There's a good 1953 British film with then-20-year-old Joan Collins as one of the cast principals up on RU-vid titled TURN THE KEY SOFTLY. (The other two female principals are Yvonne Mitchell and Kathleen Harrison.) Well worth watching!
@@danielbartell8200 She also played Edith Keeler, a highly tragic figure in _Star Trek_ as despite all the good she was doing early in the Great Depression Kirk still had to let her die; as otherwise her failure to realize that Hitler could not be repelled nonviolently would doom the Earth to being overrun by the Nazis, and the galaxy to being destroyed by the Sphere Builders.
Chubby Checker was so handsome, had impeccable manners, and was so talented. Loved seeing him! Thank you for showing us this video! 🥰👏🥰👏👏👏 It's 2023 and he's still performing!
I love What's my line? I am 20 years of age. I always asked the questions of who these people are or were... before looking up on the internment. This gives me a perspective of peoples comments on how and why they viewed these people and how important in their lives were they.
Since most of the participants have gone to their 'reward', we'll let "interment" stand, with no witty rejoinder.(First time, in my fifty-eight summers, I have employed the word, "rejoinder"!)
Joan's greatest role was as Edith Keeler in the "City on the Edge of Forever" episode of the original Star Trek series (won an emmy and was written by Harlan Ellison).
@@brookehanley3659 As she is still alive (and writing) ‘had’ seems incorrect against has. Some people might think that at 90 years she is still beautiful. I’m not and never have been a ‘fan’ … I was taking issue solely with the tense employed in your observation.
I remember when I was 9 years old (i'm in my late 60s now) my friend ( neighbor) and I were watching American Bandstand with Chubby Checker on there teaching everybody how to twist LOL what fun and memories!❤😁
Ms. Collins was and is, a real piece of work. I'll give it to her, for her fortitude and pluck. Ms. Joan is definitely a 'goer'. Joan and Jackie, a couple of 'feisty' Collins sisters....RIP Jackie....
Arlene was fabulous. She was so elegant. She was also a rather good actress. Have you seen her in One Two Three with James Cagney? A Billy Wilder masterpiece.
I have decided to watch these from the first show to the last show. I can't help think they're hearing people in the audience say what the line is. Especially Dorothy & Arlene when they are sitting on the end. Never the less it is great fun to watch these shows I saw as a child again at 75 years old.
Love this show. A time when life was less complicated and simpler. Sad to think they passed long ago apart from Joan Collns. Nice to see them smile and dress so smartly. Thank you for sharing.
+BLAIR M Schirmer It was not a typical role for Joan Collins. She did a fabulous job in it. It was certainly one of the most memorable episodes from The Original Series and one that provided a lot of food for thought. How the fictional Edith Keeler might have changed history has a real life parallel in Eli Whitney's cotton gin.
More likely Dorothy was referring to Kim Novak, who was promoted by her studio for sleeping on lavender sheets and she even tinted her hair lavender at one time. In a 1961 episode of WML, Dorothy asks Mickey Rooney--before she knew the mystery guest was male--if he slept on lavender sheets. Bennett says she was referring to Kim.
