Bennett: "Is your television show so good that it even survived an appearance by me on it once?" George: "Well, we fought our way back!" George Gobel was one of the all time greats!
Stubby Kaye was featured with Nat King Cole in "Cat Ballou." They appeared as wandering minstrels, and both played guitar and banjo, along with singing in tight harmony.
Bob Richards was the first athlete to appear on the front of a Wheaties box. (I'm so glad that wikipedia confirmed this, because I seemed to remember his picture on there but was afraid my 68 year old brain might be playing tricks on me.) That occurred in 1958. It's interesting that Olympic athletes were not instantly recognizable in those days. Now, a successful Olympian's image is everywhere, but back then there was so much less hype about things.
Arlene introduces Stubby as having played Jubilation T. Cornpone in Li'l Abner, which is not the case. Stubby's character was Marryin' Sam. The song he sang was "Jubilation T. Cornpone" about the (fictitious) historical figure of the (fictitious) town.
Watcching these reruns reminds of a whole generation of forgotten comedians, Wally Cox, George Gobel, Fred Allen,e etc. I remember we watched the George Gobel show, but I think I was too young to remember much.
One night George was on the Carson show and was wearing a jacket with the Fighter Pilot Patch, and Carson asked about it. George said that in ww2 he was a fighter pilot instructor in Oklahoma. Everyone laughed, and George said, as only George could, "if you remember, not one Japanese plane got past Tulsa". It does not get any better than that.
Johan Bengtsson I was surprised you didn't comment on Bennett's pun of the day, regarding his "Uncle Macassar" (17:13), but then I thought perhaps you weren't familiar with the word, "antimacassar." Here's a definition, along with a pronunciation guide with audio: www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/antimacassar, and here are some image results: images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=AwrBT7fc9rdVAaMABTJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=Antimacassar&fr=ush-mailn_02. Also, when my kids were little, we used to watch a TV show called "The Big Comfy Couch," in which most of the characters were clowns. The little girl clown, Loonette (who was the star of the show) had an aunt named "Auntie Macassar." It was a live action show, but here's a drawing of her: images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrB8p7y9bdVPAUAel6JzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIzN3JhMDI0BHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZANjNDM0OGNkMzY1YmE2ZDI3MjdjNjQ5YTY1NWVmYjY5OARncG9zAzEwBGl0A2Jpbmc-?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DBig%2BComfy%2BCouch%2B%2522Auntie%2BMacassar%26fr%3Dush-mailn_02%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D10&w=200&h=434&imgurl=webspace.webring.com%2Fpeople%2Fmp%2Fpbs_kid%2Fcouch%2Fauntiemacassar.gif&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwebspace.webring.com%2Fpeople%2Fmp%2Fpbs_kid%2FCouch.html&size=18.8KB&name=My+counter+was+made+possible+by+Vikimouse+and+Toolzone%21&p=Big+Comfy+Couch+%22Auntie+Macassar&oid=c4348cd365ba6d2727c649a655efb698&fr2=&fr=ush-mailn_02&tt=My+counter+was+made+possible+by+Vikimouse+and+Toolzone%21&b=0&ni=21&no=10&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11ob31p67&sigb=13kkk7rhn&sigi=11vb72f00&sigt=11ntfi48e&sign=11ntfi48e&.crumb=P1ts.qu7nmM&fr=ush-mailn_02.
SaveThe TPC Bennett's pun slipped my ears or I didn't do the connection with the word antimacassar. We use the word in Sweden but it has been out of date since at least 50 years. Ask anyone under 40 and they never have heard the word or the meaning of it. I think of the 1890's.
George Gobel was truly funny -- he always came up with a lot of witty quips and he could ad lib with the best of them. My favorite quote from him -- when I was in high school in the latter 1960's: "Did you ever get the feeling that the world is a tuxedo and you're a pair of brown shoes?" Even then I had to laugh at that because, yes, I've had that feeling many times, yet if it hadn't been for Mr. Gobel, I'd never have known to express the feeling that way.
Yep, his classic line on The Tonight Show when he appeared following Bob Hope and Dean Martin. It was one of two times I've ever seen Carson laugh as hard as he did that night.
An antimacassar mentioned by Arlene is a doily/cloth adornment placed on the backs or arms of furniture pieces to protect them from grease or dirt stains.
Stubby Kaye: singer and character actor big [no pun or insult intended] in the 1950s and 1960s both on stage ["Guys and Dolls" "Lil Abner] and film [Guys and Dolls," "Lil Abner," "Cat Ballou"]
Remembered watching video Mr. Gobel appearing on one Johnny Carson's show and he just said so smoothly " Do you ever got the feeling that the world its a Tuxedo and you are a pair of brown shoes?" and the laughter was Incredible... Very funny guy!
I noticed that the Minister of the church of the Brethren showed that he was a true born again Christian ✝️ when he said that he wanted his winnings to go to the missionaries. He said that his church helps other churches too. He had a good sense of humor. I'm also impressed that he was a good athlete too. 🙏🕊😁
He later ran for president for the Populist party = the gang of white supremacists that put David Duke as their presidential candidate the next time. So if that's a true born again Christian I'll pass.
