What's My Line? - Joe E. Brown (Jan 11, 1953) 

Unbelievable that this show is nearly 70 yrs old, it also made me laugh because I'd never heard a breathalyzer referred to as a drunkometer before

This show is addictive!

My great-grandfather was a tailor for Joe E. Brown. He made many of his suits.

Joe E. Brown must have been the most humble Mystery Guest ever on WML. Such a nice and dignified gentleman. You don't see many of those nowadays.

I liked it when the decision was made to eliminate the prep walk for guests as well as having them cross the stage to greet the panel. Much less awkward.

Joe E. Brown was uproariously funny as the old codger in "Some Like It Hot" who was after Jack Lemmon in drag. If any of you haven't seen that movie, I advise you rent it right away. I won't give away the last scene, but it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in the movies. Thank you What's My line for putting up all this great entertainment, I truly appreciate it.

Joe E. Brown was such a gracious, unassuming gentleman and a good Christian to boot.

Unless the Internet lied to me, $50 is worth $570 ish today Not chump change

I can see why everyone groaned when Joe used his normal voice! as a regular enjoyer of OH films, his voice is SO recognizable!! I think the panel may have even immediately recognized him but still kept the questions going so as not to ruin the episode.

Joe E. Brown- what a class act! & Steve Allen is always hilarious! Razor-sharp wit!!

The ideal panel once again with Dorothy, Bennett and Arlene, and Steve Allen in the fourth spot.

"Drunkometer" this is the most hilarious one I've seen 🤣🤣😂😂

Entertained the troops before Bob Hope even thought if it....

Joe E. Brown , a great American .

This is the first episode to mention "the coronation", when Arlene is making her free guess. She was referring to the coronation of Elizabeth II as Queen of England. That event occurred in June of that year, and caused the absence of Dorothy (as a journalist covering the event) and Arlene (as an invited guest) from several episodes of WML. And in the historical continuity department: the queen who was coronated in 1953 is still the queen in 2020.

It’s amazing how years ago they would just flippantly say they used Animals for testing products and nobody thought anything of it. Thank God we’re moving away from that because the animals are tortured.

I imagine that "Harvey" was a close to perfect role for Joe E. Brown. Harvey, who says at one moment in the play, I'm paraphrasing-- "In this life you must be ever so smart or ever so pleasant. I chose to be pleasant." I think Joe E. Brown was oh so funny and oh so pleasant.

I love the way Steve Allen paid attention to the audience reaction and tried to make sense of it. Often initiated humorous comments about the audience participation.

I like Joe E. Brown as Flute the Bellows-Mender in 1935’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, marvelous movie with young Olivia de Havilland, Dick Powell, Jimmy Cagney and more. :)

Joe E. Brown was my father's favorite comedian. He admired Mr. Brown for never stooping to profanity or lewdness to be very funny.

My father had polio. The March of Dimes at this time was concerned with polio and this is a bit over a year before my father got the disease and two before the Salk Vaccine before was released to the public.

"My mother does" - great answer!! Surprising more mystery guests did not use this or similar lines in answering some questions.

I have always loved Joe E. Brown. I thought he had a kind face. He was a pretty good actor as well.

I so enjoy these shows! And keeping in mind that this one, as an example, is 65 years old, the mannerisms are markedly different from what we have in 2018. Humor is different. Yes, I cringe at what I think are sexist remarks (and not a huge fan of Hal Block), but this was a thinking person’s show. It’s entertaining and I can’t even compare it to anything on TV today.

Joe E Brown was brilliant! Cracked me up in films on tv appearances. This appearance shows his warmth and dignity too.

Hard to believe that one of his greatest successes "Some Like It Hot" was still six years away

not sure why exactly but I find Steve Allen and John Charles Daly so attractive and both for different reasons!

A Very Gracious Man Joe E. Brown Is.

he was in " some like it hot" .

Honest to goodness, if more advertisers made commercials like the Stopette commercials, I would buy more products.

