New Year's Eve 1950--What's My Line (part 1 of 4)

[MannyManFresh7]

Oh wow....everything just seem so simple at this time!! So calm. Gay just meant Happy at the time!!!

[delightfulstar]

"Poof!" Great early WML...the studio was rumored to get very, very smoky during the first year or two of the show, in the days when everyone used to light up on air. As good as this episode is, the show just kept getting better and better with time!

[PJCoan]

Everyone is soooo young! Great to see this!

[TheBlueyedblond]

Rye?? Been there many times, nice community.

[pepsibookcat]

My birthday 22 years before I was born! :)

[ClassicShowbiz]

Was Henry Morgan the announcer!?

[TomBarristerX]

The announcer was Lee Vines.

[WintersWar]

the early days of this show were the best of the best imo. nothing like the 1950's

[CarlyIsAGangster]

It doesn't even look like Arlene..

I have to say, I prefer her blonde.

But either way, she's fabulous.

[oOZePirateOo]

I like the early wml..

look how young john was haha :)

[MannyManFresh7]

Wow......it's amzaing to see the show in the early stages!!!!!! Look at Arlene. wow things seemed so simple and happy then!!

[5star555555555]

"television's gayest game"

i wish they kept the intro where they introduce the contestants

[ffrancesccaaaa]

ARLENE IS SO YOUNG!

[tzkelley]

GSN (Game Show Network) SUCKS because they took this show off the air! Family Feud is on seven times a day! They need to bring What's My Line back!!!

[WMLandPassword]

So John Daly would be .. 36 years old here?

[UofLCardFan08]

1914? Yeah, that sounds right.

[torchkit]

"Television's gayest game." And proud of it too. My, how time's have changed. LOL

[DavidRectum]

lol

[OctoberOhio]

Arlene should have been born blonde!!

[prchristman]

Interesting to compare this with the first WML from the preceding February. Show #1 was crude, even for 1950. Gil Fates admitted that in his book. But by December, the basic WML format was in place. (And presumably much sooner than that. Many of the intervening 1950 WMLs are lost.) That was fast work. And the producers had the good sense to stick with that format through 1975. Some tinkering, like removing the wild guesses, etc. But they proved this rule: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[byrd56]

"Stop Stopette until Stopette stops Untermeyer" was a bumper sticker reportedly put up by the Catholic War Veterans on the windows of stores that carried Stopette.

As for that wall, Gil wrote in his 1977 memoir about "WML?" that its use "would have caused innumerable camera and audio problems."

[soulierinvestments]

It is interesting though fruitless to speculate on how WML would have evolved if 1) the producers had liked Hal Block and 2) if Red Channels hadn't blacklisted Untemeyer.

[soulierinvestments]

Thanx for posting this landmark and rare broadcast. Unfortunately only a handful of kinescopes feature Louis Untemeyer.

Apparently Dorothy Kilgallen and Hal Block had to work New Years Eve 1951. Wonderful to see Betty without appliances.

[martinimerlin]

Thanks for this -- wow, an early show. Did you know that the original idea for the celebrity mystery guest was to not have the panel blindfolded. The mystery guest was to be covered in a sheet. This is according to a book on Dorothy Killgallen.

[soulierinvestments]

Gil Fates also noted that in early stages, the producers considered some sort of wall between the panel and the guest.

[Indy788]

Lol this is awesome. John and Garry look so young.

[SueBeaWho]

Oh crepe, you are the best. This is so cool. And Gary Moore is a young baby boy - too sweet!! Happy New Year!! Arlene, of course, is as pretty as always.