MYSTERY GUEST: Jim Piersall [MLB center fielder]; Paul Douglas [film and TV actor] PANEL: Arlene Francis, Sen. George A. Smathers, Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf
Due to having received electro shock therapy in 1952 after his season was cut short at the end of July, Piersall had no memory of the events of 1952 from about the time of spring training onward. He didn't remember playing for the Red Sox or any of the incidents that got him suspended or caused him to be unpopular with some of his teammates and opponents. As would be true for anyone with bipolar disorder, Piersall had manic episodes throughout his life and it appeared that he was heading for problems again in 1960 when he was ejected from ball games 6 times in the first half of the season while playing for Cleveland. But after some meetings, he vowed to tone things down and basically kept to that pledge. 1952 was the year that led to his first autobiography and two movies. While he was a good starting ballplayer for 10 of his 17 (full and partial) seasons in the major leagues, winning two Gold Gloves at a time when the award had been instituted midway through his career, having been named to two mid-season All-Star teams and hitting a career high of .322 in 1961, he became far better known because of what he went through in 1952 and was able to overcome.
Amazing. So back in 1957 there's been pleas for attention for mental health awareness. And here we are in 2018, and we're still avoiding talking about mental health of the people who shoot up schools. I wish more people (and more shows like this) would get people engaged in such affairs re: mental health. This was refreshing to see at the end of this broadcast.
Jim Piersall had gotten off to a slow start at the plate in 1957 and he was hitting only .186 when this episode aired after he went 0 for 4 in a 3-2 ten inning loss to the Yankees. He ended up hitting .261 with a career high 19 home runs.
I have always loved Paul Douglas. If you want a good laugh, catch him with Ray Milland in It Happens Every Spring. Thanx so much for sharing! Keep 'em coming, please.
Douglas was one of the best actors of that generation. Unfortunate that he is not better known and remembered today. My personal favorites movies are "A Letter to Three Wives," and "Executive Suite."
I would loved to have seen him on Broadway with Judy Holliday in "Born Yesterday'. Broderick Crawford took the film role. Crawford and Douglas were interchangeable casting choices (big, bluff ad often boorish men with great screen presence). Executive Suite would have to be my favorite of those you list. Under rated and great film.
@@poetcomic1 First became aware of Douglas in the movie Fourteen Hours (which was also Grace Kelly's film debut). Haven't yet seen Angels In The Outfield, which seems to be Douglas's best known film (and also possibly his best role). Sadly, think he only lived a few years after this episode of What's My Line? was filmed. His last film was The Mating Game (1959), with Debbie Reynolds and Tony Randall.
Terrific job of booking on this episode -- with Jimmy Piersall, irrepressible today as an octogenarian, and the late Paul Douglas, were both associated with memorable films regarding America's pastime, other than Sunday night viewing of What's My Line? For that, we can view anytime, thanks to this wonderful site. Great episode. Miss Miami of 1954 helped the cause :-)
Great episode! All the glamour and humour of all WML episodes with a great public service announcement built in. I’m sure the senator and others would be proud with the progress that we are making to this day all these years later with mental health.
Paul Douglass was fantastic in "This Could Be The Night" with Tony Franciosa and the young adorable sweetheart, Neile Adams. Douglass was married five times and died two years after this 1959 broadcast at age of only 52. Great actor that didn't have to act, he played himself, almost always.
He died in Sept.'59 so the broadcast must have been in '57: he looks in bad shape on this tape and he's only 50-ish (look at the jowls). He said that he over-ate and was overweight (by the odd hundred pounds) so the heart-attack was a case of "sooner rather than later". He was a good actor, somehow likeable.
@@ronmackinnon9374 ; Yes, but didn't want my diatribe to be too long. Steve McQueen blew it with Neile Adams, and I blame the break up entirely on him. I cant say it enough, but she was so adorably cute in "This Could Be The Night."
@@Johnnycdrums I know they acted together, as a couple, in an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode called 'Man from the South' (adapted from a Roald Dahl story). And of course (to get back to the original topic), Paul Douglas was in one or two Hitchcock episodes himself.
@@ronmackinnon9374 ; I'll have to look those up. Tony Franciosa was another good one. He was in "A Hatful Of Rain" with the great (in my opinion), Llyod Nolan.
Enjoyed this episode very much. Jimmy Piersall and Harry Caray were the lead White Sox broadcasters in the early 80's (I was living in Chicago at that time). This was before Harry moved to the Cubs. Piersall and Caray together were hilarious. They would talk about bars, restaurants, and gossip. Hope he's still doing OK.
@@SomethingSomethingg But he was probably still alive when that comment was posted over 6 years ago. It's now been just a little over six years since Piersall's death on June 3, 2017.
Great info, most of us Red Sox fans were unaware of, at least I was, until now. He evidently had a career after sports, and is a happy ending, in my book.
