What's My Line?

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Moderators:

John Daly (1950 – 1967)

Wally Bruner (1968 – 1972)

Larry Blyden (1972 - 1975)

Panelists:

Arlene Francis

Dorothy Kilgallen (1950 – 1965)

Louis Untermeyer (1950 – 1951)

Hal Block (1950 – 1953)

Bennett Cerf (1951 – 1967)

Steve Allen (1953 – 1954)

Fred Allen (1954 – 1956)

Soupy Sales (1968 – 1975)

Narrators:

Lee Vines (1950 – 1955)

Hal Simms (1955 – 1961)

Ralph Paul (1961)

Johnny Olson (1961 – 1972)

Chet Gould (1973 - 1975)

United States

Mark Goodson & Bill Todman – Co-Producers / Producers

Gil Fates – Executive Producer / Producer

Milt Myers – Supervising Producer

Bob Bach, Frances Trocaine & Bill Egan – Associate Producers

Paul Alter – 416 episodes

plus: Frank Satenstein, Paul Alter, S. Robert Rowe, Paul Monroe & Ira Skutch

25

CBS: 876 | Syndicated: 1,315

I've Got a Secret

Lou Busch & Milton Delugg – Composer closing theme 'Rollercoaster'

Johnny Carson | Woody Allen | Mickey Rooney | Walter Pidgeon | Ginger Rogers | Lucille Ball | Milton Berle | Bob Hope | Joan Crawford | Bette Davis | Edward G. Robinson | Shelley Winters | Paul Anka | Andy Griffith | Jane Fonda | Carol Burnett | Henry Fonda | Douglas Fairbanks Jr. | Fred MacMurray | Helen Hayes | Olivia de Havilland | Walter Brennan | George Burns | Eartha Kitt | Vincent Price | Don Ameche | Roy Rogers | Fred Astaire | Betty Grable | Dorothy Lamour | Kirk Douglas | Irene Dunne | Ronald Reagan | Doris Day | Jack Palance | Burl Ives | Charles Laughton | Robert Mitchum | Gene Kelly | Jane Russell | Errol Flynn | Sophia Loren | Lana Turner | Paul Newman | Anthony Quinn | Tallulah Bankhead | William Shatner |

Emmy Awards

1959 Won Emmy Best Panel, Quiz or Audience Participation Series

1956 Nominated Emmy Best Audience Participation Series

1955 Nominated Emmy Best Audience, Guest Participation or Panel Program

1954 Won Emmy Best Audience Participation, Quiz or Panel Program

1953 Won Emmy Best Audience Participation, Quiz or Panel Program

Golden Globes, USA

1962 Won Golden Globe Best TV Show

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What's My Line? was the longest-running game show in the history of prime-time network television. It ran for 18 seasons, on alternate weeks from February to September 1950, then every Sunday at 10:30 p.m. for the next 17 years. The format was exceedingly simple. Contestants were asked simple yes-or-no questions by the panel members, who tried to determine what interesting or unusual occupation the contestant had. Each time the contestant could answer no to a question, he got $5 and a total of 10 no’s ended the game. The panel was forced to don blindfolds for the “mystery guest”, a celebrity who tried to avoid identification by disguising their voice.

That little game, by itself, hardly warranted an 18-year-run when other panel shows of the early 1950s came and went every month. But What's My Line? was something special, both for the witty and engaging panel and for a certain élan which few other shows have ever captured. There were no flashy celebrities-of-the-moment or empty-headed pretty faces on this panel; they were obviously very intelligent people all, out to have some genteel fun with an amusing parlor game. Like John Daly with his bow tie and perfect manners, it reeked of urbanity (“That’s three down and seven to go. Mr. Cerf?”).

