues as to what to ask for the humor of it. It happens all too often, not to be a bit suspicious along this line. It was forgivable, because it enhanced the entertainment without actually "cheating." A little of this seems to have occurred with Hal Block, too. The girls and Bennett never do this.
I'm a huge Eddie Cantor fan, so it's nice to see the famous Ida.
14:35- Steve Allen had the first distinctive laugh on TV that could make anyone laugh. Steve Allen and Johnny Carson's laugh could make people laugh anytime.
Respectfully, total baloney
@@joeambrose3260 What about that makes you say baloney?
@@jasonfrancis6174 2 words- Ed Wynn
@@joeambrose3260he's full of baloney😅
they are a treasure, a sincere thanks for allowing us to enjoy the fun
Brilliant one liner Arlene with her "useless" answer So quick witted
Heard her say it as I read your comment, LOL.
What I find interesting among all of these shows is that so many of the jobs done by regular people no longer exist!
Same here. Life was simpler than.
I don't really feel jobs have changed that much. What I think would be true is that many of the jobs where people were self employed in the shows have become commercialized, especially in the areas of services and manufacturing.
@@Tahgtahv Globalized
Mrs. Cantor was a fun loving guest.
Steve Allen was the king of getting yesses while going hilariously down the wrong road. :)
Mr. Daly was always such a good sport about trying to get contestants as much prize money as he possibly could. Damn decent guy.
😊
Not really. They wanted to raise the amount of the prizes to match other game shows later on and he wouldn't allow it! Threatened to quit if they raised the amount. He didn't want the game to be polluted with the prize becoming the focus. No, he was not being a good guy at all. He liked the power of giving when he felt like i.
@@maryblushes7189 If that's what you need to believe.. then have at it. However, Someone must have liked the idea because long after Daly was gone and the show rebooted in color, in the 70's... The prize money remained exactly the same.
@@princeharming8963 you should watch bennet cerf remembering... you would learn a lot about what went on. It is still my favorite game, but these people did have some flaws.
Ida Cantor, prior to watching this episode of WML, was completely unknown to me. One thing I find interesting in watching all these episodes of WML is when there's a mystery guest, on a very rare occasion, that is unknown to me.
+ToddSF 94109
There is nothing unusual about Ida Cantor being unknown to you because she wasn't a celebrity at all other than being Eddie Cantor's wife and the fact that Eddie used his wife and their five daughters as part of his shtick. (He usually referred to them as his five unmarriageable daughters, something which didn't always sit well with them.) Until I saw her name superimposed over her signature (one of the times you can see that they use what is known as an open-face letter board to create the graphics that are superimposed), I didn't know if Ida was sister, wife or daughter.
ToddSF 94109 Before I watch each new show, I love looking up each MG, whether I know of them or not. If they are known to me, I get to learn new things about the person or persons. And of course if they are unknown to me, I get the fun of "meeting" them for the first time!
@@loissimmons6558 No wonder a couldn't find who she was, no wikipedia of her.
@@ladya1953 Me too.
Most of the mystery guests are unknown to me. I find it interesting that older celebrities no longer are everyday names even only after a few years.
Dorothy was amazing. She was responsible for guessing all three of the regular guests, even if she doesn’t get the official credit for the first guest.
Yes, she was. But it took her forever to say the word "collar", she didn't even try a guess...what else would a dog wear?
As the youngest of six daughters (no brothers), my father used to say “I’ve got Eddie Cantor beat!”
My all-time favorite quiz show and what differentiates it from others is the audience that plays an integral part of the puzzle. If the audience made no noise at all, the panelists would have a lot more difficult time guessing.
All love to all,
-Al
On Daly’s tombstone?: "In our terms of reference, I would say this: I am no longer breathing."
Please post proof pronto, pics preferred
@@joeambrose3260: I think that was a suggestion. I would suggest: "You'll have to dig." :)
Producer. Five daughters. Wow.
The Gabor mother did eventually show up on WML as a jewelry shop owner. Nice work if you can get it.
loved Mrs. Cantor!!
