What's My Line? - Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy (Dec 26, 1954) 

I think because it was pure entertainment. Relaxed, smart and funny panel with the engaging John Daly as MC. The guests would try to stump the panel with their interesting/off-beat occupations and of course, the mystery guest. Feel good television, no stress or tension at all. I remember the Era. What's My Line puts me at ease, too.

So am I !

Its addicting

Who cares?

@@michaelcaza-schonberger9282 Jerk comment.

@@michaelcaza-schonberger9282 Jerk

@@michaelcaza-schonberger9282 Jerk

​@@michaelcaza-schonberger9282 I just love it so much it's looks like new in the past flash back past life look back at movie made of view of the TV's show up in more information on it and Subing the best part

Thank you so much for the wonderful message of appreciation! As for "how you got here", well, you're just one of many folks who have wondered the same thing. There's something extremely addicting about this series-- more so than even its sister shows "To Tell the Truth" and "I've Got a Secret". I'm really glad you've become a fan!

Thank you for helping me relive my childhood

I’m from Australia and never seen it before, now I’m hooked. I think a new updated series would be fantastic. Love it.

This series is so cheering that it’s the perfect bedtime experience.

@@WhatsMyLine Thank you from me, too! WML is a form of time travel for me. I look forward to visiting my erudite friends...in New York of the 1950s and 1960s. 🙏 ✨ ❤️

This is the 50th use of the term, and Fred’s first.

His rather complicated "comb-over" has always intrigued me. I too, wonder "who did it?" And again, "why?"

Daly wore a toupee 😊😊

You're very welcome! But brace yourself, because there are well over 600 more episodes posted that you haven't watched yet. :) I think you've been looking at the playlist for just 1950-54-- the entire available series is already posted, including a few shows never included in reruns on TV. Glad you're enjoying the videos!

Started 1955 this morning! What you are offering brings back pleasant memories and I enjoy going on Wikipedia to refresh my memory of the of Stars that gave us so much pleasure. Except for Turner Classic Movies and the news there is nothing I find appealing on TV.

Rachel Moore 100% agreed on that!

Im just finishing the 1950 to 54 eps. I'm hooked! Next up '55 up. 👍😁

You're old. Just kidding!! 😂

I'm 36 and think cartoons are the best. I don't trust people who don't like cartoons.

John and Arlene were from Boston. (John was born in South Africa, moved to Boston as child). Bennett grew up in NY.

@Acererak John and Bennett used the 'intrusive R' as JFK did to CUBA, saying CUBAR , Idea- IDEAR. John always pronounces CUBA as Cubar.

Daly from south Africa Arlene born in Armenia 😊

@@lllowkee6533 Carryover from British influence. Any word that ends in a vowel they toss that 'intrusive R' in there so as not to slide from vowel to vowel with no discernible break between words.

7:30 west coast😊

Utube has movies from the 1900s😊

That’s really most of the puppeteer’s job. It seems like the speech itself is just the gimmick. The real art is giving the puppet or dummy a living presence throughout the appearance. Jim Henson was also remarkably skilled in this way.

Edgar Bergen moved his lips, and Charlie often mentioned this to him. They had a radio program! A ventriloquist on radio? People seemed to love it--All "pre-Terry Fader, ofcourse.

@ZoneFighter1 We just had better imaginations in those days, out of necessity. (30's and 40's my time.)

Thanks for the wonderful comment. :) It's been a pleasure for me to share these shows. Whether you comment again in the future or not, I appreciate your taking the time out to do so now!

me too

I echo every word said here. I too am sad to see the first chapter go past, but eagerly await the next. Thank you for sharing this amazing glimpse into our American past.

I have fallen in love with this series once again. I was 10 when this aired and remember seeing Charlie at the end. I had listened to what I considered his show on the radio before we got a TV in 1952. I’m gratified that my favorite WML as a child is still so as an adult. The last thing I do before bed is watch an episode. Thank you seems far too small. I am grateful you have done this Herculean task. I hope you see my comment as I see others here are 2 years old.

