The semi Brit accent almost worked but once you sit on the panel, they'll sniff you out. When Sean Connery was on, he hilariously used a small boy's voice. It really should BE a mystery guest.
I had the pleasure of meeting, and talking with Mort Sahl and his wife 18 years later outside of CBS Studios in Los Angeles. They participated on the Game Show Tattletails the show I was in the audience for
As of October 3, 2019, Mort Sahl is still alive. His stand-up comedy was largely based on social and political commentary, leading Steve Allen to call him "the only real political philosopher we have in modern comedy." Like Dorothy Kilgallen, he was vocal in his questioning of the Warren Report.
@@PaulTesta So sad to hear that, Paul. I wasn't aware until seeing your response that he passed away 26 October 2021. I saw no news reports about it. RIP, Mort.
In the days of black and white television, men wore light blue shirts. This was done due to the streaking caused by the bright studio lights and sensitivity of the image orthicon camera tubes.
I love Tony Randall as a panelist, but he's also hilarious as a mystery guest. First discovered him while watching the Odd Couple on MeTV. He's so funny -- and I love the way he always makes use of his extensive vocabulary. I also noticed that Bennett Cerf was the one who guessed Tony both times he was the mystery guest. I guess he just knew him well enough from all the occasions on which they were fellow panelists.
Mary Hoffman To be fair his disguise, despite being a strange accent, had his usual intonations and distinctive throat tone about it. He has such a strong projective voice which is pretty unmistakeable.
I’ve only ever seen him on this. His fake voice seemed very different to me, but the panel will also have seen him playing parts in different accents or just known him joking around off camera.
Another time Tony Randall was the MG and he very successfully disguised his voice. There was some very funny talk between Tony and Buddy Hackett who was a panelist. Bennett did eventually successfully guess the MG.
It was clear by that stage that she did a rather physical job that was unusual for a woman, and in which she could get injuries. I took him to mean that she was something like a mechanic.
Yet another bullfighter. This really is the most common line they have. How can they have had so much trouble with this one, when they've had no less than 3 prior women bullfighters? Maybe they thought, "We CAN'T have another lady bullfighter after so many others!"
@@igkoigko9950 . Mostly I agree, except for the few I work with that never learned to properly address an envelope. I very much like the quick response though.
Dear God, I love Tony Randall. Love. Everything from his intellect, to his timing, to his wit, to his hair. After Martin Gabel, and probably after Robert Q Lewis, Randall eventually became the third most-scheduled WML guest panelist. Mort Sahl. Great stand up comic. Then comic on political themes. Then political analyst and commentator.
I don't think anyone else has said it but I do like it when Serf first hits the stage. Always a nice cool stroll and the suit always cuts a nice sharp line.
Cerf was not only smart like Arlene and Dorothy but he had extrasensory perception, the skill of feeling the presence of the mystery guest without help of physical senses. Rare talent.
He was closest to the sign in board and probably had extra sharp ears, as well as scent. They were also all well-informed about who was in town, who was "seasonal" such as ball players, etc. ESP ought to be called "All Senses alert."
What have we come to? For ages, postal was 3 cents, and the 4 cent samples brought by the second contestant was the first postage increase in a long time. LOL Arlene wearing her stamp on her shoulder like a beauty mark. I'd accept a package like Arlene any day, stamped or COD.
I'm wondering if many of the mystery guests really wanted to be guessed. If I were a famous celebrity, and especially one like Tony Randall who was very familiar to the panelists, I certainly wouldn't be giving full sentences as my answers. I think the most successful mystery guests were ones that gave as little away in their voice as possible.
Yes, but on the other hand, longer answers can often be more fun. (Obvious example being Debbie Reynolds, but I think Tony here also was aiming more for fun than winning.)
@@RikardPeterson I agree. Tony unless he is totally tone deaf (and opera lovers such as he are not) had to know he was virtually giving it away, for fun. Maybe not, though.
The mystery guests working in show business would have understood that the point of the game was entertainment, not whether or not they beat the panel.
The mystery guest segment in this show is another prime example of a guest saying way more than they needed to and just gave themselves away. Just a "yes" or "no" is all that is needed.
Evidently you don’t understand the point of the game. It’s for entertainment. If it were to keep the guest a secret then they wouldn’t have them in the studio at all!
Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back are two of the best comedies ever made, and Tony Randall played a large part in making them so. Doris Day and Rock Hudson also had outstanding comedic chops, and Thelma Ritter in Pillow Talk was a riot.