So Eddie was as surprised as the rest of us . That’s fantastic!
Steve never failed to be so close and yet so far with every question he would ask
I was 4 days old...I probably didn’t let my mom watch without interrupting..
Thank goodness they got rid of that ridiculous process of having the contestants parade in front of the panel.
Lee, it appears that the only ones who thought this was a good idea were the one who came up with it. Ditto the silly guesses.
what made this show so great aside from the historical aspect is the audience creating the joke... the dog collar inquiry was hilarious, oh how times have changed, arlene at 13:04. but the questioning prior by steve allen 10:59 might suggest something else...
I love What's My Line? and so much about the time that it's from. But one thing that I prefer about the 2020s is how much more social freedom, legal freedom, workplace freedom, and familial freedom, people now have to wear what they want to wear. We haven't yet reached the ideal, and I love fashions from so many times besides our own; but things are better now than they were seventy years ago.
I remember being about six or seven years old in the mid 1980s and seeing a young woman shopping in a supermarket wearing what looked like a black dog collar. It fascinated me. More than thirty years later, I still admire her for her boldness: she made her own contribution to enhancing freedom for all of us.
Ironically, Bennett was thinking Mrs. Jolie Gabor at 20:24, but she stumped him and the rest of the panel in an epic appearance on the 12/29/57 show.
Sometimes, when watching these 'older' shows, I feel somewhat cheated that I wasn't around to enjoy them when they were new. But, then I realize that 1961 wasn't such a bad year.
except for the Cuban missile crisis
I meant it wasn't a bad year to be born.
@@kathyodom5372 Cold war, fallout shelters everywhere including back yards, the red menace, duck and cover, segregation, lynchings, etc. But there were good things, too. It's always that way.
@@wholeNwon There was kick the can,and playing 20 questions where our 2nd routine question was. always... Is it bigger than a breadbox?
@@jennymode Steve Allen's famous question. We used it, too.
Well that mystery guest was a nice person... I liked her.. don't know her, but I like her...
Eddie Cantor's wife
I wonder what they would have thought knowing people would still be watching 70 years later?
In regard to a comment which I saw on this page before I logged in but which I cannot see now: Probably many people come to watch these What's My Line? programs because they offer clean fun, one might even say wholesome entertainment, that seems so lacking in the world today. Might it not be nice to try to think of ways of adding value to that cleanness rather than seeking any and every opportunity to detract from it? Just a thought.
This is why the comment is no longer here, romeman01.
I like it because I was a film history major in college, and I love seeing the old-timey stars.
On the bright side, television in general has moved well past the overbearing censorship that made the shows of the Fifties and Sixties so bland.
I hate to be obvious but romeman01 writes “wholesome entertainment....lacking in the world today,” but that can’t be correct. Assuming NEW wholesome entertainment is unavailable, we can still enjoy these older, wholesome programs. In fact, going a step further, the availability of older wholesome programs at negligible cost, is a disincentive to produce new wholesome programs. Why compete with WML, if WML is freely available.
You can kind of tell that the audience wasn't familiar with Ida Cantor by sight. Not surprising, given some of the earlier comments.
Nice hat Mrs. Cantor had on, I had a hat like that for special occasions.
When Bennett was interviewed, after the show was cancelled, he complained that Dorothy often asked question after question to prolong her time in the spotlight, even though the answer had become abundantly clear. I see what he means when she questions the dog collar man.
I was remembering that as well while watching this segment. You can see he's had quite enough of this starting at 15:17.
He should talk.
Yes, doing it to a degree is fine to make sure you in fact have the right product, but I almost felt like John was going to yell, "Just say a collar!" at the end.
@@sandrageorge3488 if he did it 5% as much as Dorothy that was a lot(fyi i've watched well over 100 episodes so maybe you should watch more)
Yes, she just wasted 2 minutes from 14:11 where she could have just asked obvious question whether it was a leash or collar.. Sometimes she can be so irritating. . I was shouting ask if it is a collar. So much for beating around the bush.
