MYSTERY GUEST: Frank Lloyd Wright [world famous architect]; Liberace [pianist/TV entertainer, well before his sparkly, glittery phase] PANEL: Arlene Francis, Paul Winchell, Dorothy Kilgallen, Peter Lawford
Wow! The great Frank Lloyd Wright was born in 1867 and here he is on television at the age of 89. One of the greatest -- if not THE greatest -- architect of the 20th century. "What's My Line?" was always a cut above the usual game shows.
This, for me this is the most extraordinary WML episode ever. What game show of today would have a leading architect, much less one one of greatest in human history as a guest? This particular show so reflects it's own time so well. How could we imagine Frank Lloyd Wright and Liberace on the episode?
I am a designer, and I too love the architecture of FLW. However, he was not financially and otherwise responsible for his children/family, and that is a huge turn off. Typical lowlife narcissist. Ruins everything. 🤨
My dad worked on his TV show in the 50s and gave my dad an autographed set of records. I still have it and it's the same signature with piano and candelabra.
Liberace got audited by the IRS and was told he could not deduct his costumes as a business expense because he could wear them offstage. He put on one of his more elaborate ones and had his chauffeur drop him off two blocks from his meeting. He walked to the IRS building, stopping traffic for miles. The auditor gave him the deduction.
Chase Lewis no wasn’t made up. He even said it in one of a talk show he was in that he showed up at the IRS with one of his costumes on and after that they let him do a tax write off.
Well that could be said for all costumes worn in plays or other live performance shows. A person COULD wear an elephant suit or the costume of the King of Siam offstage, just as Liberace could wear his elaborate costumes offstage. But nobody would, and so of course they are business expenses. I am glad Liberace fixed that auditor's wagon! I am sure show costumes cost thousands even way back then.
@Bud Smith actually, I think it was because she spoke about knowing too much. I read that she spoke openly about what she was going to soon publish. You don't tell the bad guys you are going to take them down before you do it!
Frank Lloyd Wright came in all skeptical. Then he became intrigued with their nuanced questions. Then he was humble/showed his humanity. I have a new-found appreciation for the man!
I love seeing the twinkle in Dorothy's eyes as she hugs the puppet (Jerry Mahoney). Such an awesome and cute moment. So nice to see Dorothy in a very happy moment. RIP dear Dorothy 😢
@@peggyfranzen6159 FLW was a negligent father financially. Glad you had a good one. As a designer and creative in many realms, the aspect of responsibility is crucial.
I had heard the name Paul Winchell but didn't know anything about him. Whst's My Line is such a fun show to watch, I love it! Thank goodness for modern technology that people of all ages can see it now.
Lee Liberace was the ultimate entertainer. I had the opportunity to see him live in February 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia. There had been an ice storm and only 50 people showed up for the concert. He told us it was the second smallest audience he had ever performed for and that he was going to do the whole show. And what a show it was. He said that those who weren't able to make it because of the weather to mail their ticket to him and he would send them an album.
It's surprising that I've never even heard his name before, other than in that song "Mr. Sandman" come to think of it. That must have been the loudest applause ever on What's My Line, wow!
That's a great memory, but I've got to ask. Did you really believe back then he was straight? Was Scott Thorson there, if so was it before or after his facial surgery?
Such a nice show of respect for Frank Lloyd Wright by Dorothy and Arlene to stand to greet him. One of the very few times that they have stood for any guest. The other time being for Elenor Roosevelt.
@@secef316 Winchell had some medical training, and invented and patented an artificial heart, together with Dr. Heimlich, who invented the Heimlich maneuver.
WOW just WOW. Fantastic to see FLW on a game show. Just extraordinary. I studied his work as part of my degree and had the privilege os staying in one his Chicago properties years ago. A 20thc legend. One of the greatest in history.
Arguably the most cerebral show of its kind of all time. Getting the level of genius represented by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Liberace Brothers all in one episode is the proverbial icing on the cake.
@@michaelcelani8325 Benny Hill was a comedy/variety show and not a panel game show. Learn the difference. And yes, there were plenty of panel game shows in the UK during the same time.
Frank Lloyd Wright....wow....I went to see his house in Arizona. Just beautiful and very different. Liberace that signature was just astonishing. RIP to both of them.
Dorothy was brilliant indeed! She would have been an ace detective! Sadly and terribly a fatal flaw was that she apparently leaked what she was working on ....Terrible!
As a young child my mother would let me stay up to watch Liberace's show. Why? Because I waited till the end when, on a close up camera, he would wink into the TV and I thought he was winking just for me, lol. The innocence of childhood. He was an amazing entertainer and pianist.
Mock his personal life all you want, Liberace was pure gold. A brilliant entertainer and a master pianist. I've heard his parties were legendary and he was an incredible cook. I think he would've been an amazing guy to have known personally. RIP Lee.
For people who mocked Liberace, he told them that he always laughed all the way to the bank. He was very successful and he really knew how to entertain without taking himself too seriously.