Here's a story on Lavinia Berdge from a 2006 e-mail newsletter for the community of Mt. Gretna (PA). Since the story is buried in the newsletter which has rudimentary formatting, I am going to copy and paste it here: QUESTIONS READERS ASK [] Here in Burbank, Calif., I’m working to track down people who were on the classic TV game show, “What’s My Line?” In 1962, a young woman named Lavinia Berdge appeared as a “lipstick tester.” Since it was live TV (without repeats), she probably has never seen her episode. But according to my research on the Internet, The Mt. Gretna Newsletter several years ago mentioned someone by that name. She may not be the same Lavinia Berdge, but how many could there be? Anyway, we would like to offer her a DVD copy of her appearance in exchange for her memories of the show. If you have a way to contact her, could you please pass along this request? We can-and did. Lavinia no longer lives in Mt. Gretna. But she still reads this newsletter from her home in Arizona. And she was indeed the “lipstick tester” on “What’s My Line” 44 years ago. A PR guy thought up the idea and suggested Lavinia’s name, since she worked in quality control at the former Hazel Bishop cosmetics company’s R&D lab. A producer on the show liked the concept and called one morning asking Lavinia to rush to the studio and fill in for a contestant who had suddenly cancelled. Remember, this was in the days of live TV. Lavinia scrambled across Manhattan from her New Jersey apartment, arriving just 15 minutes before airtime. Before she knew it, she was onstage, facing the blackboard and hearing John Daly say, “And now our next contestant. Will you enter and sign in please?” “Somehow I immediately remembered my name and wrote, ‘Lavinia Berdge.’ Everything after that was a cup of tea. Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallin and Martin Gable were the panelists, and they were good. They guessed my ‘secret’ in just seven questions. But Mr. Daly flipped the cards to the maximum of $50 (about 25 percent of my weekly salary then). It wasn’t bad for about ‘10 minutes of fame’,” she says. The experience led to other TV appearances. During a controversy about the safety of hair sprays, Lavinia became a spokesperson for the company on NBC and other New York stations. She spent 43 years in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries before retiring to Exton, where she owned an art gallery and frame shop before moving here. She left a few years ago for her new home in Prescott, Ariz. Now, she’s looking forward to receiving that DVD of her first TV appearance and seeing herself-“44 years younger and 45 pounds lighter.”
- That's for sure. I watch mostly political programming that terrifies me so I turn to WML for calming and for laughs. I also watch opera on You Tube. How many hundreds of yr
I lived in Lititz PA part of Lancaster County, that bakery from the second contestant, Mr Shreck, is still making pretzels, although now it's more a tourist destination and sort of a working museum. It is called the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery, and my nieces and nephews loved it.
It’s good to see Dorothy laugh 😆 at Chubby Checker about “are you one of those Italian boys” and he responded with a different voice which was hilarious 🤣 hilarious 😂
Have a tid-bit of trivia on Chubby. How did he get that name? Fats Domino's wife. They were having dinner together trying to come up with a name for him. Fat's wife said, "Well we have a Fats Domino, why not a Chubby Checker?" and so it began. Have interviewed Chubby a couple of times. Very sharp wit and quite intelligent.
rick charles After school Evans would entertain customers at his various jobs, including Fresh Farm Poultry in the Italian Market on Ninth Street and at the Produce Market with songs and jokes. It was his boss at the Produce Market, Tony A., who gave Evans the nickname "Chubby". The store owner of Fresh Farm Poultry, Henry Colt, was so impressed by Ernest's performances for the customers that he, along with his colleague and friend Kal Mann, who worked as a song-writer for Cameo-Parkway Records,[5] arranged for young Chubby to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark. It was at this recording session that Evans got his stage name from Clark's wife, who asked Evans what his name was. "Well", he replied, "my friends call me 'Chubby'". As he had just completed a Fats Domino impression, she smiled and said, "As in Checker?" That little play on words ('chubby' meaning 'fat', and 'checkers', like 'dominoes', being a game) got an instant laugh and stuck, and from then on, Evans would use the name "Chubby Checker".[
Fred Millsaps There are probably dozens of theories out there. It made me regret not asking him while interviewing him. Never thought of it back then. oh well
Just, striving for factual accuracy, the speaker of the Fats/Chubby line was, rather, the wife of Mr. Dick Clark. Love factual accuracy. WHAT is the occupation, of the second contestant?! Nice tie-in, with Mr. Evans' appearance.
I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned this yet. Listen closely to Martin's initial question for the lipstick tester at about 19:10: "Am I to assume that when it touches the person, that's not the normal place for it to be?" He clearly deserved a "no" to the question as he posed it, but he got John and the rest of the panel (and perhaps even himself, unless he knowingly misled John) so mixed up reviewing the question that John ended up incorrectly giving him a "yes" for it!