The 49-star flag depicted on the stamps was only official for one year, from July 4, 1959, to July 3, 1960. Though both Alaska and Hawaii were formally admitted as states during 1959, Hawaii's statehood was effective as of August 21 (just two days before this show aired!). Since 1818 the rule has been that new flag designs become official on the next Independence Day, which is why the 50-star flag had to wait till 1960. Since Hawaii's admission was a "done deal" (Congress had approved it in March 1959), I imagine that many members of the public did as our family did, deciding not to invest in a 49-star flag, and waiting to buy the 50-star version. Of course government buildings and other "official" flagpoles had to fly the 49-star version for one year's use.
Everyone knows all that, but the forty-nine star flag would have been a nice souvenir and now a bit valuable. That said, it’s bizarre of any family to specifically have a flag.
I had a feeling that Tony Randall would have difficulty disguising his voice. I remember him saying during an interview that it was difficult to do vocal impressions of him because he had perfect pitch. Perhaps that made it difficult for him to do an alternate voice.
He should have used a falsetto voice, as should all mystery guests. Tony Randall also could never bring himself to maul the English language as do so many of us Americans, dropping "g"s and saying "yeah" a lot.
@John Dee When in the hell is RU-vid/Google going to fix their completely broken commenting system? Yet again, I can't reply in any way, shape or form to a comment left by you here, and since this isn't a direct reply, you won't be notified of the response. What a total mess they made of this! Anyhow, I was just going to say, I can certainly understand people reacting that way to Tony Randall-- I've heard it plenty of times from other folks-- but I love him (especially on The Odd Couple) and think he's great on the panel. Jack Klugman wrote a book about his friendship with Tony Randall which was really quite touching. Tony Randall is the guy who he credits for being able to recover his voice enough after throat cancer to return to acting. Jewish mother nagging, but in a positive way. :)
I think some people can set their accounts so people can't reply to them. I think I came across an option like that when I was fooling with the googleplus/youtube settings.
Stephanie McCoy Could be, but if this is the same guy who's been commenting on my You Bet Your Life channel, this is the first time one of his comments was posted in such a way as to not be able to respond in any form, on RU-vid or on Google+. And what on earth is the point of a setting to make it so no one can respond to you? Is this something people actually want??? ;)
What's My Line? Idk, I like to make sarcastic comments time to time that I wish people couldn't respond to, but that's about it lol. The whole comment thing is rather buggy. It might because his profile is private maybe :o? i think not, nvm lol
Another great episode of WML.The only thing I didn't like was the woman bullfighter.It wasn't her I didn't like however because I love all animals I disagree with this.Tony Randall is very good.I'm sure it was him who was in the movie The seven faces of Doctor Lau.he was superb in the movie and he's funny too!
@John Dee -- too bad there's no reply button with your post, but there isn't, so I'm responding here. I happen to think Tony Randall was funny and entertaining and urbane, whether he was on WML or the Hollywood Squares. Nothing "prissy" about his hairstyle that I can see -- it's just a short haircut, typical of 1959, nicely parted and nicely combed. What's prissy about it? Also, Mr. Randall was intelligent and witty. You're welcome not to like Tony Randall, of course, but don't expect everyone here to agree with you. I suspect that most people will not.
Bennett forgot another MGM movie featuring a female bullfighter, Esther Williams in "Fiesta" (1947), a fairly daffy film in which she plays the twin sister of Ricardo Montalban, a matador who composes concertos on the side. He skips a ring appearance for a music opportunity, and she has to dress in his clothes and pin her hair under her hat and.... you get the idea. I love both actors, but they don't in the least appear plausible as twins.