This is the first time that Bennett includes "Croghan" in introducing John. He mispronounces it as Cro-gan. John corrects him in later episodes, telling him that it is pronounced Crow-an. To add an additional bit of confusion, in a novel that I'm reading there is an Englishman whose last name is Croghan, and he tells people that it is pronounced Crawn.
To give John's full name, though, Bennett should have put the Jr. on the end that he always left off. :)
John Charles Day named ALL his sons John, with different middle names.
If a namee can be mispronounced, Cerf will do it.
I love Bennett Cerf. He cracks me up
The panel were pretty sharp here.
Interesting when Mrs Cantor departed neither Arleen or Dorothy stood up to greet her, which in those days was appropriate for younger women
Arlene and Dorothy didn't usually stand for women unless they were particularly distinguished guests, like Eleanor Roosevelt. Perhaps Mrs. Cantor preferred the ladies not to stand as doing so might make her look or feel more like a "little old lady" than she wished.
Pretty sure no one knew her by sight (in the audience) but Eddie never stopped talking about her on the radio, so she was well known. They had five daughters, who provided comic fodder for Cantor's longtime running gag, especially on radio, about his five unmarriageable daughters. My Mom always preferred Cantor to Jack Benny. Oh, well. But I think in his prime, in vaudeville and in the early days of radio in the 30's, he was a bigger star than Jack.
Cantor and Benny were pretty comparably "big". Eddie did a lot more legitimate Broadway productions than Jack, who was primarily a vaudeville star and emcee. I don't know exactly when Jack's radio show started taking first place in the national ratings, but I believe by 1934 or 1935 he was already at the top of the heap and pretty much stayed there (with one low point around WWII). Cantor, on the other hand, faltered a number of times after his early radio success. There's a story which I'm hazy on that Jack was instrumental in helping Eddie get his show back on the air after one of his cancellations.
What's My Line? At the 1939 New York World's Fair, Cantor publicly denounced anti-Semitic radio personality Father Charles Coughlin and was dropped by his sponsor, Camel cigarettes. A year and a half later, Benny was able to get him back on the air. Cantor was less shy about his Jewishness than Jack Benny and George Burns, but I have only listened to a handful of his shows. He really seemed to always be a vaudeville act and never really matured the way Jack and George and many other stage stars did in radio. By the way, if you have ever seen the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" about organized crime in Atlantic City, you'll see a fictionalized Cantor in a handful of the shows, which intimate that he was involved with gangsters.
Joe Postove Yup, that was the story I was trying to remember. Thanks, Joe. I haven't checked out "Boardwalk Empire" yet, but I plan to some time.
Miss Woodbury and Miss Flory (a guest in a previous episode) could pass for sister.
They are both soft spoken and have the same smile.
😌😃
Miss Flory was on the same episode as Jackie Gleason.
Be well, stay kind and blessings to all ~
Stanley Parker reminds me of H.P. Lovecraft. Trying to imagine the old god Cthulhu on a pogo stick.
The panel would get a shiny new desk four episodes later, replacing this worn-out one.
Starting at 14:00, a prime example of Dorothy at her screen hogging, time wasting worst. She *clearly* has "dog collar" (or leash) in mind already, but it takes her a full *2 minutes* to just come out and ask the danged question. This type of behavior on her part was said to have annoyed Arlene considerably, and I don't blame her for being annoyed. To be fair, I've noticed that Dorothy did this a lot less as the series went along, hardly at all in the 1960s.
I'll bet she got a good talking to! Dorothy demeaned herself a little bit by going through that contortionist routine when, as you say, Gary, she had the answer. Who does she think she is anyway, John Daly? Besides, if I was a viewer I would be flipping around by now...hey wait a minute. I AM a viewer!
Joe Postove I've often wondered if the reason Dorothy didn't do this as much as the series went on was specifically because she was talked to about it, either by the producers or Arlene or John, someone. She did it *all the time* in the '50s, when she was much more "together", so to speak, than she was in the '60s!
Joe Postove AND flipping around!
What's My Line? As I mentioned else where besides causing the other panelists frustration, it was bad TV. I'll bet they finally told her to just cut it out!