Jim Piersall said he had five children and Bennett asked if they were all girls. He got a 'no' and Dorothy wanted to know who he was thinking of. Bennett answered softly "Eddie Cantor". Dorothy says "But he has only four." "No, five", says Bennett correctly. Dorothy, "Wanna bet?" :) 5:20
It's always *such* a delight-- and still very, very rare-- when we get to hear from someone who was a guest on one of these programs! I'm so glad you were able to find the episode you were in. I wish I'd had the foresight to have added full info for all contestants when I originally posted these, so folks doing Google searches and such would be able to find the videos more easily, but it was challenging enough keeping up with the schedule while just providing bare bones info. :) I don't know if you're on Facebook, but if so, and if you have any interest in our group for WML, I know the folks there will be absolutely thrilled to see you join. We only today just had another former contestant join the group-- he's 83 now and still working (though not at the same line as he was in when on the show). We have almost 3,000 members in the group, people who-- like me-- will just **eat up** any memories you have to share about being on the program-- really! If you are interested, here's the link for the Facebook group: facebook.com/groups/728471287199862/ But truly, regardless of whether you the time/inclination to join the Facebook group, thank you so much for leaving your comment here! It's wonderful to hear you were able to see your segment again.
Like many sports movies, the motion picture version of "Fear Strikes Out" took a lot of license with Piersall's story. Jim complained that they exaggerated his father's character, making him look far worse than he actually was and basically made him the fall guy for Jim's condition. Actually, Jim suffered from bipolar disorder (aka manic depression). His mother suffered from mental illness most of her life and Jim showed evidence of this from the early days of his childhood: nervous and hyperactive in particular. The scene at the Fenway Park when he supposedly went out of control (leading to the end of his season) after hitting an inside the park home run was also total fabrication. Piersall's final game with the Red Sox that season, his rookie year of 1952, occurred on June 27 in a loss to Washington. He entered the game as a defensive replacement for outfielder Clyde Vollmer in the 7th inning. He was called out on strikes in the 8th inning for his only at bat, but went out to his defensive position in the 9th inning. He was sent back to the minors the next day. In three weeks playing for the Red Sox farm team in Birmingham (AL), he was suspended four times. The fourth one was for spraying home plate with a water pistol after being called out on strikes. He flew back to Boston and that was when then Red Sox GM Joe Cronin persuaded Piersall to see a psychiatrist and eventually led to his hospitalization. He didn't play any more baseball in 1952 after the water pistol incident. Piersall's only home run of the season came on June 9 in a day game at Fenway Park against Detroit (not a night game against Chicago). Piersall played the rest of the game and had a single and sacrifice bunt as he went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's that day. Many felt that Perkins didn't look very athletic during the baseball action scenes. For one thing as I recall, Perkins was left-handed and Piersall was right-handed, so Perkins had to bat from an unfamiliar side of the plate.
The Mental Health theme prompts me to recall that Mr. Douglas co-starred with Richard Widmark, Barbara Bel Geddes, Jack Palance and Zero Mostel in the Elia Kazan film "Panic in the Streets."
A great character actor. I saw him give a terrific performance in the film, ‘Clash by Night,’ with Robert Ryan and Barbara Stanwyck. He also gave a wonderful performance in the comedy film, ‘A Letter to Three Wives.’ He was due to feature in the film, ‘The Apartment’ but sadly he passed away before filming could begin and so the part was given to Fred MacMurray.
Hmmm.... Geoff committed an unpardonable blunder by not mentioning that Marilyn was in Clash by Night and she was great. This was before Hollywood tried to make her a "sex symbol".
@@jerrylee8261 Agreed Jerry. Marilyn gave a good account of herself in the film which wasn’t easy as she was up against one of Hollywood’s finest tough, hard bitten actresses in Barbara Stanwyck.
Before Hollywood, Paul Douglas was a radio announcer...Bennett Cerf mentions his excellent voice. Remember listening to an archival radio broadcast of a jazz performance from the 1940's and hearing Douglas making a few announcements during one of the breaks.
+Classique Liberal While that was generally true of Southern Democrats at this point in time, it was not true of the man who Smathers defeated in the Democratic primary in 1950 to become Senator. Claude Pepper. representing Florida in the U.S. Senate since 1936, was well-known as a left leaning politician who was often pro Soviet Union. But he was a part of the dump Truman effort in 1948 and Truman reportedly personally encouraged Smathers to beat Pepper that year.
David Soulier - The former Senator Franken is the only one who comes to mind. For most of the others they would not meet the bar of intelligence, manners or humor required of either a guest or a panelist.
North Americans please note: *that* (Paul Douglas) is how to do a cockney accent. Most people who try it on WML are very unconvincing - John Daly included - but Douglas is excellent, a rare example of someone who could fool a British person.
