At 13:49 we see once again that John Daly can keep track of the questions and answers better in his head than the panelists can do it on pencil and paper. Of course, he has the advantage of being able to remember how the questions relate to an occupation that he knows about. Still, he is very impressive because he remembers the questions so precisely and so consistently, at the same time that he is focusing on new questions and watching the clock.
Wow, totally awesome era. what fun they must have had off Camera. Never knew of Arlene Dahl until this episode. Great to be able to see so much of the best times of years ago. All the best to all in Our New Year Coming,, 2022.
I was going through one of WML’s playlists, picked an episode at random, googled Arlene Dahl because I hadn’t heard of her… and she just passed a few days ago!! … Wow. 😳
Arlene Dahl had some challenges & difficulties during the filming of Journey to the Center of the Earth, but the end result was a spectacular movie. James Mason lost patience with her whining, as their raft was cascaded by stormy water, and rocked violently.. Some many decades ago, I watched it, and enjoyed every moment of it.
Embarrassed yes, but not really wanting to bolt. It was a joke on herself to express acknowledgement of her gaffe. It's similar to making your hand to a gun, point it at your head, sometimes say an explosion sound, then flick your fingers on the other side of your head.
Dorothy just got caught up in the game and had a bit of a bad evening - she apologized to Bennett and seemed mortified at the end of it all for asking questions out of turn - I'm sure we can all relate to putting our foot in our mouths once in a while
This was a time when women were publicly referred to as *BROADS* or 'girls' by men. This was also a time when almost EVERY FAMOUS WOMAN ACTRESS (whether they admit it or not) had sex with studio brass at one time or another to get a significant part or a leading part in high budget movie or Broadway play. Men and women would act sophisticated and proper in public but whored around in private, cheated on their spouses, and looked down on each other. Dorothy Kilgallen was cheating on her husband while filming the show and her husband had numerous sexual flings while married to her. Dorothy would drink heavily and used various drugs for depression and to rest. This was also a time of EXTREME racism in the entire nation (including New York) Nat King Cole stated in an interview, when asked about being on WML, that he had to come into the theater at the back entrance and remain in a dirty room the size of a small closet until his guest appearance at the end of the show. ALL the famous African American guests had to stay in a small, dirty dressing room until called to the show at the end.
At 15:15 Dorothy first asks about a toolkit, then stretches it to include "special equipment." As John and Miss Tackett have their small conference, Dorothy asks if John heard the "fudging part of her answer" (she means "part of her question" -- another of the slips on this episode). So she's aware of what she's doing and knows that it pushes the rules of the game just a little.
hopicard , all the more funny because that episode was on almost immediately following one of the first telecasts on CBS of 'The Wizard Of Oz' - " Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!" LOL!!
I'm guessing that we're all assuming that the man behind the curtain was Charlie Conerly, trying to get a peek at his wife and not realizing that his hand would be in camera view.
Among the "guests" on this episode, two spent time in their careers as models. But one did it before their primary career and the other did it after their primary career. As has been true for many attractive actresses,. Miss Dahl did some modeling before making it big on the silver screen. After high school in her native Minnesota, she did modeling for local department stores. Charlie Conerly served as a spokesmodel for Marlboro cigarettes (but was not the Marlboro Man cowboy) after his playing career in pro football ended. Chris Schinkel narrates this commercial which shows Conerly going to a locker with his football jersey hanging up in it as well as some game footage from the 1956 NFL Championship game. The Giants beat the Bears that day, 47-7, and much of the credit was given to the GIants decision to wear sneakers on an icy field instead of football cleats, reminiscent of how the Giants had beaten the Bears in the 1934 championship game. The footage shows Conerly throwing a TD pass to Frank Gifford (another WML guest years earlier) in the third quarter to increase the Giants lead to 40-7. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--e5cHg8ydPI.html Wearing #42 with the Giants, Conerly was one of the last QB's to continue wearing a number higher than 19. (The last was John Hadl before the NFL adopted the rigid numbering system in 1973 that would make it impossible.) Many pro football QB's wore high numbers at one time, but most QB's changed by the early 1950's. For example, Y.A. Tittle, who replaced Conerly with the Giants, started his pro career in 1948 (same year as Conerly) wearing #63 and then #64 in his first year in San Francisco, before switching to his more familiar #14 in 1952.
I'm surprised that Bennett at 6:45 doesn't pick up on Dorothy's 'not bigger than a typewriter' discovery to ask if it *is* a typewriter, but he leaves it for Arlene to ask when it comes around to her.
