What's My Line? - Marian Anderson; PANEL: Abe Burrows; Anita Gillette (Apr 18, 1965) [CORRECTED!] 

Look at Arlene Francis… she is class meeting class. She stood up with all the respect she could give to a great human being. Ms. Anderson is the epitome of class, beauty, and elegance. I wish I can go back in time, and meet her.

TRUE STORY: When Martin Luther King was in school, he wrote an essay about Marian Anderson. Twenty four years later he heard her sing n Washington,D.C. before he delivered his historic "I Have A Dream" address. I was there.

It was so nice to see John and the panel give Marian Anderson the praise, respect and accolades she so richly deserved.

They all stood to greet Miss Anderson. One of the greatest women of the twentieth century.

When Mr. Daily said to Miss Anderson: You do us a great honor Madame", He said it all. She was truly a great lady.

Every single comment for this video is in total praise of Marian Anderson and she deserves every little bit of it. She had the most beautiful voice and always carried herself with the utmost dignity and poise. She was a wonderful person by any measure. I just want to keep going..........

To me, Miss Anderson is the epitome of what human beings should aspire to be. There’s almost a sacredness to her grace and dignity. A true grande dame.

I love how Marian was treated with the respect and dignity she so deserved...

I was surprised to learn that Marian Anderson was born in 1897, so she was well into her 60s at the time of this show. She did not appear to be that age at all! She went on to live a very long life, passing away at age 96. What a national treasure!

There isn't much television footage of Marian Anderson, so it is amazing that this exists.

This was good show.... Miss Anderson was the epitome of class, beauty, graciousness and spectacular talent. Just note the way the ladies on the panel stood when greeting her. I only saw this for Eleanor Roosevelt. The panel is so classy and especially Arlene Francis,

I like that they all stood for Ms Anderson.

If you treat yourself to some of Miss Anderson's music, you will get chills. She was THAT GREAT!

One of the best things about whats my line was the face that there was great respect and acceptance of men and women of different races in the entertainment field when, in that time period it wasn't widely accepted or respected

I love Marian Anderson's signature.

Miss Anderson a humble, modest and so distinguished lady. Besides one of the greatest voices of the 20th century.

Arlene's look after discovering who the mystery guest was! Just priceless!!

I found myself crying from the moment she began signing her name and that studio audience erupted in one of the warmest ovations I can ever remember hearing on that program. It really speaks to the high esteem with which she was regarded.

Look at all that beauty and grace! The panel was given such a treat to spend a few moments of their life with Ms. Anderson and her legendary voice.

My mom saw Marian Anderson in the mid 50s. Said it was an incredible experience. The Daughters of the American Revolution won't allow this classy lady to sing.

Marian Anderson was an American treasure and will be forever treasured in our memories.

Marian Anderson was a great, great lady. Thank you for restoring this Mystery Guest segment, at long last.

I was very pleased that John introduced her as MISS Marian Anderson, a form of respect that was not frequently accorded Black artists - in ANY field (at that time).

This was the day Marian Anderson gave her farewell appearance at Carnegie Hall. She could have easily appeared that night on the Ed Sullivan Show, but instead, she chose to appear on a favorite show of hers, "What's My Line?"

"And on the 7th day you rest." Brilliant, lovely Arlene! And what a cool thing for the gentleman who fixes windmills.. to travel halfway around the world, to be in the States for six months.. and then be featured on one of the most popular television programs of the day. What a great experience! Ms. Anderson. A lovely, and supremely talented legend.

Marian Anderson has a regal bearing to her.

This is why I love this show. WML featured African American performers at a time when they were not on television a whole lot. All the biggest names appeared on there, from the videos I've seen on here. And Mr. Daly and the panelists always treated them with dignity and respect. This was an outstanding program and should be remembered as one of the greatest programs of that era.

Marian Anderson: Legend!

A legend! And I’m glad the panel stood to greet her, as they should!

She radiated beauty and grace from within.When her voice first touched my heart so many years ago, it was there to stay. What an extraordinary woman.

From the New York Times article of the same day: "...My mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow." "I forgave the D.A.R. many years ago. You lose a lot of time hating people."

Marian Anderson was 100% pure class.

I love that the speaking voice that Miss Anderson's uses for "yes" and "no" is light years away from her natural contralto voice. How sneaky of her!

For the first time, I noticed what a great job the cameramen did focusing in on the panelists and their reactions to in this instance, Marian Anderson

'A voice like [hers] came along only once in a hundred years': Arlene Francis stood to shake her hand.

Gorgeous at almost 70...wow.

She was so graceful and classy!

I LOVE watching this show! I can't get enough! It's so delightful, entertaining and just so much fun! The comradarie is wonderfully uplifting! ❤️👏❤️👏❤️👏❤️👏🥰

What I love about watching these episodes is that I then read up on or source the work of these marvelous guests. Thank you for the enlightening and beautiful experiences.

This woman was truly a Grand Lady . So proud of MRS Roosevelt stood strong behind this historic Lady !!!

