I found it doubtful that Mr Cerf asked the question that if he brought a suit other than normal for the occasion .. I think it was very difficult to make that question or was pretty clever by Mr Cerf..
I love this TV show by the way... Many many laughs for them and God bless them!
I've never heard of Suzy Knickerbocker but I was only 2 when this aired. Anywho, she must have been a child bride because she certainly doesn't look old enough to have a son that age. Also, Arlene's husband looks like death on this particular night.
@petclark1 Martin had lost a lot of weight when he did The Rivalry on Broadway (played Stephen Douglas in a play about the Lincoln-Douglas Debates). This had about be around late 1966-early 1967, when Arlene was doing Dinner at Eight
@RayNDeere But Martin's comment about Christmas being on Sunday and this being the way that he gets to see his wife that evening (with her not having a performance of Dinner at Eight) says that this is the Dec 25 episode 1966.
@petclark1 Suzy, a.k.a. Aileen Mehle, was born in 1924. If her son graduated from Annapolis in '63, that meant he was born in 1941. The math says she was 17 when he was born. That is if Suzy's listed birthdate is correct. BTW, Aileen Mehle is still alive, at age 87.
I read on the comment to another clip that Martin never showed his emotions towards Arlene on the show but I think that you can see his love for her in his eyes, or am I over romanticising things?
Haha do we think these intro's were usually scripted? It seems so except for Bennett's little introduction for John Charles Daly which the rest of the panel looked equally surprised at (as well as Daly) haha
The opening of the show from this episode was used on the syndicated version of "What's My Line?" for all seven years of it's run. It was in color, but they used a different theme music for it. Wonderful clip, thank you for posting this.
It is this kind of episode that What's My Line does best. The reaction of Suzy when Roger is finally revealed is priceless!! What a hoot!! Thanks for posting this.
Suzy's real name is Aileen Mehle. Suzy Knickerbocker was her pen name, like Dear Abby or Ann Landers. She wrote a society column in the NY Times. She appeared on WML 11 times in its last season (66-67). 10 times as a panelist, once as a mystery guest on 10/23/66. Does anyone have that clip?
WML was broadcast live in the Eastern/Central time zones. It was taped for Mountain/Pacific time zones, but the tape was not kept intact, it was reused for other shows. What you see is a "kinescope", a B&W film shot directly off the TV screen that was made for archival purposes.
I lived in the Mountain West as a little boy, and I remember KSL TV SLC broadcasting WML at 8:30, which means it would be a live broadcast.
Yes, CBS and G-T made all sorts of WML color videotapes in 1966 1967, and not one of them surfaced in all these years -- because of these B&W kinescope records which were cheaper in the short run.
Someone once posted on YouTubia a color animation clip that might have been from 1967 WML, but the poster refused to comment about it.
I was born in the wrong decade. It seemed back then people were more respectable toward each other. No loud, obnoxiousness but mostly politeness. Wish people were still like that.
@aptharsia - And today this isn't a hope in heck of someone in TV like S.K. with a son serving in the Navy in such a position. Yes, things were radically different.
But do remember that the politeness quite often was a stifling, phony veneer that drove a lot of people - who disliked style pulling rank on candor - nuts.
Thank you so much for posting this clip! I already read about that this segment was maybe one of the most emotional moments in WML's history, so I really longed to see it. I think there's hardly anything more moving than the tears of joy of a proud and loving mother.
I guess you'd have to live in NY at that time or remember seeing these particular episodes to know who she is because until this moment I never heard of her and I was a late Truman baby.
True, black tie for men and gowns for women were the norm. The only other was Phyllis Newman on the episode where Frank Sinatra was a mystery guest-turn-panelist.
After Dorothy Kilgallen's death, Goodson-Todman toyed with the idea of replacing her with actress Phyllis Newman, but that idea did not quite happen. They also toyed with the idea of replacing her with another bright competitive reporter. They tried writers / reporters Helen Gurley Brown, Sue Oakland, Marianne Means, and (here most memorably ) society reporter Ailene Mehle, but none of them worked out as a permanent panelist.
