MYSTERY GUEST: Bob Cummings PANEL: Arlene Francis, Steve Lawrence, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf NOTE: Also features Chuck Yeager, surprisingly not as a mystery guest.
If you search by her name, Snooks was interviewed by the San Bernadino Sun. It states that she was born "Florence Patricia Rourk". What a wonderful young lady! She went on to buy her own ranch with her own money :-)
The US kept a lot of the aerospace accomplishments out of the public eye during the cold war. I remember reading a story in class in high school (76) about Yeager breaking the sound barrier. He really came known to the public as a result of The Right Stuff, movie and book. A real American hero. He passed away just a few days ago. RIP General Yeager
I think by about the time I was entering Jr High (Middle School) about '70, Chuck Yeager was a household name, so it's surprising to me that no panelist knew of him in '64.
Many men faced the sound barrier before Chuck Yeager during WWII. They just never lived to tell about it. C. Yeager was the first to do it in level flight or in a climb and land to tell about it. The secret was in the movable tail section as well as rocket propelled thrust.
It's just how the general public is. Ask someone random which astronaut has spent the most time in space? Who was first into orbit? I'll bet you'll get only a few people who would know these answers.
Why is it that a C E Yeager is considered unknown enough to come onstage without the panellists blindfolded for them to guess his occupation. It is legendary that he was the first person to break the sound barrier in a plane. I knew this in the 80's or 90's. Seeing as it was accomplished in 1947 it is reasonable to think that the panellists would have know this in 1964!!!
002DrEvil I was thinking the same thing. I did not see the addendum to What's My Line?'s introductory notes on this episode before I watched it, but I guessed Chuck Yeager the moment I saw "C.E. Yeager" on the board. I *might* have even recognized him by sight if he'd signed in as Mr. X, but I'm not sure. I was trying to figure out why it is that he apparently became better known many years later than he was back then, and it must be because of the movie, "The Right Stuff," which came out in 1983. He was commonly seen and/or mentioned in a variety of media from then on. According to IMDb, "The subject of the book and film 'The Right Stuff', General Yeager did all the flying in the movie The Right Stuff as well as played the bartender." I also discovered on IMDb that in 1966 he had an uncredited appearance as himself in an "I Dream of Jeannie" episode titled, "Bigger than a Breadbox and Better than a Genie" -- a clear reference to "What's My Line?" for those in the know! :)
SaveThe TPC Someone on FaceBook suggested that I add Chuck Yeager's name to the show title/description. I'm embarrassed I didn't do this myself, but as I only realized last night, I'm behind *myself* in watching the daily posts in advance. If I had watched the show before the posting, I'm sure I would have added his name myself! Trying to get ahead of the schedule again today, but with a really, really, really bad migraine. . .
What's My Line? But you did add that note about it -- was that also after you got the comments? I'm sorry you're not feeling well. I hope you feel better soon.
+002DrEvil The media, in particular TV, just wasn't what it is today. They've had people like Frank Gifford on WML using his name and he was the star running back for the NY Giants yet he wasn't recognized. Also, Colonel Sanders was on and he already had 600 restaurants around the country and they didn't have a clue who he was. So I can see how Chuck Yeager wasn't recognized. He did a TV commercial in the 70s and that along with the movie that characterized him makes him more recognizable today than it did when he was actually "making a name for himself". Just a sign of the times.
I grew up at Edwards. My sister had Chuck Yeager's kid in her class. I had several friends whose fathers were graduates of that school, including X-16 pilots with astronaut wings. Air shows, dad took me to work and onto the flight line, was inside a C-130, saw rocket tests, double sonic booms at random intervals, watched the B-70 take off and land, was in Aerospace Explorers and got tours of lots of amazing stuff. Lousy weather, cool airplanes.
@@bt10ant Haha, we are both right.. first she said "I can take care of myself" then after everyone finished laughing and Daly said "You're getting into dangerous territory". Then Steve Lawrence said "Speak for yourself John" Just after that, Snooks said to John Daly "Yes, speak for yourself"
Kilgallen @ 8:41 - “Do you teach them to fly?” No, these men knew how to fly - and fly better than most - well before they got to the Aerospace Research Pilots School. Chuck Yeager helped teach them to become even greater pilots. R.I.P. Brigadier General Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager (1923-2020)
I came here from an earlier appearance on WML of Bob Cummings, as his appearance with Chuck Yeager seemed even more thematic. Bob was the first licensed flight instructor & the Godson of Orville Wright. He had to drop out of college, where he intended to obtain a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, due to the financial reverses of his parents in the Great Depression.
