Fall 1957: Goodson-Todman hired Ernie Kovac as guest panelist for 10 out of 13 weeks auditioning him as the 4th panelist after Fred Allen died. Kovacs was on the verge of becoming hot hot stuff on early TV comedy; he did not want to be tied to a game show that was 3/4ths of the time played straight. His questioning of industrialist Henry J Kaiser illustrates why the producers seriously considered him as a panelist. Would the president of Toyota ever appear on a game show today??
While of course we miss John, I had my biggest laugh ever on any What's My Line with Ernie's question at 15:44. (Best to start listening for it at 15:29 to get the context....)
I too think it's the funniest remark ever on What's My Line! Ernie Kovacs was the spearhead of the new comedy movement of the 1960's, apolitical division. If David Letterman never saw an Ernie Kovacs appearance, I'll eat my shoe.
I liked Bennett better as he didn’t give away as much info to help panel guess. He let the guest give the answers. I felt Mr Daly in some shows made it more about him.
Seeing both Cesar Romero and Ernie Kovacs here reminds me that both appeared about two years after this episode in ABC's Take A Good Look, only with Ernie as the regular host/moderator.
Jack Robinson The Abraham Lincoln, comment was great, by Ernie. We lost him too soon. I will always remember his part in the movie, 'Bell, Book, and Candle' With Kim Novak and James Stewart. Hermaine Gingold was in it, also. Caesar, was the best 'Batman,' Joker.
This was cute. Bennett is obviously no John Daly, but he gave it a good try. Especially with Ernie and even Dorothy giving him a bit of a hard time. Pretty amazing to see someone like Henry Kaiser show up. And Bennett was right, Kaiser Permanente and the Kaiser Family Foundation are still well known today.
Henry J. Kaiser made a huge contribution to the WWII effort by completely changing how ships could be built. Using ideas for assembly and production line techniques he learned by talking with Henry Ford, he had pre-made sections brought together for a final assembly. In one publicity effort, they were able to make a ship in just four days. These were cargo ships famously called the "liberty ships" and Kaiser built 2,710 of them. On average, 3 ships every two days (in 18 shipyards). Remarkable. Many people at the time this show aired would have been very familiar with that. Today, not so much. People today are more likely to know of "Kaiser Permanente" which he started with his foundation.
Well who can blame him? How could anyone fill John Dalys shoes. I think John Daly is the best Television Host of all time. That's just my personal opinion. Always so quick on the draw.
This whole panel, including John Daley, are so genuine, well mannered, fun to watch. John is a magnificent moderator, but it was fun watching Bennett fill in.
John Daly made moderating WML look so effortless. This broadcast illustrates it takes work and talent to time a live unrehearsed program while adding witty comments off the point of your head. Plus those explanations that give neither too much info or too little while baffling the panel and delighting the audience. Bennett Cerf is . . . well, OK. He is a publisher, though; panel moderating is not exactly in his job description.
soulierinvestments I think it doesn’t take much to be a really good moderator of this show in particular. The panel is just so great reg. Wit, intelligence and funny banter that Daly mostly just had to laugh along.
I'm sure it wasn't at all easy for Mr. Cerf to host the show. There's an episode in which Miss Kilgallen is the Mystery Guest, and she tells the panelists afterwards that she was extremely nervous being on the show in a position other than her normal function. Mr. Cerf was probably experiencing the same phenomenon as host.
This is a fun program. My husband doesn’t understand what I see in this black & white, old school, formal show. My grandfather loved quiz shows and so do I.
They still had time for Julie London! Look at all the time after that. Mr. Daly would at times just say "folks we don't have much time left, good night from What's My Line." He would skip all the good-byes. Producers should have told Bennet to keep going.
The Chrysler guess for Henry J Kaiser wasn't too far off, as Kaiser Motors bought Willys (the original manufacturer of the Jeep) and was later renamed Kaiser Jeep. When Kaiser got out of the auto business, Jeep was sold to AMC who later sold it to Chrysler.
time management would have been much better if kovacs hadn't been so disruptive. cerf did the best he could to deflect that nonsense without blowing up.
In an oral history interview many years later, Bennett admitted his performance as the guest moderator was pretty bad. He never did it again. In the 3 other times WML needed a guest moderator they used Clifton Fadiman and British WML host Eamonn Andrews (twice).
Well, when you go from being a panelist who asks questions and has brief dialogue to running the entire show, it can't be easy. Think he's being too hard on himself. He did his best for someone who has never hosted.
Julie London could not be appreciated in black and white. She was gorgeous. Arlene Francis was always classy. Nothing personal against Ernie Kovacs but he was not a good panelist.
there ws a lot of drinking going on and pill taking before bed. so Im not surprised if she was a lil clumsy because of that, if she did drink. . Jackie Gleason and Art Carney were always swiggin something behind the set of the honeymooners. 50's tv....fun fun fun.
Bennett was surely nervous, though he covered it well! But it sure shows by contrast how much flavor and joy John Daly brought in that seat over the years! Also I admit I have never heard of Henry Kaiser, though he may have gone down in history in the industry arena. The Hawaiian Village is still on Waikiki Beach although I think it’s obviously been updated and is now owned by Hilton?
6-9-2023. What a super show. I want to see it done for 2023-24. Host Jim Carrey or Demi Lovato, born Albuquerque, 8-20-1992. Yes please some rich corporation do this!!!!!!!!!!!
He did these shows because he needed the money- he would have been the first to admit that he was out of his element. His comic genius was on his own shows which consisted primarily of *visual* humor.
You can't see it, but Arlene Francis was recovering from a broken foot/ankle. She was notoriously accident prone in the period 1952 - 1963: eye injuries, on crutches for weeks here, arm in a sling for weeks after an auto accident, her housekeeper accidentally killed a tourist when she knocked a barbell out the window of the Gabel townhouse. This broadcast also illustrates that Kovacs could be a creative pain in the you know what. Cerf sometimes looks as if he wants to slap him.
Amazing to have two folks on the show that must compete about who is the the most corrupt. Bennett Cerf or Kaiser. What Kaiser did was fantastic in WWII for building ships so quickly. Cerf was part of The Famous Writers School, Kaiser's intentions for Kaiser Permanente, discussing its objective with Nixon (on the infamous tapes), were amazing. Puts an unfortunate light on them. I cannot imagine folks complementing Cerf as a host or a panelist. He must have been very hard to work with if the wonderful John Daly had to put him in his place at times, and done so politely (Daly was phenomenal). Cerf constanting tried to prove he was right, that he was given the wrong answers to his questions, and with his horrible Westchester accent, specifically done to be an elite. His comments (in the press) about his involvement in The Famous Writers School scam were infamous. Thank you for the upload. Watching such classics is a double-edged Xacto knife. Like watching the episode about the Tonkin Gulf Incident, and now knowing that the information on the show was "erroneous" (no fault of the show). Such history. The ethics of John Daly and most of the panelists were exemplary.