Arlene's look at NOT guessing this magnificent supreme artists identity- gold!

When I heard Ms Anderson's rendition of Deep River, I was so moved. I had never heard anything like that.

Those panelists were so smart, especially Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis and Dorothy Kilgallen.

I just finished watching a Marian Anderson documentary that featured a brief clip of her 1965 farewell concert at Carnegie Hall . She was, indeed, wearing the same gown she appeared on WML? in; so she must have gone directly from Carnegie Hall to the taping...

Miss Anderson's handwritting is amazing.

Marion Anderson had a beautiful voice. An amazing singer.

She moves like a princess! Such an elegance!

Marian Anderson was 68 years old here. She look wonderful, especially for that time.

“Oh Cosmo!” Anita Gillette’s character, Mona, from the 1987 film “Moonstruck”. Mona accepts the gift of a gold bracelet that has charms of birds and stars.

🎇✨🎀One of the TRUE LEGENDS of the 20th Century - Miss MARIAN ANDERSON! 🎇✨🎀

The first guest Sharon is my first cousin once removed. Pretty cool.

Burrows's son, James Burrows, became an influential television director whose credits have included The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Cheers.

What isn't mentioned in the episode is that April 18, 1965, is also the date of Marian Anderson's farewell performance at Carnegie Hall, which is what had occasioned _The New York Times_ to publish the article that Arlene and John referred to.

Been wanting to see this episode for awhile.in elementary school I wrote a paper on Marion.Thanks Gary.

It's always beautiful to hear her singing. She's so serious and beautiful in what she did.

Thank you for presenting this and for you labor in correcting it! If anyone deserves to be presented 'true to life', it is this extraordinary woman. What a beautiful human being.

You have done a flawless job re-editing the segment, Gary. I'm impressed. It doesn't throw me off all over the place, like the butchered version did.

Thank you "What's My Line?", for correcting this gem, in fact I am a fan of "What's My Line?" too, and like Mr Cerf was like: "It was a great honour to have Miss Marian Anderson" on that programme!!...

I've only seen the women stand to greet one other female guest, and that was Eleanor Roosevelt. That says everything :-).

Gary, GREAT job editing this program. It is very nicely and tightly cut.

20?!!! Are you kidding me?!!! Go head Dr. Anderson!!!

WOW...20 honorary doctorates! Very special woman.

Lovely show and lovely Mystery Guest. 🤩

Miss Anderson got more consecutive NO's from the panel then any of the Mystery guests. It went straight to 50 dollars fast. How could you just forget about the concert stage?

Marian Anderson should have a statue. Right in front of Abe's.

Shout out to the host for honoring her!

Marian Anderson was a force of nature.

Interesting that the frame of reference for entertainment here that the panel can extend to encompasses movies, stage, television, theatre, nightclubs but not to CLASSICAL performance in the concert hall. They just don't think of it. Strange because in the 60s and 70s people were still buying classical records avidly and on the BBC there was even a TV quiz show on classical music called "Face The Music" which my father loved. As a music teacher in my fifties I've witnessed the concert hall and classical music become increasingly remote from people to the point now where it's entirely absent from almost everyone's lives, let's face it. If you asked anyone now about Toscanini, at best they might think it was a type of pasta. But hey this was 1965!!.....I didn't expect to see the beginning of it THIS early! Fortunately Daly makes up for the panel's shortcomings with an impressive speech about the woman before she leaves.

man can i even freaking get shows like this anymore? id have to look at non-mainstream venues for this level of professionalism nowadays

i'm humbled , and sad for what people of her race endured during jim crow in america

Wow! This is the first time I've seen the mystery challenger stump the panel! GO Marian Anderson!! 😁

Apparently Marian Anderson gave the last concert appearance of her career on the very day that this program was broadcast! "She launched her farewell tour starting on October 24, 1964 at Constitution Hall concluding at Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 18, 1965." www.greatblackheroes.com/entertainment/marian-anderson/ PBS has a well-written biography covering the challenges and triumphs of her career www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/eleanor-anderson/ .

While 18 April 1965 was the final concert-hall concert of Marian Anderson's official "farewell tour," she sang at at least one more concert a couple of years later, when she appeared as a soloist in concert with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra during their summer concert series in Chicago. The conductor that evening was her nephew, James DePreist, who went on to a long and highly distinguished career as an orchestral conductor, particularly as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. (I remember some wonderful Grant Park Symphony Orchestra concerts conducted by James DePreist in the late 1980s, when I was working as the supervisor of the ushering crew for those concerts at the Petrillo Music Shell.) How do I know this? A couple of years ago, WFMT-FM re-ran a Studs Terkel interview with Miss Anderson and Mr. DePreist on its weekend "Best of Studs Terkel" presentation; the interview originally aired a few days before Miss Anderson's performances with the orchestra. And 1967 sticks in my brain as being the year that that interview aired originally.....

One of the few times when the women on the panel also stood as the guest leaves.