Buzz1151 Richards, "The Vaulting Vicar" was the first athlete to appear on the front of the Wheaties box. I won't discuss his darker side. He's still alive today at 89.
I wonder how much of George Gobel's fabled 1950s comedy program survives in kinescope and / or tape. I've seen a couple of episodes on RU-vid; I remember him from "Hollywood Squares" ; he never quite lit up my sky. That of course proves nothing. Gil Fates in his book claimed [if I remember this right] that Gobel said to Gil concerning people performing live on WML without a jolt of booze -- "You mean you go out there alone?"
Second game: Gil Fates wrote about contestant Charlotte Price in a paragraph in his book. As a way of getting contestants to WML, the mail was apparently something of a bother, but it produced interesting contestants often enough to keep it up. The mail brought her to his attention. Fates claims that shortly after she appeared, a government agency closed her down because she was working for less than minimum wage. "Nothing is better than something."
Bob Richard's (1926-2023). He died on February 26, 2023, 6 days after his 97th birthday. The only two-time pole vaulter Olympic champ ever in his field.
As a kid I would see George Gobel on many game shows, especially Hollywood Squares. I didn't know who he was, but everyone made such a big deal he was on.
Bob Richards won many titles in addition to his two gold medals and one bronze medal in the Olympic pole vault. He was a three-time national champ in the decathlon as well and was the athlete who was at point on master's events in track and field. But he could never break Cornelius "Dutch" Warmerdam's world record. When Richards was a world class vaulter, he first used a bamboo pole and then an aluminum pole. Warmerdam told him that he would have broken the record if he stayed with bamboo, as you could get more spring from that material. But bamboo was also more prone to breakage. We can only guess how high Richards would have gotten if he had been in his prime with the current fiberglass composite poles. He might have been able to clear 20 feet. I was with the Cornell University track & field team as manager for four years. Vaulters tended to be the most eccentric and biggest daredevils on the team. No one else was close.
My father was stationed at Scott Air Force Base, then called Scott Field, in WWII before shipping out to the Pacific. My parents being newlyweds at the time, my mother went to St. Louis to be near him and worked in a department store until his transfer overseas.
I was quite surprised that Dorothy didn't disqualify herself when the Minister was on. She obviously knew who he was, especially after the first couple of questions received a "yes" response. Normally, in such a case, the panelist would disqualify themself so as not to spoil the game.
Dorothy didn't know him. If she knew him, she wouldn't have responded with, "Are you a Reverend?" Like everybody else, she saw his name in newspapers, and she unlike the others, she obviously kept up with him
@@michaelnivens6267 Not sure I'd call her arrogant, but she certainly took pride in her deduction skills and wasn't above benefiting from first-hand knowledge in order to succeed. She took these games VERY serious from what I understand, and it often showed.
Yeah, I had never heard of Stubby Kaye either and I'm pretty well versed on entertainment the era. He's one of the few celebrity names that don't autofill when I'm adding tags to the videos (then again, neither does Bennett Cerf or John Daly!). Kaye was on the panel four times, all of them from Dec 1956 to July 1957.
hopicard What's My Line? I was familiar with his name, but I'm not sure why. I'll have to look him up to figure out whether or not I've ever seen him in anything else.
Watching these in order, I would just like to state I wish there were more of Stubby Kaye, and less of Peter Lind Hayes. Also, Stand-Up Watch: Despite her fanhood, Dorothy didn't stand up for Mr. Richards, but Arlene halfway did.
Peter Lind Hayes was insulting to more than one guest. He was a disgrace. People laughed then. Hopefully they wouldn't laugh today and he wouldn't be able to earn a living in show business.
The Church of the Brethren contestant brings to mind the Twilight Zone episode in which the Church, some of whose monks resembled the contestant, imprisoned the Devil until a naive but well-intentioned visitor released the Devil causing World Wars and other catastrophes
+Joe Postove President Eisenhower took the oath of office in a private ceremony on Sunday, January 20, but the public celebration was the following day. Since he was already President, he wasn't jumping the gun on anyone.
I think there is a confusion between pool & billiards tables. Pool tables don't have cloth bags to hold the balls that go into the holes. I don't know what you would crochet on a pool table: It is billiards that, more correctly, has cloth pockets.
Funny guy Geroge Gobel. He was the one who said of his military service in World War II that no Japanese bombers got past Tulsa. As a TV producer, his production company helped finance "Leave it to Beaver."
In 1957, 20 January was a Sunday. The legal inaugurations were held that morning, and the public ceremony was done on Monday. The same was true in 1985 and 2013.
That would have been "I Married a Woman", a 1958 film. By the way, Diana Dors' birth name was Diana Mary Fluck -- no wonder she took on a stage name. She was an excellent actress, besides being gorgeous. Sadly, she died in 1984 of ovarian cancer at age 52.
i was born in 1959 and my mom signed her name this way. her first name was used for an informal introduction and she used her first name as her middle name for formal or legal signatures. i dont know when it changed, but women used to lose everything when they got married. they were more like an employee or assistant to the husband than an equal part of the marriage.