Bob Cummings had a flying car and I always thought that by now the flying car would be commonplace, but the Government naysayers have pretty much killed it by over-regulation, requiring it to meet Government car and airplane regulations.
Not only did the panel not need to be blindfolded, they didn't know who he was when his identity was revealed. Unfortunately, Yeager got lost in the shuffle because he wasn't in the astronaut program, but a hero nonetheless. He became well known to the general public years after the show was aired and just recently passed.
It is very instructive to see how information was not widely spread before the internet era. We have a panel of some of the most well informed professionals in the USA and Charles Yeager was not recognized. Not only that: we witness perhaps the most chaotic discussion ever had within the panel, who had no hint even of what to ask Yeager.
I wonder if C.E. Yeager had signed in as Chuck Yeager whether they would have known him by name? Will we never know. He is ( yes he is alive at 97 years old) one of the bravest men alive.
They might have - but I believe that the rules of the show were intended to make it as difficult as possible for the panel. Which would explain his signing in as “C.E. Yeager” instead of “Chuck” or even “Charles”.
This is the beginning of the great divide of the liberal coastal elites and the 'salt of the earth' Americans who did all the really great things that made the world marvel at America.
As of this writing, Chuck Yeager is 143,629 years-old. I've traveled back from the future to let everyone know that, General Yeager is actually an alien from the Betelgeuse system. He traveled here in 1937 after learning that Earth was the only planet in the universe where Yoo-hoo was bottled. Once he arrived, he decided to help the U.S. after the war broke out (good thing Yoo-hoo wasn't bottled in Germany, let me tell you). After the war he figured he'd go ahead and help us break the sound barrier upon discovering how woefully behind we were in the aeronautics field. General Yeager eventually traveled back to Betelgeuse in 2023 after the _"Great Yoo-hoo Crisis"_ of 2021, which, of course, led to the infamous _"Coke Wars"_ that very nearly destroyed the planet in 2022.
Even General Yeager would tell you that until the Book "The Right Stuff" come out in 1983ish...People didn't remember well who he was AND could not have put a face to the name. That is why he could be on a show 18 years after breaking the sound barrier and they would not recognize his face.
Count me in with those perplexed that the panel didn't recognize "C. E. Yeager" as one of the contestants. He was the first man to break the sound barrier, a phenomenal achievement in human flight and eventually, our space program. The fact they all didn't stand up at the end also puzzled me. They'll stand up for elderly people, which is perfectly fine, members of the clergy (though to my dad's amusement, Dorothy wouldn't stand up for Billy Graham), yet when it came to people in the military, even if they were highly decorated, like Audie Murphy, it was a crapshoot whether the ladies would get their butts off their seats too. I'll be damned if I get it.
@@kbanghart Do you think about the comments you write? Seriously: 'there was more news back then'. How in tf did you come up with that? More effing news?!?!?!?! Are you saying there were more events in the course of a day? Fyi: compared to the internet age, there were very few news outlets/shows/publications, etc back then. And different time: wtf does that even mean? So, people didn't understand news?
@@LM-bn1wt Because at that time, he was known regionally, but he was not yet a household name. That happened in the next few years after the episode you're referring to.
John Daly really jumped the gun in the Bob Cummings segment, turning over all the cards. There was at least another minute of time available to keep playing. I could see at the end that he realized the show still had plenty of time.
Loved the way both Dorothy and Arlene did openly, shamelessly and hilariously flirt with a blushing Steve Lawrence as the panelists said their goodbyes at show's end. Stay cool, indeed, Steve, but just stay says Arlene, with all the class she possesed. Great episode, again.
Just amazing that he was "unknown" during this time, when he is nearly a household name today. Today, everyone knows about Chuck Yeager. I had assumed he would be one of the mystery guests.
