Robert Mongomery served with great distinction and bravery in WWII. At the height of his film career, and even before the US entered the war, he traveled to France and drove ambulances during the Battle of Dunkirk, at great risk of death and capture. He later joined the US Navy and captained a PT Boat, a small plywood gunboat that endangered the crew on every mission. Montgomery retired after 5 years of hazardous service with the rank of Lt. Cmr., having been awarded numerous awards and honors for valor.
It took me years to really appreciate the talents of Mr. Montgomery: a gem of a sophisticated comedy player and daddy to one of the most gorgeous ladies who ever lived (Hi Samantha!)
Wonderful stuff ! I love the "street wise" voice Robert Montgomery uses ! He clearly had a wonderful sense of humor ! THANKS, as always, for sharing with us !! :-)
Even though I have seen many of Mr. Montgomery's films, I am always reminded of his daughter Elizabeth Montgomery in some of his facial expressions. :-)
I liked him in "Private Lives" and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (which I have seen on TCM.) I have still not seen "Lady in The Lake," so thanks for the reminder to watch it! ;-)
I've read that Montgomery and his wife Elizabeth Allan did a fine job in raising their children, although, he was tough on Elizabeth. She broke out of his shadow and made it big on her own. Fine actor and he saw the advent of television, when a lot of movie actors didn't want any part of it. Montgomery was one the first actor to have his own TV show. He was the co-founder of the Screen Actors Guild.
As an interesting bit of trivia, about five years after this show, Peter Lawford went on to become the Executive Producer of a movie called Johnny Cool (released in 1963), which co-starred Robert Montgomery's daughter Elizabeth, and was directed by Elizabeth Montgomery's husband at the time, William Asher. Lawford made film history of sorts with Johnny Cool, as I think it's the first modern gangster flick, though some give it a more fancy term, "neo-noir crime" film.
Robin Roberts was far better known to me than Robert Montgomery. I have seen so many pictures of the Hall of Fame pitcher that I knew it was the same person. It was an interesting twist to bring him on the program for the panel to guess his less famous line. By the 1956 season that had ended a few months earlier, Roberts was starting to lose his fastball, but he knew no other way to pitch than to throw his fastball past hitters, using his good control to put the pitch where he wanted it to go. Now the NL hitters were catching up to his fastball. He was only 19-17 in 1956 and then fell to 10-22 in the upcoming 1957 season. Although he rebounded from that 1957 season, by 1961, his record dropped to 1-10. The Phillies sold him to the Yankees after the season, but the Yankees young pitching developed well in spring training and they didn't lose any other pitchers to the military draft. Roberts was released in April 1962 without throwing one pitch for the Yankees. Within a month, he signed on with the Orioles and finally was able to make the transition from a hard thrower to a finesse pitcher. He pitched effectively in the major leagues for over 4 more years. The shrimp business, however, wasn't a winner for him. It took him a while to figure out what to do to earn a living when he playing career ended. In the end, he worked in the investment business and as the host of a radio sports show. He later became a college baseball coach.
The Robert Montgomery Johnson Floor Wax commercial is actually up on RU-vid. Peter Lawford's "shoe wax" query was possibly the single most bungled panel question in the history of What's My Line.
@@January. you're right, I haven't seen one, which is odd since I watched one of possibly a dozen bios on her life. Now the one I saw it was all about Liz and her father and how they tragically drifted apart for whatever reason
At the time I did not know why it was such a big deal Peter Lawford was in the movie Supergirl when it came out. I guess he was a star in his hey day way before my time.
As a kid back in these days I would hear and see the names of actors and I would see their faces but I never made the connection. Like I had heard of Peter Lawford and Robert Montgomery and I saw them on TV but just seeing their faces here I couldn't tell you their names!
Although Elizabeth Montgomery was much more beautiful than her father, if you look very closely when he smiles broadly, you can see where Elizabeth got her smile!
Can tell which guests John Daly admires. I love Robert Montgomery in this! And I've adored Elizabeth since i was ten! I even had my parent's buy me a Samantha doll with a sparkly long red dress. The front slit on it for the sixties was quite risqué.
For the shrimp man; the question about is it expensive, I would have to reply that it depends on your economic status. For us poor people, eating shrimp is not exactly an everyday thing.
Even though Bennett Cerf's pronunciations can seem odd or off-beat at times, in the end it's important that we recognize and value regional dialects in our country, especially as we are losing them due to people migrating from one state or specific region to another, which causes, then, the in-place dialect to get "watered down" or "weakened." In the 1950s, I would think that a lot of people in Florida would have had a very recognizable and Floridian ("Southern") accent, if you will. But with so many people from the northern part of our country, including the northern Midwest, moving down to Florida over the last several decades, the existing dialect has become so deluded that I don't think there is much of a recognizable state-of-Florida dialect still in place (sadly). And I think this situation could be applied to our other regional dialects that are still (barely) with us.
you've got it butt-backwards dude. Daughter made it in the business largely because of the accomplishments and respect her Dad had in the industry. Daughter looked very nice but was never an actor on the same level as her father. Your ignorance of his name and achievements is a personal incompetence, not his.
Robin Roberts is genuinely one of the best pitchers in MLB history for those who don’t know. The only thing he couldn’t do was win the World Series. Shame.
When I see the secretaries, I must say that something deep inside me tells me that Bennett Cerf must have been a horrible boss. I don't think he had as much humor behind the scenes as on stage.
hopicard You can bet on that Bennett's secretary was chosen by Phyllis, and I don't think he was a rude boss, just so busy that his secretary had her hands full all the time.
I have a "feeling" he was VERY introverted off-stage as he would constantly " trashing "(1950's) Rock 'n Roll music. P.S. if he ever heard or saw some of Madonna's antics, he'd probably would've "expired"!
Three men having dimples on the show is killing me! Women with janky eyebrows annoy the heck out of me (including my own). So, I must say, Dorothy’s eyebrows are on point.
Both ladies brought their handbags in occasionally!! They even wore gloves (both wrist & elbow length) on occasion!! They had class…unlike many of the celebrities of today!!
I've wondered about that too. My theory is the dresses were provided to them by some designer/store and that the purse was sent along ( complete outfit) and that Dorthey and Arlene maybe felt obligated to wear everything on the show (???)😉🤷🤔
Ah, hm, Mr. Montgomery was a friendly HUAAC witness. And I was otherwise being entirely amused by him. I do wonder if his version of Busman's Honeymoon is any good.
As a Dorothy L. Sayers fan, I much recommend avoiding Mr. Montgomery’s version of Busman’s Honeymoon. The novel was superb, though not as spectacular as the preceding “Gaudy Night”. Busman’s Honeymoon was the “reward” to readers who had followed the difficult yet cerebral romantic pursuit of mystery writer Harriet Vane, by sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, through three novels. To jump immediately into the fourth novel was shallow, and there was no meaning to anything. It was just a cheap one-off film that Sayers despised. You can find the first three Masterpiece Theatre sagas on RU-vid, a terrific and charming series starring Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter. Then read the fourth book (never added to the series) and you’ll be in for a treat!
16:41 "In the abundant economy of our time"... oh Daly, if only you knew... today's economy and abundance makes the 50ies look like the Stone Age in comparison...
After watching a number of these "What's My Line" episodes, I did not enjoy Peter Lawford's performances as a guest panelist. He often seemed lost, awkward, disinterested, out-of-place. He just didn't shine like his colleagues, nor did he seem to fit in with the overall tempo and general light-hardness of this show.
![What's My Line? - Robert Montgomery; Peter Lawford [panel] (Jan 13, 1957)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