The panelists who created this special atmosphere were an elite group. The panel on the initial telecast consisted of Park Avenue psychiatrist Dr. Richard Hoffman, poet and critic Louis Untermeyer, former New Jersey Governor Harold Hoffman and columnist Dorothy Kilgallen. (Their first contestant: a lissome blond hat-check girl from the Stork Club). Arlene Francis joined the panel on the second telecast and Bennett Cerf in March 1951. Kilgallen, Cerf and Francis were continuing regulars for the next 15 years.

Of the other early panelists, Untermeyer was perhaps the most tragic loss – forced off the show and off television, McCarthy Era political blacklisting. Gag writer Hal Block was a panelist for a time, as were acerbic Fred Allen and multi-talented Steve Allen (who, in trying to determine size as quickly as possible within the show’s yes-or-no format, conjured up the program’s classic question: “Is it bigger than a breadbox?”). After the death of Fred Allen in 1956, the fourth seat on the panel was left permanently open for a different guest panelist each week. Little changed until the mid 1960s. In 1965 Dorothy Kilgallen died suddenly, of an overdose of medication, following her appearance on the November 7th program. A much-publicized talent hunt ensued for a permanent replacement, but in the end her chair was also left open, filled by another guest panelist each week.

Finally in 1967, What's My Line? left the network, only to surface less than a year later in a considerably less sophisticated and more slapstick syndicated version. Alrene Francis was the only holdover, joined by Soupy Sales as a regular panelist and Wally Bruner as a moderator (replaced by Larry Blyden in 1972). The syndicated version lasted until 1975.

Kitty Carlisle, who normally was a panelist on To Tell the Truth (1956), filled in for Dorothy Kilgallen the week after Kilgallen died.

Louis Untermeyer resigned from the show after he was listed in 'Red Channels' during the McCarthy Era. He was a longtime friend of playwright Arthur Miller, who wrote that Untermeyer was so depressed about leaving the series he confined himself to his Brooklyn home for more than a year. The playwright also claimed that many years after the incident, a producer of the series, unnamed by Miller, apologized to Untermeyer and assured him that he had tried to keep him on the show, but numerous viewers demanded otherwise. Untermeyer was replaced by Bennett Cerf, who had appeared previously as a substitute panelist.

On several occasions Larry Blyden served as a guest panelist. Blyden would later become host of the syndicated version, replacing Wally Bruner.

All of the members of the "Rat Pack," with the exception of Frank Sinatra, appeared as mystery guests on the show. Three of the five members, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, not only appeared as mystery guests, but served on the panel as well. Sinatra didn't appear on the show until November 27, 1966 when he appeared as a mystery guest during the first game and then he moved to a seat on the panel. It was the only instance in which someone did that.

Dorothy Kilgallen, Steve Allen and Fred Allen are the only regular panelists who also were mystery guests on the CBS version of the show. Bennett Cerf was a mystery guest on the syndicated version.

One of the studios where the show was broadcast from eventually became the famous (or infamous) Studio 54.

The show's announcer Johnny Olson was a mystery guest on the April 4, 1965 broadcast and completely stumped the panel by using several different voices.

Martin Gabel holds the record for the most number of appearances as a guest panelist.

Lucille Ball holds the record for the most appearances as mystery guest.

The mystery guest on the final CBS show was John Daly. Producers.

The 1966 - 1967 season was broadcast in color, but the color videotapes were discarded by CBS. Only black and white kinescope copies of the show were saved for posterity.

Moderator Daly used one signal for the panel: When he pulled his right ear lobe it warned them, usually Hal Block, that the questions were getting dangerously close to double entendre.

A 'What's My Line?' board game was introduced in the fall of 1955.

Ford, Carter and Reagan each appeared on the show before becoming president, but there was never a president who went on the show while in office. Lyndon Johnson used the show after the JFK assassination to advertise his liberal stand on the civil rights movement.

None of the panelists that were on the panel the night of the series finale (Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, Steve Allen and Martin Gabel) were on the panel the night the series debuted in 1950.

Steve Allen: Is it bigger than a bread box?