She is playing cat and mouse with a dog accessory manufacturer.
I wonder if Miss Woodbury (the window washer) used Woodbury Soap on her windows?
Would she?
Sing a woodchuck song of familiarity.
The way John said "Mr. _Plummer,"_ then cleared his throat, and asked the panel if they got that, I expected Mr. Plummer would have been from Flushing.
MAKES POGO STICKS
MAKES DOG COLLARS
WINDOW WASHER
Was the radio series live (lots of radio was on tape by 1953) and I wonder if all of the elements of the show were the same for radio as they were for television. Too bad all but one seems to be lost. They gotta be somewhere!
No, the radio series was not live. I doubt *all* of the discs survive, but I'm confident that there are a lot more surviving shows than just the one. The question is who has them and whether they'll turn up.
Mr. Parker had an excellent voice for Golden Age robots.
The audience laughs when Steve asks if Ida was a "producer" of any kind because she had five girls. Eddie Cantor had a popular radio show and guest starred on just about everyone else's radio show and the running joke throughout his radio career is how he wanted to marry his daughters off. Ida often appeared on those radio shows with her husband in small accompanying parts.
There is a film splice at Dorothy's introduction. Was it always like that on GSN?
I only have the one copy of this episode from epaddon, so I don't know. I would presume since this is a film splice that this is the condition of the film and therefore the way it's always been aired.
With they made shows like.that today!
Didn't we have a "dog collarist" just a program or so ago (in our time of course)? Is there a list in Fates book or anywhere of the lines of the contestants who appeared on the show? I think that would cast a lot of light on whether or not GT was also in the dog collar or lady wrestling business. Actually it would be veeeeery interesting.
Joe Postove Gil Fates making such a list in his book? That would be a producers fall from the top.. There were too many cow washers, lady wrestlers, truant officers and tax collectors to make it funny, even as a Post Memorial to a show. No, Joey! We have to do the dirty job ourselves! You start, and when you have made a list from the first half of Gary's playlists, I'll it take over from there ;D
This page game.shows.angelfire.com/whats_my_line.html has a brief summary of most of the What's My Line? episodes of the John Daly era. It is particularly useful for the purposes that you mention: a brief resume of the content of each episode. Of course it only speaks of those episodes for which kinescopes survived and were in the hands of the author of the page, so it is not a complete summary of every episode.
romeman01 Thanks a lot! )
SuperWinterborn SW, romeman01 source (above) looks pretty promising. I hate to do extra work when someone can do it for me. But it looks like a project, huh?
romeman01 No comment.
You could see how steamed Bennett was getting, and rightfully so, with Dorothy's excessive and unnecessary length of questions about the dog collar. She knew, everyone knew, but she had to have more screen time. She tries to stretch every question out and ask them in different ways just to keep the camera on her. Bennett was visibly irked with her.
in an interview you can find here he says that quite in detail she loved hearing herself get obvious "yes" answers
I saw this one but I haven't reached the end of the cycle.
Interesting John did not provide the time to watch the following week's TV show. Not sure if this was on purpose or was an oversight, as the time changed to savings time in New York the following week - apparently, at that time, only some US locations had savings time.
In 2023, not every location in the United States had Daylight Saving Time, same like in 1953.
Mrs Cantor had a pretty nice figure to have had Five daughters Like George Gobel .some of those early comedians used their wives as part comic thing .
This is at least the second pogo stick maker that was a guest … Who knew?!
Funny also about human beings not wearing dog collars … how times have changed!
Dont think times have changed so much, we just know about it now.
I can't help thinking of Dorothy Sayers' novel "Gaudy Night" in which the students and masters of a women's college at Oxford are being menaced by an attacker whose attempts include strangulation. Lord Peter Wimsey buys Harriet Vane a heavy leather dog collar to wear when out at night detecting, as a protection against the strangler.
Why has the previous show no.50 been blocked? Crazy, thoughtless and inconsiderate.
These shows are an important part of TV history enjoyed by thousands!
