What's My Line? The Aristocrat's Game Show

Will our next contestant enter and sign in, please?

This post has been a while in the making. Panel shows was and remain to be one of my favorite facets of television, mainly because they were almost created specifically for it. Panel shows never gained much fame or notoriety through radio, but the idea of seeing these popular figures in your home without going to a theater was interesting, and novel. So, the panel show thrived, and though it's waned in America, the panel show genre goes strong surprisingly in the UK. With that, let's take a look at one of the founding fathers of this genre.

The gang's all here, with frequent fourth panelist Joey Bishop

What's My Line? Created in February 2nd 1950. On that day, the panelists consisted of  Richard Hoffman, Louis Untermyer, Dorothy Kilgallen and Harold Hoffman (No relation), hosted by John Charles Daly. Later on, the panelists would change to the mainstays of Kilgallen, Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf, with the fourth panelists ranging from  comedy writer Hal Block, original Tonight Show host Steve Allen and his "father" Fred Allen. After Fred's death in 1956, the show rotated fourth panelists every week, with Arlene's husband actor producer Martin Gabel holding the most appearances at 112. 

Bennett Cerf: "The few minutes talking with Fred before the show, I will always cherish,"

The show revolved around the simple concept of human analysis: Could you surmise someone's occupation just by looking at them? In the early years, there were alot of gimmicks to accentuate this idea, such as the panel getting "wild" guesses of the occupations before asking questions, or the panelists inspecting the contestants before questioning. These were not bad ideas in concept, but due to time constraints and the panel never quite taking them seriously, these ideas were quickly dropped. By the mid-50s, What's My Line? Was a mainstay of late night television, and families would switch their sets to CBS and be greeted by the charming introductions of the panelists and the constant in-jokes and references to the contestant's line unbeknownst to the panel (For example, if the contestant was a jailer, a panelist asking if they have ever used their service would get a laugh from the audience, and the panelist's confused look would cause an even bigger uproar).

Frank Sinatra on the panel kissing his mystery guest wife,
Mia Farrow.

The contestant segment was then followed by the mystery guest segment, in which stars of the time would attempt to hide their voice to avoid being recognised by the blindfolded panel. This was the show's biggest segment, and the celebrity guest included greats like Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Jayne Mansfield, then actor Ronald Reagan, Muhammed Ali, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin, you name them, with few exceptions, if they were alive and popular, they were there. Many then rising stars took the role of panelist, such as William Shatner and Johnny Carson.

 The show was created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. The two of them have made many appearances on the show, and their unique personalities are wonderfully represented here. Mark Goodson was a charismatic fellow, and made the majority of the public appearances, even appearing as a panelists many times, while younger Bill Todman was more business centered, and was quiet and more pensive. It's no wonder how these two have basically joint fathered the game show genre. Many have come and gone, but Goodson-Todman (Now under the iron fist of freemantle media after Mark Goodson's death) shows have prevailed. What's My Line was a favorite of Mark Goodson's, as he adored the classness of the show when compared to the other shows he produced. The children could watch people get pies thrown in their face in Beat the Clock, the parents could watch ordinary people win fantastic prizes on The Price is Right, and at 10:30, they'd all sit down and watch people talk and laugh and shake hands while wearing evening gowns and talking in very affected tones. 

In fact, this classness is what draws many modern fans to the show today. If you go on the What's My Line YouTube channel, you'd be hard-pressed to find a comment section that doesn't go on and on about the class of the show, and how such refinement is missing from today's broadcasting. This harkens to the age old adage of the grass invariably being greener on the other side. While I love this show, I cannot stand these sorts of comments. This highly regulated and censored show does not accurately represent the standards of speaking, dress and people of the time period. The panelists were all incredibly affluent stars and thus "class" was a requirement for them. A favorite moment of mine was Dorothy asking if the common poultry the contestant was concerned with was turkey, to which Arlene commented that turkey isn't so common, only being used around holidays. Dorothy, whose father was also rich and famous and practically grew up in the trade of journalism, remarked, "I had a turkey for dinner just last week," Arlene, coming from a more modest background, and genuinely being a more practical person, gently retorted, "That's because you're rich, Dorothy"

Picture taken on the final telecast of WML (1967)
L to R: Martin Gabel, Louis Furgiele (The show's final contestant)
Arlene Francis, John Charles Daly, Pat Finch (The show's first contestant)
Steve Allen and Bennett Cerf.
Bennett: "Well, this is the end of one of the most rewarding and wonderful
 experiences of my life; I've enjoyed every minute of it,"

Following the show's end in 1967, two years after Dorothy Kilgallen's death under controversial circumstances, the show continued in color syndication until 1975. That version features Wally Bruner as host, followed afterwards by Larry Blyden. The syndicated run follows the original format fairly closely, but with a faster pace and most variety show-esque elements thrown in. I love this version, and it features guests who did not appear in the black and white run such as Stevie Wonder, Rodney Dangerfield, etc. This version also features Arlene Francis once again, as well as Bennett Cerf, who made infrequent appearances until his death in 1971.

A pre-Match Game Gene Rayburn with Gail Sheldon, Bert Convy and Arlene Francis.

In 1975, a special titled, "What's My Line? At 25" Aired. The special featured Arlene and John Daly, with Mark Goodson, speaking about the 25 years of guessing occupations, while showing clips of the show's star-studded history. Personally, I didn't enjoy this special. I think they could have invited many of the show's frequent panelists, like Steve Allen, Tony Randall, Jack Lemmon or Martin Gabel. However, they didn't, and the special brought with it extra problems as the provision of clips for the special was done carelessly, leading to many master kinescopes of the show being destroyed simply to use in 5 minute clips. This was a bittersweet conclusion to a 25 year old family, and with only two members still living, it just felt very melancholy in general. Arlene kept her smile and John Daly kept his laugh, but the mood was very somber. 

 In closing, What's My Line is a museum put on kinescope. It's a time capsule of stars and people and concepts from years ago. I can't recommend this show enough. From Arlene's infectious smile, to Bennett Cerf's atrocious puns attracting groans from New York to Rancho Cucamonga. From Dorothy asking the mystery guest if they've ever pushed an old lady down the stairs, to Fred Allen injecting his topical non-sequiturs, such as, "John, do you think ignorance is happiness in the raw?"

Anyway, we're a little late, so good night, folks,

I hope to see you Back There

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