It’s been noted in biographies about her that she frequented Jazz clubs - the Copa Cabana etc and she held parties at her brownstone in nyc. They sometimes also share a tidbit or two in this series of their personalities off the camera, which is fun!
druidbros As Vanessa Braganza commented above, Dorothy was embarrassed about it afterwards and did apologize. I agree with her that Dorothy just got caught up in the moment, because Bennett said what had been on her mind that she had just ruled out, but she felt bad for saying it as soon as she'd said it.
Arlene was witty when it came to the first constant, the joke about football passes and making passes at the wife, along with, If it is what I think it is, I probably do some of my best work in that room, were both funny 😄
The panel right away recognizes the wife of then NY Giants quarterback Charley Conerly. This was the point in time when the Giants were finally exploding in popularity in New York and their stars were becoming as well-known as the baseball stars. That was something you couldn't have said just five years or so before this program!
Arlene Dahl had a very popular nationally syndicated newspaper column (1950's into the 60's) which dealt with health and beauty tips. She was the perfect person to showcase a question/answer column, as she did.
When I saw Mrs. Conerly sign in as "Perian" I didn't sound it out in my mind as "Perry Ann" as she pronounced it! I'm sure the spelling is attributable to her parents, so no reflection on her. But in names like "Marian" the last syllable is unaccented, and that was what I would have expected for Perian too.
Arlene is quite funny and dreamy too at 5:00, making a pun on Charlie's football passes and romantic passes. Probably, though, Charlie was making football passes as a youth long before he met Perian, so she's being more clever than accurate.
During the Conerly goodnights at 10:19 or so, it looked as if Charlie was holding his left arm oddly. Seems that he had a back injury at the time, but I can't find mention of a shoulder injury, so I think I was imagining it.
The Giants, who had already clinched their division, had played earlier that day in Washington. Charlie Conerly played most of the game and although he wasn't sacked that day, quarterbacks do tend to get banged up.
It was funny at 17:38 Mr. Daly realized he was digging a hole explaining her work. He realized it and shut-up. The correct thing to do. Arlene Dahl loved weddings! She had 6 along with 5 divorces. Her son is Lorenzo Lamas who drives the girls crazy now. The only movie I recognized was Journey to the Center of the Earth. Loved that film.
@@wyatt_kincaid …Arlene Dahl was Lorenzo’s mother. He was born in ‘58. Arlene and Fernando were married from ‘54 - ‘60, and Fernando didn’t marry Esther Williams until New Years Eve 1969.
Yes, she does. Speaking of hyperbole (discussed below pertaining to Bennett) the biggest example of it on this show is when Dorothy praises "Journey To The Center Of The Earth," calling it worthy of an Academy Award. That would be equivalent now to nominating a mediocre action movie, say a 3rd or 4th sequel, for an Oscar. (I don't know enough about them to name one specifically.) I saw JTTCOTE in 1959, as a kid, and we knew that it was fair to middling even at that age and that time. Forgettable entertainment for a Saturday afternoon.
@@lemorab1 Funny I saw it as well in 1959, going alone to the cinema as a kid in Baltimore, Maryland and found it dazzling but perhaps lacked the critical acumen to discern that the special effects of that era were rudimentary, it all seemed quite scarily plausible to me. All too easy at that age to to "suspend disbelief". Also too young to care whether it warranted an Oscar, if I knew what an Oscar was, at that age. I don't recall that I did.
@@gregmoorhead7203 As a graphologist, what's your opinion on the house painter's signature at 11:05? Her capital "T" in "Tackett" looks to me like the cursive "Q" that I was taught in school.
@@neilmidkiff May I jump in here? I have studied handwriting since high school and learned long ago that people that love numbers/ are good with numbers/ make a living with numbers/etc. sometimes have "numbers" pop up in their handwriting. An example is a lower case "g" written looking like an "8" or a capitalized "E" looking like a "3". (The possibilities are endless, truly.) Though this person is a painter, a love of numbers or a former line of study may be filtering into the signature, making the capitalized "T" look like a "2".
David Niven was very good at playing the suave and debonair gentleman in lighthearted comedies in the 40’s and 50’s, but never really got to grips with this panel show. He seemed awkward when constructing pertinent questions and his knowledge of celebrities was very slight.
TBBMusicBlog Are you referring to Arlene Francis or Arlene Dahl? I thought they both looked good, performed well and enjoyed themselves, so it could be either one!