I wonder if a certain 15 year old in Dayton (OH) was allowed to stay up and watch his famous cousin. Since this episode was taped, they would have known it was coming on. Less than three years later, this budding baseball star from Meadowdale HS would be selected in the 4th round of the Major League First Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Named the best rookie in the Dodgers Spring Training camp in 1972, catcher Steve Yeager would make it to the big leagues that August. He stayed in the majors for 15 years, all but one with the Dodgers. He was their starting catcher for many of those years. In their World Championship season in 1981, he was co-MVP of the Series (along with Ron Cey and Pedro Guerrero). He was also a member of three other NL championship teams. Steve had a typical big league catcher profile: excellent defense, power hitter but not likely to post a high batting average. On defense, he was known for being an excellent handler of pitchers (especially the younger ones), being tenacious at blocking the plate and for a rifle throwing arm. One of the game''s best base stealers, Lou Brock, called him "the best-throwing catcher in the game." In one game when he threw out a runner at second base, a radar gun clocked the throw at 98 mph, throwing from a crouch! Most pitchers even today can't bring it at 98 mph with a full windup. Among his off the field accomplishments, Steve and his family were champions at the Goodson-Todman game show "Family Feud", playing for six days in September 1979 (at the end of one of the Dodgers worst seasons during Yeager's career). A very good team from Boston, the first one ever flown in by the show just to play the game, ended their string of wins, but only after his family won over $13,000. Here's the video of their final appearance (w/original commercials). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PVBS91eehsA.html Steve was also a technical advisor for the "Major League" franchise of baseball movies and played the part of Duke Temple in those movies.
I find it interesting and enjoyable to see Chuck Yeager at this age. Around the time of Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff", I read it as well as "Yeager--an Autobiography" (pub. 1985), and one thing I recall from those days is someone, probably Tom Wolfe, saying that Yeager was, in his early days, so inarticulate as to be incapable of giving an interview, and that Yeager avoided public events and interactions because of it. I've always been curious about what exactly was meant; it is certainly not the case here in this 1964 performance.
Robert Melson I was surprised to see that the panel was not blindfolded. During the late 50s and early 60s the space race and the "Need For Speed" was front page news at the time.
@@dpm-jt8rj yes, but his name wasn't the only one in the paper, you had all the other tests and military pilots, plus what the Russians were doing, Cold war threats and a bombs, the new American economy with plenty of cars and homes, so lots to distract people.
@@dpm-jt8rj The Life Magazine cover stories and the ticker-tape parades were for the Mercury astronauts. The publicity for those who came before them, such as Chuck Yeager and the X-15 pilots like Scott Crossfield, was minuscule by comparison.
Not to be insulting, but General Yeager was raised in West Virginia with little formal education and spoke the particular language of that era and area. He is the only Officer to be promoted to General. without graduating from a college or the Air Force Academy. He worked hard at improving his speaking skills. In his last years his children tried to have him committed to a mental institution so they could have control ( steal) his assets. He was the only person to destroy a jet fighter while flying a prop fighter. This was in ww2, he also severed in Korea and Nam.
@@jimclark6256 In the aforementioned book "The Right Stuff", Tom Wolfe talks about how Chuck Yeager's accent and speaking style was adopted, consciously and unconsciously, by pilots across the US, such was his reputation and influence.
I knew Miss Rourk was likely to be doing something athletic when she turned to follow John Daly to her seat. It looked like she had a very broad back. According to her high school coach at Coral Gables HS, she could have been a competitive swimmer if she had been dedicated to the sport instead of ranching and shoeing horses. The money she made shoeing was saved to buy a ranch, which she did at age 18. I have a feeling that if Steve Lawrence had found his way alone with her, she could have handled him easily.
I'm sorry, but I have to correct you. The scene occurs after Gus Grissom's "failed flight" when Grissom was being mocked by some test pilots. The dialogue is as follows - Random Guy: "Nothing these guys do is gonna be called a failure. You'd think the public would know they're just doing what monkeys have done." Chuck Yeager: "Monkeys? You think a monkey knows he's sittin' on a rocket that might explode? These astronaut boys, they know that, see? I'll tell you somethin'. Takes a special kind of man to volunteer for a suicide mission, especially when it's on TV. Ol' Gus, he did alright." Now, whether Chuck made disparaging remarks about the Mercury astronauts in real life...I don't know. However, in the movie, while he seems to resent them, he ultimately defends them in that scene.