What a pleasure to see Jimmy Piersall on here. My father used to take me to Cleveland Indians ball games, and I well remember seeing Piersall in center field for the Indians in the very early 60s. One of my most vivid memories is Jimmy making a spectacular diving catch of a sinking line drive. He always gave the game everything he had. He passed away in 2017. May he rest in peace.
Jimmy was a fixture in Chicago sports for many years as a baseball analyst at as well as being the broadcaster for the White Sox, he was colorful and controversial.
@@MrDuds1984 Thank you for that info. I didn't know about it. Piersall was a good, though not great, player, but he has always been a favorite of mine.
Two interesting WML coincidences with this episode. First is that Tab Hunter appeared twice on WML earlier in 1957. Hunter appeared as Piersall in a television biopic of Piersall in 1955. The Anthony Perkins movie in 1957 that was mentioned during this episode has since overshadowed the TV version. The other coincidence is that Piersall is the second WML challenger in 1957 who was a public figure who was known to have received electro shock therapy, the other being future U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton.
As Eagleton was still a *future* Senator at the time, what was his 'line' at the time of his WML appearance? And had he undergone electro-shock therapy prior to that appearance?
@@ronmackinnon9374 Thomas Eagleton's line was listed as "District Attorney". He was technically a Circuit Attorney for the city of St. Louis. His appearance was in March 1957. Accorcing to the information I have, he didn't receive the electro-shock therapy until his hospitalizations in the 1960s.
Senator George Smathers was said to be John Kennedy's "best friend," and when JFK was considering marrying Jackie he went to his "confidant" in the Senate and asked for his opinion on the matter. Sen Smathers didn't think Jackie was quite right for Jack - and told him so. Jack (to "prove" his love, as Sen Smathers told it later) promptly told Jackie what his friend said. Bottom line: Jackie never forgave George Smathers. In his later years George Smathers (many years after JFK's death) recounted that he later came to "adore Jackie" and would dance with her at White House gatherings - Jackie would always lean in and say, "So George, do you still think I'm bad for Jack?"
Bwah these introductions are nothing more than 3 clichés every 2 words anyway. Everyone in the panel "of course" is magnificent, brilliant, beautiful, talented young, excelllent, magnificent, terribly magnificent, super handsome etc etc. In the end that part became quite boring anyway, too much of a Mutual Admiration Society-act. I guess Cerf was concentrating on how to tease Daly this time. I think you're looking for fleas where there aren't ones... Unless he quarelled with her, she had some outbursts from time to time, it was said by another commentator of another episode, she could be quite irritated away from the camera's, including on Daly.
He did good, made a good effort...but was obviously out of his element....was looking like he was now wearing that Senatorial Robe of on-going self-importance...a la ...'I'm a Senator and YOU"RE NOT..'....LoL..
In 1955, his book , co-authored by Al Hirshberg, was published. It became the subject of a 1957 movie version, , in which Piersall was portrayed by Anthony Perkins and his father by Karl Malden, directed by Robert Mulligan. Piersall eventually disowned the film because of what he saw as its distortion of the facts, including over-blaming his father for his problems. Many years later, Piersall authored in which he details his ouster from the Chicago White Sox organization.
I also find myself wishing that Bennett would refrain from blurting out things when it is not his turn, or mumbling the answer to whomever is next to him.
Couldn't resist listening in on the banter between Dorothy and Bennett at 5:30, after Bennett had gotten a 'No' from Piersall on the five daughters question: Dorothy: 'Who did you think it was?' Bennett: 'Eddie Cantor.' Dorothy then says, 'He only has four,' but Bennett still says five (which, in Cantor's case, was correct).
My favorite Paul Douglas movie is "It Happens Every Spring" w/ Ray Milland and Jean Peters. Then maybe "Angels in the Outfield". Jean Peters was such a cutie but she was Howard Hughes girlfriend for a while and it was rumored she was a dominatrix.
Yes. Previously only celebrity contestants (MGs and others for whom the panel was blindfolded) would shake hands with the panel at the end. Esther Clair was the first "regular" contestant whom John invited to meet the panel after the spot was over. From this point on, that became standard procedure. In a sense, this was the last faint gasp of the Walk of Shame. In the early years of the program, the contestants paraded in front of the panel before the questioning began, and this often involved handshakes. Thus they had already "met" the panel -- it was only the MGs who hadn't had any close contact with the panel, and who were therefore invited to shake hands after their segment ended. Once the WoS was dropped (after 5-13-56), it would have made sense for the regular contestants to meet the panel afterward, but for some reason it took almost a year for the producers to come up with that procedure. It was a much more graceful way of staging the exits -- as compared with having the contestants just walk away from the cameras toward the backstage area.