I am glad that you enjoy this classic American TV series. You will be watching this show for a while. The show aired on CBS from 1950 to 1967. A daytime version of "What's My Line" aired on CBS and in syndication from 1968 to 1975. As for the original prime-time version of this TV series, ALL of the episodes were kinescoped and/or taped for future generations to enjoy. Our eternal gratitude goes out to Gil Fates and others at Goodson-Todman Productions for doing this.

]]l)

Ddddd

Yes everything he said is true, in France also.

Thank you for this.

Gracie Allen and Jerry Lewis also did this. All had great timing.

Dorothy was a investigative reporter for years 😊

What I enjoy is hearing the people speak - proper English, good vocabulary, and no one ever says "like", "I mean", etc. I think it shows that they were clear thinking.

@@bogieviews one of my father's biggest pet peeves was if someone, in recounting a conversation, used the words "he goes" instead of "he said".

@@susanmoon8043 My pet peeve is "I seen it".

What she said is her opinion. It may or may not be true.

I know she did Charlie had a bigger wardrobe!

Robert Giff is my grandfather. I was completely surprised when I come across this!!

+Ronda Giff How wonderful that he was able to appear, especially considering that he might have been bumped from the show. I'm happy for you that you found this posting. Having lived in the NYC area since birth, I keep looking for a challenger who I have a connection to. So far, zilch, and by the end of 1954, the challengers are more likely to come from far afield than they did when the show began.

Hello! If I understood correctly, Fred Allen said that your grandfather was from Flint. Do you know what high school he went to? Did he move back to the Flint area after the military?

I'm not familiar with Jeff Dunham, but I've sure seen plenty of ventriloquists whose technical abilities far outshine Bergen's. I don't think he was ever noted for amazing skill at ventriloquism per se, but at this point he had spent 20 years primarily as a radio performer, where his ability to keep his mouth still was totally unimportant. His chops (to use a musician's term) couldn't have been what they once were. To his everlasting credit, Bergen poked a *lot* of fun at this himself throughout his career. The radio series was chock full of jokes about how Bergen was a terrible ventriloquist (usually cracked by Charlie. Very meta.) But ventriloquism wasn't his real gift, for me anyway. What really amazes me is his ability to make Charlie and Mortimer feel so alive, all while constantly making jokes that remind us they're dummies. And as far as I'm concerned, anyone who could hold his own in a ongoing duel of wits against the ferocious W.C. Fields, as Bergen had successfully done for years, deserves the world's undying admiration! :)

What's My Line? SO true! Didn't mean any disrespect for Mr. Bergen. He was in the right place at the right time. I do remember an interview when he suggested there were other ventriloquists much better than him. But pulling off the art on radio was ingenious.

rick charles Jeff Dunham is a joke compared to Mr. Bergan. He always will be. Bergan worked off of class and elegance. Jeff is a vile comedian with no respect for the craft.

No respect for the craft?? Are you serious? You must just be mad about Jeff not being PC enough for the white-knights. His puppet handling skills are so good he INVENTED a new way to control Achmed, to give him more facial expression. And I don't need to even mention how incredible his ventriloquist skills are... The man's lips NEVER MOVE. I'd say that makes him a pretty damn good ventriloquist.

Brady McAtee : Jeff Dunham's first couple videos had a little colorful language and innuendos but were hysterically funny, IMO. The more in-demand he became, the more filthy he got until he was so vile I couldn't stand it. The "f-word" isn't funny. Having it in almost every sentence, and all the sexual references, was beyond the pail. His characters are wonderful (my favorite is Achmed followed by Peanut). I admired his talent; no, he doesn't move his mouth. Unfortunately, his vulgarity turned me off. If he cleaned up his language and toned down the sexual comments I'd return to buying his videos.

One of my favorite episodes-- but the radio version is substantially funnier. This is one case where the editing for the radio version versus the television version was drastically different.

What's My Line? I didn't know that YBYL had a radio version. I have several episodes of YBYL on DVD. I intend to watch your channel with YBYL later when I am finished with WML. :)

Johan Bengtsson Yes, it started as a radio series in 1947 and moved to TV in 1950, continuing on both media for the next decade. The final season of YBYL was on TV only. There are a lot of radio episodes over at archive.org (this is just one collection over there): archive.org/details/You.Bet.Your.Life

Johan Bengtsson Candice and Edgar also appeared on WML when she was in her early 20s.

