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What's My Line? was a weekly panel game show
produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. The original version of the show premiered on February
2, 1950 and ran for eighteen seasons, ending on September 3, 1967. It is the longest-running game show in the history of
prime time network television.
Hosts and panelists
The show was hosted by veteran newsman John Daly. Four panelists appeared on each program. The panelists on the initial
episode were former New Jersey governor Harold Hoffman, psychiatrist Dr.
Richard Hoffman, columnist
Dorothy Kilgallen and poet Louis Untermeyer. In later weeks, actress Arlene Francis replaced Governor
Hoffman, comedy writer Hal Block
replaced Dr. Hoffman and Random House publisher Bennett Cerf replaced Untermeyer. Cerf, Kilgallen and Francis would remain regular
panelists through most of the show's run. Humorist Steve Allen joined the
panel when Block left the show in 1953. In 1954 Steve
Allen left and Fred Allen filled the fourth seat on the panel. When Dorothy
Kilgallen died in 1965, her spot was usually left open for guest panelists for the rest of
the show's run.
Eamonn Andrews, host of the British version of What's My
Line? , Clifton
Fadiman and Bennett Cerf all filled in as host on the four occasions when Daly could not appear during the show's seventeen
and one-half years on the air. Several celebrities were rotated in as guest panelists on nights when regulars were absent, and
after the deaths of Fred Allen in 1956 and Dorothy Kilgallen in 1965. Notable guest panelists include Woody Allen, Johnny Carson, Ernie
Kovacs, Robert Q.
Lewis, Groucho Marx, Joey Bishop and Tony Randall. The single most-frequent
guest panelist was the husband of Arlene Francis, Martin Gabel, who appeared 112 times.
Game play
Standard rounds
Each episode of What's My Line? featured two standard contestant rounds, sometimes more if time permitted, and one
mystery guest round. A round was essentially a guessing game in which the
panel tried to identify the occupation of a contestant. The contestant would enter and his/her occupation flashed on monitors for
the studio audience and television viewers to see. One panelist would begin by asking the contestant a yes-or-no question about
his/her occupation. If the panelist received a "yes" answer, s/he could pose another question. If the panelist received a "no,"
the privilege of questioning passed to the next panelist. Questioning continued in rotation until the occupation was deduced or
until the panel received its tenth "no" answer. At the end of the game the contestant won $5 for every "no" answer, thus $50 for
stumping the panel.
Panelists had the option of passing instead of asking a question. The panel could also request a group conference in which the
four members had from ten to thirty seconds to openly discuss ideas about the occupation or possible lines of questioning. John
Daly set the conference time limit each time one was requested. Panels quickly adopted some basic binary search strategies and used initial questions to determine whether the contestant was salaried or
self-employed, whether s/he dealt in a product or service, and whether the contestant's organization was profit-making or
non-profit. In later seasons, the answers to one or more of these points of inquiry were provided before questioning began.
The host acted as a moderator, cueing the panelists on their turns and flipping over cards that represented the contestant's
score. The host also assisted contestants with questions and preventing them from giving misleading answers.
Mystery guests
Celebrity "mystery guests" appeared as challengers on What's My Line?
in addition to the standard contestants. In a mystery guest round the panelists were blindfolded and asked questions in order to
identify the famous person. Questioning was conducted in the same way as standard rounds except that panelists could only ask one
question at a time before passing control to the next panelist. Mystery guests would try to conceal their identities by
disguising their voices, much to the amusement of the studio audience.
Style of the show
What's My Line? is remembered as a celebration of urbanity and good manners in television. The host and male
panelists always wore black tie while female panelists donned formal gowns and
gloves. At the beginning of a round, John Daly would invite the next contestant to "enter and sign in, please." The contestant
would write his/her name on a small slate attached to the wall, and Daly would introduce the contestant to the panel – the
male panelists standing to shake hands and the female panelists remaining seated, naturally. If the contestant was female, Daly
asked if she should be addressed as "Miss" or "Mrs." Young, attractive female contestants usually elicited whistles from the
studio audience.
During the game the polite, well-spoken Daly would generally address the panelists as "Mr. Cerf" or "Ms. Francis." Despite his
responsibility to keep things moving, Daly was not above trading bon mots with the panelists during the game. Occasionally a
panelist would pose a problematic question leading to an equivocal answer. Daly would step in to clarify matters, but his
delightful penchant for long-winded overanalysis tended to leave the panelist more confused than before.
While ostensibly a game show, What's My Line? was really more an opportunity to interview celebrities and people with
interesting occupations. The guessing game had an air of formality and adherence to rules, but Daly was clearly on the
contestants' side and wanted them to win as much money as possible. If the occupation was guessed early, Daly would often "flip
the cards" and give the contestant the full $50 anyway. Mystery guests were paid $500 as an appearance fee, whether they won or
lost the game. This was in addition to the maximum $50 game winnings, which they sometimes donated to charity. Guest panelists
were paid $750 as an appearance fee. The regular panelists were under contract and were paid "much more" stated executive
producer Gil Fates in his 1978
What's My Line? book.
Alternate versions
A weekly American CBS radio version of What's My Line? was produced from May 1952 until July 1953. The regular panelists Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf,
Arlene Francis and Hal Block, along with host John Daly, premiered the radio version of their show on Tuesday May 20, 1952, while still performing the Sunday telecast. The debut mystery guest, in her only What's
My Line? appearance, was Marlene Dietrich. Marlon Brando made his only What's My Line? appearance on the radio
program that aired on December 3, 1952. The radio show continued through the "Hal Block
era" into the "Steve Allen era" while once moving its broadcast to Wednesday. The finale was broadcast on July 1, 1953.
A British version of What's My Line? ran from 1951 to 1962 on BBC and was briefly revived in 1973. It was revived again by ITV during the 1980s. Eamonn Andrews was the host for the original British
series. In the U.K., his position was called the "chairman." Panelists included Elizabeth Allan, Lady Isobel Barnett Jerry Desmonde, Gilbert Harding, Barbara Kelly, Marghanita Laski and David Nixon. Hosts of the revived
series included Penelope Keith and Angela Rippon.
An American syndicated daytime version (shown daily, Monday to Friday) of
What's My Line? ran from 1968 to 1975.
Wally Brunner was the original
host. In 1972, Brunner left and Larry Blyden took his place. Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf
appeared as panelists on the syndicated version. Other panelists included Alan
Alda, Bert Convy, Elayne Joyce, Ruta Lee, , Gene Rayburn, Soupy Sales, Gene Shalit and Dana
Valery.
Show facts
- The show popularized the phrase "Is it bigger than a breadbox?", a question originally posed by Steve Allen during his
1953 to 1954 tenure as a panelist.
- The final mystery guest in the original version was John Daly himself. Daly alternated between a falsetto "guest" voice and
his standard moderator voice, fooling the panel for a significant number of questions. The gimmick had been devised years earlier
as backup plan in case the scheduled mystery guest didn't show up. That event never occurred, despite a few close calls, so Daly
decided to use the trick for the final episode.
- Over the years, What's My Line? sponsors included: Jules Montenier, Inc. products (Stopette Deodorant, Poof,
Finesse), Helene Curtis, Remington Rand, Florida Citrus, Kellogg's Cereals, Allstate Insurance, Mutual of Omaha Insurance,
Sunbeam, Contac, Dentu-Creme, Py-Co-Pay, Polaroid Land Cameras, Aprege Perfume, Standard Brands, Geritol, Universal Electrical
Appliances and more.
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