Frank Lloyd Wright, born 1867. Yes the 1950s were a long-time ago. Children born during the Civil War were still alive when this show aired. It's a great look into our past, and the sense of decency in the panel, Daly and Wright is something good to ponder.
The Civil War ended in 1865, so he was not alive during the Civil War. By 1956, a baby born in 1865 would be 91 and have no memory of the war. I doubt there were many with actual living memories of the war by 1956. Few people lived to such a great age back then.
A couple of months after this episode, the last surviving Union veteran of the Civil War died. Albert Woolsen was 106 years old when he passed away on August 2, 1956. He enlisted as a drummer boy with the 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment in October 1864 after his father died of wounds sustained at Shiloh. Three men claiming to be Confederate veterans were still alive at the time of this show, but their claims of having served were highly questionable and were supported by no documentary evidence. The last confirmed Confederate veteran was Pleasant Crump, who died in 1951 at the age of 104. Crump enlisted at age 16 in the 10th Alabama infantry regiment, served the remainder of the war, and was present for Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
I live in Manchester, NH, and grew up in the neighborhood where two Frank Lloyd Wright houses are located. One of them is now a museum. The other is still a private residence. They are both beautiful, exquisite homes.
This was broadcast less than a year after I was born. I don’t remember ever having seen footage or heard the voice of Mr. Wright. What a treasure this little panel show turned out to be…
"FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT" wow! He was once a grandpa that everybody wants one. Love him and love what he did. He was a real artist. This is a first time I hear his voice and its amazing! thanks for sharing!
Frank Lloyd Wright ran off from his first family. And another family he had with another woman was murdered by his cook. I don't know if he's the grandpa everyone wants.
I seem to remember someone once said Frank Lloyd Wright was the greatest creative genius the United States ever produced. And I think a good case could be made for that.
DodderingOldMan - One of Frank Lloyd Wright's signature works is near my home in Southern California- the glass chapel. My history of art class at Cal State U. took a field trip to see it in person. How magnificent it was and overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
So nice to see and hear one of my favorite architects this way. This was the year the work on the Guggenheim Museum started in NYC. It would be finished 3 years later. Unfortunately he died 6 months before opening. A true American legend who influenced many architects here in the Netherlands. I studied his buildings and designs a lot in school for the history in architecture class. Wright influenced the famous dutch Architect (my favorite Dutch architect) Berlage a lot, and especially Dudok, who really created a lot of Wright inspired buildings.
Kentuck Knob was just completed around the time that this aired. I'm so lucky to have gotten to tour it, and his masterpiece, Fallingwater, which is about 10 minutes away.
@@Crusader1815 so right, then john steered arlene away from the clue... but as usual dorothy sensed it was relevant, the two of them are quite the dynamic duo.
@@dabneyoffermein595 Yes...the Price Tower in Bartlesville Oklahoma for the Phillips 66 oil company. Wright only completed 2 vertical buildings ...the other being the Johnson Wax Research Tower in Racine Wisconsin. Both of which I have visited and are spectacular.
So excited - I was a newborn when this show aired. What is amazing is that Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Arizona home/architecture school is very close to my home here in Scottsdale, AZ. Love seeing him in person.
What with talk shows not quite being popular or plentiful yet in 1956, hard to think of another program that would bring Paul Winchell, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Liberace together in the same place.
Frank Lloyd Wright is probably one of, if not the best architect of the modern age. I've always been a fan of Liberace. When I was a little one of 3 years old, he had a TV program every week & I would sit in my little chair in front of the TV and yell' 'Bachie, Bachie!!'....I still consider him one of the best pianists ever.
This is the biggest applause I have heard on WML. Just shows one how big a STAR Liberace was at that time. He seems like a really funny and nice guy. The Women screaming and hysterically laughing is hilarious considering.... My Brother George..haha
I loved hearing Wright speak. Realizing when his speech habits were formed is neat being that he was reaching near 89 or 90 soon. I've read letters from Civil War soldiers in family history and it's still close enough time frame. The manner seems much more elegant than few decades later and this man still spoke as taught.
Like many of the comments below I find WML highly addictive. Strange kind of immortality the regulars of this almost 60 year old show have. This episode with Frank Lyoyd Wright nd the one with Salvador Dali are my favorites, watched them multiple times it's never boring, but one would expect that from a Boomer.
If anybody ever doubted what a class act Daly was or that it took skill to do what he did, I think all of that can be put to rest after this stint w/FLW. Wright couldn't hear, and when he could, he was clearly not very comfortable and out of his element. Daly moved it along, kept his cool, and moved as many of the ambiguous answers into the "NO" category in order to get him out of there ASAP (had Dorothy not identified him beforehand). And he STILL made FLW look good! A true professional.
FLW was NOT horrible as a guest. Plus many architects MIGHT PAINT an artist's rendition of the final product. So saying that he painted as part of his job would have been a correct answer.