+Lois Simmons - Oh, yes. If you ever listen to the old radio shows with Bergen & McCarthy you can expect to hear Charlie spit -- or attempt to spit -- as Edgar interrupts with an "Uh-uh!"

He was less wooden.

Ooops. . . I really should have removed all those links and such to the VCV channel a long time when it got deleted (due to nonsense, of course). Thanks for understanding what the situation was without my even having had to explain it! Losing that channel was extremely painful. I still haven't really gotten over it. It was just starting to really take off when I got a bunch of completely insane copyright strikes for either public domain videos or material that falls under fair use (e.g., a two minute clip from a show from 1957 not available on home video nor seen on TV for over 40 years.) I almost lost the WML channel, too, last year-- but thanks to the overwhelming support of the WML fan community, I was able to fight back! Thanks again for the comment. It is indeed a sad state of affairs.

Humm odd post. I think you as a consumer can buy these episodes and since they are available for purchase I can't see how anyone is being denied them. However, if you elect not to buy them in the name of saving your money, then I suspect you understand exactly why 'people connected to these old classics" would elect not to give them away. It seems you are both acting in regard to money, which is not bad for them or for you. In any case, I really appreciate the time the poster took to post these gems here. THANK YOU!

why so negative.

Mr. Cerf was no gentleman. His jealousy showed in that interview when he spoke ill of the dead by accusing Dorothy of hogging screen time. The show wasn’t the same without her, yet now, years after his comment, people continue this misconception. The so-called comics such as Hal, Steve, and Fred hogged the screen time far more than she ever did, and I didn’t even find them to be funny. To me, they acted like juveniles who did nothing to further the game, and who often led everyone down the wrong path. Mr. Cerf hogged screen time by asking questions that were already answered and by his constant confusing stories. Count how many times he interrupts and how many times he calls out, “John, John.” I used to like Bennett until I read his derogatory remark about Dorothy . Worse yet, he tried to validate his opinion by dragging Arlene into it. I have never read anything to validate his statement that Arlene felt the same way. I believe Arlene had too much class than to speak ill of Dorothy. Yes, Dorothy used incremental questioning, but she was not doing it here. John just needed to get off the air. In fact, John often relied on Dorothy to keep the questions going because he needed her to fill the remaining time. In other cases, Dorothy was being careful. She sometimes used incremental questions and still got it wrong. This happened to Arlene on several occasions, too. I have seen her use the technique almost as well as Dorothy did. All in all, I believe Dorothy’s total screen time to be far less than the other panelists, especially the designated comics. The show needed her to put the game back on track after those gambits took the panel far afield. Whenever someone criticizes her for taking the game too seriously, they should remember that was what she was getting paid to do. (In the same manner that the designated comics were getting paid to act stupid). Arlene probably received the highest salary because she was both smart and funny (in addition to other qualities). I found Arlene to be far funnier than the paid comics.

Did you ever watch Anthony Hopkins in "Magic"? He was terrifying as a ventriloquist - He ruined my childhood LOL

THE 12 HOUR MOVIE SPECIALIST No I haven't heard of that movie. It's too late to ruin my childhood but the movie could ruin my adulthood instead. :)

Johan Bengtsson LOL! You're Right! Forget I mentioned it :)

+John Bengtsson Growing up with Edgar Bergen and Jerry Mahoney, and later Wayland and Madame (plus a rather scary Twilight Zone episode starring Jackie Cooper), I was never a big fan of the art form, either. But I have come to appreciate Edgar Bergen's skill, if somewhat by reputation rather than actually reacquainting myself with his work. His first national success came on the radio. It almost got past me until it hit me: why would a ventriloquist act have any chance of success when you can't see the act? Normally, much of the success is based on not being able to tell that the ventriloquist is actually the one who is talking and in making the dummy "come to life". The rest is on the quality of the dialog. Bergen must have been extremely skilled to hold the audience's interest even though they knew all the other characters weren't real.

That's a very good point you have about Edgar Bergen. I read a biography on him and it never once occurred to me that the audience couldn't see him! I was watching a interview with Jerry Lewis recently, and he said when he was young, he would listen to tap dancers each week on the radio, and it never occurred to him at the time, how crazy that was.