Let's Be "What's My Line?"

Are you a leading man or more of a character person?

(How would you consider yourself, Arlene, darling?)

I'm Arlene Francis's heart necklace (also her lips which often looked like she had been doing a bit of cocksucking).

I'm Fred Allen, who I'm told was popular in his day, whose jokes aren't funny and take up way too much time.

I'm the illegitimate theater. They don't talk about me.

I'm Bennett Cerf, whose little secret came out years later -- he would read Variety which listed which celebrities were flying in to NY, giving him some big idea of who was in NY and who might be a mystery guest. He was something of a jerk, since he curtailed many a funny mystery guest from having a longer appearance on the show.

I'm Liberace as mystery guest in 1956, I was at my best then and it was all downhill from there.

I'm R5 who assumes this show was not rigged as were many other 50s quiz shows.

No you're not.

I'm the clever animated openers for the show.

I'm Mid-Atlantic English. Anything you utter had better be in my accent.

I'm one of John Daly's convoluted explanations to the panel.

The fat golfer, R11?

I'm the cards John Daly flips over. AND the blackboard.

I am the African-American guests who were treated as worthy human beings before the Civil Rights movement.

I'm Dorothy Kilgallen upset because the guest panelist wasted a question to get a laugh instead of trying to win.

I'm Arlene Francis waiting for her next victim.

Arlene did kill someone in an auto accident, didn't she?

I'm the Stopette sponsor sign in front of the panel.

Funniest mystery guests: Rosalind Russell and surprisingly, Fredric March (both absolute hoots!). Also, Patty Duke on the newer version with Larry Blyden hosting.

Here's Roz.

I agree above with the Bennett Cerf analysis. He always seemed to be a buzzkill dick.

[quote](also her lips which often looked like she had been doing a bit of cocksucking).

"Looked like?" Hah!

I'm the articulate, elegant and sophisticated banter that is dead today.

I'm Stopette.

r17 I had heard of that, but I think it may be something that had to do with a heavy object falling from her apartment window, something about how her maid was cleaning that area one day and it fell down onto someone walking by on the sidewalk--she explains it in her autobiography, which I read some time ago but don't recall all the exact details. I'm fairly sure there was no car accident involving AF, but could be wrong about that. She had one child, a son who turned out to be gay and was supposed to have been a hot shot at Yale or Harvard or something.

I'm the inside story on the Kennedy assassination Dorothy Kilgallen had accumulated through painstaking research resulting in her strange, mysterious death with Kitty Carlisle taking her seat on the panel. I'm lost to this day.

I'm Kitty Carlisle, filling in for Arlene every time she accidentally killed someone.

I'm the Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass-inspired theme song to the syndicated version.

I'm Bennett's cock, permanently turgid in the hopes that Marilyn Monroe will be the mystery guest tonight

I'm tonight's Mystery Guest, Arlene Francis' criminal defense attorney, whom she keeps on permanent retainer, to fend off those pesky murder charges.

I’m Steve Allen’s cool, detached irony and bemusement.

I'm the lovely masks the women wore during the mystery guest segments.

I'm the moment or two the ladies spent patting their hair back into place after removing the mask.

I'm the eyeglasses that the men usually wore in the years before contact lenses

Preach, R23.

So sad.

I'm the "pearl"-trimmed blindfolds used by the women that thrilled every gay boy in America.

I'm Arlene's running competition with Kitty Carlisle on "To Tell the Truth" for the title of "Most Overdressed Game Show Diva".

I still wear eyeglasses, r33. And if you'll put yours on, you'll see them on most of the rest of the universe.

r3

Fred Allen was actually very, very funny on radio, but he did not take well to TV. I would say it was because he wasn't attractive, but plenty of uggos made it onto TV fine.

Something about him did not transfer from radio to TV. Listen to his old time radio stuff, you'll be amazed at how funny he is, at least on radio.

I'm the horrible teeth any non-celebrity over 40, who was on the show, had.

I'm one of the pinholes, responsible for Dorothy's remarkable success rate.

I'm every reasonably attractive man on the show that Arlene had to flirt with.

I'm Dorothy's chin; I do not exist.

Arlene was wonderful and gracious. However, there was something going on there. Many times, she showed up with an eyepatch having "scratched her cornea." It seemed to happen several times, and once she came in with her arm in a sling.

I wondered of she had that thing were you pretend to have ailments because you enjoy the attention.

By the way, the dumbbell; accident happened while Arlene was in Westport doing a play. It was the her maid that did it.

R43 I remember the one with her arm in the sling. (I think that episode is on YouTube, or at least it was.) I believe it was from when she lost control of her car during a heavy rain and plowed into another car, bringing her body count to two (2).

I'm the emotions shock and amazement which are what I experienced when I learned that Bennett Cerf was (supposedly) straight.

I'm the rapturous applause that announces the presence of a legitimate superstar before they've finished signing their first name. If you earn my stamp of approval, chances are high that future generations will argue over your iconic/legendary status.

I'm the fake, silly voices Lucille Ball used every time she was Mystery Guest, which fooled no one.

I'm Soupy Sales trying to be "The New Bennett" on the syndicated version.

I'M INTELLIGENCE.

I just saw one of those Soupy Sales episodes for the first time. SOUPY SALES? What were they thinking?

I'M ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AND CARDINAL SPELMAN.

I'm a movie currently playing at one of the theaters on Broadway.

I'm a non-celebrity female contestant who's only mildly attractive. I will still get wolf whistles from the audience.

I'm a supermarket. Dorothy Kilgallen wouldn't be caught dead inside me.

That's funny R54. I wouldn't be caught dead inside of Dorothy.

I can sympathize, R55.

I'm Hal Block, to whom fellow panelist Bennett Cerf referred as "a clod".