@soulierinvestments I wish they would have selected Phyllis Newman because most of the subs during this period, particularly those you mentioned, were, in my opinion duds.
he looks more like her husband then her son
PatrickLHawkins 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I found it doubtful that Mr Cerf asked the question that if he brought a suit other than normal for the occasion .. I think it was very difficult to make that question or was pretty clever by Mr Cerf..
I love this TV show by the way... Many many laughs for them and God bless them!
MANUELFARINELLI 10 months ago
Comment removed
MANUELFARINELLI 10 months ago
Being only 48, some of the panel is unfamiliar...particularly the ones from the 50s but I'm familiar with most of the guests.
The ones I like best are the relations of the panel. And of course, being a HUGE fan, Groucho.
lajmh 1 year ago
@lajmh You might like Bennett Cerf's memoir, "At Random," which I think was published in 1971.
7855waldo 2 months ago
I've never heard of Suzy Knickerbocker but I was only 2 when this aired. Anywho, she must have been a child bride because she certainly doesn't look old enough to have a son that age. Also, Arlene's husband looks like death on this particular night.
petclark1 1 year ago
@petclark1 Martin had lost a lot of weight when he did The Rivalry on Broadway (played Stephen Douglas in a play about the Lincoln-Douglas Debates). This had about be around late 1966-early 1967, when Arlene was doing Dinner at Eight
RayNDeere 7 months ago
@RayNDeere The Time Magazine reference has this early December, since Bennett was on the cover of the Dec. 10, 1966 edition
RayNDeere 7 months ago
@RayNDeere But Martin's comment about Christmas being on Sunday and this being the way that he gets to see his wife that evening (with her not having a performance of Dinner at Eight) says that this is the Dec 25 episode 1966.
reno1uest 5 months ago
@petclark1 Suzy, a.k.a. Aileen Mehle, was born in 1924. If her son graduated from Annapolis in '63, that meant he was born in 1941. The math says she was 17 when he was born. That is if Suzy's listed birthdate is correct. BTW, Aileen Mehle is still alive, at age 87.
observer9670 5 months ago
I read on the comment to another clip that Martin never showed his emotions towards Arlene on the show but I think that you can see his love for her in his eyes, or am I over romanticising things?
blablomma 1 year ago
A picture is worth a thousand words! The excitement on the mothers face says it all.
franklindavid 1 year ago
Haha do we think these intro's were usually scripted? It seems so except for Bennett's little introduction for John Charles Daly which the rest of the panel looked equally surprised at (as well as Daly) haha
gottamatch 1 year ago
The opening of the show from this episode was used on the syndicated version of "What's My Line?" for all seven years of it's run. It was in color, but they used a different theme music for it. Wonderful clip, thank you for posting this.
PatinPDX 2 years ago
It is this kind of episode that What's My Line does best. The reaction of Suzy when Roger is finally revealed is priceless!! What a hoot!! Thanks for posting this.
sbutler0727 2 years ago 5
Suzy's real name is Aileen Mehle. Suzy Knickerbocker was her pen name, like Dear Abby or Ann Landers. She wrote a society column in the NY Times. She appeared on WML 11 times in its last season (66-67). 10 times as a panelist, once as a mystery guest on 10/23/66. Does anyone have that clip?
jph0917 2 years ago
The passage of time- Suzie Knickerbocker is still alive. She's 88 years old! She was only 45 back then.
44032 2 years ago
And best of all she is still very active in New York society!
chrishanson70 2 years ago
"A congealed weapon".
If the current incarnation of Price were around at the time, cue TPiR losing horn cue. :D
MikeHL78 2 years ago 3
Was Bennett Cerf really on the cover of Time?
baraqiyal 2 years ago
Yes, he was.