I happened to like Hal Block. I have only recently started watching the show (born in the 80s) and I started watching random episodes. I decided to watch from the beginning and I can definitely see how Hal was utilized to save the show. I don't think he was especially good at solving anything. Actually, he was usually quite surprised if he got anywhere in questioning! However, I found that to be one of the funny bits about him. I also LOVED the quips directed toward him from John! For instance, in this episode, I would have been eagerly anticipating the quip from John when Steve asked about coming into contact with the Drunkometer! Ha! I also agree with another who suggested he was treated unfairly. I love Arlene, I do, but you can tell that she didn't care too much for Hal. Listen to the way she goes on about everyone other than Hal that she introduces. And John, he mentioned in the last episode with Rosalind that this was the most fun he had in a while, about a month after Hal. I wasn't alive so I don't know if he didn't really care for him but it seemed, to me, that he had fun cracking on Hal. Ah well

I do wish, as I think many others do, that WML had allotted more time to celebrity guests, to allow for a bit of an interview. They could have kept Joe until the end of the show, instead of bringing on another guest.

Steve Allen is great! Have to say I am glad when Hal Block is not on here!!

"Some Like it Hot" but many prefer it very funny like this great and noble comedian.

My grandmother always went to a chiropodist - dint have a clue as to what that was till years later - we now call them podiatrists the feet doctors. I,love those old terms.

This is the day I was born!

I loved Joe E Brown in the movie Some Like it Hot.

I am so glad they got rid of that Block creep!

Joe E Brown It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Thank you so much for everything you post - I'm absolutely hooked to WML and the YBYL channel, to the point where I'm slightly dubious about looking up what other shows you put up, in case I never get anything done! I must say, though, that as I go through the episodes so quickly, I cant help but notice that an awful lot of the 'next week...' contestants on What's My Line seem to look just like the man shown tonight! ;)

Crazy to think that silent movies were only 25 years ago at this point in time

So awkward the way they initially had the guests exiting behind John Charles Daly. Thank goodness they changed that.

That was great that Mr. Stevenson kissed Dorothy’s hand. Perfect!

The Drunkometer maker was really fun 😂😊

It seems rather amazing that they didn't recognize Joe E Brown's voice right away. If not the tone, the cadence that he spoke in is unmistakable. In fact, you can hear the audience groan a little when he first spoke because they thought he was giving himself away. So, this may be a case of the panel just not being able to hear the contestant that well. It was a common complaint at the time, so that may be what happened here.

Arlene knew it was Joe E. Brown from the start or his appearance, they worked many times together. Joe's voice to those of today would not know him, it is very easy to tell it is him. I have seen all of his movies and listened to some of the old radio shows from the late 30's and 40's he appeared on.

Joe E. Brown played the captain in the 1951 movie version of the musical “Showboat”.

I was 2 years old when this aired. Man, these old shows are great. Why the need for color TV?

Joe E. Brown turned down signing with the NY Yankees in order to pursue entertainment.

Does anyone else find it creepy when Dorothy grabs the man’s hands ands starts flipping them over and commenting on them?

It was kinda' jarring to hear that pitch for the March of Dimes and that polio was still very much a terror in this age. Salk's vaccine trials were being conducted at the time of this episode.

RE: Hal Block's brand of humor. Recall Buddy Hackett is also brought in to counterpoint a sophisticated trio. And Hackett reminds me of George Shelton, panelist on the OTR show "It Pays to Be Ignorant". Early WML hybridized the quiz show with Vaudeville to cast a wide net.

Yeah and he also was known for his large smile! :D

When I was a child sitting on my grandparents outside steps in Bloomfield, Pa. on Liberty Ave. Seen a man look like him walking past and said “ good morning”..to me .. I was surprised to see him...I always wonder if Joe E Brown had relatives in the neighborhood.

Today's RU-vid Rerun for 8/7/15: Watch along and join the discussion! ----------------------------- Join our Facebook group for WML-- great discussions, photos, etc, and great people! facebook.com/groups/728471287199862/ Please click here to subscribe to the WML channel if you haven't already-- you'll find the complete CBS series already posted, and you'll be able to follow along the discussions on the weekday "rerun" videos: ru-vid.com/show-UChPE75Fvvl1HmdAsO7Nzb8w

Boy, do I hate this hand-checking thing!

FYI… the last guest was Chiropodist, which is basically a FOOT Doctor. 💁🏻‍♀️ I had to look it up💁🏻‍♀️

I'll bet the last guest of the night hated to be rushed on and off the way she was. If I was the last one before the closing of the show I would just prefer not to go on rather to be on for 2 minutes and then have the panelists have to rush through guessing what my line is. She just didn't look very happy.