Daly always gives away the answers. He gives so much information in his qualifications of the yes or no that any clever educated person could guess the answer. It is actually kind of offensive in that it is like a little game played to fool the audience. I find it impossible to watch this show as there is no real game going on. There is a host that gives away the answer when he gets the chance.
I did meet and even had a picture taken of me with Liberace. One of the easiest celebrities to visit with, a true gentleman. He was a gifted performer and really owned the stage and the audience.
Good ol' Frank Lloyd Wright who hailed from my home state of Wisconsin, as did Liberace! It's too bad that the audience spoiled the mystery by tipping Arlene off with the acoustics comment and by applauding when the panel had the conference and Dorothy uttered his name. Notice John Daly trying to shush them! Also, this is one of the rare moments when even the ladies on the panel stood up to greet the guest.
Liberace invented the phrase laughing all the way to the bank but it was actually crying all the way to the bank. Asked about a particularly vicious review of one of his sold out concerts, Liberace said, "Yes, I read that, I was crying all the way to the bank."
I’m 30 and I come from an appreciation of both this time and current time…. And as much as I do enjoy the frivolities of celebrities du jour, watching something like this really makes me wish we had some public figures who had some sense of decorum and intelligence… laughing at ignorance is an easy laugh.. I doubt more than half the modern celebrities could even understand to laugh at some of the basic, yet relatively intelligent jokes made during this show, sadly.
I've got a Liberace signed program for which I only paid $20. It has a facsimile autograph, as all his programs did, but he signed it perpendicularly to the facsimile autograph and also personalized it. It is from the 1950s when he still had his TV show.
To see Mr. Wright at the end of his appearance here, greeting the panel with his hand out... admired and revered by not only the panel, but the audience as well. We need more men in our country who are revered, we don't have those any more.
RustyAngel - You are so correct. Honestly, why is it that so few men in the public domain pursue a reputation for civility, kindness and elegance? I think we all know of the main focus of my remark. How do such people gain renown?
It would be nice if you could state such a purely negative (and baseless) opinion as an opinion. Just because you don't personally like a musical group doesn't mean they were talentless. And I say this as a person who listens to almost no music outside of traditional jazz. If you can't recognize the musical talent of the Beatles to the extent of feeling a need to call them a "sick talentless joke", I feel sorry for your closed mindedness.
Phil Verry, setting aside their obvious ability as singers and instrumentalists; are you aware if how difficult it is to create vivid, memorable melodies? No offense, but how many songs have you written?
I have loved Liberace my entire life. Talk about living out loud, exactly how you want to live. Every person on the planet should be so confident and so accepted. ❤️
At 11:43, Frank Lloyd Wright probably gave one of the best compliments ever given this show: "An extraordinarily intelligent show". This from a literal and undisputed genius. He was a great fan of the show and was happy to appear on it.
Jack Decker, I think you are mistaken. --- At 3:46, when Daly has asked him if he is familiar with their scoring, Wright replies. "Somewhat, I watched ONE of the shows, with interest." ---- Someone he knows may have said to him, "If you are going to be on the show, you should at least watch it to see what it is like." And so he did. He watched ONE. ----- He says 'with interest' to be polite, because he has just stated that he is NOT a regular viewer. He has only watched ONE show. At 11:43, as others have stated, it seems he says "Such an extraordinarily intelligent panel."
@@sharksport01 I often think it might be rigged, but on the other hand, the panelists also read the gossip sections of the news and knew who was in town that weekend, which often came into play.
Good ole Lee and his contagious smile! And then George, whom I've never seen before today, comes out and has an identical smile and voice as his brother (Liberace). Pretty damn cool....
I wonder what became of the Broadway show he mentioned? My dad took me to see Liberace many years ago when I was a youngster just learning how to play the piano. He came through the audience showing off one of his rings and I remember nice it was of him to talk to me about playing piano and encouraging me. I can't fault anybody that gave what he gave to an audience, which was everything.
I remember seeing one of his shows (on TV) where, before he showed his new ring, he said that since his fans had effectively paid for it, it was only right that they see it. It was not often that a star would share with their fans what was done with the money they paid him/her.
For all the people commenting about how awesome it is to see and hear someone born in 1867, there are videos on RU-vid of interviews with Civil War veterans and people born as early as 1835. The name of the channel is Guy Jones.
What an amazing experience this episode has given me. Frank Lloyd Wright is my favorite architect and am a huge fan of his. Such a talented and distinguished man.
This is the episode that first introduced me to WML. A few years ago (2017, I think) I was visiting an exhibit on Frank Lloyd Wright at the MOMA in New York City. There they were playing the FLW segment of the episode on a loop, together with Mike Wallaces's interview from 1957. Both were utterly fascinating. When I got home I looked up WML on RU-vid and I've been hooked ever since.
![What's My Line? - Frank Lloyd Wright; Liberace; Peter Lawford & Paul Winchell [panel] (Jun 3, 1956)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