Arlene was her usual brilliant self on the pretzel hunt whereas everyone else went down a completely tangential path despite obvious clues from Arlene's start.
There was that great joke in the Golden Girls where Bea Arthur’s character compares a pair of boots to Joan Collins’ waterbed in regards to how many miles they have on them. I love that subtle humor.😊
+tomitstube In light of her recent loss (sister Jackie), I think this show was broadcast maybe six weeks before Joan lost her mother. She seemed to be holding up pretty well here, as she has since the death of Jackie.
when I was a kid in school I would watch What's my line every Sunday night before going to bed. It was the last bit of fun on the weekend . Chubby was not the first one to record the Twist
John missed his chance to say they were adding a few "twists" to the program tonight. Not like him to miss a pun like that and then rub in Bennett's face at the end.
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.
Arlene, to her husband: “ you don’t wear a pancake, but it touches you!” LOL I smiled all the way through the show, I don’t know what I would do without WML❣️
There is nothing wrong with the fringe bangs they are cool. With a face like that they are perfect. None of the panelists should have even brought it up. Joan Collins was a true beauty.
B Kavanaugh In those days that large puffy bouffant hairdo was new and different. Shaped something like a Jackie Kennedy hat. Crossed with a French knot. Later, there were similar styles like "the beehive" but not as high as Marge Simpson's.
Chubby Checker was the only artist to ever have FIVE record albums in the Top 12 at the same time. He was actually more famous for introducing various dances: the Twist, the Pony, the Limbo and the Fly were the most famous.
I thought the answer of "yes" to the question to Chubby Check of "are you less famous for singing than something else" was a little misleading. I can only assume they meant he was more famous for "The Twist" however he was famous for that dance because of the song he sang about it.
The Twist when it was at it's peak was probably as big or bigger than any other craze ever (do we even have crazes anymore)? Chubby Checker was pulling down 10,000 dollars a night in 1960-62 before it all disappeared almost as fast as it came. I think in these days of Covid-19 The Twist could make a nice comeback. I wish it would. I was 5 years old in December 1961 and while I remember it, l was too young to really appreciate it. Come to think of it, if I had been a teenager then, I wouldn't have really appreciated the coolness of the times, then. I guess that's how the times work, huh?
There’s no such thing as a hard or soft A, but it was certainly striking that he said it with a short one. The As in ‘fat’ and ‘father’ in English are either side of the A in most languages, so it’s logical that when anglicizing Pennsylvania Dutch it could go either way. It has been standardized as a long vowel now but it’s logical that it was less so by then as they were somewhat less well known and much less talked about in audio media.
Joan Collins was in a Star Trek episode... "City On The Edge Of Forever". It won the Hugo Award. Only (original) Star Trek to win one. They go back to the 1930s, and... well, watch what happens. Spock knows about "vacuum tubes". Hilarious. ;-)
I sure love watching these old shows.... now, sadly, so many folks have no idea of how to write in script. Guess it's something that the youngsters won't learn unless they are homeschooled. I'm so pleased to be ancient.
Why revere script? I’ll grant writing script probably improves fine motor skills, but so too do many other activities. Would you acknowledge that no matter how well script is written it can never be easier to read than keyboarded text? Isn’t script obsolete, replaced by computers and smart phones?
Today is 14 September 2022 and I saw (a couple of days ago) an interview given by Piers Morgan, with Joan Collins, regarding the death of Queen Elizabeth II. I recall Joan from decades back ("Dynasty") and have not seen much of her since (perhaps she was more visible in the UK). "Dame Joan" is now 89, and I could not believe how mentally sharp and physically young looking she still is. Great for her! Her comments about the Queen were very heartfelt and touching - several wonderful photos of the two of them together were shown. Cheers to all of the "mystery guests" who are still with us (in 2022) on this side of the veil.