R51, Bishop Sheen. Not Cardinal Spellman.

I'm the Remington shaver that you can operate at home or in your car. Because being able to shave in your car is essential to the fast-paced life of the 1950s.

[quote]I'm the emotions shock and amazement which are what I experienced when I learned that Bennett Cerf was (supposedly) straight.

Are you kidding, R45? I watch the reruns now and Bennett practically unzips and jerks off whenever an attractive young woman comes on. And if they're showing cleavage he really goes nuts. He'd be banned from tv in today's climate.

I'm Arlene's son ,who appeared on several shows, but was never recognized by his mother.

I'm the marbles in Gypsy Rose Lee's mouth.

Not only did Dorothy stand for Bishop Sheen, she actually genuflects and kisses his ring.

I’m a bread box, and I’m SO tired of the comparisons.

I'm the college level words Dorothy would throw at hillbillies and children, that even John Daly had no idea what they meant.

I'm the guy who actually made those masks they all claimed to hate wearing so much. I actually appeared as a guest and no one guessed who I was. I've seen the episode so it's probably on youtube but I'm too lazy to search for it. I won the $50 which in today's dollars is more like $500 and that's still a nice piece of change for a few minutes of work and getting to appear on one of the most watched of all TV shows. The super big $$$$ game shows that caused the scandals came later.

OP is a racist deplorable

"China studies 'White Trash' to understand Trump

Trump isn't white trash, did they study Ghetto Niggers to learn about Obama? 'Cause Obama is closer to that than any Republican presidential candidate is to "white trash."

I am the chair that will forever be between either Dorothy and Arlene or Dorothy and Bennett. After Dorothy ran an item or two in her column based on the juicy tidbits Arlene and Bennett shared in the green room all pretenses of friendship disappeared.

R67

No, Ghetto nigger is only used whenever the words "white trash" are used. I don't see you calling out the guy who uses "white trash" which is equally racist and offensive. So why don't you answer that? Because you are THE racist.

I’m John Daly.

When conferring with a contestant ona point if fact, I lean in close and put my hand up to block our moving lips.

Man or woman, it doesn’t matter.

I'm Kitty Carlisle's tiara.

I'm Judy Garland's clicker.

I'm Anna Magnani and I want to viciously slap mascalzone at R51 for forgetting about me.

I'm the queens who think everything was better in the past, when you could get arrested for being gay and segregation still existed. I post things like "intelligence is dead" because I'm not very intelligent myself. I voted for Trump.

I'm the other queen going on about "today's climate" as if the fifties were so liberated. Maybe he forgot about all those TV couples who weren't allowed to share a single bed

I'm the chalk.

I'm Dorothy's disapproving tone when she asks, "Are your records more likely to be found on a JUKEBOX?"

I'm the $10.00 money card. But only while it's being flipped.

Is anyone here old enough to explain why Dorothy felt the need to stand for Anna Magnani?

I'm Natalie Wood's Russian accent.

I'm Liza reminding everyone that I also have a famous father.

I'm young and beautiful Elizabeth Taylor, pregnant and only on my second marriage, and funnier here than I was ever allowed to be in all my stinkin' movies.

I'm the slightly risque moments allowed on tv.

I'm Woody Allen's stand up comedy career, what exists only on this show.

I'm Diana Ross - allowed to sit while Florence and Mary are behind me standing.

I'm pre-liberation Jane Fonda.

I'm the glittery black eyelashes glued on Arlene Francis's mask during the early years!

I'm what might be called "a glamour girl." When Dorothy asks me if I am one, I will hem and haw until John Daly will gallantly insist, "Our guest is far too modest to say, but I assure you she most certainly is one, and a lovely one at that!"

I'm the handbag that Eleanor Roosevelt brought with her when she was a mystery guest promoting United Nations Week. Btw, the women stood for her as well.

I'm the high pitched voice that contralto Marian Anderson used to fool the panel.

I'm the fur-trimmed collar on the dress Marian wore when the women stood for her as well.

I am the shame that Arlene and Bennett felt when they didn't guess Marian.

I'm Margaret Truman perhaps the stupidest panel member ever.

I'm Margaret Truman's hideous profile.

I'm Orson Welles, the panelist who would get inappropriately angrier and angrier where he was stumped by the mystery guest's identity.

I'm Pia Lindstrom, Ingrid Bergman's eldest daughter, who was surprisingly one of the smartest and quickest of all the panelists.

I'm Soupy Sales telling awful jokes that the laugh track gets turned up for.

I’m Jayne Mansfield in town to do a Broadway show!

I'm Sophie Tucker, whom Dorothy and Arlene also stood for.

I'm John Charles Daly's intricate, complex yet rather convincing comb-over.

R97 I was going to say that!!

I'm John Charles Daly & my FIL is Chief Justice Earl Warren.

I'm the glossy, wet look pomade all the men use in the hair.

I'm Wally Bruner, host during the syndication years in the 1970s.

I'm the scandal of John Charles Daly getting divorced, re-marrying, and starting a new family--AT HIS AGE. I still haven't gotten over it.

I'm the fur stole Arlene Francis sometimes wears over one shoulder.

I'm sometime panelist Martin Gable (Mr. Arlene Francis.) I have to live with that voice.

R104, really: How DARE you? Arlene's was the voice of Broadway professionalism and CLASS.

R105 How dare you!! Mrs. Kilgallen IS the Voice of Broadway.

I'm Sylvia Sidney, waiting 17 years for an invitation to be a mystery guest.

I'm Phyllis Cerf, wondering why I keep being described as Bennett's beautiful wife when I'm 30 pounds overweight.

Covering each eye with a hand, I ask:"Are you in show business?"

I'm Dorothy Kilgallen's telephone booth, the unsuccessful attempt to replicate Steve Allen's breadbox.