Always nice to see Robert Q. Lewis on these shows. A very interesting person for sure. Thanks for uploading all of these classic What's My Line? episodes
Fred Allen died of a heart attack on St. Patrick's Day, Saturday, March 17, 1956, about 8 months after his appendectomy. He was born John Sullivan, from Cambridge, Mass. His mother died when he was 3 and his father abused alcohol, so he was raised by an aunt. Extremely self-conscious he often seemed uncomfortable on television but his wit and intelligence shone on radio and in his books and letters. He was an extremely devout Roman Catholic. John Daly in What's My Line aired on Sunday at 10:30pm, less than a day after Fred's unexpected death. Steve Allen, whom Fred had replaced, took his place for that show.
@@elonagrizzuto9683 Because of your familial connection here, it would have been really great if you had posted more information about your family lineage and to include the kinds of connections that you had with Fred Allen. Did you get to talk to him often? Did he come over to your house on occasion? That kind of thing.
Always admired the deep generosity of John Daly in bestowing the FULL $50 prize to the contestants. Especially those who might not be as fortunate otherwise.
When they wanted to raise the prize amount to be up with other game shows prizes, he said NO! and said if they raised the prize amount he would QUIT! so don't give him too much credit for tossing a few extra cards. He is why when others were up in thousands his show was still $50 max.
This was the famous episode where they tried with 2 guests after the mystery guest. The only reason I'm glad I found it was the fun appearance of Fred Allen, he had me laughing with his attempt to fool the panel.
@@jasonhindle4399 Fred Allen married my great grandmother's younger sister Portland. When my grandmother and grandfather went on their honeymoon, they went to a broadcasting of the show so that my grandfather could meet Fred and Portland. My aunt's middle name was named after Fred. They changed the lettering around and made her middle name Allyn. I posted some family pictures and memorabilia that belonged to my grandmother in the Facebook What's My Line group. I have pictures of Portland's sisters and father. I remember my grandmother telling me that I'm related to a famous radio show host. I don't remember hearing too much more as I was probably 6 or 7 when she told me about Fred.
SO you guys think it's ok to be rude to people like Fred is? On an earlier episode, he called a lady FAT; now that's just plain WRONG!!!! I don't care WHAT decade you're in
Krista Brewer I'm with you Krista. I'm rather hoping he'll get replaced soon, like say 1956, but he seems to be popular!! I can't stick him. I really miss the class and modesty of Steve Allen.
@@kristabrewer9363 ... You seem to have some type of personality disorder, the way you are obsessed with Fred Allen and weight, constantly chiming in on your hatred for him on RU-vid. Just give it a rest, would you please? And get some help. Please.
He was, truly, one of the few authentic geniuses of radio comedy. He had a gift for understanding what worked on the medium better than anyone than, perhaps, Jack Benny. A good place to start for newcomers to find free episodes of his radio series is archive.org: archive.org/search.php?query=fred%20allen
Robert Q Lewis was really good at this game. Dorothy ignored his suggestion of a flagpole sitter last week with the flagpole sitter. She learned her lesson and took his advice on the sports part of the pool table lady here. Fred was caught much quicker than his first time as a mystery guest but it was Bob Q who hadn't appeared with him before on the panel who caught it first.
Johan Bengtsson -- They probably learned their lesson from this episode and didn't try a fifth contestant again. The fifth contestant was on for all of 90 seconds and it wasn't worth doing, IMHO. They should have asked a couple of questions of the fourth contestant after Arlene determined so quickly that he was a sailor on the French battleship, the Jean Bart. Then, if that didn't quite fill up the remaining time, they could have stretched the good nights a bit.
i think it was because this was the early days of televsuon and they were still learning what worked. they were probably afraid to ask questions because no other show had done it yet. they went with the only thing that they knew worked, another contestant.
I just wonder if they always had a 4th contestant as a backup in case one of the others couldn’t get there (traffic, illness, family emergency, etc.). I’m thinking now they probably did; and if so, I think it’s better to let him/her get on air, even if there isn’t much time. At least the backup person got to be on the show and get $50. 😁
I think Fred Allen was/is a bit of a "study"; that is, it takes a while to understand his sense of humor and quick wit and from where it all is derived within his comedic mind.