KAN 12.19 UK
Blocked in the UK also.
On the pogo stick, Dorothy asked if it was small enough to hold in her hand, and the answer was no. I would question that answer. I had a pogo stick long time ago, and I could pick it up and hold it in my hand, so why couldn't she?
the entire stick? did you balance it on your hand? ie let's say the item was a bat it would be the same answer because you hold it by the "bat handle"
my memory tells me a 'pogo stick' sure can be held in the hand.
how else would you carry it when you put it away?
Yes I agree but can't use it with just one hand.
They were inconsistent as to how they defined that. Sometimes they used it for anything that could be carried, and sometimes only for things that fit entirely in the hand. At least that's the impression I got. Could be wrong.
Funny how Daly always asks a blindfolded panel if all blindfolds are in place when the panel, being blindfolded, cannot see if they're all in place...and with Daly being the only one unblindfolded and, thus, the only one who CAN see...yet, as I said, asks the ones who cannot see if all blindfolds are in place!
I can't help wondering if Ms. Kilgallen was paid by the question.
I am more inclined to think that she asked all those yes-question to have the most camera time.
They usually knew who the mystery guest was very quickly and had to prolong the suspense so as not to leave John with too much time to fill. Dorothy always wanted to be the one to name the guest and Bennett loved face time most.
wholeNwon So far I'm finding mostly John runs out of time and has to deny the last guest a proper game. I think if anything they inadvertently overrun rather than intentionally prolong the mystery guest.
She was an investigative journalist in one of her lines...probably a habit from her journalism career which was still going strong at this time.
Dorothy was close with hush puppies re the man who made dog collars. Hush puppies are shoes in the UK. The food seems to be the same as corn fritters are in the UK. EDIT Cerf seemed to think the very slim & elegant lady window cleaner was Bawston Brahmin😂 & was gushing at her. He even still looked cross at the end that he was so mistaken by his own snobbery. She obviousky was born With Class & not just Into it.
I have enjoyed these programs since childhood in the 50s, but it is rather sad that none of Dorothy's friends ever questioned her death or the bogus coroner's report, which was controlled at the time by the mafia.
Rita Woodbury was a fine looking woman! 💘
Today's RUclips Rerun for 10/6/15: Watch along and join the discussion!
This episode features Dorothy at her screen hogging, time wasting worst in round two.
-----------------------------
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Years later in syndication, a product was presented to the panel disassembled. Arlene solved all by herself that it was an inflatable pogo stick. One of the most dangerous objects ever demonstrated on WML.
I love the Panelists, however, I do call ‘Foul’ on them at 8:20 on holding an ‘unauthorized conference’ during Mr. Daly and Mr. Parker’s conference- - Especially after Mr. Daly had just ‘reprimanded’ Mrs. Kilgallen and Mr. Allen of exactly that at 7:30.
I would have thought Mr. Daly would have flipped over a few more cards, if not given Mr. Parker the whole prize once he had a second to think about what the panel had done.
I’m sure, in that moment, everyone may have thought Arlenes comment was funny and what the panel had done was ‘cute’, but as Mr. Parker comes to realize what was done, his facial expressions changed noticeably.
🤔🤨🙃
Be well, stay kind and blessings to all ~
I am loving you!
If Bennett had figured it out, he might have asked Ida if she had more than FOUR kids!
Bennett Cerf sounds like the Kennedys. I guess he was from Boston.?
@@LearnAboutFlow thanks for the clarification.
At present I'm not seeing any direct answer, so I'll note that Bennett was born and raised in New York City. There are a few "east coast" speech markers that are common to New York City and Boston, which may be what you are noticing, but there are at least as many differences in accent. Actually Arlene is the Bostonian on this panel, and John Daly's family was also from Boston, although he was born in South Africa while his father was working there as a geologist.
Steve Allen: "Do you ever see a woman pulling & tugging at this thing" : ) : ) : )
I really ruined myself for this show. I wish I wouldn't have the read the "behind the scenes" info about this show. It is well known that Steve Allen (and before him, Hal Block) were actually FED questions to ask. They weren't told what the product was but they were indeed told what questions to ask to get more laughs. I HATE that I know this.