@@clash5j I refer you to the non-fiction book, where Tom Wolfe makes clear that this is exactly what Yeager said. Whether in a fictional movie he is portrayed as saying something different does not change the factual reality.
@@preppysocks209 That's cool. I actually did read the book, but it was about 30+ years ago, so I will definitely concede to someone who remembers it far better then I do. It's a great line by Yeager and perhaps they wanted to get it into the movie, but attribute it to someone else. Maybe to portray (movie) Yeager as being more positive towards the astronauts?
@@clash5j In the book, Wolfe wrote as I remember that Yeager's comment was a kind of "emperor has no clothes" remark that was embarrassing to NASA. I don't have to remind you how much of PR deal, especially with us behind the Russians, the Mercury Project was. The comment was therefore played down, and it would have interfered with the message of the movie as well. Yeager may have later regretted making it, I don't know, but the book goes to great lengths describing what a great pilot was and what Yeager accomplished and what he had to do to accomplish it, and what the Mercury astronauts did paled by comparison. And by 1984 when the movie came out, John Glenn was a serious presidential candidate who hoped to get a bump from the movie, which did not happen ultimately. So there may have been many reasons why the movie distorted reality nearly 180 degrees from reality in this instance.
I would say this: When Dorothy said “a poodle or something” she was right on the money, Daly didn’t appear to hear the “or something”. And I would say that since I have been preceding every sentence with “I would say this”, I would in fact say that I’m beginning to feel, I would say, in this given set of circumstances, rather important.
Bob Cummings doing the "grandpa Collins voice " on the eve of the My Living Doll fiasco . Cummings did appear with Doris Day in the movie , Lucky Me in 1954 . This was ten years previous to this program and likely long forgotten at that time .
What a coincidence. Cummings and Yeager on the same show. Bob Cummings was the first F.A.A. certified flight instructor in the U.S. and was the Godson of Orville Wright. He went on to be a military pilot as well as an actor.
Chuck Yeager wasn't the mystery guest, and they still didn't realize who he was? Wow! I was 11 years old then and I knew who he was. I think that I even had his bubble gum card.
Not sure why "Snooks" would hate the name Eleanor so much that she preferred such an odd nickname. But, to each their own. Also found it strange that the surname Yeager didn't ring a bell with the panel, and I'm a Canadian.
never let it be said you can't see someone blush in black and white. poor Snooks was a bit embarrassed by her response to Steve's, "What are you doing after the show, Snooks?"
She is not glaring at Steve. She is quizzical because she does not understand what John has said and looks to Steve to explain. Maybe she thought John said she "shoos" horses. In any case, she missed the contestant's line. Steve explained it to her and you can hear her say the correct line after Steve explains it to her.
It really blows my mind that Chuck Yeager could appear on that show with face and name fully disclosed and the panel not know him! Chuck should have gone into space.
How interesting, John's expression at closing credits. I have to wonder what it was like for the audience when the show was over. Did the panelists just up and leave or did they interact? It would be interesting to hear from someone who actually attended a taping
I wasn't there but I know that Dorothy and one of the Producers used to go to the bar down the street after the show. She actually went there from the studio with the producer the night she died.
By he way, for you youngsters out there, there was a famous radio show from the 30's to the 50's starring Fannie Brice (of whom the movies "Funny Girl" and "Funny Lady" are about) called "Baby Snookes" (it was usually formally called by the name of whatever sponsor she had at the time, like "Maxell House Time", but people of the time called it the Baby Snooks Show. She played a little brat of a child, though endearingly so, until her sudden death from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 59 in 1951.
Joe Postove I'd heard of Baby Snooks, and the name did come to mind when the horse-shoer insisted on being called Snooks, but I did not really know the full story, so thanks from me, too.
Chris Barat Is this what you're thinking of?www.tv.com/shows/looney-tunes/quentin-quail-403562/ (Obviously, this cartoon did not air daily on Cartoon Network in 1946, but I hope the rest of the information is accurate.) I also found this: booksteveslibrary.blogspot.com/2006/01/baby-snooks-and-friends.html , but it seems to be unrelated.
I saw another mystery guest segment with Bob Cummings (not this one) where he puts on so many different voices, including feminine ones, at one point Arlene Francis says, he sounds like a female impersonator! That prompted me to wonder about him and if he ever married so I went to Wikipedia and boy, did he marry! FIVE TIMES! And one child, a son.