Dorothy's comment "I didn't know she did anything other than get breakfast for Mr. Connerly" was a little on the chauvinistic side, .that is if a lady can be chauvinistic.
I agree that it was inappropriate. It also seemed inappropriate that Dorothy identified her as Charlie Connerly's wife, information that could have helped identify her line and that the WML staff might not have expected the panel to know. Then again, after I watched it, they seemed to be so familiar with her husband that they probably were acquainted with her.
Jeff Vaughn -- There's no doubt that a lot of women bought into male chauvinism. Many still do. How demeaning of Dorothy K. to characterize another woman as no better than a menial for her husband, and how hypocritical, considering that Dorothy herself had a career. They should have given Mrs. Connerly's profession as writing a football column for newspapers while Dorothy Kilgallen is getting dinner together for Richard Kollmar.
+ToddSF 94109 I'm aghast at comments like this. In those days it was considered honorable to be a housewife, mother, cook, etc. We girls were the ones taking Home Economics in school. Our upbringing was done with the goal of our becoming wives who would raise children to become valuable members of society. I couldn't have children but never felt demeaned when I was married by doing necessary things for my husband & myself, like ironing, cooking, cleaning. We can see what our so-called civilization has become by the attitudes of those describing as "menial" the work of fine women who were raised to be good mothers & wives. Children have no role models in this sex-saturated, me-first world where basic family care is called "menial." How many women are truly happier these days, I have to wonder. Children today are selfish in their goals, w/money as their god, vulgar in their speech, & have very little direction in how to be good parents to future generations.
Dorothy has her issues, but she reminds me so much of me (or how I used to be) with the overly competitive spirit and the need for perfection that her embarrassed reaction (and thus a subconscious way of narcissistically drawing MORE attention to herself) would totally be something I would have done in her place.
That is a good point. Also, sometimes when the panel member are blindfolded, John has a conference without telling them about it, so they wonder why they are not hearing anything from him.
Answering Bennett's question about the machine being used in any particular part of the house rather than all over the house, I think John makes a wrong ruling, or at least explains it wrong as an answer to 'all over' which Bennett mentioned in 'rather than' terms. I got the impression that Perian was thinking of bathrooms and John was eager to get away from that implication. Of course, Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker in the movie "Laura" is shown in the bathtub, typing on a machine placed on a board across the top of the tub, so even that is possible.
There seems to be a tiny audio glitch at 8:55, so this may not be the way it originally sounded, but it sounds to me as if John mistakenly called her "Gerianne" or "Jerry Ann" rather than Perian.
From the score of the 1966 Broadway musical, "Its a Bird Its a Plane Its Superman" - Daily Planet Gossip columnist Max Mencken dictating: "Don't interrupt...first paragraph...the midtown scene as seen by Max...Arlene Dahl, looking Dahlicious, drawing wolf whistles as she hops in a cab..."
Dahl perhaps not the greatest of actresses, but stunning in beauty on film. Her personal life and career were rather rocky, but she did still live to 96.
The GREAT Chuckin Charley Conerly, who led the New York Giants to the NFL Championship in 1956, is the GREATEST QB not to be in to be in the Hall of Fame and it is a shame since he was better than most that are in the H of F
A big to do was made of Bennett Cerf's hyperbole in acknowledging the beauty of Joan Collins, perhaps dissing absent panel member Arlene Francis in the process. Here Bennett's hyperbole extends to the quarterbacking skills of Charlie Conerly (Bennett calls him "the best"). While Conerly was good, his 14 year career was not good enough to win him an induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (he is in the college version). Conerly did have one of his best years in 1959, despite missing two games. On the other hand, Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts was the winning QB for the second year in a row against Conerly. He was league MVP and passing yardage leader in 1959. And he is most certainly in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, rated one of the best quarterbacks of all time by experts (with the difficulty, of course, in comparing players of different eras). There were 12 teams in the NFL at this time. The AFL was still one season away from beginning play. Of the remaining 10 teams, the following starting QB's would also make the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Norm Van Brocklin (Eagles), Bobby Layne (Steelers), Bart Starr (Packers), and Y.A. Tittle (49ers). Of these players, only Unitas and Starr were younger QB's still in the process of making their reputation (although Unitas was clearly at the top by 1959). The rest were contemporaries of Conerly. By 1961, the Giants had traded for Tittle to platoon with Conerly. Tittle quickly won the job and led the Giants to three straight Eastern Division championships in his four seasons in NY. Conerly retired after the 1961 season. Interesting that there was no to do in the WML comments about Bennett's hyperbole this time. So I understand something of Bennett's nature in saying such things. And yes, I do agree that it was awkward for him to have said it in front of Arlene Francis's husband the week before.