April 9, 1939: "[Marian Anderson] was invited to sing in Washington by Howard University as part of its concert series. And because of Anderson's international reputation, the university needed to find a place large enough to accommodate the crowds. Constitution Hall was such a place, but the Daughters of the American Revolution owned the hall. 'They refused to allow her use of the hall," Keiler says, "because she was black and because there was a white-artist-only clause printed in every contract issued by the DAR.' One of the members of the DAR was first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Outraged by the decision, Roosevelt sent a letter of resignation and wrote about it in her weekly column, "My Day." "They have taken an action which has been widely criticized in the press," she wrote. "To remain as a member implies approval of that action, and therefore I am resigning." The DAR did not relent. According to Keiler, the idea to sing outdoors came from Walter White, then executive secretary of the NAACP. Since the Lincoln Memorial was a national monument, the logistics for the day fell to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. It was Ickes who led Anderson onto the stage on April 9, 1939." (An estimated 75,000 people were fortunate to see and hear Ms. Anderson sing that day. She actually eventually got to sing in Constitution Hall years later, after the DAR had changed its rules and apologized. In 2014 they hosted a 75th anniversary concert in the same hall to commemorate her performance at the National Mall. )

Miss Anderson had concluded her farewell tour earlier that day, on Sunday, April 18, 1965, at Carnegie Hall. She is wearing the same beautiful dress on "What's My Line", that she appeared in during the concert.

This is the first mystery guest on WML that I ever had to look up, to see who they were. Never heard of this woman before.

Great job restoring this episode. Seeing Ms. Anderson is a real treat. It is a shame that the producers and editors of the 25th anniversary WML program treated the kinescope so poorly in reassembling the portions they had removed.

De Zwaan Windmill in Holland Michigan is operational and open...on the National Historical Register. It's quite the structure to see.

I have her Christmas album and play it every year. African Americans today don’t even remember who she is😞

Marion sang at a church just a few miles from where I live now while visiting Richmond Va. for the 30th NAACP conference. Good story on wikipedia leading up to the occasion.

Entertainment? Theater? Beauty? Ballet? For once, the panel was fooled!

Unless my ear deceives me, Miss Wilhoit has been living in Texas much of her life, not a recent transplant from Illinois. I've only spent any significant time in Chicago and Champaign, so can't speak from knowledge of every region of the state, but I've never heard a Midwesterner drawl Teh-ix-uz that way, as at 3:55.

“It was a great honor, ma’am. “. John Daly is just the best.

Wow, Marian Anderson was a legend, unfortunately way before my time. I did get to experience Leontyne Price in Porgy and Bess as part of a film appreciation class. 2/24/19 #BlackHistoryMonth

My Lord, what a morning!

Such a shame the panel didn't get it but it is hard to guess an icon of that stature would be mystery guest unless they thought opera or classical music but they were thrown off by primarily.

It's fun seeing everybody excited about the new Astrodome.

Back when America still had manners, class, command of the English language and a sense of decorum.

Anita appeared on the new "What's My Line?" in the 70's, as well as on a slew of celebrity panel game shows at that time, especially on the Bob Stewart games (most notably, the New York-based $10,000, $25,000, $20,000, and $50,000 Pyramids).

Abram Solman Borowitz (Abe Burrows) helped write "Duffy's Tavern" on radio. He and Goodman Ace also wrote that comedy program with Danny Kaye -- Eve Arden -- and Lionel Stander. Hard to explain why a show with that kind of talent was short-lived. His own radio shows originated from KNX in LA. On Broadway Burrows wrote, doctored, or directed such shows as "Make a Wish," "Two on the Aisle," "Three Wishes for Jamie," "Say, Darling," "Guys and Dolls," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," "Cactus Flower," "Four on a Garden,"" Can-Can," "Silk Stockings," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Good News" (1974 revival). Abe had a son named James Burrows who became with "Mary Tyler Moore" and then "Cheers" one of the great TV directors.

Abe Burrows actually predicted who would appear as mystery guest the next week. That did not happen very often in WML.

I love her so much!

Marian was a great classical black singer who broke many barriers of racial discrimination in her field in the United States. However, in Europe she was free from it and commanded immense success. She lived in her own village,

The Houston Astros were an expansion team created the same year as the Mets, 1962. They were originally named the Houston Colt .45s and changed their name to the Astros concurrently with moving into the newly constructed Astrodome in 1965.

My first time ever hearing her talk.

Wow, Anita Gillette on the panel of the original WML. Of course, she would be on the panel numerous times on the syndicated WML. Also, it was classy for John Daly to state that Marian Anderson was known for her beauty, though to clarify, Ms. Anderson was not, in any way, being down on herself after she said no to Abe's question about being known for beauty. To top it all off, she stumped the panel, one of the few who pulled it off.

Look at those gorgeous cheekbones. Shows the Native American mixture in her. Beautiful.

Wow, our Astrodome has been around for a long time. Even though it is now closed.

20 honorary doctorates!!! Wow!