💐💐RIP Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager (February 13, 1923 - December 7, 2020) (aged 97), Arlene Francis (born Arline Francis Kazanjian) (October 20, 1907 - May 31, 2001) (aged 93), Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 - November 8, 1965) (aged 52), Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 - August 27, 1971) (aged 73), John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly (February 20, 1914 - February 24, 1991) (aged 77), and Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 - December 2, 1990) (aged 80) you will truly all be missed and my prayers go out to you all and your families. 💐💐
+Kirk Barkley Thanks in part to the methamphetamine he was hooked on. In fact, he was fired from "The Living Doll" that he was promoting because of his worsening mental state related to the drug use.
In the long run of course not, but many look perfectly healthy for quite awhile. I should've also clarified that because it wasn't solely meth that he was addicted to. Anyway, there's a book called "Dr. Feelgood", that was originally started as a bio on Cummings, until the authors discovered his tragic story and expanded it to include many others in Hollywood and politics who became addicted to Dr. Max Jacobsen's drug/vitamin concoctions. A google search will turn up more info.
Dr. DouglassD Thanks for the info. regarding this book. Robert Cummings was well known for his daily mega vitamin intake. Can't say I remember any references to him taking methamphetamine. I remember that a couple of years before he passed away, he certainly didn't look healthy but very pale and drawn.
22:10 Bob Cummings' career took a major hit from MY LIVING DOLL, a show so bad that he bailed on it in its first season. It's arguably worse than its contemporary, MY MOTHER THE CAR.
Funny you should mentions that 60s sitcom. I recall watching it as a kid. He was a scientist who designs a robot who looks like a beautiful and sexy young lady (played by Julie Newmar). I recall he could make the robot do certain things by pushing "moles" on her back (or something like that). I read years later that he & Julie did not get along.
That show is now available online and I've been watching it. Don't know why it failed. Maybe the humor was not appreciated then. Julie Newmar is hilarious as the doll. Very goofy.
In some of these later seasons, John Daly keeps "throwing all the cards over" and not letting the panel play it out, which is so irritating. I don't know, maybe they were on a time constraint.
Bunny...He was in the movies in the late 40's and had a hit television show in the 50's called "Love That Bob" where he played a playboy type fashion model photographer.
Glad I'm not the only one really surprised that Chuck Yeager apparently wasn't instantly recognisable by pretty much everyone. He must have faded into obscurity somewhat for a decade or two before becoming known as essentially a great American hero. Even I, an Australian with no particular interest in military or aviation history, would recognise the name, if not the face, instantly and be able to describe at least some of his achievements.
During the mytery guest segment with Bob Cumings, there was no reason for John to end it so quickly. They had several minutes left they could have played.
At about 23:35 we see John straining to look (presumably) at the time. He puts on his glasses just a the shot fades. Gee, how many times have we seen John and his specs? Rarely, I think.
Joe Postove I remember an episode when Fred Allen started wearing glasses on the show, because he got a letter from a fan suggesting that glasses would hide the bags under his eyes. (I think it helped too!) At the end of the episode, I think John and the whole panel put on glasses in solidarity with Fred. :)
Joe Postove I'm not sure about this. Where did you hear/read about it? I remember reading something about Arlene's eye patch situations in Gil Fates's book, but except for a caption under a photo, I haven't been able to locate it yet. I'll check Arlene's memoirs too when I get a chance.
Actually George Welch was the first to break the sound barrier in an F-86 Sabrejet a few weeks before Yeager but Secretary Symington had spent millions of $ on the Yeager project and so gave the credit to Yeager. Both of them were great pilots!!!
+gallantrycross The first flight ever of the F-86 was Oct 1 1947, just 13 days before Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier and the top speed was only around 670 mph so unless the pilot was in a deep nose dive he never broke the sound barrier at that time, so you are very wrong with your statement.
+gallantrycross Even if Welch beat Yeager to Mach 1 (and this is generous, given that the evidence for the XF-86 exceeding Mach 1 early in its development is anecdotal), it would not have been recognized as a speed record due to the lack of specialized measuring equipment and the fact that that it would have been in a dive and not level flight.
![What's My Line? - Bob Cummings; Chuck Yeager; Steve Lawrence [panel] (Aug 23, 1964)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