The Giants had just beaten the Washington Redskins that day, 24-10 in Washington to complete the season with a 10-2 record, the best in the NFL. Charlie had thrown for 207 yards and two scores. But the Giants were defeated by the Colts in Baltimore, 16-31, for the NFL championship two weeks later.
And maybe the biggest verbal slip of all this time (other than Dorothy's naming the wrong red-haired actress) at 16:23 John addresses David Niven as "Mr. Service." (Better than "Mr. Product," I guess; at least Service is a real surname, as in the poet Robert W. Service.)
Since I'm on my "hobby horse" of mystery guests using phony foreign accents to give their answers, I wish that Arlene Dahl had tried a pseudo-Scandinavian one when giving answers in this episode. As she is a Norwegian heritage, I think it might have been more fun for those panelists who always want to know, "May I take it that you are not from (fill in the blank of some country's or region's name)?
519DJW -- I note that when Edgar Bergen (né Edgar Berggren) was a Swedish-American and he not only put on a Swedish accent when he appeared as a mystery guest with his daughter Candice Bergen, he spoke Swedish and answered "Ja" and "Nej" and, I think, when someone asked if he were German, he said something like, "Nej, jag är svensk!" My point being, if Arlene Dahl had put on a Norwegian accent, the panel might not have known it was Norwegian.
Jim Elliott -- His birth name was Edgar John Berggren, one of those many Swedish names formed from two nouns (like Nordström or Lindquist). Berggren pronounced the Swedish way is something like "berry-grenn" and Americans would tend to say "burg-grinn". I think he changed it to Bergen just to make it a little bit easier for Americans to pronounce without that second "r" in it.
+ToddSF 94109 I think Lawrence Welk was once the mystery guest, but can't remember how he disguised his voice. Welk was born in a German-speaking community in North Dakota, and he never completely lost his accent. (Such communities were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries--especially the plains states. They were so isolated that the language of the first generation remained that of their children.) I don't know if that was Edgar Bergen's case with Swedish, but I find it an interesting bit of trivia. :)
Son of the north, no. Nordström means "north stream", actually. As I said, there are a ton of Swedish names combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun. Lindquist, for example, means "linden twig," Berggren means "mountain branch" (as in the branch of a tree), Björklund means "birch grove". I had a cousin whose last name was Sundvall, which means "sound bank" as in the body of water like Long Island Sound or Puget Sound, and bank as in a riverbank. Some of the seem to go together and some seem to be more random such as Hammarlund which would mean "hammer grove" or Brännholm which means "burn islet" where burn means to light on fire. Swedish patronymic surnames all end in -son (meaning "son") and typically have a double "s" as in Svensson, Bengtsson, Olsson, Petersson, Jannson, where that first "s" is possessive or genitive -- meaning Sven's son, Bengt's son, Jan's son, etc. (The Danish and Norwegian patronymics use -sen and no genitive s, such as Olsen, Petersen, Jansen, etc.) I note that Norwegians and Danes have those names combining two nouns or an adjective and a noun, too.
This was a very unusual episode in that all 3 guests were women. In virtually all episodes, the WML producers cast guests of each gender. I can only recall one previous episode in which all the guests were of one sex; in that instance they were all men. And of course the panel always consists of two men and two women.
@Shirley Rombaugh They're filthy rich and likely had just vacationed in the Florida Keys or the Caribbean or .. well, the list of places I'll never see goes on and on.
With further thought... considering her profession and the fact she took it so seriously...probably made it hard for her to miss a fact or say something incorrectly, even in a GAME, hard to take. She knew she was being seen nationwide. I suddenly understand!
It appears that most of the women in the fifties wore their hair short, with a few exceptions for a few glamour girls. I guess it wasn't until the sixties that women started wearing their hair long. How did we do without our hair?
A woman who has never played actual football is writing about it? Wrong answer. Go get tackled or tackle someone then come back and write, when your wind returns, that is.
There he goes flipping over those STUUPID cards again when the person ALREADY had a significant amount of money (I hadn't seen him do that in a while, I thought he got over THAT)!
![What's My Line? - Arlene Dahl; David Niven [panel] (Dec 13, 1959)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