hcombs0104 and What's My Line? and David Soulier and +John Dee So because of the inability to respond directly to John Dee's comment, we all end up posting our good feelings about Tony Randall in separate posts! Perhaps not such a bad thing for Tony fans. ;) I decided to respond to this one, mostly because it was the last one I came to as I read down the list of comments. I am also a big fan of Tony Randall's, especially in "The Odd Couple" TV series, and I've enjoyed seeing him in these WML episodes. I think he was a genuine intellectual (not "pseudo" at all) and also a warm, funny, charming personality. I was fortunate enough to attend several of Randall's National Actors Theater productions in the early 1990s, including the fundraising presentation of Neil Simon's original "The Odd Couple" play, which reunited Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as Felix and Oscar. I think it was the first time Jack Klugman had attempted to use his surgery-modified voice in performance (and this was probably part of the help Tony Randall gave to Jack after the surgery -- by insisting that he be in this production), and though it was different, and a bit harder to hear, he and Tony both did a wonderful job, and it was a fantastic experience seeing them together, performing those classic characters live on stage! I also love Bennett Cerf, though he is to me a complex character. I admit that I find certain things he does or says to be annoying, but I also find him to be a rare combination of intelligence and ignorance; the dignified intellectual and the silly little kid; the professional man-of-the-world and the wide-eyed innocent, unabashedly admiring young boy. His habit of blurting out exactly what he is thinking sometimes gets him into trouble (and I don't always like what he says), but it is quite the opposite of pretentious (though I don't deny that he does sound pretentious at times). Overall, I find his blend of intelligent dignity and childlike innocence/silliness to be quite endearing.
SaveThe TPC Well-put observations on Bennett. And I'm incredibly jealous that you got to see Randall and Klugman reprise their "Odd Couple" roles. "The Odd Couple" has always been a favorite show of mine!
What's My Line? Thanks. "The Odd Couple" is one of my favorite TV shows too. I paid a fortune for tickets way at the back of the theater to see Randall & Klugman in the play, but it was worth it for that once-in-a-lifetime experience! Here's a link to an archival article with more information about that performance, in case you're interested. It was an all-star cast, but the combination of Tony Randall & Jack Klugman as Felix and Oscar was worth the price of admission to me, even if the rest of the cast had been unknowns! www.nytimes.com/1991/06/20/theater/odd-couple-is-returning-to-do-a-good-deed.html Btw, I have been having a lot of technical difficulties while trying to reply to comments today, and this is the first time today that I have been able to post a comment on RU-vid. Actually, it remains to be seen whether it will work or not and whether or not I will afterwards be able to post or reply to any other comments.
SaveThe TPC Thank you again, broken comments system. Well, I saw your comment anyway. That's no guarantee anyone else on the internet will. If you haven't checked out Klugman's book about his friendship with Tony Randall, "Tony and Me", I can't recommend it highly enough. You're obviously a big enough fan to appreciate it, so I'd be sort of surprised if you haven't read it yet. Truly a touching book, and it comes with a DVD containing outtakes from the filming of "The Odd Couple" which, you know, might have been nice as bonus features on the barebones DVDs for seasons 2-5. Let's not even talk about how they butchered seasons 3-5 due to not wanting to clear any music rights. www.amazon.com/Tony-Me-Friendship-out-takes-1971-75/dp/0976830302/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404864613&sr=8-1&keywords=tony+and+me
A slightly less than tactful remark from John at 11:30 when he says that bullfighting is great to *read* about, implying that he wouldn't be in the audience, just as he is saying goodbye to the contestant. He could at least have waited till she was offstage. Not that I don't agree with his point of view, and even go beyond it -- I don't even want to read about bullfighting.
Neil Midkiff But Daly doesn't talk about a contestant's line 'after' thry leave the stage. Also it would've drawn attention to his stance on it even more if he delivered it facing the camera before announcing the next guest.
When he made that remark, I first assumed he was placing himself in the ring rather than the audience. Like he didn't fancy the thought of taking on such a dangerous task. But the face he made certainly suggested displeasure with the "game" as a whole. Guess he likes Hemingway though.
I just noticed that right after the remark, he tugs on his ear! Ha ha, was he warning himself to get off the topic? Haven't seen one of those since the Hal Block era. :)
Pygiana Interesting-- I wondered the same thing. Because sometimes-- being a live show-- there were words said on WML that were absolutely forbidden on TV at the time, so I thought it might have been a slip on John's part (though a very uncharacteristic one!) I remember Bennett said "damn" once, and Groucho sang a song that had the word "hell" in it (this is just from memory-- I'm sure there were more).
What's My Line? One of the classics, of course, is when Groucho Marx was on the panel and basically insinuated that the contestant (a female wrestler) was a prostitute. Followed by Dorothy's hilarious "sex" slip up.:)
I don't like it, but I'm SERIOUSLY getting to the point of NOT liking John. I'm so SICK of him flipping those cards at 25 or 30 (there was a recent episode where the person had 45 points, and he STILL flipped those stupid cards. WHY DIDN'T THE PRODUCERS EVER SAY ANYTHING TO HIM!!!!
![What's My Line? - Tony Randall; Mort Sahl [panel] (Aug 23, 1959)](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