Blimey I just realised old this show actually *is* when Arlene said she’s coming for the Coronation!!

I like how Steve Brylcreme'd up his toupee. That 1953 greasy look.

16:40 - "What is the animal experimental group called?" "University of North Carolina" 🤣

Joe E. Brown, patent leather hair from the 20's!

John was so hyper for this episode, haha! 😁

Unreal that the coronation is of the current UK monarch.

Regarding the topic of Hal Block, I also feel as though he was mistreated. My understanding is that the show would have been cancelled before the first season ended if not for Hal. He was hired after several bad reviews called the show boring and dull. Block turned that around and received nothing but good reviews. He was fired because it was felt he was beneath the dignity that the show aspired to have. Given that he saved the very life of the show and the jobs of the snobs that sought his termination, it seems to indicate a lack character in those snobs.

Steve Allen: I think she's a south Pole. Very clever.

There are tidbits of actual history embedded in some of these episodes, along with the regular and celebrity guests. Frex, some of the ones from Nov 52 mention the elections thatvyearcwhwre Eisenhower won his first term as president, and I think this one mentioned the forthcoming coronation of Queen Elizabeth. ( if not this episode, then the prior one with Roz Russell). I love those little snippets.

Why didn't Joe disguise his voice? He was very famous at this point! I bet the panel guessed it right away, but had to keep up a pretence or the show would have ended too early! Maybe he forgot to disguise his voice - or the TV researcher assigned to him forgot to advise him about it!

Monkees have two legs and two arms!

Great

The sad part is there’s a park named for him in Toledo Ohio and the majority of its residents have no clue who this wonderful man is!

Poor animals don't deserve to be abused

I wouldn't mind waltzing Matilda

I’ll never understand why when they were short on time John Charles Daly asked the guest to walk past the panel. That took up time.

I close my eyes when Daly says "We'll show the audience what your line is" because, well, I wanna guess the line, too. I couldn't understand the word that was said to identify the last guest; it sounded like 'chirrupodist' or a 'corrobodist'! I had never heard of a chiropodist. hahahaaaa!

I thought it was rude to rush those last contestants. I always felt bad for them except that they won the full prize. The producers and directors needed to come up with a plan for that.

"Nobody's perfect"........

Check out Joe E. Brown in "EARTHWORM TRACTORS"

very cool

The "next week preview" photo of a male at 25:48 is the same as was shown in the Oct. 12, Nov. 23, and Nov. 30th (1952) shows. Anyone know why that is?

17:40 I could never understand why January was the month for the March of Dimes; itshould be the Month of March, of Dimes...

Mr.Brown didn't try to conceal his voice at all! One might assume that he wanted to be "guessed" right away. It's rather odd that The Panel didn't KNOW his voice, as I certainly would, even across so many years! ps - I have his 2-disc (78s) album of "How To Play Baseball" right next to me, and it is still funny! (omg! I just opened it & found moldy water damage because it was under the window. ARRGH!! )

Regarding the first contestant, the man who made drunkometers, I think it is in accurate to say this is not something you find in a hospital or in use in medical procedures. I’m a retired physician. Information about blood alcohol level was essential in the treatment of many of my patients.

Bennett is so quick to take notes 📝

JOE E!

The fellas whistling at the last contestant would be severely frowned upon nowadays.

Joe E. Brown / 1891 - 1973/

Heeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

They don't spend any time talking to their mystery guests on these early episodes. It's a shame.

From Dorothy’s reaction to that first contestant when she found out what it was, I’m guessing she was thinking that’s what it was, or was getting close. He was great in Some Like it Hot and I noticed that he acknowledged the audience before he left the stage.

crazy to realize I’m related to him

Look at Mr. Cerf's natty suit!

Why didn’t he attempt to disguise his voice?

At exactly, 10:00, does someone yell, "Hey Frida"?

I wonder why it was necessary to change the name of the foot doctor ( from one fancy word to another )🤷🤔🤷

Thanks for posting. Looking for a print of Bright Eyes (1936) if you know anyone who has it.

DRUNKOMETERS. LOL

Did anyone ever guess it right what their occupation was at the start? A lucky stab?

They use the same pictures for the "preview looks" (why not just "previews"?) repeatedly, and I don't know that we've ever seen as real contestants the people in the still photos.

How did he get away with using his normal voice