How could they say that the product that the Florida woman sold was not associated with a particular sport? Wouldn’t it be associated with dog racing or a horse racing? What am I missing?
Esther Clair here, living & retired @ age 87. I hadn't realized I was the 1st contestant to shake hands with panel. Ahhh Jeez! I was almost famous. I remember my sales skyrocketed after my WML appearance. Grest video memory for me to revisit from 1957. Those were the days !!! But unfortunately, can't bring back last summer!
I thought the same thing! Why has this not been addressed? (Or, has it?) Generally any "first" or "last" of anything significant on WML is raised in comment.
I wish that John would not ask the Mystery Challengers if they know about the scoring system. When the answer him, the blindfolded panel know can tell if it is a male of female. Too much of a giveaway.
@@johncox1488 It’s obviously not a laugh track. There are multiple accounts on different posts of videos of this stage hand. He can also be heard on the game show that Fred Allen had in about 1953, Judge for Yourself. You could hear him for about three seasons on WML
There is a reference to the 1950 Florida Democratic Senate primary, which was then tantamount to winning election, between then-Sen. Pepper and then-Gov Smathers. In those days, the Florida Panhandle was unsophisticated territory and Smathers is reputed to have given speeches there in which he said, "Around Washington, Claude Pepper is known as a shameless extrovert. What's more, he practices nepotism with his sister-in-law. Worst of all, his sister is a thespian in wicked New York." Smathers denied having done so, but there is much to suggest that he did. Pepper and Smathers did not speak for over 20 years after that campaign, which Smathers of course won.
preppy socks - Reminds me of a staff party I attended in which the owner of our clinic introduced the clinical director of being a "known heterosexual."
@@beebee46321 I can't even imagine it happening, so i really don't have any other impression other than it being weird. Even on this show, nobody whistled at men. Except for male mystery guests. Whisteling at women on this show happened often.
I'm not sure if +Esther Harrell (nee Esther Clair, the second challenger on this episode) is still following this thread, but I was wondering where she was from, if not Florida. It doesn't sound like she has a southern accent.
Lois Simmons I live in Alabama where we certainly have southern accents. The southern drawl is dominate where the state of Florida. Southern parts of lower Florida like Miami and St. Pete had an unusually high population of people from the north. When those accents were combined it produced a “no accent” effect in people growing up there. People in the news business on television were being groomed for their public broadcasts they were often this “no accent” approach because wherever they were this accent was pleasing to most of the public. This accent was limited to the south part of the peninsula.
Hi! I'm (or was) Esther Clair & I'm still here @ 85, retired, living in Florida. Someone commented I had no southern accent, not many southern accents in Miami, gotta go farther north toward Ga. & Miss. to hear the voices of the 'deep south'.
@@estherharrell5409Glad to see your response. It’s 2024 and I hope you’re still at it. I was watching with my kids (20/23) and pointed out how beautiful and independent a woman could be. I know you still are.
It was to do something special in honor of its being the 100th home run of his career, which he hit while playing for the New York Mets in 1963. Except the account I read had him running the bases in the correct order, starting with first base -- the trick was, he ran backwards the whole way around the bases, backing into each base while facing away from them instead of towards them.
It was very, very common back in those days of heavy smoking and drinking for people to die in their mid-50s. There were no restrictions on smoking in bars, restaurants, workplaces, really anywhere. Doctors lit up in their offices and hospitals. It wasn't all clean and lovely back then. Butts littered grocery stores, and used chewing gum stuck to every table underside and walking surface. People even smoked in movie houses and planes. As a child, I once visited a home where no one smoked, and thought it smelled odd without knowing why.
Interesting that Bennett would ask Sen. Smathers if he was married. Smathers had quite a reputation during his time in Congress as a skirt-chaser, something he would indulge in at times with a fellow Senator (and future President) from Massachusetts according to Roger Mudd.
+Lois Simmons Later Smathers was to have a secretary by the name of Mary Jo Kopechne, of Chappaquiddick fame. It's understood that she told her roommate about Kennedy planning on replacing LBJ with Smathers as VP in his 2nd term. As her roommate was the secretary & mistress of Bobby Baker, Johnson found out. Bobby Baker, by the way, made the payments on the house these two women lived in. He said it was to teach them about finance... And the whole Chappaquiddick thing stinks of something. The story told is nonsensical, plus none other than Frank Sturgis & E Howard Hunt were on the island at the same time.
Funny Piersall who was famous for going nuts would be on this show (regarding the Senator and his mental health campaign). He started to go off the deep end really in 1960,
Dorothy was beautiful as a brunette. She had exotic, unconventional beauty that was not highlighted by blonde hair. On the contrary Arlene, lovely for sure, had good but more conventional looks.
![What's My Line? - Jim Piersall; Paul Douglas; Sen. George A. Smathers [panel] (Apr 28, 1957)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