Over 100K views and only 1000 thumbs up????
I think Arlene Francis is beautiful
Give Dorothy a NO!!!
Ida Cantor /1892 - 1962 / wife of Eddie Cantor.
Why does New York City as hometown explain the neat handwriting?
Sometimes John Daly says the most inane things.
My Grandmother was named Ida. Are there any other well known Ida's?
Joe Postove Ida Lupino, Director (1918-1995) Ida B. Wells, Civil Rights Leader (1862-1931) Ida Tarbell, Journalist (1857-1944) Ida Goodson, Singer (1909-2000) Ida Husted Harper, Author (1851-1931) Ida Rosenthal, Entrepreneur (1886-!973) Ida Haendel, Violinist (85 years) Ida Kavafian, Violinist (61 years) and some more...
I had no Ida you knew so many idas!
Joe Postove I don't, Google does ;)
Joe Postove " I had no *Ida* you knew..." Too bad there's no emoticon for a shaking head ;) IDA is a very popular name in Scandinavia. Check the name and the meaning(s) of it here: wiki.name.com/en/Ida
Ida'nt know that. (SW's head is shaking so vigorously that she is being investigated for excessive moving)! Actually it is a beautiful name, I wish more girls in the west were named Ida. But it seems like Bethany and Agnes rule the name world.
Of all the famous people they could have gotten they picked Ida Cantor?
Dog collars are NOT, in my experience of dogs, more likely to be worn outdoors than indoors, because all the dogs I've ever known wore their collars all the time, except when getting a bath or being sprinkled with flea powder or sprayed with flea spray. No need to take off a dog's collar and put it back on again, over and over and over when there isn't any need to remove it.
dogs , like collies, have a lot of fur around the neck. the collar breaks or flattens that fur. so, the collar is only used when outside.
We owned a very fluffy golden retriever many years ago and a color worn all the time indoors would matt his fur!
At 6:44, Steve asks, “Is it larger than a breadbox?” He asks the same question again at 23:54. These would be the sixth and seventh times the term was used.
That's why it is called Steve Allen's breadbox
Steven Allen originated this phrase.
Astronauts should of used those! Actrice is very connect to Entertainment.... What is so difficult with "in a way" ? They often so into "anything with", "remotely". Even all fast still no time for last, do they cancel sometimes?
Wait, the previous episode is blocked in the US? That seems random.
How many window washers were part of WML?
I liked Steve Allen's appearances as much as the next person BUT often he did waste time & most of the times he got those reaction because of gambits. Also, when there is another contestant after the celebrity guest they should have bypassed the meet & guess(though the contestant didnt mind almost always winning the full prize by default)
Gee, wouldn't you think Eddie Cantor was wondering where his wife was going when she left the house at ten at night on a Sunday?
It's always nice to have a trusting husband. Besides, she could have used the sick friend, or visit with Aunt Tillie and Grandmother Rivkah excuse.
From what I've read, he wasn't that trustworthy.
+Mic Mal
The point wasn't whether she could trust him. It was that with her going out alone on a Sunday night to parts unknown, he could trust her.
Was Ida ever on Eddie's shows on radio or TV?
She was on an episode of "The Big Show" that Eddie guested on. That's the only appearance I'm aware of, but I'm no Eddie Cantor expert. I've heard other shows where Ida was a *character*, but played by an actress (there's at least one Burns and Allen radio show in this category).
This is the extent of Ida Cantor's on screen time, whether big screen or small, at least to the extent that IMDB is accurate:
www.imdb.com/name/nm1553450/?ref_=nv_sr_1
"I'm no Eddie Cantor expert"...OMG!
Joe Postove Well, I'm not. :) I know about Eddie Cantor only by virtue of his being from the same era as the folks I do know about.
Ida appeared on at least one of Eddie's Colgate Comedy Hour episodes, maybe two. She also appeard on "This is You Life" when Eddie was the subject.
What happened to the episode from April 12?