@@dancelli714 - it was an ownership. Women did not own anything or work. All legal transactions, buying a house or car, were done by the husband and were in his name. She couldn't divorce him because she did not exist. No work history, credit history, residency history. If he owned something like a profitable farm, she had to marry someone fast to do the daily bussines transactions. I think by this time history though most of that was changing and women did it because of tradition.
Just a note of interest: I haven't seen any comments about the "diminutive but dazzling" question posed by Arlene to Mr. Gobel, in contrast to many comments for episodes where a panelist jokes about or makes reference to the weight or size of a contestant who was larger than typical for these times... I don't think Arlene's question made Mr. Gobel feel very good, as evidenced by his reaction. Just saying that it can work both ways!
+Jenny Brown Arlene was also more than once guilty of making joking references to a guest's weight. People seriously overreact to these things by virtue of applying today's standards to a show aired 60 years ago. Not to mention how outraged some people get at the flirtatious remarks made by Bennett, who don't bat an eye at the bawdy comments Arlene made routinely (which often exceeded Bennett's displays of flirtation). Part of it, too, I think, is just that Arlene could get away almost anything and still come off charming.
+What's My Line? I didn't mean to suggest Arlene's comment was inappropriate, quite the contrary. [I believe her very own husband was 5'6", less than an inch taller than she!] Arlene was a fascinating and erudite lady who had more charm and wit in her left eyebrow than most of us have in our entire bodies. I was just very surprised by George Gobel's seemingly openly hurt feelings in contrast to several regular contestants who were ready to and did laugh at themselves for their "distinguishing attributes". Comedians usually seem to be self-deprecating so I thought his reaction was a little odd. I tend to overanalyze things and was just observing a bit of a double standard in our culture today : ) I guess that one of the things most offensive to me are the attitudes of people who seem to be on constant lookout for something to be offended about! *Sigh* And you are completely right about the person who delivers a comment making a big difference: Steve Allen could have made just about anything The Q ever said seem funny!
Jenny Brown We're 100% in agreement about everything here, in case I wasn't clear in my prior comment. I didn't mean to imply that I was lumping you in with the folks who go around pointing out innocuous "inappropriate comments" by panelists-- you were doing just the opposite, which I very much agree with and appreciate. :) Times have changed, for the better and for the worse, but some folks just can't get past their need to take offense at things that weren't offensive at the time, in favor of just, you know, enjoying the programs. I've seen comments complaining about the women wearing fur, e.g. And how ridiculous is that? I'm not in support of the fur industry. But this was a total non-issue, socially speaking, in the 1950s and 60s. That doesn't stop people from getting offended when they see a woman wearing a mink stole on one of these shows. It's all so silly. And I've used almost the exact same words as you have here when discussing this phenomenon, that it's more offensive that there are people who like to go around finding things to be offended at than the things they're taking offense to usually are!
+What's My Line? Jolly good!! The silliest part of it all is that there's nothing to be done about it now in any case : ) A very heartfelt thank you for compiling all these episodes, this program is such a welcome respite - a smart show for smart(a**) people!
I wonder if the girls are ever cold with all their shoulders and arms out in those lovely dresses and if the guys are too warm with everything covered up to their necks in their suits.
In 5 months I was gonna get born (June 1957). They say that qualifies me as a 'Boomer'. Whatever. I'm so glad that my generation back then is surrounded by intelligent, well educated, well-bred, decent and beautiful people. #happyBoomer
It seems George Gobel was pretty huge in the 1950s, but I didn’t seem him much after that. Occasionally on Carson or game shows. Anyone know what happened?
Dorothy should have excused herself since she knew who Bob Richards was. He did Wheaties cereal commercials for what seemed like years when I was a kid. A great athlete and a great man.
I remember a joke George made on his show about his wife Alice. Speaking of her highly sprayed stiff hair, he said she hit her head on the door frame of the car and "broke her hair"! Funny I can recall that all these years later....it must have been 1956 or 57. I was all of 3 or 4 years old!
Hilarious at the end of the show John Daly tells illegals in the country that they have to report their addresses to the govt before the end of January. Can you imagine a game show doing that in today's climate?
While watching this clip, I see Dorothy AGAIN whispers to the panelist next to her (Stubby Kaye) the identity of the mystery guest apparently to prove how smart she is at this game. Why can't she keep her suspicions to herself until her turn comes around again? She's done this on so many shows and it's just annoying. It's just a game Dorothy, you weren't discussing something of major secrecy or security so shut up and let your fellow panelists play!!
Once again, Arlene stood up to shake hands with a member of the clergy, but Dorothy remained seated because she only stands to shake hands with Roman Catholic priests, bishops or nuns.
How STUPID to have an Olympic pole vaulter who is also a minister and then having him confusedly answering questions that cover both of his vocations. Weird and boring.
What a screw up of the game. They bring on the Pole Vault champion and who happens to be a reverend and the questions bounce between pole vault and ministering. It is utterly ridiculous and a waste of game-time.
![What's My Line? - George Gobel, Stubby Kaye [panel] (Jan 20, 1957)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