He was on the cover on Dec. 16, 1966.
derfla1977 2 years ago
yes he was - I found the time magazine on Ebay and got it. :-)
this is one of my favorite WML when her son came on. I wish they would put WML back on GSN.
sodakcatholic 2 years ago
Suzy looked really good considering she had to be much older than I had thought when she first walked on set.
torchkit 2 years ago
I thought the networks went to ALL COLOR in 1966. So why is this in B&W if it's from 1967 and not color?
jph0917 2 years ago
WML was broadcast live in the Eastern/Central time zones. It was taped for Mountain/Pacific time zones, but the tape was not kept intact, it was reused for other shows. What you see is a "kinescope", a B&W film shot directly off the TV screen that was made for archival purposes.
proken58 2 years ago
I lived in the Mountain West as a little boy, and I remember KSL TV SLC broadcasting WML at 8:30, which means it would be a live broadcast.
Yes, CBS and G-T made all sorts of WML color videotapes in 1966 1967, and not one of them surfaced in all these years -- because of these B&W kinescope records which were cheaper in the short run.
Someone once posted on YouTubia a color animation clip that might have been from 1967 WML, but the poster refused to comment about it.
soulierinvestments 2 years ago
I believe that was someone who took the syndicated series' color opening, and put the old show's music over it.
chrishanson70 2 years ago
I was born in the wrong decade. It seemed back then people were more respectable toward each other. No loud, obnoxiousness but mostly politeness. Wish people were still like that.
aptharsia 3 years ago 19
This was the BEST episode. But now they took WML Off GSN - I was hoping to get to watch it from the beginning until the end. Guess I'm too late :-(
sodakcatholic 2 years ago
Maybe Maybe not. GSN may come back to its senses, or maybe someone in the YouTube WML family possesses the tape and will post it.
soulierinvestments 2 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
@aptharsia -A reason for it...liberals.
kevinvanmeter 1 year ago
@kevinvanmeter What a rude and unjustified comment.
dachickenlady 11 months ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
@dachickenlady Rude? No. Liberals are...and hateful. Justified..absolutely. Your move, sweetie.
kevinvanmeter 11 months ago
@aptharsia - And today this isn't a hope in heck of someone in TV like S.K. with a son serving in the Navy in such a position. Yes, things were radically different.
But do remember that the politeness quite often was a stifling, phony veneer that drove a lot of people - who disliked style pulling rank on candor - nuts.
7855waldo 2 months ago
Thank you! It was great to see how happy and surprised Suzy was!
weatdamal 3 years ago 2
Thank you so much for posting this clip! I already read about that this segment was maybe one of the most emotional moments in WML's history, so I really longed to see it. I think there's hardly anything more moving than the tears of joy of a proud and loving mother.
Great2C 3 years ago 6
Yes! Her suprised reaction is one of my favorites. She was so certain that he wouldn't be home in two days, so no of the clues hit her.
EDH1712 3 years ago 5
I guess you'd have to live in NY at that time or remember seeing these particular episodes to know who she is because until this moment I never heard of her and I was a late Truman baby.
bigred997 3 years ago
December 1966
( 0:50) Suzy wears one of the few pant suits ever seen on a lady panelist on Sunday night WML
( 5:50 ) Arlene Francis wore that frilly mask at Truman Capote's memorable November 1966 black and white ball.
soulierinvestments 3 years ago
True, black tie for men and gowns for women were the norm. The only other was Phyllis Newman on the episode where Frank Sinatra was a mystery guest-turn-panelist.
RayNDeere 3 years ago
Thanx for posting.
After Dorothy Kilgallen's death, Goodson-Todman toyed with the idea of replacing her with actress Phyllis Newman, but that idea did not quite happen. They also toyed with the idea of replacing her with another bright competitive reporter. They tried writers / reporters Helen Gurley Brown, Sue Oakland, Marianne Means, and (here most memorably ) society reporter Ailene Mehle, but none of them worked out as a permanent panelist.
soulierinvestments 3 years ago
@soulierinvestments I wish they would have selected Phyllis Newman because most of the subs during this period, particularly those you mentioned, were, in my opinion duds.
spagandtuna 1 year ago