22:33 Before I even saw Arlene guess that he was a sailor, I considered joking that Arlene would probably figure it out because she's probably very familiar with sailors. Lol. {Innuendo}
Gable assiduously avoided acting roles on television and all appearances in general. Not counting a couple of TV appearances in connection with the telecast of the Academy Awards, his appearance in the crowd during a TV short about a movie premiere, and home movie footage of him during a TV documentary about Gary Cooper, the only time he deliberately appeared on television was an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show of April 19, 1953 (still officially known as "The Toast of the Town" at the time). The show preceded WML by 90 minutes on the same CBS network. I was unable to find exactly what Gable did on his show that night. It was Gable's fifth and final marriage, one that ended with his death. It was the only time he married someone not in show business and the only marriage which produced a child and that child was born after his death. His child many years earlier with Loretta Young was not the product of marriage. By all accounts, had Carole Lombard not met with tragic death due to pilot error while returning from a war bond selling tour just 40 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Gable would never have entered into marriages #4 and #5. Miss Lombard was the true love of his life and while he managed to go on with his career, he was devastated by her untimely death.
@@loissimmons6558 Gable was ill at ease in any circumstances that might call for spontaneous or quick-witted behavior. He was conscious of his lack of education. He did not want to rekindle the early impression of himself as a dumb ox or 'beloved brute' which he had tried to eradicate in the 1930s. He wanted everything pre-cooked and disliked any improvisatory method of filming; this helped turn him against Cukor when that director, in Clark's opinion, spent too much time grooming and coaching Vivien Leigh, a nervous Hollywood newbie, at the beginning of the GWTW shoot. Gable would have been more en rapport with Selznick's second choice, Paulette Goddard.
I'm a gigantic fan of his radio work, which is why I sought out What's My Line in the first place (it's just about the only TV work by f.a. available). Most of the time, I feel the format of WML hemmed him in so much he didn't shine as brightly as he deserved to. But i thought he was very funny in this mystery guest segment.
His ad libs are priceless. This is not to slight the wonderful comedians who work with writers and have a knack for delivering written lines with flair; but seeing someone like Allen come with these things on the fly as he does on this show, well that's a special kind of genius.
Arlene wondering if Fred was from outer space just made me wonder why none of the Mystery Guests ever used a prop diving mask or head covering to disguise their voice?
Although it would be many more years before I would come to be I love this show and Fred Allen was a real character. Too bad he would leave us so soon afterwards.
Fred was brilliant & so, so funny! The other night while watching An Affair to Remember, I noticed that a news reporter in the film looked and sounded familiar, it was Robert Q. I have never seen him on anything but WML? before. I've seen the movie at least 100 times before and never gave it a thought, but to be true I have only been watching WML? for only 3 years now. 🌼
@@princeharming8963 that's great! I'm related to him because he married my grandmother's aunt Portland. My great grandmother and Portland were sisters.
Fred was such a great panelist who had so many more years left in him on What's My Line, but it was sadly cut WAY too short. Such a shame he couldn't make it into the 60s.
I'm pretty sure they were offered the chance to return if they didn't get on the show at all-- this is why so many of the last-round contestants after the mystery guest are from the NYC area, I think: so that they could come back the next week if they didn't get on. The sad thing, though, is when they squeeze in a final contestant when there's only a few minutes left in the show. Those contestants really got shafted.
Considering that now and then they didn't have time for any challengers after the MG, I find it hard to believe that they would have two people prepared to finish out the show every week. It would seem more likely to me that they would have asked members of the audience as they entered what their occupation was and they would snag some that had an unusual one.
I don't feel they "got the shaft", Daly always turned over ALL the cards and gave them the full cash prize, plus they got samples of all the sponsors' products.
poor fred, his health was beginning to fail him, he would die from heart attack 8 months later, he had been a regular for about 2 years when he unexpectedly died.
Bob Crestwood i'm not sure, he may have smoked a cigar. he was around 60 when he started doing wml. but i agree, he never looked well, those massive bags under his eyes... he may have just had a bad ticker.
She was very happily married to Martin Gabel from 1946-1986, his death. These snide remarks are out of place. The battleship Jean Bart was a significant event when it berthed in New York and unless someone was brain dead they would have to have heard of it. It had almost 1,300 sailors and was readying for the Suez Affair which almost resulted in a major war. Martin Gabel, the Jean Bart, and France's role in the Suez Affair may not be familiar to those under the age of 70 but if they had any awareness of theater, film, literature and world history these things would all be commonly known.
My recommendation got through to you, huh? Thanks, now I don't have to pause the video when the celebrity guests come on to Google the ones I don't know! :D
Yes, I took your suggestion. It's very easy for me to add these brief descriptions since I know the celebrities of the era, and rarely have to look them up. I'm only 41, but I've been obsessed with vintage entertainment since I was a kid. But as I've said before, I'm probably not going to be going back and modifying the descriptions of shows I've already posted. It takes forever with youtube's user interface! Glad you appreciate the addition, and thanks for your suggestion. It never would have occurred to me otherwise.