"Phoning to Rome" means she was milking and double checking her sources in Cinecitta to get info on the Elizabeth Taylor -- Richard Burton scandal. That scandal also eventually produced a movie called "Cleopatra." If I were Chubby Checker and Joan Collins, I am not sure I would want to be associated with an April Fools broadcast. It's too bad the production staff did not have the courage to pawn off a complete unknown as a mystery guest on such an occasion. Now that would be funny.
+soulierinvestments The idea of a complete unknown as a mystery guest sounds clever, but might be too clever by half as it would be impossible for the panel to have any chance of guessing the person. What occurred to me as an April Fool's possibility would be to have as a Mystery Guest at the beginning of the program an entertainer known for his impersonations. For example, let's say it was David Frye. He would have come on and the entire time being questioned, he would do Nixon or LBJ, for example. Then for the third segment, they would bring Frye back, doing someone completely different, like Liberace or Truman Capote.
I'm not sure it would come off as funny. Remember when Danny Kaye thought it would be funny to lie when he was a mystery guest? He had a blast himself, but it was frustrating and distracting, and at least for me, watching it fell flat.
John mentions visiting London last summer to meet Joan Collins on the set of "The Road to Hong Kong" "The Road to Hong Kong" was filmed from July 31-November 1961, according to Variety Magazine, so that's about right. Also, John said the picture was going to open in July 1962, but IMDB says it was released in May of that year. Maybe they changed plans and decided to release it earlier.
The premiere of The Road to Hong Kong was in Chicago on May 26, 1962. A month later, on June 27, the film opened simultaneously on Broadway and in four Long Island move theaters, according to The Long Island Star-Journal of June 28. The New York Times confirms "the simultaneous release of 'Road to Hong Kong' in 13 metropolitan theaters on June 27, 1962" in Bosley Crowther's July 6, 1964 column.
***** According to Turner Classic Movies "it was released in England on April 1"; Billboard of April 14, 1962, says that the film had "just had its London premiere".
I was not quite 5 yrs old when he appeared on that episode so by the time I got older the novelty worn off and honestly I cannot really recall him speaking much about it other than and this he spoke of often.......This episode was the 2nd time he went to be taped in NY. The first taping was postponed and he had to return then appeared on this episode. That episode that was canceled had Darren McGavin on it. Every time Darren McGavin appeared on TV my father would go on and on how he met him. He became a fan of the show the Night Stalker, I had assumed it was because he met Darrin and talked with him. That is what stands out on his talking of this show. I am sure he spoke of Chubby and Joan but I cannot recall. He passed in 1980 so I can't ask him. He was big in the Pretzel business it was his passion and he had to do with the rotating gear driven carousel soft pretzel machines that were popular in the 60-80's. . When the net got popular I did a lot of research on trying to find this episode, this was some 10 years ago. I had no idea what year it was or who was on it. I went to the show's website going through the archives using Darren McGavin as a starting point and after a lot of watching films I came upon it, it took quite a while. I put a request on the site who I was and how do I obtain a copy. An enthusiast of the show contacted me and offered to send me a DVD of this episode he refused any compensation for it he enjoyed helping folks out. I received the DVD and made copies for my fathers sisters and surprised them with it. It was very emotional for them. You tube then became popular and now, things like this are easily found. This is the first I visited this site in years and was surprised at all the banter on it. There was nothing on this page last time I was on it.
Thanks so much for sharing that story, +Vshky! Could the postponement have been because they ran out of time and couldn't fit in another contestant on the Darren McGavin episode?
Interesting how many of the contestants, male and female were as tall or taller than Mr. Daly and he said he was 6 feet 1. The ladies didn't all have on heels.
Martin Gabel said to Chubby Checker, "Have you a television series?" Other panelists have used that construction on other episodes of WML. Nobody would use it today. We say, "Do you have a television series?"
@@teddytodorova It does sound odd today. It must have been common at the time. Remember the famous question that Joseph Welch asked Joseph McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings, "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"
![What's My Line? - Chubby Checker; Joan Collins; Martin Gabel [panel] (Apr 1, 1962)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