Is the first contestant related to the Parker Brothers?
Yes HA HA HA HA HA HA
The "bigger than a breadbox" comment had already worn out its welcome. SNORE!
"Is it bigger than a breadbox," started in 1953, the same year as this episode, and the phrase will continue to be used forever, SO IT HAD NOT WORN OUT ITS WELCOME.
2:00 can I see your inside jacket pocket?
just want to see if you have a pen?
so glad these walk byes were done away with
next it'll be give me your wallet, just wanna see if you have any cash!
A Parker pen, not just a pen!
13:20 how times change
in 1953 people didn't wear dog collars!
well they sure do now bucko!
I did in my teens in the early seventies. We got them at Head Shops. Man they were too cool the chicks liked them.
You just didn't know that it was worn
16:42
***** What's My Line? SuperWinterborn Joe Postove soulierinvestments +*Anyone else who might have any interest in playing along!*
JasmineSurreal and I have started a game of "What's My Line?" in which she is attempting to guess *my* line. You are all cordially invited to join the panel as well by asking me questions on this thread. (I extend apologies to Gary for partially hijacking this comments page, but I figure anyone who has no interest in this can just skip this whole thread. I hope this is okay with you.)
So far, the score is 1 down, 9 to go. The first question (posed by *****) was: "Are you a copy editor?" The answer was "no."
Even though she got a "no," there was nobody else playing yet, so ***** asked a second question on the thread where this idea first got started: "I reckon the job you do is not copy editing. Am I right?!"
*Yes, you are correct.*
SuperWinterborn said: " +SaveThe TPC Hey! We haven't seen your hands, neither had a peak at the label in your jacket! But well...I guess it isn't any need for such nonsense... Do you work indoors?"
You know, I debated telling you whether I was salaried or self-employed, deal in a product or a service, but I decided that since I started this on a 1953 episode I should go by the 1953 rules. But you're right that in that case, it's not fair that you don't get the embarrassing "walk down the panel." So if you really want me to answer the other questions without you having to ask them, just let me know, and I will. But for now....
*Yes, I work indoors.*
SaveThe TPC No apology necessary. But I will point out, this is the kind of thing that works much better on Facebook than it ever will here, honestly. We played a round of WML so folks could try to guess what the ???Mystery Show??? to be posted tomorrow is going to be. On YT, e.g., I have no idea where the original thread where this started is, and yet as channel owner, I have a *far* easier time than anyone else possibly can in keeping up with all the comments. There's no way for viewers to know about new threads/comments except ones directly replying to them, which is going to make this very difficult, I think. But give it a shot!
SaveThe TPC Have you ever studied dentistry?
What's My Line?
*No* -- but I'm still laughing!
That's 2 down and 8 to go.
Daly over does it with the goofy looks!!
with a name likes yours i'm sure you recognize goofy looks.......
Ah poor Dorothy. I hate how you were killed by 'suicide'.
The last contestant looks like a stewardess.
"Flight Attendant," not "Stewardess."
@@RonGerstein The old term that I grew up hearing. I'm leaning new the new terms and words to implant and corrected speech.
That's the term they used on WML in those days. When I was in school in the 1960's and 1970's we had this as one of the jobs I always wanted to do. I worked for a company that prepared the meals, real meals, that went on the flights, so I wanted to be a 'stewardess,' as it was called then. I have to get updated on many new words. Thanks for letting me know this updated term. The language is evolving.
Seriously, John? You give the young lady all of $10 as a consolation prize when the panel, collectively, and excluding your undisclosed take, makes a whopping $2,500 per show? How decidedly penurious and niggardly, my good fellow.
"May I see your hands?" WTF? Slave traders?
LOL Not really. They just wanted to see if they were blue collar or white collar to help them ascertain their job. Someone who worked in a mineshaft is obviously not going to have smooth hands and a manicure. And someone who works a desk job is not going to have rough dirty calloused hands with chipped fingernails.
YOU ARE RACIST !!!!
The window washer didn't know what she used. This kind of thing happens frequently. People going the show and the host has to correct them.