While watching this episode, it makes me think about the moderator, the four panelists and the special guest, Fred Allen, as being among the most wonderful people that have ever graced our television screens.
On July 17, the Dodgers won a doubleheader from Cincinnati in action at Ebbets Field. A bumper crop of sour arms led them to call up two pitchers from the minor leagues and not only would both make their major league debuts this day, they would be the winning pitchers. In the opener, the Redlegs nicked Roger Craig for runs in the first and second. A triple by left fielder Bob Thurman and a dribbler by first baseman Ted Kluszewski broke the ice and Cincy added an unearned run in the second. Meanwhile, back to back home runs by Duke Snider and Gil Hodges in the first had the game knotted at 2 all. Craig held the Redlegs hitless the rest of the way and the Dodgers got to Cincinnati starter Gerry Staley in the middle innings, with solo homers by Carl Furillo and Pee Wee Reese contributing to the 6-2 victory. Don Bessent was a relief pitcher for most of his major league career, four seasons with the Dodgers. But he started two games during his rookie year, including his major league debut. He ran out of gas in the ninth, but with the help of a 6-run fourth inning in his support, he had his win at the end of the day. Like Craig, a triple helped break the ice against Bessent, as center fielder Gus Bell smacked the three bagger in the second to bring home right fielder Wally Post who had singled. Starter Rudy Minarcin took a shutout into the fourth inning. But four singles, a walk, a hit batter and three errors later and the Dodgers led 6-1 while Minarcin followed the rest of the game from the clubhouse. Bessent took an 8-2 lead into the ninth. But he didn’t retire a batter in that inning. Kluszewski singled, Post homered and Bell doubled to prompt Bessent to hand over the ball to Ed Roebuck. Bell came around to score on two outs, but Roebuck got the final out for the 8-5 win. At the beginning of the week, the attention of baseball fans was focused on the first All-Star Game played in Milwaukee. It was one of the most dramatic games in the history of the midseason classic with the National League coming back from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the eighth and win the game on Stan Musial’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the 12th. Ironically, the pitchers at the end of the game were Frank Sullivan for the American League and Gene Conley from the hometown Braves who struck out the side in his only inning of work to get the win. They were the two tallest players in baseball at the time and they would be traded for each other later in their careers. As far as Dodgers in the game, Don Newcombe pitched a scoreless seventh inning, the first of six shutout innings after the AL scored their fifth run. Gil Hodges had a pinch single. Duke Snider, who started in center field for the NL, was 0 for 2 and recorded 3 putouts. The Dodgers resumed play on Thursday after the All-Star break by welcoming the Cardinals to return to Ebbets Field. They were very generous hosts as they lost their third straight game. Larry Jackson went the distance, holding the Dodgers to four hits and only one run in the bottom of the ninth after the Cardinals had built up a six run lead. First baseman Stan Musial followed his dramatic All-Star Game walk off home run with a solo shot off Johnny Podres in the fourth to open the scoring. They continued to build their lead with a two run double by shortstop Alex Grammas in the sixth, a two run home run by center fielder Wally Moon off Jim Hughes in the seventh and in the eighth when Karl Spooner surrendered a leadoff triple by right fielder Bill Virdon and a one out single by catcher Nelson Burbrink. The Dodgers came back with a vengeance on Friday. Newcombe once again supplied both pitching and offense as he raised his record to 15-1. At the plate he went 4 for 5 with a double and a home run and 3 RBI’s as he cruised to a 12-3 complete game victory. The Dodgers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning against Tom Poholsky. After the Cards cut their lead to 4-3 in the sixth, they scored two unearned runs in the seventh against Paul LaPalme and then salted the game away in the eighth against Mel Wright as the Dodgers sent 11 men to the plate in a 6 run inning. Newcombe led off with a home run and knocked in the final run of the inning with a single. With the midweek All-Star Game influencing the schedules, the St. Louis left and Cincinnati came in for a 4-game wraparound series on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. And the Saturday afternoon game on July 16 was a nail biter. The Redlegs jumped out to a 3-run lead in the third on a three run home run by Post off Billy Loes. With rain falling in the fourth, Gilliam tripled in the first Dodger run. But after a 65 minute rain delay, Art Fowler resumed his efforts and struck out Don Zimmer to strand Gilliam at third. Then the Dodgers tied it in the sixth on Snider’s homer and Zimmer’s RBI single in a rally helped by Kluszewski’s error. The Dodgers bunted their way to the lead in the seventh. Don Hoak led off with a single and when Reese bunted, all hands were safe when Hoak beat the throw to second. Snider then bunted the runners to second and third. After Hodges was walked intentionally, Furillo’s single moved up everyone 90 feet to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead. Herschel Freeman relieved Fowler and stranded the bases loaded when Gilliam flied out to shallow left and Zimmer hit into a force play. It was Clem Labine’s game to win in the ninth, but Cincinnati didn’t give up. With one out, Smoky Burgess doubled. Rocky Bridges ran for the slow-footed catcher and he moved to third on Labine’s wild pitch. Joe Brovia was sent up to bat for third baseman Bobby Adams. A star slugger in the Pacific Coast League for many years, this was Brovia’s only stint in the major, slightly over a month. His fly to left was deep enough to tie the game at 4 apiece. With the sacks clear, Labine retired shortstop Roy McMillan to end the inning. Perhaps inspired by Musial on Tuesday, Snider ended the game in dramatic fashion. He led off the bottom of the ninth with his second homer of the game and 30th of the season to send the Dodgers home with the win. After the doubleheader sweep of the Redlegs on Sunday gave the Dodgers a 4-1 record for the week, they led the Braves by 12½. The Giants were now in third, 16½ back and the Cubs had fallen to fourth, only one game over .500 and 17 games off the pace. They were in the middle of a losing streak that saw them lose 9 straight and 15 of 16 (their only win coming against the Dodgers). By the time they recovered a bit, they were 7 games under .500 and in fifth place and their flirtation with a winning season was nearly over.
Could anyone reading these comments answer this following question of mine? Why is the applause volume so very much louder than the volume of the conversations in these What's My Line kinescope videotapes? It seems very jarring to my ear in mostly all of them. Thanks!
@@robertjean5782 Pardon my abruptness, but DUH! Of course I turned it down, Sherlock! My question was WHY was it happening. Thanks but no thanks for your wiseguy "counsel"😯🥴😵💫😵... Oh, and by the way, since when did you develop clairvoyant powers to detect beforehand when the volume was going to sharply spike louder???🤨🙄🤣🤣🤣!!!
Bennett Cerf had such unusual (and frequently weird) pronunciations that, when I haven't heard it for a while, I end up googling him to see if he was partially deaf.
That justice of the peace struck me as being particularly "out to lunch". I wonder if he even knew who Clark Gable was when he officiated at the wedding.
ToddSF 94109 It seems to me that the justice of the peace was hard of hearing to some extent; I believe that could explain any awkwardness or hesitancy in answering. Once John had repeated the questions in his crisp diction to the guest, he was usually able to give a quick answer. It's apparent that the acoustics of the studio weren't very good, and probably the microphones on the desks were only for the audio portion of the broadcast (or perhaps also to amplify the voices to the studio audience) rather than being used to amplify the voices from one side to the other of the set itself.
So many people had trouble hearing which could make them appear to be "out to lunch." I think the studio's acoustics left a lot to be desired. Being hard of hearing, myself, I think people often think I'm downright stupid.
I haven't see the show yet; I'm reading the comments first. Can I ask why everyone is praising Fred Allen when he's rude to the guests? On a previous episode, he called the lady FAT; and that's just plain WRONG! I don't care WHAT decade you're in. And then on a later episode, he was rude to a lady again. I can't remember what he said, I'd have to go back and read the comments again, but no, he was definitely NOT funny!
There are over eight hundred episodes and I believe I've seen most of them except the ones with guests I don't care for. I liked Fred Allen and thought he was funny. I cringe at comments about the physical appearance of contestants. It must have been the times but that was common enough on that show. I recall rude remarks made by Bennett Cerf, Jerry Lewis and others; even Arlene Francis although she was much more genteel about it.
@@sophiemorrison9820 Absolutely agree with you. And Dorothy and Arlene were also rude, they just weren’t as obvious with their rudeness, they were sly and catty. To the OP: Fred didn’t say she was “FAT”. Fred was about to speak and Dorothy said something along the lines of, “I only meant did she dance with a gentleman or gentlemen.” Fred replied, “I don’t think there’d be room for one.” While it may not work today we also need “safe zones” in universities! I don’t think we’ve improved any.
So, I'm a fat woman and a feminist. And I don't, overall, like the fat jokes. But it's not just Fred doing them; it's everyone, except *maybe* John. Basically, if I want to watch a show from 1955, I have to recognize that it will be of a different era. There's times when I won't want to deal with that, and won't watch it. For me, Steve is just as unkind, in different ways. (But I like watching them both.) Steve doesn't connect to people because he's so busy following the laughs; Fred, meanwhile, is so busy trying to ad lib.
